Double Ugh.

Everyone in class was sick on Friday, so of course I caught what they were sharing. I haven't been this sick in a long time -- and it comes and it goes; some minutes I'm literally sitting in my underwear sweating, the next I'm bundled in sweaters and bathrobes and blankets teeth-chatter-shivering. It has robbed my will to study and any sense of caring about the exams this week. Oh yes, it's quiz week at NAIT, half way to midterms. I didn't go to school the first two days this week, being sure that the -44 windchill only would make me feel worse. And it did, today I came home from school and took a 5 hour nap, waking up at almost bedtime dehydrated, with a headache and no will to study for tomorrow's 2 quizzes.

I don't know which is worse, the cold in my head or the cold outside. Double ugh.

Two animals I am afraid of

I really like Google videos, I check them out often. Here's a little boy who was interviewed about Australia and said

"Two animals I am afraid of: Crocodiles, sharks and snakes."

hee!

I'm afraid of hyenas. According to any animal documentary they will swoop in every time and on any continent to eat the little babies and the hurt. Animal kingdom jerks!

Hmmm... and snakes. I don't trust things without legs.

I'll have a grande double barf latte...

Some people make interesting noises when they are by themselves. This is not ok with me. I had the misfortune to be within earshot of this strange woman in Starbucks who "mmmmm! MMMMM!" appreciatively over her drink. First she picked up her frap with both hands and slurped loudly on the straw, then smacked and ahhhed when it turned out to be so tasty. Yep, oblivious to my glaring, of course.

Eventually she started being more quiet and I was very appreciative. That is until she started banging a small metal object on the table. Irritated I looked up a few times to see what the heck was going on, but her hand obscured the object. Finally I caught on to what she was doing -- clipping her nails (and picking at her hangnails) in public and getting out the bits by whacking the nail clippers on the table.

I got up and left.

Members

Programming is super funny. There are many times a day that there are discussions about public. vs. private members, adding to a member, hiding and showing members, and most importantly the particular value of particular members.

It's hard to keep a straight face some days.

I like to remember

There's been a great number of things lately that have reminded me of my grandparents. Before Christmas I was talking to a friend who also had family members die this fall. "I don't like to think about them," is what he said physically shaking it off "it makes me sad to remember them."

I get what he meant but remembering isn't alway sad. I need to remember the good people and that there were so many good things in my life.

I was holding a melon for our family cat and remembered how incredibly relaxing it was to sit with my grandma while she ate. There is nothing more relaxing than watching a cat or a blind grandma eat. They are focused, quiet, and you are on relaxed alert. The mind-numbing repetition of someone else eating is so soothing. And there is nothing nicer than sharing a meal with another person. I think Oma liked having people around after so long a time eating by herself. It is comforting to not be alone.

There's a bottle of Listerine in my bathroom that is 95% done. When I bought it I was incensed that they would make me buy more than a litre of mouthwash at a time. It has lasted me about half of forever, but every night I remember waking up on Sunday mornings hearing my grandpa gargling in the bathroom, ducked under the covers waiting for the Listerine smell announcing he was ready for the day. That good smell would be followed by coffee and I have to explain that this was MAGICAL coffee smell, as no coffee ever has or will smell as good as my grandpas. Last before hopping out of bed and getting started the smell of porridge would waltz into the room and hurry us out of bed. To this day if I eat porridge I compare it to his.

Coffee reminds me of my other grandma, who would carry a full cup every where, so she could sit and relax and have coffee. I took up knitting to relax by myself, but I haven't done a great job while in school of relaxing with people but I hope that once this course work is done I'll be able to connect with people again.

FYI!

Knitting! It takes balls!

This is funny

Read the article, and then watch the skit.

It's funny, but funnier yet is that it is so funny to Germans.

Odd instructor habits

Last semester an immigrant instructor said EARLS instead of URLs. Odd but he's an immigrant.

This semester, a java genius, also says EARLS.
A network guru, says *sigh* :eyeroll: all class long.

Instructors are so odd.

Banana

I love bananas more than anything. Maybe that is why I bruise like a bad banana every time someone pokes me.

Define: Circs

So I guess Google doesn't do a good job of defining circs... circular knitting needles. It's two needles connected by a cord, like so.

Today I got a "squishy" in the mail -- a squishy type package. Yarn. For Socks. Yup, sock yarn. I took a nap this afternoon and arranged it so I could see it if I opened my eyes. I might be a tad obsessed. Okoko, I am totally obsessed.

How ridiculous!
But it is SO relaxing.

I'm twice as far a long as this now, furtively knitting in my 3 hour class break yesterday. I had to go to a different floor to hide out. Still got stared at, but not by my geeks.

Momentous Day

Today, for the first time ever, I purchased something on Ebay. YAY! I am a winner! Congratulations to me on winning my first bid ever! (on something no one else even bid on... and obviously few people want)

But Ebay Maria?!
I KNOW! Shocking.

I held out against it this long, but my recent obsession has driven me to give up even that long standing conviction. I bought 17 German-manufactured circs so cheap, they must have fallen off a truck somewhere, hehehehe, it doesn't mater, I'm going to love them and give them a good home anyway!

12-Month Calendar

On sale now: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

That is about half a habit a month. I think Highly Effective People could probably manage more than half a habit a month.

Top Nightmares

A list:

1. Oscar the Grouch
2. Wizard of Oz: the wizard AND the witches
3. Ewoks (and my cousin's dog looked like an ewok. I was horrified to discover that one day.)
4. The blueberry boy from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Christmas Dinner

It turned out to be ok to go to the shop dinner this year, luckily no one blamed ME for the terrible food because 1) I didn't chose where we went this year and 2) it turns out German immigrants eat at Olive Garden and like it. Mystery solved!

The guy I sat next to and I compared stupid immigrant questions. It's a recent life story feature I don't think I have documented, but must rectify as my life is overrun by refugees and they can be hilarious without meaning it. For example he'd gotten "where can I find a small wallet" that day, but when he suggested The Bay or Sears they became angry and told him there were no SMALL wallets there. So he sent them to Winners without having a clue just to get rid of the arguer! (define: small??)

When I got home my immigrants had company who were discussing traditions or, rather, the lack of traditions that "English" (meaning Canadian) people have. I was trying not to listen but I ended up mulling over their uproarious laughter when one of them remarked that all Canadians seem to eat for special occasions is "turkey, turkey, turkey!" They all took turns talking about the things that they eat back home, for example one of the women remarked that traditionally goose or duck is the Christmas dinner, however she'd only ever made it once, it was a lot of work and very fatty, so her family didn't like it. (traditionally those Germans who don't eat duck or goose for their Christmas Eve dinner eat potato salad and wieners, yum) Someone else suggested that for Easter they usually eat lamb, but everyone else protested vehemently that they don't enjoy lamb, poor little lamb. So then they all agreed upon a ham for Easter. Which just about covers the German traditional feasts... as far as I can think about. They don't do Thanksgiving. They have a lot of days off at Christmas but Christmas Eve is the only real day for celebrating.

So for only making a duck once in 50 some odd years, eating wurst, and refusing to eat lamb, how is that different than turkey, turkey, turkey?

On the bus

A whole pile of Junior High guys. So cool that everyone on the bus couldn't help but want to be them when we were their age.

One says: you know if a girl punches you, you can only hit back once if she hits you twice.
His friend, uncertain: no, you should not punch girls...
Too cool to be wrong: no it's ok if you punch her once for every two times.

...and this

 

I've also finished these... wrist warmers, a really fun quick project. I should get sick more often.

Things I do when I am sick

 

Sometimes I decide all the upholstery needs to be vacuumed but when I am woozy like this time I kind of go crazy laying around. Passing the time with a craft helps.

This one is waiting for a head that is a bit tinier than mine. It was made for a child

I have a sore throat

So I bought some pomegranate & Vitamin C Halls that have a faint after taste of dirt.

This, if you can believe it, is a vast improvement over the cough candies my SIL fobbed off on me last night, that faintly taste like licorice and shoe polish, if by "faintly" I mean "incredibly intense to the power of infinity."

And all just because I was getting tired of cherry. I'm sooooory cherry!! I'll never cheat on you again!

How to identify a cult

My brother and sister and I were in a car stopped at a light and he points to one of those blue air freshener dolphins hanging from someone's mirror and he says suspiciously pointing at it "I see those dolphins EVERY where in cars now. I think it's a cult."

I thought my sister and I would have to get out and sit on the curb we were laughing so hard.

A few weeks later I reported to him that I saw a car with about 10 dolphins and a plastic cherry thing, that it must have been the leader. Not so funny, he thought.

The thing about the bus is...

I really wanted to say: You are in charge of transit for a million people city, plus outlying areas. You should start acting like this matters. Run your transit on a German Time Clock and throw on a few extra buses. Or else you'll never win over more riders. We WOULD pay more money gladly for service that rocks, but right now that 59 bucks is like paying for someone to come and kick you in the shin every day for a month. It doesn't hurt that bad, it doesn't make us cry, but twinges every day.