Holiday Blog/Nog

Another year has flown by. Here is the jist of it:

The winter period: January - March --> unemployed but not unproductive

- daily schedule includes working out, scouring Workopolis for jobs, and watching the entire series Forever Knight and Black Harbour sequentially
- once a week would go to cooking class. Learned tons of fun things like how to make pastry, cut an onion (more to it than you think), and bechamel sauce (made some the other night). Forces me to get out of the house at least once a week.
- Victor goes back to Oz. We attempt to replace him with Jerrod the Jerk from Ottawa. The ceiling leaks in his room on his second night in the room. Wacker refuses to do anything. He leaves. We plot our escape from the "crackhouse".
- Erin meets and falls in love with Tim...but then he leaves for Germany. Not without introducing us first to Easy. Men in suits, no cover before 10 (requires a lot of running through downtown streets of T.O.), and cheap (by Toronto standards) beer. And the bathrooms are so swank...
- I hit the quarter century mark. Party was not memorable (or perhaps I'm trying to forget certain elements of it...). Kev drove in from Hamilton...and that was cool to celebrate our birthday together
- Applied to and got into UBC for Master's degree. Takes some pressure off the job hunt.

The Spring Summer period: April to August --> employed but intensely bored with Toronto

- crawled my ass back to Marche to ask for a job. For this dent in the pride, I buy myself a cool red trenchcoat...
- stupid Marche, stupid managers, but fun co-workers and Crush boy
- rainy and cold summer...so glad that I am working out on the patio in a mini-skort. I get weekends off so I can't complain.
- move out of the crackhouse! Adios Wacky Wacker! move into the swimmer house. The girls are great and I have a gi-normous room with a bay window. My ceiling leaks...takes two months to get fixed...but at least it got fixed! And a backyard!
- farewell BBQ in the garden...fun times!! Attempts to clean out liquor cabinet are unsucessful (not for lack of trying on my part).

The Fall Winter period: September to December --> Vancouver! Wet and busy

- turns out grad school is pretty tough. Well lots of work anyway.
- rain in Vancouver is bad but not so bad as slush and windchill (still wearing the red jacket)
- studying, assignments, blah, blah, blah.
- people in my program are fun though. They like to dance, drink and eat. (Work hard, play hard!)
- no love yet...maybe next year...

Happy Holidays!!

Skype

Ok...so I have spent a few days "experiencing" Vancouver. And...It's pretty cool. A little wet, but at least I'm not freezing my buns off. Have only had to break out the winter jacket a handful of times (and that was mostly at night, with a thin shirt underneath).

Friday night was great fun. We had a party at Kay's house. Chinese take-out and tons of dessert. It's nice to see that trifle is making a comeback. Not as good as Aunt Jan's though. We polished off an entire bottle of Soho. Mmm...SOHO GOOD!!! After the party, we went to Lou's for Long Island Iced Tea (which we downed in about 5 minutes since there weren't enough seats for everyone). Then we went and played pool. Sober or drunk, I am a horrible pool player. In three games I sunk 2 balls. Definitely had a good time...there was some ear licking...I won't go into any more detail than that. At least there was no eyeball licking!

Saturday morning I slept in. It was wonderful to not have anything important to wake up for. Cleaned the house. Went for a walk around Kits. Met up with Britta and we went to Metrotown. Didn't buy any presents (except for myself...what? I deserve it!) Saw a mooooovie...Finding Neverland. Entertaining, sad. Johnny Depp is always good. Saturday, went out with Lloyd. Nothing exciting happening there. No really...

Sunday...recovering from two late nights. Didn't do much of anything except grocery shopping and making moussaka. This one was not nearly as successful as the last one. Apparently the diced tomatoes were not a good substitute for the crushed tomatoes. And the thickening step is crucial...Otherwise, my bechamel sauce was bang on...very impressive...

Monday. The gym and reading during the day. Also saw Dad's photo on the wall in the Metallurgy building. The skinny, young chap that he was...At night, karaoke downtown at the Marble Arch, the Cambie Hotel for cheap beer, and the Roxy for some dancin'. Drunken silliness ensues...

Tuesday. Recovering from drunken silliness takes half the day up. Then not much energy to do much else but make Christmas cookies, get in a fight with Eddie over homeless people, take a bath, and read. Also made another yummy cream sauce to go with my tortellini. (Just call me Jadine Sauciere...not to be confused with Jadine Sorciere. Hehe...puns of all languages are acceptable!)

Today. The gym and shopping. This time for presents. Bought a few...returned one. (Curses!) Also bought a microphone for my computer. So now I can play D&D with my internet friends. Kidding...So now you can Skype (rhymes with "type") me. For those who don't know, this is like FREE long distance phone over the internet. I just tried it out with Kevin a few minutes ago and it's incredibly clear! It was like he was here with me. You just need a microphone (check!), speakers (check) and to download Skype from their website (check!). It's pretty cool. Erin got it this summer to call Tim...and well they are still together...so it must be workin'! Also went out for sushi...had a craving for tempura and yam rolls. Sooo good...fat and happy now.

For the rest of the week: finishing Christmas shopping, Ocean's 12, skiing/snowboarding at Grouse, blading (on a day where there is no rain) along Sea Wall, Granville Island, dim sum, more gym visits...Flight home is in 5 days. These activities should keep me occupied.

SOHO good!

Yeah! I just handed in my last assignment (3 days early!). Feels pretty darned good to be done. I have lots that I want to see in Vancouver before I head back to Ontario on the 21st. I almost don't know where to begin. Xmas shopping, catching up on my Macleans, sleeping (oh boy), exploring...

Going to the liquor store to pick up a bottle of SOHO to enjoy at the departmental "end of year celebration" tonight. I think I am actually the first person in my year to finish everything, so I think I will be the most relaxed tonight. Will go to the gym before the party. Need to unwind a bit.

Hmm...well, at least it has stopped raining, for now. And it's still warm enough for my long red jacket.

Ok...fun, fun, fun!! Done, done, done!!

Last week!

Thank goodness...only 5 things left: 2 exams, 3 papers...the end is nigh!!

Not a whole lot of exciting this week.

Monday: Found out I didn't get the job. Depressing. But whatever...there will be others, maybe better ones? Also, trip to the Burnaby incinerator where they burn 16% of the GVRD garbage. Stinky...but, a really good tour.
Tuesday: Presentation day. Two Powerpoint presentations later...still alive
Wednesday: I thought the incinerator was bad, but no...the sewage treatment plant was much much worse. I feared I would vomit. And I was wearing ear plugs so I couldn't hear half of what was going on. It was like being dragged from one stinky pit to another...
Thursday: Oh...boring day...making poster...Safety was surprisingly interesting though.
Friday: Last day of classes. Joy. We presented our posters. Then went out for a long lunch at the Pit. Did a bit of work. Then wine and cheese party. SOEH now has art on display...fun times, good food, drunken faculty dancing...what a gas.
Saturday: Studying, groceries, Bridget Jones' Diary and 7-layer mocha buttercream cake. (Yes...this was the best part of my week)
Today: More studying intermingled with naps...don't know if I can make it through this week before going insane.

Sorry if I have been snippy to anyone on MSN today...but when I am labelled as "Busy", I likely am busy...and don't have time to talk. Otherwise I would be "Online" or hiding in "Away" mode. I reserve "Busy" for the truly busy moments.

It feels like midnight...why is it only 8 pm?