Er, Ethiopia?

http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2006/12/24/somalia.html

Righto. :/

Why I love Facebook...

After many searches, I found a group for my old elementary school in Montréal (Roslyn School).

I've just spotted (so far) 2 guys whom I haven't seen since 95/96 when I moved. That's 10-11 years. 10-11. Currently wondering how to go about re-introducing myself because all I vividly remember of one was that his grandmother knitted him a Tintin sweater and everyone in my class was all "OMFGTINTIN*envyenvyenvy*" oh and that we had two Erics in our class and everyone (our teacher too) just referred to them as Eric C and Eric L-B (LB is the one I just possibly found). Also one is French (LB) and the other lived in the Northwest Territories (C) for a while (but he was blond, really blond. He used to sport a bowl-type haircut i think) as I recall from our Étoile de la Semaine/Share something about you-type thing.

Wow...Just, wow.

Oh possibly found another friend, the one who lived across the street from the school but since she has no photo yet, I can't tell.


Just when I had given up any possibility of finding anyone from 94-96, BING, Facebooks pops in.

EDIT I'm a little amused at how most, if not all the alumi are either currently at (or have graduated from) LCC, Marianopolis, Trafalgar, Sacred Heart, The Study or Royal West which are all pretty big-wig big-deal high schools/academies/Secondary I, II, III, IV, V w/CEGEP schools.

EDIT II The 'Westmount is the shit' group also has alot of people from my day there. D:

Wow...

So I did loose all my photos

Back in September, I had been told by an HP tech to use "somethingsometthing Recovery" to fix my Media Center. All I had been told would change would be my desktop, nothing about loosing my personal files and such. So, as a result, all the photos I had uploaded to my shiny new laptop are gone and I need everyone's help.

If I have sent you or emailed you any photographs, could you email them to me, please? Thanks.

(Note; I had also deleted the 'original' photos off of my account on dad's laptop and I had hoped I had backed them up on CD as part of the 'CD collection' of backups I had ready to be sent but weren't sent for reasons which were never made clear to me)


I will try out this file retrieval software (maybe I should've done that in September had I known about such things) and see.

Interesting stuff

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/12/19/harper-motion.html

I was wondering when this would be brought up.

Hm.

From watching past debates where a team proposes a counter-plan, I've never really seen one work. Usually it goes boom. Harper tabled a counter-proposal to the Bloc's and bing, biff and poing! Now we'll be seeing Québécois vs Quebecker debates. Then you have to consider the French-Canadians outside of Quebec and woah...Hm.

Couldn't we have had a referendum? No wait, that would've been $$$ and "Oh god not again AAAH". Alright, back to studying for Socio.

Ow, ow, ow...

First, I can be one of those people who can legitimately use the phrase "Ahhh! The light! My eyes, they burrn!" because ouch, my eye hurts. As does my head and now my neck behind my ears. (edit and my back shoulders...)

Second, went to Montréal in the NWAN (nation within a nation) of Quebec today and spoke 90% in French. Oh lord I must seem incompetent. Oh well, I guess that's what 10 years in an English-speaking province can do to you. I think I'll comfort myself with the fact that at one point an time before the move I could speak French like it was no one's business. In fact, there's a video of me talking with Santa back in '95 and I sound like a typical French kid. I say 'Barbie' in a Francophone trying to speak English manner too.

Also, I discovered the amazingness that is Simons. I never really bothered much for it (tragic, I know) but I thought "Well, I need some winter clothes", went in, was shocked by how many people were in there and found myself two turtle necks and a warm pair of pants.

Though, I was saddened by the fact that Le Faubourg is being rennovated into something much smaller than it used to be. It used to be so bustling and busy but now I'm sure that in a few years, Concordia can own the building entirely. I enjoyed eating outside on the balconies right beside this old stone building (I think it's Concordia property too now) :(

Should've taken photos of the Christmas decor at Ogilvie's. So...elaborate. There's like a moving model and such. And Place Montréal Trust is crazy with it's giant crazy giant decorations "tree". The Bay is insane. And other bad news, the 'Santa Village' that was always set up at Place Desjardins is no longer a village with a train for kids and family to go around the lower gallery of the 'shopping mall' in. That made me sad. I remember back in the better days where every year mum and I would go and ride this train with the 'elves'. And it would run in the lower area and such (But now they built a food court so much of the original space has been taken up--plus, I bet they did it for the sake of the Jazz Festival so that people can just enter the mall, get a drink, shop etc.)

I wish I went to Concordia. The new buildings are snazzy and very modern and such. Also, vive the proximity of a 24hr Second Cup to the campus which is right across from the "Intergrated Visual Arts, Computer Science and Engineering building" (there's a few of them in Montréal.). Mind, there's one right beside Sir George Williams Campus too.

Also, Simons is very, very, very big. Omar de Serres (aka Loomis) is like, an artist's heaven.If I could, I'd live there.

Ooh some marks for classes are up

And I got a C+ in FLS. Hahaha...I think I know why. But still, Me + French-language classes...do they ever get along? :P (I think if that ever happened...then the world would really be doomed plus, it was only a support class for Socio...not like we learned anything much save for some small words that I had heard of but never knew the meanings)

mdr ça...hahaha.

Hm.

FLS 2581 exam...I went "teehee...révolution tranquille" when we got the text. Then went about happily answering the questions. Crazy UdeP woman.

ALG 1901 oral...no comment. Never taking this language again. That's a lie, it just means I'll keep working on my Japanese and pick up something else.

SOC 1501 exam. I forgot what habitus de classe and the three characteristics of contrôle sociale were until while I was in line to hand in my exam, I saw a brouillon sheet in the garbage with all three answers and I just went "Argh >_>" in pained silence. Minus 6 pts. D: However, I got a 16,5 on the compte-rendu so I left the gym happy.

ALG 1901 written. I cannot write out proper time in German. Minus 3 points. But I came up with a dialogue based on the oral exam we did (which just so happened to be convieniently set in a restaurant. Hoho) so haha...go me.

No exams until next Thursday. Since my aunt's friend is coming over tomorrow, my mum's and aunt's cousin is coming on Tuesday and staying until New Year's, I'm doing a day trip to Montréal on Monday. Ah wait, Thursday, I'll have to check up on that communications class.

And somewhere in between, I'll start packing. But first, I'll try not to go crazy over why I cannot get those V-looking stitches when I'm knitting. All I get is garter stitches. :/

Phone tagging! One wonders if I will get lucky this week and get a hold of some people. D:

Woah, I'm actually British? Serious?

Originally this post contained stuff about how crazy my family is--on both sides (excluding mum and my aunt (her sister) and gramma and my brother from BC oh and my two blood-related cousins. Everyone else is just woosh, crazy and beyond that it's angering.) No wait, "crazy" is not the proper adjective here....more like "bleeding mental" or something worse. Oh no, wait, Oxford and Webster don't even have a word for it...and that's not a good thing.

In genealogical news, it's been confirmed that I'm actually part British. My great-grandfather was from Britain. (So, British-Jamaican I be it seems. Awesome) This probably explains a bit of things. I wonder where in Britain he was from...Hm.

Here's something you don't see everyday

First, I have concluded that Mondays are TV nights. (Heroes + Doctor Who) Fridays too, if I'm not half tired, my aunt and I watch RMR, 22mins and Air Farce.

So, on my way to the bus station today, (Hurdman) I saw like 7 or 8 buses on the Transitway headed to the station all stopped over on the bridge above the street here. So I wait for the light wondering "Hm. That's odd...why aren't a single of them moving?" (During rush hour, the buses zoom about, not stay parked on the Transitway) and by the time I got to the station, I noticed that not only was that bridge blocked, but all the "streets" where the buses come and go---all 4 directions. There were police and transit police directing the buses and passengers and such.

Actually, the entire side of the station where the buses go downtown-bound and beyond was sectioned off with yellow tape--including the shelters. Two buses were parked there and there were police and a bus towtruck. Buses had to let off passengers at odd spots and to get downtown, they used the side that would normally be for buses headed east or southbound as a 2-lane (one each way) "street" and officers trafic directed and stopped buses in the middle and ushered groups of commuters to the other side (fields, really). But uh, not too cool for those who had finals this morning. One girl I talked with said she made it in the nick of time despite having left super-early. Actually, the scary bit is that on the PA system, the lady at HQ put out a message saying for busdrivers at Hurdman to not let their passengers off in the middle of the transitway (Though apparently, one bus dropped off it's passengers because it was in an even longer line-up and everyone had to walk from Train(I suppose where you see Hurdman) to Hurdman) I think I heard her mention something about hazardous. She was being pretty serious. Dunno.

Really scary though. People suspect there was an explosion, a murder (quite frequent on this one bus route---118---as of recently), or something big-bad. So, hopefully something pops up on tonight's news about this because Hurdman is like the "Central Station" of the transitway. All the buses going east, south, north or coming from the west stop at Hurdman because it's their last stop or a stop-over. (Plus, there's alot of buses here) So if something's wrong here, it screws up the system a bit.

I have also concluded that Ottawa buses have some of the strangest most colourful passengers. Ever. Like the man, whom I've dubbed, "Canada-should-get-out-of-Afghanistan-b/c-there's-nothing-wrong-there" or rather "I'm drunk and I shall randomly talk to you and shout at you in a passive way" or "Can I have money please" guy from South Keys (he sounded like he owed some guy $$ though judging by the way he spoke on the phone) or "I may look disgusting, but can I use you as a pillow" guy or "I like to curse under my breath constantly" guy etc. etc. oh and there's also the "We r teens and we like to swear becuz its kewl" group or the people who whine and moan about the frequent 95s during rush hour "whiners of the 95" (No matter how many 95s come during rush hour, they're always full. Geez)

OC Transpo, that's how I roll. :P

Dec. 5th.

So normally, I would be a big ball of depression at this time of the year, every year since then. Today, I feel slightly forgetful and far from depressed--I even forgot today was the 5th.

Okay, nevermind. That 's a lie. I'm not not depressed, I am, just not really. Does that make sense? I'm stressed, but don't feel it and I don't feel at all ready for my German oral exam (I suck at memorizing lines, big time even if it is a group thing), I'm having immense troubles studying, organizing my textbook notes for Psychology and overall getting distracted at every oppurtune moment and re-watching episodes of Doctor Who I recorded onto my computer (Last night's episode was reminiscent of a Space-horror film mixed with very philosophical/semi-religious stuff (and the topic of how each sect--or in Doctor Who's case, how each galaxy, each planet, each civilization he's ever been to through the course of history and the universe--views the devil-type thing and how he and his people viewed the universe. Very fascinating) or just staring down at my laptop at the French assignment I need to get done for tomorrow which isn't really done.

I think I'm a big ball of confused. One big ball of confused and I have no idea what I should do today or how I should be acting right now. Or, well, I do know that I should go to Sociology in an hour for sure, but other than that, I dunno.

Well, I do need to get my buspass tonight...and "lunch" too. But yeah. Don't quite understand. Don't quite feel like doing much of anything yet I have to finish French, try and memorize my lines for German, study for Psychology along with German again and my two Sociology classes.

Wah, ramble, ramble, ramble, ramble...etc.

i have a tendency to be this vague, yes.

A break, from 4-5 straight posts in the space of 2-3 days of doom and glom

I can now say that I have been sick at least once per month of almost all of this semester. (September: mild strep throat, October: minor eye infection + cold, November: sore throat and a cold. Who knows what December could entail...)

Speaking of said sore throat, I cannot take any of the "traditional" medication (syrup) for my cold (ie. Robatussen, Benelyn, Life...the usual suspects) without consulting my physician/doctor first because of my asthma. So that leaves me with only one option:

Buckley's.

I don't have much choice here, guys. D:

Wow, this week sucks.

Let's see....Quebec's a nation within Canada, snow in Vancouver....and look! Montréal city councillors voted 42-22 in favor of renaming Park Avenue (which has been a part of the city since 1883) to...oh my gosh, Robert-Bourassa Avenue. doesn't that sound wonderful? Oh I bet it does.

Wow. Someone notify all the politicians that when they die, that Montréal's got "Historic Streetnames and Streets" for sale and they'll be guaranteed a street. Watch out, Tremblay will inexplicably still be around and next on the chopping block will be Côte-des-Neiges to....Gerald-Tremblay Boulevard? You know, Park Avenue was one of the few streets that hadn't been named after a Catholic saint or been renamed for dead politician or general AND was named according to geographic position because, it's right beside Park Mont-Royal. Gasp! Or rather, where Park Ave and Mont-Royal cross, there's the base of Mount-Royal. Doubly gasp!. (The brother and the Mayor...and the councillors wanted it. The people did not. There wasn't going to be any public consultation on the matter anyways nor were important groups or the public going to be told about this plan until after it had been voted....Should also note that Robert Bourassa was apparently not liked by those living on Park Ave and in Mile End and that his riding was not near Mile-End or Park Ave, it was next to it. Should also note that there already is a street named after another Bourassa named "Henri-Bourassa" he even got a Métro station to boot. Should also note that Parc métro station is on Park Ave...and that most of the Métro stations are named for the streets in front of them or for someone or just after the area...Did I mention that Park Ave is easily said in either language?)

I'll go in my corner and be bitter and sad. You guys can all look at me in bewilderment. I don't care. Silly, I know but Montrealers have a huge pride and attachment to our history and we just lost a chunk of our history and I'm mad.

I hope he gets voted out. He's been wasting money and doing stuff behind the people's backs. (20K could be better invested in other things, don't you think?)

EDIT: There will still be some of Park Ave remaining apparently but it's in some dingy, questionable industrial area that no one ever goes to.

Re: Quebec is a nation

"When I was your age, Pluto was a planet and Canada had 10 provinces and 3 territories"

That is all I have to say.

I mean come on, are the Québécois (we) celebrating on the streets? Doesn't...seem like it. It looks like this is pretty much a tool by the gov't to keep their seats in Quebec...as to why Duceppe and the Bloc voted in favor...I don't know. I'm confused to the inth degree.

Guys, what just happened?



So....... I guess this makes me a Québécois-Canadian now?

"This is the BBC! Do not listen to the others!"

Having coughs make it difficult to sleep without waking up à plusieurs reprises due to coughing fits. Hm.

If my Psychology textbook didn't weigh a tonne, I'd be definately reading it more and not be this far behind.

In other news, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6175976.stm . Ah, great. At least I understand why Somalis glare at my dad now. Crazy stuff I tell you. (Eritreans get all happy when they talk to dad and me, but then he says he was born and they try to finish the convo quick and leave. Much fun)

With regards to the 'Quebec as a nation within Canada'...thing...

First, everyone out west go watch Air Farce tonight---it is golden. PS. Harper has a blog on Blogger.com. If you don't get that, then you should watch Air Farce. Oh and Rick Mercer has a really good Rant.


I don't know whether or not I should be happy, sad, angered, frustrated, mad, concerned, worried or just confused as Hölle (hell in German). Sure, I may have been 7 or 8 back during the referendum, but damn, despite my crazy imagination (See: Ontario-Quebec border getting jack-hammered and TNT'd and drifting off and crashing into Europe) I remember being incredibly scared that night. The whole "Quebec is a Nation" "Quebec is not a nation" thing annoys me to no end. As one person in the Ottawa Citizen editorial put it (paraphrasing because I gave the free paper to my aunt to read) "Quebec cannot be a nation because it doesn't fall under the two criteria for it to be one (One being it was under violent 'contrainte' rule from an oppressor and the other that it was a nation in the first place)". One writer at the Ottawa Citizen suggested that we let the Etymologists take care of it and said that it's a wonder why Quebec hates the title of "Province" which apparently means something along the lines of a conquered territory (Apparently 'nation' is no better and that State would be the appropriate title here...).

Eleven years later, I know more about the referendum of '95, I know more of the "inside politics" behind the whole thing. And today, I wondered about a "What-if-there-was-another-referendum-and-the-Separatists-won?" situation. Same 50,58% vs 49,42% margin. How would I feel sitting on the couch, perhaps here in Ottawa in my 4th yr or something, watching in horror as I have witnessed overnight my no longer being a Quebec resident or maybe no longer a Canadian, or that I've suddenly become an "immigrant". It'd be weird. Actually, now that I think about it, I would actually no longer be a Canadian if Quebec separated. I'd be technically a Québécois. I was born there. I lived there. (Unless they would bring in some new thing to applying for Canadian citizenship that says something along the lines of "If you were born in Quebec and have lived in Canada for X-years you can automatically qualify for citizenship sans all that immigration jibber-jabber")

Imagine that, loosing my 'citizenship', my right to call myself a Canadian overnight. Imagine that.

Imagine how strange and scary it would be like to suddenly wake up one day to only find out that, the province you were born in was no longer a part of the country you've called home for the last 20 years and that you're no longer a Canadian.

Imagine what it would be like to suddenly find yourself holding a Passeport reading: "Place of Birth: Notre-Dame-de-Grâce-Côte-St-Luc, Province de Montréal, Québec" as opposed to "Montréal, Province of Québec, Canada" branded with a gold-inked coat of arms reading maybe not the "Je me souviens" but "La belle pays" or something.

Of course, this would all be extremely difficult for you all to imagine. All that anxiety, the fear, the anger, the tension, people fighting and insulting each other over which side they picked, friendships destroyed, families torn maybe, the signs, the posters branded with either the red-white-blue with big letters reading "NON" and the colourful (albeit creative...) OUI posters and signs all around you wherever you looked outside the métro, the dépanneurs, shops, lamposts dotted with them, roads, cars, the constant non-stop coverage of the process, the interviews. Seriously.

Also, I never understood (or really remembered) Parizeau's comment on why the OUI side lost until now saying they lost because of "money and the ethnic vote". Gee, how mad were my parents at him, I wonder.

To finish, and make sense of this all we are no joined by bob from iglooland, I'm a little worried. Something's going to happen again. Don't want it to...but I think it will happen again.

And of course, no one asks the First Nations up in Northern Quebec what they think about this new thing now do they?

And now a recommendation: Try and hunt down, buy, (rent) Breaking Point. A CBC/SRC documentary made last year on the '95 referendum.

*jumps off of soap box*

I attract "famous" leader-type people!!

So this evening on my way out of the Rideau Centre, I saw the former Premier of New Brunswick Bernard Lord. I was like walking and then I turned around and was like "Woah, what?...that looks like...some Premier from some Atlantic province! Yeah him!!" (after much wiki'ing---it'll be a verb soon, just you watch!---I found out it was him)

So, so far I've seen the PM of Latvia (kind of sort of. I just saw her motorcade park right behind me that day as I walked away from campus and I turned around and saw a woman pop out surrounded my a mass of UofO, CSIS and Latvian security), then Mr. Lord here. I've been within 3 ft of Mayor Bronco while in Houston, Texas (actually he talked with some of us on the ride from our New Orleans trip. He talked with some of us for a bit, then avoided us entirely. I suppose he's afraid of band geeks.not that we'll take over the world or anything) and I've met and talked to fmr. Mayor Al Duerr. He was cool.

PS. They were either sipping on booster juice or coffee...I'm thinking booster juice. They were walking away from one.

UOttawa's website is a maze. Poorly organized. Anyways, 2 hrs after much searching for a complete list of electives we're allowed to take as BSocSc'ers (There's one, but it's for 1st year...you can only take like..4 first-year electives or something crazy and you can't take any 1000-lvl course, has to be one from a list. Otherwise the credit won't count towards your degree) my aunt and I concluded in frustration that the UofO website is just not good.

Anyway.

I'm tired. I want the week to end now, my German-Oral-Exam-mates are having us get together on random days at 8:30am to work on our script. Why? I don't know. But a 2nd yr and 3 yr trump a 1st yr. (Well, one of them lives out far away and comes in early in the mornings all the time so it works. Me, I am non-functional at 8:30a)

And if I change my degree to this one, then I may not be able to take all 6 Japanese language course. I am saddened. :( (Because I'd be doing a double major, plus immersion and I probably wouldn't have room to fit it all...or something) Got to talk to a faculty advisor some time so all is not lost yet. D:

Anyway, definately tired...Wonder how conscious I'll be tomorrow. Hm.

Oh wow...

While on the bus today, I was on my way home because I forgot my wallet at home (thankfully a) when you get your bus pass ID photo, you get a snazzy card holder so I keep that in my pocket and b) I had spare change in my coat pockets and c) home = 5 min busride from campus), I noticed this lady kept glancing at this middle eastern woman who was sitting with her child next to her and me every few seconds. I would look behind me incase there was something else she could be looking at but no, she kept glancing at me standing and the middle eastern woman. Got to the point where I threw her a "raised eyebrow" look and she looked at me funny before quickly turning her head away. Then the other lady on her right left and she immediately jumped (if you will) 3 seats away from her and me.

It was....interesting to say the least.

Oh yeah Devon tagged me in that 6 things about you meme

1. Two of my great-grandfathers were white.

2. There is a "World Traveler" gene in my family. I've definately got it. I really want to go to France, Japan, Jamaica, England and Belgium. Mostly and first and foremostly France. Don't ask about Belgium.

I have the minor version of the "World Traveler" gene. I'm more than willing to explore and commute about or go out several times a day if it means I get to look around at my surroundings and do something remotely ressembling "travel". The hope here, is to go to Paris IX, Univ de la Méditéranée, Strasbourg or Lyon even on exchange. I could go to Todai (Tôkyo Daigaku-Tokyo University) in Japan but Japan = le reserved for travel with friend that's been in the "planning stages" for years.

3. I am a procrastinator to the max. I get distracted. I mean, there's only been one assignment I never did but that was because I had spent two nights in a row dealing with the other nasty results of my procrastination and getting to bed at 3am. Like right now, I'm doing a quick-easy way of doing this final Critical Review of this chapter on Max Weber due tomorrow evening during Socio.

4. I am semi-quinterlingual, but no one cares. Only really fluent in two, forgetting one, can read the other two and translate one of the two and speak that one a bit.

5. I hate Christmas and December. Wait, that's not random. Okay:

I don't really know what my first learned language was. I remember every morning reading the French on my Corn Flakes boxes. I mean, NDG is evenly French-English, but all the signage was French, I could read some things, speak...I talked to my parents in English. School was 80% French in class...I don't think I ever borrowed an English book from the school library nor the city library....Actually, now that I think about it, in Elementary it was French in class at all times. On the playground I recall hearing mostly English. Origami was in English (me=Origami freak), Computer class was in English too...the sports clubs and teams were English unless indicated otherwise (or they were bilingual methinks)...T-Ball team was in English. The super-elaborate Sports Day was...mostly English I think...?

In Pre-K, since I was there all day, the mornings were English but had a French lesson in between, then we had nap-time (where me and a friend of mine, Tanzeo, would pass his plush back and forth when the teacher wasn't looking. We got our cots moved several times though. Very sad.), then it was afternoon and that was entirely in French. Kindergarten was bilingual. Afterschool care was in English because at the time there were other ESMB schools who came to the afterschool care sooo.

6. I never get phone calls, I just pass on the messages--I'm a part-time secretary in my own home in Calgary. I have had to answer phone calls at various times of the day from as early as 5am to as late as 3:30am (does that make sense?), run after the phone, do some quick-on-the-spot-translating, dealing with bad phone lines from East Africa (everything is echo-echo). Granted I've sounded less than coherent, I'm a little used to it.

The phone here has a special ring when someone phones my number. But since very few people phone, when I actually do get a call, I have no idea if it's mine or not. So I'm usually like "Auntie, is that mine or yours?"

And everyone I wanted to tag has already been tagged. Hm.

Another Friday. Like all my Fridays, I do nothing so much that when I phone my brother he asks "So...lemme guess: it's Friday again and you're doing....nada? Right?" he's pretty much bang on all the time, it's very shocking. So I attempt phone calling but then after futile attempts, I remember "Haha, people do things on Fridays...unlike me who does nothing. Whoops *dozes off*"

This week was extremely busy. Three nights in a row of staying up until 3am. Never, ever want to do that again. Although, I managed to find myself a home on campus on the 5th floor of Morrisset. Being a library-bummer is a good thing in University. Oh and you should all be proud, I've been communicating mostly in French on campus (Even bought my plane ticket in French)

Okay, so I haven't been entirely doing nothing. Watching old-school late-60s Doctor Who counts, right?

I must say, 60s british sci-fi "tension moment" music is dreadfully catchy.

Can you say merdedetabarnacj'mecâlissecet'stimauditostiquefak'quej'm'enfousmerdedetabarnac? No? Well, me neither.

Lesson #1 of University:
You'll learn about all your 'academic faults' within the first few months. Or some. Most of which you'll have to find ways to fix. Like me and procrastination and my lack of work ethic. Some people have beat out most of the severe procrastination before reaching University. Others, like myself, not so much. *sigh* ah well. I can get as much more finished tonight, wake up early, finish some more, and come back home, finish it off and bring it in before 4p...if he lets us. I need to sit down one day and figure out how I work. Like...for doing work and such. If only today my group for our German oral exam hadn't decided we meet at 8:30am to brainstorm then I wouldn't have dozed while typing. Ah well. (Ah, I now understand the true meaning of the whole "Learning about oneself in Univ"...)

I think the 5th floor of Morrisset library has become my new home and new best friend...I think I'll be camping there for the next 3 years here when i need to study and do homework.

Plane tickets...are so expensive

With my bank account and wallet feeling significantly emptier than before, I now have a plane ticket. I'll be in Calgary the evening of the 21st of December and be leaving the 3rd of January in the morning.

Oh good god. My mind boggles at the expensiveness of this ticket. :(


It cost me 905$ for the 'cheapest' flight after "taxes" tonnerre...

I have had a moment of englightenment

I take it that Swing Dancing is the new ... "in" thing to do these days, now?



(Sadly, I have no desire to dance nor do I ever want to. No, contrary to the stereotype/fact I don't got no rhythm. Don't ever try to get me to dance. If you ask me repeatedly to get up, I will - thinly veiled of course- tell you no. I just don't like dancing. :P

Ok, so I'll admit, I used to dance like a madman when I was much younger. I'd dance, dance, dance. I went to the dances in elementary and danced danced danced. At Afrikadey, mum dad and I went right up to those giant speakers and we danced, danced, danced--in the rain. (No wonder I have hearing problems!) These days I just spend my weekends sitting around at home and doodle, doodle doodle, or sit. Oh and knit. And do homework...or try.)

*fronce ses sourcils*

So, I think if this isn't over soon (which it won't...shock) my eyebrows will be permanently stuck in the frowning position. Either that, or I'll get frowny-wrinkles before I'm older-er.

Oh and with all this dragging out so much and me being taken left, right, and centre and back left again, I think if I could, I would be able to make one of those thick coffee table books with a 600-page collection of my "WTF...." looks. Think I could make monnies? I think I could. Or at least help make a book with a collection of "WTF" looks from around the world...that'd be interesting.

I'll go eat the rest of my fudgecake now, excuse me.

Ohh... definately not liking the 800-900$ for a round-trip to Calgary. Not at all.

Hm.

Hm.

I don't believe it... I'm procrastinating.

Someone smack me in the head, please. *tries to read more on Simmel*

WHAT!

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2006/11/09/bradley-obit.html

Okay, now I'm really not enjoying my week. RIP Ed Bradley. :'(

And I'm probably the only one here who's watched 60 Minutes since they were 3-4yrs old or summat. Yes?

Okay, that's it. I think I should take an Economics/Business-y course

I hate financial....stuff...especially the type I have to deal with. Oh well, at least I'll be learning about loans thanks to this. Yay loans and possibility of loosing things!

Lesson today kids? Finances, loans, mortgages (l'hypothèque en français--now you can impress your FLA teachers too!), er--leans and othersuch much more complicated lingo that I cannot remember to save my life, is complicated and at times confusing. At least you won't have to deal with it until you're way into your late-20s or 30s....or 40s?

At least most of what I learned in Applied Math came in super-handy...and lucky for me, these two employees were very nice and very much willing to help me (They were super-pissed that no one in Calgary explained to me *exactly* what it was I was agreeing to)

And finally, the last question on my mind is this: Why do things like this always get bumped to the youngest member of the family? I'm seeing a disturbing trend here folks.

Oh, birthday was nice, got only...1 phone call from dad (Mostly asking if I had agreed to the fun financial thing) and another from mum's friend in New York plus several calls from financial people sadly not wishing me a happy birthday *sigh*. Other than that, aunt made a birthday fudgecake and we went out to East Side Marios for supper. Oh and my door was semi-decorated, that's never happened before (nor have I had birthday cake in the longest time..."longest time" being....some long time...oh my) though I remember the whole "wake me up early on my birthday" thing mum did lots to me. Good times.

And whoops, I didn't go and get a plane ticket yet. Haha.

And I was hoping to have a year where I didn't have to deal with silly finance idiocies but nooo. That is simply not the case. The Finance Gods obviously hate me. (Funny how around this time last year I was a ball of stress after finding out my newfound responsibilities of which I did not understand. Oooh like Karma kind of)

Ottawa Soccer stores obviously want me spending my money on their merchandise...Like those very nice F50+ Tunit cleats...not that I play outdoor.

oh noes! I'm 19! D:

Dumdeedum.

Woke up at 10am to get my first present from aunt (well, i was woken up b/c she had to go out) which was a new watercolour set with paper and brushes + a turtleneck sweater. Hurrah! (According to dad, he *just* sent out my box of stuff. )

Oh and 20$ from godfather.

Er--what else? I leave you all with a quote from last night's episode of Doctor Who

Who the hell are you?!

I'm The Doctor and I just snogged Madame de Pompadour...Ahahaha!!! :D

I dunno, it made me laugh.

PS. I like phonecalls. Phonecalls are nice to get

Les manchettes pour ce soir...

I'll be 19 in two days? How grand.

don't know what else to say. Oh yeah, I should maybe get a plane ticket soon or something. Yup. Don't know why I'm not looking forward to Calgary...maybe because it's Calgary. Hm. (Don't get me wrong, I love you all but...it's Calgary and Calgary proved to me that it's not the best city on earth...Goodness, I'm strange.)

In other news, does anyone remember if we had the lyrics from Patrick Bruel's J'm'attendais pas à toi on our FLA 20 final or FLA 30 diploma? It's a really good song, and it sounds like I've heard it before somewhere.

To conclude the manchettes, I'm liking the whole 40$ for a round trip to Montréal via Greyhound. I'm considering another trip maybe in December? If I feel I'd want to sacrifice studying for Montréal...perhaps not. Maybe if I'm not all up for going to Calgary for a week in February, I'll go to Montréal.

Oh and it was nice to see everyone again in Montréal. Even if I was there for a day. Heck, it was nice seeing Montréal again. :)

Ooh Shostakovich's 5th Symphony. ♪

PS. I'm considering getting myself an I am Canadian t-shirt to see how many odd looks I can garner. Are they expensive?

Uh-oh, university woes ahoy!

Well I'll be damned...

Just got my mark on my Sociologie midterm via email....I've done so poorly on all 3 of my midterms. I am none too pleased. (two more: one on my birthday--English sociology--- the other the week after that---psychology)

So I now know where that NS/S will be used first. (Though, I should maybe check if I can use it on a mandatory course or not)

I'm wondering a bit too if Sociology is the right thing for me to major in right now. Mind, I did have thoughts of wanting to quit the first month in or changing my major. Though the latter I think could likely happen if I so desire to follow through. But my goodness, none of it is really "sinking in" or striking my fancy, Sociology I mean. I'm not getting that "Dang, I like this (name major here)...really am" feeling I get when I know I'm studying or doing something I like or want to do. I know the last time I acted on my intuitions/feelings/that vibe I just mentioned, I got switched to a much, much better workplace at the Stampede than the one I was at before and I absolutely loved working there.

Then again, this is first year too so who knows...But if I were to change, I'd probably mosey along into the Arts like Communications or Modern Languages. (You guys can stick to your BSocSc's, I'll go to the Arts.) My aunt keeps mentioning how I notice all these techniques used in ads and commercials and how I can neatly point out how the positioning of this person according to that object results in a better ad or how I can point out random things in commercials others have given me odd looks for. (Communications Media type stuff)

And for some reason that I cannot explain, I feel like I should be at Concordia or UdeM. But I don't know why.

EDIT: Oh, hahaha...SOC 1501 is now going to be designated a NS right this instant along with FLS 2581. *fills out form*

And what in the world...? I'd like to know howI get a 60-something on that Compréhension du Texte in FLS. Some enlightenment would be welcome.


Wow, what a horrible lead up to my birthday. Then again, I've had worse. This ranks 3rd.

Oh Montréal.

I've done some crazy things this week...

Have had to handle some crazy things and notice some crazy things...but this, my oh my, this is byfar the craziest thing I've done.

Today, while testing out the route 101's superspeediness to the Greyhound bus station (5-8minutes from my place---amazing. Ottawa transportation is my #2. #1 is Montréal's), I decided that after my mini exploration that I'd return to the art store on Loomis and get those markers. And get those markers I did. 60-odd $ spent on a 12-grey-tone box plus 9 other colours of artist's markers from a Korean alternative to this Japanese brand that's near impossible to find. I got paper too. But now, I need a pencil case of sorts to house these markers and a cheap-o box to house my knitting stuff. By cheap-o I mean, I'll go to a Dollarama and buy a box for a 1$.

So on crafts supplies alone this last week or so, I must've spent near to 90$ on stuff or so. Haha.

I'm a weird artist willing to spend much money so I can express my creativity. (But I try and hunt for deals and such :D)

Oh and I'll be in Montréal this Saturday just for the day. As an extra-extra gift to myself. I can't stay the weekend through till Monday (Socio's been cancelled for that day in the morning) because I don't have a place to stay so I've opted for a day trip. I do plan to go to McGill and watch the final rounds in the afternoon though.

Did I mention I hate crazy financial stuff? No? Well I really, really do.

There should a law against 18-19yr olds dealing with this kind of stuff...or at least have some sort of mandatory classes through High School explaining things like this I think.

The reason why I can't go to the bank today:

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/10/30/power-outages.html

Windstorms hit pane

In Toronto, the lights also went out on Sunday and winds knocked over a home under construction.

In Ottawa, the windstorms were blamed for knocking out an outer window pane Sunday afternoon on the 25th floor of a highrise office tower downtown. No one was injured, but traffic remained in chaos Monday morning, as buses and other vehicles were rerouted around the closed-off street below.

The inner pane was still in place, but was unstable. Crews were waiting until winds died down enough to safely remove the pane so they could reopen the street.

CBC.ca

Said highrise was the plaza where my bank is. I went through the building through an alternative way but there would've been no way for me to enter the bank. (There was a sign on the door when I was inside the building reading "Due to falling glass, this door (made of glass too) has been locked for your safety". There were still glass shards outside in the front too. Yikes)

Did I mention that I had ventured through said windstorm yesterday just to buy some yarn? Well I did. And yes, regardless of if there's a blizzard, a windstorm with 90km/h winds, rain, hail, sleet, flying pigs...er...any other possible crazy weather, I will venture out to places far away (this case South Keys) to get my art supplies when inspiration like this strikes. Besides, I found it quite fun being lifted up a bit off the ground while I walked with the wind at my back. All in the name of Art.

Oh and they had a 40% coupon, which i used already damned, that had I found this cheap watercolor set I would've used it on that too. :(

I think I should inquire about a membership at Michaels because, Michaels Arts & Crafts is incredibly big and here, is only a 20-min busride as opposed to a 45+min busride in Calgary and I can definately see myself going there more than twice a week.

Oh and we had no powerloss in our area luckily.

We interrupt this broadcast to bring you an interesting announcement

I am learning how to knit and also, I am in love with art again. Art, art, art, art, art. So much so that I ventured out into today's 50km/h wind(storm) to get some more yarn from Michaels in South Keys.

Montréal....(Or McGill--NorAms) People seem to be going to the tourney to judge but seeing as how my services have not been needed by the UofO's Debating Society at all though I have offered them, I may or may not go so you know what? *shrug* to that. I wouldn't mind going soley to take photos for the debate wall back at ABE though. I have a camera.

Besides, I'd have nowhere to stay and if I call any of my mum's friends, I might get the "You need to call in advance" spiel again like what happened 20x this summer (See Montréal Trip posts). Although, that's the weekend of my birthday kind of so a trip to Montréal would be a nice gift to myself and seeing people again would be nice too. Meh.

On with the destruction of history? =/

So first, there was that Av du Parc/Park Ave issue still rumbling and now, according to this Montréal blog, there might possibly be a referendum to discuss the enlargement of Molson stadium (aka Bell Centre).

Why am I mad at this? Possibly because Molson Stadium was built ontop of rail that CP used to use back in the 90s (That might've been the Bell Centre too) and was built right near my mum's old office in CP's old and longtime HQ since the 1880s. More specifically, the expansion of Molson stadium/Bell Centre may mean the destruction of the old Windsor Station building. Me =/= happy.

I could go on with pages and pages of great times I had wandering around the old station and the little shop. Oh and the BIG christmas tree that used to be put up for people to drop gifts in for the needy which some of the workers took to charities. In some spots, you would be actually standing where the old train platforms might've been and the old signage for the train times is still up there last I checked.

So what is it with this apparent obsession with replacing bits of Montréal's history? Montréal's classic buildings and historic streets are it's crown jewel. (among other things)

There will be a meeting for the public to come in but I have no idea if the Montrealers who live around there will care about it as much. I mean, I do, perhaps mum's co-workers do (they all worked there I suspect from the 70s or 80s until our move in '96)...but do they? *is hoping that the "emotional attachment to historic monuments" factor prevails*

Molson Stadium: It's where the Alouettes play. I remember when it went up. I was pretty darned confused as to why it looked like it was ontop of the railways.

If there's less than 120 signatures, they'll go ahead with expansion. If not, there'll be a referendum on the matter. (And it's not like it's got asbestos or anything, CP's rail engineers still work in a little corner of the building at the moment.)

I'm hoping a bit for the latter.

Windsor Station: Located right across from the Queen Elizabeth hotel, only a few minutes walk from Central Station, right beside the Bell Centre and an old church.

Blog entry is here. Building from 1885 possibly refers to Windsor Station which is the only building I can think of that would be demonlished (It's the nearest historic building to the Molson Centre)

Windsor Station

Wow, me = slow worker

So it took me from 2pm - ish today until now (12:34am) to get my FLS texte compte-rendu answer-33-questions-plz 95% done. But I had started my intro to my crit review of Durkheim at the same time sooo...

And I have to finish reading about Monsieur Durkheim and do a Crit Review about him for Tuesday and I plan on starting my Socio lab writeup tomorrow after the morning class and after my evening class and onwards until Wednesday (or paper--but in all due tecnicality, it is like a science lab writeup and Sociology is a science *goes on about Socio being recognized as a science thanks to Durkheim blahblahblah*)

Then I have to do the usual per-end-of-unit German assignment too. But Sociologie, /gy and FLS are le important. (So's reading that chapter of Psych but for now...)

But gosh, I had no idea I worked so slow. Ah well, as my aunt has been "harrassing" me, I've to manage my time, manage my time, manage my time. Yay having a retired student counsellor for an aunt. *celebrates half-sleepily*

It snowed today too. (or wet-snowed if you're a weather-stickler) but it's been raining, raining, raining---I think the weather's trying to get me to wear my bright-very-pink raincoat.

my gods, there's 5 1/2 more weeks left of the Fall semester. (12 more classes per course left (So in total 48 except for FLS were we have exactly 7 classes left since I have FLS once a week)

Ah yes, bed. Bed's good. Not getting enough sleep before going to 8:30am class =/= good usually. Nope.

Did I ever mention how much I love Montréal?

No? Well then....

:D

(You thought I was going to go into a big 10-pager about how great Montréal is didn't you?)

http://helpsaveparkavenue.blogspot.com/

I could mention all the fun times I had with my mum, my cousin and a bunch of people going around various parts of du Parc. There used to be this cute little kids clothing store mum and I went to and I got these undershirts all the time and they used to come with big stickers of the logo (Ferries I think it was called). Oh and there's a beautiful saree/sari shop down there too. Or was. Oh oh! And the old radio station my cousin worked at for a few years is on the other side of a block near Parc....

It's next to impossible for you to have lived in Montréal and not heard of Park Avenue/Av. du Parc.

Us Montrealers have deep emotional attachments to our city's history and it's streets and such. *nods sagely*

If legislation does get passed, I'll go make myself a t-shirt reading: "It'll always be Park Avenue to me"...or something. And all three busroutes will get name changes (I mean there's three buses with "Av. du Parc" as a route name). The 80 was a cool bus.

To try and help non-Montrealers make sense of this, say one beautiful day Mayor Bronco decided to rename Crowchild Trail to Ralph Klein Trail. Without talking to the public about it. Or even better, he decided to rename Crowchild Trail or McLoed (I cannot spell it. =P) Pierre-Elliot Trudeau Trail. The cons would go bonkers for sure. Harper would come down too.

Then I realized, no one made outcries of "ARRRGH!" when they renamed highway 1 to Queen Elizabeth II Highway. So my examples aren't really at all concrete then.

Oh and I love the Canadian Museum of Civilisations btw.

M. Tremblay... Renaming historic streets is a bad idea

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/montreal/story/2006/10/19/parcave-renamedafterbourassa.html
And doing it without consulting Montrealers (again) is even worse.

Our only hope is if Montrealers band together and have massive protests on Parc Ave like when Tremblay "suddenly" merged all 29 villes/towns into one big Montreal and all the Mayors of those areas were out of jobs on New Year's day 2002. Don't tell me you forgot what happened then (The next day? Massive protests and a referendum a months later to see who wanted to stay in the Metropole or keep their town names)

(Someone should make a "How "Montrealer" are you?" quiz and put 'You're easily angered when a historic boulevard is changed without consultation from the mayor' and 'You turn to protests or rallies as a method of reversing a change' on there)

Random con about the thing: There already is a boulevard Henri-Bourassa, wouldn't a Robert-Bourassa be more confusing?

EDIT (11:27am)
I love my city. Montréal is just that awesome. http://geocities.com/helpsaveparc/

Exams

Assuming I want to go, I won't be back in Calgary until around December 21st or 22nd. Silly Sociology final scheduled on the 21st...Sillyyy...

I am thankful for...

abe_anything_goes.

Because the pics that are up so far of Lois Hole bring a huge grin to my face. You guys are silly. And after being half conscious/dealing with severe dizziness all day (I just woke up and felt like the room was spinning. It's a sickening feeling, I can assure you), this is a good thing to smile to. :)

*wobbles*

I'll go to bed before I wobble into a wall and scare my aunt.

NB. para usted (or really par vi/voi ) Mike, Gee or Kate:

Did Mike M...wait, McCloed(do I know how to spell that? No. When he was in my 3/4 split class could I spell his last name? No.) and Malcolm and Karlie K join debate or am I seeing things? Oh and kid I met on the train who worked at Stampede seems to have joined too. Hm. (Though I could be wrong...)

Retitled: Did I mention I miss band? I must've... + dad proves his sillyness

It should be noted, I miss band all too much. Especially band in grade 11 because, my goodness, so much fun being around people my age for once (the then-grade 12s) and the bassoons (Mainly Mikey and Amy) stuffing things down mine and Oliver's hoodies during practice (Okay, so we were both a bit annoyed and Mr. Paddock must've thought we were nuts but meh)

So established fact: Is missing band and is itching to play the Bass clarinet again.

I've been having songs from as far back as grade 7 playing around my head like Anasazi, Steppes of Russia, In Memoriam, A Day at the Zoo, (something) Gloucester, that Sherwood song Second Suite, El Camino Real etc.

Other established fact: I also have French kindergarten songs playing about my head like songs with lyrics like : "Tous les légumes, au clair du lune (somethingsomething). Ils s'amusaient, comme ils pouvaient et (somethingsomething). Les cornichons, tournent en rond. Les haricots dansent avec les petits chots(?)" oh and "La téléphone sonne, vite je vais répondre: "Âllo? Âllo, qui est là?" "Bonjour, bonjour à toi, dis-moi comment ça va?" "Moi, ça va très bien!"

Other established fact: I need to go and look for orchestras to join in Ottawa and stop whining about how much I miss band.

Also, I might go to Montréal with the Club d'immersion in November I think...I'll check it out.

Also, I'm done midterms...I have learned that keeping up with the readings is in fact key to success on a test.

AND, I won't be getting my box of things from Calgary perhaps not until later this month or early November courtesy of dad being lazy and not having transferred my things from the original big box to some smaller box as per what he said he would do back in September. I have Vanccie on standby to go over to my house and do it but hopefully it won't get to that. (Watch as (if I do) I get back and it's still there in my room)

Isn't it sad that it's been over 2 months since I packed that thing and it hasn't been sent? I want my art things so I can draw again on the computer and I would like to know if I should be depressed or worried or happy if I backed up my photos from my other computer before the reformat of my laptop.

PS. Les Cowboys Fringants are incredibly amazing x infinity. I'm trying to prevent myself from getting another CD of theirs or getting a CD period.

PPS. I found an ad in a September issue of L'équipe (Sports paper from France) against corporations advertising on sports clubs' jerseys. (It's got a player wearing a hmm....pancarte littered with corporations' logos taking a corner kick and all the other players on the field are wearing pancartes littered with logos too)

Oh and new Doctor Who and Heroes tonight. I'm very much looking forward to that.

Okay, so I missed yesterday + the day the before because I was studying. And I've gotten over that silly Level 2 Oral Expression grade thingermabob.

For yesterady, I must say that I am thankful for Doctor Who. Perhaps one of the best British sci-fi series I've stumbled upon in eons. (My aunt used to watch it waaay back when---there must be this "Unlimited Love for British TV Shows" gene that runs through mum's side of the family or something. Not that I'm complaining at all.) Can't wait for the new episode on monday! :D

The day before's "I am thankful for..." would be HMV + Les Cowboys Fringants, and Ottawa because they have Francophone CDs. I must say La Grande-Messe is a very good CD and En Attendant and 8 Secondes are perhaps some of the best tracks on there. (And they're political and real-life-problems centred---En Attendant is basically a "No to exploitation! No to privitisation! No to imperialism"-type songs...in fact that was just part of the chorus)

Today? My aunt and ours' mad pizza-making abilities. Today we made pepperoni pizza for supper. It was yummy :D

And I'm certainly glad to be living with my aunt, without most of her help, I'd be lost and a ball of incoherent stress by now.

One step way to dent one's "ego"

"Ego" being a term used loosely here because I have no idea if I have one. Haha (Or well, one that flaunt...Or well, one I don't think I flaunt about)

So I went to the mentorat, was told that they lost my text-response for the test (D=!!) and that my level of French spoken orally is at Level 2.

With Level 1 being the lowest.

Though, when I think about it, I didn't speak French as regularly as I did when I lived in Montréal and I lived in Calgary for 10 years which is a surefire way for one to loose their French. But I do well on written expression usually (or I've been told). That and I was possibly having mini anxiety from the topic I had to respond to (We get a topic, then through the mic, we have a time limit to say some things about the topic. If you're uninformed about it then you have a problem saying your response)

I guess today I should be thankful that I still have some French left.

Somalis vow holy war on Ethiopia

Seriously, if there's another war, I'll be saddened/angry. This'd be the 2nd war in about 6 years (The last one went from '98-2000---Eritrea and Ethiopia fought, again.)

I'm thankful for still having my dreams

I had no idea my childhood dream of becoming some great manga artist was still alive...I had no idea until my aunt and I got into a talk and I mentioned my 62% in Art 7 from Walker and she mentioned my seemingly "poor luck" with art teachers (63% in Art 10...even though that mathematically didn't add up to what I had gotten on all the projects) and I shyly/bashfully mentioned how it would be great if one day I mastered or knew enough Japanese, and was in Japan proposing to Shueisha my manga idea to some editors to be published in Weekly Shounen JUMP, it got accepted, was well received by the Japanese and suddenly the next I knew some animation studio director was asking me if they could adapt it into an anime series.

I had no idea that I still had any desire to get that far. No idea. None whatsoever. (I mean, it's a silly sounding dream, wanting to be a "manga artist" and all that. Oh boy.)



I guess I'm also thankful that somehow through all that I had to deal with during the last 3 years (or well the 5), through all the emotional troubles, the turmoil, the endless rollercoasters and obstacles I've managed to get this far....and I should I guess be also thankful that for the first time in an eternity, I've finally made friends whom I can actually talk with and get along with and am happy to be around with.

*sigh*

Nevermind what I was thinking before...

And I might give up on the UofO debate club methinks. I have offered my services as filmer/photoperson (which I didn't know made me an Asst-Coach at Abe) but haven't heard back from the President so *shrugs* (Then again, I no longer debate so that could be it) Silly soccer intramurals got all filled up too *was vying for the winter/January-intramural session anyways*. Perhaps I will inquire about the club d'immersion as it seems they have fun trips to Mont Tremblant to which I have never been (I know, tragic. I've never been to La Ronde either) and to Montréal.

Hey, I didn't notice that today was October 7th. I'll be 19 in a month.

Dear Psychology textbook,
Why must you be so long and weigh alot? (Takes me 3hrs to read a chapter--and I have a midterm coming on Wednesday)

Dear Sociology textbook,
You're short, light-weight, extremely portable and exciting with your chapters on Comte, Marx, Spencer and the like. Stay that way.

And am I making friends? I think so. A friend of mine who was in my Sociology class* wants to hang out with me during the weekend, another in German coaxed me to join Facebook and added me (which is rather difficult to use...the layout screams "Help organize me so I'm more visually appealing") and I have a friend in Psychology with whom I exchange pained looks with whenever people talk during lectures or someone asks a sex-related question when we're barely covering something that would warrant that type of question.

Midterms to study for await me...as well as doing that French journal, and that Critical review on Spencer and my systematic observation project for Sociologie I should start soon. Oh and catching up on Sociologie readings would be nice too.
(*Sociologie=french class Sociology=my english one)

I was hoping to be a Curious Commuter again and take the bus all the way out to Orléans during this weekend. Oh well.

Best Air Farce moment

"And so Parliament resumed this week...

Wierd Health Minister Clement walks by Layton and puts him arm around his shoulder from behind..."

"Then they exachange pleasentries and walk away.."

"Oh wait, it seems as if Clement may have insulted Layton's sister! Layton turns around...and he headbutts him!!"

*Layton headbutts Clement*

"Oh and here's the Speaker of the House issuing a red card for the offence...Layton's not looking too happy..."

Honestly made my day. Lots of Harper-centred jokes in this episode.

Montreal Trip--now located on the side bar

if you're looking for my posts of my trip to Montréal this summer, they're on the sidebar :)

People who talk during lectures should be promptly smacked over the head

Those who complain about a professor's accent should get a sign saying "Sorry, I stupidly forgot/didn't check that the deadline to switch courses was September 21st and now I'm sitting about whining about my prof's silly deranged accent. Durrh". Same goes for those who say "My prof sucks and I've been skipping classes...could someone send me their notes?".

I hate my SOC 1102 and PSY 1101 classes so much. SOC 1102 mainly. Everyone talks while our prof (West African) lectures. People leave in the middle of her lectures too. Even while we wait in the waiting area, people go on about her accent and how they can't understand it. Perhaps it's because I'm so used to foreign accents from Europe to Africa to China to the West Indies, but she's not really incomphrehensible as people have been making her out to be. Why does it seem in my only French-taught lecture-class people listen? (I was going to try this French-Socio class next semester that seems to be taught by a North African fellow and it's an interesting class too--save, it's 3hrs long. (Most 3hr courses only go for 2hrs))

PSY 1101, I've gotten used to my profs comparisons of whatever psychological aspect we're being told about to sex. Mind, she's stopped now but people kinda began asking sex-related questions in return (...And Sue Johansson that sexologist lady is here tonight too) and my god, when people tell you don't sit at the back of your classes in University, they mean it. Hell, stay away from the middle if you can, people talk lots and it can get annoying. Stay as close to the front as you possibly can (Not right up front in case your prof spits. That's not fun)

But since this is no perfect world, I'll just keep myself from going "YARRR!". Besides, I'm too sick (again, possibly a throat infection--crazy) to go crazy on someone. Meg, my friend in Psych's annoyed too but we just go "Yarrrgh" in our heads.

People here and everywhere else I've been can be so bloody inconsiderate.

And I like SOC 1102 and PSY 1101...just my peers should get a good talking to or should be promptly hit over the head with something.

I should be working on German...not really happening. Instead I was reviewing my psych notes from earlier. And yeah, I'll see a doctor tomorrow about my throat. Maybe I'll get lucky and I'll be able to swab the back of my throat myself as opposed to getting a tongue depressor put so far into my mouth that I nearly gag.

Post Script:

Australian comedy spoof-type shows are dreadfully funny. One compares the Doctor Who theme (accompanied with an earlier sketch where they're attacked by Darleks) to 60s Belgian Jazz and a Belgian Jazz version of the song plays while a narrator, speaking in French narrates randomly. "C'est lui...dans la nuit. Docteur.....Qui! Il voyage dans le TARDIS. La boîte de téléphone---fantastique, n'est-ce pas? L'intérieur et beaucoup plus grand...que l'extérieur!!" followed by things like "Ancroyable! Il veut contrôler (Davros--some bigbad enemi) le monde...toujours contrôler le monde. Il se lève les matins, il veut contrôler le monde! Après le petit-déjeuner, il veut contrôler le monde!" and "Ah zut alors, nous avons perdOO! Le docteur a gagné. Il rit "hahaha" et hahaha! Parce que je suis, Docteur...QUI"

And here I thought I knew all there was to know about my family.

I feel less informed and more annoyed than I was before. But that's nothing new now is it?


In other news, my Psychology textbook has a little prounciation lines for words like lesion and autonomic but not for words like electroencephalogram and it amuses me.


And being the curious commuter, I took the bus along the Transitway and ventured to Bayview and took the O-Train.

Though 10x shorter in length and station length than Calgary, it owns the C-Train in looks and size hands down. (It's like riding in a commuter train and it felt "luxurious" inside kinda. I was impressed)

Also bought the Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks poster today. Steps included.

What's new with everyone? I hear it snowed in Calgary. :O

Go watch HEROES tonight.

TV recommendation from moi;

That new show on NBC called "Heroes"? Yeah that one. Go watch it. It just finished and oh my goodness. (Hiro, the Japanese salaryman, is made of various levels of special. He also quotes star trek and makes references to the space-time continuum)

Not that the two brothers or the son of the Indian geneticist aren't interesting either.


But er--go watch it.

*promptly headdesks*

I'm sick whoo! Actually, not 'whoo!' because being sick=bad. Neo Citran has become my new best friend now...so have kleenex and sneezing is now a daily occurence . Though, I would prefer to sneeze lots than cough lots---the latter is more painful for my chest.

That and, I couldn't get into JPN 1901 after emailing the prof. Meaning, I'll have to play the "Check 'Availible Courses' page" game everyday until the 21st s/he (The prof has one of the hundreds of gender-neutral names in Japanese). Buh.

And the dreaded R and D words...Hm. It was everpresent in Calgary, but apparently I barely noticed it in Montréal (or in Calgary for that matter). I tend to like being blissfully ignorant sometimes about the whole matter. Call it a defence mechanism if you will. *shrugs*

I'm briefly interrupting the broadcast to make an announcement

I've become a Doctor Who fan. *hears the cries of "Oh dear..."* This proves I really must have some deep love for British shows courtesy of mum introducing me to the original Avengers one day. (The Avengers--the original!, The New Avengers, MI-5/spooks, Second Sight, Poirot, Mulberry, My Family, Postman Pat, Wallace and Gromit, Mr Bean, Thin Blue Line etc.)

*hums the theme song for a bit*

And, I have made over 200 posts in this blog.

And dear CBC,
Why couldn't Series II of the new Doctor Who start earlier than October 9th? Better yet, why couldn't episodes be aired a week or two after the British air-date instead?

Oh and dear BBC,
In Series III, I hear you're introducing a new companion for the Doctor who's British-African which I would assume is a big first in the series since it began in 1963 (and she reminds me of the girl from Zixx which has and maybe never will air in the UK. Yes I did at one point, watch Zixx) From pictures that I tried so hard to avoid because of spoilers, she looks cool. You guys (or well, the writers) deserve some cookies.

If you're curious about Doctor Who, the newest Doctor (referred to as the Tenth Doctor) is portrayed by David Tennant, aka Barty Crouch Jr. from Harry Potter (and if you saw Cassanova, he was there too) I haven't seen the episodes with Tennant because that series doesn't air until Oct 9th. The Ninth Doctor was played my Christopher Eccleston who was pretty good.


Okay, off to bed before I get sick because I think I might be coming down with something,
G'night

College shooting in Montréal.

http://www.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2006/09/13/montreal-witness.html

Well, it's total chaos there right now my mum's friend says. A girl they're letting stay with them from Jamaica attends Dawson College and just started her first year. I'm being told she's okay and that she had ran to a restaurant or bar further away.

Concordia is sheltering students (it's only 3 or 4 blocks away) too at Sir George Williams.

I could try and describe what area is shut down but many of you probably don't know the area. The mall/shopping plaza you might be hearing about--Alexis-Nihon-- was a shopping plaza I used to go to on many, many occaisions with mum and dad. The plaza is located right next door to the college and is connected tot he metro station underground and I had walked down there this summer in front of the college where all the chaos is which, when I think about it was only a few weeks ago.

Most of the metro apparently has been shut down on the green line from Lionel to Peel. So it's almost as if downtown near that area is locked down. Anyone looking to go home, students included because the metros in front of Dawson and Concorcia---Atwater and Guy-Concordia respectively---are closed. Yeah...

Bloody hell.

That's just not supposed to happen.

Not in that part of the city either.

Msn? Bah.

Call this a 'I hate technology' moment but some of you may (or may not) have noticed my new screename (I hardly think most people do). Reason behind it?

I'm really, really disliking the use of MSN as a means to communicate. I mean, whatever happened to the phone? I'm just finding the use of MSN really silly. You send a message, you wait a few minutes for a reply. It's not as good as a phonecall, you can't keep up a 'fluid' conversation really also, through MSN and any IM-type programme for that matter, it's very hard to tell what the person is saying. By this, I mean that the conversions lack the ability sometimes to convey an emotion. You can't tell in what sense someone is writing something or what tone they've assumed. You can't tell if someone is really "listening" or in this, case reading. (When you're IM'ing you're not talking, you're typing)

Mind, since many of you are surely busy, a phonecall isn't possible and I recognize that; I just don't want to use MSN anymore at the moment (it's a really good thing then that I didn't go for a seperate phone line altogether---that would've been a HUGE waste of money). MSN isn't altogether bad, it's just...there are times (and have been very many times) where I just want to talk to people rathter than type, wait, type another sentence, wait, type a word, wait etc. etc. (I think I've just grown tired of Instant Messeging)

In reality, no one really ever phones me (much) so *shrug* to that. Actually the only people who ever phoned me were relatives...or well, most if not all the phonecalls to our house in Calgary were calls for dad. I've been more a secretary than anything. Meh.

I'm going to stick to email (gmail) and the telephone for methods of communication for a bit. May or not sign in to MSN unless I really need to. You know, hearing a voice is better than the clickity-clackity of a keyboard and the 'do-do-da!' of the reply alarms.

Skype works too, it's just I'll only be able to type and listen but not speak. Again, box of stuff still has not arrived and I doubt dad has sent it.

(I can be up this late because I have a class at 1pm.)

Well merde,

Making this post short as I must sleep.

So TV Tuner thing on laptop wasn't working so lady at HP suggested I use the PC Recovery. What she told me, was that the only thing that would've changed would be my desktop. What she hadn't suggested to me nor inform me was that the PCR would be similar to a reformat of one's HDD. So, I lost everything I had uploaded onto one of my two drives. I don't belive I backed up any of my photos but I am hoping that one of my CDs in my box of stuff has something. (But I doubt that because I remember deleting some of the folders after I had uploaded them.) But this means I lost alot of photos.

Montreal photos are still on my camera but other photos, debate, provs, BP, random random pics are at the moment all gone. I think I have provs on a CD but missing two photos because I was stupid and Montreal photos but that's it. Photographs...I hate loosing photographs.

Guess the lesson learned is keep stuff backed up and stored on the 2nd HD.

I guess I'll just try and keep my mind on school and hope that I either backed up the photos or that I didn't actually delete them off dad's laptop. Oh I start my first Socio class tomorrow morning too.

So I really didn't keep this short. Ah well. Oh and France beat Italy 3-1. Me=slightly happier.

The dreaded photo post! Part 1

*Dun dun dun!*

Well, after the many woes we were having with the internet and the computer earlier, I know have fast internet and wireless is now set up in the house. Yay! (No Skype until my box of stuff arrives. My headset is in it)

The photo above, I took at the Calgary airport (The beep was on) in the Westjet terminal which is perhaps the best terminal on earth if I do say so myself.

And so it begins:


This was along the bridge as we made our way from Île-Pierrot south-west of Montréal Island










I tried several times to get a nice shot of downtown Montréal. The picture fails to capture the bigness of downtown Montréal. You need panoramic lenses or camera in order to capture it.

The photo on the right is a nice shot, but you get silly reflection from the window =(











This is as the train was pulling into Gare Centrale. You can see them I don't think here but there's cables above for the commuter trains headed for Deux-Montagnes (though I have no clue if those cars are still in use). Speaking of the train, they're expanding it all the way to the Couronne Nord (north-east of Montréal.). That's pretty far.


DAY 2


My street, yep...The sign right near our old appartment at Côte-St-Luc and Clanranald in NDG. Well, it's my home and an avenue where I spent the better part of my life exploring. It was along this street that I learned how to ride my bike, where I walked down to Queen Mary, where I frolicked in the snow and just jumped in the multicoloured leaves and picked the dandelions. My most vivid and best memories were lived on this street. Good times.

4635 Clanranald. Such a great appartment. We lived here on the top floor (4th. you can kind of see it) on the other side of the building. Outside my window, I had these HUGE maple trees. Huge. So I could watch the leaves go from green, to yellow and red and orange and brown, see the frost all over the branches and the buds. But then they cut them down and built houses where they once stood. Me=not a happy camper. :(


I wish I had taken a picture of the sinegogue further down but anyways, along Claranald there's a beautiful church made of grey stone followed by a sinegogue. This church is located on the next street over on Earnscliffe but I used to pass by it lots with mum and dad.








MacDonald Park. It's a small park that's the length of a block. They've changed it since I was here last. That red-blue jungle gym wasn't there before. The swings were moved and only 4 of the maybe 8 or more see-saws are still left. The swings are still the same. I loved this park. Much fun. My favorite tall yellow corkscrew slide was gone and replaced with a red one though. *laughs*



The wading pool! Though, if you heard on the news (don't know if it made it that far) you'd've heard about the pools in Laval and Montréal being filthy (Only 6 pools out of the 30+ maybe 50) but TQS and TVA the last two news stations I would ever watch did an undercover investigation of pools in the city and found many of the pools' bacteria levels were dangerously high So lots of pools were shut down for a bit while tests were conducted. This pool gets filled from lion-mouth fountains on either end. ( I could be wrong...)

DAY 3


This is Sainte-Catherine Ouest basically the so-called heart of downtown. The underground city, Eaton's Centre, Place Montréal Trust, Le Faubourg (which I didn't get to go to), the shops, the random strip clubs, good restaurants, a random 24hr Second Cup, Place Cathédrale, everything below ground and above is a must-see (aside from the strip clubs...). As you can see, it's not busy. From 4 until 6-7, this street is congested to the max.


This is a picture of McGill University (series of castle-like buildings with the red-white flag) from Av McGill College (still along Ste-Catherine). That huge mass of green over there? That's a tiny little bit of Mont-Royal. Keep in mind, we're still relatively far from it. (McGill is located on the Plateau methinks)

Picture of the entrance to Place Montréal Trust from the side in front of the Indigo's bookstore.

More to come tomorrow!

Day 7+8: Reunion, la rentrée and la cimétière Mont-Royal + The Return to Ottawa

So recap of yesterday while I'm here in the Eaton's Centre dealing with pains in my stomach...ow. (I've got 2hrs to kill before I walk back through Place Ville Marie and back to Central station)

DAY 7
Decided that maybe yesterday I was going to bring my laptop with me up the mountain (Mont-Royal technically qualifies as such) in case, after I had time to go downtown or something. Big mistake. Ended up walking for much longer than I probably would've liked, with my shoulders in immense pain.

On my way to Edouard-Montpetit station, a STM officer (transit police--they wear bullet proof vests btw) asked me while I disembarked at the Snowdown station to change to the blue line about my France football bag (which was holding my laptop) and if I knew what it was (since most girls these days randomly get merchandise with BRAZIL and the football crest just to look cool. Shame) and I said yes and we had a random discussion in French in which we talked about the French football team. That was awesome.

When I got to E-M station, the Université de Montréal was holding orientations for first-years. (The two stations E-M and one appropriately called Université-de-Montréal both are in front of the University) One group's guide was like *checks the street* Ok! Traversons! and the students were all "Hahah...ouais...lol*impatient driver honks horn*". Another group was just as special, they were singing oh...can't remember but I used to sing it tons as a kid. Just to think, in about 5 or 6 days I'll be going around partaking in orientations.

Anyway, I made the long walk along Mont-Royal Boulevard with my heavy bag (it's mostly uphill) and that maybe took me an hour at least. Finally got to the cemetary after almost nearly walking into the Jewish one. Anyway, about the cemetary; it's located around an area (a rather large area) of Mont-Royal. Now, this spot is huge, maybe not as big as the other sides with the tourist and picturesque views.

So the secretary gave me directions and so I commenced my march up Mont-Royal.

Had I not had my bottle of water, I would've collapsed.
If none of you feel comfortable reading this you can by all means, skip :)

Anyway, after another 45mins of walking, taking a break, walking, I walked into a circle of tombstones. The area where mum and grandma were buried is called the Mountain View. It litterally is a mountain climb you're doing. Without a car, you're in for a long walk. Past the trees, there's a fantastic view of the south of Montréal, really a sight to behold.

Well, I walked abit to the third row in and looked and the first stone that caught my eye was a black, shiny granite tombstone which read Joan Kaye and Anne-Harvey. I guess I kinda just broke down there an then and had trouble getting myself to move closer. I sat for maybe forever staring at the thing. I guess it was time I faced a bit of my reality and that was the way I had to do it.

It was an experience I prefer not to repeat personally anytime soon. It was just too hard. And too wierd I found. Definately a bit on the wierd side. It's really, really difficult talking to a piece of granite with two of the people you loved lying below. I'll be honest, I tried to talk to mum but it was just...wierd. Grandma was just as wierd. They're buried next to each other so yeah.

I mean, I suppose it's good for me to do it but..I just didn't like it too much.

You can start reading again ;)
After that wierd moment on the mountain, I walked down the steep end of the path. Not fun as I almost slipped on a rock on the way down. Then I nearly got lost, but I found my way back, refilled my bottle and walked all the way back to the UdeM and the metro.

After that I litterally 'ran' to Westmount by transferring lines and then getting a bus right away. So I got to Westmount Park school and walked around to the other side and spotted my old caretaker and the lady who runs the daycare (and she's still running it after all these years...good god)

That's the "front" of Westmount Park. it's got about 3 or 4 floors plus basement and a science-type lab. Oh and it seems they've re-implemented public school uniforms here (a polo shirt with trousers or a skirt for girl with the school crest on the side) for some schools. I used to go here for pre-K, kindergarten, my extra year and afterschool care. :D

So Colleen (the lady who runs the daycare still!) remembered me and we talked for a few minutes as she got together her things as they had just closed for the evening (wow, good timing AGAIN) and I asked her if she knew anything about my old friends (I had brought some photos with me and she and I reminisced on some of them) She gave me the last name of my best friend Jordan's parents (though they were divorced I remember) so I might do a directory search. Apparently the dad is a prof at Concordia so I'll look into the prof directory there. And she gave me her card to email her about my fun stuff in University and such and just to keep in touch and such. Apparently two people whom I had in Afterschool and Pre-K are still there as well as one lady from Kindergarten. my goodness.

So I gave her my email to pass on if she finds Jordan or David or anyone else. Maybe I'll be lucky.

I also went by my old Elementary, Roslyn School also in Westmount. I wish I could've taken more than one picture of the houses because they're extravagant. and HUGE. HUGE.


This, is Roslyn School. The front entrance fails to capture the sheer size of it. It's got two floors, the gym I remember was HUGE but it might be smaller now that I'm older. Oh and we had public school uniforms but not polos like it seems to be now but just t-shirts, navy sweaters and such. I used to wear a navy skirt with navy socks and shoes with my sweater on some days.

So I tried to see if Stéphanie was still there in her house on Grosvenor but it seems they moved or moved along time ago because the house was empty. It was a bit sad but I mean, at least I have a chance to find Jordan maybe. Or something. Well, now I know that Stéphanie is somewhere but I probably won't find her for a while or ever again even. At least I can put that to rest :).

Later I tried to head to Place Alexis-Nihon to look for a gift for my godfather and his wife as a thankyou but all the stores (but Winners and Second Cup which is in front of the Dawson College (HUGE CEGEP. omg!) and a Pharmaprix (aka Shoppers Drug Mart)) were closed! Hence the stealthy attempt at getting them a present this morning (read: DAY 8)

DAY 8
I've uploaded all my photos but I don't know if I want to do the photo entry before I go or not. I've got about 62 pics but I want to stop by a music shop and buy a Cowboys Fringants CD.

Anyway today, I somehow stealthily managed to sneak a box of Laura Secord gummies past my godfather and his wife as I bought them while they were kinda present. lol I gave it to them as a thank you when I got dropped off at the gare. :D

Then I checked-in my luggage and totted my laptop throug the underground city through Place Ville Marie and into Eaton's Centre. Right now there's a bunch of University and primaire students walking about the food court as school started for most EMSB (English) and FMSB (French) schools. No idea if that expensive private school that was on the way to Roslyn is open yet or that other one past my school.

Anyway, final thoughts on Montréal?

Awesome.

My purchases?

• A Tintin wallet for 50% off as one button was broken (12$..HAH!)
• A Tintin clearfile (to hold papers and such)
• Some manga (okay...that's a lie...not some but quite a few...er---)
• A Dalia suit for 20-something dollars (70% off sales are awesome)
• A Jacob's rugby-type shirt

If you read my Day 6 entry, I got those tops and bottoms in the clothes trade with my cousin and her friends. :)

Definately forever going to love this city. There's just this...thing that makes me want to come back and live here again. I guess becuase it's the city where I experienced the better part of my life and I've got this unbreakable attachment to it because of that.

Anyway, signing off now to try and locate a music store before I get back to Gare Centrale ;D
Salut!

Day 6- Fun afternoon around Chinatown and hanging out with my cousin/friend + rant

So I spent my afternoon that day in and about Montréal's Chinatown. It's far more..."walkable" than Calgary's. There's no cars driving down it so you can walk down the streets and there's nice places here and there.

Anyway, later that evening, I got to hang out with my cousin and friend (we've known each other for years) and her best friend who recently got engaged. Then we went out to her friend's house on the Plateau to meet her other friends to do this "clothes trade" thing. It's a really neat concept. All of them bring in old clothes of theirs or their families and they pile them and they go through them, try the on and such and take some clothes home. It's a neat way to get rid of clothes. I did end up getting to pick some clothes (a nice jacket, a PJ shirt, a pair of pants and a skirt and a cheap but fancy-ISH purse) as did my cousin and her bestfriend and another friend of hers who was there.

Oh and her friend's appartment was so laidback and...cute I found. It was one of the duplex-type places that was really old but quaint. Her rooms you could tell were painted or laid with things that were in a laidback "meditative" taste. I dunno. Her appartment was vacant because she was out of town but she left them the keys.

On the way out, her friend's boyfriend was trying to remember Star Trek themes randomly and, using my crazy memory skills, managed to hum or in Enterprise's case, sing, the songs he asked. It was funny. Actually what's funnier, is that even Francophones have a hard time with my name when I say it out loud.

So we jaywalked across busy Av du Parc back to the car with our "loot" and back to my cousin's place in TMR. We dropped off our loot then went back out to this..oh my goodness...one of BEST ice cream places I have ever been to! It was Italian ice cream (not gelatto) but it was so good! We all had seconds and tried as many flavors and shared some between us. It was so yummy! I think if we all somehow got together in Montréal we should go there. The ice cream was amazing. :D

And my cousin is just purely, a great person. Almost on the same level as my brother and she's almost like an older sister to me (again, we've known each other for 19 yrs...mind I only recall 15 but she's known me since I was a baby). I mean, I have 3 others, but really...you guys know the drill, I've never met them and maybe won't for another 2 or 3+ yrs.

Sadly though night was soured a bit when I first got there. Another of mum's friends was at my cousin's house talking with her mum (again someone who knew mum). We'll call her Denise. She had called me prior to say how she would've wanted to see me and such. Anyway, when I first got into the house and the dining area was clear she sounded off on me on how I should've done better in keeping in touch with them (her and some of mum's friends) and how I should call them often and send letters to them. Well, I was ticked and wanted her to go so I wouldn't have to get mad at her but I kept a straight face, apologized, she sounded off a bit more and she left. She said some other things about how I should've called far in advance to see everyone's availibility.

Actually, mum's friends have all sounded off on me so far on this trip. Save for Patricia but the others, my goodness...I guess it's justified but..bah. Let's start this over. Wait, first, the others of my mum's friends have all told me how I should've called further in advance before booking my train ticket. Well, I believe I did so but I recall being told that I should call later in the week or that they needed a date (which would in turn force me to get a ticket because I don't have a credit card) and I had given them a possible week but they all wanted a fixed date so they could plan. Alright, makes sense. But then they all sound off on me and my bad planning. True, I have bad planning...after all this is the first time I have had to plan a trip on my own to Montréal. True, they have a right to tell me, but not like some of them have.

Before that, (back in the day :P) all I had to do was call Grandma, tell her the days and I would be set OR, mum would call and do all of it but mostly I would call Grandma and let her know. Last I was in Montréal, my cousin and her mum had both offered me a place to stay as they knew well how I used to always stay at my Grandma's. This year, I tried to do it on my own. Look, it seems I failed--I don't need you all telling me twenty times over that I did (though not all of them call each other but hell, I'm sure I'll be the topic of many conversations to come for some of them.). My godmum sounded off too, but she kind of gave me tips and suggestions on what I could do better next time.

Anyhow, most of my mum's friends i suppose are just trying to be mums for me. (Apparently Denise said that they all were. That's a pretty bold thing for me to hear from somone...maybe I would've been flattered had I not been criticized earlier.) Maybe I'm just not used to criticism but those comments dented my trip. I know they wanted to help but they way some of them did it I just didn't find appropriate.

You know, I could just skip seeing them alltogether and just do things on my own in Montréal. And I just wanted to tell them, "Despite how much I look alike to mum, I'm not her. I don't phone 5+ people everyday and weekend nor do I frequently write letters.". Mum was able to make time and call them, the last three years. Did I have real time to call them? Not so much. Calling her friends back home was low on the priority list for me during those years. I mean I wanted to call them but I either thought it too late when I got around to it and I was mostly concentrating on not breaking the eggshell-like peace in the house, dealing with dad's emotions and health and keeping my grades up while I failed 3 courses. Not that I'd tell them I failed 3 courses in High School and finished with a 75% average which is an accomplishment for me after what has gone on. Because to them, I'm supposedly an 80s student or I should be that and more as anything less would be for some of them, unacceptable or unimpressive.

I wanted to retort and mention the fact I'm almost 19 and no longer a kid with too much time to spare. I have barely any time to do my crafty cards anymore. I'm sorry but, as much as I would love to make cards like I used to, I can't.

But I suppose this is all part of the so-called learning process?

...That was such a wierd rant.

I'll make a seperate entry about today (Aug 29th's) tomorrow.