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

Hi guys,

Have you ever noticed how time doesn't behave the way you want it to? When you're waiting for something, it slows waaaaay down, so that minutes feel like hours and a single day feels like an entire week. The same applies to meetings and classes - it feels like your brain is moving ten times faster than everything else, so that you come up with a million other things you *could* be doing... all in the first ten minutes. This leaves lots of time for your mind to bounce around like a kid on a road trip, constantly asking "are we there yet?!?!"

It's an incredibly frustrating concept, matched only by its twin - time speeding up when you're trying to avoid something. You know what I'm talking about. You're so totally focused on how much you don't want to do the thing you've been avoiding that it turns into tunnel vision, blocking out everything else that's happening around you. This makes it a heck of a lot harder to note the passing of time. The result? A sort of mental catapult that makes time pass so fast that you're at the "doomsday" before you know it. Of course, as soon as you get to that point, time (the sneaky bastard) slows right back down so that you can savour every second of whatever it is you've been putting off. Cruel, isn't it?

I have to say that I've been going through a lot of both of these phenomena lately. On one hand, I've been looking forward to getting my tattoos and going home for reading week, and it turns out they're 3 Very Long Weeks away. On the other hand, I start midterms (sort of) in less than a week even though it feels like I've had almost no class time. Why can't these events switch places, so that I can put off midterms (and have time to study for them) and fly home/get my tats right away? It's not fair! Someone needs to do something about this...

Ciao for now,
Me

P.S. Yes, I did change the blog template. I think it's less visually crowded and much easier to read than the old format. Thoughts, anyone?

Hi peeps,

Sorry for the late post. It's been kind of a weird week - everything's seemed to come and go in waves this week. Let me explain:

So last Sunday was my birthday, which means I'm now legal to drink everywhere except in the US. You'd think it would be a huge event, but you'd be (mostly) wrong. While my awesome roommate did buy me a cake so that everyone could sing to me, that was about the extent of the festivities for the day. The rest of the partying happened on Thursday and yesterday, when I had 2 family parties - one at an Irish pub downtown and another at my aunt's house the following day. It was a lot of fun! Oh yeah, and my big birthday present was a Keurig coffee maker - one of those single-cup deals that takes "pods" instead of grounds. I think it's safe to say that I'm going to have a lot of fun with that...

Of course, nothing really happened on Monday or Tuesday. My big accomplishment was getting groceries for the week. W00t. It should be noted that I was supposed to get my tats on Tuesday, but the appointment's been bumped to Feb. 13th because the artist was afraid that the meds I'm on would thin too much and I'd bleed the ink out. I have to say, it was a major disappointment - not only was I getting myself all worked up, but I had chosen that particular Tuesday because it was right after my birthday and the tats are my birthday present to myself. So yeah, I was pretty bummed.

Wednesday was pretty uneventful as well, aside from the fact that my grandparents came to visit and I moved into their hotel for a few days. I know it seems kind of pointless, but I just couldn't pass up a clean, warm shower plus access to a TV and a comfy bed. Of course, getting the chance to be spoiled by my grandparents was pretty nice too :)

And that brings us to Thursday and Friday, when I had my parties. Like I said, they were a blast. I was so proud of myself for being able to order a beer at the pub - even better, I wasn't ID'ed.

So that's my week in a nutshell. Sorry once again for the erratic posts - I think I'm going to try switching to Thursdays, since I only have one class that day. Any objections?

TTFN,
Me

I promise I'll write more tomorrow, but for now I just wanted to post the design my tattoo artist sent me. :D:D:D