Christmas Is Almost Here...

Unbelievable. I just can't really quite believe it will be Christmas this weekend despite all the parties I've been to, the chocolate boxes deposited all around the office, the shopping, the baking, the music,... It just doesn't feel real. The few days preceding Christmas, I am usually so excited. Not this year. Maybe my head is too caught up in work & deadlines that I haven't truly let the Xmas spirit soak in. I need to get drenched in spirit (or maybe in spirits. Ah, I crack myself up. LOL)

Tired

Man, I cannot begin to say how much freaking work I have on my shoulders these days. I just never seem to be able to get it all done. It's past 10 pm, and I'm still at the hospital, scoring some tests. Nevermind that I have been up since 3:15 am (stupid insomnia!). I really don't see how I'll be able to relax during the holiday break. I have PILES of stuff to get done by various deadlines in December/January. My brain is feeling fried though.

The Anxiety Hour

Recently, I've been so busy, I haven't had time to worry too much about anything but allow me to freak out a little bit now. LOL Actually, I am more sad than anxious. Yesterday, the professor I TA for was having a nice Christmas dinner for all his students and TAs. It was lovely, and a good time was had by all.

During the evening, I was chatting with the prof's wife, a lovely woman, who happens to share the same profession as I. She was asking me what were my plans and so on. She was very helpful but she did tell me how the job market, particularly in TO, has gotten more difficult in the last few years. She was saying she has been pretty lucky with the type of work she has been doing but that many of her colleagues are finding it difficult to find stable jobs, and it seems tricky to make ends meet especially if you are single or have kids. She was saying that if I combine the more applied work with the academic work, it would probably work well. Nevertheless, being the person that I am, this led me to conjure up (in my head!) tales of living in a cardboard box (Damn imagination! LOL). Honestly, I am so discouraged and disheartened at the idea of being un- or underemployed after all the years of hard work I've put in. Have I really just been wasting my time? Sigh. I wish I had a silver lining to this post but I don't really have one.

SNL's Lazy Sunday

The latest Chris Parnell rap (with Andy Samberg, one of the newbies) on SNL was all kinds of awesome. It's all about going to see The Chronicles of Narnia and eating cupcakes at Magnolia. I loved it. It was uploaded by someone cool at You Tube, and you can watch it below. :)

MYOB

I'm having a pretty good Sunday. I got to sleep, watch TV, bake cookies, cook a nice dinner, and do laundry. Pretty relaxing overall.

However, my roommate was supposed to leave for her parents today, and she didn't. Instead, she stayed to nitpick my life, apparently. Our relationship has been okay, mostly pleasant in the last few months. Today, however, she just wouldn't mind her own business. She was complaining about the laundry detergent I use, I kid you not. She wish I would switch to her brand because she thinks it smells better, and the smell of my laundry detergent makes the apartment smell bad (for the record, my brand is unscented so whatever.). I didn't know how to respond to this except to say I'm not about to switch because I love my detergent, and having tried the one she uses, I don't like it. Seriously, live and let live.

She then complained because I had decided to watch my Friends DVDs. I was watching them silently on the couch with the headphones as to not disturb her while she was marking papers in the livingroom. "You're watching Friends again? You hadn't watched them in a few months so I thought THAT was finally over." Arghhhhh! Why do you care? How does it impact your life? Leave me alone. My reply was: "Well, you know, I'm a bit retarded that way. I like rewatching the same shows. That's why I bought the DVDs."

Then, she was complaining about the cat's shedding. I know she sheds but what can I do besides brushing her? We vacuum, it disappears. I can't glue the fur back to her!

Seriously, if that's all she has to say, she should go annoy her family instead. I have a laundry list (Bwah!) of things she does that I would gladly change about her and I keep it to myself because she has the right to live her life the way she wants. Next time, I may have to tell her that she needs to start listening to U2 as opposed to boring classical music all day long, that she needs to stop with the boring and pretentious foreign dramatic movies and needs to start enjoying comedies, and that she needs to learn to clean her crumbs from the table after she makes a sandwich. The world would be much better if it was a Brain Diva nation. ;)

One Hundredth Post

I have been playing a game in my head that others might enjoy so I thought I would make it my one hundredth post. :) I'd love to see your responses too.

You are leaving for a long trip, and you can only bring one of the following in your backpack, which one would you pick?

Book: Hands down, Pride & Prejudice. I could stand rereading over and over again for months on end. Elizabeth Bennet is one of the greatest heroines of literature.

CD: Keane's Hopes & Fears. I've listened to this CD countless times, and I never ever get tired of it.

Movie: This is a very tough one. As unsophisticated as it sounds, it would be Dirty Dancing. It's the first movie I fell in love with, and I still love it to this day. I've watched the final dance sequence too many times to count but it still gives me chills whenever I watch it.

TV series: I would take the DVDs of Friends season 4 or NewsRadio seasons 1-2. Friends season 4 because Chandler in a box and the girls losing their apartment in a quiz were too awesome for words. Newsradio is just just Newsradio. It was always under the radar but it was bloody brilliant. Dave Foley, Phil Hartman, Stephen Root, Maura Tierney, Vicki Lewis, Khandi Alexander, Andy Dick, and Joe Rogan were all delightful together.

Electronic Item: My laptop! It can play my CD and DVDs, and is generally the electronic love of my life. LOL

Non-Perishable Food Item: I'm not sure if I'd be most distressed without my favourite coffee or chocolate. LOL I'd go for Illy coffee. Expensive but worth every penny.

Pants: If I have only one pair of pants, I'm going with my Tommy Hilfiger jeans. The most comfortable thing around. They look good too.

Pair of shoes: I'm going for my blue Sketchers sneakers. They are cute, and I could walk forever in them.

Makeup Item: I'd probably miss my lip gloss a bit but I'll go with my moisturizer.

Item to Remind You of Home: I don't think my cat would want to go in my backpack (LOL) but I would bring the gold chain with a Sagittarius pendant given to me by my grandmother. It reminds me of my family.

Clearly I Live In The Right Country! LOL

You're Canada!

People make fun of you a lot, but they're stupid because you've
got a much better life than they do. In fact, they're probably just jealous.
You believe in crazy things like human rights and health care and not
dying in the streets, and you end up securing these rights for yourself and
others. If it weren't for your weird affection for ice hockey, you'd be
the perfect person.

You can figure out which country you are by taking the Country Quiz at the Blue Pyramid. :)

Life & Death

Although I was born on this day (wow, I sound like a Xmas carol. ;)), Richard Pryor passed away. I haven't seen a lot of his work but I caught some of his classic 70s standup on The Comedy Network, and I was impressed how he could make awful, painful things funny. RIP, Mr. Pryor.

Saturday Marking Hour

I stayed up until 2:30 am last night to watch the second half of the Pride & Prejudice series, and then Bridget Jones's Diary. Why yes, I had a little Colin Firth for my birthday! lol ;) Isn't that a nice treat? Plus, it put all these happy thoughts in my head about meeting my own Mr. Darcy. Hee. I did have to be up at the buttcrack of dawn (that's just to make you laugh, Gina!) this morning for exam invigilation but it was still worth it to stay up late.

I have to start marking exams today because my schedule is so jam-packed next week, it will be difficult to fit in otherwise. Nevertheless, with good Christmas music and coffee, marking shouldn't be too painful. :)

Later gators! :)

Yay! Snow & Birfday Presents!

I woke up to Toronto wrapped in a big blanket of snow this morning. It was just so pretty that I didn't mind it would take forever to get to the university. Walking in the snow while listening to Xmas music made it all worth it. :) Mind you, the commute ended up being 1 hour 45 (oy!) but such is life.

My birfday (as one old poster at Haven used to say) is upon us so I got some presents already! :) I got home really late on Wednesday night, and had a package on my bed. My friend Donna got me the t-shirt I had been blogging about for my birthday. How awesome is that? I'll wear it tomorrow. :) I got the Pride & Prejudice DVDs from my parents.

As an aside, I went to see the new P&P movie this week, and meh. The only way I could describe to the friend who was with me was that this movie was Pride & Prejudice on speed. The dialogue was being delivered super fast, and then you had long shots of nature or of Elizabeth. They could have cut down, and have the dialogue be a little slower. This is not an episode of the Gilmore Girls. Anyway, I sound like I might have hated it. I didn't but it beared little resemblance to the book I like. They should have changed the title and the names of the characters, and I probably wouldn't have minded it so much. Most of the actors were good although I didn't particularly like Keira Knightley. She was too giggly, which doesn't jive with my conception of Eliza Bennett. I wished I had liked it more because that would make more P&P to like. Oh well.

Squeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I'm so happy. I got a message saying I was chosen for an interview to that paid clinical internship I really want in Toronto! Yaaaaaaay! I called home to share, and my dad was home alone. Although he was happy, he was so bemused and confused by the whole thing. First, he thought I had actually gotten the internship, and then he started talking what is this internship going to give me (why do you have to do this was his question), when am I actually going to graduate, living arrangement for next year,... I know he means well but sadly, he kills the joy a bit when he does this. LOL Anyway, I just wanted to share with all of you who I think know how I've been slaving to accomplish all this, and what it means to me. :)

People Are Unreliable. I Hate People.

I was talking to Eve on the phone, and she said it was a nice sweeping generalization. LOL I also had some vulgar comments. Eve was surprised I had such a potty mouth on me. I usually don't but I'm very frustrated tonight because of people who are supposed to help me get my internship are not helping so I need to list everything that I hate to get it off my chest.

I hate:

- unreliable people

- people who live on their own timetable that everyone else around must rely on

- unions and strikes (I may soon be going on strike because of our delusional union)

- picketing outside in -30 weather (because that's the brilliance of striking in January!)

- having no money (because if I don't work as a TA, I don't get paid! I'm not exactly swimming in cash to start with! How exactly am I supposed to pay my rent?)

- people who think they are the only ones right.

- overly bossy people

- sneaky liars

- not very good, overpriced meals (like tonight's Xmas party. Not worth 20$!!!)

- rushing

- deadlines

- coming home to sleep and having to work instead because something unexpected got dropped in my lap (see unreliable people above)

- deadlines moved ahead (twice in 2 weeks, people!)

- people

- my life

I'll get over it. I usually love my life but right now... not so much. Damn you, graduate school! I work my butt off and still, you torture me! I realize this post is an ad for this but I'll try to expunge all the bad energy out of my body now.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

I feel a bit better. That's something.