working girl

Man, every year I forget how much the start up period at work takes out of me. The first two weeks are just brutal...and today every thing hurts. I moved wood for a pretty good chunk of the day (which is a good arm toner, I guess) and I can really feel how out of shape I am. Definitely need to put in some Pilates time tonight, I think.

I got my acceptance package from Guelph, finally, and they've decided to stump up some financial assistance for me. So, if I go there I will have a two-term TA or RA position, and possibly some other internal awards. It's funny that as soon as I have a source of income (the SSHRC) that suddenly the university has to offer me more income to go there...I understand that a lot of it has to do with funding and prestige and such, but I still thinks it's crazy. I am really excited about the job, though, and I really hope that it will be a teaching assistantship, because I think that would be a pretty incredible experience. (To say nothing of the fact that if I do my PhD, it will go a long way towards helping me to get into that.)

I'm back up to North Bay tomorrow to move out. Wish me luck!

back to work

Start Day #5 at THSWSNBN. I didn't sleep much last night because I was so worried about it, which was, in retrospect, pretty silly. The whole day was kind of silly--a lot of sitting and listening to people talk. For the most part the people doing the talking were actually pretty interesting, but after nearly 6 hours my bum and my back were not so thankful to be sitting there. The training is a very different format this year than it has been in years past, which I am thankful for. Unfortunately, I have to miss the FAM tour day on Friday, when we visit some of the other area attractions--which, in my own geeky/nerdy way, I'm actually disappointed in.

Also, I was somehow turned in to a pack mule for both sisters and got to carry around my own training manuals AND theirs for the day. How did that happen?

If I tell myself that it will be a good summer often enough, do you think it will come true?

why, I never cry in movies

I watched Mr. Holland's Opus. I really like that movie, in a terrible, cheesy kind of way.

I'm a bit nervous about working at THSWSNBN again. It will be my fifth year there, and that is somewhat intimidating to me--I will be the oldest face there among the interpretive staff. Both of my sisters are working with me this summer--it'll be interesting to see how that goes. I think it will be good for Cait to start work, the poor kid needs some distraction from everything that's been going on in her world lately.

I thought this would be a more exciting post, but it's not. and my comments seem to be broken on this computer.

baby, it's cold outside

In some of the best. news. ever. I am bound to report that I received emails today telling me that my application for the SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities REsearch Council) has been accepted, which means that grad school will now be a reality as opposed to a pipe dream of some kind--they're giving me $17 500 for school next year.

I was really afraid that I wouldn't get it, and I am grateful to everyone who had faith in me.

In other news, I am home now, and starting work back at the Historic Site Which Shall NOt Be Named tomorrow. Woot for that. Figures, too, that just as I find out that I will be okay financially next year, the parent company posts an opening for a position that I would have applied for had I not got into g-school.

It is good to be home, and also to be not puking anymore...it was a rough weekend.

I said I didn't give a fuck about hockey...and yes, I meant it

While I'm as happy as anyone about the Leafs winning (okay, that's a total lie), I really don't feel like my neighbours need to be using their drum kit to bash out a rhythm to yell "go leafs go" by. Of course, I'm bothered by the fact that it's Maple Leafs, but that's because I'm an insecure grammar nerd who is overcompensating.

If you're at all interested in things science-y and fun, you should check out The Gravity Probe B site, which is looking at the probe sent up by NASA, Stanford, and York University that is testing Einstein's theory of relativity. The data won't be ready for release for probably another two years, but this is pretty exciting, since the theory of relativity is a prretty important principle which so much work has been based on...and if it's wrong, well, there's a whole world of possibilities there.

this is weird...

Has anyone else had experience with (or know anything about) a website called Share Your Experiences.com? I've received emails from the website a few times, claiming that people are searching for information about the owner of one of my email addresses (one of my personally identifiable ones, that is not a yahoo or hotmail account). They won't give me information about who is searching for my information, or let me contact the people who are doing so unless I stump up for a paid membership...it sounds like a big scam to me, but something about it has got me really creeped out.

That is in no way related to the copious amounts of CSI Season Two polished off in the last week or so...not at all.

all right, who didn't shower yesterday?

That would be me. One of my neighbours has apparently burst a pipe, so they've shut off all the water to this complex of townhouses--figures that I didn't shower yesterday, and that I have my big English soirée to go to tonight. Thank god for roommates who are willing to let me shower at their new house.

First exam tomorrow...Texts and Intertexts...I only *just* read The Homeric Hymn to Demeter this week, so I might be screwed...or maybe not. Not sure. I keep telling myself it's my second last exam ever, and I must say that that is a pretty neat thing.

I start back at smath in ten days and that freaks me out.

gah

So now I've heard from Guelph...I'm in their "second tier" of applicants...not the ones they absolutely wanted for sure, but not bad enough to be rejected outright, either. Which means I get to wait until they have all of their rejections, and hope that then they can offer me a place after that.

This is what I get for trying to think outside of my box, I guess.

save me from the wookiee

I'm going crazy--I *still* haven't heard back from Guelph, and my last two emails to various people in their English department have gone unanswered...which means that, if I don't hear anything tomorrow, I will have to call them, which I don't particularly relish the thought of doing.

Star Wars now has their own online store. The good news? I'll never be stuck for a present for the Boy again. The bad? The prices are, of course, all in American dollars. That said, I think the Boy would just die if I gave him this for our two year anniversary.

He digs the Clone Troopers, that one.

she comes into focus, focus

Clean laundry is the shit. When my roommates moved out and into their own house, they took our washer and dryer, on the proviso that they provide laundry service for the rest of us until the end of the month. I did two loads today, which (ideally) should last me for the next ten days, until I moved home for the summer.

The university is screwing me around and I am really confused by it. I'm in a supplementary program called Orientation to Teaching, which is supposed to guarantee me a spot in teacher's college provided that I take three classes relating to education (a psych, a sociology, and a practicum) and maintain a 70 average on my undergrad. All in all, a pretty sweet deal. Last week I got a letter telling me that I wouldn't be finding out about my acceptance until my final grades were in and they've reviewed my OTT requirements. Which is irritating, but fine--except that some of my classmates, who are in similar programs and academic standing, have received their acceptance packages already. WTF?

A friend ran into a guy at the school who told her that the school is bell curving the OTT applicants to weed some of them out, because they have more OTT applicants than spaces available, so some people won't be getting in. I doubt that this would apply to me, as my current standing is just above an 80 (A-) but it has got me worried. Needless to say, if this is true, and I don't get in, it will not be pretty...the University would be in a very very bad place, public relations-wise.

yummy

I made chocolate chip cookies today and they are excellent. Project Bread didn't happen because my yeast died (sniff) but I may rectify that in the future. Who knows?

I watched the MTV Becoming today (because I was bored and lonely) on Britney Spears's I'm A Slave 4 U, and it was really bad, except that the guy in the Becoming video who licked Not-Britney's face was wearing an April Wine t-shirt. Yes, April Wine, as in semi-obscure 70s Canadian rock band. who are actually quite a good band, just not the sort fhtat one would expect people in Non-Britney Spears videos to be wearing.

I had my Pilates class tonight and it felt so good. I skipped one of the classes last week because of my Feminist Theory paper and my body was really not happy about it. It's funny how much I've really come to enjoy the exercise, and I will really miss it when I return to Elmvale, although I will hopefully be joining a gym there when I get back, and doing some biking besides. I want to be a lot more active this year.

if I only had a...

if my knitting skills were better, I would make this in a heartbeat...as it is, I'm having a hard time not asking my mum if she'd make it for me.

I plan to knit more this summer. I bought Cait a knitting book for Christmas that has a pattern for a very nice bag (kind of a purse more than a bag, I guess) and I think I am going to work on that. It will be my first time working with real wool (aside knitting various bits of others' projects at THSTSNBN) and I have high hopes for it. It's a very simple piece, but if it comes out, it will look quite nice.

At the rate I'm going, I should be able to make the piece that's linked above by the time I'm 90. I just that when I'm 90, I'll actually have time to make it.

london calling

About a month ago, I sent home all my of CDs and DVDs and non-school related books in preparation for the end of April move out. The CDs that stayed are a good bunch, obviously, but it's been a month...so imagine my delight when I found The Clash's London Calling, The White Stripes's De Stijl, and Rufus Wainwright's s/t under my bed. It was definitely a good thing.

In other good, CD-related news, I finally found my copy of Sloan's OCTA/Party Album, which the boy swore he didn't have, hiding under the owner's manual in his glove department. This is a very good thing, as I have missed that album muchly, and it has prevented me from creating the "Sloan's Greatest Hits" compilation, which I actually have a surprising number of people waiting for.

And, if you live in Canada and you haven't done so already, go check out PureTracks.com. It is also a good thing.

you call this justice?

the mathman moved out for real today. It was a very sad day. The house is a disaster and I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with it, since (as predicted) it's becoming more and more apparent that the bulk of the work is going to be done by me.

I celebrated easter today with my sister. We had ham and asparagus and garlic bread and apple pie. It was awesome. We also watched ten episodes of CSI, and I feel like I'm going to explode. I bought some baking supplies at Some Frills today so I might make some chocolate chip cookies tomorrow...it's been literally YEARS since I've had real homemade cookies, as opposed to those Pillsbury ones in the roll. (Although, I must admit that I've eaten more than my fair share of chocolate chip cookie dough from those rolls...)

I watched a episode of a TV show called Exhibit A last night and one of my co-workers from The Historic Site That Shall Not Be Named was in it.

Maybe I'll make bread tomorrow, I found three packages of dry yeast in my cupboard when I was poking through there. If not bread, maybe some soft pretzels...or foccacia. Which, I guess, is technically bread, but whatever.

Watching CSI makes me paranoid.

I can see you with my eyes closed

it's been almost twelve hours since my last post. Not much is new. I cleaned the bathroom today until I got high on cleaner fumes (and by high, I mean dizzy). I cleaned the newly defrosted freezer. I forgot to take the garbage out, though. crap. I'll do that tomorrow morning.

I watched Apocalypse Now tonight. Damn, I love that movie.

Kurtz has been on my mind lately. I was reading today about how Marlon Brando hated the script for Kurtz at the end of the movie and ended up demanding that he be shot in the shadows and also that he adlibbed most of his lines. I just find that incredible, because I honestly can't imagine Kurtz being done any other way than what he is in Apocalypse Now. And he makes Eliot references!

The same edition of James Frazer's The Golden Bough is in one of the seminar rooms at school, and I often consider stealing it.

adv. adlt. are you a playa?

I get ridiculous amounts of spam email at one of my email addresses (actually, come to think of it, I get ridiculous amounts at the other, too, but do you think I could be bothered to change them?) and it's usually either about our old friend porn/increasing the size of my member/increasing the size of my bustline, or about bad credit. One I got today asked "are you a playa?"

And sadly, I must report, that I am not a playa. or even a player. It's bad when even your junk mail starts ragging on you.

it's sad when the most exciting thing to happen to me in a long time is that my sister has a blog now:
LIzzy's Lair. You can read it if you want.

snowballs in the house?

my mom just threw a snowball at me. it exploded all over my pants and the floor yet narrowly missed the computer.