Out and about the city on my day off! :D

I had the day off from work today, so I decided to go grocery picking in Belbins. ^_^ Because they deliver food, and I had the intention of buying ten pounds of flour, among other things, and I am pitifully weak in the chest and the arms and the muscles. *collapse at the mere IDEA of carrying flour*

So after some serious time spent staring at the internet until I realized the reason I was feeling dull might have something to do with the fact that I'd only eaten (very) crispy bacon and cookies, and then I went to buy some coffee and a bagel. And at that point I was halfway there, so I kept walking! ^_^

BTW, you can click on any picture to see it BIG. If that floats your boat.

I walked past this, which is the outside of the High Court. They have what looks like a moat, three stories deep, with barred windows opening into it and a rusted cage at the top. Very cheering, I'm sure.

Town, where the weather is always sunshine and rainbows.

So yesterday I moved into town! It was a long drive, which was rather hazy because I was in AUGH MOVING TIME HAS NO MEANING MUST DRINK MORE COFFEE mode. But my brother PT and his Girlfriend R drove me in, which was lovely of them. There was much conversation which I hope I was lucid for. 

I know we stopped at McDonalds on the way, where this conversation happened. 

PT: "All right, time to hit the road."
Me: "Aw, but I thought we were living here now!"
R: "They don't have a playplace. We'll find a better one."

Yeah, I was in fine form. 

When we got to the edge of town, no sooner did we get to my neighbourhood than four police cars went screaming by, lights and sirens going. Welcome to the big city, self! :P Aside from some moving up of boxes, which is not exiting to relate, that was my evening. (Life!Drama, I has it.) 

Now today I woke up to a beautiful sunshiny day. Er, no, that was some other city. I'm living in Fog City. Thankfully I like fog. :D 

The objectives of the day were to go shopping for groceries, and go out for coffee with Angie and Kay. I will now conduct the rest of this blog post in pictures, because me and words are ESTRANGED.

First, a picture.

Second, I have been instruted to blog- hopefully in great detail- by Third World and Moon Unit. To which I answered, "Hahahahah, as if I have a blog, hahahh- oh wait."

So here I go. Let's have some history! Which is to say, the modern history of ME- clearly the only reasonable history to look at. *preens*

I went to GF-W on Saturday! It was Exciting! I was served a donair in a pizza shop where Frauline and I were truly, deeply, strongly in the minority because we did not have visible tattoos. This experience affirmed my theorty that- no matter what Hollywood tells you- neck ink does not automatically serve to make you look badass/tough/intimidating. Weighing double a person's body weight and having an extra 12 inches on them does that. ^_^

But I am ahead of myself. SHAME on me! You see, we were in GF because Frauline was attending a watercolour workshop. I came along for reasons that will be revealed later, and also because I am a fan of road trips. She was going to be playing with brushes and hair dryers for two and a half hours, and so I thought I'd do some reading, maybe walk about, get some coffee; you know, as one does. The only problem with that is that I am very lazy and out of the walking habit. I consider my commute to work to be a walk, and I can do that in four minutes, in heels. If I was to go get coffee, I would have to cross a HIGHWAY. *stricken with exhaustion at the very idea*

So yeah, I read for two and a half hours. ^_^ It was a hard decision, but some things just have to be done. HAHAAHAHAHAH, yes, I enjoyed the reading and didn't want to stop. But then Frauline finished her art, and we looked at what we were going to do next. Because the OTHER reason we were in GF-W was to go to the theater, and watch Inception. But now it was 4:30, and the show started at 8:30.

I could tell you that I read for four hours, but that would be clearly preposterous, and untrue. I only read for three more hours, tops. But when you walk into the mall and see the blast cages rattling down, and then  go to Wal-mart and peruse it twenty minutes, your options are limited. So we went to the park and read. :D (I also got some earrings with feathers. They cause me delight and a bit of a dragon-ish hoarding instinct.)

But finally, we found the theatre- which must be sketchily accessed through a vacant lot at the back of a building built before my parents were born- and then we watched the movie! *jazz hands*

Several people have asked me what I thought of it. So, I'm gonna try to articulate my thoughts. :P There is no denying that Inception is a very effective story. It sucked me in for the entire two and a half hours, and I cared about how it ended. However, once it ended, I'm not sure that I want to watch it again. It wasn't really visually stunning, the characters didn't make me love them, there was startlingly little snappy dialogue to pour over, and I'm not terribly sure what it was saying.

Plus, that ending makes me angry. :P I WANT CLOSURE. It was good, and if suggested, I think I'd be happy to see it again- I just didn't really go away saying "Man, I Loved that!" I walked out going "I'm not quite sure what just happened, and I'm not sure if I like it."

And then we drove home. ^_^

There you have it. :D The first part of my DRAMATIC WEEKEND.

Trip to Town, pt. 1!

This weekend I was IN TOWN. Which is the local term for being out of town, in the Big City. (It's a Newfoundland thing.) I went to a concert, and a party, and the mall, and BOOK STORES, and wished greatly for more time, but overall it was ver' shiny. I shall begin at the beginning, and recap. *clears throat*

My whole family had to go in for a party on Sunday, and because it's a four or five hour drive (depending on how many bathroom breaks we take and how closely we pay attention to the speed limit,) we decided to go in on Saturday, scatter to spend time with friends, and then return in time for work on Monday. Because I'm awesome, I got to go in with the early car. *smug* I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but my dad has awesome taste in music. (I'm serious!) I generally leave the car with a list of at least four songs I need to buy for my own, and this time was no different.

Anyhow, after four hours of music and coffee, we got to Town. So we immediately went to the mall. (We're from a small town, what can I say?) Daddy was meeting people for business, and I was christmas shopping. It was- busy. People filling the concourse, I can take. It's like moving through an airport, and the crowds have no real connection to me. Crowds in stores, are not so much fun. I was going to try to spend a gift card on some work clothes, so I marched my way into the designated shop. I saw the line for the changing room stretch past the cashes, and marched right back out again. But I fought my way past the messy hordes in Sears, and bought the required gifts! The time in line was long enough to hear all about the latest divorce of the woman behind me, and her starbucks addiction, which information just added to the flavour of the day. It's not a proper trip to the mall without hearing personal information you wish you hadn't!

But I hadn't had enough punishment yet, I still felt the need to shop! I went to American Eagle, grabbed pretty things, saw the prices, put most of the pretty things back... Also, has anyone noticed how many layers the models in that store wear? I mean, I counted six layers in one instance, and she still didn't look warm. I had time to count, because I was in line for many, many minutes. *draws a veil over the line* It was long enough that once I was released I walked with a sense of urgency to the bookstore. Bookstores just calm the panic, y'know? And there I realized that I've been watching quite a few "best of the year" lists of YA books go by, lately, and these books were actually THERE, in FRONT OF ME, for SALE. And I had MONEY. (Not for long...)

I bought books. *cough*

I bought quite a few books. It's research, right? And I haven't been in a new bookstore in a year, and any bookstore at all in eight months. So we'll just pass by the issue of how much money I spent there...

Oh, and then we went to Chapters. ^_^

Daddy had to tell me not to unbuckle before we were fully parked. "It's not a tactical strike!" I actually skipped into the store, and literally was cooing over the bookshelves at one point. (I love how the staff is so jaded, they don't even blink when you're all but making out with your new purchases. (No, that wasn't me, that was a guy with some new Manga, which he apparently had abstained from for too long)) So I, uh, got some more reading material there. But by then my panic in the mall and euphoria over new books was starting to show, in addition to the fact that I hadn't eaten for quite a few hours. So we went to a restaurant! I had fajitas, and they were lovely.

Let me see, what else happened? Oh yes! Then Daddy dropped me off at a friend's house, and we talked for an hour before I walked down and saw the Messiah, then I came back and we watched two movies. Busy day, yes?

I shall talk about Messiah tomorrow. Sleep is calling me now. Okay, okay, I hear you! Bye, internets!

"... and then I saw the highlighters that were also necklaces..."

When I was little I thought that dollar stores were TEH AWESOMEST THING IN TEH WORLD.

Then I became a teenager, and discovered social conscience and snobbery, and decided that nothing in a dollar store was worthy.

Then I got a job, and extended that to Wal-mart, and anything within 200 miles of my house (excluding bookstores.) None of you deserve my my heard-earned money! I must spend it in the CITY!!!

I think I grew out of those particular stages. I went to the dollar store the other day to get tupperware.

An hour later, I spent 57 dollars on purchases including a candle that smelled like coffee, and shiny luggage locks that are just so SHINY. I nearly bought a stuffed fish that was quite possibly the tackiest thing ever made- simply because it was tacky. Thankfully Frauline was there to drag me away from the iridescent leprous fish with floppy lips, stuffed with dust from thailand.

Then we found the wedding section. Have you ever seen the wedding section in a dollar store? Did you know you can buy a veil for five dollars, champagne glasses for four, a "do not disturb we're on our honeymoon" door hanger for two fifty, and a tablecloth and two bundles of lace for fifteen (to make the dress)? THERE IS NOTHING MORE YOU EVEN NEED. One stop shopping, right there. (I also may have had a laughing attack internally over a place holder that was a pair of grisly severed hands. Nothing says romance like a pair of severed hands!)

And I mean, the hilarity continues. Have you ever seen the make-up section? I swear the original nail polish that I was bought for learning to read was on that rack, for a dollar. And the pictures on the eyeshadow seem to indicate you should buy this if you are colour blind or legally blind.

Er, so far I haven't managed to give a good explanation for why I actually spent money on things. But I ask you. Don't you see the appeal of a potato peeler where the handle is actually shaped like a potato? Isn't that magical?

Isn't it?

...

Perhaps I shouldn't be allowed outside with money....

I need chocolate and tea now.

Nothing has happened in MY life. Which is why I haven't blogged for a whopping 15 days. I"M ON A NON-BLOGGING STREAK! KEEP IT GOING.. Oh. I just broke it.

Oh, I bet you don't hate me too much for breaking it. Right? Right? That's right, you're merciful, beautiful human beings. And if you're not human, that's all right, I'm not intolerant. I tolerate everyone. Except injustice.

Yes, that was a marvellous and marvellously subtle quote from Ryan Cook, the grind-core metal screamer turned Country Artist. He's hilarious when not singing, you should look him up. *nods* Yes, though I am feeling significantly more friendly towards Country then I used to, I'm still only on the fringes of the the Genre. Sugarland? Please, Please, stop WHINING at me. Thank you.

And some people are reading that last paragragh again, trying to winnow out some logic. They will fail, of course, but it's a good hope. Everyone would have some abitions in life. It builds character!

Whew, it looks like the blogging portion of my brain is beside its self and gibbering with joy at finally being let out. I should put the rest of this post into bullet points to scare it into coherency.

1.) Country music.
-Yes, I did say that I was feeling more friendly towards the genre.
-Why, you ask?
-I will tell you.
> Taylor Swift
~*hums Breathe and You Belong With Me.*
~Also, this is a chance to be anti-Kanye! WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE?!!?!?!?!?!????

>Also, the weather channel.
~Why the weather channel, you ask?
~Oh, I will tell you.
} My wicket at work is DIRECTLY in front of the television.
} Said television, for eight months, played the Weather Channel.
} Have you heard those well-dressed and well-heeled persons try to hide

their glee at disasters, manufacture doom and gloom to talk about, and

recycle the same clip every twenty minutes all day- for eight months?
+ Yes? Then you know my pain
+ No? THEN COUNT YOUR BLESSED BLESSINGS.
} When the television was changed to CMT, I counted my blessings and

enjoyed the pretty music, trucks, and hair on display.
+ Seriously, there was a lot of pretty hair.
>Therefore I don't hate the genre so much.
>Thank you.
>*bows*
2.) Snow.
-It snowed yesterday, and this morning.
-I went for a walk in steel toed boots, and then dried out my pant legs by the fire and

drank hot chocolate for five hours.
-This is an excellent way to spend the day.
-You should all try it.
-*nods at you*
3.) My Mother is hardcore.
-If I haven't mentioned this before, shame on me. She really is wonderful, and spectacularly multi-talented.
-She also can walk around half the day with splinters driven up under her nails, unconcerned.
>Sorry, what?
>Yes, you read that correctly.
>Splinters, under her fingernails.
~Well, one fingernail.
~But still.
>She was putting the salt away in the kitchen, and accidentally picked up a splinter.
~This splinter was easily two centimetres long.
} That's PAST the nail bed, people.
~And then I couldn't pull it out with my dinky tweezers.
~So I went to work.
~And Mommy did an afternoon's work around the house.
} *takes a moment to hyperventilate over my mother's pain tolerance

threshold.*
~She said when I got back, that "Heh, maybe we can get it out with hot wax?"
} (Think about this for a second, people. Hot wax? Splinters up under

fingernails? Anyone else seeing a disturbing trend here? A certain flavour?

Yes? No? Next we break out the boiling oil to make it slip out really easily?)
~Daddy pulled it out in the evening.
~And Mommy continued to be unconcerned, beyond mentioning that it was funny,

she was having phantom pain all the way up to her elbow before it was taken out.

-HARDCORE, I tell you, people. My mother is EXEMPLARY.
-And now I'm more concerned when she says that childbirth isn't really that bad...

Coffee!

I also spilled the lovely coffee on myself. Go me. :D

A REAL Post.

Ahem.

As you may have noticed by my previous post, or perhaps by the lack of posting in the past, hmmm, several months, I have not been greatly inspired to blog lately.

What, what's that? You say you didn't notice? Hush, I'm busy deluding myself, which is- after all- the main point of blogging. Ahem.

BUT! *orator hands* I do have an excuse! Yes I do. And I'm going to bring it out now, and WAVE it at you. In your very FACE.

My hands hurt.

There you have it. Wasn't that a wonderful excuse? No, you say? Well, well, um, uh, *trails off uselessly* But the majority of sarcasm aside, (I can't put it all aside, that just is a personal impossibility,) I have indeed had sore hands. Apparently counting money for seven hours a day, five days a week, and then coming home and writing fiction - e.g. internet chatting while ignoring a blank word processor- for several more hours, has an effect! Who knew?

And, um, I'm lame. *cheesy grin* But anyways!

It was my birthday on Sunday! I turned 21! I spent it, in true Snazel-fashion, sleeping, browsing pictures on facebook, and playing Duck Duck Goose. :D Also there was cheesecake. Oh my, there was cheesecake. Mmmmm. I deeply love Cheesecake, and especially this one. Yum. Thank you, Mommy!

Fraulien gave me a lovely shirt that covers my abdomen and my smaller siblings gave me chocolate and itunes, and mommy and daddy gave me BOOKS in the form of a Chapters card, and it was generally very jolly. :D Oh, and because I watch Jeopardy like it's a competition- what do you mean Alex can't hear me? I shouted loud enough!- we played a trivia game. I ran my team into the red immediately and then masterfully kept them there with my fast reaction times and stunning guess skills. :D It was a fun birthday, indeed!

Okay, my brain is now gone. Byes.

"I've got a home in Glory Land that outshines the sun..."

Wow, I have not blogged in far too long. Shocking behavior.

I'M SORRY I'M SORRY FORGIVE ME WORLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has been, however- (see, I have an excuse! More than one, actually!) -because, I have been, um, writing. *cough* I'm trying to finish the story I started in November, which has been devouring all my free time, most of my brain cells, and what little sanity I have left.

I know, none of my family has been noticing a difference. Hush, you.

ALSO (see? Two excuses. I am really on a roll.) my life hasn't lent its self to blogging lately. I just haven't felt about ranting about the weather, and I haven't felt like it, and it's all about me after all, let's remember our focus here! *trips on her super-inflated ego and goes headfirst into the doorframe*

Ohh, which reminds me of blog-able happenstances that have been occurring lately. *clears throat* First of all, the other day I was feeling very tired while talking to Fraulein and her friend from Alberta. This led to me turning around in the middle of a sentence and walking through the door. Only it didn't' quite work out like that... I wasn't awake enough to juggle the complicated tasks of both walking and talking. Though technically it wasn't the walking that was the issue, it was the direction-finding; I walked into the wall. You see, we have a bit picture window, and a french door, and in between them there is a little strip of wall about eight inches wide. That's what I found with my shoulder, knee, hip and glasses. (Fraulein and Cohort thought this was hilarious, of course.) Worryingly enough, the part of the wall that my glasses found was actually a nail that was sticking out of the wall, right at eye-level. So that little jolt of adrenaline made it possible for me to make my way over to the coffee without further incident. :D

Then last night, there was another jolly occurrence! I demolished part of a staircase by accident! (!!!) That sounds much more exciting than it actually was, in truth. Though I will say, in all fairness, that when it was taking place I thought it was quite remarkable and note-worthy. You see, we have a big porch, which leads down to a little back stoop, which leads to the ground with four steps. Now there are three steps.

I stepped on the outside of one, and without preamble or warning screeching, the nails all came loose. So I discovered with extreme interest that I was falling sideways and down about 18 inches. When you are not expecting it, 18 inches is a long ways. Also, heavy-duty steps that have lived through 15 years of hard wear are heavy. Particularly when one is juggling them in the air with elbows and the outside of ones knees. But through my exemplary injury-avoidance skillz I evaded the actual nails, stashed the step under the stoop with my habitual grace and poise, and limped inside to twitter about it.

"Wow," you are all saying right now, "why am I still reading this?" And to you, I say, "I don't know. Perhaps you haven't had your coffee yet? Perhaps you also have walked into a wall one two many times?" ( I left that typo in deliberately. Nhya.) "Perhaps you are stalking me? There are all valid options that should be given due weight and consideration. Some other time. Also, coffee."

Coffee. *makes loving noises at her mug* I can always count on you to make my heart soar.

I have been getting up at 6 am three times a week. Voluntarily. And with a minimum of griping. Or at least, actual violence. It happened in this fashion.

*cough*

My commute to work, on foot takes about three minutes, in heels. So for the past year, getting the majority of my exercise from walking to work has resulted in, well, not exercising. You think you're out of shape? HA! I was getting winded walking across the living room. And, yeah, that's kinda, not a good thing... So I was vaguely thinking that I should exercise. ~You know, some other time- not now. No, right now I am doing Very Important Things, like seeing what has happened on facebook in the past 2 minutes. ~ Then Mommy and Daddy started an walking routine in the early morning, and Fraulein perkily joined in. And she invited me. With diabolical angelic timing, she invited ME to come along just when I was in the midst of one of my vague musing sessions. It is not wise to ignore divine signs that arrive with such cursed excellent clarity. Who am I to argue with the working of fate? (I know I was juggling terms and metaphors there, hush. I am too lazy to go back and fix them. Plus, you're reading this voluntarily, aren't you? Yes? No one put a gun to your head? Good. Hush.)

We've been walking around a pond that is encircled with a boardwalk. It is very lovely. Especially in the rain, which chases the bees into hiding. But when one is wearing cheap canvas shoes with no traction, it polishes the soles of said shoes into a fine gloss. When the person wearing wearing such glossy-bottomed shoes is walking with perfectly appropriate haste upstairs to check her email is me, and I step on a slick tile floor with water on it that I most likely dripped on it from my hair after walking in the rain, and I'm kinda walking sideways because it's a sharp angle to turn, well, you get the picture. Certain bones take the chance to become closer to the floor. Because, after all, what to we strive for in this life if not closer relationships with our fellows? If you're a hip bone, you should introduce yourself to floors whenever possible. It's just polite. *nods firmly*

I just wrote a blog post about ways in which I have injured myself in the past week. I am so talented.

"You whip out a couple of swords at your ex-girlfriends wedding. They will never, ever forget it. "

Due to the late night on Friday, Rose stayed the night at Moon Unit's house. And in the morning, one of the things we did was take a ramble around Moon Unit's property. It's pretty, I see why Moon Unit likes it. *nods* According to tradition, I took pictures and walked into tree branches.

 You'll notice there are no pictures of me here? That's because I am nefariously clever and deflected any picture-taking by taking all the pictures anyone might possibly want myself, and also because I caught a branch or two with my face. No, no pictures, please. 

And then we went and met up with Zaktrik and Rose's older brother and his friend in the nearby town of /Location Censored/. We were going to watch Wolverine, which had just come out. In the Theatre! *jazz hands* I'm usually about a three hour drive away from a theatre, so I don't get in to see movies much. And this was a very fun one. 

[Movie thoughts]

Characters;

• Deadpool was lovely, until he stopped talking. My title is one of his lines. 
  
• I less than three Bolt/Bradley. All his lights. *grins* 
  
• Sabertooth was lame and insane.
  
• Gambit needs his own movie. How Gambit Breaks Out Of The Island, yes plz?
  
• Cyclops was shiny when he wasn't being a microphone for Professor X. 
  
• Agent Zero was shiny when he was fighting, and lame otherwise.
• Wolverine was not as much fun as when he was in the X-men movies. 

Plot;

• There was a plot?
  

Overall;

• If you didn't like the X-men movies, don't go and see it. It has the same flavor as the previous three.
  
• The fight scenes were EXCELLENT. 
• The music was good. 

[/Movie thoughts]

"You couldn't kiss me like that and not mean it just a teensy bit!" "Meet the greatest actor who ever lived. I'd rather kiss a tarantula."

Friday night was Movie Night! We're so awesome, we had to start our "night" at 4:30, with punch and doughnuts and pizza and root beer and, uh, pie. A whole bunch of Moon Unit's friends from homeschooling events and such came over, and we completely took over the (fortunately soundproof) family room. Fortunately I already had met quite about half of the attendees, which included Zaktrik, Boudewijn, and Rose! *cheering is heard* 

However, it has been brought to my attention that apparently Rose, Moon Unit and I all look rather similar. Something about our hair colour, glasses, eccentric dress and deranged manner. And to further confound the issue, apparently Rose and I have a similar manner of standing in corners and watching people. At any rate, one of the guests walked up and hugged me when she walked in. Moon Unit said, "Oh, *Joss,* this is *Snazel*, who you've heard a lot about-" and Joss jumped back, mortified. "Oh, I thought you were *Rose*!" This served as a good ice breaker, in fact, especially since when Rose arrived everyone had to tell her the story.

And then we had supper, which was lovely. You know, I was gonna caption these pictures, but on looking at them, I really don't think it's necessary. 

Interesting how we had the Young group, the Old group, and the Cool group. With partial overlaps. But still. 

Anyhow, we watched Singin' in the Rain first. It's an older movie, 1952, and hilarious. You should all see it. :D It's a musical, as you may have noticed from the title, and knows it's a musical. Doesn't take its self too seriously? Lots of lovely quotes- my title is one- and pretty song and dance routines. 

Reload and regroup for movie two! We made another punch bowl, broke into the squares, and settled in for MirrorMask. This one's written by Neil Gaiman, which, if you're familiar with that writer, gives you a fair idea the film. The majority of it is inside a dream, for one. Moon Unit was describing it to people as "very trippy." It just looks so different, all kinds of different. *looks at what she's just written* Did I actually say "all kinds of different?" Impressive. *cough* Anyway... I'd watched it once before, with Third World and Moon Unit, after midnight while studying for exams. And my initial impression of "this is so on drugs. But I like it!" was reaffirmed. I could pay attention to little things this time, instead of just being confused over the plot. I'm not sure if those who hadn't seen it liked it, though. It is a very strange film. 

When we were done with MirrorMask, it was still only 8:30. And since going home then would just be toooo "homeschooler," a label we're all eager to avoid- *chokes* *coughing fit*- we decided to watch another! Enter Signs, which I hadn't seen, though most everyone else had. I don't scream in scary movies, I'll just say that right now, but I definitely flinch. It worked out that we had the screamers on one side of the room, and the flinchers on the other side. :D I nearly crushed Moon Unit's hand at one point. Look, when you're in a dark room with eerie film playing, you want to know where someone else is! Right? Right. *serious nod* And it wasn't my favorite movie of all time, but it was interesting. And jumpy, at least for several people, as I believe I mentioned. Hands poking out from under doors just do interesting things to my heart rate. 

And then it was 11:30, and everyone went home, secure in the knowledge that they'd done their part towards not being "Homeschoolers." :D

My Good People! I missed my introduction!

So, how far am I caught up? Oh yes, through Tuesday. So what glittering social occasion did Snazel and Moon Unit and entourage attend next? 

We ran errands. And it was fun. :D Wednesday, we hung out talked, ate waffles, watched Stargate and washed dishes at Rose's house until lunchtime. Then we made our way over to where Moon Unit's family was, and shopped for groceries and sundry assorted things for one of Moon Unit's siblings birthday party on Saturday. (Read- we browsed the electronics section, the book room and EB games while shopping took place.) And in the evening Moon Unit and I watched A Knight's Tale, which was hilarious,

Jocelyn: Sir Ulrick. What are you wearing to the ball tonight?
William: [who isn't planning on going to the ball] er... nothing...
Jocelyn: Well, we shall cause a sensation, for I shall dress to match.

William: Oi sir, what are you doing?
Chaucer: Uh... trudging. You know, trudging?
[pause]
Chaucer: To trudge: the slow, weary, depressing yet determined walk of a man who has nothing left in life except the impulse to simply soldier on.
William: Uhhh... were you robbed?
Chaucer: [laughs] Funny really, yes, but at the same time a huge resounding no. It's more of an... involuntary vow of poverty... really.

Adhemar: And you are?
William: Well, I am, um.
Adhemar: You've forgotten, or your name is Sir Um?
William: Ulrich von Lichtenstein from Gelderland.
Adhemar: Well, I'd forget as well, what a mouthful.

Chaucer: You're good. You're very good. My lords, my ladies, and everybody else here not sitting on a cushion!
[crowd roars]
Chaucer: Today... today, you find yourselves equals.
[crowd roars]
Chaucer: For you are all equally blessed. For I have the pride, the privilege, nay, the pleasure of introducing to you to a knight, sired by knights. A knight who can trace his lineage back beyond Charlemagne. I first met him atop a mountain near Jerusalem, praying to God, asking his forgiveness for the Saracen blood spilt by his sword. Next, he amazed me still further in Italy when he saved a fatherless beauty from the would-be ravishing of her dreadful Turkish uncle.
[crowd, boo]
Chaucer: In Greece he spent a year in silence just to better understand the sound- of a whisper. And so without further gilding the lily, and with no more ado, I give to you, the seeker of serenity, the protector of Italian virginity, the enforcer of our Lord God, the one, the only, Sir Ulllrrrich von Lichtenstein!
[crowd roars]
Chaucer: Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week.

Chaucer: I'm a writer.
Wat: A what?
Chaucer: A wha- a what? A writer. You know, I write, with ink, and parchment. Geoffrey Chaucer's the name, writing's the game. You've probably read my book? the Book of the Duchess? No? Well, it was allegorical.
Roland: Well, we won't hold that against you, that's for every man to decide for himself.

...and then we wrote. Oh, I forgot to mention that on Monday we watched Sinbad: legend of the seven seas, which was also hilarious, and soooo quotable! But since I've already spammed you with Knight's Tale quotes, I'll only give you one.

Sinbad: "I've seen the kind of highbred boys your kind runs with with. I'm the only man you've ever met!"

Incedently, Third World was the first person I'd ever heard quote that movie, which, given some of the lines, was disconcerting, to say the least. 

And on Thursday we roamed around the cemetery next to Moon Unit's house, and did more things which I can't quite remember at this time. Oh! We visited the house of Boudewijn, where I was introduced to lambs for the first time. :D 

Boudewijn is Moon Unit's Sunday School partner, and his family is heavily involved in Moon Unit's church, as is Moon Unit's family. (Wow, can I write convoluted sentences or can I write convoluted sentences? (And no, you don't get a picture of him or his family yet.)) I'm afraid I'm not quite as enthusiastic about fuzzy things as most everyone else- in the world- so I took pictures while the others squeed over the fuzzy bouncing things. *sheepish grin*

Here. *shoves pictures at you* See, fuzzy things!

"The kids these don't say Cool, they say Slammin." "This movie is so 2008."

On Tuesday, Moon Unit and I left the country, and traveled the winding road to the bustling metropolis of /Location Censored/, where Rose lives. We were going to have a sleepover, where we were going to overdose on sugar, watch movies with much hilarity, and attempt to not sleep. And we were successful. :D

Moon Unit's and Rose's friend Carter was back from Post-Secondary Education in Vancouver, full of stories and hilarity. So we made a three layer chocolate cake and chocolate icing of Doom, with much laughing and washing dishes. Seriously, this was some intense icing. *shakes head*

Moon Unit makes icing.

 Regretably, one of the cake layers broke coming out of the pan, so we just had to eat it in broken pieces, dipped in the icing. Such hardship. 

Some hilarity with Moon Unit and Carter. 

And then we descended into the depths of the darkened basement, and watched, *hushed voice*, Twilight. For those who have managed to escape this, it's a story about a "normal" girl who falls in love with a good vampire. Who sparkles in the sun. *dry tone* It's a fangirl phenomenon, and you'd be hard pressed to find a teenage girl who is not mildly to moderately obsessed with the franchise. But because we're special, we managed to find four teenage or near-teenage girls who are not obsessed. Throw in Rose's older brother, and her older sister and her husband, and we had to watch it with the subtitles on, we were laughing so hard. ^_^

At this point, the sun was just going down. 

Question: What to do next? 

Answer: Make pull taffy!

We let Moon Unit, who is adept with a Candy Thermometer, stir the candy, while I took pictures, Carter regaled us with tales of the Wild West Coast, and Rose looked up shiny information on the internet.

Eventually the taffy was done, and we pulled it, with massive hilarity and concentration. Pulling taffy is harder than you'd think. It seems to be going along fine, and then suddenly you've got a handful of sticky spaghetti trying to escape your grasp. 

Here's our taffy in the end. Aren't you jealous?

And then we decamped down the to basement again, with a coil of candy. Where we crammed four girls and a lot of sugar and ginger beer on one couch, and watched Stargate Atlantis. We universally considered this to be much higher art than Twilight, which either reflects really poorly on us, or on Twilight, depending on your viewpoint. Sometime at about the sixth episode, we were chased upstairs by Rose's brother, who had this strange idea that he should sleep sometime, and we were making too much noise. Silly Boy. *shakes head* And then we talked of dreams and creepy people met at work, and books and tv shows, and fell sleep at some point, I assume, due to a gap in my memory. 

Then we made waffles and talked and watched a little more Stargate, and left Rose to her own devices. It was an excellent sleepover.

~I can't think of anything clever to put here~

Sunday, we'd planned for Moon Unit and I to go to Zaktrik's church. However, we didn't know exactly where it was, so he was going to stop by the college and pick us up at about 9:30. And then we would go attend his Anglican-Catholic church. This was a good plan, don't you think? Yes, a good plan. 

However, it was not to be. 

Zaktrik overslept. 

I'd like to be able to take shift some of the blame off from him by saying that the Augustine socializing of the day before had extended till midnight, after which he'd had to go home. I could also say that he hadn't been getting enough sleep for the previous six weeks of writing papers and exams, or that there was a power bump in the night- but it wouldn't make any difference. I could also point out that I haven't made a practice of attending liturgical churches, uh, ever, and that attending "normal" charismatic churches usually inspires panic attacks of some kind, but still.*shakes head sadly* The fact remains- he overslept. On Sunday. And we didn't go to church. We're such heathens. 

It's tragic, really. We had to hang out at the college drink tea, eat chocolate cake and leftover veggies from the dinner yesterday, and discuss everything under the sun, while lolling around the living room of a Christian College. The horror. 

Oh, we also took some pictures. That is, I took some pictures. It was very exciting. 

Zaktrik finds something amusing. 

TTGH is also amused. About the same thing? I'm not sure. 

Moon Unit watches the Serbians across the street. 

Laptop, tea, books, pepsi, quilts, bowl of strange candy, and sunshine. Still life with Augustine College.

And then later Moon Unit's parents came and picked up her and myself, and we went back to her house out in the country. 

I'm leaving on the bus tomorrow.

That's all.

"Somehow I can't believe, that anything should happen..."

First thing you should know; I'm packing. And, in a similar fashion to cleaning my room, that activity has a rather special effect on my frame of mind. For one, it tends to bring items to light I'd forgotten about. (a pair of shoes, a magnetic braclet, some nail polish, devastating red lipstick, a ring of mysterious keys...) Packing also means I'm going somewhere. In this case, I'm taking a bus, a taxi and plane somewhere. In One Two Three Four Days I leave. My heart rate hasn't been stable for about a week now. *takes a quiet moment to hyperventilate and then comes back*

I am excited. True Story. And due to this excitement, subsequent glee, and utter lack of care for what I appear as, I am dressed in creative fashion. I just keep adding and substituting parts of my outfit, becoming progressively more eccentric. I started packing in my nice professional clothes. Now, halfway through, I am garbed in argyle knee-socks, a paisley skirt, red canvas shoes, my dangly grab-bag earrings, a t-shirt with four guitars and "choose your weapon" on it, and a necklace in my hair. Yes, you read that last item back there correctly. I wear necklaces as hair ornaments.

And this is only halfway through. It's entirely possible I'll have resorted to face paint by the time I'm done. And the state of mind I'm in, I would paint my face, and then walk through the entire centre of town to Tim's. Possibly chortling. For ten km. *ponders whether there was something in her morning coffee*

Okay, I'll be good, I'll calm down, I'll make my eyes focus, I'll- keep working on my heart rate.

I have a plane ticket and a hotel reservation and visa card and an arranged pickup at the airport and I'm packing.

"Of course it's gonna get better/ better better better!"

SO! Fraulein and I went into Gander this evening. She went to dance class, and I hung out in the library. Yes, you wish you had our rollicking social lives. Seriously, you do, it was fun. Two hours in the presence of many books, *happy sigh* and two hours of driving and singing along to the music on Fraulein's ipod. 

The singing along was rather too much fun. We could manage the range, just, for most of the pop-y songs- the worship, etc. Then we hit Allison Krauss, and it got hard. And then we chanced upon Celtic Woman, and it got impossible. These people make the songs sound so effortless, until you try to emulate them. Which is about when your voice gives out entirely, and you start to suspect that that is blood, there, trickling down the back of your throat. I may have no voice tomorrow. But it was fun!

Also, I did this meme, (it's a link. Click it) and the result was the below. It was enjoyable, AND creative. You should do it. :D

"There has never been anything false about hope?"

We've been talking politics at the breakfast and supper table again, which is lovely. Nothing like a healthy dose of cynicism and conspiracy truth to make you cheery! *big grin* On a totally unrelated note; to my friends in the states, we have a spare room in the house and a lot of places in town are hiring! We could hang out! Ahem.

Moving right along...

My brain has been feeling muzzy for days, but on Monday it really got bad, due to a touch of the flu that's going around. By bad, I mean I was having serious difficultly telling reality from imagination. By process of elimination I'm pretty sure the time in line in Toronto Airport was not real. But other than the physically improbable events, I kinda have no idea what I did. If I talked to you on Monday, I'm sorry. I don't know what I said. *cough* But then I slept for fifteen hours and now I'm fine! *is normal and borderline sane*

What else is new? Oh, I'm starting to think about what I might possibly do after I pay off my debt! One big option is to go to a university. My year at Augustine is worth a year and a half on transfer in at least one place, which is quite good. However, I'm not really a big fan of the post-secondary to get a high paying job school of thought. For one thing, I'm not really feeling called towards any degree program that does promise high wages upon graduation, and I don't think I have the dedication or talents to get my doctorate and teach within a college. Which leaves the earn-a-philosophy-bachelors-to-get-a-high-paying-job option. Somehow that's not calling me very loudly either. However, someone, (you probably know who you are,) pointed out that you can ALSO go to university for the pure joy of learning! *vistas of joy open up*

And then, I looked at costs and asked some people in University their opinion of it from the inside. I'm looking at about fourteen thousand a term, with tuition, living expenses, books, travel, and occasional entertainment. *enthusiasm dampens somewhat* Moreover, the reaction from most of the people I asked about university from the inside was "good idea to go back to school! (watch out for debauchery.)" *enthusiasm dampens more* It was rather startling how uniform the reactions were, really, after being adjusted for dialect and personality. 

So now I'm leaning more towards option two; Backpack across Europe! It costs less, with the right travel companions you learn as much, and it makes for much better photo albums. Also I want to clamor around in castles again. And I could learn languages! *enthusiasm is fanned to full flame* Does anyone want to come with me? You don't need a Visa!

Yesterday I walked to the other end of town and back, which is a fun walk. (The turn around point is Tim Horton's, for one.) I decided to be wild and crazy and wear my lovely new red coat and my pin-striped fedora, so I got a lot of stares. I do tend to dress a little different from the average citizen of this town, it's true. Walking out of Tim's was especially amusing, given all the puzzled and/or shocked eyes on my back. I was also wild and crazy in that I was carrying my camera, so here are a couple pics of my walk! (The order got jumbled, I'm not sure why.)

The Government Wharf

Busy Downtown!

Yes, we have proper snow clearing equipment. 

Yes, those are rabbits, hanging off a step ladder.