First Christmas Banquet/Party of the Season!

Bed at 3:00, still awake at 4:30, John came to wake me up to get a ride at 8:10, I told him to take the car and I would take a cab, I called Laura and she said she would give me a ride to AND from school… I went back to sleep. All before 9am.

At 9:45 I get up and figuring Laura won’t be there before 10:30 (she said she worked until around then) and grab the clothes I will be wearing and lay them on my bed. I go into the bathroom to do the shower thing and around 10am, just after I have turned on the water and stepped into the shower, someone knocks on the bathroom door. At this point, I determined that John must not have locked the front door when he left this morning…

I yell, “Hello!” to Laura over the water and she yells, “Morning! Can I have some orange juice?” and I yell back something that sounded affirmative and started to get wet. She knocked again and yelled to me that she wanted to blow dry my hair (because she was going to be doing it later for the Christmas banquet I went to tonight) and I asked if I could wash it first. She yelled something affirmative and I got back to the shower thing. By the time I finished, she had finished her orange juice and I ran across the hall and got dressed and then we started the fight over my hair… She put gel in it!!! *gag* I NEVER put gel in my hair because it makes it gross and sticky and such! But whatever… So it apparently wasn’t drying fast enough and after she tried to comb off my ear, earring, necklace and side of my neck, I confiscated the comb and blow dryer and dried it myself. It was dry enough that I could go to school and she could do something with it later.

She dropped me off, I went to class and wrote the last ear training quiz of the semester which I think I bombed… you know it’s bad when you are hearing a minor second sounding like a consonant interval. I also handed in the analysis part of my third project as my printer isn’t working. So I explained to the prof that I would e-mail the written part of the project and the quiz to him as soon as I had wireless internet.

After class Ash and I went down to meet Laura on 4, after dropping off my exam accommodation forms at the office they needed to go to. Laura pulled in and stopped about two to three car lengths behind the row of cars parked in the handicapped parking spots and Ash and I walked over to get in. Laura waved Ash around to the other side to get into the back seat as there was stuff on the other seat. We had just gotten into the car and were in the process of putting our seatbelts on when this older guy (older than my parents but not as old as my grandparents I would guess) comes out of the University and gets into his car. He starts it and puts it into reverse and proceeds to back up… directly into the side of Laura’s car!!! He never even looked!!! I noticed him come out but didn’t think anything of it and Ash noticed that his reverse lights were on but he had more than enough room to back out a bit, pull it tight and then pull forward and maybe do it again without us ever being in the way. But he didn’t even shoulder check. And our car had been sitting there long enough that we were pretty obvious… Laura moved her car a bit, after he moved forward again… The guy got out of his car and yelled at Laura, at which point, Ash yelled at him and then he got back into his car. Ash apparently swore at him as he was getting into his car but we don’t think he heard her and as she doesn’t normally swear, I was shocked! :O I wrote down his licence plate number and the general description of his car but there wasn’t enough damage for Laura to want to report it. It was a hit and run though and I think she should have reported it… Either way, it’s her choice.

So we got back to my place, I gave both of the girls chocolate (de-stressor) and then Laura worked on my hair while I worked on my laptop and Ash watched “Raise Your Voice.” It was funny because every time Laura sprayed hairspray, I called Ash to come get the laptop and she had to pause the movie. It was definitely a process. :D My hair looked awesome though and once I was done on my laptop I put Ash to work making pasta for the three of us and John for lunch. It turned out really well. We had radiatore which kind of looks like the old radiators used to. They left before John got home and I packed to go to Calgary after they left.

John got home and we loaded the car and we were on the road!

We got back into the city and stopped to pick up something he needed and then we went to Tim Horton’s and I got changed in the bathroom (black pants, black halter top with silver beading, pink sweater) and then had tea and a doughnut with Mom. We hit Shell for gas because it was close and my car was running on fumes… I used the bathroom there to start my make-up and finished the rest in my car. They left and I dropped off Jason’s Christmas gift to DHL and then drove in the direction of Ben’s.

I visited with Ben’s mom and bro for a while during which time he got ready to go out. (Shower, shave…) I enjoy his family. :) He decided he would drive and we left to go to the camp banquet. I knew Brit was already on her way there and that Matt was just ahead of us as well, as he had called me to double check where he was allowed to park on the camp property. I had forgotten to tell him to park wherever.

We got to camp just as dinner was starting and our table was: Matt, Britney, Sharla, Brityn, Ben and I. I walked in and got hugged by a few people as I was taking off my coat and changing my shoes (from my black “hooker boots” to my “there’s no place like home” shoes) and Brit said our table was first to eat so we had to get going. It was awesome walking in and seeing everyone… From my teens camp cabin, there were 5 of 7 girls there, some of whom were also CLTD’s… Dayna, Brityn, Sharla, Lauren and Ashley. Some of the teen/CLTD guys were also there… Sheldon, Mike and Andrew for example. It was awesome to see them! Some of the people I was really glad to see were Meghan, Hilde, Phil, Mikey, etc. Jeana and I laughed over the fact that both “her Matt” and “my Matt” were there and she commented about “her husband’s butt” (my brother, it’s still weird…) and it was cool to see her. Some of the people I expected to see weren’t there and it made me sad that they weren’t there… (Carisa, Ashley, Matt, Shelby, etc.) The night began with dinner and there were gifts and such based on numbers on the bottom of some of the chairs and there were little contests for other presents. I would have gone up for the “sing a verse of White Christmas” but Mikey wouldn’t let me until no one else knew it and I was okay with that. :) After dinner and dessert, there was carolling down by the campfire and gingerbread houses being made in the gym. We headed for the fire to sing and Mikey and Phil asked me to help out. We sang some carol’s, some camp songs, a couple of action-type songs to get people moving (one was apparently because my jacket looked like a polar bear so we HAD to do "40 Years on an Iceberg") and people drifted in and out. We lost Matt at one point but figured he had gone off with James. We said we would bug him later, just to see how he would react. He did react but not the way I expected and I’m not going to go there. I told Phil as we were walking back to the lodge that he has a good voice and he shouldn’t be so shy about singing… I didn’t want to embarrass him by telling him in front of the whole group but he does have a very good voice! We went back into the lodge for the dance and we had a blast! We did stuff like the Macarena, Slap Leather, slow danced once, jived and just generally had fun! At one point Meghan and I disappeared for a while to go talk about stuff but otherwise I was out there dancing. I won a book of “Garfield’s Treasury” because I was standing talking to some people and Mikey came over and said, “the first person out on the floor dancing will get a prize,” and I went and danced. A few minutes after that, Brityn gave me her school picture and I put it in the book for safekeeping until I can get it back to Lethbridge. She looks gorgeous!

When Ben and I went to leave, I gave hugs to people and said my goodbyes and it turned out we were driving another person home. Her name is Alicia. I had met her (not by name, more like she was there…) earlier in the evening. She lives down the street from Ben and may have a slight crush on him... Earlier in the evening she had asked James to ask Ben if there was another slow dance if he would dance with her. The last song of the night was “We Are the Champions” by Queen. I, personally, don’t see that as a “slow song.” I also saw the whole “middle man” thing as very junior high. Anyway, the three of us and Matt (who I text messaged) ended up back at Ben’s and then we took Ben’s dad’s car down to pick his friend Nathan up from the bus station. We went to BP’s for food and it was... interesting. John came for a while and it turns out he knows Alicia’s younger sister. The stories and the language usage that went along with the stories was shocking (to say the least) and I was much more comfortable once John left and then after we dropped Alicia off at home.

During the car ride we were pretty squished in the back seat and I ended up sitting with my elbow kind of resting on Matt’s shoulder. I didn’t want to elbow him in the side or anything and it didn’t seem to annoy him too badly to have my arm there. I had poked him earlier in the evening and I guess at one point Alicia was trying to tickle him as well and it wasn’t working. So I asked if he was ticklish in a couple of spots and tried them and the reaction I got was interesting. Weird, kind of what I expected (to be honest), but interesting.

However, we got back to Ben’s and I said about that conversation making me uncomfortable and Ben mentioned that he thinks Alicia may like him. Apparently, I had said something that had been misconstrued earlier so I clarified that they weren’t my original words, they were Ben’s and Nathan and Matt both seemed to get it but also think I was an idiot. Ben said about having to have conversations with girls about not being interested in them and something about having had one with me. When I said we had never had that talk, he seemed surprised. I guess the reason he was surprised is that when I liked him, I didn't tell him at the time, I told him a couple of years after the fact. So, him giving me the, "you're a great person, we should just be friends," talk never actually happened with us. I made a comment about being "the good friend" and "one of the guys" and neither Ben or Matt really corrected me. I am destined to be that to every guy, forever... It was nice of them to affirm it. :(

I asked the guys (Ben and Matt) if somehow between them I could get a ride to and from THING tomorrow night and they said sure. I said I would see them tomorrow and Matt and I got in our cars to leave.

I called Shaun on my way home to explain to him why I hadn’t made the concert he had invited me to and he told me they were at Denny’s on 16th (Motel Village) and I should stop by. I had just turned onto the road that takes me to Crowchild that runs between Motel Village and the Banff Trail LRT station so I made a quick left and stopped in to see him. He was with two friends and I ended up hanging out with them for a bit.

I got home around 3 so it’s going to be another 4am to bed night/morning…

Breakfast was delivered!?!?!?!?

So, bed was late last night... 4am or so... So I set my alarm for 8:30 and prepared to get very little sleep. Around 8:50 my phone rang (I was lying in bed reading my textbook) and Laura asks, "you up?" I responded with, "I'm awake but not up... what's going on?" She replied, "I'm bringing you breakfast. Coffee or hot chocolate? Bagel or Muffin?" I told her I don't drink coffee and specified what kind of bagel I would eat and got up to be prepared to answer the door when she got here.

She brought me yogurt, a bagel with cream cheese and a tea as they were out of hot chocolate. That is two Tim Horton's in the past 24 hours in town that are out of hot chocolate! I stopped last night on my way home and they didn't have any on the other side of town either! I digress... So, after we debated the colour of my hair (it is NOT black, it is "deepest plum") and talked about the plan for tomorrow (we are meeting here after I am done class) and other such stuff and she ate her stuff, I finished my yogurt and she had to go back to work and I went back to my homework. I didn't finish the bagel at that point (I put half in the fridge and ate it later) and added sugar to the tea and drank that. I tried on my outfit for the Christmas gatherings I am going to in the next couple of weeks and found out the pants are too big and may need to be exchanged (they may fit with a belt or something...) and I then realized how late it was getting, got dressed and ran a brush through my hair and ran to meet Ashleigh at the University.

I got there and she was already done her sightsinging exam so I ran to talk to the prof I wanted to see. He made my week! I was having issues with my analysis... After my laptop ate it last week, I have been trying to find a separate piano and clarinet score as I am only analyzing the clarinet part. So I went to talk to him because at this point, I am going to go photocopy the clarinet part and make my own score. He said that is actually a pretty good idea and gave me tips for the future and told me to get the paper in by Wednesday!!! I almost hugged him I was so happy! I gave him his Christmas present, thanked him profusely and said I would see him Wednesday!

Ash and I stole a classroom for a few minutes and went over some of the trichords and tetrachords for tomorrows exam and the only two I was having major problems with were 0246 and 014 and it was weird that it was just those two. I love 035, it makes me smile!

Anyway, we went down to CJ's and grabbed a hot chocolate (they had some!) and worked on the Theory assignment. I had to go sell tickets for the cab at noon and Ash and I only got about half a page of three done so I was freaking out pretty badly. I went to the table to sell tickets and Phil (from theory, not orchestra) showed up and asked if we could work together. I got him caught up to where I was and between the two of us, we spent the next two hours finishing the analysis! I was SO happy that part of it was done! Now all I had left to do was the questions associated with the analysis and that was easy by comparison!!!

I got home after a couple of mishaps (one I won't write about) but the other was I got out to my car and had... not ONE, but TWO parking tickets! One, because my meter expired and the other because I was overparked at an expired meter... *sigh* Whatever. I got home and fixed the first mishap, told my mom about the second and she said she would pay them! Yay! They are only $6 each as long as they are paid within the first week but still... I am feeling quite broke right now...

I was at home checking ym e-mail and such things when a window pops up from Laurel... It says:

"hi. could you please send me the participant list from TEC 41? I really need it. thanks!"

So, being the amazingly awesome person I can be (on occasion) I go through my file box and look for the 4th day package from that TEC. Well, I have to say, I am getting very frustrated... I have TEC 42, I have TEC 40, but no TEC 41 and I seem to have 2 or 3 from TEC 38 which is weird... So I pull them out to go through them as a pile, rather than a file... Turns out, the covers for 38 and 41 are THE SAME COLOUR!!!! No wonder I couldn't find it! It was there all along, it was just mixed in! So, I scan it, edit it to make it larger with no white space all around it and send it to her over MSN. I also tell her if she can't read it I will type it out or photocopy it and get it to her this weekend or fax it to her later today. She is shocked and impressed by how quickly I came up with it and says I'm a machine. I'm really not but she was in luck... I was sitting here, it was here, I had the time and I wasn't freaking out over schoolwork at the time. :) The file sent, opened, printed and was legible so we're all good! :D

I went out tonight and ran some errands. I got some money reimbursed that I had been waiting for so I could finally finish some of my Christmas shopping and I bought myself a sweater (not a Christmas gift but a "because I love me and I deserve it with the way my week has been" gift) and a set of shoes for the Christmas parties I need to go to. I tried to exchange the pants and decided a belt is easier than a different set of pants because I like the set I have and they don't have them in a different size. I also picked up stuff for my mom and dad, stuff for a couple of my friends, my cousins and so on. It was productive! I also went to BP's for dinner and worked on my Theory as I had been going kind of nuts constantly working at home so the change of scenery was nice and with John gone, the place gets pretty quiet.

So I have to pick John up in a little while. Before that I am going to do a bit more work, wrap a few presents, or at least sort some and organize the package that has to be sent to my aunt in Grand Forks and talk to a few people on MSN. Then, once he is home, I am going to get some sleep... It is going to be nice to get some rest for once...

Sleep… what’s that??? And I HATE my printer!!!

I didn’t end up going to bed last night until around 4:30. I was working on the timing of the music cues in Casablanca and I was finally getting them to work and I didn’t want to stop while I was on a roll. But I got to the point that I was physically tired, even thought I was mentally still alert so I went to bed.

My class was cancelled this morning (our prof is the chair of the dept. so he was in meetings all day) so I “slept in.” I let John take the car to class. I use the term “slept in” loosely because I basically got up at the same time I would if I had class but I didn’t have to get up to drive him to school. I just figured that driving on less than 4 hours sleep probably wasn’t my best choice.

I worked for most of the day on my film project and my history paper. I did talk to Kristyn and Ben for a couple of minutes online and my mom and Ash on the phone. Otherwise, I checked my e-mail and found out that my prof of tomorrow’s class has cancelled the lecture but is having office hours in the morning instead of class and that tonight we were going to be watching “Lord of the Rings.” Considering I hadn’t seen it yet and I needed to go to hand in my project, I figured I should probably go to class.

I took John to the Greyhound depot around 1:30 so he could pick up his ticket and made sure he was good to go before I left. I came straight back home to keep working. He’s going home to see Kurtis in Chicago at their High School which plays tonight and he will be back for his afternoon class tomorrow as far as I have been told. It’s funny how many of his friends I have talked to today with him leaving overnight… I know I am at least 2 if not 3 and they don’t normally call the house, they call his cell.

Around 4:15 I decided I would print off my project. I sent it from my laptop to my PC over MSN and printed the title page. No problem. I printed my written work… I… printed… Ok. It wasn’t printing. Alright, I will reword that. It printed the first two and half pages and then stopped, telling me that the black print cartridge was the wrong one for the printer. So I took it out, put it back in (it was the right one, no worries there… I had been using it for the past couple of weeks and no issues yet…) and turned off and back on my printer and tried again. This time, I got one and half pages and then the same message, only this time it was the coloured cartridge. I did the same thing. Third try. It prints. (I’m not having to hit print because it is still cued to print by the way…) This time it prints the first page and the first three lines on the second page and then stops. It says the printer is disconnected. AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! Ok, by this time, I have tried everything I can think of, short of restarting my computer. So I do. It begins to print once the computer starts. This time, it only gets part way through the first page and stops. So, I have a title page, multiple copies of the first page, one copy of the second page and no hope (currently) of pages three through twenty. I am having a meltdown. I sent a frantic “Are you there???” message to Tara around 5:00 and explain the situation. She helps me calm down enough to e-mail the written work to her and she prints it and says she will meet me just before my class with the written work and a stapler so I can attach the title page… *phew* Yay for Tara!!!! Heart attack is over, still having a minor panic attack but… *shrug* That will go away eventually! Did I mention in all of this, I have a 3-hole punch, can’t find a duotang and my stapler is missing??? Ya, not having a great time.

I get to class and hand the project in. I don’t think the prof gets how much of my blood, sweat and (literally) tears went into this project! We watched “Lord of the Rings.” It was ok… Not my favourite movie but I didn’t hate it. I’m not big into fantasy and I don’t much like violence or dead people (especially touching dead people… *gag*) but some of the guys (when you lose the long hair) are good looking and the story is interesting and pretty easy for me to follow as I read the books when I was younger. Also, the music is good which was the purpose for watching it in class…

I was exhausted by the time I got to class but as I don’t have to watch my hands to type, I got a lot accomplished while watching the movie. I worked a bit on my opinion of Mozart’s clarinet concerto and wrote some things I needed to… I also got some of this written. :)

I am now home from class and my plan for the evening is a little R&R mixed in with some schoolwork. I think “One Tree Hill” might have been new tonight and if it was, I taped it so I may watch it. I also have to try on my new Christmas outfit (I bought it a few weeks ago and it was slightly too big and right now everything is fitting slightly too big but if it’s any bigger than it was, I need to do something about it before Friday) and call Laura about doing something with my hair on Friday. My plan is to try and get some sleep tonight and in the morning I am going to try and figure out what is wrong with my printer (if I have to call Canon, I will) and meet with Ash to go over intervals and hand in my paper to my professor. *crossing fingers that my musical analysis will be completely finished by then* I can’t stay up until 4:30 again…

Or, that was my plan as I originally started to write. Then I get messages from various people:

“Don’t forget to get notes from me tomorrow”

“You have a dr’s appt tomorrow”

“We’re selling tickets for the cab tomorrow from 12-1”

“Hey, about that theory homework… what do you mean you haven’t done that part? Don’t leave it to the last minute, it’s a lot harder than it looks!”

Now, I am having a panic attack. Full out, crying, unable to breathe. I have too much to do, too little time to do it and I don’t know how I am going to get it all done…. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Remove head from Sphincter, then listen!

Ok, so today started with Ash calling me to tell me how much I owe her from shopping at Michael's (on her discount :D) last week. And then John called on his way home to see if I wanted a Booster Juice (heck ya!) and I decided I should get moving. So I got up and dressed and such and realized I'm still not feeling so hot... But I got up and checked my e-mail and packed my back for school.

John dropped me off and I went to History. There is this girl in that class who drives me BANANAS!!!! (Bananas! Hey! Hey! Bananas! Hey! Hey! B-a-n-a-n-a-s! Bananas!) Anyway, the prof says we are going to listen to a certian piece at the end of class if we have time, it is a string quartet, it is one of Beethoven's later works and it may have to wait until next day. He then goes into his lecture about Beethoven. (Shocking, considering the last couple of classes have been ALL about Beethoven!) He then says we are going to listen to Symphony #1, Opus 21. Moron at the back of class pipes up halfway through the piece and says, "this doesn't sound like a string quartet!" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! I have nothing against her, in fact, I barely know her. I know she is at least a year behind me in every other class and is either a string or keys player (I have seen her carrying a guitar case so it would be pretty safe to say she plays guitar) but most people who act as stupid as she does don't make it through first year, let alone into second!!! I thought she was an idiot before when she yelled at the prof of this class over something he couldn't control but today she was... Unbelievable!

Anyway, between taking notes and listening to example upon example of Beethoven's works, I read the entire script of Casablanca and marked all of the musical cues that appear in the script, the famous lines, when the French National Anthem appears and so on. It was a productive class and yay for multi-tasking!

When I got home, I read a friend's blog and realized that what he wrote about and something I had saved earlier and had yet to post were of similar topics so I finished it and published it.

This afternoon I ran through the shower and did my hair (I went to class this morning in my glasses and sweats... :D you could tell that I wasn't feeling well by looking at me...) and then went to orchestra. I had every intention of working on stuff before orchestra but I ran into Richelle and we ended up sitting and talking. She doesn't talk very much so it was interesting.

During orchestra we sight-read a few pieces, one of which we would get to sing in. The only problem is the piece has something like 450 bars and somewhere in the middle, I rest for 97 bars straight. But it's not like "97 bars rest" it's broken down into something like, "3, 3, 3, 14, 6, 12, 12, 12, 18, 14..." AHHHHHHHHHH!!!! And, yet again, putz boy who sits next to me was too busy polishing his clarinet to know where we were so he was completely lost and had no idea what was going on. Thank goodness Ryan was sitting in his old seat today or I seriously would have hit him. Ever seen the bumper sticker that reads, "I've got PMS and a gun..." Ya, that was pretty much me in his general direction today. He walked in and said, "look, I got a neckstrap! But they had to put a new thumbrest on my clarinet..." I pointed out that he could have just bought a neckstrap that hooked onto his old thumbrest and he said, "they make those???" I showed him mine (which does that!) LAST WEEK. I said to him, "You don't listen to anything I say, do you? I'm done. Never mind. Just don't talk to me today, ok? It will be safer for you in the long run." At that point, I faced the front and didn't acknowledge him for the rest of rehearsal (with two exceptions.... once when he held a note three bars too long and another time when he came in a bar early on the wrong note).

When John picked me up, I dropped him off at home and ran to put gas in the car and picked up McD's for dinner and then had a nap for an hour because I didn't feel so hot. Since then, I have been watching Casablanca over and over, timing and retiming the music to make sure my previous timings were correct. So far, I have one I'm still not 100% on... Before bed I am going to finish those and then I plan to get enough sleep to function tomorrow so I can finish this and do the analysis of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A Major.

I. Hate. Snow.

This morning I woke up with a headache.
Not a teeny, tiny, little one.
A HUGE, MAJOR, MIGRAINE sized one.
I took a couple of Tylenol and went back to sleep with the hope it would go away. I woke up the hour later and the dizzyness had subsided but the headache wasn't completely gone and I decided it was time to get packed and get going.

I left my grandparent's house around 10:15. I got onto the highway and it was slow going but I figured I'd just go with it. I was following the yellow line and I was cruising at pretty much the speed limit until just past Nanton. The visibility kind of sucked up until then, with blowing snow and fog but after that, it got even worse. I went from driving in the left lane to being almost in the ditch on the right hand side due to it snowing so hard, with fog and blowing snow that I couldn't see more than a foot in front of my windshield. I was doing 40 with my 4-ways on most of the way from Stavely to Claresholm and I don't think I have ever been that scared...

I pulled off in Claresholm and got a Strawberry Milk at 7-11 and sat in my car and read in the parking lot for a while. I couldn't go any further, I was shaking too hard and my hands hurt from gripping the steering wheel so hard. :'(

I got back on the Highway and my mom had told me when I talked to her that the E-W highway should be better than the N-S so I should be fine once I hit either the 519 or 520. I decided to take the 519 as it would have more traffic and set out again. The visibility was such that I did 70 with ym 4-ways on until the 519 and then once I hit the 519 it took me a few minutes to turn left onto it because of the lack of visibility... I was SO afraid that a semi was going to come along and t-bone me... :(

I got onto the 519 and the visibility was better for a while and then it got worse again. I got stuck behind a semi but he was doing between 70 and 90 depending on the visibility and roads so I kept my 4-ways on and stuck behind him. When I got to the 23, he let me go around him and the visibility got better and I could do the speed limit all the way into Lethbridge. Total trip time, including the stop in Claresholm: 4 hours. I have NEVER taken 4 hours (even the time Lauren and I got turned around the first time driving back to Calgary when I first moved down to Lethbridge) to go either way...

One of the nice things was my mom and Laura kept in touch with me pretty much all of the way to make sure I was okay and not dead and such. But watching people sliding into the ditch or seeing the cars in the ditch was making me very nervous...

Once I got back here and unloaded my car (and stopped shaking) I did some research and some work on the projects that are due this week and then went to get John from school.

We got back and I went back to work, trying to get a bunch of stuff done before my Crew meeting tonight. I got a call at 6:15 saying that the 7:00 meeting was cancelled so I took a break and made "Baba's Macaroni" and garlic crescents for dinner and then curled up under a blanket for a little while.

Since then, I have worked on my film project and then Emily called and I spent some time on the phone with her and now, I'm writing on here. I do need to go do some more work and then go get some sleep. It's been a long day and the concentration (with a headache) that today required took a lot out of me.

Blah.

Today I wasn't feeling so hot...

I got up this morning at went to the Winter Club for a massage. My knee has been killing me and my hamstrings are majorly tight so I was hoping they they are somehow related and my massage therapist could help me out... After the massage, my back, neck, legs, etc. all felt much looser which was awesome but I still felt like crap overall. I went home and had about 2L of water and decided to have a nap. I figured that maybe I was just overtired and needed the sleep.

I slept all day.

I fell asleep around 12:30. I woke up when my mom showed up at my grandparent's around 7:30pm.

I had already decided to drive back in the morning because I didn't want to drive in the dark but I didn't plan on sleeping all afternoon.

Once my mom got there, she and I went for groceries (incidentally, my knee hurt worse than before so I iced it as soon as I got home) and then I came back and spent the next couple of hours finishing Sky High and working on the Theory project that is due Friday.

I still have to finish the musical analysis for my History Paper and re-time my musical cues for Casablanca but that stuff is partially in my car and partially in Lethbridge.

So, for now, I am going to bed. I am tired and I don't know why. I will get up in the morning and drive back to Lethbridge. *Sigh*

One week of class left and then exams. Praise God it's almost over!!!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls...

Today was long... Not quite as long as yesterday time-wise, but it was a lot of emotional and physical energy.

I got up at 8 and my mom and I packed both of our cars and did some running around in Lethbridge. I helped her pick up some clothes for a bunch of Christmas related events she needs to go to in the next few weeks and then I got the chance to wander the store a bit. I got a scarf that has an "E" on it (it's black and it's gorgeous!) and another one that is white with iridescent sequins (for the cabaret) and something else I can't mention right now because I think I may be getting it for Christmas. :) After that store, my mom left for Coleman (to watch John curl) and I went and ran a couple of other errands and then left for Calgary.

When I got back to Calgary, I stopped and got a Booster Juice and did some window shopping and then flat ironed my hair.

I met Ben for dinner at Red Lobster and we had a good time chatting and hanging out and it was a nice break from the rushing around I have been doing for the past few days. It was great to see him and I bugged him about some pretty minor stuff but it was fun to make him blush! :) I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach because I ended up with crab legs leftover to bring home... I asked my mom how to crack them and her recommendation was pliers. :D

After that, I stopped to get gas and fixed my make-up in the bathroom (the light was too dark in the car...) and then went to Kristyn's baby shower.

It wasn't too hard to find the place, even though the directions told me to turn right at a 7-11 that was on my left but I found it anyway... I was kind of afraid that it was either going to be a mini high school reunion or some people were going to make it a "I have this and this and this going on, and you're JUST a student" competition but it wasn't and that was good. It was nice to see Kristyn, her mom, Ryan's mom and some of the other people I have known through Kristyn and her dancing and such. Julie was there and she brought Gavin. He's very cute, I hadn't seen him before, other than in pictures on Gwendy's website but he was very happy and sociable and it was cool to see. The only thing that was kind of annoying was some things Kristyn opened, there was one person who would say, "WE have one of those," or "my daughter LOVES her one of those" or something similar... But that happens... *shrug* I stayed until almost everyone had left, talked to Ryan for a few when he got there and then left... Heather sent me home with a plate of snacks to munch on while I work on my papers in the next couple of days.

I went to Christine's parents house for a few on my way home. It was cool to see how much some of the kids I knew at Grace have grown up over time. I got the chance to see Christine, which was awesome because I haven't seen her in a while! Ben and Brit were there and I sat and talked with the two of them and Rachel for a while. When I got there they were "watching" March of the Penguins and we couldn't really see it from where we were sitting. I didn't stay very long because I was pretty tired and I still had to drive across the city.

On my way home I was going to stop and say hi to Shaun at work but I got there at 12:02am and they close at 12 so I was too late... :(

So now, I am home, I am going to watch part of Sky High before bed and then crash. Night!

7am to 3am... Oh boy!

So last night, after I posted my blog, my mom and I were watching a movie and she fell asleep. So I tried to wake her up so she could move onto a bed (she was on the floor) and nothing was working. I tried poking, shaking, calling "mom, wake up!" and nada. So I tried the petting her hair thing she used to do to me when I was little in combination with the "mom, wake up!" and she started to wake up... looked up towards me... and screamed her head off! It's 1am and she's screaming bloody blue murder! I'm like, "mom, it's me! Calm down!" and she stopped, but I was surprised the neighbours didn't call the cops!

Ok, I'm not sure what is up with people calling my house so early lately, specifically people in my family but my dad called this morning at 6:09am. I answered the phone similarly to the way I answered it yesterday and he asked if my mom was there. When I said she was still asleep he responded with, "well, she reset the friggin alarm clock to beep instead of radio and it sounded like a friggin firm alarm was going off in the house so I assume she needed to be up at this time for some reason." I told him we still had almost an hour until we were planning to get up and I was going back to sleep. At that point, I hung up and went back to sleep.

I dropped my car off to have the tires rotated, oil changed, brakes checked and replaced if needed, windshield wipers replaced, etc. My mom dropped me back off at home and I called a cab to get me to school as I had an appt. on campus at 10 before my class at 11. The cab was about 15 minutes late and I made it to my appt. with about 30 sec. to spare. The appt. went ok, it had to do with the class I am withdrawing from with cause. But there were certain aspects of the appt. that upset me and I just wanted it to be over. The best part about the appt. was when I got a phone call from the autobody saying my car was finished. It ended up being done way sooner than I had expected and for way less than I had expected as well!

I gave Dee her birthday gift before class and she laughed but seemed to enjoy it! :D Steve sang Dee, Ash and I the "I want a Hippo" Telus commercial and it made us smile. I kind of want to see if I can find him a hippo for a gift for Christmas. :)

Class was pretty scattered today, the prof was all over the place for much of it and a lot of us were pretty bored. Most of us had no idea what he was talking about! We decided that our last ear training exam should be all made up of 0123, 0246, 0378, 035, 037 and 047 because we are able to hear those and no 0156 or 0167 because it's hard to tell the difference right now...

After class Laura picked Ash and I up and they dropped me off to pick up my car. I ended up doing some Christmas shopping. I got some stuff for my friends and family, for the Rover Christmas party, and for a few of ths kids at my mom's school whose families cannot afford to buy toys and such. My mom had given me a list and I got the stuff on the list so it was all good. :)

I went to the mall and got my hair done (my bangs trimmed, she washed my hair and I mentioned that I have natural curl and she played with it a bit) and I came out with... A bit of an 80's thing going on. It is awesome though!!!!

I ran a couple of other errands and then, as I was leaving the mall, I saw something that made me really upset. The roads and sidewalks were covered in snow and there was this guy in a wheelchair crossing the street... The guy is trying to carry a box that doesn't fit on his lap and it keeps sliding off and his wheels keep getting stuck in the snow. And people keep walking past him and ignoring him! The one person that I thought was going to stop (at least he looked at him) was this Hutterite or Mennonite guy who was walking past... If I hadn't been blocking traffic to do so (and there were about 10 cars behind me at the light) I would have gotten out to help. As it was, he put the corner of the bag in his mouth and kept going. When he got to the other side and was having trouble getting up onto the sidewalk, someone waiting to cross the other way (E to W instead of S to N) helped him by holding the box for him. It just made me mad that like 8 people walked past him while he was struggling and didn't help!

Anyway, I went home and had an hour long nap (I had a headache and it helped) and then got ready for the concert. My mom and I took one car and I told her to sit in the center balcony for the best sound and so she could see me. The concert went really well. The guy who sits next to me managed to break one of the keys on his clarinet like 10 minutes before we went on stage. And then he asked after one piece if we could move our stand down.... The conductor is conducting above his head and I had the stand fairly low and that proves he's not watching the conductor!!!! He's lucky that I can't stand him already because I just did the, "oh well, whatever" thing in his general direction. He says he likes being in the choir better than being in orchestra and I kind of hopes he decides not to do orchestra next semester!

After the concert, my mom and I went for dinner at Moxies. We talked about the concert and she said the only thing that kind of bothered her was that a lot of the choir stuff was very Catholic in nature and it was all slow. At least our pieces vary in tempo and such so they aren't as boring. The other thing she commented about was that she was lonely sitting by herself. I need to make sure that next time I have a concert there is someone for her (that she knows preferably) to sit with.

Afterwards, we went home and wrapped gifts and such and then went to bed... I know I'm going to sleep tonight because I have been up since 7am and it's almost 3am now...

Things are looking up...

So, the phone rang at 6:54am and I rolled over and answered it with something resembling, "'lo'?" It was my mom calling to talk to my brother about what is going on this weekend. I asked her a question, got the answer, rolled over and went back to sleep. I should probably point out that I went to bed around 4:30... So, I woke up "early" (8:30ish) and went back to work on my paper. Around 10am I decided I should probably have a shower and check my e-mail to see if my prof ever got back to me and he hadn't so I called his office. He told me that he didn't care when I got the paper in, I shouldn't stress, be in his class that day and hand it in when I got it finished. I am trying to get it done no later than Monday but he said that due to the special circumstances that I have going on right now, he understands if I need a couple of extra days. On one had, I hate my laptop for crashing yesterday, on the other hand, I love it... So I had a shower, got dressed and John dropped me off.

After class I hung out with Ashleigh for a few and then went and sold Cabaret tickets for an hour. I was supposed to be selling them with Carrie but she never showed up. I sat in the Atrium for the hour and chatted with people as they went by on their way to class. Just before I was done, Tanya came to sit with me and mentioned that the contact for the Roughnecks had called her and she was going to call him back. I had faxed him our letter earlier this week and I will go pick up whatever the donation is next weekend! At 2pm, I ran into Dee on her way out of her practice session which apparently had gone well! She turns "old" today and I forgot her birthday present at home so I have to remember to take it tomorrow! Just as I stopped to talk to Dee, John walked up the stairs and he stopped to talk to her as well. She had to run so he and I walked down to my car just as the security guys drove up (he had parked in the handicap stalls on 4) and we went and picked Ash up and came home.

I dyed Ash's hair a light blonde colour (overtop of her natural colour it goes a coppery colour... it's SO pretty!) and we darkened my roots so when I go "deepest plum" again my roots dont go PURPLE! I like the colour purple but not that much!

As soon as we were done we ran over to the mall so John could meet with his curling team and Ash and I went to Michael's and picked up a few things. We picked John back up and he dropped Ash and I off at the Church that I had orchestra at and Laura picked Ash up from there. John went home to pack to leave tonight.

Orchestra was ok. We were SUPER cramped and squished. We kept elbowing each other and sptepping on each other but I think we have it figured out for tomorrow. Megan gave me a ride home and now I am blogging!

The only things that have happened in the past little while (30 minutes since I got home) are: I have been asked an interesting question that I am contemplating, I had to send a slightly snotty message to someone (it had to be done), I made a couple of phone calls, I received a couple of phone calls and I decided on what I am getting Kristyn for a baby gift. So I am now going shopping!

(11:30pm) Update: I bought the baby gift, only to get home and realize part of what I thought I bought isn't here! Oh well... I will go back tomorrow! I also picked up some of the stuff I needed for people for Christmas while I was out. My mom is here now and we are going to watch Mr. and Mrs. Smith (I just got it!) and we ordered in pizza for dinner. I have decided that the "coming to E for advice" thing is going to stop for a while. I've had enough... And I am nervous about the concert tomorrow but excited as well! I have to take my car in for servicing so prayer that it doesn't have to be in all day would be great!

*sigh* :'(

Alright, this week has got to get better soon or I will have to go jump off something really high... Even if it a diving board until the pressure of the water gives me a headache (which for some reason, always makes me feel better...).

Today I got up pretty early and went to work on my essay. I got a paragraph set and weeded out some stuff I didn't need from my notes and then got ready to go to school. I got to theory and we got our homework back (I got an A which was good, I think it was the best part of my day...) and then we talked about more 12-tone theory. *gag* After theory I stopped to talk to the prof about the assignment for that class and the paper for his other class.

I got home and John still wasn't up so grabbed lunch and I went back to work on my paper. I had a bit of a nap (about 30 minutes) midafternoon and then went back to work. I worked for about 4.5 hours straight, 3 of those hours on musical analysis and the other 1.5 on the body of the essay. At the point that I realized I needed to leave in about an hour, my laptop froze. So I shut down what I could and it still wasn't responding so I pressed, "CTRL ALT DELETE" and restarted my laptop. I lost 3/4 of what I had done... It was at that point that I restrained myself from throwing my laptop against the wall or out the window and sat and cried. I went back to work and as it hadn't auto-recovered, I was basically screwed.

I went to my night class and we watched two documentaries, one on the original King Kong (1933) and the other on Film Music and the importance that music plays in films. It was interesting and the film clips/music was good but I was very distracted. My prof (same as this morning) told me during the break that we were going to be watching excerpts from Fantasia, Looney Tunes and Spirited Away during the second half of class and as I have seen all of them, I asked if I could go home and go back to work. He said that was fine and asked what my topic was and I explained it to him. I left and am now at home.

I got home and told John he could have the car. He told me he had called a cab and I told him to call and cancel it. He apparently didn't know you could do that. So he did. I realized that I have a ton of work left to do this week, which includes that paper, which is technically due by 4pm tomorrow and with the work I did today down the drain, I'm basically screwed. I also need to figure out what to get my friend for her baby shower gift as the baby shower is on Saturday and between school, homework, the concert I'm playing in on Friday, rehearsals and my car needing to be serviced, I am basically out of time. When I realized all I have to do in the next little while, I wept. I didn't cry, I wept. I had tears rolling down my face and sobs shaking my body... I think I scared John... Hell, I scared myself... I just wanted to curl up in the fetal position and stay like that...

I calmed down once John left and I e-mailed my prof. At this point I will have to pull an all-nighter (which I don't have the energy for) and work all day tomorrow, skipping everything I'm supposed to be at in order to get this done by 4pm. I don't know what else to do and I need to sleep sometime... *sigh* I'm waiting for a response from the professor and I hope he gets back to me soon...

For now, I am blogging incredibly early and then going back to work. Prayer is greatly appreciated. Hugs would be good from anyone I see in the next few days. This next week and a bit are going to be brutal and I may not be around a lot and I hope my friends understand I'm not being anti-social, I'm trying not to flunk out!

*sigh* Back to my stupid essay!

Grrrr.... :(

Today wasn't the greatest. In fact, I am sure I have had both better and worse but today royally sucked.

I got up and did the morning thing and was ready to go to class. I then discussed this evening with my brother. We each had commitments we needed to be at, on opposite sides of the city, at various times. I asked if he could find a ride to his commitment as it started in the middle of mine and I would pick him up when he was done and he blew up and me and said he just wouldn't go and stormed off. I was pretty upset and I pointed out to him that it is my car and he yelled at me. I gathered all of my stuff to write my paper and my laptop case and I left for school. I called Laura because I was pretty much having a panic attack and she calmed me down... I got to class just as the prof started the lecture and he ended class really early... I went to talk to him because my paper isn't coming together as well as I had hoped and I am feeling very frantic about it at this point. It is due Thursday and I have about half of it written and still have a ton of point form notes and a ton of analyis left to do... He said to get in touch with him tomorrow and let him know how things are. At this point I want to put my head down on my desk and cry I am so frustrated with it...

After class I went to BP's for lunch to stay away from my house. I worked on the Theory project that is due next week for a few minutes and reorganized some of my notes/ideas for my paper. I wrote about 1.5 pages while I was there. I called the Arts and Science Advising office while I was there and found out the drop-in was pretty much right after lunch so I headed back over to the U.

I got there are 1:40 and signed myself in and waited. I saw this guy that is a friend of a friend who likes to pick on me but I ignored him, it was easier. The advisor called me in and I explained my circumstances and showed him my doctor's note and he told me that while my concerns are valid, the doctor's note isn't enough documentation for what I was needing. I need "specific dates and what is wrong" which a doctor will not put on a note due to doctor-patient confidentiality. He also said "the concerns aren't completely specified and it doesn't say how it directly relates to you." I asked if he had seen my letter of accomodation for this semester and he said that it is only guidelines for exams and in class assignments. I pointed out that it says in that letter what my stengths and weaknesses are and that should answer "what's wrong and how it relates to me" but he wouldn't listen and he got very patronizing. So I started in disability services, was sent to counselling services, saw my family doctor, was sent to advising and now I have to GO BACK to one of the first two!!! I am NOT impressed! I called both disability services and counselling today to try to book an appointment... I now have an appointment on Friday and when I made the appointment, the lady I am meeting with asked who I was speaking to in Advising and she didn't sound too impressed with him either.... It was at the point that I left his office in tears because I was so frustrated that I felt like "that's it, I'm done."

I went home afterwards and spent a few minutes checking my e-mail and such and then worked on my essay for a while and then tried to lay down because I had a headache and the phone kept ringing. I helped John put his binder for a project that he needed to hand in today together and then when he got home from dropping it off he drove me to orchestra.

Orchestra was good. I love the pieces we are playing (when I am not counting 32 bars rest...) and the annoying guy who sits next to me wasn't sitting there for part of it because we were working with the choir and he sings in the choir as well and has chosen to sing the pieces instead of playing them. (Good riddance!) I left before we were done (about 7:45)because I had let John have the car and Laura was picking me up and she had a client at 8. (She works for homecare.)

Since I got home I have had leftovers for dinner (from lunch with Shaun on Saturday...), worked on my essay (I feel like I have hit a brick wall) and watched (meaning it was on and I listened to it) some T.V.

Now, I am exhausted, it has been an incredibly long, emotionally tiring day and I am going to get some sleep (if I can fall asleep)... :( Night...

Hmmm...

Ok, so last night I stayed up pretty late working on my papers. I was also talking to some people online and it was good to talk to those people. I miss my friends when I am here... I was also working on Theory homework and it was VERY tedious...

This morning I got up 45 minutes before I had to be in class... I went to class and got a bunch of assignments back. I was NOT impressed... I did well on almost all of them. I got one B+ because I hadn't listed the "other 12 variations." *eyes rolling* I pointed out to the professor that I didn't think I had to worry about listing them as all they are is the ones I had listed, in reverse!!! Apparently, it mattered. *sigh* I'm not the only person who did that though. I did get a compliment on the colour scheme though. I had changed the colours of the chart and the font to show which rows corresponded and it turned out quite pretty! *grin* Class today was quite boring but only because it was kind of a review... And it was kind of confusing in the stuff that was/wasn't (not sure how to explain it)...

After class I went downtown to pay a parking ticket and took Ashleigh with me. She was going to go to Esquire's until her piano lesson but Laura called and invited us back to their house for lunch so I drove Ash there. I had a cheese croissant (I wasn't really hungry) and Laura gave me the scarf she made me for Christmas... My first Christmas gift!!! It is pink and purple and fuzzy and sparkly... It is SO pretty! I told Laura colours I like and she chose very nice ones! After talking to them for a while, I ran some errands and came home to work on my history paper.

My paper topic is: "Clarinet in the Classic Period with Specific Focus on K.622 by W.A. Mozart." Thus far, my research is done but I don't have enough Journal articles and my essay is slowly taking form and I still need to do the musical analysis. The thing that worries me is that it is due on Thursday... I am trying really hard to get all of my thoughts and the research to fit together but it's not working so well. Plus, it has to be 8-10 pages of my own writing and right now, it is barely 2.5 pages... I have about 15 pages of notes and 12 books all sitting with post-its in them and all over them... I just have to re-organize everything.

Today I also made a bunch of phone calls about silent auction stuff. I went to Staples tonight and faxed a bunch of letters off to various places in Calgary and Lethbridge... I think that we may have WAY more donations than last year and I am glad to have contributed to that! I'm also glad that some of my friends want to come down to the Cabaret and hang out that weekend. I love having people around but it doesn't happen very often.

Tonight I made dinner and did more work on my essay. I also spent a bit of time on Nex and chatted with two of my favourite guys on MSN. I changed my pic on one of my MSN accounts and I like it because it reminds me of when my friends came to visit in October but I edited it so it was more clear as to who/what it was.

I don't have much else to say. My knee is still killing me and I am really tired. I am going to try and get some sleep tonight.

"Pensive..."

I'm blogging early tonight so I can work on/finish homework and go to bed fairly early...

Today I slept in. I figured that I was up early yesterday and last night, after I posted my blog, I ended up talking to Will on the phone for a while... Almost an hour I think. We talked about random things and it was cool to talk to him. When we got off the phone, I watched the last half an hour of "Christmas with the Kranks" and then went to sleep. It was around 4am. :( And, I wonder why I can't sleep??? (Rhetorical question.) So I woke up and got up around noon. My mom called me the first time around 8 or so and then every about an hour until I got up at noon. She was calling to keep me informed about how John's curling games were going. They won last night so they played this morning at 10 and then they won this morning so they played this afternoon at 2. So I got up and did homework for a few, got ready/packed and left. I got to Claresholm around 4 and his game ended around 5. They were playing 10 ends and they were tied at the end of the 10th. So they played an 11th. It looked like it was going to come down to the last rock and was so tense! They won and that meant they were done for today but they play next weekend in Coleman (in the Crowsnest Pass) to determine who goes to Provincials or Nationals or something... I'm honestly not really sure, I just know that only 4 teams move on. And if they had lost this afternoon, they would have played tonight at 6. The funny thing about the 2:00 game was they were playing the team from LCC, which is all guys they know/go to school with/have curled with. It made for an interesting game.

By the time we got back to Lethbridge, it was too late to run some of the errands my mom and I had planned. So I came in and did a bit of homework before going out for dinner with Will. We went to East Side Mario's. It was interesting... He chose the restaurant and I'm glad I made him choose. I was trying to decide but (as per usual) I was overthinking it. I was going through the places we could go and ruling out some of them due to too much noise, too many memories, wrong impression given by going there, not sure enough of the food, don't feel like eating there, too expensive, etc. When all of these thoughts were racing around in my head, that was the point that I called him and made him decide. Dinner was good, we talked about random things and life and such. It was very comfortable and that's great. The problem was that I still need to know what is/has been going on in his head and he hasn't elaborated. I don't want to press or pry but I am frustrated because I know that I am more outgoing and whatever but my spilling my guts to him doesn't seem fair if I get nada in return. I enjoyed dinner and all but I don't know if can spend time one on one with him again for a while. It is tough. He looked very pensive tonight and I asked him what he was thinking and he didn't tell me. Other that coming out and saying "what the hell is going on in your head???" I'm not sure how to approach things because I have tried almost everything else I can think of. When he dropped me off I told him that I still want to know what is happening in his head at some point and he said, "ok" but I don't know if that's a "yes" or a blow off...

I have theory and two papers to work on, plus we are going to get groceries... I am going to go ice my knee for a few before I have to walk on it. It is swollen and it hurts and I don't know what else to do for it that I haven't aleady tried. (I should see about getting a physio appointment...)

I don't know what else to say so I think this is going to be it for today...

"Errands..." Shaun... WILD THING... Yay! (but strange...)

Today was a ton of fun!

My phone rang at 7:58am. I rolled over to answer it and realized that my alarm clock was about to go off... It was Shaun, calling to make sure I was awake and checking what time I was picking him up. We talked for a minute or so and afterwards, I got up. I had a shower and got dressed and left.

I got about a third of the way to Shaun's and realized that my cell phone was sitting on my bed so I turned around and went back for it. I got to his house around 9 and he poured me a cup of tea and we watched a few minutes of some weird movie and then left. He commented about me jeans (said he liked them :D) and I was glad he noticed, they are new and I really like them!

We dropped the rim off at AWR and it is going to cost me $100 to get it fixed so I think I will check some wreckage yards first. The lady there is going to hold it until I call her in regards to the repairs. Our first stop on the list of Silent Auction related stops was Axe Music on Blackfoot. I dropped off the letter about the Auction to the Sales manager, ran into Sandra's brother (who works there and doesn't remember ever meeting me...) and Shaun played one of the guitars. I don't remember the brand name but it reminds me of "sphinx" and other words that sound similar... He bought an AC/DC songbook and I bought a gift for a friend's birthday. Our next stop was Long & McQuade. I was not impressed with the guy I dealt with there. I told the guys at the counter who I needed to see and one of them called him. He told him that "some girl from the University of Lethbridge is here about a donation of a guitar for a Silent Auction." I said, "no! I am here about a donation to a Silent Auction, NOT a guitar for the Silent Auction!" and the guy was like, "oh." Dummy... *eyes rolling* And because of that, I may not get a donation from them! I was NOT impressed! Our next stop was St. John's music where I picked up some Clarinet Reeds, a Reed Case, a Chamois swab and the donation which is a really nice chromatic tuner. Shaun tested a guitar and it didn't have as nice a sound as the one at Axe. I didn't like the look of it as much either but whatever... :) He commented that if a bunch of his friends chipped in, he'd take a Daisy Rock guitar. I think they are so hilarious. The pink flower is definitely the one for him. :D He bought four (or five?) guitar straps and the complete AC/DC songbook... this thing makes most of my textbooks for school look tiny and they are pretty big! Our next stop was Vintage Guitars and they had some really cool stuff! The owner donated a Learn to play Harmonica thing that comes with a CD-ROM and a harmonica and case. Shaun saw a couple of pedals he really liked but he didn't want to spend the money right now (they were expensive!) so he is going to wait. He and I were talking on the way out of Vintage and I commented to him that it's too bad that places that sell guitars wouldn't donate something like a patch cord or strings or a strap or something. Also, it's interesting that none of the music stores have donated anything percussion related either.... Oh well. We went to the Movie Poster Shop next... I wasn't sure what to expect... I walked in and handed the letter to the guys behind the counter and they both looked completely lost. One of them made a phone call and then they started pulling posters. They pulled 9 posters in all, some are doubles but all are fun/cool, and each poster was marked at $22 retail... I was SHOCKED!!! Our last stop was Music Makers and they donated a harmonica in a case and it's really cool... I think it would be interesting to learn to play harmonica but honestly, I don't have the time to do that right now.

I went to my appointment at JC at Crowfoot at 1:30 and then we went for lunch at the Mongolie Grill. Shaun hadn't ever been there! It was cool watching him experience it for the first time. We over-ordered on purpose and even had dessert (not that we finished it all...) and sitting talking about stuff was cool. After lunch I took him home and he passed me off some miniature bottles of Scotch, Rye and Rum that he has from stuff he bought (they were attached) as I know a few people who will drink them and he won't. It was awesome to hang out with him today... We don't get to see each other very often and we didn't kill each other today which is always good!

I went home and put my leg up for a while to rest and chatted online and did some homework and reorganized some stuff and just basically chilled for a while. It was nice to be able to take a break... I don't get to do that enough while I am home on weekends, I am pretty much constantly running around.

Tonight there was WILD THING. The worship was amazing!!! The band was two TECites that haven't been around in a while (one who used to work in the kitchen at Entheos) and it was really cool to see them and the band did some songs that very few of us knew and others that I was really happy they did as I haven't heard them done in a worship setting in a while or ever. It was an amazing night for worship. One of the guys who was singing during the first set had an amazing voice. He had the kind of voice that makes it easeir to worship.... It made spending time in worship a lot calmer and easier. The talk tonight was about JW's and the similarities and differences between JW's and Christian's. It was interesting to hear about the minor and major differences between the two. It made me do a lot of thinking.... (I was already doing a lot of thinking though so it kind of made my head hurt by the end of the night...) Our small group had a great discussion but it was tough to discuss this without seeming somewhat biased as we are a Christian group. Anyway, I prayed for a while during the second set and I felt a lot better about some of the stuff that has been weighing me down lately (family, school, friends, health, relationships, etc.) and I felt more in touch with the worship and less like I was weighed down afterwards. The pew I was sitting in was interesting but I found it to be distracting during the first set. I love the girls I was glad to be included and all but I felt really old by comparison to them... During the second set Ben and Matt joined us. It was nice to be surrounded by my friends but after praying and worship, I needed my own space and I went for a bit of a walk outside. It was chilly and windy but I spent some time sitting outside and then went back in. I got up and asked for prayer for myself during the next couple of weeks and for the friend who is sick (I am SO worried about her!) and praise that I could be there tonight and for the worship... I said that I needed a space to spend time with God and the worship provided it and that was awesome. I know I'm not the only one who feels that way...

After THING we went to Moxie's and the mix at the table was interesting. Mike came to meet us and it was really great to see him! Ben was the oldest at the table and there was four of us at the end of the table that were around the same age and at the opposite end was a group around 20 to 21. The group in the middle of the table was all 16 to 17 and you could see/hear the difference between the groups. I was sitting between Ben and Mike and it was good to be sitting between two of my favourite guys. We had some interesting conversations, ranging from creation to feminie hygiene product purchase and it was funny to hear some people's opinions or watch some people's reactions. At the end of the night, once everyone had paid their bills, Mike and I sat and talked about a bunch of stuff. It was nice to talk to him. The nice thing about my friendship with Mike is that even if he and I don't see each other for months at a time, it's like no time has passed.

Now, I'm home and I'm tired but I have a lot on my mind. I am going for dinner with Will tomorrow night and I am really looking forward to it on one hand but on the other hand, I am kind of nervous/scared. He and I still haven't really sorted out what was going on in both of our heads (mainly, I don't know what in his) and I don't know if I want to deal with that right now. I will have to figure that out sooner rather than later.