Hey guys,

I'm stuck in one of those weird time warps again. This time, I'm mostly waiting for stuff that seems like it's light-years away... until it smacks me in the face. Take the Philosophy midterm I had today. I learned about it a week ago (rather harshly, as you might remember) and still managed to put the majority of the studying off until last night, when the lightbulb over my head finally clicked on and said "Hey! Midterm tomorrow! Get your [rear] into gear!" So I studied til 2 in the morning, slept, then woke up and studied for most of today (or, uh, this afternoon, since I didn't wake up til 11...).

Note that I wasn't intentionally procrastinating. My brain just didn't register the importance of studying for this exam until it was way too late. It's the same thing with a translation I have due next Friday: I've done some basic work on it, but I know I have another 6 hours or so of research and work to do before it's even somewhat presentable. So naturally, my brain keeps throwing distractions at me. My internal monologue goes something like this: "You know you have a big project to do, right? You should really get to work on th-oooh! You haven't played Bejeweled for like 3 hours! Just play a couple of games and then you can start the project for real. But maybe you should feed yourself or just get out of the room first..." and on and on until the translation gets, well, lost in translation. But I can bet you that this time next week, I'll be beating myself up for leaving the project to the last minute again.

Any ideas on how I can get out of that habit?

Me

P.S. I'm doing the 30 Hour Famine next week and am collecting donations. I'm collecting cash in person, but I've also set up a donation page (https://myfamine.worldvision.ca/famine/profile/17187). The site takes Visa, MasterCard and American Express. Just, y'know, in case you're interested.

Hey peeps,

As you may have gathered, I've been looking forward to getting inked for a LONG time now. I started planning sometime last July, and went in for a consultation in mid-December. The first appointment I could get was for 2 days after my birthday in mid-January, and I took it. I went in to see the final design 2 days before, only to be told that I shouldn't get the tats because I was on meds that could make me bleed the ink out. So I rescheduled for Valentine's Day. Everything was fine and dandy right up until 2 days before (you sensing a theme here?), when I got a head cold that once again prevented me from getting inked. Another reschedule, this time on March 15, and I would've had to skip class to make the appointment. Only problem? It turns out I have a midterm during that class. So I get to reschedule AGAIN. I do have a tentative date, but I'm not going to share it for 2 reasons. First, my artist is going to call me tomorrow and we'll see if I can go for 2 separate appointments (one per wrist) or maybe get another artist to put her design on my skin. The second reason I'm not sharing is because every time I start to get excited and tell people about my upcoming appointments, I have to move them. It's like a curse, or as my aunt puts it, "Maybe the tattoo gods are trying to tell you something."

Signing off so I can go study,
Me

Hey guys,

I know my posts have been pretty crappy and depressing lately. Truth is, I've been going through something of a personal shitstorm lately, which I unfortunately can't discuss here. I can tell you that it's less Eeyore-y (Eeyore-esque?) and more "A Series of Unfortunate Events", though. I'm actually handling things fairly well, just at my own pace. I'm hoping to return to regularly scheduled programming soon.

In the meantime...

Ciao for now,
Me

Hey guys,

Just a quick note to let you know I'm alive. I've had a run of bad luck lately (nothing serious, but it requires a LOT of different explanations that I quite frankly don't have the time or inclination to give) and am still dealing with the aftermath. Then there's those pesky "midterm" things...

*sigh*

I can't wait to get home for Reading Week tomorrow. For those of you who are interested, I'm in town from the 17th til the 26th. Fire me a FB message/email/comment/text/whatever if you want to get together!

Moi

P.S. One thing I should mention is that I didn't get my tattoos this week after all. I caught a head cold over the weekend and they didn't want me contaminating the artist. So now the appointment's been moved up another month. I've learned my lesson, though; I'm not going to say anything about the ink anymore. It seems to curse me when I do...

Hey folks,

As you may have gathered, I'm back from Vancouver now. I had an amazing time: we got to go to Stanley Park, I stayed in a hotel room that was twice the size of my dorm room (in a hotel that had "canine ambassadors"!) and I was spoiled silly. It was absolutely the perfect getaway!

Unfortunately, I've been hit pretty hard by reality now that I'm back at school. Today was especially crappy: I ended up missing my bus and running almost 20 minutes late to my first chiropractor's appointment* (during which I discovered that I had managed to pop one of the joints in my hip - ow), then got serious writer's block on an essay-style philosophy exam. Which just so happens to be worth around 30% of my mark. I ended up writing out most of my points in a list at the back of the test booklet, then begging my prof for mercy. Luckily, he seems like a pretty lenient guy so I may be able to salvage or make up a few marks. Still, I am hugely unimpressed with myself...

But yeah. Time for a little dose of happy (for me, anyways), 'cause I GET MY TATS ON MONDAY! FOR REAL THIS TIME!!! I'm excited and nervous and scared and absolutely can't wait! These tats mean a lot to me, and I really want to be able to show them off :D

And yes, you'll hear more about them as soon as I can type without crying (which may be a while, since they're essentially open wounds filled with ink and will take a while to heal).

TTFN,
Moi

*please don't judge me, Dad! It actually helped...

Hi guys,

As some of you who know me IRL (that's "in real life", Grandma) may have noticed, I've been kinda down lately. My body basically decided to rebel against me, making me deal with the flu, PMS and indomethacin withdrawal that amped up my citalopram side effects. As a result, I basically turned into a slug for a week and a half. Believe me, it wasn't pretty.

However, I'm happy to report that things are back on track now. Something that helped a LOT was the fact that I was invited to go to Vancouver with my grandparents for the weekend! So many things are perfect about this: getting to stay in a (clean! private!) hotel (with a TV! and a bathtub!), escaping the parties in res, getting to see my grandparents again, getting away from the snow... I can't wait! This is exactly what I needed to get myself out of the rut I've been in.

Another thing that helps is that I'm finally starting to sort out my housing situation for next year. Long story short, there's been a lot of confusion and stress about that lately since my Plan A (moving in with my current roommate) hinges entirely on said roommate's parents' choice of apartment. Unfortunately, they won't make a choice until March at the earliest, which is leaving things pretty late if I have to try and find somewhere else to live or notify my "backup plan" roommates that I won't be living with them after all. It's left me in a really awkward position, but luckily I've been able to find someone who understands my situation and is open to being my backup. Bonus: I actually like this person and we actually have a lot in common, which would make moving in with her a heck of a lot easier.

Oh, and a third bonus? My Italian prof made an announcement yesterday that made me very happy. I can't say much until I know more, but basically it involves an amazing opportunity for the month of June. Suffice it to say that I'll be incredibly happy if it works out!

So, yeah. That's my news for this week. I'm so glad that I have things to look forward to now - it makes it that much easier to keep going.

TTFN,
Me