a little nostalgia

because the last time I was here was five years ago, the summer before I left for school, I can't help feeling a little nostalgic being here again. The same impossibly blue skies, the countless jets streaming overhead every hour, the 15 minutes march to the school... So much have changed, including me of course, but it is still so nice to be back here - the last place of childhood, arguably.

Journey here
The usual delays, the hurry-up-and-wait's, but I got here in one piece, and the flight wasn't terrible, so can't complain. The accommodations are awesome - private bathroom and showers. Still haven't found out what my job is going to be yet, but will soon enough.

Canada Day
Go out and celebrate, even though it's Liberals (eeek!) for another 4 years!


die mosquitos die!

Cold Lake

It's 4am, and I have finally finished my last essay that needed to get done before flying out to Alberta in... 8 hours. Have a great summer, everybody! I will update as often as I can.

i've discovered

that I actually can't live without my notebook anymore. Really, I was physically shaking without it, for the three days that it was in repair. Not that it's fixed now - they say there's something wrong with the motherboard, so it'll take two weeks to be sent to hp to fix. I said I'll do it at another time, and promptly brought my baby home. Now it's back, and I don't have any excuse not to write my paper anymore.

new word
I learned a new word yesterday: plenipotentiary. It means "to have full powers". Cool, huh? I want to be plenipotentiary. heh!

West Wing
I got the Season 2 DVD's in celebration of finishing my war studies papers last week, and have watched the entire 22 episodes by now. It's amazing how you can find time to do things you really want to do.

career choices
Recently I did a questionnaire that's suppose to tell you what careers you are suitable for, according to you interests, skills, level of education, etc. Here are my top eleven ('cuz, well, I can't leave off the 11th one):

1. Office Manager
2. Casting Director
3. Judge
4. Director
5. Fundraiser
6. Foreign Service Officer
7. Hydrologist/hydrogeologist
8. Historian
9. Lobbyist
10. Communication Specialist
11. Professor

What do you think? Can you see me as any one of the above? Yeah, I know - people are suppose to decide this in high school.

Okay, okay - the paper is not going to write itself.

sure, a little girl...

perched on her father like a baby koala bear is cute, but you know what's cuter? The 10-timbit box from Tim Horton's. Really. I ordered a chocolate strawberry tart from the drive-thru, and they give it to me in a timbits box. Except I'm so used to seeing the 20-timbit sized one, that this one appeared exceptionally cute. (I keep wanting to type 'tidbit' instead)

father's day
Called my dad yesterday, and it was good to talk to him. Although, ran out of things to say pretty quickly too. Can't help feeling a twinge of jealousy at all the happy kids going around town with their dad's

notebook trouble
Sorry for the lack of individual reponses and infrequent updates for the next couple days. My notebook is being fixed 'cuz it refuses to charge its battery, and my travel orders to Cold Lake says that it must be fully charged to be inspected before boarding the plane.

packing
Spent a couple hours packing yesterday, just clothes going with me. It was so much easier as a cadet, 'cuz they are only allowed to wear their uniform all summer, so nothing else to pack. Now I have to pack all my summer clothes too - I'm not sure how I'm going to even wheel my suitcase around.

paper
So my prof asked me to drop off a hardcopy of my paper at some random store downtown, 'cuz he's out of the country. Kinda sketchy, I thought. Turns out that he lives in the apartment right above it, and the store collects his mail for him 'cuz he doesn't have a mailbox. It's was a jewelery/assessory shop. Weird.

sleep
So some reason, couldn't sleep at all last night. Finally dozed off at around 6am, and slept for about 6 hours. My day is screwed up already, might as well surrender.

YES!!

Finally, the dreaded War Studies 500 papers are done!! The bane of my existence for the past 10 months have been lifted. Thank God!

Taking a long awaited break before tackling the next one.

slightly more productive

but still not writing nearly fast enough. What's the point of writing papers anyway? It is just a gathering and rearrangement of existing information. It's not like I can come up with something new. It's history, and I didn't live through it! Does anymore really care how the Japanese military has changed since the bomb? Didn't think so. blah!

absolutely not-doing-work day

I decided to not work on any essays today, just to put the panic on tomorrow. I'm so disenchanted with my education lately. Well, I've never been very keen about it to start with, but now I really don't care. It's just draining me out. All I did was go to the library and photocopied the article I needed. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

camp
One of my friends keep changing his MSN name to reflect the countdown of days 'til camp. Not that I'm not excited about the prospect of 3 square meals prepared for me again everyday, but in light of the 3 essays that must get done,and another one that needs to be started, it's freaking me out a little.

weather
Still no T-Storms. Come on, Weather Man! Wield your power!

Order of the Phoenix
Finished re-reading it today. I've forgotten that 'he' dies... Still in a bit of denial.

Need a good book to keep me distracted so I won't remember that I hate flying on the way to Cold Lake. Any recommendations?

* fingerprinting *

Today I had an appointment on base to renew my military ID (I know, it sounds cool just to say it). And because I've been an officer for more than two years now (3, to be exact), I am entitled to a permanent ID (rather than the temp one that needs renewal every 2 years). So after posing for a formal, unsmiling picture - which we had to retake because one of my collars were sticking out onto the tunic - holding a little white sign with my name on it (hopefully the closest to a mug shot I'll ever need), on to fingerpaint, er, printing! (for all those shouting bloody murder at those run-on sentences, know that I too recognize their folly) So first it's the right thumb, and all the subsequent fingers on that hand. Onto the left. Each finger was made to roll sideways a bit as I 'printed', to get the full range of marks. Then one more non-rolling thumb print on the right, and a 4-finger print too, then on the left, then... repeat the process two more times!! If it'd been coloured ink, I don't think I'd have mind doing it all day! I hope though, that the LSAT fingerprinting process won't be nearly as extensive, or I'll forget everything I need to know and play instead!

Mr. Lego Man
You know who I'm talking about! I found it hilarious that Mr. Harper's PR advisors must have put him in a circular patterned tie to offset the squarishness of, well, the rest of him. Pretty good debate yesterday, though English translation over spoken French was a little hard to follow at times, especially at the 4-person debate segments. Want to hear a little more about everything else besides health care tonight.

Mr. Weather Man
Come on, more rain!!! Bring on the thunder and lightning! I'll watch your allegy and pollen report if you do!

psychoanalysis this!

Today is the US "Flag Day". Last year, at this time, I was in Boca Raton with my family, checking out Florida Atlantic U. This has been the longest year, and at the same time, not really. I leave for Alberta in 13 days. As exciting as that seem, that means I have to finish another 3 papers before that. Ugh.

dream
I had a dream about looking for dominic in my grandma's backyard. Except I started looking for feline-looking rabbits instead. And then I realize that I should looking for cat proper. And then I was a little kid fishing with my family at a beach. They told me that I won't be able to cast my fishing rod that far (being really far back from the water), but I kept trying anyway. After many attempts, I still couldn't throw far enough, though I did throw a lot farther than anyone expected. So then I went right up to the shoreline, and pulled an earthworm out of the sand. I was complimented on using live bait by someone about my (real, not dream-child) age. I waded into the water, and saw that it was really shallow, so that even had I been able to throw my line that far, it would have been useless. The water was really clear too, and I wandered further into a cave-like thing (it looks like those cave things that your amusement ride boats take you through before the final plunge, or, you know, like the Rainforest Cafe). I kept wading, and started seening orange goldfish darting around, avoiding all the fishing lines like pedestrians in rush hour traffic. I scooped a particularly round goldfish into my palm and placed it in a cup, trying to tell my mom that she can't use ice water in the cup because the water I was wading in is really warm, and the fish would die in colder water. There wasn't enough water in the cup, so I ended up putting the container in the water around me and cupping my hands to prevent the fish from escaping. And then there were two fish. I kept the smaller one, and my sister took the larger one. But she wasn't giving it enough water, so it's starting to turn belly up. I rescued her fish...

And that's all I remember. Pretty interesting, especially if you put it in context of my real, non-dream, dysfunctional family. Heh, have fun with that one.

weather
Dear Weather Channel,

You owe me a thunderstorm, as promised last night. Yes, there is a huge difference between cloudless sky with limitless ceiling, sunshine and 60% humidity, and "Chance T-Storms".

cat
still no sign...

nuke's done

It's a sad looking paper, but at least it's done. Now on to the other one that's two weeks overdue... Haven't left my apartment in 48 hours now.

weather
I asked for crappy weather, and there it was! So at least staying inside today wasn't too bad. May it continue to crap out for as long as it takes me to finish these #$%*&# papers. (selfish, I know)

dominic
My mom called to say that everyone's been out looking for him, but to no avail. I don't know if that's suppose to make me feel better...

cd
I bought the soundtrack to "Runaway Bride" a long time ago, but subsequently lost the disc. So today I coaxed Morpheus into making me a copy. It's the weirdest thing now - official case with burnt CD inside. Listen to Eric Clapton's "Blue Eyes Blue". Just that one song is worth the disc. Or, you know - the incessant restarting of the download program.

ear
Feeling a weird pressure inside my left ear - maybe it's time to go outside for a bit.

I have no proof...

but I think my sister just confirmed my worst suspicions that my uncles throw Dominic away. 'Cuz when you suspect there are fleas, of course the logical solution is just to get rid of the cat, right? I couldn't find him before I left Toronto, and now I guess I'll never see him again.

I knew it was going to happen too. The perfect excuse, 'cuz Dominic goes in and out of the house by himself. So what I can really say if he doesn't come home one day, or ever?

I'm going to miss my cat, but more than that, I really hate the way that they just take things into their own hands, and think it's okay 'cuz I'm 'just a kid', and obviously don't get any decision making power 'cuz I don't pay bills or rent there. Plus my dad's not here, so obviously my sister and I are just squatter at my grandmother's house. UGH!! I hated living there when I was 10, and I hate it now. I don't know how I'm going to live there indefinitely starting in September. It's like you have to adopt a concentration camp mentality to survive in that house.

late start

Slept in 'til a totally unacceptable hour today, though for a second I thought I woke up at 6:30am, but the digits were blinking, signifying *another* power outage, however briefly between 3am last night and ... the hour I awoke today. As my cousin would say, 'failure to merge with the rest of society today'.

The freedom of this year's schedule has been really bringing out the sloth in me. But at the same time, the whole world is already ready for me when I do get up. For example, the mail has been delivered, emails replied from others, and at times phone calls returned too. Tis excellent.

Getting great response to my bloggin' - which is great, but also like arriving a little too fashionably late to a party. Like, what took me so long?

Weather
Bring on the storm! And the rain! So I don't feel like a prisoner stuck in a well, peering out at yet another cloudless day.

Nuclear Bomb Paper
Like Neo would say, "It ends tonight." I'm handing in whatever I get done, thesis or no thesis.

good thing there are the professors...

or a 22 year old's, interest, in a 13 year old wizard might be a little weird.

Another beautiful day, obviously the weather doesn't care if I ever get my papers done. I don't know what's wrong with me. On every level of my consciousness, I know that once I get these two papers done, I can be finished with this #(*&$ course once and for all. But there is just one little part of me that keeps pulling my fingers away from opening that Word document to work on it. Plus, it's hopelessly boring, and about as successful in finding itself a thesis as I am at finding a boyfriend.

Kingston
Isn't it weird? 10 months ago, when I arrived in this city, I thought that my life was ruined, and I was determined to hate this place as much as possible, 'cuz it wasn't what I planned. But now with two weeks left, I find that I might miss this place. Everything from the endless renovations of the dismal mall across the street, to the city skyline silhouetted by its five jails. This is a quirky little city. It's like that one fridge magnet you keep around, even though it looks stupid. Yeah, I'm sure all the Kingstonians appreciate being compared to a fridge magnet.

Nip/Tuck
Have you ever seen it? I caught two back to back episodes earlier in the week, and I'm hooked. Exactly what I need - another TV show to be committed to. (yes, I consider good programs "appointments" to be committed to)

Election
Why does every election invariably disintegrate into name calling and the dum-dum-DUM of your opponents being EEEEVIL? What kinda deliberative democracy is this? And Canada is suppose to be one of the better ones. No wonder us intelligent, youthful types aren't interested. ;)

Movie Ads
The Stepford Wives come out today. I was really excited to see it, but with the amount of ads I've inhaled, I feel like I've seen it already. Same with Spiderman 2. Is Mystic River worth renting?

Aside
1. I've changed the option on this Blog so that anyone can post without registering. If it doesn't work, let me know and I'll fiddle some more.

2. Wow, and I was worried that I won't have anything to write about.


p.s. if I'm good and keep this journal up, do I get a non-messed up boyfriend a la Bridget Jones?

because insistent bugging works

... I have now succumbed to cataloguing my thoughts on public space like everyone else.