Megumi Goto

I have a big midterm in a few hours and I'm not really absorbing anything. It's frustrating when you read and read and nothing enters your brain. There is a barn party tomorrow night that I'd like to be able to go to, but it won't be possible. I'm going to re-gift my second copy of The Inconvenient Indian to Jon for his birthday; here's to passing on good books.

Hope that you are feeling less stressed, Sarah. And that it is as sunny a couple hours north as it is down here today.

Everyone is sick right now, and not in the "Damn kid, that's sick" kind of way.

October Catch-Up

Still raining.

I was supposed to start a new volunteer position at Open Space this afternoon but the girl who was meant to train me stayed home with a bad cold. So I have been watching Gilmore Girls at home for the last couple hours, listening to the rain hit the roof.
They are making me the Proposals Assistant, which is a fancy title for a job that is basically sorting and scanning pages into pdfs. With the potential of attending board meetings in the future though, which is the real draw. That place still makes me a bit uncomfortable though. Miles, the Installation guy, is really nice and welcoming but I still have no idea where I stand with the director. She's a bit of a cat, you know? Not afraid to swat.

And Sarah Chezick, I was afraid you were mad at me for not getting in touch Thanksgiving weekend. Seriously though I will show you my schedule:

Friday- Arrive in Nanaimo, hung out with Mike, tried to go to Newcastle but the ferry wasn't running, went to the Morrel nature reserve instead, got lost, found Westwood lake, ran around in the forest. Went to a Thanksgiving potluck/ birthday party for a thirty something year old guy. Listened awkwardly as Mike apologized to the guy for asking his girlfriend out several months ago (he felt really bad about it which I thought was stupid- girl's main appeal was that she likes Star Wars, who doesn't) Dropped my beer on the floor, ate delicious soup made my a French Canadian.

Saturday- Drove to Black Creek, hung out with Kory's whole family, went kayaking, posed for pictures, drove back down to Parksville for dinner with my parents, watched a stupid movie with Tom Cruise.

Sunday- woke up, drove to Victoria, watched my brother try to walk after running 42 km, waited for him to have a shower, drove home, made brussel sprouts, drove to Qualicum, ate dinner with about 47 teenagers and two black labs (everyone liked my brussel sprouts) drove back home, laid around moaning about how full I was, went to bed early

Monday- my parents insisted that I go through some boxes in the garage that had some things from childhood etc, some old pots that my mom made. Drank a coffee, drove to Nanaimo to drop my brother off at the ferry, drove back to Mike's house and back to Victoria to dinner at Marketa's. Ate too much and drank too much wine. Went to bed

So you see, I guess I could have hung out with you Saturday night instead of watching stupid Tom Cruise movie, but I was falling asleep and sounds like you've been busy too...

Would have liked to have seen Mr Standing though. I guess I've been having a good month. Today just feels like it should have been productive but the best thing that happened was the hot chocolate I made at breakfast. Last night I saw Matt and Jocelyn, they look the same. Something about couples though stops time a little. Maybe it's because I haven't seen them in a while.

update from chezykins

Hey guys, haven't really connected in a really long time. I've been stressed as stressed can be (i did not know you could get your period twice in a month), and I've been resulting to sleep to deal with things. Tonight has been good night, I got a bounty of marimba work done (i've become their unofficial summer planner and I've got this impressive spreadsheet of festivals and contacts being created as I speak) and I'm trying to convince da rest of the girls of this website that host presskits vs me making one... It's prefab, and relatively simple in the design, but I like that it means that the presskit won't stay static and broken links can be fixed super fast).

That also being said, I got a new computer! It has a touchscreen netbook thingy... I'm impressed with it. It has this really neat app that lets me paint... I'll show you some examples maybe.  What else... the garden I help maddy with, with held our first workshop last week, and we had almost 20 people attend- isn't that a great turn out? Ems, Mr. Standing was there, and I thought that was very funny. He hasn't changed and of course him and Maddy talked like it hasnt been years. Me on the other hand, I was what you would expect from seeing a teacher 6 years after the fact- distant, but friendly. I'm sure I'll only get better with communicative skills with age ;)

What else... I still think we should get together eventually and talk about doing our "project". Brain storm you know? I see things all over the place right now, colour templates, ways I think it should be laid out and the general theme of the project. I don't know if this is a smart way of thinking, but it definitely has been bittersweet, on one hand- I get excited about the potential prospects of the project. The other hand, it's like I'm just setting up roadblocks for us. "oh man, we have so much to do".

That's it though.

Not only are we bitter but we're brittle

10 points if you can spot the dead guy in this photograph.

I told a girl at the bus stop that her haircut looked nice, but it turns out she just always has it up in a ponytail. Live and learn. My Constitutional History prof continues to be a hilarious lecturer, it stands to reason that all teachers should be forced to learn the importance of humor in a special course once they are awarded their first teaching session.

Did I say anything about my work-study research yet? It turns out that the archives are unexpectedly fun. There are security guards who are mostly kindly old men and people who are really, really enthusiastic about family lineages. The entrance doors are elaborately carved and imposing. My previous visits have always been when life is at it's most stressful, so it was a pleasant surprise to be there in a more relaxed(ish) state of mind.

Frances is going to make lasagna tonight, yes yes yes.

Don't be afraid to stop talking about yourself

Sittin' in the theater coffee shop, eating Cheezies and listening to a job interview for the Martlet. There are millions and millions of questions being asked, and everyone is dressed impeccably. There is a lot of catty language flying around right now, and apparently they get a ton of poetry submissions. So there you go.
I'm supposed to be meeting The Boy and his bro at a shopping center near the ferry, and I have no idea where the turnoff from the highway is. I go over and over it in my head, but for the life of me I can't visualize it. Driving would not be nearly half as bad if navigating was not also required.
Looking forward to some turkey and seeing the puppy and maybe a hot tub and/or a fire in the grate. Kory's folks have the most comfortable house, I swear. It's like a mini-vacation every time we go there.
There is a summer dog guiding position open in Iceland right now. It's located on a glacier. Room and board and a small stipend. And you get to live in Iceland.

 

Burning cities melt hearts

I am having constant sad dreams about being up north in late September. They are mostly fragmented flashbacks of being somewhere out on the tundra or wading through boreal forest, with leaves that are just beginning to turn and the smell of cool earth in the air. It happens at unexpected moments; when I'm sitting in class, when I'm walking around the BCIT campus, when I'm cooking dinner or doing homework. It's a little silly, because up there I would be freezing and down here I am not. Additionally, there is a plan in place to head in that direction in the near-ish future (read, 8 months maybe?). But the mind will do what it wants, I suppose. Plus, freezing is not all that bad.

On a different note...recall how all of my possessions seem to be mislaid at all times? Well, after this weekend's Vancouver visit I forgot the one thing I really couldn't afford to forget; mainly, my car keys. Poor Kory had to fly to the mail over his lunch break and express post them to his sheepish girlfriend. Other news includes meeting up with an old friend, eating Thai food out of a hollowed-out pineapple, being given free beverages by hungover students, and developing a burgeoning addiction to 5-pin bowling.

The entire family clan is gathered in Fort St. James right now for a fall hunting/fishing trip. They are all suffering from head colds and plan on skulking into the woods this afternoon. Watch out, grouse.