Twosday's- I like 'em!

Today was Tuesday- and in fact it still is for the next 40 minutes. It didn't start off that well as I spent half the night up and tossing and turning. I felt like I had drank a quart of coffee and was all jittery. Except that I didn't drink any coffee after about 11am yesterday.

So when I awoke to my alarm this morning I was indeed alarmed. So much so I hid for the next 40 minutes under the covers. It was snowing very heavily in big fluffy flakes. That was nice. I managed to make it to my studio class before the teacher. And by before I mean I was two steps ahead of her and held the door. But it's a pretty mellow class. We are working on a roof plan with 4 elevations. I love drafting. I could do that for all day for the rest of my life. I just love it.

It's so precise and fiddly and you get to you neat-o pencils. But the move these days is towards using Auto-Cad- boo to technology. (although I do praise it that I am able to web cam with my family almost every day- then I like technology) I had an old boyfriend that was all "damn the man" but he so liked the man that paid his EI. Stinkin hippies....

OK back on topic! After class I was feeling so good I made it to the gym for about an hour and then went to the next class. I am glad I did the gym early because I had it budgeted to do after the 2nd class- but by then I was so tired. I just came home and went to bed for a bit.

I started reading Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar yesterday. It's a really good book. I don't know much about the author other than she stuck her head in an oven. And wasn't she married to Al Purdy? or am I so confused as to the poet she was married to? Anyway, ironically (or just coincidentally) the book is all about a young woman in the depths of depression trying to kill herself it's very compelling. I'll probably finish it tonight.

Laura and I were supposed to meet up as she is in Toronto at the Gift Show doing some buying, but I got an email from her saying that it all just got out of hand and they haven't had a moment to spare. Alas- I was really looking forward to sitting around with a friend but what can you do- duty calls.

Right, I was doing some math homework- I finally got myself caught up on the weekend- and then the tempting call of the computer so here I am. I have to get out and take some more pictures. I wasn't feeling very inspired last week- all lonely and maudlin. But I chatted with Mohamed on Sunday and that perked me right up. And I have had some good chats with other friends to keep me going. Next on the hit list is Chels! It is so tempting to get up and call someone at some freaky hour like 5am and go "What? Aren't you up?- The whole WORLD is up darling!". Maybe I'll save that for a more special occasion- like the morning after a big night out...

Well this is enough for tonight and for Tuesday- the best day of the week!

Alllllright- it's a winter wonderland

So today it snowed! And it's been snowing and it will keep snowing- maybe it will be up to my knees tomorrow! That would be super awesome!

I kind of slept in today. But I managed to get out and about a bit. I found a super cheap set of shelves from someone that lives near-by. So I went out to pick them up and on my walk home the snow really started to come down.

I chatted with my friend Florie today, she is due in about a month with their first baby! I can't wait!! This is the closest I've been to being an auntie. She sounds good, but ready to be a mummy.

This afternoon I went to the ROM- as I was under the impression it was free on Friday evenings. However once I got there a sign outside told me it now costs $5. Bummer, I was really hoping this would be my "Friday night date" every week. But for $5 it's a bit expensive. Maybe once a month. It was pretty great though. They had this awesome exhibit of decor through the ages from the middle ages up to about the art deco movement. Oh it was great! Yummy furniture!

After that I did a bit of grocery shopping for the coming week and now I am sort of watching the movie Thank You For Smoking. It's alright, although I am mostly surfing the internet. Tomorrow will be lots of studying and maybe a trip to the local pool.

This is me with straight hair. It's perfect- someday it will be mine....

Egggscellent

Today, this morning , I - Michelle, ate eggs for breakfast. Well to be precise I had two tablespoons of egg whites which equals one egg which equals half a real egg. I made an scrambly thing with peppers and some tacon. (turkey bacon for the uninitiated). Actually it wasn't too bad and if I didn't think about it, the egg whites didn't taste like anything. So there you go. I am trying to get out of the habit of toast for breakfast and go with some protein since that seems to keep me going longer.

It's a late start today for me, I don't have to be at school until 2.30 where I will be subject to my first quiz/test thing. It's on grammar- ugh. I am sure that you can all tell I don't place high priority on grammar. All papers I received in uni had red marks saying "you need to proof read more"... However, I have been studying quite well for this one and spent the morning doing online quizzes.

This past weekend was pretty good. Friday was frustrating as I had to spend the whole day waiting for my boxes to arrive. I did get very cheap delivery but a window of 9-5 is exasperating. ESPECIALLY- when they didn't arrive until 7pm. So that was my day- I did spend a couple of hours on the phone to my friend Melissa getting all caught up. She and her husband Vince will be coming to Toronto at the end of Feb. I am so excited to see them! It's been a couple of years.

Saturday was so much more fun. I got up and went down town. My first time of really being "downtown". I don't think I saw much of it since I was just walking around and then I got lost- surprise, surprise.... - and headed back to Union Station, since I know where that is.

Some highlights:
outdoor skating in Nathan Phillips Square, looked like fun but I would need a buddy to hang on to as the ice looked like crap and I have only been skating once in the past ten years.

obviously the CN tower, it looks neat. I wanted to go up because it was a clear day but I think I will wait until spring when there is some contrast (trees) to the landscape. Or maybe fall. Plus I also need a friend for that because I know I will be terrified. But if I can jump out of a plane I can go up a spooky elevator- and pay for the pleasure!

The St. Lawerence Market- this is a huge indoor market, similar to Granville Island Market, only bigger and not so brightly coloured. And come to think of it not located on an island. It was neat to see all the things, but nothing really interested me. Maybe a good place to buy meat as you can select your portion size.

After being pretty frozen from all the outside walking I went to the Eaton's Centre. I had to find some comfortable (sigh- and sensible) winter boots. Which I am happy to report I did! And they look normal too, as well they were on for a huge discount which is good because I really don't like spending money on sensible shoes.

Evenings are pretty dull, I guess I am glad I have cable to hear voices and keep myself entertained.

Sunday I went to Ikea- there is a complimentary shuttle from Kipling Station which is quite dangerous. I had to buy a mattress pad for my bed since the mattress is as hard as the ground. Instead of getting one to fit my mattress I opted for a smaller one but of high quality. It's made a difference, but really I need to go to a chiropractor. Plus some other things- oh a really awesome small ironing board. You can set it up on a table. I used it last night- it's perfect.
After that I spent the day studying and went for a run which was good, hard, but good. No pain, no gain as they say.

Last night I realized I needed to rearrange my "bed/living" room. I think it works much better now. When (or if) one were to walk down the hallway they would first see my bookcase rather than my desk. I moved the desk to under the window where my bed was so I can stare out of it in procrastination- I mean, contemplation. (and the light in my face keeps me awake). The bed was moved to where the bookcase was which is also nice because people who glance in don't really see my bed and it makes it more private. What prompted all this was the fact my chair was impeding my access to the "dressing room" hence, I haven't really been using it.

This will do quite well- for now. I love arranging and rearranging things.

Today I have been studying and cleaning. It sucks to admit this, but my dad was right. You DO sleep better when your place is tidy. Now my kitchen is set up and the carpets are vacuumed. The only thins I am needing is a chair to sit in for reading. You would be surprised how hard it is to find. I have seen a couple on craigslist- but they are so expensive! And we are talking old chairs... it would be nice to not sit on my bed, but for now it will have to do.

Anyhoo there you go- all up to date. Maybe this evening I'll post new pictures of my new and improved land. Wisk me luck on the test.

I am in prettyville and Finkles the mayor...

SO I have finished my weekend at my grandmothers. The trip down went fairly well, I was early- so I think the streak has been broken. Whew- The train ride was pretty good. It's kind of flat here, reminds me of the prairies really. I suppose there would be more to look at in the summer when the trees are out.

We went along side Lake Ontario for a bit and it was nice and refreshing to see water. It even had a bit of a tide and waves going on. The first evening was quite quiet. Today we went out where Grandma had her hair done and then off to the Maple Dale cheese factory. It was great, they had samples. I had some garlic cheese curd! I also purchased some onion cheddar and one year old smoked cheddar. I sampled a bit of 5 year old cheddar- quite sharp! After that we went to the mall and had a walk around and then went to dollarramma. Everything in there is $1. It's nuts! So I got a couple of household things that you wouldn't want to spend money on. ie- scrubbies, picture hooks, etc.

Right now we are having a bit of a quiet time and I finished a smutty novel that I found in the drawer. Grandma said it was my mum's but I dunno- it was historical and didn't feature any cowboys so I doubt it. now i am slightly bored so I am typing to you lot even though I can't get an internet connection.

I really admire my Uncle Stephen- he is pretty much my grandma's care taker. He's so incredibly patient with her and so selfless with himself and his time. He is definitely a great man- but don't ever tell I said that, he's got a bit of an ego. And he informs me of all the things my mum tells me that I don't seem to be party to. Very handy indeed. My Grandma is very hard of hearing- and does not have a hearing aid.Therefore conversations are held at a higher volume than I am accustomed to. I really hope that when I am old I'll be able to banish vanity and get myself one(a hearing aid). Actually I know I will, there is no way that I want to not be able to hear what everyone is saying, how could one be nosey? People tend NOT to want to shout out personal private information to someone who is hard of hearing. Maybe I would get a whisper 2000. I always liked those commercials!
Anyhoo the news is on so I guess I'll go watch it, it seems like a right of passage when you are at your Grandparents house- always the news, that and Lawerence Welk.

Ok so I didn't post this right away- that makes me a bad blogger and now I have to do a whole nother blog right after this. Good thing I have homework to do- that always makes me procrastinate.

What I would look like...

If I were in Victoria right now. Damn and blast all you snow goers! It was so mild this evening that I couldn't even wear my fancy toque and mitts.

So the first week of school has ended for me. Today was slightly irritating- as I was not going to go to my first class (I just knew it wasn't going to pan out) and finally convinced myself to be a good student and not skip in the first week, only to find out the lecture doesn't start until next week. So I had a couple of hours to kill up on campus- thrilling.

I wrote a small english quiz for my class- I don't get it, I had to do an English written thing to be placed in the class and now I have to do one to prove that I belong in the class- seems slightly disorganized to me.

That done I had my sandwich and read a little bit. Although the plastic bag I used for my lunch kit smelled suspiciously like dirty hippy incense. BLECH. I believe the previous tenant was a filthy boy who never cleaned and smoked like mad in the apartment- possibly trying to clear it up by burning nasty incense. That I would say is the only thing I don't like thus far. And that will go away! (the smell, not my dislike for the smell)

Well my hair seems to be less frizzy here. Score one for Ontario. So far my teachers (I don't know if you can call them profs if you are not in Uni) all seem really nice and approachable. Today I had a Structures course which was neat and I am looking forward to the project (although it's a group project- gosh how I hate those). And I do mean hate them. I always either end up alienating everyone because I am bossy and they are idiots or become totally apathetic about the situation. I usually try to get out of it- which I would say is a demonstration of one's ability to negotiate. A very handy skill.

The class seemed to degenerate down into a discussion of why we are here and what can an Architectural Technologist due- mainly due to a man who is getting retraining done because of an injury at his previous profession. Which is fine, we should have some idea of what we are going to be doing with this certificate and the limitations of it but don't you think you should do that on your own time? I know I did- obviously I won't become a high powered high paid architect with this diploma and that I'll have to start at some office as a drafts person and work my way around and up and if I really wanted to make money fast I'd be plumber or an electrician. And some people were asking the teacher how much we'd make after grading, the poor guy just wanted to talk about structures- and he isn't even an AT he's a structural engineer...

Anyway that was not that exciting.

The next class was my CADD class also know as AutoCADD, with the same teacher. We started to play around a little bit with it. It looks like it could be fun. Class finishes at about 6 and since it's rush hour I don't get home until about 7.30ish. So I just had dinner- my first at my spanky new kitchen table.

I have to pack up tonight and tomorrow I'll be heading off on the train to visit my Grandma in Belleville- which I believe it about 3 hours outside of Toronto. I am excited for two reasons: firstly I get to see my grandma for the first time in years and secondly because I get to take the train. I love trains, it can be such an elegant way to travel.

My boxes still haven't arrived, but there have been some blizzards and such across the country so I can't get too paranoid I suppose. I was hoping to get them when I had time in the morning to go get them, but that will have to wait until next week I guess. I do have a suitcase at Grandma's with my easel in it and other things that I can't remember packing.

Anyhoo I should go and write emails to people. All of you reading this in snow covered house well it's just not fair! You can send it to me. Although it is kind of like that song "Everywhere you go always take the weather with you".

Loves
M

My First Day of School

Ok so I made it and it wasn't terrible. I remember to wear trousers and no one pointed and laughed at me (well as far as I know and that's what counts).

I am actually home a bit early today because I haven't been placed in a math or english test, so I couldn't go to those classes.

My first class on Monday mornings is CADD (computer aided drafting detailing or something like that). The teacher seems nice and as irritated as we all were that we had to be there so early- 8am!!! In light of recent tardiness mishaps (see previous post!) I arrived really really early! The school seems alright- there are so many people it's nuts. I love listening to all the ladies with the Caribbean accents, I need to learn how to talk like that.

My second class was a self study but since we didn't learn anything yet we didn't do much. My third class is career management. The jury is still out on this one- I think it's going to be a bit basic for me. However it's terrific that Humber took the initiative to recogonise that students need more practical knowledge about joining the work force.

So I stopped at a No Frills store on my way home to pick up more groceries, it's pretty cheap. I guess like the great canadian superstore but probably more like the knock off that is in Esquimalt.

Today I think I am going to put together more furniture and hopefully that will be my apartment all in order. Maybe I will even do my first assignment- which I believe is how to save a file to a remote network. But when I finish it I get a free zip drive- saaaaaweeet.

One thing I have noticed is there aren't very many old people- many it's because I worked in a dystopia where it was all old people when in actual fact in the rest of the world they aren't that numerous.

I am thinking about all of you! Hope you have a happy Monday.

Michelle

Morning has broken

Hello from Onterrible!

Although I have to say to be fair it seems pretty good so far. All the people have been super nice. My landlord is amazing, he picked me (and my luggage up from the airport). But I get ahead of myself. Let's start this tale from the beginning:

I actually missed my flight on Wednesday morning. Due to some clearly cloudy thinking I left waaaay too late in the morning and didn't make the check in. The man at the desk took pity on me and did some fanangling and got me the last seat on a 6.30 flight out of victoria direct to toronto. So I ended up getting in a half hour early than was supposed. Which was ok, although I would have preferred not to have spent that money. Oh well.

J my landlord took me the sort of scenic route home. It was nice to see the lake- hurrah water!- and high park looks terrific. Once getting in and getting my luggage in we worked on getting the network set up for me so I can pester all of you as I have been. Once that was done I took a cab to go get the boxes that had arrived the day before via greyhound. The cab driver was very nice and pointed out buildings and then we chatted about cricket. I tell you- if you like cricket and can talk about it in even the most basic terms you will have friends the world over.

I got dinner from this little eatery on the corner. Terrific home-made burgers! It's called Grillaway's- it's good. I was really keyed up after all the stress so I spent the evening unpacking all my boxes even though I had only slept a few hours in two days. I finally was able to get to sleep and it was good.

This morning I called my friends Florie and Rob and arranged for them to come over. In the meantime I went across the street to the coffee place I saw and got an Americano, it was pretty good I have to say. The hardware store wasn't open yet so I headed back home only to find out that I had locked myself out of my apartment. Quite obviously I was not finished being an airhead. Fortunately I was wearing a fleecy and had my wallet (and my camera for some reason). So I ended up sitting on the porch and waited for F&R. Once they arrived we walked up to Jane and went to lunch at this super cute diner where the woman waitress made us sit up straight and keep our elbows off the table.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking and poking around the different areas, it was so great to see friendly faces and they totally helped me out by letting me fill their vehicle with stuff.

I was let into my place in the afternoon- whew! F&R hung out for a bit and helped put together my bed and such. When they left I really started to get the place in order. I have pictures up on the wall now so it's getting much more homey.

I've chatting with peeps this evening (web cams are super sweet!) and watching a bit of TV and now a movie. Pics of my place are on my flickr page- this picture is the view of my corner. There are three small convenience stores, two of them are kind of nasty .

Tomorrow I'm heading up to explore the school.

And now it's more puttering. Good evening!

Freue Neus Jahre!

Good day. Can you believe it? 2007. I think this year is going to be big... I am turning 30 this year, I am moving to a new city (well actually to a city in the first place), and I guess lots of other exciting things are going to happen.- They had better!

So it's countdown to moving day. This is my last Monday on the Island for quite some time. As far of mondays go this has been ok. I got the last of my boxes shipped out. Seriously if you have to ship lots of stuff Greyhound is the way to go. Junk was taken to the thrift store, now I am having a Timmy's and watching- yes you guessed it... sports on TV.

I don't think I am going to make any resolutions this year, I generally don't anyway since I think they are crap for the weak willed such as myself. I have enough going on. Looks like I'll be getting to see Florie and Rob and the squirt on Saturday. That will be great! I think Thursday will be spent up at the school going to orientation and figuring stuff out. That means that Friday will be all my own. I wonder what to do. I wish all my things would be at my house immediately. I like to be unpacked and set up asappy. I'm pretty anal retentive that way.

Anyhoo enough of this malarky. I hope each and every single one of you a very happy and exciting (but not in a bad way) New Year.

This should be my last BC post unless I am really procrastinating tomorrow. Seeing you in Onterrible!

Lervs
M