Back on the Bay for another four months. Well, more like three, really.

Down to the County Friday night for karate, new dojo, new people, but as always it's like I've been there for years. On the way back I played Iron Maiden and looked at the stars.

This weekend, I finished one scarf, and now I need something small to work on. The shawl I started in May is too fiddly now, and the rows are too long to work on easily, and the sweater needs math done, and I want to print out the pattern before I get into that. So a cowl it is, quick and easy and a nice holiday or birthday present for someone. It helps that I don't have to buy anything and it gets rid of some of the yarn stash, which desperately needs pruning.

Once this cast on is done it's off to the store for groceries. Nom nom nom!

Erm....

Well.

I graduate in less than a year. It's less than 250 days until I get my Ring. A mere three weeks until I turn 22.

I'm only mildly panicked about this, really. I'm very much looking forward to having some disposable income, and being able to buy books and yarn without feeling guilty about spending money that I really do need to pay for school or worrying that I will have to move said items in less than four months.

I feel old, and yet I feel very very young.

In other news, I bought a plant today, and named it Kevin.

Tim Horton's

To the young lady who refused to serve me a non-double cupped chai on the basis that it was dangerous:

1. I work on a construction site. Today I spent my afternoon hiking through what was effectively a swamp while trying not to get run over by a front end loader. A single-cupped chai is probably the safest thing I've done all day.

2. It's called natural selection.

No love,

Me.

Ahem

*Dusts off blog*

Well. It's been what, five months? Sorry, but the blog material around here isn't going to get better anytime soon. I started my new job today, and if you've talked to me recently, you'll know it's one of those jobs where describing what you actually do on the internet is probably a bad idea.

Maybe I'll start doing more knitting posts, if I ever get my vest done. Christine, you definitely won that one in spectacular fashion. On that note I am bound and determined to reduce my small stash this term.

In other words, today I found what is quite possibly the holy grail of tea mugs at Chapters (I also found the Chapters. By getting lost.). It is stainless steel and acrylic with a basket to put loose leaf tea in. It also has a lid that goes on top of the usual lid that you use to keep from spilling tea all over yourself. I think I'm in love. Or I would be if the mug wasn't 18.99$. Perhaps after my first paycheck? It would be really nice to have though, as I am limiting myself to one coffee per day but all the tea I can drink.

Well, I should probably shower at some point, and get stuff sorted out for tomorrow - though I think I'll get up at 0630 instead of 0600.

Road Trip Chronicles

I've spent the last half an hour pulling music off my ancient and venerable iPod in preparation for the four day drive back to KW next month. This may seem counterproductive - it's four days of driving eight hours a day, so I should probably be putting MORE music on the iPod.

Except I'm probably doing this drive on my own again. And when I'm driving on my own, there's a point I hit where I'm so overcaffeinated that coffee's not going to do anymore good, and I need something to keep me sufficiently entertained that I focus on the road.

Yeah, I have a terrible lack of focus if I can't pay 100% attention when I drive. So I sing along with whatever happens to be playing. The louder and more upbeat the better.

And I'm sorry, but Pink Floyd and the Lord of the Rings soundtrack just don't fit the bill.

An exciting weekend, to be sure

• Frosh week emails (big, student teams, other huges... I think that's it)
  
• Credit card account stuff
• Find and mail RSVP card to wedding in August
• Make room less of disaster zone
• Remove former taco salad from fridge
• Take out garbage
• Find more appropriate place to put bag of grapes. They are currently in an empty pizza pops box.
• Washcloths. I have .75 of one done. I need at least two. For next weekend. I also need a rubber duck.
• Emails about birthday.

I think that's it.

Catch-22

I'm a redhead.
I burn like nobody's business.
I also have a terrible short term memory when it comes to stuff like putting on sunscreen. Or, more often, remembering where I left the sunscreen.
I've also discovered that I tend to burn my face and ears the most.

Needless to say, I've spent a lot of time dreaming about the perfect hat.

Ball caps are useless. Bucket hats leave my chin exposed to BURN. Tilley hats? Never considered one, I had a beige uniform hat for awhile. It's no longer beige, more of a variegated grey. Yuck. Apart from that, awesome awesome hat.

But.

I have found the perfect hat in the latest MEC catalogue.

Wide-brimmed, in solid dark colours, it's gorgeous. I think I'm in love. Now, before you call the funny farm and have them pick me up, bear in mind that I once burnt the part in my hair. I have probably burnt more surface area on my body than any (20+x) year old should.

It's 32 dollars. Bit steep. But to have a hat!

I know what I'm getting myself for my birthday.

Heh

You know it's going to be an interesting afternoon when your supervisor says you're going on site, and by the way? Can't take food, water, cellphone, anything combustible because there's explosives on site. LOTS of explosives. The no-food-or-water rule also includes coffee, and smoking is of course verboten.

This site also happens to be a royal pain the the arse with regards to what we are actually doing out there.

I foresee much cursing if/when anything actually gets going there.

Because I'm so awesome at updating...

The term has ended, I'm still waiting on that blasted 321 mark, and the summer has begun.

Oh yeah, and I'm working in southern Alberta this summer. On a military base. My landlady took me on a tour last night when I got into town and my entire reaction was "OMGTANKS".

It's going to be an interesting summer.

Even more interesting if I don't go get groceries now.

Hang on

Three more weeks of classes. Then 11 days of finals.

In between, a design project and presentation, a lab, a minor materials selection project, and countless other problem sets.

Oh, and co-op interviews.

Siiiiiiiigh. Someday I will be able to maintain a regular sleep schedule.

These boots were made for walking

I have horribly messed up feet. They're oddly proportioned, ten years of ballet did a number on my toes, and I have genetics working against me, since I seem to have inherited the foot problems my mother has. So I don't buy shoes very often, and I usually have to look pretty hard to find footwear that fits properly.

I've been wearing the pair of hiking boots in question since December 2003. They've survived two back country trips, Ontario road salt, and walking what probably a few hundred kilometers around campus and various cities across Canada. They're probably my favourite pair of shoes, EVER.

They're not pining, they've passed on. That masking tape is covering the Vasque logo, which popped off sometime Monday afternoon, leaving a gaping hole in the heel. Now that I look at them, the soles are worn in my peculiar pattern of walking, the leather is stained with salt and swamp, and they need to be resealed and waterproofed if they're going to last much longer.

But even taped up, unsealed, not waterproofed since Toronto, they're still my boots. And wading through ice water this morning, they still kept my feet dry and warm. The sole is worn but not gone yet.

So tomorrow when I get home from karate, I'll find an old sock that's too holey to wear any longer, dig out the sealant and the waterproofing agent and give my boots a good going-over. Glue the logo back in place. Maybe I'll find a new pair of laces.

Because I can't give up a pair of damn good boots that easily.

Teh stupid, it burnz

Another day spent entirely on campus. I'm staying home tomorrow.

I'm mildly cranky at the moment; I have a tendency to get a nasty rash on the back of my hands in the winter and it's gotten particularly bad tonight. This explains why I'm still up, since I want to get as much medicated stuff absorbed as possible before bed.

In retrospect though, I should have gone straight for the medicated stuff instead of using the bottle of scented hand lotion I'm slowly trying to use up. At least the medicated stuff seems to be working. I should probably just pitch the scented stuff anyways, it's pretty old.

*Sigh*

At almost 0200, it's kind of counterproductive to be listening to the Lord of the Rings soundtrack while trying to finish my work report. It really tends to bring about a sense of impending doom.

One appendix done, one started, and one still to go.

Thought

"Gosh, I wonder how they managed to manufacture the capsule in one piece..."

I don't think I should be allowed to watch Contact any more.

Home again, home again

I did very little knitting in Pearson, surprisingly enough. Instead I found a random person who was in the same situation as me to talk to.

Flew home, went for coffee, collapsed into bed. Doctor's appointment the next morning for ear issues. Now cannot hear out of right ear at all. This is making for some interesting conversations with my parents. Was sad that I could not hear properly and thus could not indulge in the vast and varied collection of classical music (including a lot of Christmas music) that my mother owns.

I consoled myself with rum. Lots of rum.

Now trying to finish up an assignment, but it's getting dark and colder so I should head home soon since I don't want to walk across the park in the dark. I brought my iPod, but since I use my earbuds, and only in my left ear to allow me to hear... That renders me completely deaf for the walk home.

Time to bundle up and make the trek before there's another train.

Going Home

Due to an unfortunate turn of events, I am about to embark on what is possibly the dumbest idea I have ever had.

I'm spending most of tomorrow in Pearson's T3. Come say hi if you're on your way through.

I'll be the one knitting.

Counting the hours

I have one more day left of work here in Sudbury. In January I'll be back in school for another four months.

It's been a good term, despite the dental fiasco in the middle and the ongoing insistence of my landlord and his wife to treat me like their child.

Tomorrow I will go to work, compile the references for my work report and finish off the spec I have been working on for the past month. When I get back to the house I will pack what little there remains to be packed, write a note to my housemate, let my landlord know I am leaving, and wait until 2230, when I can leave for the bus station.

In less than 48 hours I will be home, assuming all goes well. Home.

To all who may be reading - Best wishes to you over the holidays. Stay safe. Have fun. Enjoy the snow.

Well that was different

For a change, I finished my Giftmas shopping today. Normally I leave it until the last possible minute, but not this year.

I still have some small stuff to get, some knitting to finish up, but the big stuff is out of the way. Now all I have to do is pack and write my work report.

So I got bored this weekend

Not only am I easily amused, but I also have a rather ridiculous amount of yarn to use up in the next little while. This is not helped by the fact that I just bought wool for a Sekkrit Projjekt (tm) and have to move again in the next month. Among my pile of yarn I have some 100% cotton. Great for dishrags.

I also have a housemate. Can you see where this is going?

I put off doing PDEng for this. TOTALLY worth it.This is my dishrag, in all it's red and white glory. It's going to my housemate. I'll knit one for myself later, once I finish up the Giftmas presents.
It LOOKS like a brick wall, but it's a little too soft to bang your head . So I wore it as a hat instead.

Why yes, I did have too much coffee today. However did you guess?

A day late, but never a dollar short.

In 2005 I had the privilege of being in Ottawa for November 11th. I went to the ceremonies at the National War Memorial and later in the day wandered down to the War Museum. I took both these photos - the first of the Canadian Peacekeeping Monument and the second of Canadian War Memorial - in December that same year.

And so, in keeping with a tradition I started on LJ:

In Flanders Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place, and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amidst the guns below.

We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe


To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

~Lt. Col. John McCrae

Lest we forget.