Huh.

I went to a Halloween party tonight with my Mexican friend. It was put on by the Intervarsity Fellowship for Christian Students and Other People and What Have You. You know what I'm talking about. I really don't know what this particular one is called, but it was interesting. Those people that go to them, they're like church people, only they're a little more normal. And by normal, I mean that after the party in a room at school where we had a Napolean Dynamite Dance-Off, we all trooped over to this one guy's house and played cards and laughed and ate cheese dip and watched Shaolin (or something like that) and I made friends. The Outgoing Mexican has done amazing things for my life. Really. She got me to speak up and enjoy myself with the other exchange students, she got me to exercise most every weekday in the morning, and thusly got me to go to my morning class more regularly, she's introduced me to various individuals, she got me inadvertantly wrapped up in this Christian group that is actually a bunch of people I really enjoy being around. What will she do to make my life better tomorrow? Cause seriously, since I've known her, my life has improved pretty much daily. Outgoing Mexican, you are the best. You seriously rawk.

And I was Robin Hood. All I had to do was buy some yellow felt and sew two triangles together to make a hat (a Rather Dashing Hat, at that), and wear my green hooded tshirt. Also some pants, and my brown scarf wrapped rougishly around my torso. Easiest and cheapest costume ever, excluding the Girl-With-a-Worm-on-her-shoulder, which only required one gummi worm. But yeah, I'd say that $1.93 for some felt was a great investment for how surprisingly well my costume turned out. I was totally recognizable.

And as we were driving home around 2:00, it was all dark and stuff. It had rained in the afternoon, and there was all kind of misty-foggy stuff happening. It was so cool- Outgoing Mexican and I were in raptures, pointing and giggling, while the guy we were driving home inwardly laughed at us for being so stupid. Well, he probably has seen this several times a year for the past ten years, while for us it's a completely new and foreign concept. Outgoing Mexican and I hope for (and expect) snow in the next week or so. Hopefully. We have our fingers crossed.

Good Day

I've decided that I like tuesdays and thursdays. I get up at 7:00, work out from 7:30-8:30, then go back home and sleep till 11:00. Then I take a shower (sometimes I take a shower before falling back asleep. It depends) and eat fun things for lunch. Like today, I'm having leftover macaroni and cheese and some peach yogurt. Then I fiddle around, checking email and listening to music till quarter to one, when I get to go to my Power and Justice class. Then I'm done! Thursdays are especially good, because I have the knitting group in the evening, where we sit around and knit scarves for less-fortunate kids. I'm almost done with my scarf, and when I am, I'm going to make myself a touque (this is a fun word, and you pronounce it like TOOK. Except you'll still get it wrong, cause it's not like the word took so much as it is lik the word Ook. Like, ooky stuff on your shoe, or like spook). Anyway. I'm going to make myself a touque so my head doesn't freeze in the winter. Because touque is just a great way to say beanie with little ear flaps and ties. Maybe a pom pom on the top, too. We'll see.

Ugh. I know working out is supposed to be good for you, and build muscles and stuff, but does it have to be so hard? Today we did elliptical for 35 minutes, then spent the rest of the hour doing various abdominal-working exercises. It was tough. Which reminds me of the first day I worked out with my current workout buddy- she made me do all of these arm-working exercises that day, which made me realize that just as "chicken wings are not for flying," "people wings are not for lifting all kind of heavy barbells and stuff." But maybe they will be, if I just work out more.

This is my 165th post

It's been a good weekend. Went to a party on Friday night, then out for food around 11 oclock, then back home where I had some friends stay over since all of my roommates were gone. We sat around talking and eating ice cream in our pajamas. It was fun. Yesterday we went to the Science Center, which was a bit like the most wonderful Exploratorium in (San Francisco? I don't remember anymore). This one not only has the fun hands-on exhibit things, but it also has an Imax theatre and a climbing wall and a gyroscope. We tested out each of these factors, and pronounce them all Very Fun. However, since I always wear flipflops wherever I go, I had to rock climb barefoot. This made it a little tougher to do, also a little more painful. It also made my feet very dirty. I'll need to remember to wash them extra carefully today, so I don't look like a homeless person when I go to church.


***News break: I was just reading over what I wrote, and I noticed something that's very odd for me. I have friends! I moved here less than two months ago, knowing not a soul, and I already have friends! This is truly amazing.***

Why?

Why do i find money in my bathroom? Seems like every time i go in there, there's a quarter or loonie on the floor. Are people using my bathroom and leaving me money in gratitude? I've secretly claimed ownership of all money i find on the floor in there. I should keep a jar just for bathroom money. I could use it to buy toiletpaper, or something. I know that the money doesn't belong to my roommate, because she hasn't used the bathroom between when i used it last and when i found the money. Really, it could be anyone, with how many people come and go through here. Mmm. Bathroom money.

Lovely

It's raining today. And it's completely overcast. I love that. Love the rain, love not even imagining that you could see the sun. I wish it were like this every day. I'm so glad I took a shower last night. My hair is therefore already done, and dry, and I can get ready without getting too hot or too cold, and I can feel perfectly comfortable and warm while walking through the rain on my way to class. You have no idea how happy a good rainy day can make me.

If you look in the mirror, it's your father's face

I can't seem to remember what made the weekend so fun. I guess just being out there, bonding with people who are so different from me, yet so much the same. Being semi-camping, in the cold (oh, the bitter cold, that mocked me for leaving my mittens and jacket at home), kind of uncomfortable and dirty. I love that feeling. I enjoy things so much more when they're not perfectly right. A smelly cabin with no sheets on the bed and a picnic table outside with freezing rain and wind is so much more cozy and appealing to me than a lush, warm, hotel would be. It's more fun to go canoeing in the rain without a coat, and then get so sandy and wet that you need to take a shower in a horrible stall that's about a foot squared in area, passing the soap between three stalls. I made new friends this weekend. I realized that some of the people that I feared before are actually not so bad as they previously seemed. They just needed to be in a less formal situation for them to become friendly and real people. I was so tired the day after we got back, really exhausted, although I can't really think what I did to make me so tired. But it's fun to have a good time with new friends, and start the week tired. I've spent too many weekends doing nothing and starting the next monday tired from nothing, or even worse, not tired. The activity broke up the monotony of mid-semester langour that hangs on you for weeks on end. And today, I feel almost refreshed! I even took a midterm today, and I think I did okay on it. I feel justified in sitting around tonight, playing on the internet, talking to friends I haven't spoken with in awhile. Maybe I'll watch a movie tonight. Maybe I'll just go to be early. Maybe I'll eat cookies and listen to music while I knit. The thing is, I'd be happy with any of those options. Usually I just want to sit around doing nothing for hours on end, until it's two in the morning and I'm dissatisfied with myself and the world. Tonight I will do something to make myself happy.

I was going to write about my weekend, but...

I'm too unhappy. Well, not unhappy per se, rather, I'm lacking that happiness that is required to write about such a fun time. I watched a tv show this evening that brought up some sad memories, and then I read some friend-of-a-friend's blog, and her bitchiness really made me mad. I've never met her, I've never heard what my friend has to say about her, but the things she writes make me want to slap her. Plus, I've got a midterm tomorrow that I need to study for. So you'll have to wait yet longer for the wonderful recap. At least you get this nice picture.

Finest Paris Lumps

This is a warning: I'll soon be posting about the most fun weekend i've had since two weekends ago. Get ready: it was good.

Cried the Dust Speck

Just thought I'd take a moment to let you all know I'm here. I've been checking my email all day, but to no avail. I'm waiting for a message from someone to tell me where I'm supposed to be when for this weekend's adventure (more on that later), and it's getting a little close to the day. Hopefully he'll tell me soon, so I can make it. Also, I've felt a little disconnected from my internet people. Hello, internet people! I am significant! Look at me!

On the whole, though, I'm good. No longer sick. Went to my classes. Participated a lot in my Jane Austen class; the professor knows my name, and begins to look for my hand when she asks questions of the class. This is a good thing. I stayed after institute tonight and played a little foosball with some guys- I didn't do very well altogether, but I made three or four rather excellent, high-five worthy goals, so they thought I was better than I really was. Which made me feel good. I even wore my robot shirt today, now that it finally came. Now I think I'll go and read some Pride and Prejudice. It's homework! How lucky am I that my homework for a quarter of my classes is to read Jane Austen novels to my little heart's content?

Nothing helps your self esteem like good cooking

I was just sitting around, feeling stomach-achy and gross, reading. I'm thinking I must've gotten a mild case of food poisoning from the dinner I had yesterday with a bunch of people from residence. Food made ahead of time for masses of people, and all that. Anyway, I didn't feel good, but I felt like eating something. I got up, stuck my head in the fridge, and saw two eggs. I proceeded to make a cute little omelette, which folded perfectly, and was just the right size to make me not hungry anymore without upsetting my stomach further. I know, I know. I've taken two years of culinary arts, and I've made much more detailed, lovely things in my time. I've made a Thanksgiving turkey or two. But something about this omelette just reassured me, telling me that yes, I can live on my own, I'm capable, even when I'm not feeling well. Now I think I'll go back to lying on my bed and reading.

O happy day!

Has anyone else noticed anything unusual about today? Like perhaps, how amazingly lovely and delicious it is outside? I picked a good day to decide to walk around the lake. I'm going to go in a little bit, with my roommate that came home earlier than I was expecting her today. And it will be great. Exercise without getting nasty and gross like I would if I went to the gym. Plus, it will be fun to see the lake right now- there's all kind of geese and ducks and stuff sitting around. Often I'll be walking outside, and look up and there's a nice little formation of geese flying, making their cute little goose noises. I hope this beautiful weather and good feeling lasts.

Just shoot me now, please

I never thought this day would come. I thought I was above all this. But, I don't know. Working at Taco Bell for so long, it was just bound to happen, especially with all of those late nights with just me, a couple of coworkers, and the Muzak. The very thought brings me such shame, such anguish. I'm just going to lay it out for the entire world to see: I like Hanson. I don't know how it happened. First, I would mock them when their music came on while I was mopping the lobby, then as it got more familiar, I'd hum along. I've been away from Taco Bell for almost two months now, and just yesterday I.... purchased "Penny & Me" from iTunes. There. It's been said. I feel like a guilty weight has been lifted from my shoulders. But parents, tell your children: Just say No to crappy Teeny-bopper music. You can use me as an example- "do you want to wind up like her? I'm going to stop typing now, and play the song. I need my fix.

So excited.

I've come up with a killer plan. I'm going to do something really fun and cool for spring break this year. I'm not going to tell you what it is, because that would ruin the surprise, especially since I just barely thought of it, and spring break isn't for several months yet. But rest assured, it's the Best Plan Ever. Well, not the best one ever, but really pretty good considering my circumstances- where I am, how much money I have, and how much time I'll have. It's such an exciting plan, though, that I want to run around screaming with my hands flailing above my head. I can't wait till spring semester comes. I'll be doing some fun stuff. Any other suggestions for when I drive back home this spring after school gets out? I've got the germ of a plan for that, too, but other opinions are welcome. I've got plenty of time to think about it.

You know...

If the whole like, eight of you that read my blog click on the link to threadless and buy a shirt each, you'll earn me enough streetteam points for me to get a shirt free. And we all know how much I like free stuff. And like three of the new shirts for the week are awesome. Do it... for the good of the country.

Ping Pong

Don't ask what the image has to do with today's post; you'll only be disappointed. What I'm going to talk about tonight is.... umm, ping pong. And by ping pong, I mean, how it's nice to have roommates that are weird. I initially wasn't sure I would like my roommates. They seemed cliqueish, and they all knew each other from high school. They're younger than me, and are way more outgoing and college-y than me. However, they are also mighty dorky and fun. We're getting along very well. We're friends, and we like to cook dinner and eat together, and watch movies and play games. They invite me into their lives, but they don't force stuff on me that I'm not interested in. Last night we played Pretty Pretty Princess. I won. We have an Almost Roommate, who actually lives in a different building, but is around all the time- she makes dinner sometimes, and she always helps with the dishes. She drives us to the movies, and we hang out and talk. She likes me, too. She's like a warped version of Carrottop, which makes me happy, and she thinks I'm smart and wonderful (this also makes me happy). Tonight we played ping pong, but mostly played Hit the Ball and then Chase it Down the Hall. They are fun- they ask if I will be their friend forever, and invite them to my wedding, and they laugh at the story of how I got hit by a car while I was on my bike. I'm glad I got put in this suite- my roommates are the best.

*melts*

This is one of many pictures I took while in Parts MoreKnown this weekend (a few hours north of Parts Unknown). I love love love that city. Look at it! There's a river! and bridges! and all kind of foliage! Apparently Parts MoreKnown isn't even as beautiful as some other cities around here. I found it to be big enough to not be claustrophobic, but small and well-designed enough to be cozy. Also it had a more fun and eclectic culture than Parts Unknown, which made me feel a little more at home. I spent a few hours by myself (while my guide was at a meeting), just driving around and finding things that needed to be photographed. I also went walking along the river after dark (which is safe to do round here) with my guide, and we looked at how cool the water looked with all the pretty city lights reflecting off it. Unfortunately I had left my camera in the car so I couldn't document the cool-looking nighttime.