mcollinknight

Since last night, I have written 5 752 (make that 6 171 6 339) words. I haven't had this much fun writing fiction since about Grade 9, the last time it didn't seem like torture. And I have so far resisted the urge to self-edit as I go. I figure I've got at least another 1500 left in this one. It still doesn't have a plot, but whatever. It's better than dragons.

-I couldn't do the EWB school outreach thing this afternoon because they already had enough volunteers :( I was really looking forward to it. Tonight is a kind of party thing, I want to go but I also don't want to, because Chris will be the only one I really know and I'm absolutely horrible at parties where I don't know anyone. It's also all the way across town and I don't know how to get there. I'd be perfectly happy staying in to write, but I feel like I should at least make the effort. It could be loads of fun, especially with the EWB people. I think I'll try and get there.

-I redecorated my room last night, moving the bed so it wasn't in the middle of the room. I have floorspace! It restricts access to my closet, but I think I like it, and it looks a little bit more like an apartment now. I just realised I'm going to have the dorm to myself for almost a week once Kay is done her exams. I'm planning to sing really obnoxiously loudly, which is always something I've enjoyed doing when I'm home alone. Since I don't know my neighbours or anyone in my hall, I don't care if they hear me.

Growing up, my parents had strict rules on television and computer use, which I resented at the time but which I respect now as being Very Good Things. However, as a consequence of that, whenever we were home alone, my sisters and I would maximize our time on the internet or computer games and watch television all day, revelling in being allowed to do whatever we wanted. Once, after a day out of town that left just my tiny sister alone in the house, my dad phoned home to check on her, and asked what she had been up to all day. Quietly, Yaden admitted "I was singin' real loud and dancing with the cat."

This quickly became our code - when the parents got home late and inquired what we had done all day, we would slide each other conspiratorial glances and respond, "Well, I was dancing with the cat, and Ann was singing real loud." Once I got my own laptop, the illicitness of being able to sneak an extra hour on the computer lost its novelty, and I took to belting out music and making a mess of the kitchen while practicing arabesques in front of the window when left to my own devices. We are not often left alone, and it's even rarer that I get the house all to myself, which makes mornings or afternoons perfectly alone all that much more of a treat. "Idleness, like kisses, must be stolen to be sweet."

So, flist: what do you do when you're home alone? How well-versed are you in cat-dancing? What are some really obnoxious songs I can sing?

ETA: This is the cat in question. And since I just got them yesterday, here are some puppy pictures for the holidays. So cute! <3

( Book meme )

Am currently trying to memorise a kajillion Arabic vocabulary words for the midterm tomorrow, which is harder than memorising those kajillion definitions of globalisation, because I'm familiar with the system of words - here, it's just trying to match meaningless sequences of sounds to a picture.

But my day was improved exponentially when we watched 'Kofi Annan: In the Centre of the Storm' in Politics class, in which Kofi Annan went on Sesame Street. There is no greater happiness than Elmo asking the former Secretary-General of the UN if he likes hugs. Honestly: there is no possible way any human being could have a bad day after seeing that. We all giggled down the street afterwards. If this is what it's all about, then I LOVE being a university student. XD

Then my friends introduced me to an excellent sandwich shop where I can use my meal plan and I hugged Coyote and really this has been a fantastic day when I add all the elements together.

Except for the lack of work being done. Oh. Yeah. Forgot about that.

Window = </fck:meta> </fck:meta>

شباك

Chair =

کﺮسي

Story =

قڝه

I'm home! This weekend is so far proving to be fantasmical. Got home at midnight to find that Ann had stayed up to see me, and Gofree (cousin from New York) arrived about 15 minutes after I did. I was woken up by a small puppy snuffling my face. Yaden brought down her new puppy (an absolutely adorable Wheaten Terrier named Archie) and he is the dearest thing I have ever seen. Everything he does is adorable.

I went to the high school for the morning and saw all kinds of people I love - I also discovered that Mr O'T had posted not one but TWO of my stories in the Languages hallway!!!! He put 'The Stories' and 'Trivial Pursuits' up so now everyone can read them and it makes me very happy :) Even though I wrote 'The Stories' at about 2 in the morning, he edited it into shape. I had a wonderful conversation with him, and then I found Mme Ellen MacKenzie, who told me to come back to her Grade 10 Immersion class, so I did, and I told them about UofO's program and then Mme proceeded to scare the pants off them by basically telling them they should know what program they want to apply to for university. Oh, the panicked little faces. They were petrified. One sweet girl sitting next to me said "But... what if I don't know what I want to be? What if I change my mind?" I told her not to worry about it, and ignore Mme, she has plenty of time to change her mind and her major and to have fun. I mean, up until the end of Grade 11 I wanted to be a zookeeper, so whatevs.

Then I had lunch with Loserface, who won our school's biggest award last week, and I'm so proud of her because she's so beautiful and wonderful and my little protege and such a wonderful bubbly person who makes me happy. Then I had a 3-hour driving session, so we went up to Huntsville and drove around and did a simulation test and then there was lots of time left so we took the scenic route back. I love Muskoka in fall, it is so GORGEOUS. It was sunny and warm and everything was golden and red and looked on fire. Driving north there's a constant wall of trees as a panorama, so thick it looks as though you could land a bush plane on top of them, and it was just ablaze with colour, I love seasons in Canada. So amazing.

Then I went into town and saw my darling Seahorse, who is also lookin hot (what is with all my friends being so damn attractive? That's right, I have hot friends) and who now works at the bookstore. I went home and had dinner (an actual MEAL!!!) and met the exchange student and was alarmed by my tiny sister, and then I went back into town and hung out with Seahorse and Jeremy. We saw Eagle Eye, which I HIGHLY recommend. Normally I don't like movies like that, full of "intrigue" and things blowing up and stupid plotlines, but this was FANTASTIC. Honestly, it was unpredictable, it was suspenseful, and every. single. minute was so intense, I was literally on the edge of my seat. It was complicated, but I loved the plot and I was able to both be confused and then I understood, and it was glorious, and so awesome!! The only thing I was iffy about was Shia LaBoeuf being in a "leading man" role, since he still looks about 12 years old and a complete sketchball, lol. But I also liked how the director wasn't all about the 'oooooh let's have them make out,' it didn't turn into some high epic unbelievable romance, it was so cool. Also, the action scenes were SO GOOD, omfg, I mean I love an explosion as much as the next girl, but it was just so well-done and a really enjoyable movie. Go see it.

I was supposed to have a phone interview today for the Kenya trip, but the number she gave me (her personal BlackBerry) is apparently out of service :( I have more FO stuff to reveal in a later post that is related to all above, but that's for later. Suffice it to say that home is a really nice place to visit, I love seeing my friends, and I'm enjoying the meals, although it's weird being in a house where the things I like to eat no longer are. But there's an actual bathtub here, and my sisters are still just as crazy, and there's a tiny adorable puppy to laugh at (he weighs less than a pat of butter, I swear) and even though I love being here and seeing people and revelling in the yellow leaves, I think I'll be just as happy to go back to Ottawa at the end of it.
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Linkage: a really good article about my generation/age group/cohort called Mr Google's Children and whether or not we're selfish.
And because I can't go for too long without pimping it: everyone on my flist should be playing Free Rice - you play a vocabulary game and for every word you get right, twenty grains of rice are donated to the World Food Organisation to feed hungry people around the world. Waste time on the internet, have fun, improve your vocab, and save people. How could you lose? Also, they have tons of new categories I love, like guessing capital cities of countries, or finding countries on a map, or scientific elements or french or german or math questions. It's so awesome!!

Having completed a token World Issues assignment (amid 3 research papers, 4 impending essays and several unstarted Writer's Craft pieces) and having watched a paltry three scenes of The Sound of Music (Yaden's fault), I decided to tackle The Scholarship.

That's right, folks. The big one. The Millenium Excellence Scholarship. Even though I'm pretty sure the people who normally win this award probably build entire hospitals in Uganda with their bare hands while inventing polio vaccines and helping out at the animal shelter, I figure I'll give it a shot (who knows - if the Loran people might be interested in my maple syrup manufacturing, perhaps the Millenium people will like my Nalgene bottles and the Video Escapade). I actually had an alright time filling it out, even though this was about my fourth try.

I've been struggling activeley with my Hear Me Project writing scholarship, as well. I just discovered that it wasn't actually about AIDS after all, and ground my teeth audibly with frustration (remarkably, I was not banished from the library for this. Some people have low thresholds for noise tolerance. These people become librarians). Perhaps I'll just wave a tear-soaked hankie at this one while the train blows by and instead, I can play internet games and design my Very Own Rock Star Band Member's Clothing to win a scholarship. Wow. I wish I could make eLouai dolls to get into University. It'd be a snap! -insert eye roll here-

I'm beginning to enjoy this, in my slightly macabre way. I just discovered Answer.com's Creative Writing Challenge, which, although it has nothing to do with scholarships, tuition or universities, does offer vouchers for Amazon.com AND it allows me to use my verbose knowledge of archaic vocabulary (you see what I did there?). To get in the spirit of things, my WOD is hinterland. As used in both my World Issues textbook AND a k-os song - now that's what I call versatile.

In other news (mostly because when I am seized by an idea whilst shampooing my hair, I then proceed to carry out this idea, no matter how random, seemingly unimportant or a waste of my time it happens to be), I have taken pictures of my new shoes, for

cleareyedwolf's sake. They are here, there, and everywhere (with guest appearances by my Philosophy Binder, my Pyjama Pants and My Room, Looking Semi-Presentable and Mould-Free, For Once). I dub the first pair Gilda and the second Toto. I am thus thinking of naming my slippers Munchkin and my Converse Cowardly Lion but I fear I would become too kitsch and would cease to be able to bear myself in the same room. This would be quite awkward.

I have some sad news for you all: F(red) is ded. Oh, the d(red). F(red) is my Product(red) iPod. Lately his sound quality has not been up to snuff. I thought, as you will recall, that my perhaps-chocolate-filled headphones (oh dear, my headphones sound like pralines or tiramisu) were to blame. Sadly, this was not the case. No, F(red) is ailing and so GoFree has taken him back to the United States to be replaced. Now, I like to think of myself as fairly technologically independant. I don't need to have an iPod, or my laptop, or the television. I've gone without them before, and I don't even have (or want) a cell phone. So it is with a certain amount of pride that I say that I think I may live. But actually? I'm really missing him. Bus rides are now intolerable. You may recall that F(red) is so named because Seahorse has his twin, George. They are both red, and they are twins, and so were aptly named after Weasleys. Now, when F(red)'s replacement arrives, shall he be renamed? (I have decided to save 'Percy' for whenever I get myself a cell phone, but there are certainly enough Weasleys to go around).

Poll #980600 Weasley's Wizard... euhm... iPods :)
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

What should I christen F(red)'s replacement?

Do you think you could go several weeks without your portable music device?

Is Red the best kind of iPod to have?

What's your song of the moment?