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Sunday, December 31, 2006

New Year's Eve 

Yesterday was a tired cranky day. Today, is the last day of 2006. Maybe that is why yesterday ended up being cranky. We look back at the year and see what we have accomplished and find ourselves dissappointed. So now I am re-evaluating my time and the things that I do and figuring out where I want to put my energy. 2007 is going to see some changes. I have lost touch with some things I really want to re-establish and I have come to feel over-burdened by other things which I will be purging from my life for a while. I am still feeling very moody and extremely disappointed with how many things last year have turned out and don't yet know how they will change, just that they MUST change somehow.

Saturday, December 30, 2006

Jigme Rinpoche 

The week... went... I am exhausted and the weather has made joints and muscles ACHE! We have real snow, snow that will stay.

This morning I woke very early and met up with Roo and Catharine for a lecture by Jigme Rinpoche at Sattva Yoga Shala Centre (1455 St-Matthieu, Montreal). It was hosted by http://www.karunamontreal.org/ and was a great opportunity. I had read some things from him for my paper in the Tibetan class I took last year. He is a phenomenal speaker, clear, easy to understand and humorous! I am glad I dragged my butt out of bet and went this morning. The centre is in the old police station. It was wierd seeing it NOT a police station. They did a good job with the renovations.

Now I am home and plan on grabbing a nap before I get into house cleaning.

OH! Fanfic update, since I haven't done one in a while...

Page Count: 255
Wordcount: 150,107

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Home from Work 

Monthly cramp-fest nearly killed me. I left work at 1pm (ish). I say "ish" because the power went out at the store and I hung out while staff went to play with fuses in the scary dangerous basement. On my way home I was feeling mildly better and thought to poke into Bureau En Gros. I am glad I did. The leather comfy office chair I have wanted was on sale for $70. It came home with me. My other craving was criossants. Not just any croissants, but the once from Premiere Moison (or however it is spelled). I wanted a bread thing that was slightly sweet, but not sugary, yet mostly not sweet. I am glad the bakery near the old McD's had some. I got home and now M-SB is putting my new chair together. I am still cramping and would really like it to stop now. Lunch was had. I will curl on the futon and watch videos. I will take some meds too now that I have food in me.

Rest, watch stuff, rest more, write fanfic, rest.

I'll be fine tomorrow. I am rarely beaten for more than a day by this. Stupid cramping... cost me $50 of work. Well, later folks. The futon and a hot water bottle are calling me.

Monday, December 25, 2006

Christmas with my family 

So... today I slept in and slept decently. I have been having air-pressure type headaches but the weather doesn't seem to be right for it. Fucked up weather. Oh Well. I got to lounge a bit more cuddling with cats and watching Dark Angel episodes on the futon. Before heading out for the day, I quickly baked a mincemeat pie for my dad. He loves it! I think he loved it more than any of the other things we got him.

We took care of cats at the store. I was a dork and opened another can of cat food in my stress to find the old 18-yr-old Oscar. He doesn't seem to like fish flavored food for some reason. *shrug*

Off to my parents' place. There was the usual light banter and fun. We opened gifts. We got some gadgety stuff and kitchen baking stuff and nummies and gift cards. THANKS ALL! Dinner went well. I don't think my sister and I were too unpleasant. I can hardly beilive that my niece is 16 years old AND graduating from high school THIS YEAR! I still remember bottle-feeding her is a roach-infested apartment on Queen Mary Road. Anyways. It was a decent time. I sometimes wish I could stay longer. And I know it would not be such a great idea. I don't know why we always end up snarking in the end. We left before that happened.

At home, we watched Tank Girl. I am not sure if M-SB liked it. Hehe... it is an acquired taste.

Anyways... Merry Christmas, Happy Hannaka (sp?), Happy Kwanza, Merry Yule, Merry Stolen Holiday, *lol*, Just plain have a great and safe time with friends and family.

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Christmas at the in-law's 

Today was hectic but great.

We started out with breakfast with the neighbor's where we opened stockings. I love doing stockings like this. It doersn't ever have to be expensive stuff, just FUN stuff. I got Jelly Bellies! So now I don't need to steal any from Dad. I also got a little bottle of iced wine all to me, a packet of hot apple cider, and a funny Bad Day Survival Kit. In my stocking were cat toys that our cats are LOVING! Crinkle balls!!! There are 3, so it will take a bit longer to lose them.

Then I helped M-SB prepare the roast ham and I prepared my famous honeyed carrots as our contribution to this evening's In-Law's Christmas Eve dinner. I got to grab a nap while stuff cooked. *sigh* Thyen was the usual shower and stuff and dressing up. I love this new dress I got. I feel pretty in it. I don't usually feel pretty in anything. But this... I really like. M-SB likes it too and I got some great comments from others. *SMILE* It is always fun to do Christmas Eve dinner with M-SB's family. I get to dress up.

There was so many people there. We numbered 16 adults and two babies. This family dinner is only M-SB's mother's side of the family. I love his family gatherings. Everyone is loving, friendly, cuddly, talkative and polite. They share and care and it is ... so wonderful. Mine... Well, We can't seem to ever get us all in the same room, and it is usually not pretty when you do. My family is also so not huggy or kissy or cuddly or anything. *sigh* Well, it was an amazing time there with M-SB's family. Dinner and family were great! Gifts were great too! I got a nice container of macadamia nuts to share with M-SB, and some money from his siblings. His sister is getting married and buying a house! Congrats to them!! After dinner we do a secret santa thing. I had cousin-in-law Kathleen and her husband (James) had me. They have a baby now too. I got three great things from my Amazon wish list. Must go delete them from it when I am done here. I got the Green Day CD with "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" on it that I have been wanting for over a year, the movie Tank Girl on DVD (where did he find THAT! And yes... I love it... some B-movies are well... I like them OK?!), And the Voodoo & AfroCaribbean Paganism book I spotted on recommended reading list. I think I will be laoning that to my friend Raphael, later after I peruse it. OH! And we finally got a family photo of James and Kathleen and Julian (their son). I am so going to have to haul out picture frames and start showing off family and freinds and stuff about the house. OH OH OH! There is this Polish (or is it just M-SB's family) tradition where blessed host from Poland is broken and shared. You go to each person and break off a piece of their host and they a pirce of yours and you wish each other Merry Christmas. We always say funny things with our wishes for each other as few of us are specifically Christian. The wishing well is traditional, the other stuff... hehe...Well, quote of the evening was from James wishing me well: "Here's wishing you well and a Merry stolen Holiday!" HAHAHAHA!!! He knows, well everyone knows I am Pagan there. This was great. It made my evening. We closed the night by playing Chez Geek. FUN FUN FUN!

Tomorrow? Tommow I sleep in. Then dash out to the store to take care of the cats. When I get home, I work on laundry and bake a pie for my dad. Then it is off to my parent's for Christmas dinner. This is very informal as it is usually just my parents, me and M-SB, my sister and my Niece. I keep a civil tongue. Sometimes so does my sister. We never stay long as I do not want to have any bad feelings or words exchanged between me and my sister. I love her, but she just isn't always the sister I knew and loved. It is complicated. I wish her and my family all the best and hope to have a smooth and friction-less Christmas. We will head over for dinner and present exchange, then come home. Well, I will have to stop at the store to care for the cats again before coming home. Good excuse to leave.

Anyways... Here is wishing you all a very Merry Christams and hope you all have a great time with family and/or friends. Remember, friends are just the family you choose. HUGS TO ALL!

Saturday, December 23, 2006

And cranky mornings continue... 

So I did not get the best sleep, though I did get larger chunks of unbroken sleep. Then the phone rang at 8:30am... on a Saturday morning... weekend before Christmas. I could have KILLED!! the morning kinda went downhill from there. I tried to get back to sleep and dozed with frustration till a cat puked. That woke me enough to make me more cranky. I rolled over refusing to get up. M-SB was up. I figured he heard it too and would clean it up. I gave up trying to sleep around 10:30am. I wanted to sleep till noon peacefully... it was a SMALL wish. The person who called was called back and she wanted to apologize for waking me. I don't even know what I growled. Later I exploded my hot breakfast cereal in the microwave and while trying to clean the mess stepped in the pile of uncleaned cat puke. I could have screamed. I didn't out loud... but if anyone was on the astral? I am sure the scream got heard far and wide.

I did manage to get some cereal. And the world was a much better place after I had some vanilla earl grey tea.

I washed some dishes and started the laundry.

I have not gotten out of pj's... and intend to stay in them ALL F'ING DAY!

I opened a bottle of apple/maple cider and reheated fettuccine alfredo for late lunch. Then plunked myself down to watch Dark Angel season two. At first, I was not sure if I liked the cider as it is not a super sweet iced cider like I usually like. But its flavor grew on me. I think it is ok. It is nice to be lounging on the futon with something new and good... and did I say NEW to watch. I also have my notebook so I can scribble ideas and stuff for my fanfic. The cats are also cuddling with me.

I want like... a MONTH of this relaxed lounging and doing what I want to do. The kitchen is almost back to the state of clean I want it in. Later I might do that wipe surfaces/dusting thing in the kitchen. Then... move onto the livingroom. Hmmm... no... the bedroom. Then the livingroom.

Hmmm... lounging with DVDs and cats... I think I am going to head back there.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Yule Fun 

This makes up for the rotten day.

Work was... well.... I got there 3 minutes late to be bitched at by some nutty client who needed her "come to me" supplies to try to keep her straying husband (something she does weekly). She could not bare to wait the 10 minutes for Roo and I to get open. And she would only be served by Roo, while telling her practically how incompetant she was because the spells were not working and we did not have stuff we were supposed to have that some obscure woman advised her of (this stuff we did not have is stuff we NEVER EVER had) and sucking up 40minutes of Roo time in the morning. Poor Roo. The woman bitched at both of us. *rolls eyes* And I was already having a crappy morning.

The day went relatively smoother after my tea and croissant. At least till I was plagued on the phone by another nutty woman seeking obscure information for her father who in the end found the information on his own. This woman called me MANY times throughout the day and wanted me to call her back. She gave me her number which she instsed was only 6 numbers long. I kept telling her that our phone numbers are 7 numbers long. She finally gave me a 7-sigit number. No, I did not call her back. My patience were thoroughly worn.

Late afternoon we received a BIG box of stuff, mostly... SAGE! The sage exploded all over the box. Handling the few things that I did handle made my hands swell and itch like MAD! And the baskets of bundles rendered the store impossible for me to be in without having athsma attacks. I hope they sell ALOT of the sage over the weekend. When I come in on Tuesday, project #1 will be delegating someone to put every single sage bundle into a plastic baggy and sealing it shut. I was a wreck by the time I left... and I didn't even handle much. Exposure was killing me. Stupid allergies. I hope the staff manage to de-sage the rest of the store over the weekend, though I doubt they will have time.

The drive home was TREACHEROUS! The rain froze on contact making everything ICY and traffic super slow. I managed to pop into Angrignon Mall to get a few accessories for my dressing up for Christmas Eve dinner with M-SB's family. That is alwasy FUN! The crowd in the mall were crazy! I escaped yunscathed, YAY me! And picked up food for dinner, though forgot the chicken breasts. We found one frozen in the freezer. We had dinner of chicken and thick bacon over fetuccine alfredo. Mmmmmm....

The Yule Candle was going. No one showed for our vigil. In a way, a big way, I am glad. I really was in no mood to entertain. After my day, I just wanted a quiet candle-lit evening with M-SB. We lounged and cuddled on the futon, perused the Chez Geek and Chez Goth rules, and cuddled some more with camambert, bread, pate... and After Eights. Then we watched a remarkably good film "The Devil Wears Prada". And since it is Yule, We opened our gifties! M-SB got a cargo kilt from me yesterday, the Sandman collection leatherbound volume 1 (I almost had to kill some one to get it), a bonsai tree (M-SB style), and a Winnie the Pooh calendar. I am glad he likes his stuff. He fondled the book as much as I fondled my easel. Yay me! I did good! He got me all my FAVORITE things!!! I got season 2 of Dark Angel, a bottle of yummy Sortilege (though not the big bottle, one that is manageable for me), and my absolute favorite Laura Secord jellies (I usually suffice to get the no-name version from provigo... since I was sure Laura Secord no longer made them). Tough to say what was my favorite gift so far. Those three things, the easel and the te stuffs are all at the top.OH! I also got 2 magazine subscriptions from my mom: Simple Living (wish I will have to ask her to please not get me again... it is nice but really not my focus) and Body & Soul (which is EXACTLY what I adore!).

This is a good Yule so far. The simple things, the quiet moments, the small stuffs, the time spent with friends (especially Sunday breakfasts)... those I would have to say are my favorites this year.

Merry Yule everyone!!

Ugh... and more ugh... 

Well last night went ok. I baked my cookies and tidied the livingroom. I was in bed by 11:30pm. It was chilly so up went the heat and I snuggled close to M-SB fr a while. The damp chill has been making my hip hurt. I slept BAD. Very bad. I should have just taken advil. I was awake by 4:00am and could not get to sleep till M-SB left for work this morning. I am so tired and feeling very fucked up... and cranky. This does not bode well for tonight's vigil.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Day Off - part 3 

Kitchen is now clean. No, I didn't dust every surface. Though about it, but didn't. Washed another load of dishes and just finished cleaning out the fridge. Freezers will be on the weekend. I finished off the pizza and the tiny... equivalent of 1.5 shot, of iced wine with brandy.

Now I am starting on the livingroom. Hmmm... maybe I will start some peanut butter cookies that I have been craving. Yup. Gonna make those and clean the livingroom as they bake. Mmmmm... peanut butter cookies. Hmmm... maybe I will toss some carob chips into them. Mmmmmm. Yup! Do I have carob chips? If I do, I will toss some on.

I got that blue Asian dress. It comes from China, so I guess it will be a month or so before I get it. I also got Memoirs of a Geisha DVD. YAY! That should arrive in a couple weeks or so. Tomorrow I find out if I finally won the green skirt I have been bidding on since early October and being outbid evry fricken week. Here is me crossing my fingers that bidders are too busy with Christmas to think to check if they have been outbid. Still absolutely no luck in finding the book for Memoirs of a Geisha though. I will scour the second hand bookstores tomorrow on my work break.

Oh, got word from my brother. He and Man Yee do not want anything but a card. They would rather people focus on the boy and boy to come. *sigh*

Oooo... I found my carob chips in the back of the fridge... WEEHEE! Off to make cookies!!

Day off - part 2 

Well, I am still cleaning the kitchen. Purging really. Did another load of dishes and purged through the shelf. I also purged through the crap that piled up on the kitchen table.

M-SB... PLEASE MOUNT THE BLOODY CALENDAR IN THE STAIRWAY! (Saturday)

Next up... litterbox and the rest of the kitchen. I am also dusting the tops of stuff as I go. Then shake the rug outside and sweep and mop the kitchen floor. The kitchen WILL be done before supper. I even did a little finance assessing... um... listing what needs to be paid by oh... January 3rd:

Car: $250 to mom
Car: $150 tickets
Car: $250 Rod thingy & wheel alignment
Concordia: $475
Hydro: $89
Bell: $100
VISA: $150
Hotel for Toronto Pagan Conference: $150 roughly
IOU's: misc ~$700
TICA: $150 registration of Tsuki and his pedigree

Well, I know where my student loan is going. It won't cover everything, but it will cover alot. Paychecks will cover the rest and I might be a bit later than Jan. 3rd. This is a rough list so I can remember what has to go where before I get too excited with any potential Christmas money. I "WANT" a couple more shelves for the livingroom, blinds and curtain for the office and kitchen, new kitchen dining table and chairs (though waiting to hear if Mom is parting with hers). There is a great deal that I want. However, what I need is paid bills.

What I need more and now is a clean house before tomorrow. Back to the grind.

Day Off - part 1 

This is a day off?

I slept badly yet again. Went to bed at midnight, woke for no reason at 2:30am, woke again an hour later because I was too hot, woke again an hour later because I was too cold. The alarm went off at 6:00am. I got some peace till about 8:00am when the cats made noise. Woke again at 9:00am in a panic thinking I was late. Woke 30min later form a bad dream. Then the phone rang at a little after 10:00am. What was the point?

So I am up. I struggled zombi-like to make hot cereal in the microwave after I fucked up the 2 step-directions in step one 4 times. In the end, I finally got breakfast hot cereal and comfort tea. Dressed and emailed checked, I was ready for the day... kinda. I went roaming on Ebay for a Memoirs of a Geisha book. No real luck, Though... I bought a lovely blue asian dress and am bidding on the movie. I spotted an amazing website I think Ceri would want to check out, along with the rest of Random Colour as it has very nice looking corsetts. Ebay is evil!!!! And yet, I never found a reasonable book of Memoirs of a Geisha. I WANT MY OWN COPY!!! Um... Autumn, I borrowed yours last night while babysitting. I guess M-SB forgot to mention it. I will read it while I covet my own copy. *sigh* Need to pay off the visa in the new year and get my own from Amazon. (yes... it is now on my wishlist there)

I got 2 loads of dishes washed. And M-SB's Cargo Kilt is now here and paid for. I am now purging through the kitchen to clean it as I nibble leftover pizza and sip cold tea.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

New to interrupt my break at work! 

Here I am... on break. Most of my Yule shopping is done. I even got some things for myself since I am fairly safe that no one will get them for me anyways at this point. I am sitting down blogging on the store blog about the new things that just came in. Asian Wishing Pots! And what happens? I get a cranky phone call from M-SB who is on his way down to babysit Liam. Why did he call cranky? Well, my irate hubby was irate because my cat, Tsuki (who just figured out how to open and slam cupboard doors last night) has just figured out how to use the hallway light switch. Apparenly he was launching himself at it and turning the lights on and off repeatedly till M-SB finally lost it and punished him by chasing him into Kitty Jail and locking the door.

My cat figured out light switches.

IKES!

Ok... *baffled*... *stunned*...
Back to work, my brake is over.

Grade is In! 

I got a B+ for my Taoism class! I ranks B+ with 3 other students. Someone got an A. Not me... but B+ is still way good! The scary part now is that I need 6 courses, 2 comprehensive exams and a "substantial research paper" to graduate and only have 2.5 years to do so. I have a course next term which drops the course load to 5. I am praying to speak to a teacher for a reading course in the summer (a teacher at the Toronto Pagan Conference any of the three there will do). I also have to prepare the reading list suggestions for a comprehensive exam in Paganism. I have a prof who will aversee it, thankfully! It is just not enough time. Part of me really wishes I had taken those 2 Zen courses at McGill. But I know if I do 2 courses, I cannot work. I think I will try for the comprehensive exam in Taoism for the summer. EEEK! Just not enough time!!!

Gifties! 

I got another gift this evening. It is awesome! It is a ... very ... unique chalice. I am not being rude here... REALLY! It just doesn,t looks like a stemmed chalice. It is fired clay and glazed, microwave and alcohol safe. It is more like a cup on three little legs like a cauldron. Unique is AWESOME! You see, I collect chalices as long as the fit into one of two categories: Unique or clay. This one is BOTH!! Sarah & Hobbes... you ROCK! Thank you so very much! It is on my altar at this very moment charging!

Monday, December 18, 2006

Party Mania cont'd 

The Keg was AWESOME! Always suck good food. We started the evening with staff appreciation. That was a ton of fun! I received a very meaningful certificate of appreciation that I intend to frame and put in my office next to my plaque. This was followed by drinks. I ordered 2 pitchers of Sangria to share at our table. My personal token of appreciation. I didn't, however, realize how expensice a pitcher of sangria was. OUCH! Well, it was worth it. The staff of our store is amazing. THANK YOU ALL! We then opened out stockings. I got a new catnip mouse for Tsuki. He loves it ... LOVES ...IT!!!!! Hehe. I also got the Little Black Book of Tea that I have been wanted for months. It is now my bedside reading. Ya... teas... I am such a tea geek. From Roo, we all got a scroll with Kanji, which did not remotely fit in our stockings. Mine says "PERSEVERENCE". *Smile* Thank you Roo! It means ALOT! Next was entrees. Mmmmm... I had French Onion Soup. And then at last we did our secret Santa gifts. I had Roo and she loved the tea and gift certificate to the Korean marche that I got her. I got an amazing box full of different Asian teas and a little tea pot from Catharine. My favorite part of the gift, though, was the small paper she made with a collage of tea pictures and poetry and quotes. It was very sentamental. It is already posted on the wall as you come into my office. When I plasticize it, I will post it in the kitchen on the Tea cupboard.

Wonderful time. I hope everyone had as much fun as I did.

Today I was all messed up from bad sleep. Cloak was sick and throwing up almost hourly. Thus I was up hourly to clean up. I was all tired and barely functional today. I did manage to wrap my Yule and Christmas gifts. Then I was off to pick up M-SB from work and do some more shopping. We just finished our next bit of wrapping. I am craving peanut butter cookies, too. *sigh* I will try to ignore it for a while, but I think Thursday will see me making them. Something about the not sweet and sweet mix I am craving I guess.

My fanfic has been stalled due to me and my ghost writer being overwhelmed by a variety of things. But I will get back to it very soon. Maybe I will bring a notebook to work and write on my break. Hmmm... that sounds like a good idea.

Tomorrow is yet another Yule dinner. This time at our friends' place. See ya there after work!

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Party Mania 

Thus begins the Yule Party Mania. Yesterday was our coven Yule sharing. M-SB made turkey. It was a decent success. The meal was great and so was the company. My Secret Santa was Autumn and she got me an easel for painint. YAY! I have so badly wanted one for a very very long time. This one is a table top one with an extra thingy so I can have a painting drying on the other side while working on anither. I love it! I have been caressing it often. Now cleaning and sorting my office has moved up the priority list. Ash promised to come paint supply shopping with me later. Also YAY!

Today we are preparing breakfast. Then I will crash again for a nap. I have to finish something for staff appreciation. I was going to do Chinese Calligraphy, but my set SUCKS! Well, the brushes suck. So I will have to get a bit creative on what I wanted to do. Then do a bit of shopping before stopping at the store to pick up stockings and people. Store Yule party is at the Keg this year.

I still have still have some Christmas shopping to do and some things to prepare for my online folks to mail out. My brother is the MOST IMPOSSIBLE person to get for. *sigh* Thank gods I have Monday and Thursday off.

Friday is Yule Eve proper and we are doing a vigil.

Breakfast is ready, gotta go. Gods I am so very tired.

Friday, December 15, 2006

Done!!!!!! 

Oh my F-ing GODS!!!

I am finally done. Thank you to the three most incredible women I know (Autumn, Roo, and ZMP) for patiently putting up with me bugging the crap out of you to read and edit my termpaper... even at stupid hours of the night. The paper is done and AWAY! Emailed to my teacher as per his request. GODS i hope I get a decent grade.

WOOHOO! 

I am almost done!

I am almost done my paper. I have completed the final chuck of the paper. All that is left is the conclusion. I will pass it to Autumn for a look at this section. Then Friday night (um... tonight) I will write the conclusion and bibliography and send it off to my teacher. It is currently 22.5 pages.

With the help of a ghost writer for my fanfic, it is now 243 pages and 142,658 words. My current ghoats writer is writing another couple sections and then I get to plow through the remainder of the fanfic.

Tomorrow I have to finish getting / preparing Yule gifts for both coven and Store staff. I also have to do baking and stuff for the feast. Saturday is coven Yule fun and then Sunday is breakfast with the neighbors and Yule with the Store staff. Monday I finish my Yule shopping, wrapping and mailing. It is my only day off that week as I am working the store Christmas hours Tuesday through Friday.

Ok... I have been up too long. I have an exhaustion headache. G'night all!

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Bit by Little Bit 

I am finished 12 of 20 pages and 3 of 4 sections of my paper. I have till midnight to finish. I need a headspace change. I wonder if my teacher will be upset if he got it sometime in the morning and not exactly at midnight?

Saturday, December 09, 2006

moving along... into a brick wall... OWE! 

Sop far the paper is coming. I have finally finished the contextualizing... despite work calling me and completely breaking my train of thought and writing flow with a BITCHY client. I was forced to delete a whole page because it made no sense. But now, I am finished the contextualizing. I have about 24 hours to come up with the rest of my paper. I have discovered that this process is EXTREMELY exhausting... and stressful! So much energy is spent in just thinking through the information, let alone writing it coherently. I had Autumn review what I have so far. YAY ME! She gave me an academic stamp of approval. Good. I had no idea if I was on the right track or not. To celebrate my progress, we had St-Hubert chicken for supper from the new place that reopened near home and I wrote some fanfic to change my headspace.

Paper: 8 full pages of GOOD text

Fanfic page count: 231
Fanfic wordcount: 135,738

I am tired and desperately want a nap... or a full night's sleep.

Friday, December 08, 2006

survived! 

I was up early and out teaching grade 5/6. They were the monstersa i expected them to be but not the class with the psychotics. Being a chilly Friday and me having them when they had subs almost all week. Ugh... they were OFF THE WALL!

I need to turn my brain off for a few hours before I try to think coherently on my paper. I had a couple breaksd in the teaching whereby I found the info and quotes I needed for this next bit in my paper. Mental break first... then supper, then paper. Maybe a nap somewhere in there.

And I am teaching again on the 18th.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Paper Status 

I have a ghost writer for my fanfic while I work on my paper. So far, my paper has a rough intro that I did some editing on and hate a little less, but still hate. I have completed the Confucian Filial piety section and started the Feminine Aspects in the Tao section. Woe is me!!! I dread this. I am afraid I will not be done in time.

Tonight I have to leave my paper and go out to the store as I am the closing key during the class tonight. Maybe I will bring the books I need and take some notes for this section. I intend to have this section finished tonight if it kills me.

Friday, I am thankfully only workin a 1/2 day at the elementary school. It will give me more time to work on my paper. I need only survive 12:30-3:30pm with those little monsters. And yes, most of them are little monsters. CHANGELINGS i tell ya!!! I swear! Anyways...

I gotta go soon. M-SB is also gone. *sigh*

I don't know if this paper is grad quality. What constitutes grad quality?
*cries*

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

writing apace... 

I am on page 5 of my paper in Taoism. YAY me!!! I have an introduction that is so-so. I hate writing them. And I have completed the secion on Confucian filial piety and women's roles in medival China. I feel I have accomplished alot. Though, I wish I was in this place in my paper yesterday. Tonight, I hope to finish the second section of my paper on the feminine side of the Tao.

My fanfic is going slower, with obvious reason. The paper is priority. But I just thought I would post its progress.

Pages: 208
Wordcount: 121,703 words

Now I think I will take a break. I need to go out and get milk and energy drinks. Hmmm... I should get dressed first. By then M-SB should be home and we can go together. He then has to pack. He leaves tomorrow for Wisconsin or something for a work traning thingy and will be back Saturday.

And the writing mania begins... 

Yup... that is what I have been doing. Reading, researching and writing. I did a little bit of fanfic writing, but was mostly working on my paper today. I had a nap in the aftrenoon to give my brain a break from the computer screen. I have got my intro, which may or may not change later. I started the filial piety section and just now found a translation of a text I was looking ofr on filial piety. ARRGGHH! Now i have more reading before I write this section. It has been slow in wordcount must there has been hours of though and struggle and reading and research. I never made it out to see my mom. I doubt that I will anytime this week. She will be upset as she is sick and could really use my company. I just don't dare interrupt the roll I am now in for the paper.

My back and shoulders are hurting something fierce! I am planning on going to bed and starting back at the writing in the morning.

Before I head off, I drew a card out of my new Manga Tarot deck:


The Priest: Spirituality
non-materialistic vision, advice, guidance, teaching
order, inner discipline
The spirit is a garden to be cultivated with love.

Sunday, December 03, 2006

Yule and stuff 

At last, the day of community Yule fair is over. It was an AMAZING time! There was a ton of stress leadi8ng up to it and making sure everything was set and resdy for coven table, CMS table, AND store table... AND ritual!!

The tables all looked AMAZING! We had a coven pamphlet that I am proud of and the most incredible incense. People oohed and ahhed over the wands and chainmail. M-SB was at the coven table with some of our coveners dropping in here and there for a few hours to keep him company. He worked on more chainmail stuffs while sitting there. I had two wonderful ladies at the CMS table, Karyn (a student of this semester's level 1) and Linda (a graduate of the school). They were incredible. Yan was at the store table. Maxim came to keep him company. There was a remarkably decent turnout at the Fair. The tables of everyone looked incredible. And despite blackouts and uncertain weather, there were a bunch of people checking us out once 2pm came around. i got to see and cuddle lots of folks I don't see often when I wandered. M-Sb bought me the most beautiful moonstone ring there that fits so comfortably, it feels like I had always owned it. I also picked up some gifts. It was nice to not worry about my paper for the day. We packed up smoothly and had dinner in time to get back to the ritual.

The ritual went so smoothly and beautifully. The tough part was hearing everyone as the accoustics in the Mezzanine are terrible. But, otherwise it was phenominal! I want to thank Hobbes for being my counterpart in leading the ritual. He wrote it for last year and I made some modifications to it for this year. He was great! My quarter callers summoned the elements with power and grace. Thanks to Nathalie, WinterWolf, Karyn, and Aurora. And the spectacle! The battle of Holly King and Oak King!!! WOW!!! Thanks to Yan and Maxim. You guys were INCREDIBLE!

M-Sb helped me after the ritual to unload the store stuff. My gods my car was PACKED with three organization's worth of stuff PLUS ritual gear. We got home and crashed.

I woke all stiff and sore. Still am. like I was hit by a truck or something. I forced myself to ignore it while I cleaned the house. M-SB did the dishes and made brunch. Then the neighbors came up and we enjoyed the weekly shared breakfast.

Other rooms are a bit of chaos with stuffs. And I am still all sore. OH! We have snow as I had asked of the Winter Crone goddess last night. A pretty layer of white fluff!

We had lost electricity yesterday at 4:45am but had it by the time we got home from the fair. Thankfully. Now I am sitting and relaxing with a new tea: Buckingham Palace (bergamot, vanilla, lavendar, jasmine). Tsuki still has his cat cold, but it seems to be improving. I will call tomorrow and cancel his vet appointment. I was thinking of writing the next bit of my fanfic. But I am tired. I think I will grab a nap and then finish the filial piety research and start the contectualizing of my paper.

Oh... here are some picture from the fair. Go to Aurora's blog to see THESE ones. Here is the one from Crystal of CUPS.