California Dreaming

My friends, it is no longer just a dream. We are in California. We are at my family's place. We no longer have to be in a van for many, many hours a day. Yay!! :) Most of the trip is a blur of driving, eating in non-descript restaurants and sleeping in generic hotels. However, a few entertaining things happened.

Thing the first: Last night we decided to stop in some little town somewhere, and we found a Holiday Inn... a little bit pricey for our "doing it on the cheap" plan. However, Megs and I wandered in, and it was a guy about our age working the desk. Grandma Scott would say he 'really loved the Lord.' ;) So in we go, and I ask if there are any good deals on that night. His reply? Something along the lines of "if I give you a good deal, what'll you give me?" After a bit of "oh that's a handsome shirt," and "you have a very nice accent" we got the $110 dollar room for $70. Which is really a bit of a joke, because it was 9.30 and were there really going to be hordes of people stampeding in behind us to take the room at full-price? But it was entertaining nevertheless. The power of being girls.

Thing the second: It was a beautiful day today (yay! since the days before were foggy) and the drive was exquisite. A quail ran out across the road, and I squealed, and poor Megs (who was driving) was not impressed with me. I was squealing for its life, not because it was cute. Anyhoo, she didn't run it over, so huzzah! And that was the closest thing to dangerous that happened on the whole trip, thank God.

So here we are, safe and sound. And now I think that I might go to bed... all this driving has worn me out.

Love,
E.

"Insert Title Here"

Hey y'all,

well, we're in Washington - some place that starts with a "K." Our road trip is going well, and tempers are still good, yay!

We got off to a very slow start, due to some nasty snow that started pretty much when we did, and followed us down into Pincher Creek. We'd hoped to cross the border yesterday, but there was just no way. So today we're in southern Washington, and it's probably going to take us two more days to get to Cali. But the weather's clear, and the scenery's gorgeous, so there's very little complaining going on. :)

There has also been an excess of oddly good road food - a fabulous pie place for lunch, and really good Mexican for dinner. Tequila and shrimp chowder? Amazing!! Cleared my sinuses right up. But then I felt fat. And lazy. 8 hours in a car, with two big meals? So I dragged my lazy self down to the hotel fitness 'centre' (read: treadmill, stationary bike, stair-stepper) and ran on the treadmill for 1/2 an hour. Yuck. But I don't feel nearly so guilty now!

And now, to bed with a book, I think. I'm sleepy from dinner, and even the endorphins from actually using my muscles can't override that. G'night!

Ela

PS - I also drove in the States for my first time ever today. Whee for driving on the interstate! I was very nervous at first, but soon settled in at about 120 km/h, occasionally passing people, ocasionally being passed. It was very smooth. Except for the one or two (or six or eight) times I hit the bumpy bits at the side of the road. I was just checking. Y'know - to make sure they were still there. That's all.

E.

You know it's Christmas Break when...

1) You eat double chocolate cookies for breakfast.
2) You actually sit down and watch TV. In point of fact - you find that you're watching like six hours of TV. Oops.
3) Reading feels like work. Even if it's a novel.
4) Those two or three things that you're supposed to do for school keep getting put off for the really important things: eating double chocolate cookies and watching TV.
5) Forget defined meal-times: Every time is eating time!
6) You wake up one morning and suddenly realize that you haven't left your apartment in 48 hours, and you've had your PJs on that whole time, too.
7) You're wearing Winnie the Pooh PJs.
8) You're writing cheezy lists, and the post before has your eccentric aristocratic name. No thought required!

So I'm loving Christmas break! I'm sleeping loads, and just hanging out with my family. I got to spend a few days with my grandparents, which was wonderful. I don't get to see them enough during the semester, and I think that next semester is going to be even worse time-wise. So I have to get down there while I can! :D

Today I told mum that we have to go for walk, because I really do just sit around the house and do nothing these days. :) And it's lovely outside, so I guess I should be out there. In fact - maybe I'll go have some lunch, and head on out. So Happy Christmas!

Love,
me

Too funny...

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Countess Elizabeth the Erudite of Bumswick by the Hole Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

What IS this feeling?

Oh. It's the BEAUTIFUL and EXQUISITE sensation of having NOTHING TO DO. That's right. Know what's on my to do list? Nothing. Except for go to my tennis lesson tonight. But that doesn't feel like anything major! I also need to plan a lesson for tomorrow, but that also just feels like something that will be enjoyable to do, and not a horrible chore. :)

On Saturday I completely cleaned and organized room, filing away all of last semester's stuff, so it feels like I'm ready for a fresh start come January. Today I re-organized the cupboards, to leave the low ones for my new, short roommate. :) It was oddly fun... somedays nothing is quite as satisfying as a good organizing! Is that weird?

Yesterday Megs and I hosted our Christmas party which was really more of a Christmas gathering, since a number of people didn't come. The food was amazing, and the company was even better!! We played Taboo, which was fun, and sang a whole bunch, which was very cool. It was, in short, a very fabulous way to spend a Sunday afternoon/evening. I also got to meet one of Megan's McGill friends, whom I've heard lots about. It's always fun to meet your friend's friends. :)

Tomorrow I teach, and then am going down to Wetaskiwin to spend a few days with the family. I'm also getting my hair cut (thank goodness!) and coloured. I LOVE getting my hair done, so this is going to be great. Even better, I get to spend time with my grandparents, whom I've hardly gotten to see since I've gotten back. I love being with them, and I'm really looking forward to this. :)

Well, I think I might need a nap. My strenuous morning of watching TV and organizing cupboards has caught up with me. I'm exhausted! ;) Later days!

Ela

I want to break free...

Oh Queen. Nothing says "finals are ALMOST DONE" like belting out the titular chorus of this post. This afternoon, I'm guessing at about 3pm, the semester is FINALLY going to be over. These last two weeks have been exhausting and stressful (lots of stuff going on outside of school), and I actually curled up under my desk and cried yesterday morning. Then I realized that I was curled up under my desk crying, shook myself, took a firm grip on the shreds of my sanity, and got back to studying. ;)

Right before my anatomy exam yesterday I had to pop into the SLP office to sign my application form for graduate assistantship (teaching or research assistant positions). The admin assistant handed me my form, and said "Dr. R has expressed interest in you potentially TAing for her... would that be alright?" Would that be alright? WOULD THAT BE ALRIGHT? That would be AMAZING. I love Dr. R: she's an incredible teacher, a brilliant researcher, and a committee member for my thesis. I would TA, RA or slave for her - gladly! Now. Before my hopes (and potentially yours, depending on how much you care about me) get all up in the air - nothing is certain. I have no idea how the process works (for all I know this is like being short-listed for an interview, and I still have to actually get the position), and the only information I have right now is that the department will email us when the list of assistantships is put together. But I'll keep you posted.

I wrote my A&P exam right after that, and it didn't go very well. Dysphagia (disorders of swallowing) was alright, but embryology (the development of the foetus) was BRUTAL. Can I just say: If the term wasn't used IN CLASS, IN THE NOTES, or IN THE TEXT it shouldn't be on the final? (Ok - maybe it was in the text, I didn't read all of that....) Anyhoo, it was tough, I think I passed, but I don't really want to know just how badly I did.

Today I'm teaching at 10, having a thesis meeting at 12 (I'm semi prepared - yay!), and then writing my FINAL FINAL at 2. Then it's home to putter around briefly, and then off to get Allan - we're going down Candy Cane Lane tonight. And that's all you get to hear about that. ;)

And then it's CHRISTMAS BREAK! wOOt!! There shall be much lazing, and cleaning, and reading, and organizing, and sleeping, and napping... oh, it's going to be glorious.

Eek! I haven't packed my lunch yet. Off I go!

Ela

There's a dead bird on the awning

And for once it's not a quote from my audi prof. As I came up the stairs this morning (I had been out teaching), I looked out the front window from the landing - and saw a dead bird curled up on the awning. He looked so serene, so peaceful - and for a moment, I envied the bird his deadness. Ok, Ok, I jest. It's just that it's been a very stressful few days, and curling up somewhere quiet for a looooong time seems appealing right now!

Speech Science went... well, it went. I'm pretty sure I passed, but I can't say much beyond that. Thank goodness Child Language and Audi went better. And I've got more time to prep for Phonology and Anatomy, so I think they'll be fine, too. So I just need to study for those, get my ducks in a row for my thesis meeting, plan Friday's lesson for my ESL student... and it'll be the weekend, and school will be over! Yaaaaaaay Christmas!

However, I'm already thinking about January - my first batch of texts arrived from Chapters today. Aphasiology!! Motor Speech Disorders!! Research stuff... less exciting, so no exclamation points. I'm so pumped to finally be getting into material based around the adult population. I'm not terribly interested in working with kids (not that there's anything wrong with kids, it's just that I'm drawn to the fascinating world of adults), and so this semester has felt like a bit of a slog at times. Bring on the grown-ups!

Ok. Hear that whimper? That's the dysphagia (swallowing disorders) material calling my name. And it's actually pretty interesting (it's adult-focused!), so I'm going to go and read it.

Loves you.

Ela.

In my Defense, I am an Idiot

Oh, another Audiology Professor quote. And no, I haven't quit blogging... not yet, anyway. A big thanks to those of you who said you're still reading; it totally perked me up. And I need the perking.

It's the end of the semester, and I'm exhausted. I went to bed at midnight and got up at 5.15 to try and prepare for today's exams. Audiology went alright, but I'm feeling a sick sense of dread about speech science, which I write in 36 minutes. I tried doing some last minute studying, but it just wasn't working for me. To make matters worse, I've got a sore throat, and sense a bout of flu or maybe tonsilitis coming on. I'm so tired that I could curl up in this cubicle and sleep... but I've got tennis tonight, an English lesson tomorrow, 2 more finals to study for, and a couple of batches of cookies to bake. Oh, and two textbooks to read for my thesis meeting Friday, along with a timeline to develop and research questions to write. I just want to go to bed and stay there. Forever.

But enough whining! My life is filled with fabulous people doing fabulous things. Last night was Knox's JoyFest, which Megs and I sang in. It went pretty well, and we looked fab. Witness the evidence here:


My sister and her family, my grandparents and my mum were all there, which was lovely. Also there was Allen, the new boy I'm seeing. And that's all you get to hear about that. ;)

Friday and my last exam can't get here fast enough. Hello 12 hour sleeps, plus afternoon naps. *sigh* It's going to be decadent. And then off to California!!!! (Abuse of punctuation, I know.)

Sorry this was such a crap update, but I'm just too tired to think right now. Better posts shall come... just give me some sleep and a miracle cure for whatever illness is awaiting me 'round the corner.

Love,
Ela