::alio!::

check it off the list

I *FINALLY* bought shoes for the wedding.

I haven't gotten them yet - just ordered them tonight, and they have to be shipped to my sister-in-law in Michigan, but other than that, they're gorgeous.

Typical woman that I am (yes, I know), I solved the quandary of appropriate shoes by buying two pairs. Just in case the second pair gets vetoed for any reason. If you are female you understand my reasoning perfectly.

The first pair is just for show, really, something to appease the grandmothers should they show signs of having a coronary:

They're really nice, and simple, and they were only $90. I can wear them with pretty much anything later, and Ralph Lauren is a respectable brand. They're also made of kid, apparently. Not the children kid. The lamb kid. Which isn't any better, I suppose . . .

But I wanted something a bit more expressive of my personality. A bit more me. A bit more . . . blue. And retro. And funky. I just needed to find it. I gathered a panel (seems I do that a lot these days) of my bridesmaids and some other girls I know (most of the girls I know) and sent them link after link after link after link. Then tonight I saw them and I knew that they were the ones. It was kind of the same feeling I got with my wedding dress - I didn't really know that it was exactly what I wanted until I saw it. And then it all made sense.

Ready? Brace yourselves.

EEEEEEEEEEEEE.

And they were only $30!

Now - the question is, will they go with my dress?

Ah, who cares at this point?

115 days and counting!

600th Entry

And do I have anything fascinating for you?

Not really.

I'm in the midst of my comprehensive exams. I'm about a week behind on my book readings, but I'm about eight weeks ahead in my journal readings, so that's something, I guess. But essentially, any time I'm spending doing things other than reading is considered wasted time. That includes sleeping and working at my real job.

Also, it's FOUR MONTHS UNTIL THE WEDDING.

Holy crap.

I've been experimenting with cupcakes to serve in lieu of a wedding cake. Tonight I put the finishing touches on experiment number eight of sixteen. Oh man oh man, are they good. I've also been taking tons of photos of cupcakes, and I think it's made me a little strange as a photographer. What can I say? You can see the yummy results here.

In other news, Andy and I also went hiking last weekend, on one of the few lovely days we have here in St. John's. And when it's nice here, it's REALLY nice. You can see photos starting here.

Peace.

my brother-in-law's story

Listening to Shannon tell a funny story makes everything ten times funnier because he laughs hysterically the whole time.

Tonight he called to tell us a story from one of his sister's friends.

Apparently, this friend went to Toronto to take care of her aunt's dog.

The dog, of course, DIES.

The poor girl doesn't know what to do, so she decides to take the dog's body to the vet. Not having a car or anything, she puts the dog in a duffel bag and gets on the subway.

She's on the subway and everything is fine, but then she hits the turnstiles, about three in a row, and she's having trouble negotiating them with her heavy load.

A good Samaritan offers to help her. They get through the first turnstile or so, and the guy's like, "this bag is really heavy - what's in it, anyway?"

The girl, obviously, is a little nervous about this line of conversation, so she lies. "Electronics," she says, to help set up a computer at her sister's house.

And the good Samaritan, hearing this, takes off with the duffel bag.

Can you imagine the look on his face when he hits the pawn shop with his stolen goods and opens the bag, only to find a dead dog inside?

Oh man.

You shoulda heard Shannon tell it.

havin' a time

I had one of those nights last night. You know the ones - where you think it might be weird, but fun, and it turns out to be a lot more weird and a lot more fun than you had intended?

Yeah, one of those.

On Wednesday R, a member of my thesis committee, successfully defended his doctoral thesis. He's a very popular dude in the department, and so everyone was there. He did a very good job. Last night, he had a party, and, because of his unique status as both teacher and student in the department, he invited both faculty and grads to his shindig. That is bound to be a little awkward, having drinks with all your professors around. And it's a VERY small department, with a grand total of grads and profs probably coming to about 30, so everyone knows everybody else.

It turned out to be a lot of fun, though seeing Eeyore drunk was a little peculiar. I've never seen him smile so much. And he actually put his arm around Andy at one point, which he thought a might peculiar.

The weirdness started when Andy said, I think I just saw my geography prof. And he was right. Apparently R and she are very good friends, so we talked to her for a while. I think she was just as surprised as Andy was to see him there.

Then, towards the end of the night, when I'd already started yawning and had completely lost my voice from talking over the noise, I got sucked into a theoretical debate (after 6 beers) with K, the prof I TA for, and S, a prof with whom I have never spoken. I think we talked for about 2 hours and I ended up coming out of it okay. Basically I felt like I defended my life thesis and won, which is nice. Plus I think that having explained it in detail to two of the seven profs in the department is a good thing. I think most of them think I'm a little crazy because I don't want to become another product of the professor machine. But I definitely felt good about that conversation. Though I was more than a little drunk so you never know how it actually turned out. I guess I'll find out the next time I'm in the department and I run into somebody . . .

But it was a fun night. I don't usually hang around too much at school so I don't get to talk to the other grads as much as I would like, and last night was a good opportunity. Andy and I made arrangements with D and C to hang out on Wednesday, and R, whom I didn't really get to talk to much (as he was the host), asked me to get together at some point and talk about stuff. So that's something to look forward to.

I pretty much wrote off today, though. I can't drink like I used to. I wasn't hungover or anything, just that sort of tired that makes me not want to do anything other than watch crappy movies on TV. As a result, I'm slightly behind on both my cupcake making and my comps schedule, but I can make up for that another day.

Chel, can you . . . ?

. . . change my clock to NST? I keep confusing myself with my post-times.

Well I'll be . . .

I had a GREAT night last night.

We were invited by our new neighbours to join them for home made pizza last night. Around 7, we headed downstairs (it's really hard to be early or late when it takes thirty seconds to get somewhere) and met Nik and Karen.

From the second we got there we basically talked a blue streak - environment, politics, the weirdness of Newfoundland (they're from Moscow and Kansas, respectively) - everything. There wasn't a single pause the whole night, and we have so much in common. We only left when I started to shiver with exhaustion, because it's been a long two weeks.

I walked upstairs, still jazzed from being able to talk about something other than the law and school, and discovered that it was a quarter to three.

WE HAD BEEN THERE FOR EIGHT HOURS.

I hadn't even noticed.

I think that's a good sign when you meet someone for the first time.

We seemed to make a good impression. Nik's going to Moscow for two weeks so we've offered to help Karen, who's hugely pregnant, lift and carry things if needed, and we're all going to get together again when everyone's back in town. It seems very promising . . .

DONE HOMEWORK FOREVER

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I just (*just*) finished my last essay for my course work this term. This is in addition to the assignment I had for my actual class, which I finished last week. No, this was an additional paper assigned to me by my supervisor, for which I will not receive a grade, but which has to be excellent notwithstanding.

And it's DONE.

Officially, I never have to do homework again.

Of course, I start my comprehensive exams on Monday the 13th. Essentially, I have three questions, for which I am provided three separate reading lists. On Monday, I receive the first list, of 12 books and 12 scholarly articles on the theme of theory as it relates to my project. I have three months to read and take notes on these sources, and at the end I am given a question. I have a week to answer that question, using every single one of my 24 sources, in a 35 page essay. Then I do that two more times, one with ethnographies relating to my project and one regarding the region in which I will be carrying out my fieldwork.

After that is over (last essay due the day before my birthday in 2010), I get to write a research proposal, defend it, apply for and obtain ethics clearance, establish contact with my field representative and negotiate the terms of my research, carry out my research, analyze the data, and write a 500 page thesis about the whole thing.

Not to mention that I must constantly be on the lookout for the various kinds of funding I can apply for throughout this process.

BUT

For the next week, at least, I am FREE from scholastic obligations. FREE I tell you.

So I plan to do a whole lot of nothing for the next seven days, and it's going to be awesome (I'll probably end up rearranging my office closet, but that will be cool too).

It's my last week of responsibility-free living for the next three years, and so I intend to enjoy it.