No, I did not fall off the face of the earth!

Hello! Here's a little snippet of why I don't have much time for blogging these days:

• Full courseload of classes, plus one. This means that I have a lab every day of the week, except for Thursday, from 2 pm to 5 or 6 pm. FYI: Labs are incredibly time-consuming. Not only is there lab prep, then time spent in the lab, but there are lab writeups, and quizzes every day to prep for (usually they're the kind where we know 10 questions ahead of time and they choose 4 to test us on. So it is possible to be prepared, but the questions are hard and it's time-consuming to research all the answers the night before). Also, for one of my labs, I've been spending an average of ten extra hours/week in the lab, collecting more data for those writeups.
• Two part-time jobs. I am crazy. One is in Surrey, and one is here at UBC. One pays the bills, one pays essentially nothing but gives me field-related experience to use to find employment after graduation. It's gonna pay off in the long run.
• A (weekend) boyfriend. Poor R sees me usually Friday nights and most of Saturday... if we're lucky. I've been taking Saturdays off work so we can at least do homework together. And then that's it. Another entire week until I see him, because I usually either work Sunday mornings and boot it back here to study madly, or I see him at church, work all afternoon, then bus up Monday morning.
• Choir. This has thankfully just ended, as this weekend we performed our pieces and we have a break until the next set, in September. This gives me one more night/week to study.
• Bible study / Core group. I am co-leading this, one night/week, and I am definitely not as involved in the overall group (all of the Bible studies get together Thursday nights for a worship/speaker night) as I should be, considering that I am a leader.
• Searching for housing come April. So I had planned to move back home in the summer to save money... apparently that's not gonna work out. I'm not really welcome back home, which feels great. But maybe this is for the best; I love living in Vancouver, and to be perfectly honest, I don't like living with my parents. I've lived away for too long, and decided too many things about the way I'm going to live my life and interact with people. Having to rent all summer just puts a large limitation on the amount of money I'll be able to save for ... any important events coming up in my life... ;)
• My (brand new) computer crashed in January. So I had to send it in for repairs, and I lost essentially everything (all the photos that Rich doesn't have doubles of, all my documents/assignments/labs/tax info/resumes, etc.). I hadn't backed it up yet because the computer was only 3 months old. It was just a lemon; they replaced my hard drive for me 'cause it was just crashed and made funny noises.
• Getting my passport stuff in! I'm finally going on a holiday this summer! With R's family... NEW YORK, here I come! My first holiday in a good 3 years (I went camping for almost a week 3 summers ago). Since then I've gone straight from school to work and straight back to school, with only a single day in between to move.

And the rest time is spent either cramming for tests that I need to study for, or stressing and procrastinating about all of the studying I haven't gotten to.

For example, this week:

Tomorrow I have an oral lab report presentation

Wednesday I have to write an in-class lab report (like a test, but we bring in our pre-analyzed raw data, and references, and any figures that we want to use). This will be a challenge both in preparation and execution, as it has to be a well-thought-out discussion of our results and our predicted model of gene interaction.

Thursday is another midterm. Not a full one, technically, because for this class I have 4 "midterms..." so this will be the 3rd.

And I am just generally pooped. Emotionally I have no space - any little thing sets me off. Poor R has to deal with this shamble of a girlfriend even in the rare times he gets to see me. It was silly to take this much on, but somehow it all became necessary, and somehow I can't drop anything. Plus, I do enjoy everything I'm doing.

So speaking of studying. I already went to the lab (job lab) this morning until 9:30, then came home to study before class at 11. So I guess I'd better get on that.

Let's find a nice picture to leave you with. Here's us at Christmas:

Blogging re-initiated now that I have no time

Yep, how many of you missed me? I had a decent summer, wasn't too packed. I worked. Now that I'm back at school, and my full schedule is looming, I shall re-familiarize you all with my life as it is. Since I have so much free time now.

How about a class list:

1) Biochemistry 303 (looks hard - runs all year. Lots of memorizing chemical structures. Ugh.)
2) Biology 300 - Biometrics (like a stats class. Shouldn't be too bad, there's a computer-lab component as well)
3) Biology 331 - Developmental Biology (looks hard as well - 4 credit class instead of the usual 3. Also a lab component)
4) Biology 334 - Intro to Genetic Analysis (fun!!! I LOVE this class so far. It's all puzzles and tracing genetic diseases - not much memorizing either, just applying problem-solving skills)
5) Biology 361 - Cell physiology (my prof talks super fast, but this class shouldn't be too bad)
6) Biology 360 - Cell physiology lab, runs all year, with no associated lecture. Stands on its own. Looks fun.

I'm also co-leading a Core group (like a Bible study, associated with University Christian Ministries on campus), and attending weekly meetings, and possibly serving in a musical/worship area, though that is my last priority and they are aware of that.

AND! I'm getting a JOB!! Good thing, because I'm running out of money. I was also hoping to go on this retreat next weekend with UCM, but it's an extra $55 I don't have... amazing how my budget constricts. Once my scholarship's in maybe I won't feel so tight.

And now I don't feel so tight because I know this job is on the way!! I have been waiting for about a month and a half since the first interview - it's a typist job in Surrey for the RCMP, so I have to have security clearance. I had to do a security interview, and I knew it would be a long process... but I almost gave up hope. I think everyone that I told about this potential job thinks it fell through because it's been so long. But I heard from her today, and she's finally got the clearance, meaning we can start on the next step! Like working!! It'll suck to be going back to Surrey so often, but I am just an auxiliary (not the full-timer) so I am not the only person they rely on... it sounds like we can adjust pretty well for time. Like Saturdays and maybe one or two evenings/week. And it's union pay, so it's worth the travel time even for one shift.

Leaving my job this summer was kind of sad - I got to know my co-workers so much better this year. Felt like part of the team, and I was way more useful this year as well. Helps to not have to train from the beginning. I was indespensable! Felt good.

And on my last day, my boss brought in a big bouquet of flowers for me and they all signed a card hoping I'll be back next summer (they're sucking up because they got all these phone calls for references for this during-the-school-year job). AND the ladies all got together (3 of them in my department, 2 in reception) and bought me Timmy Ho's gift certificates!! They know how I love my morning coffees and they know I feel tight for money and they handed me a stack of ten booklets! That's $50 to Tim Hortons. Since we have 2 on campus I can afford to buy one coffee/week (say... Mondays?) and do that both semesters without losing a penny. I'm so thankful for the blessing of that job and those nice ladies.

And R and I are still together (he's on the first floor of my building this year, and I'm on the third).

I really miss my little sister.

I love the weather here - it's been hot but today was the first foggy day. I forgot how much I love the wind and fog on the point - stirs the romantic in me.

So tell me something. What do you want to hear about this year? I see all these themes in other peoples' blogs - Foto Fridays, Hair Thursdays, etc. For all you (3) faithful readers, maybe I'd find a funny comment to share each day I post. Or post a picture to epitomize my life that day. Any thoughts?

I'm not very good with random

1. I was homeschooled for a total of 4.5 years, interspersed with three different elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school.

2. I have 3 adopted siblings, 2 of which we still get in touch with occasionally. My parents were young and the 3 kids (all siblings with each other) had fetal alcohol syndrome. It was a challenge.

3. I taught myself to read before kindergarten and I spent the next 10 years with my face glued in books... a common answer to the question "where's Tricia?" was "reading on the can."

4. Despite being a science student, I get incredibly fixated (OCD anyone?) on spelling mistakes. Just ask me about the most common ones (tomorrow... it only has one "m"). I will rant.

5. One time I dyed two front pieces of my hair blonde. Then I decided to streak my hair blue (semi-permanently) but it just looked black, with green pieces in front. I tried to re-bleach them to lose the green and they turned orange... so I had orange/black/green hair. That was the end of my hair-dyeing attempts.

6. My first celebrity crush was on Phil, from the Newsboys. There was one line he sang that I would play over and over again on the music video machine at the Christian bookstore. I think I had a thing for his long hair.

7. I can't wait to have a baby. All I read about these days is poop and vomiting and tired and busy and terrible two's - but none of that can stop me. This machine is built for baby-making!! I turned 19 and maternal instinct just kicked in - never really thought of myself as a baby-person before that... I was all about a career. This doesn't mean I don't want a career, but now every time I see a baby R tries to cover my eyes so I don't ask him for one.

So! I don't know if I know 7 bloggers that haven't already done this... so I'm tagging Steph, Christine, Laura (though I understand if she doesn't do it, cuz she's in Africa), Sarah J (who I also haven't heard anything from in forever), Kim, and Heather.

Here are the rules… Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

Yay!

My last grade finally came in. I am becoming more and more pleased with my grades. My first semester at UBC was a shocker - I had a better-than-4.0 at TWU, but I quickly learned that TWU didn't have quite the academic standards that UBC has. My first term at UBC kinda flattened my faith in my academic level, but as I'm getting more and more used to the huge classes - and the need to network, immediately - they're slowly raising. I got straight A's this term, if you count A minuses:

Physical Chemistry: 84% (A-)
Intro to Biochemistry: 80% (A-)
Invertebrate Zoology: 81% (A-)
Organic Chemistry Lab: 89% (A)
Diatonic Harmony: 89% (A) I think I need to switch majors... music here I come!

So I've never been happy with 80 percents, but I'm realizing that 80%'s are GREAT!! Especially if they're relatively consistent. I'm learning not to be deathly dependent on good grades - other things are more important. I'm more excited to take more 3rd-year classes, cuz they'll be more specialized and interesting. Harder, but not so boring.

So I went back to my old job

What's different:

1. I got a raise! ($1.50!!)
2. I have a new desk neighbour who's much friendlier and more talkative than my last one.
3. I have no stapler. Very sad.
4. I have no phone (good and bad... good because less responsibility, but I think my supervisor's getting one for me soon)
5. There's construction everywhere, and our street is now a one-way, full of pylons and dirt and gravel. I have to take 2 detours to get to work and I have to double-park in our shrinking parking lot. We have to have vehicle ID tags in case someone who's boxed in has to leave.
6. I have a corkboard now instead of shelves (good for all the papers on my desk, bad for where I can put my binders of product info)
7. We have new warehouse locations, new procedures, new prices, new products - many things to learn.
8. I have a cool little "office organizer" - you know, the black wire mesh things - for my pen (singular) and pencil (again singular) and paper clips and white-out and sticky notes. There are too many empty compartments. I have to find some more office supplies just to fill out the organizer a little bit.
9. A new fax machine!! The 6 works the first time I press it!! Every time!!
10. I'm trying to drink more water at my desk.
11. A new monitor! Flat screen, no more big clunky old one.
12. My computer is slower than I remember. They sure spared no expense. My order entry skills seem tainted because I have to wait for the computer to catch up with ME.

What's the same:

1. It's still freezing. A/C is my friend, but I think they overdo it a little bit. Walking out the door requires shedding 3 layers of sweaters.
2. It's still boring.
3. Shipping details are still what mess me up the most.
4. We still have weekly meetings.
5. Morning coffee is still free!
6. Order entry is still boring.
7. I'm at the same desk in the same corner by the IT door so the poor guy has to go around my chair anytime he goes in the IT room.
8. I still dressed up nicely for the first day, and came the second day as per usual, without makeup.
9. Everyone else is still super nice, though a few new people have come and a few old people are gone.
10. Did I mention it's still boring?
11. My feet are cold.
12. McDonald's is still nearby... so I'm still always tempted... packing a lunch is still boring and there's still no food at my house with which to do it. I've held out so far.

Top 10 Things I have learned about studying, in order of increasing importance

1. The only way a boyfriend can be a good study buddy is if I look like I'm about to have a nervous meltdown. If I look panicked enough, he'll leave me in silence. Otherwise, every 30 seconds is a question about his own work, or a "Hey, did you know..." tidbit from his studies or his Time magazine. Very much distracts me and breaks up any concentration I may have had.
   
2. Msn does not help me study, whether I'm talking to someone from my class or not. Facebook also does not help.
3. Blogs do not help me study.
   
4. Music must be off. My brain is no longer sharp enough to concentrate with music. Even classical is a stretch. Anything else I realize I'm just bellowing at the top of my lungs and meanwhile reading the same paragraph over and over.
5. My brain is much duller than it used to be. I can no longer study only the day before. My memory is not what it used to be.
   
6. Chemistry is not my friend. It may pose, but it's not my friend.
7. If you want to study in science, be prepared... Psychology is really Biology, Biology is really all chemistry, Chemistry is essentially physics and Physics is all Calculus.
8. Sometimes I just have to start. Dreading the beginning of a new subject doesn't get me anywhere. Also, learning a lesson about procrastination doesn't mean I will remember the lesson.
   
9. Watching stupid episodes of the O.C. do not help me study in the least.
10. Most importantly: when studying for 18 hours straight in the same chair, I will never again wear underwear with elastic around the bum. This causes much pain and a deep, deep elastic-rubbed crease. This is the most important lesson I can share with anyone.
    

Book list

In the list of books below:

old the ones you’ve read,
italicize the ones you want to read (I'm not going to bother, because there will be many),
underline the ones you won’t touch with a ten-foot pole (I can't un-underline it from a previous person... I don't have anything underlined),
put a cross (+) in front of the ones on your book shelf,
and asterisk (*) in front of the ones you’ve never heard of (this will be embarrassing... I think I have no culture).

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown) -- I started this one but it wasn't mine and I had to leave the vicinity of the book. I'm guessing it'll be better than the movie was (really laaame...) but kinda still like a hoax.
2. +Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) - Really like this one.
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell) - Kind of surprised I've never read this.
5. +The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. +The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. +The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. +Anne of Green Gables (L. M. Montgomery) - How many of these books, is the question? I'm sure I read like, the 10 "real ones" by LM Montgomery, and then some.
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling) - I just went through the whole list without bolding Harry Potter books, with my superior nose in the air... and then I remembered that I think I read 5 of them the summer I had mono. Don't remember them, but I must admit they got read.
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. *A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. *The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
20. +Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. +The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J. D. Salinger)
23. +Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. *The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. +Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. +The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. *Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks) - Can't believe I really read this. I may be actually mixing it up with other Nicholas Sparks books... are they supposed to be different? Gotta say I loved the movie, of course.
33. *Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. +1984 (Orwell)
35. *The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. *The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. *The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. *The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. *The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. *The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. +The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom) - Got this as a gift as an English award in high school. It was interesting, but not outstanding I don't think.
45. +Bible - Probably not completely all the way through.
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy) - Half of it.
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas) - Really good. Don't even bother watching the movie, especially afterwards.
48. *Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. *She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. *The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. *Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. +The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) - Yay first year English class.
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling) -Wow there is a lot of Harry Potter on here.
58. *The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. *The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview with the Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. *Fifth usiness (Robertson Davis)
66. *One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. +The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares) - I own this book in French... I've only read about a third of it. Didn't have time to soldier on.
68. +Catch-22 (Joseph Heller) - I bought this for Rich, at his request... and I've read it, and not him. I'd like to consider it part of my own collection, so I included a plus sign.
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery) - I read Le Petit Prince, not the English version.
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding) -- this is the last book I read. Finished it last week.
72. *Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. *The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. *The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. *A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. *The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. *Not Wanted On the Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. *Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. +Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
87. +Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) - I really liked this one. Pushed the envelope nicely.
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. *Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91. *In The Skin Of A Lion (Ondaatje)
92. +Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. *The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. *The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S. E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. *A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. *The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

#6-9

Why I'm happy to be a woman:

1. We got off the Titanic first.
2. We can scare male bosses with the mysterious gynaecological disorder excuses.
3. Taxis stop for us.
   
4. We don't look like a frog in a blender when dancing.
5. No fashion faux pas we make could ever rival the Speedo.
   
6. We don't have to pass gas to amuse ourselves.
7. If we forget to shave, no one has to know.
   
8. We can congratulate our team-mate without ever touching her rear end.
   
9. We never have to reach down every so often to make sure our privates are still there.
10. We have the ability to dress ourselves.
    
11. We can talk to the opposite sex without having to picture them naked
    
12. If we marry someone 20 years younger, we are aware that we will look like an idiot.
13. We will never regret piercing our ears
    
14. There are times when chocolate really can solve all your problems.
    
15. We can make comments about how silly men are in their presence because they aren't listening anyway.
    
    

Happy Birthday to Me

1. It's my birthday today

2. I'm 21 now. Feeling old, but I have to be careful what crowd I'm in when I say that... yes, I know my entire life is ahead of me. I am still so young, yes.

3. I was feeling a little down, but things have picked up. Here is the story:

• I had a great weekend; went home to Langley
• I had a cold, felt sick all day Thursday but though I felt better Friday, my throat was raspy
• Since I sang all Friday night at a worship leader's meeting...
• ...and then at practice for 2 hours on Saturday afternoon...
• ...and then screamed my lungs literally out while bowling Saturday night...
• ...I have no voice left. Though it's better today. Yesterday there was nuthin'. And so, while leading worship, I had to restrict myself to only playing the keyboard and not singing. At all. It's so hard for me not to sing, but it was at the point of pain. Which implied damage to my pipes. Something I don't want to happen.
• My parents hosted a food party at my house Saturday, a drop-in essentially for everybody. Some people were greatly missed, either couldn't make it or had to drop out last minute, but I got to hang out with some great old friends that I never see, some great friends' parents, and my sister, brother, and sister-in-law.
  
• Then Sunday, since I was at church essentially from 7 until 12:30, I was exhausted. Wiped out completely; slept through half the superbowl (got made fun of by R's family, of course). My dad even came to R's house to watch it on the big screen.
  
• Ate lots of food.
• Got more cake and more gifts, even though nobody was supposed to get me anything...
• So what could be disappointing, you say??

R and I were gonna go for dinner and a movie tonight, to celebrate with each other on the actual day. I'm the kind of geek that's a sentimentalist at heart (very, very, very deep down) and I really like doing things on the actual day... as much as I can say we can celebrate on other days, it really feels more special to me on the day of.

However, we both forgot that he has a lumber grading course tonight... until 9:00. No problem, I thought... he could come over after and we could just watch a flick on my widescreen monitor. I'll get some homework done, that way, and maybe make a shopping trip on my own to exchange a shirt, before he gets there. It would even kind of be a relief, to not take a whole night out the week before midterms (I'm just starting to feel stressed).

I was shocked and surprised when R said he probably wouldn't be coming over at all!!!! See, his reasoning was that we could postpone it, since he was really looking forward to going out with me (haha, role reversal! Usually that's me), and do it another night this week. But I didn't really understand that he meant to do it another night, and I nearly died at the prospect of not even SEEING my boyfriend, that lives on the same street as me, on the day of my birthday!! And it's not like I really saw much of him during my party. I was flitting between people, trying to make sure everyone was comfortable and not awkward. You know that pressure - "Does everybody here know at least somebody else they can talk to??"

So before I got bummed out, I called a good friend of mine on campus, to see if she had plans. Maybe she'd do homework with me, or watch some chick flick, or just go get dinner with me.

But no answer from her sent me into the depths of despair and loneliness.

I recovered decently when she phoned, saying she had ringette practice but she'd love to go get all-you-can-eat sushi after, with me and her bf (at like 9:30). So I was excited. Yaaaay, I found someone who could deal with my desperation! And now her practice is canceled, so she's gonna come shopping with me. I think that means no late-night sushi, but we'll go grab some food for dinner somewhere.

So I'm less depressed, particularly because I learned the essential fact that R wants to do something another night... it just takes me a while to recover when I was hoping to see him on my actual birthday. Cuz I don't need a whole extra night out... it might be more of a stress than a help.

Adjustments, right?

End of story.

3. Ed got me flowers yesterday, as he promised he would a month ago for my birthday, since I kept supplying him with painkillers from my ever-equipped purse.

4. R and his mom bought me a pile of wonderful scrapbooking stuff* from Costco. Wow, can you ever get a lot of stuff there for miles cheaper than any other place. I have more paper and ribbon and punches than I could ever need.

5. My bro and sis-in-law got me a shirt that didn't fit super well... so I exchanged it yesterday and got two shirts (one nice one and an undershirt for it) and a loonie back. I'm very happy with the fit and the dark green colour. Also with the loonie back. Also, it's a clothing line where I am a small... talk about an esteem-booster!!

6. My sister got me a shirt as well, that I have to exchange today. There are some shirts that are just not made for large boobs. Though the colour was beautiful, and the cut is nice on a hypothetical woman.

7. I'm looking forward to my invertebrate lab tomorrow.

8. I'm almost finished my three seasons of House. What am I going to waste my time with next?

9. I think this post is long enough. Time to get busy; I have class in 20 minutes anyways. I'll take a picture tonight of my shirt, if I can. I'm that pleased with it. And so cheap.

*Changed from "cheap" by boyfriend's request

Rainy days at UBC

1) Make sure you use an umbrella. Or at least ridiculously-coloured gum boots.

2) Enjoy the feeling of the massive wet patch on each of your thighs (due to the up and forward motions of walking).

3) Do step in every puddle. Make sure your jeans are wet right up to your knees.

4) If you're wearing runners, make sure they have some decent-sized holes in them. Preferably on both sides, close to the sole so the water doesn't have to be deep.

5) Do walk very very very slowly, in double file, with large umbrellas, so that people in a hurry can't get past you.

6) Don't bother lifting your umbrellas, ever, so that they always clash with the space for other people's umbrellas.

7) Since UBC is also known as The Umbrella Graveyard*, do drop your broken and otherwise useless umbrella wherever you may fancy. By all means, do NOT wait to find a garbage can or any other waste receptacle.

8) Do take a sweet picture of the view from your window. Do make sure there's a car while you're taking it so that your amazing camera (or rather, your boyfriend's camera) gets all the light that passes through, headlights to taillights, with the car entirely past the intersection and not in the picture.


*Term used with permission.

List time!

1) I love lists

2) I'm watching House right now

3) My house kind of smells like pot, due to the forest beside my window

4) Yet I have to keep the window open because my roommates keep the house really warm

5) I went to an info session tonight about research opportunities for undergrads

6) I've barely seen R all day... just made him a tuna sandwich for lunch, but he had to leave early

7) I have the best boyfriend ever. We had the best talk yesterday and I am so much happier about many things

8) I really really really really miss music

9) I also would like to find time to scrapbook again, but that would entail finding a place to develop my pictures. Too much effort and not enough money lying around

10) I need groceries

11) I had an invertebrate lab today and I got to play with sea anemones! The BEST ever. I tried to feed some but they had already been fed by a billion students, so they were full

12) I want to take a trip to the sunshine coast, with R, since it's winter. Diversity is amazing right now, and he would love to go creature-searching with me

13) I remember 2 recent "Friday the 13th"s

14) I'm tired. Yay for 8 a.m. classes every day. I feel like a first year still... 2 years later

15) My mom has been sending me e-mails, and it's been a really nice surprise. Makes me feel loved by the ones I left at home

16) I wish I had a nice camera. A digital SLR. Would be amazing.

17) On to better things... my pillow!