Princess Ellen

I woke up last Saturday to the first snow fall of the season. It's the end of November, but I still thought "No, go away. I'm not ready for winter yet." I seriously considered rolling over and refusing to get out of bed until it all went away. Unfortunately/luckly, it was a competition day and I had no choice but to get up.
I watched the little ones dance. Jazz's student got the trophy in her age group which was shocking since it was the first time she had won a gold and she only danced 3/5 dances (having not yet learned the ST or the Flora). It's been months since I've taught her so I can't claim responsability for any of her awesomeness. Still, I just so damn proud!
I danced in the afternoon for fun. I've been sick all month and have been very busy with school so I hadn't really been practicing. I expected to win absolutely nothing and had told myself that I was okay with this. Nonetheless, I did ask my teacher if I looked like I belonged on stage after my Fling; if it was obvious that I was so out of shape. She gave me the generic encouraging response that one would expect from a dance teacher (eg "you look great" "you're doing fine" "you definitely have a shot"). I suppose she wasn't just reading her script because I actually got a medal. Two even! I got a 2nd in my Fling and a 1st in my ST. Admittedly the competition wasn't really, really tough, but we were all about evenly matched. It's nice to know that I still have what it takes to be up there dancing.

Exams start in a little over a week. I'm scared. I don't think I've ever gone into an exam periode with such poor marks, nor so much uncertainty about the material. I also am battling a growing sense of apathy about it all. I just want this semester to be over. I want my Xmas break already.
I'm going to spend Xmas choreographing and I want to start that already! I finally found my dance CDs and I want to get cracking on a few ideas I've been sitting on for awhile now.
But first I have to get through this last week of class. Hand in my research paper write my research paper. Study for exams.

On the bright side, almost all of the snow has melted in the past few days and I have new rubber boots to splash through the puddles in!

It's Christmas eve! No wait, that's in December... Oh right, it's "kick the conservatives out of parliament" eve. Potentially even more exciting. *fingers crossed for a minority gov, not led by the scary robot*
Tomorrow will also be my first time voting! I'm excited!

Also, I finished one of my ThermoChem Assignments, my BioLab Ass., and my ChemLab report. I'm also feeling a little less horrified at the prospect of writing my Organic Chem midterm on Wednesday. Thermo may still present a problem, but it doesn't make me want to cry anymore, so that's something. These are the rewards for spending my weekend behind a pile of books.

The upcoming week will be shorter than normal as it is full of these horrible things called Midterms. I also have 2 assignments due and one lab report. And I have to draw graphs! I hate drawing graphs! I never know what to name them or if there is a scale that would better demonstrate my point. 
It's 2 down, 3 to go on the midterm front. Those three will be followed by a brief but necessary breather (during which I will start my research paper and do the entire molecular biology unit of my cell bio lab in one week). The last two midterms were relatively stress free in that one was Anthropology and I had completely forgotten about the other.  Somehow I managed about an A- on both of them. Thank you Dr C for retro-actively making all the hardest questions on the BioChem midterm bonus questions.  I probably did honestly deserve the 64% I had before he decided to do that (see comment about forgetting that I had a test), but I'm saying nothing.

You would not believe how satisfying it is to abbrieviate Assignment to Ass. in my agenda and all my to do lists. Seriously, it makes me very happy.

We worked on staining the deck today. Another day at it and we should be done. However we run out of stain for the time being. You know, stain really...stains. And nothing draws attention to just how short those short shorts really are than having to scrub deck stain off your upper thigh. Somehow is all came off my arms, or at least faded enough to be hidden by my tan, easily. My legs however will be covered by a pair of long pants for the next week.
I appear to have done something to my right wrist. I'm thinking of googling Carpel Tunnel as that might be it. It seems to be aggravated by pretty much everything. Every summer I set myself a few projects, most of which are doomed to fail. Now I'm really regretting having not worked harder on becoming ambidextrous last summer.
On a high note, this summer's efforts in the juggling department seem to be showing promising results.
Maybe it's the juggling that has brought this out now or maybe it's the fact that I'll finally be able to afford it, but

We made these just after watching the last of Stargate SG-1. We've started Atlantis now. I miss Daniel Jackson...


Also,


And because I think it's awesome:

Hello! long time no see.
We went to Drumheller yesterday and the dinosaurs were awesome! I really liked the scenery too. I was beginning to miss hills. God the prairies are so flat! There will be pictures eventually.

Today, we went to DiceLady's Deal in Carseland. I bought a leather jacket for 10$, which is a little too good to be true. It's a bit short in the sleeves, but so is everything because I'm built like a spider. It's in excellent condition and looks good. We also got an icecreme maker shaped like a penguin. We're going to break that in now.

Also, I thought I'd post this recipe. Becca and I have made it a number of time and it is awesome. Beer-Chocolate-Cake. What could be better?!
( from a Nigella cookbook )

I forgot to tell you guys about George's Secret Key to the Universe! I finished it ages ago. It was great! There was danger, adventure, giant pigs named Freddy and a hateable villain/school teacher. As with any good kids book, there was a moral to the story: "love science, be curious, save the planet, explore others."
I was surprised by how much the book was about the dangers of climate change. But it didn't really detract from the plot. See, George's parents are crazy Eco-Warrior Hippies and George is very embarrassed by them and mad that they won't let him have a computer. Naturally, when a physicist moves in next door, he thinks the man is the coolest adult ever. He's surprised to find however that this physicist, despite loving technology and science, doesn't thing that his parents are cracked.
I think I learned a few things from the book and certainly reviewed some of what I had learned in school but mostly forgotten. There are fact sheets with extra info on the subject matter throughout the book and full colour pictures from Hubble. I also thought it was funny how much the book was pimping Stephen Hawking's theories. "You see kids, there's this thing called Hawking Radiation, things can escape a black hole!" I'm pretty sure that is still a hotly debated topic in the science community (but I could be wrong). If they ever prove it wrong the whole ending will fall flat on it's face (and won't be happy anymore). But I supposed one has to write about what one believes whether or not others agree. I'll have to go look that up now and see what the general consensus on Hawking Radiation is these days.

The other day I was in chapters. I always walk through the kids section to Check for Diana Wynne Jones book on the off chance they have one I don't own. Most book stores seem to have picked three of her books and carry only those three, but every once in awhile there is something different. This time there was something different. In fact I didn't recognise the title. The cover said that is was a sequel to Howl's Moving Castle so I thought perhaps they had republished Castle in the Air under a different title. No, it was a NEW BOOK! I guess I've been living under a rock or something because she published a new Howl book this year! Of course I bought it on the spot and didn't put it down until I finished it. I was very tempted to re-read it then because there just isn't enough of it! It was wonderful. It's interesting how thing change over the years. Most of DWJ's books that were published in the 70s are about kids who's parents are neglectful or absent. This one is about a child who has over-protective, oppressive parents, as many seem to be these days. All the characters were perfect right down to the puppy-dog. As per-usual, I thought I had predicted how everything would come together in the end and was dead wrong. That's one thing I love about DWJ, just when you think her ending is going to twist one way it goes the other, so there's still a surprise, even when you've read half her books. Oops, I forgot to mention, the book is called The House of Many Ways. Go read it, it's wonderful.

Witness the end of an era: papillon_denuit and I are currently watching the very last episode of Stargate SG-1 ever made. We've both seen it before, but we have to watch it anyway, of course.

There is a rain, hail, thunder storm going on outside. I love watching storms. I also love watching the golfers flee back to the clubhouse.

Yesterday J caught a baby bunny at work. It was so cute! He was going to give it to his sister, but his mom made him release it. I caught a baby Killdeer this morning. It kept falling on its face as it tried to run away. They're not too good on their feet. We spent the afternoon making gaga noises at adorable baby ducks while they chased dragonflies. My job involves too much cute!!!

Now we are going to go make stargate themed cookies to highlight the event and start watching the movies.

We went to the Stampede the other week and got rained(hail, thunder) on. I have pictures though so hopefully they will be posted soon. My computer isn't being as annoying now so it should be a problem.

Lastly, I got a knitting/craft blog. It's knotandthreads. Come visit me there.

It was Jake Gyllenhaal! Now you all have to go look him up. I suppose it wasn't that great a drawing of his face...
In the past few weeks we've watched a lot of movies (and a LOT of Stargate).
Signs was great in the way ridiculous sci-fi always is. It wasn't Charlton Heston, but is was still great.

Another good Sci-fi was Children of Men. Despite the fact that I can't help but imagine the future looking something like the Jetsons, I know this movie is probably far more realistic than we would like to think. It's gritty and scary and very enjoyable. It had a postmodern feel to it.

Proof (with Jake Gyllenhaal talking math, mmmm) was excellent. I'm pretty sure someone had previously described its plot to me in great detail, or maybe I saw it a long time ago, because I knew how it would end. It was still incredibly enjoyable though. Maybe I just liked the geek factor of a math movie, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the only reason I loved it.

"Come on, there's this band playing. A bunch of geeks from the math department, but I promise you they all bathe on a regular basis, most have gotten contacts and some even have girlfriends. It'll be fun... They have this one song, called i, where they just stand there for three minutes... get it because i..."
"You're in this band aren't you."
"Yes."

We were sent home early yesterday because of the heat (I assume), sweetness! I was washing the Fairway mower during the afternoon, so I didn't really mind that it was 30+ Celsius. The mower and I were sharing the pressure-washer fairly equally. I'm a little worried that Rboss will get me to mow fairways soon (one of the hardest jobs) now that he's taught me how to drive that mower. He could have driven it to the washer himself, but he showed me how instead. The thing is huge! Even the guys have to climb up on the tire to get into the seat.
We've been writing songs about working on the golf course. The Bunker-rake song is the best so far. papillon_denuit wrote it and I've thrown some guitar chords at it. I've got one about mowing, it's more of a blues song.

Saturday evening, there was a Canada Day party at DSev's house. Much fun was had by all. I got to meet a lot more of papillon_denuit's friends. All great people.

It would be silly to order a periodical table shower curtain off the internet, before I've bought my new condo, right? Because I can't be so sure that I will have need. (But who wouldn't need a periodical table shower curtain? I'm sure I could find a use for it if our shower has doors).

We saw something cool in the sky the other day. A long cloud was glowing all the colours of the rainbows in turn. It started bright orangy-red, then turned bright green, then indigo. Becca googled it. I forget what it was called, but it is apparently a very rare phenomenon. It happens when ice crystals in the cloud are lined up just right to refract the light from the sun.

And now again for ( Name That Pretty )

The internet has been down for the last four days so forgive me if I have been absent. I've also been distracted by Katamari which Dev bought the other day. I'm impressively bad at it. papillon_denuit is impressively good at it. I especially love it when the people scream as you roll them up!

I forgot to mention. I bought the cutest tote with a print of Monet's garden on it. It makes me very happy.

I'm currently skyping my brother about the pancake making skills of ex-convicts. And pianos, we talked about pianos.

Yes that is all the news I have...

We went into Calgary yesterday with one of Becca's friends. The Glenbow museum is very cool! I love museums! The feature exhibit involved the history of Alberta, which probably should have been boring, but wasn't. In school we studied plenty about how the Europeans screwed over the natives in the East, but we didn't talk about the west. I learned a lot. We had lunch in a nice little bookstore and I bought "George's Secret Key to the Universe" by Stephen and Lucy Hawkings. Yes, that Stephen Hawkings. He wrote a children's book. It is awesome!

I found this lying around my desktop. I had completely forgotten about it. It is perhaps a little sad that I can't even manage to finish drabbles in a timely manner...

Anywho...

Inspired by Stargate SG-1 season 9's episode, Off the Grid, I give you a drabble!

( Undercover )

This is what happens when Becca and I decide to bake immediately after watching Stargate(although by that logic, I should be quite the prolific fic-writer).

But seriously, can peanut butter go bad?

Rating: PG (because they don't say "ass" in disney films)
Warnings: Spanking ;p
SAM/DANIEL (friendship)
summary: After a team night, Sam and Daniel have fun in the kitchen; cookies, peanut butter, drunk!Sam and drunk!Daniel
Con-crit always welcome
Co-Authored by: papillon_denuit

***No cookies were harmed in the making of this fic, though they were consumed in excess...not really "harming" so much as them fulfilling their purpose in life.***

Enjoy!
( a cookie is a cookie is a cookie )

We're about half way through season 7 of Stargate SG-1. If we're lucky, mom will send me the next three seasons before we run out. This disk is very Sam oriented. I love Sam! She'd so hardcore!

I've been mowing grass all this week. The machine is bright red, sounds like a hairdryer in a helicopter and steers like a motorized rowboat. It's great, but I got a sunburn on my legs from having them up on the foot rest in front of me while driving. it hurts like hell, but the tan lines from my socks make me laugh.

I saw the new Indiana Jones movie on Tuesday. I had heard bad reviews, but really it was just on par with the other three. I guess people saw the other ones when they were kids and remembered that they loved them so expected awesomeness. It was awesome! but in that 'bad special effects and ridiculous plot' way that makes me love Indiana and a lot of bad Sci-fi (ape suits anyone?). I guess some people don't get that.
I'm tempted to write to George Lucas and ask if he's a Stargate fan. The whole film seemed to be making references to various episodes.

I started my second job on Friday. It's only a few hours a week, but is kinda fun. I'm working at a little ice creme shop on the edge of the campground. I get free ice creme while I'm there. Becca has worked there that last 6 summers so she is training me. The store belongs to a friend of her mother's, K, who is very nice.

( It's time again for Name That Pretty! )

Happy Nerd Pride Day Everyone!!! And Happy Towel Day too!

We thought it was raining Wednesday... yesterday was even worst! We had to work because we'd had the day off the day before. Freezing rain. I kept thinking "I'm still shivering, that's good, it means I'm not hypothermic". Today was perfect though. Cold in the morning, but sunny in the afternoon. I had about six layers on because I'd been so cold the day before, so I was pretty hot.

I spent the rest of the day on the couch. Now I'm chatting with some of my roommates, J and A(one of Becca's brothers) while watching tv. Nice guys. We were talking politics and international relations, which is always interesting. It's a little scary how nice Becca's brothers are. Interested, enthusiastic and generous. I don't know how to react to it, but it's nice.

Everyone here drives a pickup!

Now, who's this actrice?
( Name that pretty! )

It was pouring rain today so Becca and I didn't have to go into work (you can't mow grass and rake sand pits in the rain and there aren't any golfers out anyway). Which reminds me, I didn't tell you that I have a new job. I'm doing grounds at the golf course with papillon_denuit. Its better pay, better hours, more organised, and more fun. Yesterday I got to drive a giant tricycle through sand all day! I got it stuck coming out of pits twice. I'm told that that makes me part of the crew now.
I thought that "I can put up with this for the next 4 months" about the job at the campground. For this, it is totally different. It's more like "this is my life". Unfortunately this life involves getting up at 5am every morning. I had gone to bed at 5am before, but until last Friday I had never gotten up that early. I've been taking pictures of the sunrise, which is gorgeous, so you will probably get sky-fetish pictures.

I'm working on drawing people. I have three drawings done and Becca says that they are actually recognizable. If I post them, who will take a guess at who they are? This could be fun (and either validate my drawing skills or make us all laugh).

First off, a Happy, Happy Birthday to papillon_denuit

We had a party for Becca last night and I got to meet more of her friends, all of whom are awesome. There was a cake that says "wishing you forever rainbow happiness". It was too great to pass up.

I have a job! It isn't great and exciting, but it's a job. It pays money. I will mostly be yard work and cleaning toilets at a campground here. I'm still hoping that the golf course will call me back.

We went to the mall in Calgary the other day. It was Egyptian themed?! I live near a city that has enough malls that they can have themes. I bought a pair of stripy pants that are awesome and a blue shirt that will go with everything. Yayz!

So I haven't updated since February. Busy... school and whatnot.

I'm in Alberta! I've currently packing up my entire room. The parentals will be selling the house while I'm gone and need my room to look unlived in.

New word: Dytat (pronounced dye-tat) It stands for "do you really want me to answer that?" implying that you don't because you already know the answer to your question and don't like it.
Adopt it, along with ass-jeep, into your vocabulary immediatly.

The plane ride was nice, though long. I had a good chat with a soldier on my way to Toronto. The plane was delayed so they gave us all booze to make up for it. I had three hours to kill in Toronto. I got some shampoo at Lush and ate lunch. From Toronto to Calgary, I watched the Kite Runner and an episode of Pushing Daisies.The Kite Runner is Excellent! but I still want to read the book.

I'm about half way through Tipping the Velvet, which is a great book.

I'm going to start working at the golf course here next week. Then I will have money (which would be nice).

So far, Alberta, which Becca's brother Dan calls "God's country", is not nearly as beautiful as I was led to believe. However, there was snow on the ground here until quite recently. When the grass gets green I'm sure it will be breathtaking.

Exams ended a little over a week ago and the grades are in. I didn't do nearly as badly in Chemistry as I expected. So maybe I'm not on the wrong track with BioChem afterall.

This week was going to be horrifying with two midterms, two labs (they're always scary), an essay due and the Highland Tea at the end of the week. But someone out there is looking out for me. The University closed yesterday at noon due to weather, so I was able to come home and finish my essayhelp shovle. Today it is closed until noon, so I can sleep in and study of my Chem midterm. My Chem Lab this afternoon is cancelled too. But that's almost irrelevant seeing that I have to be at school for Arts Tutorial at 1:30 anyway. Tomorrow is already Friday!

I've been insanely busy recently. And this is only first year! I'm wondering if I should rethink the whole doctor thing. I would make a good conartists...

I think the only reason that I'm not actually insane yet is DueSouth. I've been watching season two on my computer (while checking email, changing, doing latin homework, etc.) whenever I really can't stand doing school work anymore. Paul Gross has theraputic qualities.

If anyone has been wondering why I haven't posted, commented, written letters, etc. blame Midterm season. Poke me and I'll see what I can do.

And now for something completely different: Mom is making my cousin a Highland Dancer doll. She's made all these tiny outfits out of scraps of material from my dance costumes. I'm not sure which is cuter: The doll or my mom going "look at the tiny jig apron!" I've been charged with knitting the socks.