Catch-Up (with photos)

Well, I've showered, I've eaten, and I've napped. Time to catch up on what I've done so far on this trip. For those who don't really care, just move along, 'cause this could be really boring. I'll try to be brief.

-Bangor to Boston- my first time on a plane powered *only* by propellors. Scary. I didn't know planes could bend like that.

-Boston to Columbus- I hate people who are so sweet with people they've literally only just met. Maybe this is why I'm somewhat short on friends. (Thank you to all of the friends I *do* have. I know I can be a boor.)

-1.5 days in Columbus-Ben and Julie eat so well, I managed to gain significant weight in this short amount of time. Ella's adorable and big and other than being stubborn (so Julie says) seems like a really easygoing kid. Criminally, I didn't take any photos while I was there. For updated photos of Ella, though, see benandjules.com.

-LA-Brad picked me up, and his apartment is only about ten minutes from the airport (nice). It's in a cute building, with an open-air courtyard sort of thing going on, and you can smell the ocean a little bit. Brad and I sat around that night, ate Cheez-Its, drank Pepsi (or Diet Pepsi), and watched Melinda Doolittle get kicked off of American Idol. America, you do indeed suck.

-LA to Santa Fe- Brad did the whole twelve hour drive, though I DID offer multiple times to drive. For the most part, the storms seemed to be shifting around us while we drove. Very Terry Goodkind in the desert separating the Old World. The lightning was spectacular, though. When it wasn't storming, though, the scenery was beautiful and did an excellent job of making me feel like I was in the Southwest. Well done.

SANTA FE

Thursday-Brad and I arrived late; Ben K, Dad, and Sandra had flown in earlier that day.

Friday-We went for lunch in a little bakery/patisserie that was in a ...warehouse? I learned that French toast and cream cheese are excellent together. Later that day, we all went to a softball game between the students and tutors/employees of Saint John's College. Despite liberal application and reapplication of sunscreen, I was badly burned, and am now peeling like...something that peels. I almost went with orange, but I don't think there's a god/giant-like figure above me, prying off my outer layer. Afterwards, there was a little reception for the graduates (excellent jalapeno poppers and cider), and then Anne's choir/ensemble gave a small performance, to show the parents what they'd accomplished that year. They were great, and it really made me miss singing. Oh well. They were fantastic. That night (I think) the Kesslers (including Petry, Iten, and Bond) went out with the Heilveils (Ben H's [Anne's boyfriend] family) for dinner. Due to bad luck with timing arrivals, our seating didn't sprinkle Heilveils with Kesslers; we were somewhat separated with Kesslers mostly on one end, and Heilveils mostly on the other end. The dinner was fantastic, though, and Ben K and I shared a dinner of huge-ass steak. Brad slipped out early (before his quail even arrived) to go pick up Jennie from the airport. Dr. Heiveil (pron. Heilville) and Dr. McEwan (no idea on that spelling) are Ben H's parents, psychologists, and are both very very nice. Ben H also has a little sister, Lilly, who is very nice, pretty, and somewhat quiet. Being quiet myself, I can commiserate. Plus, not only was she around the somewhat overbearing (is that unfair of me?) Kesslers, but she was also stressed out by end-of-year and end-of-high school things she needed to tie up in the next two weeks. She's moving on to the American University in Paris next year (so jealous), so best of luck to Lilly! Oh, and I got my hair cut.

The Heilveils. Dr. McKeown (sp???), Dr. Heilveil, Ben, and Lilly

Saturday- Anne's graduation!! We woke up, almost arrived late (but didn't). The ceremony was outside, and we all moved around a couple of times until we found a satisfactory location under a tree. Anne sang with a little ensemble, and whoever that guy was who thought he had to "conduct" them, I wanted to slap him, and break his baton in half. They were lovely, though.

Ensemble with "conductor."




There were one hundred and something people in Anne Marie's class, so it was nice and short. Afterwards, we escaped the crush of people and went out to India Palace for a buffet lunch. Delicious. Ben K, Jennie, and I snuck (sneaked?) off to buy Anne a present of nested mixing bowls that were assymetrical, like eggs, but once Anne got them, she quickly pointed out why their egg shape could be beneficial, and not a nuisance. I learned my lesson, and have now converted (mentally) to egg-shaped mixing bowls. Ben K and I wanted to get cigars to celebrate, but never made it to the carefully concealed cigar shop...wherever it was. We did, however, get some pretty gross champagne, and flowers (not gross). Anne made reservations for dinner that night at a lovely little restaurant (Santa Cafe) that is in what is apparently a very famous/important house. Didn't get the whole story on that. While I ordered Diet Coke and not wine, and we took pictures (at the dinner table), I felt very...low-class, but tried to forget about it.

Anne's graduation photos
Anne Marie heading up to receive her degree

Anne Marie getting her BA hood thing

After all the caps have been thrown, during the recessional. That's Anne's friend, Luke, to the left.
Shockingly well organized photo.
Sandra, Dad, Jennie, Brad, Anne Marie, Ben K, me
Congratulations, Anne!

Sunday- Dad took Jennie and Ben K to the airport. Both of Anne's feet were mysteriously entirely covered in bruises, and swollen like little balloons. Brad, Anne, and I met the Heilveil's for brunch at the St. Francis Hotel, and that was both delicious and fun. Afterwards, Brad, Anne Marie, Ben H, and I went to the animal shelter. Each dog had a little 5'x5' room (approx.), so they were easy to visit with, and had a nice space outside to play. There were so many sweet dogs there, not to mention adorable little puppies sitting in puppymounds. There were about fifty cats there as well, and some of them were *reaaaally* cool. If it weren't for the border that I have to cross so frequently, and my inconsistent place of residence and fairly frequent traveling, I would have gotten a cat then and there. Some of them looked really badass. Ben H and Anne went hot-tubbing, and while I brought them their towels (aren't I nice?) a bolt of lightning struck sooo close. Anne bolted out of the tub faster than a jackrabbit, while Ben and I, since of course the lightning had come and gone, put the cover back on the hot tub. Dad and Sandra, who saw all of this from the safety of the house (we were renting a lovely little house up in the mountains, btw), had a grand old time laughing it up. :-P Brad, Anne, and I went shopping, and I found my size in a pair of Dankso boots that I fell in love with. We tried to go to a yarn store, but it was closed. For dinner, we went to a place that had more of a chain feel to it, due to long waits at other restaurants, but we ran into the family Anne babysits regularly for (a little baby).

Monday- I bought the Dansko boots!! Woke up with a mild version of hte swollen, bruised feet Anne had. Ben H, Anne, Brad, and I played Settlers of Catan, ate some pizza, and then hung out at Ben and Anne's apartment. It's a cute little place. Has a little patio area, 1-bedroom, walk-in closet, lots of charm. Beams across the ceilings. So we all lounged around there, using the internet (no internet at the house were staying at, thus the lack of posting), until Anne and I went to Ten Thousand Waves for my birthday present (a private bath and massage). Ten Thousand Waves is a little Japanese-style spa/retreat tucked into teh mountains. Traditional Japanese buildings, little waterfalls, open-air courtyards, shoji. We changed into kimonos when we got there, and it was weird knowing that I and everyone else there was naked underneath. Good thing I didn't go to the community bath. Anne and I had a lovely hour in our private hot tub, Ichiban, and then I went to my massage with masseuse Sundown. She was great about explaining how everything was going to go down, since it was my first massage, and was also very gentle. Almost too gentle. It was very relaxing, though, and I have a newfound respect for elbows as tools of massage. I absolutely recommend Ten Thousand Waves to anyone who is in the Santa Fe area, though. After Ten Thousand Waves, Ben H, Brad, Anne, and I played a sleepy final game of Settlers (Anne schooled us) and went to bed.

-Santa Fe to LA- Brad and I made this a two-day trip. We stopped at Meteor Crater, payed the outrageous fee of $15 to enter, and tried to hold onto our clothes against the ripping wind at the top. The crater itself was fantastic and huge, and the meteor that made it was apparently only 150-feet in diameter.

Brad and I attempt to pose at Meteor Crater

After that, it was a short drive to Flagstaff, where we stayed the night, got dinner at a little "brewery" restaurant that was filled with university students, and had surprisingly good food. And a cute waitress named Shaunie. Brad and I watched the NBA lottery thing, and American Idol. I tried to watch House, but alas, it wasn't on. Instead, another show (On the Set?) was premiering, and it was sort of fun. Fifty unknown directors compete to win a spot at Dreamworks. Next day, we went to Montezuma's Castle, which is muuch more impressive in person than it is in a photo. It's clinging to the side of this looming cliff, looking all ancient and cracked, and imPOSSible to reach, and I can't believe it's still up there.

Montezuma's Castle. Little lizards were crawling around everywhere, and there were several other not very impressive ruins on the ground that hadn't survived much.

Little lizards A seven-hour drive later, and Brad and I returned to LA, ate Cheez-Its, drank Pepsi (or Diet Pepsi), and watched the Heroes finale that I missed because of my massage, the Lost finale, and the results of American Idol.

Heroes and Lost spoilers ahead.

Heroes: I think that Peter's still alive, and Nathan's dead. If that's the case, I'm cool with that. I loved seeing all the characters intersect with one another. Can't wait for next season. Cheap that Sylar just dragged himself off. Why didn't you rip that katana straight up and out of his torso, Hiro? Anime-style!

Lost: I'm so happy that Jin's still alive. My first favorite character was Mr. Echo. Killed. My second favorite character was Charlie. Now all I have left are Desmond and Hurley. Why didn't Charlie wait at the ceiling, take a last breath, and swim out the port hole thing once the water had finished coming into the room? It looked like he could fit pretty easily. Evil Mikhail (is that his name? I've forgotten him so quickly.)

TODAY-whew, bet you thought that would never come. Went to Chipotle with one of Brad's friends, Robert. Thank you for getting me out of the apartment! Preeeeeetty certain that Brad put him up to it, but I had fun nonetheless.

Photos will be added once Brad gets back and helps me figure out this iBookness.

New post coming soon....

Tonight, Brad and I are spending the night in Flagstaff on our way back to LA. Thursday, I will make an absurdly long and boring post about what's happened so far on the trip, and it will include many many pictures. Many. In fact, I'll probably make them a bit small, just so it doesn't take forever for some people to load.

And people, no Heroes comments. Brad, Anne, and I haven't seen it yet! Many thanks.

Ella Dream

I'll try and write more about my trip later, but I just want to mention something really quickly. Last night I spent in Brad's apartment in LA, before we drive to Santa Fe really this morning. Well, I had this dream last night that I walked over to Brad's fridge, opened it, and inside was Ella (my nine-month old niece), perfectly fine and gurgling with delight at seeing a face. I took her out, we had fun playing together, and later, when she needed to have a nap, I put her back in the fridge.

Weeeird.

The latest with me

Considering that my typical blog fare is about the boring things that I do from day to day, I tend to not mention celebrity names much, with the exception of movie reviews. However, in my last entry I mentioned the names of three celebrities, and first-time visitor hits on my blog just blossomed. Burgeoned. Significantly increased. And for some odd reason that annoyed me.

Annoyances aside, I did get a kickass jacket last weekend. Zipped, unzipped. Yes, I am now that person who takes pictures of herself standing in front of a mirror. How myspace-y. To go with this jacket, I just need to get a tattoo and a motorcycle. I actually want the motorcycle.I have spent the last three or four days solid tiling. Skills learned: wet saw use for straight and free-hand angle cuts...thin-set mixing...tool cleaning...yeah, so, not much in the way of skills learned. It did, though, take a surprisingly long time. And I have basically been covered from head to toe in fine tile chips for the last three days. Excellent exfoliant. What you can't see in this photo is a spot on the right where three of the long, decorative tiles are missing. Dad didn't order enough. So there will be a lovely bare spot until we order tile for the other countertops. I'll be doing the grout tonight.There was a week of unlimited trash disposal at the dump for spring cleaning, so early Saturday morning, Dad got me up and we went around the front yard, picking up all the horrible trash scarring the landscape, left over from the demolition of the house that Dad actually bought on this property. The notable thing that was thrown out was Dad's old saw. I guess Pater (my grandfather) gave this to Dad when he was 20 or 21 and building his first house, and then it was used, from the fifties or something. At the time he was making every cut on the house with a circular saw. So, Dad was very sorry to see it go. I told him that he should try and sell an antique like that on ebay, where it would find a happy home with someone who cares about old tools. We took it to the dump in the first load, and by the time we came back with the second load, though, it had already been trash-picked. Dad was very happy.

In other news, I'm leaving for Columbus tomorrow before heading out to LA. You can expect lots of picture-heavy posts during my trip.

I meant to load all these pictures as right-aligned...too lazy to to do it all over again. :-P

Eyes Solution

Well, I know everyone was on tenterhooks, wondering who those eyes belonged to. I hate prepositions. And in the end, I think that the eyes I drew failed at replicating the actual eyes. Oh well, that's just part of practicing, isn't it.

So, Eyes Number One belonged to none other than Hugh Laurie! Looking dashing for the 2006 Emmys.
Eyes Number Three belonged to Willem Dafoe. Without the rest of his face, it just doesn't really look like him. I thought that Paul Newman was a good guess.
And I don't know if just copying and pasting will work, but here's the picture I used for Elijah Wood.

And noow, time to go tile some more! Dad, Tim, and I have already been to the dump twice today in an attempt to clean out the yard. So...I really stink right now.

Eyes Update

Well, I'll take the mystery out of some of it.

Go Jennie and Ben I! The second one was Elijah Wood.

No one's gotten the first or third yet. The first eyes are the only ones that actually look like the person's, I think. I really don't think that the third can be guessed. Just in case, though, I'll give a hint. The rest of the features on this actor's face are more unique than his eyes.

I'll post who they actually are tonight.

Eyes

So, I got bored last night, and thought about how generic all the eyes are that I draw. Boring, boring, boring. Most of our assignments with people in them last year were supposed to be self-portraits. Since I have particularly everyday eyes, this didn't exactly push me to draw anything unique. So, here are three famous actors who all have eyes that I notice. Any guesses as to who they are? I think the third is pretty impossible to guess.

A Lazy Afternoon Post

The title of my blog is just about the most unoriginal thing ever. Every other person's blog is "adventures of this person," adventures of that person." However, I feel justified by my use of it (who doesn't feel that they're the exception?) since I actually had little "independent adventures" assigned to me. And this really was supposed to be about those independent adventures. And to some extent, all the rambling I do aside, it is.

And speaking of my latest independent adventure, (perhaps my proudest) here is PROOF of my amazing feat of going in and switching over my expired Ohio license to a Maine one!: Aren't you guys proud of my paranoia? That I blocked out all that personal information? That's a very un-me thing to do.

Dad and I watched Field of Dreams last night. I forgot how much I liked that movie. It's really positive and all about being constructive, and it was nice watching a movie that was so simple like that. No intrigue, no backstabbing, no evil, and yet it wasn't a romantic comedy.

I don't want to jinx anything, but the weather the last week or so has just been amazing! Seventies and sunny. The week before that, I had slippers and long johns on and was walking around in a blanket holding cappuccinos to warm me, so this is a pretty drastic swing. My favorite thing, though: The bugs have started making noises at night. I sat last night, in front of hte computer (of course), just listening to them, and it was beautiful. Hearing the bugs really makes me feel like it's finally summer.

Time to make a cappuccino...a little cappu...and back! It's more like a latte, really, 'cause I like so much milk. It's amazing that anyone actually reads these blog entries that I write. They're almost a stream of consciousness...almost. :-P

I love this picture that Julie took last Thanksgiving. We were at the BeVier's camp in Maine, and this is while everyone was playing softball/baseball. Julie was acting as photographer.

I think that Jack Johnson sounds better when his CD is skipping.

Materialistic Me

I am so materialistic. I want to be rich so that I can buy lots of THINGS! Like cute little shoes that, right now, I can in no way afford.

Or a hair cut every two months or so. Instead of once a year. :-P

Overdue

Well, I certainly have been a lazy blogger. I've been reading lots of Anne McCaffrey novels and shirking my blogging responsibilities in between working on the house.

I saw Spider-Man 3...twice. I went to see it with Tim and friends over the weekend in New Brunswick, but Dad hadn't seen it yet. And I knew that if I told him I'd already seen it, he wouldn't go, but I thought he'd really enjoy it. So I just said, "Yeah, I'd love to go see it!" when he mentioned it. He liked it, and I thought it was okay. I think that it was easier for me to like it than for people who are big fans of Spider-Man. I didn't sit through the movie knowing what they'd changed. It's like watching the Harry Potter movies for me, I bet. The movie by itself is okay, but people who know the books spend the entire time knowing all the things they leave out and don't explain, and how much crazier it could be. That's how it is with any thing like this, I suppose, so I was happy that I didn't know what they changed, and so just enjoyed (or didn't, as the case may be) what was there.

My favorite part was when SandMan was trying to collect himself for the first time, after he'd just become...sand.... I thought that scene was actually really nicely done. I've heard a lot of criticism of SandMan's character, but I don't know why. Because he was sad?

I felt like what the movie said about relationships using Peter and MJ was much more mature than what the other movies tried to get at, and I actually really liked that. Though I heard a lot of people say that they wished MJ would get out of the movies, and stop messing up Spider-Man. Sillies.

Topher Grace? Distracting. All I could think of was That 70s Show when he was on screen.

Anyways, I would recommend this movie for a rental. Unless you're a Spider-Man fan, of course.

So, Ottawa moves on to the next series. Emery's been very surprising. Almost as surprisingly good as Brodeur was surprisingly bad. No, Brodeur wasn't bad, he just wasn't as good as he normally is. And New Jersey may have had the "EGG-line," but Alfredsson, Heatley, and Spezza seem much more...likeable? Silly, but true for me. They work so well together.

Anne's graduation is rapidly approaching, and the trip will by far be the highlight of my summer. One month of traveling, visiting Brad, having epic driving fun, including stop-offs to see interesting SouthWestern-y things, going to a baseball game, and at some point I must see a movie, being together with everyone in Santa Fe for Anne's actual graduation, plus my birthday present massage (aaahhh!!!!) , and seeing everyone in Ohio, plus Grandma and Grandpa Callahan's 60th wedding anniversary. So, this is going to be one epic trip.

Since everyone's talking about American Idol...

I caught one American Idol show, and it was the American Idol Gives Back thing. I thought Annie Lennox was going to somehow be involved (didn't realize that was the next night), and since I don't know anything about her, but Jaime loves her, I thought I should watch, so that next time Jaime posts about her, I can nod my head wisely. So many commas. Too many. Bad sentence. These aren't even sentences at all now.

Anyways.

In this show that I watched, there were some that I liked, and some that I didn't like so much. But the one person who I could not beLIEVE: Jordin. Alllllmost constantly she was flat. I spent the song wanting to just push her up a little bit onto the correct note. And her big, long, diva last note, was flat, flat, flat, until she widened her sound a little bit, and the note finally fell into place. I was horrified, but not nearly as horrified as when not. one. of the judges mentioned it. This wasn't just one note that was flat! And this person has made it this far in American Idol?

Ben I's right; you shouldn't judge a person based on one song, but when he mentioned that she had some problems in this week's show, I had to share. It was really irking me.

And I think that this will be my one and only American Idol post. The Ottawa Senators won their game tonight against the New Jersey Devils, nice job. Now they're up 3-1 in the series. I keep tabs on the games online, since Dad and Sandra go to bed so early that I can't watch them (their room made of celotex is right next to the tv).

Triumphant!

I absolutely love love love the backwoodsy Maine BMV. I was all nervous, thinking that they were going to make me take the road test (I suck at maneuverability, picture lots of mutilated, squished orange cones beneath my tires. Very macabre.) since my license was out of state and expired (a bad combo). I just walked in, waited for a nice old man to stop chatting with the woman (there were no number tickets given out to tell you your order, or illuminated numbers over the people's desks saying who's next. I hate that. Sitting there, waiting hours for your number to pop up.), sat down, said, "I'd like to renew my out of state license," and that was that. Paid my fee, checked my eyes, signed my name a couple of times, took my picture, and it's coming in the mail. Of course, I'll be even happier once I'm holding my license. However, I am feeling some immense personal pride, that I accomplished such an independent adventure. Making myself actually gather all my documents, and leave the house for the BMV, knowing that I didn't really know where it was, and that I would have to talk to people, and that I would (I thought) have to take a road test where I might knock over a cone, took considerable shyness conquering. Getting over that horrible dread enough to actually do it. Anyways, that's my victory. Which means I can have insurance, now. Yay!!!

Fabric and the Ohio BMV

Well, I finally decided on the fabrics I'm going to use for next year's room. I know, this must be sooo exciting for everyone! :-P But I thought I'd share. Feel free to criticize my choices, I don't mind.

I'm going to make an upholstered headboard with this:








And use this to make curtains:









Tomorrow, I am hopefully going to play the Go Renew My Expired License and Switch Its State at the Same Time Game. Also part of hte game is hoping that they don't look closely enough to notice that it never was a real license. For those of you who don't know that story, if you want to know it, I'll tell, but basically I hate Ohio's BMV. Hate. I think that Ben K can properly hate them with me. Only...maybe he hates them a little bit more.

Well, actually, there are a few people who read this blog and don't know the whole family, so I suppose I'll share that...edited to remove Ben K's horrible BMV story. Sorry, Ben. You can picture me looking sheepish and repentant.

Meanwhile, I got my temps when I was 15 and a half, let them expire without getting my license, got them again when I was 17 to take the license test, got my license. There was a computer glitch saying that I'd only ever had my temps for two weeks, though (actually a year and two weeks), so they said they had to fix it, and I should come back the next day, and I'd get my license. I came back the next day and they gave me my license. Fast forward...three years, and some diligent car insurance guy requested my license information, and the BMV told him that all I have are expired temps. So I've been driving around on expired temps that look like a real license (it is a license), and my proper not real license has now expired. I've given up talking to the BMV, and am now hoping that Maine will just renew my license and switch it over to Maine without looking too closely. And if they do look closely, I'll play stupid, and then find out what I have to do. Needless to say, this will be a true independent adventure, and I still hate the Ohio BMV.

Stamps!

Well, I'm alllll done. All. Done. Free for the summer. My last exam was yesterday, French, and it went really well. Yesterday was spent packing until one, and this morning I woke up at eight =0 and Tim, Katie, and I took all of our stuff that we don't need till next year to next year's house. We filled the Jeep to bursting three times, and finished on the fourth load. It turns out that one of the bedrooms in the house is really small. That's where we stored our stuff, and we actually filled the entire room up to the ceiling. There was just enough room to shut the door.

After so much productivity so early, you can imagine that I have been completely wiped the rest of the day, and I've been spending my time attempting to eat everything in the fridge and freezer. I am so full, and feel so fat.

Tonight, I dyed my hair. It was supposed to be brown, but I think it's actually come out red. Once the dye fades from my forehead, I'll take a picture. Katie (roomie) had the wireless router, and she left today, taking it with her. Now, I sit with a big old cord coming out of the computer, and feel so chained. So, I'll be relatively absent from the magical world of the internet until...Saturday night....

Do you guys know StumbleUpon? It takes you to random web sites that match your interests, so, not so random...but cool. I've been wasting hours and hours using it, and am addicted. And now I want to make my own rubber stamps. Fast forward to Christmas: I hope everyone loves stamps!!

Next Year's House

You know what I think is soooo funny? When people are watching professional sports, they see what a player does, and they criticize it. "What are you doing?? I mean, come on! You're only up against one man." Riiiiight. These are professional players. This sport is their life, and this guy is sitting there talking like if he were in this guy's shoes, he'd be able to kick the other guy's ass. When I hear people saying these things, I seriously wonder what's going through their mind.

Heroes episode tonight: Awesome. Predictable, but I still loved every second of it. How evil does Future Hiro look, eh? Apparently there is a cello player named Hiro, as well as a Hiro Nakamura that has a PhD in...something...he's very greasy.

Today, the weather god smiled down upon Antigonish, and blessed us with a summery day. The temperature reached 75 degrees. No joke. 75. The warmest day this spring before that was like...55 tops. So, on this fine summer-like day, after not doing so well on my developmental exam, I went for a walk around town, and snapped a picture of my ugly, but new, house for next year. I'll be moving all of my junk in on Wednesday. The landlord's being supernice and letting us keep our stuff there over the summer, even though we have an 8 month lease (yayy!!!!) from Sept to April next year. He's also letting me paint my bedroom, pending paint chip approval. More on that later. So, here is my vinyl house for next year. Laundry is located in the building on the right.Just to show you how awesome my location is compared to last year, I drew some arrows.

Time for me to go to bed, 'cause my Research, Methods, and Statistics for Psychology exam is tomorrow. I'm feeling pretty good about it.

You know, I don't really care if Vancouver wins this, the seventh, game in the series and moves on or not. 'Cause looking at the way they're playing, they don't deserve to move on, and would probably just get badly beaten by the next team if they did. Famous last words before Vancouver wins the Stanley Cup. (Haha, right)

You tell me:

Apparently this is a rabbit.

The Container Store

I am completely in love with The Container Store. It's true. I've spent something like five hours on their web site, oohing and aahing, and thinking about how much I want useless stuff.

I present Exhibit A: Cup-A-Cake
Exhibit B-Domed plastic thingies. This actually seems superuseful for those partially used onions and such. Or, you know, I could just buy ziplock baggies.
Exhibit C- Man I want this so much!!!! It's so cute and tidy! You don't have to worry about your brown bag getting smushed to death, and then your PB&J screaming in pain as its insides ooze out. Aaaahhh!!!
So, these are my container store wants and desires, plus lots of lots of organization thingies. If it weren't for that little issue of money, I'd buy so much useless junk.

Stanley Cup?

I've embarrassed myself quite a few times by not being culturally clued in. At first, hockey was one of these things. Two years after arriving in this fair, cold (why won't you warm up by now???? Come ON!) country, I'm really starting to appreciate hockey. When you watch it with no previous hockey watching experience, it all just looks like sort of boring mayhem. Crazy skill can be happening in front of your face, but you don't recognize the beauty of what you're seeing, and think that hockey's just a little bit not special.

Now, though, I can appreciate the organization behind what appears to be mayhem, and how surprisingly coordinated everyone is. Since I've been learning to appreciate hockey in this northerly Canadian clime, I find that I've also been adopting a love of practically any Canadian team. In the playoffs, I'm cheering for every Canadian team to move on to the next round. Particularly the Canucks, Senators, and Flames.
After trying to go into the butterfly position, like any goalie, I have respect for their knees. Ow!

The only thing that I don't like about hockey: The fighting. It's part of the game. The refs ren't even supposed to break it up until the players fall down on the ground, and then they can intervene, most often ineffectively. It's unfortunate. I really don't like it.Aaaand there's a player on Vancouver's team whose name is Ryan Kesler. Just putting that one out there. So now the Stanley Cup playoffs have begun, everyone is growing their playoff beard who is capable of growing one, and I have been watching hours, hours, and hours of hockey every day. Go Sens and Canucks!

Only I

Only I could do something this outrageous. As I think everyone is aware, I'm in exam season, and today I had my first one. I studied in a fairly lazy though productive manner for Developmental Psychology, my most difficult exam. I got myself all psyched up, and kept thinking developmental thoughts. So imagine my surprise when I go in to take the exam, and find in front of me a social psychology exam. Only I could do such a thing. I studied for my developmental exam and not at all for any other, and it was actually social psychology. However, if this were to happen at all, this is the best way that it could have happened. A) My social psych lectures are super clear, and I pay amazingly close attention in all of them B) Developmental is actually my most difficult course, and since I thought the exam was today, I've actually tricked myself into studying in a nonprocrastinatory manner. How smart is my subconscious, eh? Eh??

So, how funny is THAT.

Happy Birthday, Evie!

Enjoy your day as the boss!!

Knitting screw-up

I've been intrigued by the idea of making a neckwarmer for a while. But not one of those scary ones. Oh my goodness. I really have to show you guys this. It's sooooo creepy. These guys terrify me so much. And I really wanted to make a cool neckwarmer, but in the end, what I have is more along the lines of what the creepy guys are wearing.

Anyways, this is just a first stab for me. Notice how I used a hideous pale green yarn, since I knew that this was a trial run. And I've learned some things. A) I should probably use thinner needles B) I should also use thinner yarn C) definitely don't add so many stitches towards the end. Right now, it looks like a skirt for my neck.

After spending all this time working on it, I'm not exactly raring to go on a second trial run. So, here is my Neck Skirt.
You know what I love about Worms? You can use a Holy Hand Grenade! That is too cool.

All done!

Now you can blog in Hindi!

Well, I'm finally finally done. My last class was on Wednesday, but I still had this lab that was all about SPSS to do. I turned it in twenty minutes ago, and now I'm totally totally done...until exams. Yay!

On Tuesday, my research methods and statistics group put up our poster, the end result of a year-long project, in which we designed a study, wrote up questionnaires, an invitation to participate, consent form, and debriefing letter, applied and received ethical clearance (took about our third draft for us to get it), collected data using a psych 100 class, analyzed the data, and created this poster to report our findings. I won't bore anyone with exactly what we were looking at, but suffice it to say that we found absolutely NO result. That was because the design of our experiment was horrible and designed by a researcher who wanted to be lazy (me).

I just have to share that Jibbles (resident cat) put his head inside my Tim Hortons doughnut bag, it got stuck on his head, and started running around the house with the bag on his head, until it finally fell off. Amazing! And I didn't grab a picture. I might put it back on later, to try and recapture the moment for everyone.

So, here is the final result. I was shocked at how long this poster took to put together. So don't make fun of it. :-P
And here is my noble group. Shelley, Erika, Laura, and Gregg, as we all sit back and enjoy the fruits of our labor. I realized, Sam, that while you visited me, the present I got for you two Christmases ago was right here on my bookshelf, all wrapped, and I still forgot to give it to you. Oy.

Dad got me a Skype phone for my birthday! It's not up and running quite yet (charging), but now if you call me on Skype, the chances of me picking up (since the sound won't be muted, and I won't need to try and find my headset) will be greatly increased. Also, I'm counting on the sound quality to be better.

It's still snowing, all white outside, but it's nice and warm, so at least that's something. I really really can't wait for that month of traveling, being in warm places. It's April 12th, but there's no way you'd be able to tell by looking out the window. I'm very ready for some sandals.

What's with the joining Facebook craze? Jennie, Dan, and Jaime are the only siblings not on now, right? Nope, Dan and Jennie are the only ones. HOW did I not know that you were on Facebook, Jaime?? Aaah. Well, I just added you. Problem solved!

Sooome Stuff

I have four more classes left in the year, and all four of those are just review sessions. Of course, since it's the end of the year, things are due, and there's some stress going along with it. Stress and happiness.

I only took developmental psychology this year because I was looking for any course that was still open and fit into my schedule. I was even looking at physics (yikes!). However, I am so so immensely happy that I took it. Everyone should take this course. Every parent, (moms and dads), educator, administrator, anyone, should take a developmental course. Not only do you appreciate what kids/babies you know are going through, you appreciate your own development, and how things influenced you. It's really fun!

We've been doing adolescence the last couple of weeks, and just listening to lectures about all the stressors and awkwardness and stuff, has made me feel more stressed and awkward.

So, there was a huge snowstorm Saturday night, and I drove back to Antigonish Sunday after church. Church?! Me?! Together? Shocking, I know. Anyways, the roads started out looking okay near Saint John. The closer I got to Nova Scotia, though, the worse the roads were. I passed a semi overturned between the two directions of traffic, with a backhoe attempting to push it back up the slope on its side, and a full mile of traffic at a dead stop behind it (a full mile of cars is pretty hard to get around here). Happy that I wasn't going in that direction, I was just at the Nova Scotia border (right under the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick flags), when I stopped for a crash/accident/sliding of many cars. Bright side: I was the second car stopped, so I had an excellent view of everything happening. Second bright side: Because I was stopped, and saw what happened to the other cars, I myself did not slide off the road. Thing Making Me Not a Bad Person For Enjoying Watching: I really don't think anyone was hurt. There were three cars, but I think they all went off the road at separate times, and just thudded into huge snow banks. Why, you may ask, did this happen. Mostly, the roads were okay. What made them dangerous was their unpredictability. One second, you could be driving along a nice, dry section of road with good visibility, the next second, you're blinded by snow, no visibility, nothing but hard, packed snow on the road, because snow gusting presents serious difficulties with the roads. For intermittent sections, the road might as well have not been plowed at all. There were nine more cars off the road in the Halifax direction. Everyone was being told not to drive unless there was an emergency. By the time I realized this, I was already halfway to my destination. Besides, I needed to be here to work on my group project! Anyways, I'm safe, aren't you all relieved.

While talking about possible causes of aggression, and obedience to authority sometimes as an explanation, the Milgram shock experiments and Zimbardo prison study of course came up. While watching a movie on this, though, a modern, real-life example of obedience to authority was shown from the media. And I was shocked. Perhaps you guys have heard of this. The specific case I was told about, was that someone saying he was a police officer called a McDonald's, asked to speak to the assistant manager, told her that an employee was suspected of stealing a purse and asked the assistant manager to bring the girl into her office. Following what the "police officer" on the other end of the phone said, the assistant manager stripped her of her clothes and made her do jumping jacks naked. Since the assistant manager needed to go out to the counter to work, the police officer told her to call her fiance, and have him watch the girl. So the fiance came, and continuing to follow orders from the police officer on the other end of the phone, forced her to dance, spanked her whenever she wouldn't comply, and forced her to do some really horrible sexual things. Meanwhile, there's a security camera in the office, recording everything taking place. This lasted for over five hours, until the fiance had to leave, and the janitor was asked to come in and watch the girl. The janitor walked in, was told by the cop to describe this naked girl, said no, asked what the hell was going on, and everyone sort of realized what was happening, and the "police officer" on the other end of the phone hung up.

I won't even go into what these people were thinking, and I thought this was bad, but it turns out that this has happened over 70 times in something like thirty states, almost the same everywhere. Really horrible things happening to girls as young as 14 (the girl earlier was 18). And these people in positions of authority are sometimes so reluctant to do these things, they cry and sob as they're spanking their naked employees on the ground, but they still do it. Others are kind of sick, and won't stop, while family members eventually arrive, and have to forcefully take back their daughter/girlfriend from this person who's actually imprisoning them. Meanwhile, the person who's the focus of these attacks is young, terrified, thinks they're in trouble with the law, and locked in a room with these people.

I just couldn't believe this. If anyone's interested, here's an article that has a lot of information on the history of these calls, and a suspect they found.

So, pardon my long rambling about this horrible thing, but I was just amazed by it. Time to go work on one of my labs.

Dream Rambling....Brad's Fault

I really really hate the smell of seafood chowder. And if there is any in the same building as you, you will smell it. My italics is stuck...nice. I wish that I could *attempt* to describe last night's dream to you. I'll give some highlights. I dreamed that:

• Everybody Loves Raymond was funny
• The horrible grandpa from that show oversalted my tomato
• I was in pursuit of an evil, toy-making genius who was killing puppies
• An old Roman woman tried to stab me in the back with a Bic pen. She pretended to hug me, then whipped it out. Because of the bad angle, I couldn't rip her off, so I had to bang her head into a marble column until she lost consciousness
• That last part was in an ancient, underground, Roman temple, where I was hiding a woman and her three children from this old woman. Dan, Jennie, Hiro, and Ando were all helping me. The woman and children were hiding in this watery sewer, and by pretending to learn kendo we could mask any watery sounds they might have accidentally made.
• Also, in an evil universe, I was made a slave, and forced to repot many exotic plants, and the soil was filled with worms. I like worms, so this was okay, but I definitely had no idea how I was going to escape.

Does bullet point form make reading about my dreams more tolerable? And talk about summarizing. That underground temple involves at least an hour of narration. The woman's poor husband was shot off a boat in a canal, trying to give his family time to escape. What a guy.

I'm glad, Brad, that you seem to have a similar dreaming style. I twice tried to use a dream dictionary, but neither had what I needed. And it was all such bs that it was pointless. I think that what's in a dream is too personal for a dream dictionary to work. In part of one of my recurring dreams, I'm frantically trying to pull those pieces of plywood in the basement over, to cover the glass doors, so that if the lion (who metamorphosized from an alligator once I got out of the lake) managed to smash through the glass doors, the wood would still be there. But the wood's hard to pull over, and gives me splinters as I'm yanking at it in a panic. And dream dictionary's just don't cover that.

Hey, Brad, you're in one of my recurring dreams. I'm like three, the farm house is under construction, and I'm riding on the back of an elephant up towards the front of the house. You're riding on the back of an elephant in front of me. Later on, while we're in the house, the elephants stampede through the walls. Brad, you picked me up and rushed me through to Mom and Dad's room. Everybody was safe, we asked the elephants why they did that, and they explained that someone had lied to them, saying that someone really evil lived here, but that they saw they were wrong and that they'd hurt the house. Very nice elephants. And I've completely failed at not rambling on about dreams....

So, I'm in Saint John. On the drive down, the roads were terrible thanks to a brief snow storm. Snow storm! And the weather seems to constantly say, "Flurries, flurries, flurries." It's April! Come ON! Haha, wow, winter storm warning for Antigonish. 45 cm of snow expected. That...is unfortunate.

So...what's new...nothing.

Happy Easter!

Well, I'm heading over to Saint John for the long weekend, so blogging will be scarce.

With the exception of Anne, everyone's Happy Birthday Mandy picture was from winter break. I find that pretty funny. Was it for up-to-dateness' sake? Of course, I appreciate everyone's sweet happy birthday wishes. The Youth Philharmonic story Anne told was in fact very traumatic, and a day that would be nice to forget. I was horrible to Mom, and at the time thought that my trip to visit Ben in St. Andrews, as well as all of my books, were being taken away from me. Much crying followed. But there was NO way I was going back to that orchestra. (I would like to add that this was the beginning of a new season, not in the middle.)

Okay, I can't resist telling the background of why I didn't want to go. I got into the orchestra thanks to Mrs. Moore, my cello teacher, who told the conductor that I was good enough. And the orchestra may have been the "Youth" Philharmonic of Central Ohio, but I was far and away the youngest. Everyone had many friends from their respective high schools, and combine that with my shy attitude (especially then) and I was definitely not making any friends. I spent my free time looking over the music, taking trips to the drinking fountain, and waiting for rehearsal to begin again. On top of that, the music was just out of my reach of playability. I was constantly struggling to make some position changes on runs. I can still remember the back page of The Toreador Song, and how I would cringe every time it approached. And knowing that I was the one who was responsible for that slightly off sound in the cello section. Anyways, when the new season was beginning, I definitely didn't want to go back.

Time to go driving! To New Brunswick! Happy Easter, everyone...a little early.

Mandy's Art Studio: V

So, yes, there are some nudes in here. Never fear, none of them are of me. I go to the "artistic nude" section on deviantart.com, and find ones that use a lot of light and shadow. And in that sideview one, her boob really was that pointy.

An unremarkable birthday post

Happy birthday to me!

Thanks to everyone for fabulous birthday wishes. Ben K, I can't get to your blog for some reason. :-( (...hours later, I got to it!) I love how Facebook brings all these friends out of the woodwork for a quick happy birthday wish. It's kind of nice and random at the same time.

Never fear, Jaime. My 21stish celebrating took place last night. I had a couple of martinis with dinner, and a pina colada when I got home. Yummy! But it was all a very tame affair.

Yesterday, I had a French oral exam for my final in French lab. And I am not lying at all when I say that one of the guys who went managed to speak the dictee with a French Borat (!) accent! It was Borat in French, no kidding. Picture Sacha Baron Cohen saying, "Pierre et moi, nous nous connaissions depuis deja trois ans." It's pretty funny. And I really don't think he intended to do it. Also, the lab professor tried to lighten the mood by being "funny," and interrupting us over and over again right as we started to speak. Talk about unnerving.

As I think about graduate school, I'm not certain that I want to necessarily go to one of the "top" psych universities. I'd prefer a university that is really friendly in a medium-sized city. Does anyone have any "this university kicks ass" suggestions?

Have you guys ever played Worms? I love it! Scorched Earth with worms. And they're soo cute; I can't really bear to kill them. But I sure can throw a mean grenade.

My Version of Ben I's Post

I believe...

that maybe there's a God.

And that about wraps it up! See, Jaime? Ben I's such a pro-Believer compared to me. He looks positively angelic.

Mandy's Art Studio: IV

So, here are two sketches I did for fun last weekend. The first was to work on reflections, and the second was to sort of work on glass. Unfortunately for the second one, I could only find my 4B pencil, and my graphite sticks crumbled to death in my backpack, otherwise my blacks would be much less wimpy

Easily Impressed

Well, it takes anything forever to reach Nova Scotia, so don't laugh at me when I'm amazed at new things. The new thing I'm amazed at: A movie rental store. It's been around on the corner of Main and Hawthorne for a while, but I never went. I took a step inside today, however, and was amazed. The whole store takes up about 15 sq ft, and is basically an empty room with an ATM-style machine. You put your store card in the machine, select a movie to buy or rent from the screen, take your card over to the movie dispenser, insert, and your movie comes out of a slot in a neat little plastic case. Want to return it? Put your card in, and the slot sucks the movie back in. And since it's just like an ATM, the store is open 24/7. This is amazing!! Even better: The house I'm living in next year is about 50 feet down the street from this place, which has a convenience store sharing the building with it.

Technology: Continually decreasing my need for human contact. Thank you!

However, I did have a very Independent Mandy moment the other day. I bought a slipcover for a hideous trashpicked chair from WalMart. There was only one option, and the end cost, including taxes, was $86. It looked all neat and cute on the packaging, but when I got it home and on the chair, it turned out I'd bought a hideous slipcover for my hideous chair and paid an outrageous $86 for it. I normally never return anything, but I absolutely had to return this sad excuse for a slipcover when I paid that much for it. So, there's not much of story here. I returned it. But that's the story: I returned it! Go me!

Tim and I went out to Pizza Delight for dinner, and there was this huge (for Antigonish) line, because a kids hockey team with all their parents was waiting to be seated. Meanwhile, the line was stacking up behind us. A little kid came in with his grandma, who was trying to keep him entertained during the wait, and explained that everyone had to wait for a table to be free. The kid goes to the restroom, which is at the back of the restaurant. He comes sprinting back to the front to his grandma to proudly declare, "I found a table! There's an empty table back there!" and proceeded to try and drag his grandma to his find. It was really cute.