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Thursday, December 28, 2006
Packed My days have been jammed with stuff to do since I got home from Montreal. I decided to take a break from all my Spain work for a week, and apparently, that was a fairly bad idea. I am consequently dealing with lots of rushing and stressing and general freaking out. The Spanish Consulate wants more documents than I'm ready to give them right now, which is bad because without their help, I can't stay in the country for long enough to go to school and get credit for it. Of course they want a passport and photos and letters from the university, financial statements, insurance coverage and proof of accommodation, a police check, flight reservations and a doctor's note in addition to fee payments, a personal visit and three photocopoies of the application. Of course. But what gets me is this: Letter from your Family Physician indicating the following: - Absence of quarantine diseases including cholera, plague and yellow fever, according to the regulations of the World Health Organization. - Absence of contagious, parasitic and infectious diseases. - No psychological disorders, mental illnesses, psychosis, delirium or hallucinations. - No addictions to drugs. Ahem. Cholera? Yellow fever? THE PLAGUE?! Do I look like I'm from the 14th century? And to tell you the truth, every now and then I think that maybe this process will get easier as I go along, but so far it seems that maybe I'm just DELIRIOUS. This is the big problem: I don't have a family doctor. My old one closed his practice a number of years ago and I've just been hopping from walk-in clinic to walk-in clinic ever since. Health Services at my university never got back to me about writing me a letter and every place I've called in town refuses to do it. I've got one more shot with the doctor my dad's been seeing for a while. If he doesn't write it for me, it looks like I'm going to need to beg my orthodontist. Maybe he can extrapolate my dental health to include the rest of my body. My frustration got so bad that at one point last week I was *this* close to going to Australia instead ("Dammit, at least they speak English there!"). After a long distance phone call to a very calm friend, I decided against Australia and then worried about credits and transfers and the timing of my future plans instead. I spent about an hour creating a table to track all the courses I've taken and all the credits I've earned during my three and a half years at school and I was able to conclude that "Yes, I can graduate after all!" and that no more extra semesters are necessary - THANK GOODNESS. I took a breath, then called a couple banks, a handful of health institutions, learned lots about overseas health insurance, looked up a dozen or so more phone numbers and adresses and either called or planned to visit them all within the next day. Phew. See? Packed. But I forgot to call the Consulate, again. Maybe it's because THEY'RE MEAN PEOPLE and my brain is in self-preservation mode so it keeps me from calling and having to speak to them. Aaaannd then I booked a flight to London. Oh, what? I needed a break. So! It's happening, it's all really happening! I'm flying out a bit later than I wanted to, but the price was so low that I couldn't pass it up. It also gives me more time with the fam and to prep myself here - in the end I'm still getting a full week and half to bum around London, Liverpool, Brighton and then some. (Suggestions from anyone? Email me!) I just spent the night researching hostels (the penny-pincher in me found one for 8 GBP per night!) and things to do in and around the city. Sooo much. My itinerary is going to be sooo paaacked. Speaking of packing, I've already started a mental list of Things To Bring in my head, separating what goes into my suitcase and what will go into my brand-spanking new large capacity convertible travel pack (mine is actually the 60 litre Elle cut because my little body and brittle-calcium-deprived bones would be crushed under the weight of a 70 litre regular). Mmm...new travel paaaack. THEN! I'm flying to Espana in early February where I'll get five days to settle in before classes start. w00t! Five days ago I would have said that I leave in a month. Now it's five days later and I'm all AHHH!! I'm going to London! And then SPAIN!! PS: Not to rub it in anymore than I already have, but my brain is totally paaaaacked with neat little details such as: my apartment in Spain is in the city center within walking/bussing distance between the university and the coast of the Mediterranean! Beach! Beach beach beach beach beach. 11:53 pm Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Merry Christmas Yesterday!  Our tree this year (looking not unlike trees in years past) and a glimpse into how much my family loves decorating for Christmas. Note: garlands framing doorways and wrapping the banisters, Christmas/holiday banners and little snowmen hanging from the ceiling. And that's not even all. Not even close. (Not shown: mini Christmas village) Last year, I was all bent up about how much Christmas sucked, but the day was saved by some good old fashioned family fun (read: disco dance party in the dining room after our holiday dinner - I had to dance with my fourteen year old cousin because I was the only 'adult' without a partner - talk about AWKWARD) and a fluffy bunny named Iced Capp. Unfortunately, the bunny has since died via munching on pesticide-poisoned backyard grass (my cousin didn't speak to my aunt for three days because he was so upset), so I was left bunny-less at dinner this year. Alas. I managed to do all my gift-buying/making in just two trips to the mall this year, proving to myself that procrastination isn't so horrible after all. And instead of sitting on my floor wrapping 30+ presents for all my immediate family members (because they're too lazy to do it themselves!), I opted for bagging this year. I will hereby bag my gifts for the rest of my life. It's so simple, easy and delicious! AND, there's little to no mess! Ingredients: - gift - holiday gift bag (choose an appropriate size, and try to get ones from the dollar store) - coloured tissue paper (white tissue paper from the dry cleaners will also work) Method: - put gift in gift bag - top with tissue paper And you're DONE! Optional: To/From sticker tags you got for free in the mail. There's no wrapping paper, no scissors, no tape, no numbing legs from sitting cross-legged on the floor for too long! no fuss! no muss! But much happinuss. Yours truly got to flex her culinary muscle and took part in preparing much of the dinner this year (see: yummy mixed veggies, delish asparagus, ultra-creamy HAND mashed potatoes, and garlic bread made by HAND mincing garlic for 10+ minutes). I also took a stab at making sangria and I'm going to say it was a success because the whole punch bowl was drained by the end of dinner and half an hour later, my aunt was passed out on the family room couch. I suppose her drowsiness could also be attributed to the three other bottles of wine that we consumed with our meal.  Mmm...spiked and punchy.  This is my brother carving the turkey. I'm proud of him because he gets better at it every year, he always serves my dad the first slice and he's a pretty cool guy in general. *** And on a note completely unrelated to Christmas, but very related to warm, fuzzy feelings that make me mush inside, here is a touching video from YouTube. Before watching, make sure you know what a kiwi is (the flightless bird, not the fruit). Is it silly that an animated short totally made me cry? *** PS: The tree also sings. Christmas carols. I'm not kidding. 5:36 pm Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Before Bed "You're crazy." "I know. Make it stop. It's exhausting." 12:08 am Tuesday, December 19, 2006
What's Hard Writing a paper after a full week of No School. Holding your pee for so many hours you can't remember the last time you went to the bathroom. Saying good-bye. Thinking about how capitalism creates crime when all I when all I really want to think of is this:  2:54 am Monday, December 18, 2006
Why Aren't I Good With Titles Anymore? There's nothing like spending a week in Montreal almost completely disconnected from the Internets because you're busy doing other things like eating home-cooked meals [eating out too (eating, in general)], staying up late and sleeping in, trying to speak French to elderly men (but failing miserbaly and feebly asking if he speaks English), meeting new people, giving fashion advice, eating delicious faux-Vietnamese food, making your first lasagna, taking baths, playing with the cutest puppy in the world, seeing your first NHL game ever (and watching the Habs beat Tampa Bay), crying for two straight hours because Legends of the Fall* broke you that bad, setting up a Christmas tree and singing catchy Jewish tunes**, getting fancied up, and doing the French thing where you lightly kiss either cheek of the person you're greeting. Oh, and snuggling. Snuggling is awesome. As per usual, upon arrival at home I stepped into my room and was suddenly reminded of the terrifying chaos that I have to deal with (i.e.: unpacking all the stuff that got sent home a week ago before I took off for my little trip). Predictably, I haven't unpacked a thing and instead spent my evening showering leisurely, eating, chatting with the fam, and of course, doing The Blog Thing. Are you reading Sweet Juniper? If you're a blogger, you most likely already are, and if you're not, you should be. Two posts I spent a lot of time with tonight: 405 More Reasons Not to Shop at Wal Mart and Elegy for a Father Both posts demonstrate reasons why I love this blog: the writing is f-ing utterly fantastic (bringing you from side-spliting hilarity to tear-gushing sobs). Add to that the fact that they're young, hipster parents who aren't only tag-team bloggers, but have also taken turns doing the SAHM and the SAHD thing, and are also Anti-Materialist Indie Sonofabitch Parents who hate Wal Mart - talk about Whoa and I TOTALLY WANT TO BE YOU WHEN I GROW UP. Really, I love them because they parented the cutest baby on the internet (possibly ever), take awesome photos of their sweet little girl and post them online, which makes my stalking and baby-stealing planning that much easier. What? Really, I think I just love Juniper. Take some time, be crazy-stalkerish like me and raid that Flickr account (note the street urchin fashion style) - you'll see what I mean by cutest baby ever. And have you noticed that her name is Juniper? Juniper! Instead of saying that "I want one [a baby]" in my future, I'll just stick with "I want Juniper". Anyway. In regards to the latter post, one commenter left this: How fragile, life. How strong, love. How swift, tragedy. How eternal, bravery. which especially touched me. I'm no good at transitions between happy and sad, so I'm not going to bother trying to put my thoughts on James Kim into words right now, especially after just writing about how I love and might want to steal cute babies from other bloggers. Maybe I will later when I spend more time crying about the plight of humanity and Other Things That Break My Heart. * Remember when Brad Pitt was young but still extremely good-looking? ** I get the irony. 12:07 am Monday, December 11, 2006
How To Write 4th Year Sociology Research Papers The Should Way: Preliminary reading/research Define topic and thesis Research and read sources Take notes on all sources Rework thesis Form outline Write, write, write The Actual Way: Go to a friend's house under the premise that work will actually get done Make two boxes of No Name brand KD for dinner; one white cheddar, one original neon-orange Mix it all together in a big salad bowl, forming light-orange No Name brand KD Eat out of the bowl while standing over the box freezer in the kitchen Eat banana bread Make tea Bring bowl of leftover, cold, light-orange, No Name brand KD into bedroom where you are supposed to be working, sans distractions Eat leftover, cold KD out of the bowl while squatting on the floor Take photographic evidence Desperately write research paper the night before it's due, skip class to work on it all day and email it to your prof at 11:59pm   |
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