Just a thought...

I just wanted to point out how funny I think it is that I have "followers" and that slowly, the number is growing:)

It makes me feel loved, famous, and geeky.

Summary or Novel? (Illustrations!)

In these pics...

1-3 Squash at the market, Oct. 15

4-7 Canal by night

8 Looks like Amber has a secret? Actually, she just wanted a picture of bark.

9 Hot chocolate!

10-14 Just to clarify, the gate was unlocked, we just wanted some silly pictures...

15-17 Deadly Dessert!

18-19 Metric!

Summary or Novel? (Part 2)

Yesterday...(Oct 24)

I had a really great time with my discipleship group in the morning, and then made spaghetti sauce and went to English. The actual English class was not so fabulous, the prof spent most of the class talking about how badly we did on the midterms, and then we had a quiz which I'd forgotten about, and needless to say hadn't done the reading for. I was dreading recieving my midterm back at the end of the class, but my dread was for no reason: my mark was 93%!! I was so shocked, and so happy. It made my french class afterwards bearable! After French Amber and I had Spaghetti, and then went to a really great Campus for Christ meeting. As usual, the meeting was followed by a social. This time we went to a 50's diner called Zak's, instead of going to a pub. We walked there as a group, and I was walking with Amber and this guy named Chris, who was SO HILARIOUS. He was doing some sort of strange rapping thing with another guy's drum, and then speaking in all these strange voices. When we got there, Amber ended up at a different table, but Chris, and the guy with the drum were at mine. Turns out the guy with the drum is named Jacques Villeneuve, but he doesn't drive a race car, sorry dad. (Or maybe that makes you happy?)

The table I was at was very crazy. First, we were told that we had no choice but to try a deep fried mars bar, which Zak's is famous for. I didn't want a whole one, and neither did Chris, so our table decided that we should share one. Yes, the table decided, not us. So then some how there was a lot of switching places, first so that it would be physically possible for Chris and I to share this infamous desert, then because some how Chris and the person he was sitting beside ended up married, and then divorcing, and then hating each other in a sort of loving way...yeah, I dont get it either. Long story short, we had a great time. Amber and I met up again when we left the diner, and the group walked 25 minutes in the POURING rain - pouring like Esperanza or Edmonton in a thunder storm - to get to someone's house where the plan was to watch a movie. Other than discovering one of my pairs of boots are no longer waterproof, because the sole is coming off, the walk was pretty good. And we saw a skunk! (And then everyone laughed at me for being amazed and excited by this!) Amber and I stayed long enough for our hair to dry, and then headed back out for the 10 minute walk home. By the time I was home I was soaked again, man was I glad that I'd decided to bring my rain coat.

Today!

I learned that it is possible to cut a few pieces out of a frozen pizza and cook them quite successfully in the toaster oven. YAY! While it was cooking I was trying to dry my only bowl, which I use 2-3 times a day, and dropped it on the tile in the lounge. Needless to say, I no longer have a bowl. After cleaning up the mess, I put my pizza in a container and ran downstairs to meet the other girls in my discipleship group, because we were going to our leader's house for some social time. For those of you who were thinking of how nice it must be for me at this time of year to not be stressing about the craft fair and making chocolates, guess what we did? Make chocolates! Definitely not 25 dozen though, thankfully. Then we watched a movie and went shopping, where I bought a fall-winter coat, and the warmest mittens ever! Too bad they aren't waterproof, but the are very thick wool lined with thinsulate. My other similar mittens which aren't quite as warm kept me dry yesterday though, so I guess as long as I'm not having a snowball fight, these will be fine. I'm glad that this yucky week ended so well! Hopefully next weekend will end the same way, and how could it not - there'll be free candy!

Summary, or Novel?

So, as you may have noticed, I haven't exactly written anything for several days, and that would be because I've been madly studying in an attempt to at least pass my Politics midterm. No results yet, but at least it's over with. While I haven't been writing anything, quite a bit has been happening, and so I thought I'd take this moment, or more likely an hour, while my room mate is still sleeping, to write some of it out for you! And maaaaybe I'll post some pictures too.

October 17

Amber and I, both thinking we were finally recovered enough to at least walk, decided to meet up along the canal. We ended up walking through a bunch of streets, and taking a million pictures. We found a sketchy looking park, where we sat on the swings for a while, and went down the slide, and then we went to Second Cup to have some hot chocolate (I had white hot chocolate with whipped cream and vanilla powder on top) because we were pretty cold. After tons of laughter, being invited in to some 40 year old's place for drinks (of course, an invitation, and capturing sufficient evidence of our insanity, we decided to say goodnight and go our separate ways home. When I got back to rez it was full of parties, and I felt pretty convicted about the way I've been living life here. There's a lot of temptation to do things that I know aren't who I am, there's a lot of sin, and sometimes it's a really hard place to be a Christian! It really made me feel how precious God's presence in my life is, and how glad I am that I know who I am in him - and in His strength I can make it through the challenges that come my way.

October 18

I definitely didn't accomplish as much as I was hoping to accomplish on the 18th. Grocery shopping, tidying my room, and some other errands which I dont completely remember. Pastor Gordon phoned to say hi, as he was in town visiting his mom. It was nice to talk to him, but after hanging up the phone I was filled with a new wave of homesickness. I guess just the thought that someone from home is somewhere in this city set me off, and I really wanted to be able to see and hear and hug all of my family and friends. Speaking of sin and rez, the treat that Taylor and Veronica and I had to cheer ourselves up at the end of the day ranks pretty high up there. Chips-ahoy cookies, with a thick layer of Nutella (which I'm now obsessed with), and then a thick layer of canned whipping cream, and then some reeces pieces. Definitly more than my daily amount of calories in one serving, but considering how fake all of it was, it was sooooo good!

Oh yeah, sometime over Friday/Saturday nights I booked my flights home for Christmas! My last exam is on the 22nd, and I take the first possible flight out of Ottawa after the exam!

October 19

The deadly desert party on Friday night went a little late, considering my plan to wake up at 8:30 and take the bus to Grace Presbyterian in Orleans for church. I managed to get up, get ready, and run to the bus stop. On the way there I realized that I did not bring the directions that I'd written out a few days before, did not have change or tickets for the bus (it doesn't take bills, so I couldn't have even payed extra) and had left a few minutes late to catch the bus I needed. I remembered that on the directions I'd written out I would arrive at church 5 minutes early, but that certainly didn't give me enough extra time to miss a bus that runs every 30 minutes. I also remembered that although I'd been planning to phone Lianne and let her know I was coming, I'd forgotten. But, I was determined to at least get there and find the church. I asked 5 people and finally found someone with change for my 5, caught the next 95 bus to Orleans, got off and remembered I could either take the 120 or the 135 to get to the stop I needed, got on the 120 and told the bus driver where I needed to go - not only did I press the button at the right time, but just incase he also reminded me. Thats' the third time I've asked a bus driver for assistance in Orleans, and the first time he's given it to me correctly! I got off the bus, walked up the road, found the church, and went inside just in time to meet Lianne and Lane who were waiting to head into the sanctuary. On top of all of my errors getting there, I ended up being just 10 minutes late. Even though it's a bit of a commute, I think I might continue going to Grace, I felt really at home in there, even though it was my first time going! I had chili for lunch at the Johnston's place, and then came home despite their invitation to stay for dinner, as I needed to get some work done.

I ended up getting my laundry done, at least. But not much studying.

October 20

I woke up in the morning and decided to do my Bible study before class. Taylor was out, so I listened to some Christian music, and spend quite a bit of time in prayer, and then read my bible. I finished just in time to brush my teeth and walk with Becca to our Politics class (doom, destruction, and demise, as I not so fondly call it) After class I studied for several hours. When Veronica's room mate came by at 5:30 saying that she had two tickets to the Metric concert that night that she couldn't use, and if we couldn't take them, Veronica might have to go alone. My studying ended, and the mad rush to get ready began. I know that I should have been studying, but I had reached the point where I wasn't absorbing anything, I was just getting more and more frustrated. At 6:30 the three of us were ready to go, the only problem was that the tickets said the doors opened at 7:00, so we thought we were late. Of course I was wearing heels, and Taylor/Veronica were scared that we weren't going to get there. So we walked quickly to the mall, through the mall, ran down the esculator, and then outside, where we saw the bus approaching the stop on the other side of the street a block away. Veronica bolts off, and Taylor follows her - but I had the tickets, and didn't know which bus to take, so I had to follow too. Running down an uneven side walk in heels, and across the road to a bus was not exactly my dream form of transportation! I made it, without any face plants or broken ankles. It wasn't until after we had been on the bus for 5 minutes that Veronica suddenly exclaimed how bad of an idea it had been. But we were on the bus, and we were on our way to the concert - my first, actually, since Fedstock wasn't really a concert, and we didn't stay for the whole time.

It was SO good! To make the day even better, I checked the mailbox when we got back and had a giant parcel of homemade cookies! The group of us sat down having cookies and ice water, and playing with my spanish magnetic poetry. Here's my favourite sentence that we made:

La Galleta vive en la leche.

The cookie lives in the milk!

October 21-23

(In point form, since not that much happened, and I dont remember the order of any of it!)

- By fluke, I wrote about my family for my first spanish assignment. Turns out that we actually HAD to write about our family, but somehow I'd missed reading that line of directions. Finally a mark in University I was proud of, 100% Unfortunately, it doesn't count for much, maybe 5%.

- I had a little crash during English. I answered a question incorrectly, and then got a mark back that was lower than I'd expected for last week's quiz. I ended up crying for an hour. Not so much because of the low mark and wrong answer, but because I've been trying my best here, and never in my life has my best really not been good enough for me.

- The politics exam was significantly easier than I had expected, which is good, because I went in thinking there was no way I could even pass it, and came out thinking there was a small chance that I passed....I guess I'll find out in a week or so.

- Strange things kept happening, for instance, Taylor and I were talking about using our keyboards in French, while she was taking a break from typing up a lab report. Somehow, her keyboard put itself into french while we were talking about it, but her computer still thought it was in English, so we had a difficult time trying to put it back!

- I got my history midterm mark back. Have I written already that my history prof says "exams are a celebration of your knowledge?) . Maybe not so celebratory. My mark, which was a satisfactory mark for the new "must-get-used-to-low-grades-in-university" Jen, was still disappointing. (75)

That leads me to yesterday, and Lunch time, even though it is still very dark outside. I'm going to Angela's house today with the rest of my discipleship group from Campus for Christ - this time for a social. I'm looking forward to it, but since I have to leave in less than an hour, and I have lots of stories to tell from yesterday, the rest of this post will have to wait.

I just found this mildly entertaining website, where you can put in any text, or a link to a website, and it creates a jumble of words based on frequency: so the larger the word, the more often it's used. I could write an entire blog post about how interesting I think this is...but since I'm supposed to be studying, I'll just post what happened when I tried it with my blog (I think it's just October's entries...) And if you want to try for yourself, go to http://www.wordle.net/

last night was a good night!

Last night was so great! First I was feeling artsy, and wanted to colour. Yes. I wanted to colour, maybe that shows you I'm still sick? Even though it's not raining here, and I didn't know it was raining at home, I was very interested in rain. I've started a drawing of one of the best things to do when it rains - puddle jump! Hopefully I'll actually finish this one...

While I was colouring Cadeem came by, and we started listening to music. Then Michael came by, with my pumpkin pie! YUM. THEN Veronica got back from her midterm, and we all just hung out for an hour. Of course I decide at 11:00 that we should go for a walk, but it was -1 outside, and I still dont have a coat, so it took half an hour to come up with the right combo of clothes to wear. We walked along the canal, had so much fun. Veronica and I skipped along the path, had a fight with fallen leaves, laughed until I had a coughing attack. On the way back we were all singing (except Cadeem), turns out Michael knows all the girly songs: Sound of Music, anyone? If not, how about camp songs, Sticky Moose? Down by the bay? The walk was absolutely beautiful, I'll probably post some pictures, at least to facebook. It was also nice to be getting some exercise and fresh air after being sick all week. Not quite as great was walking along the ocean, or the boardwalk at night, but still wonderful.

We walked for an hour and a half, and by the time we got back we were sooooo cold! We changed into PJs, and sat drinking hot chocolate, trying to convince Michael to watch something other than Twilight.

We lost. But he was watching it in parts on youtube, and after about 30 minutes gave up trying to find them.

At 2 am, everyone left for bed, and it was so nice to sleep!

Today is University of Ottawa day, so there are no classes. It's bright and sunny, but cold, the high for the day is 5. I'm sitting at my desk, typing, looking out the window, and listening to music. Most importantly,

I'm smiling!

Oh fiddlesticks.

Hmm. This has been a lovely two days. I woke up on Tuesday morning after a really good weekend sick. I went back to bed and slept for the entire day...there goes a bunch of classes. Wednesday I didn't feel really sick, except that my lungs are full of junk and it hurt to cough, but I was exhausted. I had to walk to the grocery store to buy meat for dinner, since somehow my freezer didn't freeze the 5 dollars worth of ground beef that I bought last week, and I'd promised a celebratory dinner of spaghetti. When I got back from the store I could barely stand up. Since I had a midterm in the afternoon, I decided that sleeping would probably be better than going to the Spanish discussion group I wasn't prepared for due to missing the lecture on Tuesday. So sleep I did. And then I wrote my English midterm, which hopefully went well, I honestly don't know. Taylor and Veronica both had days full of evil classes/tests/midterms, hence the celebratory dinner for the end of the day. The spaghetti was soooooooo good, and assured me that I can still cook at least one meal that tastes like real, home made food. Michael had some too, but he traded: I get a piece of his mom's home made pumpkin pie tonight, he got to eat my Spaghetti yesterday. Bonus, he insisted on doing the dishes. A glimpse of a gentleman, finally - and it couldn't have come at a better time. After dinner I forced myself to stay up studying for my history midterm until 12:15, and then slept until 9 and got up to study again.

Apparently, I studied the wrong things, so hopefully the stuff I wrote on the exam was right, I really have no idea. Reading 60 pages of textbook (all that was relevant to the years we studied) and writing, not typing or copying, 30 pages of notes, and discussing each point on the syllabus with Veronica, and reviewing my similar notes from Socials 11 and History 12, and having enough sleep, and eating a healthy breakfast was obviously not enough. Tonight's celebratory dinner was Butter Chicken, but this time, I cooked by myself and did the dishes, because Veronica had another exam at 7, and Taylor had a lab at 6:30. Michael didn't get any.

So now that two exams are over, thankfully, so is the week, as tomorrow is University of Ottawa Day, and there are no classes. Time to catch up, recover, do laundry, buy a coat since it is now freezing outside, go grocery shopping since all my veggies are now rotten and in the garbage can, learn a bunch of Spanish, and study for next week's nightmare: a politics midterm. I like what we're studying, and I like the prof, but I hate the class. Truthfully.

Today I actually feel sick, but I've had more energy than any other day this week. Laughing leads to coughing, which leads to pain. Standing up leads to dizziness, which leads to falling over, but I've learned to stand up slowly. And I've learned to deal with the elevator - because I definitely can not handle the stairs right now. Strangely enough, even though this week has been pretty bad, I'm not in a horrible mood, although I'd really like to not be sick!

Blessings as numerous as the stars...(and in no particular order)

Mom, Dad, Tim, Grandma Emery, Grandpa Emery, Grandma Helen, Grandpa Merv, Auntie Karen, Uncle Paul, Uncle Rob, Auntie Janet, Simone, Sean, Justin, Hannah, Emily, Amber, Veronica, Taylor, Sydney, Kaylie, Michelle, Lindsay, Sinead, Angela, Lisa, Cassie, Sam, Cadeem, Bob, Lydia, Joan, Terri, Heather, Pam, Nate, Samuel, Bryn, Mariah, Knox Sooke, my high-school teachers, Jen H, custodians & maintenance staff, Lianne, Jim, Neil, Lane, Bryn J, love, Jesus, trees, cozy clothing, education, pillows, laptop, stars, windows, sunshine, ocean, photographs, electricity, silly toys, cell phone, pumpkins, buses, games, books, paper, pens, newspapers, light, painting, mail, turkey dinner, sticky notes, pets, chairs, elevators, stoves, smelly markers, music, church family, rivers, slippers, grass, paint, handmade mugs, grocery stores, skype, shoes, leaves, clouds, blogs, sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, laundry, guitars, piano, pencil crayons, singing, tradition, memories, airplanes, growing, temperatures, calendars, interests, milk, cards, fruit, architecture, spices, history, novels, wind, air, silence, blankets, movies, cookies, tea, faith, cereal, colour, prayer, rocks, television, rugs, maps, home, shelter, health, gifts/talents/abilities, energy, sleep, relaxation, opera, candy, hope, knowledge, the bible, play-dough, toothpaste, towels, mountains, warm water, fields, communication, tupperware, vegetables, wood, heating, candles, birds, crickets, frogs, rain, ideas, thinking, reading, writing, stories, dancing, theatre, stationary, forgiveness, God's grace, medicine, orange juice, hands, creativity, culture, rainbows, sticky-tack, wild animals, pie, bicycles, trails, food, lakes, canoes, kayaks, sunscreen, mittens, hair-dryers, doors, dishes, iPods/music players, kleenex, wrapping paper, internet, libraries, generosity, South Africa, Esperanza, peace, flowers, roads, crafts, girl guides, scholarships, soap, hangers, cooking clubs, counsellors, seasons, gravity, time, kettles, refrigerators, duct tape, neighbours, chocolate, language....

abundance.

I'm thankful for everyone who has touched my life: thank you for your understanding, for your forgivness, for your love.

My thanksgiving weekend, even though it wasn't at home, was still spent with wonderful people, and full of time to reflect on how blessed I really am.

Ramble.

hmm... I guess I should have read what my last post was about so I dont repeat things or leave things out, but I'm typing now. So hopefully it all works out.

This week full of really highs and really lows, and not many in betweens. Wednesday I had an English paper due, Taylor had two midterms, Veronica had a paper due, and a test. Cadeem was feeling sick. We knew it was going to be an awful day, so we decided to add it to our celebration day list, whereupon we treat ourselves to something at the end of the day. This time, it was Indian food. We called a few places trying to find a cheap one, and after 1/2 an hour we'd decided. Unfortunately, the name online wasn't the same as the name on the street, and so it took us quite a while walking trying to find it. The wind was icy! Eventually we phoned for directions. By the time we got there we were freezing and very hungry, which is good, because otherwise we wouldn't have stayed because they prices were higher than we were told. That being said, it was so good. We walked up the street to Metro (grocery store) and bought some dessert. I came home with a pumpkin pie and a can of whipping cream. I was so looking forward to it, too bad I got home and found out it was frozen. No big deal, we have a microwave? But someone else had just burned popcorn in it. Burned popcorn pumpkin pie? I don't think so. Taylor suggested I try defrosting it with my hair dryer. More to make everyone laugh than to actually try it, I pulled out my hair dryer, thinking it'd get a funny reaction from Cadeem who had momentarily left the room.

I think he just thought I'd hit my head or that the waiter had put something in my drink.

So I ended up using the microwave several minutes later, and put the pumpkin pie in a container with a lid. Then my chemically-enhanced aerosol whipping cream melted deliciously over my scary bought pumpkin pie.

Thursday morning I woke up after a bad sleep to an even worse stomach ache, but not form the food. Really. I logged on to Virtual Campus to check if my politics mark had been posted, and instead found out that our exam is tentativly scheduled for December 22nd. So I'm not going to be home before school's out. I'm not going to be home for the typical parties, for the Bethlehem walk, for gift wrapping in the mall, for celebrations at church, or to see my friends before they go away. And, because of how late I have to fly it's going to cost even more to go home, to not do all the things I want to do. Last time I checked, it's cheaper to fly to Europe than Victoria at Christmas time.

As if that wasn't bad enough, I got my politics paper back later that day and the mark was lower than I had expected - and I don't understand why. I'm interested in what we're studying, but I hate not fully understanding. And I hate that I have to get used to lower grades. And I hate that I need good grades so that I can renew my scholarship so that I can afford to go to school next year.

Too bad I didn't grow up in Sweden.

I came back to my room and cried for a while, consoled myself with pie and whipping cream. Tim pointed out that it'd probably make things worse. The sad truth is that I don't really remember what real food tastes like, and so it wasn't a problem consuming more chemicals than calories. Later in the afternoon I borrowed Veronica's guitar and spent some time with God. I'm still in one piece. No need for crazy glue, staples, or duct tape yet, Emily. But a hug would be nice.

I'd promised myself that I would go for a run this week, so Amber and I met up around 8:20 to at least go for a walk. We ended up running almost at least 6 km, plus I ran the distance from her place back to the university, maybe 2 km (?) I didn't even think that was possible for me. My knees were at least twice the size they should be when I got back, and my legs were exhausted. But it felt so good to run! Running with Amber was great - we agreed on the speed and how long we'd run before taking a break, and we got to talk at the same time.

Taylor's friend was staying the night, because the two of them were taking a bus to another friend's place for Thanksgiving on Friday. So we had one extra in our room. On top of that, everyone was having a party before going home, and it was a LOUD party. We ended up with a lot of people in our room as usual. This time, no telling secrets, but Michael sang and danced along to a wide variety of music for three hours, and two girls from the other side of the floor kept coming by providing some pretty good entertainment. Not a great first impression for Taylor's friend, but it was a lot of fun. By 2:30 everyone had left our room, and we talked for a while, like at a sleep over, before bed. It was a really good way to end the day, and luckily my class on Friday wasn't until 2:30 in the afternoon.

Yesterday I woke up and remembered that I had my first "Discipleship Group" meeting through Campus for Christ. This is going to be a small group (5) of girls who live in rez, and we'll be doing bible study together throughout the year, led by Angela who works for Campus for Christ. Everyone was so nice, and I'm excited to be building deeper relationships with God and other Christians as well.

It was a rainy afternoon, and by the time I walked to the library to get rid of my books from researching for English, and then to the other end of campus for my English class, my jacket was pretty wet, but I was thankful that underneath I was warm and dry. When English was over, I was done for the day, since my French prof had said that he wouldn't be taking attendance, or introducing new material, and that if nobody came, he'd go home and enjoy his long weekend, "hint hint." Instead I got to go grocery shopping, a task which I now despise whole-heartedly. On top of the ridiculous prices for food, I have to remember that anything I buy I also have to carry back, this time, in the rain. And unlike at home when I know that it'll get better - progressing to either just clouds or maybe even sun, here, it's going to progress to freezing cold and snow....so grocery shopping is just going to get worse. So as I walked the 1-2 km to the University, with three very large, heavy reusable bags full of food, and wet jeans, and wet hair, I was thankful that it was just rain. And that I had boots on, so at least my feet were dry.

This weekend I'm going to try and make some food and freeze it in the communal freezer. I've discussed tactics with the other girls who cook, first, only put it in if it looks discusting, or requires a serious amount of cooking (like raw meat.) Second, rather than labelling "do not eat" or "Jennifer Emery" label with some date in early September. Third, anything that doesn't fully meet the first two points is to be wrapped in a couple plastic bags and tied at the top, because the guys are two lazy to look.

On top of my grocery shopping endeavor, yesterday I also got to watch suitcases rolling around behind happy students heading down the elevator, or around campus. And I watched students run up to their families and hug them. And I watched smiles, and laughter, and some times tears as they loaded into the car, or headed off to the bus station.

"Happy Thanksgiving, have a good weekend!" everyone said to me as they left the building. Their is a sign in our bathroom that the very thoughtful CA put up which reads "Sad and lonely because you didn't go home for Thanksgiving? Bring a plate and utensils to the 90 U lounge for dinner on Saturday at 6:30" I think that might be the most depressing invitation I've ever read.

Though I desperately want to go home, so far, I'm not doing to badly. There is a really nice girl from my floor (Melanie) who I though was going home but is staying. Last night we had a great time watching really weird movies, eating pie (she bought an apple pie, so we had both..), and drinking the hot apple cider which we made. Then we both went into a cleaning frenzy at 3 in the morning, yes, that was a result of stress for me - I'm surprised it didn't happen earlier.

Today I'm planning on studying, I have two mid terms next week. I'm having some sort of Turkey dinner tonight, and tomorrow I'm going to Lianne's for some real food. Monday, Veronica comes home and she'll be toting left overs. So even though my weekend is without my family, and without my closest friends,

Thankfully,

it's not without turkey.

Oh, I forgot to mention something random which happened yesterday. I got an email from someone I don't know asking if I'd be willing to write a 150 word text to go on the back of the bulletin which are used by many presbyterian churches across the country, ironically enough, not mine! I said yes, as secretly, I've always wanted to at least know the person who wrote the story on the back of the bulletin. I have to write it by November 15, and I'll be getting a $75 honorarium. And, for all of you who want to rush out to a presbyterian church and find your beloved Jennifer's writing on the back of the bulletin, write it on your Calendar for "Christian Family Sunday" (in the rest of the world's mind, that's Mother's Day) May 8, 2011. Yes. 2011....I'm pretty sure I'll have forgotten about it by then!

Now, truthfully, I hope that all of you have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Creation of a masterpiece...(note, read the previous posting BEFORE looking at all of these pictures!

1. Veronica and I hanging out/stretching a few days ago, where the masterpiece would soon hang.

2. Music for the evening...(Though I admit, this was taken in the morning)

3. Cadeem and I destroy the surface of the hubcap to prepare it for paint, using a nail file and a pocket knife.

4. The hubcap is washed, and then Michael dries it with a "clean hockey towel"

5. We set up our pallet and easel: adds, homework planning paper, a stone wheat thins box, and half an egg carton

6. Group painting

7. Veronica and I use a hair dryer to set the first layer.

8. Then we add some finer details...and have some fine treats

9. Some more fun and games, and our masterpiece is complete!

A few more days...

I've now been in my dorm room for a month, and I can't believe how quickly it's gone. Midterms have already started, term papers are due, and we're even talking about Christmas plans - both going home and doing things together.

In one month of dorm life...

1. a) I've discovered that I'm going to need to figure out some new things to cook, or how to cook in way smaller quantities. Plus home food doesn't taste the same here, and just makes me frustrated. Tuna casserole just did not go well tonight, maybe because I didn't have any flour, and I used a different type of noodle.

1. b) I've managed not to have to cook or do laundry for everyone, though I have given some basic lessons on how to boil water, heat up a pan for grilled cheese, and put detergent in the washer. Today Michael (my next door neighbour) asked me how my parents would feel about me living with a guy next year, so I could cook for him. I told him it didn't matter what my parents thought, I wasn't going to be cooking for him or anybody else unless I wanted to. And I don't.

2. I have a newfound popularity: somehow my room is the room where everyone is hanging out until 4 in the morning on weekends, spilling their secrets and laughing their heads off. Saturday night we (Cadeem, Veronica, Taylor, and I) were drinking tea, and eating candy, and painting the hubcap that I found on the side of the road, until Michael came by, very drunk, and provided 2 hours of "entertainment" for all of us. So much for going to bed early.

3. I finally have a bit of a routine: tea with Taylor and Veronica almost every night before bed...and I'm finally remembering that not only to I have to plug the kettle in, but I also have to switch it on.

4. I'm getting used to always locking my door, showering with shoes on, and sleeping with traffic...none of which I appreciate, or see the need for. Why do people need to be driving at 3 am? I'm also getting used to bringing my own soap and towel every time I go to the washroom, because it is almost inevitably out of both.

5. I'm back to constantly practicing the principles of sharing. Dishes, food, books, blankets, ipods, schools supplies, couches, tv.

7. I've put up all the pictures I brought with me, and still don't have enough. Luckily there is a poster sale on right now, with very cool and giant posters that are reasonably priced.

PS - pictures are easy to mail :)

8. It is beginning to be cold enough in my room that if the window is constantly open and the heat doesn't come on, and the door is open for a while, and I sit outside in the freezing hallway for 5 minutes before going to bed, I can sleep with my duvet. Yes, all of those things are required. I suppose I could just go buy a duvet cover that's the right size for my duvet, instead of having it folded in half, but that would just add to the gigantic list of things I need to purchase.

fall coat

winter coat

winter boots

socks

pj's

more sweaters

tights to wear under jeans

slippers

pots

food

screwdriver

watch

toques

gloves

travel mug

plane tickets

... (point point point, as my francophone friend says, and then says "that's so french" )

money tree.

sanity.

Facebook Notes.

Every time that I've logged on to facebook this week, I've seen that at least two people have posted "notes" with a subject "stolen from (at least two other people). In these notes they answer a bunch of questions about themselves...which somehow, even though I should have been reading about Martin Luther, or remembering how to conjugate verbs in French, or studying Spanish vocab...I wrote a note of my own.

(untitled)

Maybe you don't know that I like my eyes better when they are green

That I'm self conscious about my feet,

That sometimes I wish I couldn't remember my dreams.

Maybe you don't know that I feel trapped under a mask,

That the Jennifer you know is not the Jennifer I know

And the Jennifer I know isn't completely who I want to be.

Which Jennifer does God know?

Maybe you don't know that I wish I could wear orange

It's bright but natural, its fun, it makes me happy.

It also makes me look like I'm about to puke.

Do you know that I'd rather you hate me than be disappointed in me?

You probably know at least one of my languages

Like cough, and cough cough, and 10 and 9, maybe even FSC.

Tomato?

And you probably know that I have this thing about perfect

about wrinkled sheets, and folding clothes and writing notes.

I like to make my food look nice too.

Do you know that sometimes I skip down the hallway?

Maybe you know my thoughts on communicating:

I hate to make phone calls, but I need to hear your voice.

I like it when your eyes talk to me, or your touch.

No-matter-what I need to know what you are thinking.

Maybe you know that my favourite dinner is turkey

But sometimes I love macaroni and cheese

and sometimes I just want what you made when I was small.

Maybe you know that I sleep with the window open

And I love to feel sand and grass and even sometimes mud between my toes,

And I love to sit and sip my tea, cozy in a corner with the glow of candles,

And I love to watch the clouds, the stars, and the endless black or blue.

Maybe you know that I love dew-covered spider webs

And flowers that pop up in the strangest places.

I love to lie on the forest floor and look up through the trees.

I love the forest.

I love it when I can smell the ocean.

It makes me forget my anxiety.

It makes me feel at home.

It makes me feel alive.

It makes me feel

me.

beginning.

A massive weight has just been lifted off my shoulders! I'm sitting here, smiling as I type, out of breath from running up the stairs, and overall feeling confident and joyous. I have now officially completed my first major University assignment. I printed off the final draft a record 26 minutes before it was due. Phew. Adding my twelve page case study to the large pile of papers in Professor Salter's office on the tenth floor of the very modern Desmerais building was definitely a triumphant moment. If there was music in to my life, that would have been the overwhelming loud climax of a very moody song! (On a side note, I think my next paper should be on the environmental impacts of these tedious university assignments. Mine took approximately 50 pages and 15 recipe cards to reach the finished project...and there are 200 people in our class! We should be required to plant a new forest by the end of the semester.)

While I realize that this is very mean, I very much enjoyed noticing at least seven other students running, paper in hand, towards Desmerais, fearful of the sharp 4:30 deadline. My assignment is definitely not the most amazing piece I have ever written, but considering two days ago I was sure that I wouldn't even have it completed on time, and was trying to prepare myself for a big fat zero, I'm satisfied with what I've accomplished. For now. When I get my grade back, it might be a different story.

The air here is extremely crisp, and I do not believe that it's as warm as the weather network keeps saying it is. Today I noticed being able to see my breath... at 1:00 in the afternoon. I also have come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to buy a Fall jacket. The lovely green jacket that I bought at the salvation army last year would be fine if I could wear two sweaters underneath it, but unfortunately our class rooms are really warm, and with only 10 minutes to get from one side of campus to the other, I don't have time to put on two sweaters, squeeze them underneath a jacket, and wrap a scarf around my neck. My friends have also told me that if I buy a jacket warm enough for winter, it'll be way to warm to wear for Fall...so two coats and two more sizable holes in my wallet it shall be. ARG.

You haven't missed anything from the days that I didn't blog. I've literally just been going to class and doing politics homework since Saturday night. Now it's time to get caught up in all my other classes.

To quote a very happy-go-lucky, bouncy, energetic character,

TTFN!

(That's ta-ta for now!)

boing, boing, boing...