Month: February 2006

What is it with me these days? Last month I lost a mitten (something I used to do as a child… and even occasionally as a teen and even more rarely as an adult)… and today I lose a button from my jacket. I even searched for it afterward, but it was most certainly nowhere to be seen. *sighs*

The Senate Community Service Recognition ceremony was rather good this year. Spent some time chatting with the mayor, got a picture with the chancellor, talked with Roman, Justin, Karen, Vivian and Shawna, and had a lot of finger food. The punch was rather yummy too. I really enjoy punch with floating pieces of fruit in it.

Back to essay writing or the procrastination thereof.

Yes, that realization continues to jump into my brain as of late. Probably because I'm truly learning a lot as of late, and not so much in the book learning vein (which is what I'm likely most used to)… realistically it's not in the CKI zone either… Perhaps learning from real life experience is more of an adventure lately?

It's exciting to be learning.

It's exciting to be living, laughing and growing.

And so many other words starting with the letter L also.

*grins happily*

(and yes, I'm still going to get the essay due tomorrow written on time)

…'cause tire d'erable sur la glace is so darnned yummy! No really, it is. My trip to campus was incredibly much better than intended (I mean, I just went to photocopy and hand in my assignment, and lookee there: a Sugar Shack in Quad! Sure, I expected to see it, but I didn't quite expect to be there for it). A dollar for some incredibly yummy maple-y goodness… how could that be at all wrong?

And yes, I handed in that assignment. So now all that remains is the darnned essay that I've been avoiding for far far too long. *sighs*

The bright side is that the essay should hypothetically be rather easy to write… provided I actually choose a topic ASAP.

Today's already been such a great one! Regardless of the essay-stress, I think it'll all go quite well in the end.

You Are Austin

A little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. You're totally weird and very proud of it. Artistic and freaky, you still seem to fit in… in your own strange way. Famous Austin residents: Lance Armstrong, Sandra Bullock, Andy Roddick

Well… I guess I'd better type something of substance (since I darn well haven't done so for a while). I should probably force myself to eat something again. The whole not being able to eat this past week thing has done a number on my appetite.

So… hmmm… DLSSP was great fun. Sure I only attended parts of pt. 1 (I had classes afterall), and one day of pt. 2 (well we did have to get Jenny to the airport… and then there was the trip to Fairmont with Jeff to take into consideration… and since I wasn't feeling 100%… taking it easier was a good plan… I'm not superhuman apparently. *sighs*), but I did have a good time. I wish I had been feeling better, but I did actually get a fair bit accomplished anyway. Sorting stuff, moving stuff (yeah… my wrist still isn't too pleased with that one, but it's all good and rested now), researching stuff, sorting stuff… painting… and cleaning. Yeah. Great to to service!

DCON itself was also quite fun. Katie kept telling me to go home and sleep, but she appologized and all (not necessary really, I'm sure I looked really really bad). At the HOD we elected a super awesome board for next year (yes, in the tradition of the We-Can, with its own particularities)
The banquet though was quite honestly awesome, my having great people to talk to, awesome company, and of course excellent items to bid on. I ended up with Monty Python and the Holy Grail, a scarf (which is OH SO FANTASTIC!), a movie outing gift certificate, and some Haitian chocolate.
But even crazier than that, my district recognized me with a Carthage-Pullman!! I was completely NOT expecting that! I mean…. WOW. Just WOW. Hard to believe really.

So afterall that, Jeff and I headed off for Fairmont on Tuesday. He was quite excellent company while I quite honestly wasn't. Suffice to say having stomach problems the whole time (or nearly) does not make for a pleasant Ali to be around (or at least that's my determination of the situation… I was pretty miserable physically… sleeping and feeling sick to the stomach and all). But when I wasn't feeling ill it was a pretty marvelous trip. We arrived to a gelato social with fudge and prize draws (yes, I won something again… a Mary Kay hand lotion thing). The gelato was great, and we learned about what was in the area. The villa we stayed in was rather marvelous also. I could really enjoy vacationing like that (minus the being sick thing).
The local bar had good food (poor service) and entertaining karaoke, the grocery store was sufficient for our needs, the drive was okay (we did get a flat, but all is well), the hot springs were excellent, and the drive home was pretty okay also (even though I still wasn't feeling well). We stopped in Banff to look around, which I haven't really ever done so that was great too!

I think I'm learning a lot about myself as of late. Now to perhaps be less of a procrastination queen and maybe get cracking on the homework? Work in 40ish minutes from now also, so there's much to do… but I'm feeling remarkably better, so that helps!

Quiz courtesy of yet another friend of mine named Brad (I've a lot of them come to think of it):

Welcome to The 2006 edition of Getting to know your friends and Family. The theory is that you will learn a lot of little things about your friends and family, if you did not know them already. Hey it just might come in handy for Birthdays and Anniversaries

1. What time did you get up this morning? uh… actually something like 8ish AM… if you mean waking up… getting out of bed was like at 10ish AM… but hey I'm rather under the weather.
2. Diamonds or Pearls? Diamonds I guess.
3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? that's one good question. Underworld: Evolution was it?
4. What is your favorite TV Show? Gilmore Girls?
5. What did you have for breakfast? Today? Toast with Jam. I'm trying to avoid dairy to settle my stomach.
6. What is your middle name? Now that should be obvious to most people who know me.
7. What is your favorite cuisine? whatever tastes good! 😉
8. What foods do you dislike? cilantro, normal pickles, mustard, kimchee, sauerkraut, anything that's going to upset my stomach at the moment… *sighs*
9. Favorite Potato Chip? Hmmm… I honestly don't know anymore… I eat them so rarely. By default though I'll go with Pringles.
10. What is your favorite CD at the Moment? No idea really. I've mostly been listening to a melange of sorts.
11. What kind of car do you drive? I don't. I haven't driven since like 2001. I would have driven yesterday if I hadn't been horribly horribly sick though most likely.
12. Favorite sandwich? a yummy one! (really how could I choose?)
13. What characteristics do you despise? do I really 'despise' characteristics? I'd say that there ought to be a better term for it than that…. now what it would be I wouldn't know.
14. What are your favorite clothes? Lately my new scarf and my serape have become favorites.
15. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation where would you go? I dunno… I like travelling in general… but today I'd like to stay put. Something to do with the wanting to get healthy thing.
16. What color are your eyes? brown
17. Favorite Brand of Clothes? do I have to like brand-named clothing all of a sudden?
18. Where would you want to retire to? *shrugs* do I have to choose just one place?
19. Favorite time of day? I dunno… not between 2-5pm though that's prime nap time (and so rarely do I actually get my nap!)
20. Where were you born? BC
21. Favorite sport to watch? Figure Skating? Or really a ton o' other sports really.
22. Who do you least expect to send this back? N/A
23. Person you expect to send it back first? N/A
24. Coke or Pepsi? neither
25. Are you a morning person or night owl? neither really. I like both mornings and evenings.
26. Any new and exciting news you'd like to share with everyone? Uh… not particularly. Fairmont was fun… at least as fun as it could be with my stomach conspiring against me most of the time. I'm home now though.
27. What did you want to be when you were little? An author, a parent, a librarian…
28. What is your best childhood memory? no idea really… reading good books perhaps?
29. What are the different jobs you have had? cashier is really the only one I consider a real job
31. Piercing? none.
32. Ever been to Africa? No
33. Ever been toilet papering? nope
34. Been in a car accident? nope
35. Favorite day of the week? I don't really have one.
36. Favorite restaurant? hmmm… The Melting Pot in Indy is up there on the list.
37. Favorite flowers? ones that don't die in my presence immediately (thanks to Jeff for the non-living flowers… they haven't died yet! Especially the balloon ones which haven't even deflated yet!)
38. Favorite flavor of ice cream? *shrugs* if it's actual ice cream (and not gelato or frozen yogurt or something else equally yummy) I'll go with Marble Slab maple ice cream with Crispy Crunch and raspberries mixed in and hot caramel on top.
39. How many times did you fail your driver's license? I haven't tried yet.
40. Before this one, from whom did you get your last e-mail? *shrugs* I haven't made it through my inboxes yet.
41. Which store would you choose to max out your credit card? Let's put it this way: I wouldn't. They're for instances of travel.
42. Bedtime? soon very soon… really it depends on the circumstances.
43. Who are you most curious about their responses to this questionnaire? no one in particular
44. Last person you went to dinner with? Jeff… I scarcely avoided falling asleep in my soup. Silly being sick thing!! It seemed like a really nice restaurant too. *sighs*
45. What are you listening to right now? David Bowie — Everyone says hi
46. What is your favorite color? red
47. How many tattoos do you have? 0
48. How many people are you sending this e-mail to? n/a
49. What time did you finish this e-mail? uhh… midnightish.

So I'm trying to reinstall things that I want on my comp. And can't find some that work quite as well as I need them to (I hope mom can find my Office 97 discs somewheres… either that or someone else can find me 'em… I do not like Open Office (as much as it worked for what I needed it for today… I really am used to Microsoft Office thank you very much). Then there's the hassle of making everything else work out.

In other news, I'm looking forward to DLSSP/DCON and of course the trip planned for next week.

*sighs* now I've got to head off for work… working tonight… which'll be entertaining with the sheer volume of flowers, chocolate and candy sold, I'm sure.

In anycase… enjoy the rest of the Valentines holiday

Just go here and follow the instructions:
http://kevan.org/johari?name=AliKira

Reinstalling and fixing up my newly rebuilt/fixed computer takes a LOT of time… but hey, it's working out okay.

In other news:

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY ONE AND ALL!!!

So yesterday I woke up bright and early looking forward to a great new day… and my email told me that my plans weren't going to materialize (which in and of itself, isn't terribly unexpected, just certainly not desired or anything…

Making lemonade out of lemons, I caught up on my internet-y enjoyments (temporarily of course)… and even cleaned up my inbox for my main email account (nice to have it manageable!).

So I finally convinced myself that needing to be productive wasn't just doing readings for class and watching my DVDs of Gilmore Girls…

and went to get blood taken and X-rays done (along with another errand or two). So I walked down the street to the Allin Clinic and into the lab for the blood test thing. Which they took from the same place (same arm… I could have chosen the other arm, but I rather like having a fully functional dominant hand to write/everything else with)… which felt awfully concerning when the needle went in (given the cause of my injury to begin with… I LIKE the idea of having a non-injured median nerve in my arm (I think that's what it's likely called… when I get the nerve conduction tests done we'll know for sure)). Yegads it was more than just a reoccurent memory… the same pain… although attenuated from the original blood donation that caused this whole kerfuffle… reappeared. Fortunately although the arm was sore afterward, it ceased the stupid hurting when the needle came out (yay for no reinjuring my appendages!)

In anycase, then I went over to the X-ray lab… where I waited what seemed like ages, my arm sore (naggingly so)… (plus remembering not to lift anything with it as per the usual for at least 2 hours after). Two X-rays (and over an hour later) I was outta there and hungry.

So I ran another errand or two and then picked up my school stuff before treating myself to a delicious dinner at Kyoto. And I mean it when I say delicious. WOW!

Walked to campus… had class (yay for Barb feeding us candy again! I'm so pleased that she returned to that old habit… makes class that much yummier!)… and then Heather (actually her bf) gave me a ride home where I sat around and read more of Raymond Chandler's The Big Sleep… before going to bed as I worked today at 7am.

Yeah… semi-productive. Go me!

Your Candy Heart Says First Kiss

You're a true romantic who brings an innocent hope to each new relationship. You see the good in every person you date, and you relish each step of falling in love. Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a romantic dinner your sweetie cooks for you Your flirting style: friendly and sweet What turns you off: cynics who don't believe in romance Why you're hot: you always keep the romance alive

Four jobs IΓÇÖve had
1. cashier
2. hostess (for one day at a teachers conference)
3. babysitting
4. uhh… beading jewlery on request? oh and I helped distribute flyers while someone was on vacation once too!

Four movies I can watch over and over
1. Where the Heart Is
2. 10 Things I Hate About You
3. Romeo & Juliet (1968 version)
4. Princess Bride

Four places I have lived
1. Apt in Edmonton
2. house in Fort Saskatchewan
3. rental home in Fort Saskatchewan
4. house in Revelstoke

Four TV shows I love
1. Gilmore Girls
2. CSI
3. That '70s Show
4. uh… I honestly haven't watched ANY tv as of late… although the Olympics might be a good diversion if I do indeed turn 'em on. I'm so outta the loop with Figure Skating that I've absolutely no idea what'll happen or who are our best contenders for the most part for example (same goes for a lot of sports… mind you I do like watching winter sports… especially given our lack of winter right now!)

Four places IΓÇÖve holidayed
1. Mexico/Texas (not that it was a real holiday per-say but meh! most of my holidays aren't real holidays!)
2. Greensboro/Salisbury, NC
3. St. Louis
4. Ymir/Revelstoke, BC

Four of my favorite dishes
1. Japanese food in general (so I splurged yesterday… and boy was it ever good!)
2. Food with lots of yummy cheese in it! (melted is yummy!)
3. creamy soups (in general)
4. food that I didn't cook, as it always tends to taste better (did I mention that I don't like cooking very much?)

Four sites I visit daily
1. www.straightdope.com
2. goldfishlegs.ca
3. LJ
4. www.fbofw.com

Four places I would rather be right now
1. Actually I wouldn't rather be anywhere… being online was the plan for this chunk o' time
2. but if I could choose, spending time with Jeff would be grand (provided I could you know… steal him away from whereever safely)
3. or maybe travelling the world
4. or something else equally Ali-esque.