So I did something stupid again. You know that thing that I always do?

Writing down the wrong due date/not realizing a due date has changed and COMPLETELY PANICKING AND GOING INSANE?

Yeah, I did that again. So my essay will certainly not be late!! In fact, I'm ahead of schedule. I would laugh if I wasn't sobbing so hard.

I also got an really good mark on the midterm, which I thought I'd kind of bombed. 89%. So that's one less panic for me. Now I only have to worry about my other two assignments due this week and midterm exam. Strike one essay, two reading quizzes off the list. I'm really glad I decided to study for the quizzes rather than write my paper. Whew!! You must all wonder how I live my life in such a constant state of disorganization.

In other news, I got the swine flu vaccine this weekend (in PA, for Danny's birthday) and my arm won't stop hurting. I haven't gotten very much sleep the past two days. I can't turn over or really move, or sleep in any position that's not on my side without experiencing a great degree of pain. It was hard to stay awake today, considering that I woke up at 4AM after a fitful sleep and couldn't get back to bed. Ow!! It's not really a side effect from the vaccine, it's just painful and long-lasting. Sure wish I took the nurse's recommendation to keep myself doped up on aspirin.

Anyways, I am eating hummus and pitas. Hummus is god. Mmm. It should be classified as an addictive substance.

Finals are approaching, many, many essays and papers due. Unpleasant. Ugh.

I am going to bed, and I hope I can actually get some sleep this time. May arm doesn't hurt nearly as bad as it did before, so yay!!

Will update again later, when I actually have something to say.

Thank you, God for ending our suffering!! If anything is proof of a loving god, this is it!!

Truly, God, you were answering more prayers than just Oprah's!!

Hallelujah, Praise the Almighty Lord!! Blessed Be!!

Being a misanthrope is actually a damn lot of work.

A whole damn lot.

This looks like a really interesting documentary. Scott, have you heard anything about this? You are the film expert, after all.

Our crazy stupid fire alarm keeps going off in the middle of the night. There is never a fire, or anything actually exciting like that.

Last night, it went off a total of six times, at half hour intervals. This all occurred well after 1AM. Every half hour, the fire alarm would go off, and Scott called the listed number for assistance. And you know what the woman on the phone said to him? She said, 'You should be outside if the alarm goes off. You shouldn't go around and check for a fire first."

Yes, well, that's what we're trying to work towards!! How can we be expected to take the fire alarm seriously if it's going off at all hours for no apparent reason? We can't, that's how. And likely no one else in the building is calling about this, as many (actually very many) have limited English abilities. Oh well. At least they came this morning to check it out, but really the alarm is just crap.

Also, Scott worked in the morning and I also needed to get up early to get work done.  

Okay, that over: 

I recommend everyone check out this. It is very super Canadian and exciting, A collage!! Also, check out the comics with the Bronte sisters. Because those are my favourite Hark! A Vagrant comics.  

Reading Icelandic mythology is really cracktastic. I mean, you have people who live in piles of bones, and it's normal to hack peoples legs off with an axe, and revenants go around cursing people because you need to kill them and stick their heads up their butts. And this is all normal. 

My prof is also excellent. To paraphrase:

"It's an old Icelandic saying that one should 'never have a slave for a best friend.' And I think this still holds up today. Now, you may say to me, "but Professor Harris, we don't have slaves," but nonetheless." 

Also, he told me I probably have swine flu and will infect the whole class.

Yeah, I'm pretty sick right now. But not swine flu. Sorry, guys.

Just how stupid am I? Here I am, feeling sorry for myself, and I didn't even think to check the due date somewhere other than my daytimer. Turns out I wrote down the wrong due date!! My essay is, in fact, done right on time and I will lose no marks, whatsoever. Dear god, what is wrong with me? 

Edit: Also, I put cayenne pepper in my eyes yesterday while making vegan chili. And in my nose. It was very, very painful, and I do not recommend the experience. Do NOT put cayenne pepper in your eyes, no matter how tempting it may seem. Stupid.

And I took the wrong bus to get home today. Stupid.

Oh, and I will officially apologize to Robbie for making him take the bus down to my apartment in order to watch me throw up. I'm sure that was very unpleasant for you. I hope whatever appointment you had went better for you than mine did for me.

Very sorry. I kind of feel awful over everything.

On Monday I had a dental appointment in order to get two fillings. After the appointment, I threw up and collapsed asleep, thereby missing my class. Then I woke up, ate fruit cocktail, and threw that up while Scott went out to buy me food. And then I ate some more, and went back to sleep.

This might not be a problem if I didn't have two essays due on Tuesday and a reading quiz on Monday. One of which I was supposed to spend all Monday completing, on account of it not being done yet.

So my essays aren't handed in yet (yes, still) and I still feel like crap, although not as bad as before.

How crap is that? And I was doing so well!!

Why on earth would fillings make me this sick? Why the nausea?

Oh well. I'll have to take a late mark and make up the reading quiz.

Why am I so tired all the time? For the past week, I've been getting more or less a full night's sleep, and then I just fall asleep anyways, taking a nap midday. It's starting to get really annoying, seeing how I have many, many essays and tests coming up this month. I can't sleep all the time and study/write essays/do readings.

There are several reasons for this, in my opinion/research.

A) I could be iron deficient. It has happened in the past, so there is some medical history. Solution: take iron pills/multivitamin and eat more iron-rich foods. Wait to see if it improves.

B) It is getting dark earlier (i.e. 6PM) due to changing seasons. This is all a part of alleged seasonal depression. Solution: Get out more during daylight hours. Maybe try to walk to class/back if it isn't too cold? Or, alternatively, give myself time to adjust to the changing seasons.

C) Not enough exercise / inactivity makes one tired. Solution: Get out more as in solution B. Maybe try to exercise in the evening before bed, as this is supposed to help with sleep problems.

D) It could be stress. This is not an acceptable explanation to me, because I am planning to add more stress to my life rather than reduce it. Also, there is very little I can do about my existing stress, as it is mainly school-related. I feel I am doing all I can - even finishing work ahead of time instead of my usual last-minute frenzy. Solution: Do nothing. Alternatively, exercise and a better diet can help reduce stress. So eat more iron and do exercises.

Or I could see a doctor. But man, this is annoying.

I am bad at updating my livejournal. This occurs for a number of reasons. A) I'm not very interesting B) I am too tired/lazy to type up the interesting things and C) whenever I do manage to type up a kickass entry, this stupid site goes and stupid deletes everything. It kind of sucks.But here goes!!

Things that have happened in my life:

1) I recently had my wisdom teeth removed on the left side of my mouth. I was very, very nervous, on account of people telling me countless horror stories of intense pain. Surprisingly, though, the actual procedure barely hurt at all. The needles were a bit painful when injecting the anesthetic, but it was a temporary pain. After that, the entire removals took about thirty seconds. Apparently I am lucky, because my teeth (all my teeth) came in straight. It was an easy removal - they didn't even have to cut my bottom tooth in half with a drill like they were supposed to. The dentist and dental assistant were both very nice and straightforward. After the operation, I was given a perscription for painkillers, but used Advil instead. People keep telling me how good I look for someone who had just had wisdom teeth removed. It really wasn't that bad

2) Insane month for school. I've had to get all my essays done ahead of time even though they are due at the end of the month, because if I don't I won't have time to study for my three midterms immediately prior to the essay due dates. Oh, and because my classes are concentrated into two days a week (plus one Monday class) all my midterms/essays are scheduled for the same days. Arg!! Also, my profs are not so big on handing out essay assignments more than three weeks before they are due. Very annoying for someone who needs to get them done ahead of time. Not a lot of leeway.

3) Scott scared the Mormons away. I think. We have, as you all likely know, been cooresponding with Mormon Elders from our area. Every once in a while we'll get a phone call and I would debate with them for an hour or so about why prayer doesn't seem to work, proof of God's existance, etc. Well, this time I let Scott on the phone with the Mormons, and they had an hour long conversation in which the Mormon apparently got very, very angry. Oops. We were making a vegan apple pie at the time, and watching the Office. The pie didn't turn out as well as either of us would have liked. My opinion? Peel the apples next time, possibly aim for larger slices, and somehow let them drain their juices better. Also, I think it was a tad undercooked. Delicious, but the recipe will be altered!! Probably the Mormons won't call again. Oh, well.

4) My new bird-watching scheme is somewhat thrawted by the coming of winter. It snowed quite heavily these weekend - highways were rough at best. Even though we put on the winter tires, Robbie and I ended up going 40 km from P.A. to Duck Lake, and afterwards from 60-80 km. It was beautiful out, but dangerous. First snows are always like that, and it's made that much worse by Thanksgiving weekend. Regarding the birds, this weekend I spotted Canadian geese, magpies, junkos, chickadees, and a downy wookpecker. Probably there are more that I am forgetting. I will try to identify winter birds from now on, but really everything is leaving around this time. I was suprised to see a woodpecker at all.

5) Joeleene's wedding was on Saturday. It was snowing, so that we were not able to stay at the cabin in Waskesiu, and instead drove to and from Elk Ridge. There were many elk and deer around the area, and very few golfers. Joeleene's wedding was held in a small-town church that was purchased and transported down the highway to Elk Ridge. I suppose it is intended to be multi-purpose, but it was clearly very Catholic in origin, as was the ceremony. It's strange - I don't recall Joeleene as being particularly religious, but there you go. It was a lovely ceremony. The Church was cold, so everyone was in their winter jackets. I wore a dress, for what is about the first time since elementary school. This is very exciting to me. Likely none of you care. We closed down the cabin after the ceremony, and then hiked the Height of Land in our dress clothes. Luckily I had brought a pair of hiking boots along with me. After returning to Elk Ridge, we attended the reception. It was incredibly enjoyable. The flowers at each table were arranged in vases filled with large, freash cranberries. Yum!! I was able to take one home, and want to find recipes I can use them in. Joeleene has two 6-week old newborn babies. They also attended the wedding and reception, both of which were very kid-friendly. When/if I get married, I want to have tiny children running all over the place dancing, playing tag, and doing backflips. It was very fun. Joeleene's twins, Abigail and Edward, were very sweet. I got to hold Abigail for nearly an hour. She fell asleep.

6) Thanksgiving weekend. I ate a lot of food. So did everyone. Obviously, I was in P.A. with family. Scott was also there, but we were unable to meet up due to A) inconvenient timing (he or I would call the other too late or early to meet) and B) my own stupidity (sleeping in late). I am sad about this, because I wanted to spend some time with his very adorable niece. And with Scott, of course. When you spend most of your time with a person everyday, one weekend apart can seem like a lot.

7) My uncle Peter, a veterinarian (naturally) took a look at Blue and has pronounced him fully healthy and not at all underweight. So screw you, everyone who thinks he's too skinny. My uncle also says he is not loyal to me at all. This is mostly true. Blue thinks everyone is his very best friend. 

That is more or less what is going on in my life right now. I may need to get a job. I have not been keeping up with my reading as much as I would like. I'm probably convocating in the fall (gives me plenty of time for screw-ups and reparations this way). I have no plans after this, as usual. I could get a degree in Library Science and Records, but I'd have to go out of province for that... I may get a Biology / Environmental Science degree, because then I could stay here. I may in fact not do either of these things, and simply work full time. I have no idea what kind of job to aim for with my Sociology degree, though. I really truely have no clue and never have. And likely nevery will. People like me want to go off in all directions. If I could, I'd study everything. But I cannot.

My life may not be very interesting. But that isn't stopping me from writing about it.

Cixous's 'The Laugh of the Medusa' is bullshit. I shouldn't have to write an essay about psychoanalysis. It has no basis in reality, and is crazy.

So I get this essay topic comparing Virginia Woolf's 'A Room of One's Own' and Cixous's 'The Laugh of the Medusa' regarding women's writing. The problem here is that Woolf is speaking about writing techniques with an aim at quality - not only for women, but also for men. Cixous, on the other hand, is talking about... masculine writing's phallocentrism, and how women need to overcome this using the unique qualities of the female erotic experience, which Freud has apparently neglected. Woolf offers evidence of the poor depiction of women in written works, and Cixous offers... Well, psychoanalysis. Based on Freud. Which has no textual evidence or credibility, and makes no sense.

I don't have the foggiest idea why this even counts as a method of female writing, when all the information that's conveyed is 'write using your body'.

...

School, huh?

I have a number of other problems with this class - mostly the fact that the professor makes shit up all the freaking time. She attempted to compare the literary/philosophical concept that 'truth is relative' to Einstein's Theory of Relativity. No, I'm not joking. She said they were basically the same thing, only one included SCIENCE!!!!!

She also claimed that there are no female Greco-Roman gods/mythological figures depicted as 'wise' or 'strong' or 'as warriors'. Which is not true. Athena, Minerva, Artemis, Atalanta, anyone?

In addition to getting Greco-Roman mythology wrong, she also got Biblical mythology wrong... I cannot even go into this. A professor shouldn't get this much stuff wrong that is so easy to fact-check. I mean, Wikipedia could provide this information. It wouldn't even require any effort. Perhaps I am too picky. But perhaps not.

So, I walked into the wrong class today. I went into Arts 134 instead of Arts 133. They are next door to each other, and Arts 134 is where my Stats lab is located immediately after my Stats class in Arts 133. I though I was going in 133 and kind of just got pushed along with the crowd. The worst thing was that my prof apparently teaches in that room right before my class, so I thought it was right up until the last minute. And then I noticed how odd it was to have so many male students in a Stats class for social sciences...

It was a computer science class, so I decided to stay and get some work done. But then the prof started handing out quizzes, and the people behind me wouldn't stop talking and had on incredibly strong cologne. So I left.

Oh well.

I haven't been posting much lately. Usually that means that I'm either really busy, or really depressed. It's no secret to many who know me that this past year has been an unusually specific sort of hell for me (I would say April 08 - April 09 qualifies), so that explains not posting much then. This summer has been a mix of both busy and depression, so that should explain things adequately enough.

Still, I did get done a few of the things I've meant to do this year. I've tried out a variety of new foods and recipes - in particular new vegan dishes and baking. I feel a lot more confident about cooking and baking whatever I may choose. I've been reading a lot more. I don't think I'm quite averaging ten books a month, but I'm pretty close. I've been trying to get out more to see movies, concerts, etc - something I'm not inclined to do, but that Scott enjoys. I've seen a LOT more movies in the past eight months than I've seen in the prior four years. I've also spontaneously bought concert tickets / went to see Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan. So I need to keep that up. If I'm going to live in a big city, I may as well take advantage of this sort of thing, right?

Which is why I'm going to buy tickets in advance for a number of Persephone shows. As soon as I get my class schedules, I mean.

Also, is anybody else going to see the Hold Steady when they're in town?

I've also done a good amount of hiking and kayaking this summer, something been meaning to do. What I haven't done is go down to Grasslands or Cypress Hills National Parks. I also haven't gone on a canoe/camping trip. These are things I sorely miss, and desperately need to do. There's nothing like watching the northern lights in the middle of nowhere, or counting the constellations in the darkest nights. Summer classes get in the way of so much opportunity!! Hopefully I can do at least one of these things before the end of the season. I am going up to the lake (Waskesiu) next weekend, and maybe I can sneak a canoe trip in there.

And damn, do I want to do Otter Rapids or what?

I can dream.

Today I celebrated my birthday by engaging in an hour long debate with two Mormon Elders. I now own a Book of Mormon and have promised to read it and find out if I can see god's influence in my life.

How did you celebrate your birthday?

Living with Scott, one comes to watch a substantial variety of t.v. shows. And because of that, I need to say this:

The Wire has ruined me for all other shows. And I've only seen one season of it thus far.

We've also been watching Damages, which I know is a good show. I can tell. But compared to the Wire, it is artificial and does nothing so much as spell things out for the viewer.

Also True Blood sucks major ass. It almost had me for a few episodes. And then I just hoped that I was wrong, and perhaps the writing was just inconsistent. But no, it's has the most boring characters, boring plot points, and only cares about shoving as much sex in one's face as is possible. What's worse, it's boring sex, engaged in by boring people, for boring reasons.

Also, Sookie Stackhouse is the biggest Mary Sue I've ever managed to encountered. Even Scott noticed. And he only knows what a Mary Sue it from my vague descriptions.

The point is, really, that there is no point in watching anything after seeing the Wire. Not one single point.

I suppose it should be no secret that since I've spontaneously decided to take spring/summer classes, my summer plans have gone to shit. I had been planning on doing a lot of summer reading, but look at my bookshelves. Full of unread masterpieces (or not). I have to say, I'm starting to burn out pretty bad. It's been a lot of work, and damn it, I want a break. I sort of considering taking August off (of everything - school, work, life) and just not doing anything.

That might not be realistic, but... I can dream, can't I?

So I'm probably graduating in the next year or so, which would be nice. It'll be the whole Sociology major deal, probably with an English minor. I'm kind of worrying about that, because English majors are often total flakes. Sometimes this is hard to deal with.

I'm tentatively planning on getting another degree, tentatively in Biology, possibly in Environmental Science, or Studies, whatever it's called at the University of Saskatchewan.

But you know what? I'm kind of crap at planning out my life, so this may not work out at all. Maybe I will get a library sciences degree. Maybe I'll drop out and become a plumber.

Also, it's really stupidly cloudy out lately, and on account of this, I can't get a proper tan. Mostly I just have a farmer's tan. It looks very funny, especially if I ever take off my sandals, because I have a stripe across my feet.

At least there is tons of fresh fruit and vegetables, and corn and watermelon, and yum.

Summer, eh?

This month has indeed been the month of tests, and therefore I have not been posting. I've actually found that the only way I can get any work done is if I ban myself from my computer. Which would be why I'm currently typing this up on one of the university computers, having just printed out all my notes.

On the subject of tests, I had two deferrals and a midterm, all sequentially one after the other on the 15th, 16th, and 17th, and then a number of small lab exams. Then last week I had my lab final. And on Monday I have my actual final. It's been a lot of work.

I've also not been doing that much reading lately. I've only gotten through maybe seven books this month, and I have about a dozen lined up to go. So much for getting summer reading done.

I'm also very, very sunburned, in a comically manner. You will laugh at me.

My life is too busy, but unless I spontaneously decide to take another summer class, that will all be over soon.

I've also seen Up! twice. Go see it. It is awesome.

Just a short clip from the Atheist Experience - a public access TV show based out of Texas and designed for a Christian audience. Basically, people call in with evidence that there is a God, or in order to discuss or debate a religiously based topic. I don't know if any of you are fans, but it is broadcast on Youtube.com regularly.

If you want a more serious debate, look for the episode(s) covering Logical Absolutes. But a lot of the time, it's all good fun - such as is the circumstance with this caller.

Holy crap, guys. The Three Muskateers is quite probably the best book ever written. I started it on Wednesday night, and finished it just now. It may be 700+ pages, but it is an incredibly captivating read, and I found that I simply could not put it down. Well, except during class. And that was a near thing itself!!

Alexander Dumas is an incredible writer. The Three Muskateers  is an absolute triumph of literature, and I do firmly believe not only in its quality, but in its accessibility to any audience. The only serious impediment is the length of the novel - although it is not as lengthy as the 1500+ pages of the Count of Monte Christo (another probable Best Book Ever), it is fast paced, intriguing, and does not linger on unnecessary description. Thus, its length serves only to increase the pleasure of its devoted company.

If I could even write a fifth as well as Alexander Dumas, I would consider myself a master. I do not hesitate to recommend this book to anyone and everyone.