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43 Days Left in Australia

2007-03-06T22:52:00.000-08:00

That's right folks, just 43 days left to enjoy sunny Australia. *Sigh* Is it too late to move to Queensland?

The past few weeks have been full of adventure. Two weeks ago James and I went with Wade, Katrina, Birdy and Francis down to Barossa Valley for a wine tasting trip, and to visit Rob, his dad. It was, as usual, a lovely time. James' friend happens to own Elderton's Winery, so we had a personal tour. It was a good time all-around.

Last week was potentially even more adventurous. At least, it was more long-travelled. James and I flew to Queensland to the Sunshine Coast. While James attended numerous meetings and what-not, I went on day trips to the Australia Zoo (Steve Irwin's Zoo), Underwater World, a Ginger Factory, and Nutworks (a Macadamean Nut Plant). Day two was a trip to Fraser Island, which also included McKenzie Lake and Rainbow Beach. Very nice spots. Tons of pictures.

Next weekend is Victor Harbour to visit James' mom. I suspect more merriment to follow. Keep you posted on the developments.

Melbourne Open

2007-01-18T18:18:00.000-08:00

Today is the day my friend. Today is the day I leave for the Melbourne Tennis Open...in Melbourne. James, Kerry and little 'Ol me will take one vehicle, and Wade and Birdy will be in the other. Then tomorrow, bright and, well, likely hung over, we will make our way out to the courts to watch some internationally renowned tennis players square off. I'm getting pretty excited about it. Also, despite the fact that I finally remembered my camera, I seem to have forgotten the bloody cord, so pictures will once again have to wait. Rats.

In other news, I have once again been wine tasting at the Coonawarra. You know what rocks? Wine. Of course, I think it's fairly obvious at this point that James is influencing my wine preferences. I recently purchased a dozen cleanskin bottles of sparkling red, which, you know, should do me for awhile, but then a few days later we had our Coonawarra trip, so now I'm sitting on the most wine I've owned in my life. The plus side? It's all nice wine :) Therefore Calista=content. Is that a bad correlation?

Christmas/New Year's/Melbourne

2007-01-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

Well, it seems I have been sliding on my updates. I will, therefore, endevour to briefly summarize what I have been up to this last few weeks.

Christmas was fabulous. Christmas Day was spent entirely at the dinner table. Drinking and eating began at around 11am, and finished at about 10pm. In the meantime, James and I spent the while with his dad, Rob, and our room mate Doug and Marianna, his Chilean girlfriend. Birdy and Francais also came to join in the festivities. Agrarian discussions aside, it was a great day, and I heartily recommend the luncheon Christmas approach to all.

Much of the same crowd were present for New Year's Eve. We spent the time camping on the beach. It was rather nice to fall asleep to the sounds of the waves, although I wasn't entirely sure if we were high enough to avoid the tide. We were, and woke up to a perfect morning. I did, however, find later on that our bonfire was totally illegal because of the fire ban. Apparently record drought + fire = bad news. Oops. Well, at least we had no problem finding dry wood for our bonfire... which perhaps should have been our first clue. Nonetheless, it was a great night (ignoring the sand in my captain morgan and coke). By the by, nothing says fun like drunkenly yelling "The Cap'n got me again!" and having no one know what you mean.

In more recent news, I'm going to Melbourne on the 20th for the Australian Open (tennis). It should be a nice break from the monotony of quasi-employment.

In more, more recent news, I'm waiting to hear back on my acceptance to SFU, and James getting a job in BC. I do, however, have high hopes.

With that, I promise pictures soon.

Adios for now

Bono Sighting/High Five-ing

2006-11-17T23:30:00.000-08:00

A brief synopsis of the past 2 weeks:

Last weekend James and I headed for Sydney for his cousin's wedding. The reception was held in front of the Sydney Opera House, right on the harbor. It was beautiful. Free flowing champagne and a very fancy meal indicated that it would be a lovely night. The reception let out around 2am, and most of the cousins were primed and ready to go. We ended up at Hemisphere, a lovely night club where the cousins contented themselves with bottles and bottles of expensive champagne, while I found myself quite happy to sip on my $5 coke. Eventually, however, we got the boot from our nice, cozy little outdoor balcony alcove in lieu of a spongy/fancy sitting area. Our previously held alcove was closed up and, I learned from one of the late-coming cousins, held for Bono (who she passed on the way up). Actually, first she noticed one of his purple-adorned groupies and made fun of the 'strumpet' and then noticed who followed her up. Up where we were, several hours and many bottles of champagne later, Andrew, one of the rather tall, rather large, and rather boisterous cousins, made a drunken attempt to high-five Bono. He was soundly tackled by security. Unfortunately, I missed the attempt because it was 5 am, I was bloody tired, and had left a half hour beforehand. I will never make THAT mistake again! Any tackling story deserves as many witnesses as possible.

The following day the guests went to a 'recovery party' which is a fine Australian tradition that basically embraces the 'hair of the dog' attitude. Platters of good food and 'beverages' began to circulate at around 11am. An impressive attendance rate, I must say, considering the night before. Anyway, we visited all afternoon and caught the flight to Melbourne around 5pm, and then drove to Mt. Gambier the rest of the way. All in all, a rewarding weekend!

During the week I started work at Angus and Robertson, which is their version of Mcnally. So far so good, but I'd be happier with more hours. The way it stands though, it's a good temporary job.

Which, of course, brings us to this weekend just past. I worked Saturday and then we rented The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which I whole-heartedly recommend to any and all tv-watchers. Then on Sunday I went with James and Kerry (James' co-worker) to the Coonawara wine region for some wine touring (yay!) I ended up with a bottle of port, a jar of Merlot Jelly (fancy grape jam), and a bit of a buzz. All in all, another good weekend. The weather, in 3 days, went from frigid to HOT. It is now the Australia that I remember, though I suspect we'll still have some cold nights before the summer heat is here to stay. And with that, my dear reader, I will leave you until my next entry.

Settling In

2006-11-08T21:15:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been on msn lately. This is an unfortunate result of not having the internet, which requires a minimum one year commitment. Blast.

As my time on the free computers comes to a close, let me give you the quick run down of events. I'm going to Sydney for a wedding this weekend. Should be a chance to visit with and meet quite a few of James' relatives, so it should be a good time. In other news, I finally have a job at a bookstore, so yay employment! Other than that, it's finally warming up here. I, unfortunately, don't have much else to tell at this point, but will, most assuredly, keep you all up to date on anything of note.

Thus, with this new temporary job of mine, I suspect my time in the fields with James may come to a quasi close, though I have promised to take my UDL (passionfruit flavoured, of course) and watch him work. Yikes. I'm tired just thinking of it!

In Oz

2006-10-21T21:09:00.000-07:00

What no one tells you is that there is a national conspiracy. It is NOT warm during Australian spring. In fact, as the houses are not heated, it is freaking cold. I have been informed that during the winter, you may wake up and see your breath. Great.

With that rant aside, I wish you all greatings from Down Under. I have settled in after my 51 hour trip, and am now looking for work. You know what they also don't tell you? Looking for work in a small town is frusterating. Of course, I've only spent one day looking, so we'll see how that goes.

Anyway, I'm off to plant my veggie/herb garden. Anyone know how/if you can grow ginger?

Earthquake

2006-10-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well, instead of flying to Australia, the earthquake shut down Honolulu airport, which means I will be spending 2 more days in Vancouver than originally planned. More details to follow as frustration fades into acceptance.

9 hours to go

2006-10-14T22:58:00.000-07:00

My plane leaves in 9 hours. I just want to thank everyone for coming out on Friday and for your friendship. Leaving you all sure does suck.

Love you all, and I'll talk to you soon

One Week and Counting

2006-10-07T23:57:00.000-07:00

One week until I leave for Australia. After this many months of talking about it, many people are suprized that I'm still here. James is leaving Adelaide for Mount Gambier today, which means we finally got a chance to talk (his sojourn to England and Italy made communication hard for the past week). Everything seems to be in order, so now it's just catching up with people for my last few days here.

In U of S related news, the Literary Eclectic Conference was last weekend. After bailing on most of the panels and undergoing half a dozen wardrobe changes, I can now say I've finally presented at one of the conferences I've been accepted to. Woot.

In far more exciting news, there was a sale at La Senza. Score.

Abandoned

2006-09-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

Damn you Anna. She quit on me while I was in the middle of 8th street. Literally. Middle lane. I didn't even have enough momentum to get into the right lane, let alone a parking lot. So I sat there until some kindly folk helped me boot 'er into the A & W parking lot. Before that I had been laughing like a maniac every time a car almost hit Anna (when she was still stuck in the middle of the bloody street). Not because I thought it was especially funny, but because it seemed so ridiculously cliche. Apparently a girl threw up in line at the bookstore today, during the rush. I felt like that girl.

RIP Anna.

Nation States

2006-09-02T20:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.nationstates.net/calistatopolis

Update

2006-09-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Good news, I didn't die, and I passed my defence. Yay having another degree! (Now where did I put my other ones...?)

Saturday Morning--The Day After

2006-08-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

I suspect I'm dying.

Fucking Fridays

2006-08-26T02:41:00.000-07:00

I just stumbled, quite drunkenly, up my stairs to my apartment. I'm now settled in and ready to drink my 8 cups of water. Fucking Fridays man. Good times, but Fucking Fridays.

Folk-Festing

2006-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

I woke up this Saturday morning to find bits of "kevi 4 Eve" scratched randomly across my arm in blue pen. Let me begin the story a little earlier. Amie is in from Fort Sask visiting James and I. Hijinks have ensued. We have been folk-festing all weekend, and I must say, a great time has been had. We hit up the India and Jewish pavilions on Thursday night with Dean (the only dry pavilions we attended, might I add). Friday Night was 'The Green Route' Night. We again had some good times, as evidenced by my earlier reference to Kevi 4 Eve. Long bus rides kept the drunk-level to a respectable level, though we did encounter a group who had overcome the time-barrier between pavilions by bringing their own 40s onto the bus. We took the same idea with us on Saturday night, and subtly flasked it up in the Philippines. Klassy. Anyway, I have finally figured out my computer/camera technology, so I bring you pictures of my trip to Fort Sask. For pictures of folk-fest, you'll have to see Amie's blog (though not yet, she's still in Saskatoon and thus less likely to have updated)

Weekend Adventure

2006-08-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

Well, as it turns out, my EDO fell on the day after August long, which means I only have one more day left of a three day work week. With the extra time this weekend, James and I went up to Turtleford to visit Amie, Tim, Bonnie and Garry. It was rather fabulous seeing everyone again. It was funny, though, to realize that any gossip I had shared with anyone in the group had become communal knowledge. It did, however, speed up the story telling process. After watching the Turtleford chariot races and eating some unknown bbq-flavoured meat, I went on with Amie and Tim to Fort Sask while James had to return to Saskatoon for work. The pinnacle of the trip, however, would most definitely be our Battle Royale. In what can only be described as an epic clash of the titans, Amie and I duked it out on the Gladiator game. The pictures will have to be forthcoming, as I seem to have misplaced my do-hicky that connects my camera to the computer. Stupid do-hicky. Sunday night was spent at their new apartment, after seeing where their fancy new digs would be. Monday was spent shopping at West Ed Mall and experiencing the glories of a store dedicated to cupcakes. At this point I should mention that my visit with Amie was ashamedly cut short by my recent read A Brother's Price. It's by Wen Spencer, and it's fabulous. As a result, much of my time was spent reading when I really, really should have been visiting. I couldn't help it though! Sometimes a book just grabs you. Like most sci-fi/fantasy, it dabbles in the cliche, but I find most books/stories cliche, so you have to judge on a curve.
Anyway, After a weekend of visiting, I took the midnight Monday bus back to Saskatoon (what with having no car on account of travelling with Amie and Tim from Turtleford). Here's what you need to know about midnight bus trips

When people in the back of the bus are loudly talking about how glad they are that Hell's Angel's are moving into Lloyd, it's a bad idea to shush them, even if it is 4am in the bloody morning.
When the guy with all the crazy X scars sitting behind you starts shushing (aka calling out) the aforementioned people, it's best to just continue reading or try to go back to sleep.
Just avoid both sets of crazy low class people and feel superior on account of your lengthy education.
It's also a good idea not to tell them how superior you are. Trust me. Don't even show indignation at their excessive (and improperly used) cursing. They don't care that they verbed a noun. Seriously.

And with that, I leave you with the promise of pictures as soon as possible. Oh yes, and I had my ears re-pierced.

Glorious Day!

2006-08-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Today was a good day to be me. I handed in my project (oh yeah) and now have a defence date of August 31. Just in time to avoid the new semester's tuition. double oh yeah. Now it's just a matter of passing.

In other news, the fringe is occurring right outside my front door. To illustrate this fact, I came out of the apartment last night to put my pass on my rearview mirror. What do I find but a bunch of teenage boys hot boxing right beside my car. oh to be young and not mind impaired driving. idiots. they soon recognized that I had made them, what with my waving and talking to them in a "don't touch my f***ing car with your greasy mcdonald's hands you under-educated munchie-motivated skids" type way. I think I was more polite at the time.
Anyway, the point is, the project is handed in. oh yeah.

Hey Hey!

2006-08-01T21:29:00.000-07:00

I just handed in everything from my project except the works cited page. That's a good feeling. In addition, when I get drunk, all good wine tastes like bananas.

Tired...So tired

2006-07-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

UGH.

Today's schedule was a little insane. The alarm woke me up at 7:15am, and after working a full day at the bookstore, I'm finishing the day's project work at 12:15am. The reason I'm stopping? Not because I have nothing else to do or my brain is too tired... it's because my eyes sting from being open and focussed on the screen for so long (which is why this is a brief blog).

With that complaining out of the way, I am now expecting a defence date in late August.

I have also considered adopting the CC tag so drunkenly assigned to me.

Also also, I am now mastering the Chicago style. yeah me. I'll be pissed if I have to reformat my project again for the external/secondary readers.

Project Defence

2006-07-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

I am now done the first complete copy of my project. It is now up to my supervisor to hand out those oh-so-essential revision notes. We've been working on them as we go, so I'm hoping for nothing more than a small handful of quick-fixes (oh god please) and bibliography. I'm not sure if I need a longer conclusion or not. Either way, if nothing unexpected bites me in the ass with this paper, I should have about 2 days work left.

Of course, now that I've said that, something will bite my aforementioned ass.

and for the record, when I emailed Ray about a defence date, I spelled Defence incorrectly in the subject heading.

The Humanity! Poor tomatoes.

2006-07-18T21:26:00.000-07:00

Those who have not heard from me in the past week may have deduced this, but it's been a busy few days. I started my new job on Monday, and I feel less poor already (yay!) Nevertheless, there have been a few noticeable side affects of said employment. Side affect numero uno: the lack of free time. By the time I'm done work I barely feel like a workout (especially because half the 4:45pm classes are yoga--which is, shall we say, less intense than I normally go in for). Fortunately for me, I won't have time to work out for at least the next two weeks. damnit. I have to finish my project ASAP, which is hard to care about after moving books around all day. Despite my *pllllt* mentality, it must be done. It's even harder than normal, however, because my family is in town for 10 days, and it's basically the only relatives (aside from immediate family of course) that I actually like. They=fun distraction. Double damnit. To top in off, the old Australia folk are in town, and I find them rather entertaining as well, which means a whole lot of distraction. Arg.

In the meantime, I have discovered that my constant absence from the apartment is rather devastating to my tomatoes. They clearly have not been watered in days, and now hate me. They both have clearly lost flowers and thus, potential tomatoey goodness. *sigh*

To those who have not heard from me, I have received your messages and have a very guilty sense about not calling you straight back. The choice is now between a shower and heading to bed, or the call-back. and that pillow is looking pretty appealing, which is saying something, because I don't even use a pillow. Hopefully things will slow down in the next few days. Hopefully my tomatoes will forgive me. Damnit.

House of Fame: An Addition

2006-07-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

Please Note the newest link on the blog to one House of Fame. I believe you will enjoy Chaucer's pirating adventures as much as I did.

Disclaimer: This blog is not responsible for injury caused by the aforementioned link. This link is designated as a level 5 Pretentiousness risk, and may cause occasional rolling of eyes.

Longest Blog Ever

2006-07-11T13:50:00.000-07:00

I discovered, to my horror and disappointment, that currently, there are no readily available English translations of Nicholas Trevet's commentary on Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy. Why, you might ask, is this so shocking? Well, it is shocking because the bloody text has been used as the primary source of medieval interpretation on Boethius since the late 1300's. Granted, I'm using my English Masters arithmetic skills here, but I believe that gave scholars approximately 700 years to get their collective shit together. Now here I am, with the option of translating 200+ pages of Latin (which I have only a passing familiarity with), or learn Spanish, and try and read that translation. There may or may not be an Italian translation available. My frustration forced me to leave the library at about that point. In all, there are about 8-9 translations of all of Trevet's work, most of which focus on a completely different text than I need (though they are interesting'Chaucer based his Man of Law's Tale on the other text in question). The point is, I now sit here, hooped. Well, as I'm writing this in the car on my way to Swift Current, it's actually a combination of hooped and car-sick.

On the plus side, I have now transferred all of my hand-written research to electronic text, which makes things MUCH easier to find. God bless you control F. I can now claim to have a fairly deep understanding of Neoplatonic thought. Aquinas and Aristotle are a little hazy, but as my research doesn't deal with them in the least, I'm good.

Anyway, once I finally got to the family reunion in Swift, I proceeded to make small talk for 3 days straight. It's amazing how cliche your life sounds when you have the same stories memorized:
"Yes, I'm the one who was working on my masters.
No, I'm no longer dating the med student, he was an ass.
Yes, I'm still in school, but I'm moving to Australia in Mid-October.
No, I don't know how long I will be there.
Yes, I'm dating someone new, that's why I'm going to Australia."
The universal response: "oh, good for you, what will you do in Australia?"
Me: "as little as possible."
Polite laughter followed by uncomfortable silence and the silent promise to never go to another family reunion without massive quantities of alcohol.

To top it all off, I missed Jess and Kate's party, where I hear some bold individuals went quasi-nude for the sake of a bet. All I know is that their pictures will be WAY better than mine.

Buffer

2006-07-04T18:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I feel that a tasteful transition is necessary for further blogging to continue, and this is pretty much the best that I could come up with. Future bloggings shall commence shortly.

Grandpa

2006-07-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

It happened a little while ago.

Canada Day

2006-07-02T08:44:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the trip to Swift Current. While there with my Mom, Dad, and James, we had to make funeral arrangements for my grandpa. I thought it was a little morbid to pick out his clothes already until we went to the Home and saw him. His appearance was a little shocking. He was non-responsive, which isn't much of a change from last time, but I didn't think it was possible for him to get any skinnier than he was before. Lots of difficulty breathing. Dad got a call on his way back to Saskatoon saying that it would be soon. We're just waiting now.

Dang

2006-06-30T12:22:00.000-07:00

Well, in an effort to stop being broke, I emailed the bookstore and told them that I could start working a week early if they wanted. I now have 2 options: the first is to convince my supervisor that section 2 of my 3 section project can be expanded to cover the relevant areas of both 2 and 3, thus, will have less research to do and will just be revising and working, rather than working on both things at once. My second option is to give up, live in a box, and possibly contract syphilis from a grungy public toilet. I suppose a third option would be to try and work at the bookstore, finish a full 3 section-ed project, start taking my fitness classes again, and maintain the proper working order of all personal relationships. Ug. Fitness classes are the first to go, I'll tell you that much. A syphilitic box-dwelling existence might be the way to go. There would certainly be less pressure...

In less fun news, I will be traveling to Swift Current tomorrow to visit my Grandpa. He has been getting sicker, and apparently next weekend may be too late to see him. Next week is the fancy Jessica/Kate party, and it looks like I'll be missing it. *sigh* there's a family reunion even if my Grandpa is fine, and some things are just more important. -- though I will be placing a "move it back a week" call.

And with that, I'm getting back to my project, because I'm just not a fan of the VD-livin'

To Clarify...

2006-06-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

It wasn't a dangerous fire. Just a "there's a fire" moment.

How to Make Project-Work Exciting: Just Add Fire

2006-06-27T11:24:00.000-07:00

Damn burners.

How I Hate Thee: The VL 135 Form

2006-06-19T07:47:00.000-07:00

Are you an Australian citizen? No. Well then no soup for you.
Alas and Alack, I do not believe that I will be able to apply for teaching positions in Australia. They have a central registration policy and as a non-Australian, I don't seem to fit the bill. Therefore, my next 6-12 months will be less classroom oriented, more "would you like paper or plastic?" Fortunately, I'm feeling very up-with-people right now. I'm thinking book store or coffee shop might be the way to go. Heck, my friend Lindsay got her double microbiology-biochemistry degree and worked at a coffee shop for 2 years in London. Sometimes you just gotta take that break from academia.

In other news: I am now one day away from my one year anniversary (yay). Last night poor James was so tired. How was he to know that I would ingest enough caffeine to kill a small horse? Not surprisingly, he went to bed before I did. When I did decide to try and get a decent night's sleep, all I could think about was how bored I was. The victim of this, as you may have ascertained, was James. I spent 20 minutes in a full-on struggle with my conscious before deciding that nice girlfriends do not randomly shake their boyfriends awake. It was a guilt-shifting boon when the alarm clock/James' cell phone beeped, indicating that someone had left him a message. "Are you awake?" I muttered. "mmmhmm." He replied sleepily. And with that the conversation was begun. Poor James.

Sweet Sweet Deferral

2006-06-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

In a completely unexpected cascade of events, I must say, the past few days have been rich with change: some pleasant, some rather not. I offer my sympathy to those in the 'rather not' column, and turn my attention awkwardly back to myself, who I place squarely in the 'yay me' column.

Unexpectedly, I was able to get a full year deferral, which leads to all roads pleasant. The plan now is to finish my project, find a job, and move to Australia for a year. I'm already getting nervous about the flight (which isn't even booked yet). Having figured out the plan for a 2007 startup date for education, other stuff started falling into place. I'm starting work at the bookstore again starting July 17th, which is a week later than planned-- so I will now have a little extra time to work on my project (another unexpected boon). The first section of my project is pretty much done, and I am slowly but surely grasping the basics of the next section. Amie, as my mental palm pilot, will actually have to help me with this one. Something about a scale and Orpheus's ascent. And ---something. I had a bit of a lead on the quasi-thesis, but it's gone now.

In quiche news: the spinach dish turned out decent, but not as fabulous as I was hoping. I bought the wrong frozen stuff (full, not chopped leaves), which led to a rather fibrous dish. The taste was the same though, so good enough for me. I just added extra feta to distract the unaware eater.

In still other news: our ball team had a good showing yesterday, but, unfortunately, Catchers in the Rye were not quite up to snuff with the Ruminators. I had a difficult time not pointing out the Anglo-Saxon connotations of the word ruminate. Oh Caddy you old so-and-so.

eep! Decision time...

2006-06-13T16:04:00.000-07:00

Well, after a few months of waiting, I found out today that I got into the college of education. I'm torn by "yay me" and "but I don't wanna." After 6 years of post secondary education, needless to say, I'm a little spent. Props to all those immediately entering PhD--that's a heck of a lot of school all at once. I have to go in tomorrow to see about a deferral, but I'm not especially hopeful. Most likely I'll just try again when (and if) I get back from Australia (assuming I go in the first place...). James and I still have to talk that one over.

Not an especially clever blog, I'm sorry to say. The exciting news though, get ready for it now: I'm making spinach quiche tomorrow. Oh yeah. Well, maybe tonight. We'll see how the grocery shopping goes. I'm a little stoked though. Am I a geek? Well, if you don't know the answer to that one, I'm afraid yes, yes I am.

Shout out to all my peeps. Hulla back son.

Damn you Medieval Conceptions of Neo-Platonic Thought, Damn you!

2006-06-05T20:02:00.000-07:00

In another brief, but oh so charming rant, I would like to say that I'm glad the following people are dead: Plato, Boethius, Chaucer, Alice Kaminsky (I don't think she's actually dead, but I dislike her nonetheless), Dante and Cicero. To these people I say this: I hate you all. Well, maybe not Cicero.

He was swingin'

And with my rant out of the way, I can share my exciting weekend with you all. James and I went down to Beaver Creek on Sunday. The wildlife was not quite what James was hoping for. He wanted to see a bear, but the best he found was a sign warning of 'recent' cougar sightings. I'm pretty sure the sign is as old as I am. On the bright side, we did see a wild prairie dog and a squirrel. That was pretty ... exciting. It was a nice walk though, and I got to test my memory for "oh god, is that poison ivy?" I'm pretty sure I named 4 separate plants as poison ivy.

Anyway, James sent me pictures from last weekend's Top of the Hops, but I don't look dignified in them, so instead, here's a picture of Amie and I duking it out Greco-Roman style in a mad quest for honour (but with less nudity *shudder* )

"I'm gonna cut you" -- a tribute

2006-06-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

For those not up to date on Amie's current friendship traumas, I recommend a lengthy conversation. In the meantime, I offer a brief, yet informative, clarification of the shiv.

This is Shiva. Shiva does not cut people in the shower, in the streets, or in jail.

In a completely different categorization, this is a fancy shiv. It's basically a cheap knife that someone had to wittle. Now you know the difference.

It's like Scrubs...I'm like J.D!

2006-05-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

It all began with msn. I started to come up with sarcastic little titles in my head whenever something funny and/or mock-worthy happened. Now, one blog in, and I'm narrating my own life in my head. Who knows, maybe it's part of the evolutionary process. From a pychology standpoint, kids often talk themselves through complicated activities, teenagers modify their behaviour as if they were watched by a group, maybe bloggers innately narrate their own lives.

As an afterthought, in response to Garry's suggestion, I couldn't find a good picture of Puff, so I'm going with the only clear alternative: a picture from a Spanish Carnival.

Confronting 'the dragon'

2006-05-29T23:11:00.000-07:00

For my first ever blog, I'm gonna go ahead and jump on in. You know it's going to be a bad day when your supervisor recommends that you finally deal with that author that he calls "the dragon." What's that? Differentiate between Christian exegetes and historicism you say? I'd love to, but... okay.

Speaking of which, I still don't know why it's assumed that all humanists are made uncomfortable by allegory. I've decided it's not worth knowing.

And there we go. That's it. That's my first (and who knows, maybe last) blog.