I talked to my advisor yesterday, and assuming I get into all these classes when my sign-up time opens at 11:30am today, this should be my winter semester:

CMNS 155 ON1 'Introduction to Workplace & Academic Communications'

MATH 105 'Math for Elementary Teachers'

EDUC 300 'Introduction to Best Practices in Teaching'

EDUC 362 'Philosophy of Education'

ENGL 225 'Classical Literature in Translation'

ENGL 310 'Elizabethan and Jacobean Drama'

Plus finishing grade 11 advanced math (I did grade 11 general, not good enough) in my Tuesday/Thursday morning upgrade class, which has been going very well so far with over 90% average in all the chapter tests. I HAVE to have a grade 11 advanced credit for the math 105, but I'm going to try to talk the teacher into letting me take the class anyway on the promise that I'll finish grade eleven before I finish math 105.

It is going to be a LOT of work. I really wish they'd just bloody run English 210, it's a writing requirement that would also fulfil my last English second-year requirement, but they haven't run it since maybe last year. >:( I tried to take it last semester but it wasn't running then either, so instead I have to do my writing requirement (the communications course), AND one more second-year English (English 225, at least it's with a teacher I know). Grr argh.

The two Education classes satisfy my last upper-level breadth requirements and they are prerequisites for UFV's teaching program, as is the Math course which also fills in my last couple lower-level credit requirements. One last upper-level English from the appropriate section, and that's it. Hopefully.

The problems are: I still need to get my courses from the University of Ottawa properly 'articulated' into their synonymous credits at the University of the Fraser Valley. I was told when I originally applied that they wouldn't need any syllabuses because UoO was a big school and certainly my courses had already been articulated before. That person lied. :( So I have to hassle UoO in the morning to send the 2002/2003 syllabuses for my English, Psychology, and Philosophy courses post-haste. IF the credits transfer the way we think/hope they will, this winter will be my final semester. If not, I'll need to do summer courses at the least (tricky with the wedding in August), or do one last semester next fall.

The OTHER thing is, UFV's teaching program starts in JULY! And not just a part-time or short-run thing, it starts full-bore full-time on theory in July so they can drop you right into a teaching practicum in September. With the wedding in August, that's just not going to happen. BUT apparently Simon Fraser University starts their teaching program right in September, by skipping a lot of theory (which I'm hopefully getting in the Education courses I've been taking as breadth requirements) and dropping you right into practicum. and the University of British Columbia has a teaching program that starts in January, but my advisor wasn't familiar with that one to tell me whether they start you with theory before teaching. January would give me kind of a convenient post-degree-post-wedding cooldown period, but I have no idea what I'd do for work. Or whether I want to drive to Vancouver every day. I have done the requirements for all three programs, I made a point of it so as to keep my options completely open.

Rargh. For the time being I'm signing up for the above. Paul's going to be done school and has assured me that he's willing to pick up the ball at home to give me maximum time for schoolwork. Really, I did three courses while working, even while managing the Santa set, and looking after the house, now I'm going five while doing everything around the house, can I do what will technically be seven courses, if I don't have to worry about things at home and am willing to give up any semblance of a social life?

I really need to shake this mental image of myself as a total wallflower that never attracts any sort of attention. It hasn't been true since high school, at the very least. And yet every time one of my classmates greets me by name in the hallways or stops to talk to me in the library, I get a little freaked out that they know my name, what the hell. Even though, really, of course they know my name, professors call me by name because I talk as much or more than anyone else in most of my classes. And I wear bright colours, and I smile at people. Duh.

It probably helps that once you get into the core third-year English classes, you end up with the same people in most of the rooms. Ech.

Apologies to my XBox Live friends, but as of today I'm only a Silver subscriber. That means I can't play online or send any messages. :( (I can SEE them, but I can't reply)

In other words, ezelek, I'm doing okay! :P

The eternal question... The essay I finished last night is due online at noon, not for any of my physical classrooms. I am so tired, I know I'm just going to fall asleep repeatedly in class, and won't remember a word that will be said (and my note-writing is entirely indecipherable when I'm exhausted). Do I drag myself in anyway, just so the attendance says I'm there, and give up on sleeping a bit more and doing anything else useful with my day?

I am feeling stabby-tired today. Didn't help when my ENG 301 professor acted all horrified at getting our essays, claimed they weren't due yet, and further complained that he had too many first-year essays to mark to look at ours for a while yet. I'm fairly certain he was joking and trying to be funny, he's a strange and frequently-amusing man, but I still wanted to stab him. I was up 'til 2am getting that essay all nicely done up and putting a bit of polish on it (I'm really quite pleased and I think I'll get a good mark, which means I may well fail it, we'll see how Murphy feels), which isn't THAT bad, especially since I slept about twelve hours Sunday night. But I've been sleeping terribly for weeks now and I am too old for this shit, gawds.

Which is why I should really get cracking on the essay due Thursday for my online class. But that one's only 5-6 pages rather than 8-10, and the teacher actually GAVE us essay questions to answer! Such luxury! It feels like cheating, after almost all my other professors have insisted that coming up with a topic all by myself is part of the challenge. Anyway, it's a bit difficult to feel panicked about that one. Must motivate self to just get it over with so I can have guilt-free video game mindless relaxation...

After I clean the poor gerbils' cage and change the water in my fish tanks... That one sick neon finally passed away after all. :( So after a suitable period of quarantine it should be safe to move Obi 2 in there...

And this weekend we have the October birthday party with skjie's stepmom's family, and two Halloween parties (although I may skip one, it looks like 99% of the attendees will be under 20, and I've already complained today about feeling old, even if there will be jello shooters), and we're supposed to help at least one of our friends move...

Sometimes I throw out random quotes to try and draw out people on my wavelength. When I say "the peasants are revolting!", I expect a 'normal' person may be vaguely confused or concerned, or just thinkknow that I'm weird. Somebody I could get on with will probably laugh, or make an appropriate return-comment about the relative attractiveness of peasants.

I dunno, but I should probably go back to writing at least eight pages on Heroism in Book Ten of the Iliad....

om_nom_berries posted a list of all the jobs she's ever worked and asked to see what her friends have done, so I figured I may as well post it here so you can all see that I may take after my mom after all... To shorten the list a bit, I'm only bothering with the jobs for which I had to pay taxes. If I listed the babysitting and jewelery-selling at craft shows and going door-to-door with things I'd made from stuff I found and what-have-you, we'd be here all day. The breaks in between jobs are usually school-related. ( I've had ten tax-paying employee positions in the last twelve years. )

Paul's Grandad, his mom's dad, passed away this afternoon. It was not really unexpected, but a bit sudden since he was apparently fine on Wednesday. Paul and his close family are of course sad, but fairly philosophical about it. But his uncles (at least one of them, anyway) and his Grandad's wife are shattered.

Possibly the strangest thing out of the event is that I've ended up inheriting a Betta that Paul's Grandad's wife couldn't cope with caring for anymore on top of the dog and the house and all the stress. I'm told she accidentally dumped the other one down the sink while trying to change the water and that was something of a breaking point. Paul's mom handed it to me when she met us at Grannie's, I guess I'm the only fish-keeper in the family. He's currently hanging out in the condo I wasn't using cuz the actual bowl he arrived in was too small to keep him any useful amount of warmth in this cold apartment, hopefully that will last him okay 'til I can get him in a proper tank. So far he doesn't seem nearly as aggressive as Abalone so I may try him in the ten-gallon with a gentler filter. Random part of a strange day...

Raaaaawr.

I'm still trying to locate the calm balance of housework-schoolwork-relaxing that will get everything done without any guilt. I wish I was lazier and didn't have such a compulsion to be useful, it would be so much easier to be home. D: I'm trying to assure myself that the house is plenty clean enough for guests, and if I sit down and read my textbook until my Yoga class, I won't be 'bad' for having a fun evening. :(

Cleaning the bathroom was almost a disaster, my back/hip really don't want me bending over and around like that. >_< I'm so glad Paul's doctor said he'd take me as a patient as well, maybe now I can figure out wtf is wrong with my lower body.

This is so frustrating. My right hip has been hurting, constantly, for MONTHS, skjie still needs followup work about his heart flutters that haven't gone away, and we can't get a doctor! skjie's family doctor is retiring, it looks like our only option is to keep driving more than an hour to see the guy that's taking over, if we can even get an appointment in less than a month. We may as well just go to walkin clinics and the hospital, at least that way we get to talk to someone!

Double knitting is like MAGIC!



And the other side.



The actual knitted piece came out much shorter than the chart, but it'll probably stretch out a bit after washing, especially if I can figure out how to block the full length. I can get at least twelve skulls out of the amount of yarn I've got, a six-foot scarf should be plenty huge enough for random_meow!

Finished my last shift at PetSmart this morning. skjie is disappointed in me for being a good employee and doing my job properly right up to clocking-out. :P I'm drinking a glass of the Granville Raspberry Wheat Ale I'd been saving for this very moment, and it is very sweet.

I feel so much... Lighter. All of this past week, once it really sunk in that I was almost done, I've felt happier! More motivated! I've even been sleeping better and cooking real meals! I had no idea just how much stress I was feeling until it just, went away.

My house is actually clean. Not like white-glove clean, I'm not that kinda person, but definitely antiseptic-kitchen-and-bathroom-and-all-spiders-evicted clean. It makes me happy. I feel like I could have people over at a moment's notice and it would be no panic! I could do with sorting through some of the paperwork shoved haphazardly in my 'filing system,' and I will, but my house is now generally as clean as I always made a point of making it when I knew people were coming over.

One of my teachers for the semester is super gung-ho and has already sent out the class syllabus and even this semester's assignments over the school email. So I've got those course books already (the Iliad and a companion guide, whoo), I suppose I should start reading...

I'm a little confused by the fact that I can hear a baby having a tantrum upstairs... Either my landlord got voluntold to babysit (I can't imagine him volunteering himself), or there's a story we haven't heard yet.

In other news, I had terrible dreams of tarantulas at work and having a horrible fight with skjie (complete with awkward naked-in-public dream sequences), but I still felt fine and rested and not upset about anything when I woke up. Weird.

Must buckle down and get the hang of this figure-eight cast-on, so I can get another simple project on the needles to work on whenever. I'm making an iPod Touch cosy for happytarget.

Last night I dreamed I was acting in a movie alongside Emma Watson and a bunch of other irrelevant people, except that every time we were 'filming' the dream flipped to the movie-stuff actually happening. So over and over again, as we tried to get the right take, aliens were lighting the world on fire and we were struggling to escape through hordes of zombies. Gah.

And then I dreamed that the invasive pond snails had found their way into Abalone's tank and were trying to take over there, too, and I was so mad.

Handed in my two week's notice today, to the Operations manager. The Store Manager will be in tomorrow morning, so when I come in after noon I'll probably get something thrown at me for quitting. :X My store manager is actually on my Facebook friends list (I added her when she moved to another store and I'd be a jerk to remove her just cuz she's back at our store) so I'm not saying anything on Facebook 'til she's had a chance to read the note, but now half the store already knows. ^_^;; I had half a dozen people come up to me and be all sad that I'm leeeaaaaving them, oh nooooo, which made me feel kinda warm and fuzzy. It's nice to be loved.

So, on Saturday when my mom and sisters got back from watching the horse eventing, we went into Vancouver and met happytarget's friend from her Peru-trip, and we all went to the Vancouver Aquarium. All the fish were awesome and the "4-D Experience" was super fun. And we saw the baby Beluga (kind of, the area's pretty heavily roped off so he doesn't get stressed out), and the dolphin show, and watched the otters have dinner. Then we went for a walk around Stanley Park and admired the views. We made it to the totem poles, as well, so there were pictures. When we got back in the evening I taught my family how to play Carcassonne, which lasted until sleep-time.

Sunday morning we got up eeeaaaaarly to meet Sue, Richard, and Victoria for breakfast on Granville Island. We got tasty crepes and wandered around in all the funky shops. Many souvenirs were purchased and we got some delicious salmon for dinner later that night. And I took my sisters on the Granville Brewery tour, haha. We hardly had time to finish our beer tasters before we were off to Deep Cove to go kayaking. :3 It was lovely weather to be out on the water and happytarget and skjie saw harbour seals! When we got home, I cooked everyone a big meal of lentil-barley soup and baked salmon with asparagus, it was pretty fantastic if I may say so myself.

On Monday we had an appointment to view Grouse Mountain's potential wedding sites. The marketing department gave us all free tickets for parking and the gondola, which was pretty awesome. We were actually very unimpressed with the available wedding options, way too expensive for what you get, so that made our decision to go with Cypress instead. But we were already up there, so after my meeting was done we caught a Lumberjack Show and got beaver tails, then wandered around and took in the view. I still can't believe EVERYONE either forgot their camera at home or left it in the car. :P Eventually we wandered back down the mountain and piled back into the car to drive the Sea-To-Sky Highway to Squamish. Some of random_meow's climbing friends were there taking advantage of the cliff faces, but we only ever found one of them. Instead we hiked around as high as we could go without equipment (and by 'we' I mean 'everyone else.' I'd dressed kind of nicely for the meeting in the morning and was only wearing Birkenstocks, so I opted to turn back and nap in the car when the going got rough. But skjie made it all the way up in dress pants!). After a good hike we headed back home, and played Rock Band as a family until bedtime. :D

Tuesday morning I whipped up some Beer Pancakes as a goodbye breakfast, then we headed back into Gastown so happytarget could buy the moccasins she'd spotted previously but hadn't been sure enough to purchase, and then to Jericho Beach so everyone could dip their toes in the water before leaving. The tide was out so there was squishy sand and tiny minnows everywhere. The water there is so warm, it was lovely. We lay in the sun until it was time to head to the airport, I dropped them off with less than an hour until their flight. :X But they made it so it was all good.

It was a very busy vacation, but it was awesome that I had a good excuse to go do all sorts of things I hadn't got around to yet. I'd never been on the sea-to-sky, hadn't been kayaking in the ocean, hadn't gone up any of the mountains, hadn't even been in the valley nearby where we went riding. And I got to include my family in our wedding planning, and spend lots of good quality time together. :) It was fantastic.

So, my mom and sisters have been here since Wednesday. :) We've been busy busy busy. Took them for Sushi and we went for a walk the night they arrived, stayed kinda quiet and went to bed pretty early to try and avoid jet lag.

Thursday we went down to the river to explore and then into Vancouver to wander around Gastown and visit Cypress Mountain as a potential wedding site. Cypress was nice! I was pretty unimpressed with the outside of the lodge, but it's still under construction and it HAS to be done in time for the Games, so it will be nicer by next summer. And the inside was lovely, all dark wood and nice cosy atmosphere. Just a bit down the mountain is a lovely open field with a view of the ocean and parts of the city through the trees, perfect place to put up a tent and a few rows of chairs. :D It is a definite contender, particularly because they're still new enough that they're happy to do whatever we want to get our business. ;) We got Blizzards for the kids miracle day thing and then went to see Julie & Julia, which was wonderful and adorable and I want to buy it on DVD when it comes out so I can comfort-watch. Taught mom and Emma how to play Rock Band that night, too (my mom was actually pretty good!).

Friday we went for a two-hour trail ride in the morning. Super nice horses but mine could definitely tell I had no idea what I was doing, he kept stopping for a bite to eat and then running to catch up to the others. My hand was sore from clinging to the pommel by the end, and today my whole body basically hates me, but it was fun! We scared up a Great Blue Heron and a mama deer with a yearling fawn. It's amazing how close a horse-and-rider can get to a wild animal that would never come within scent of a human alone. It was raining at the beginning of the ride, which probably contributed to the terrible head/chest cold I had by the end of the day, but it cleared up less than halfway through and the rest of the ride was lovely.

After we got back and everyone got showered and changed, it was off to wedding dress shopping! We met up with Victoria and Sue (skjie's sister and mom), and my whole entourage helped me pick out stuff to try on and gave opinions and took photos. And we got a dress! :D A year to go and I already have a dress! It's an okay fit for now, I'll have to take it to get altered much closer to the day, but it's corseted and beaded and champagne-coloured and I love it. :3 I have it hanging up in an opaque plastic cover in my office, Mercury is very entertained by hiding underneath it where it nearly touches the floor.

Then we packed my new dress into the car and went to White Spot to meet skjie's step-dad Richard, his Nanna, Grannie, and step-mother Melitta for dinner. Eleven people at the table, we had a nice spot on the patio. Unfortunately this is around where I started feeling really sick so I wasn't such good company, but I think everyone had a nice time anyway. Sue came back to our apartment to sit down with me and mom and look over our guest list. That was a little tension-y because skjie wants a waaaaaay smaller wedding than I do, so we've had a difficult time discussing the guest list in a mutually respectful way, but I think we made some progress.

And then I went to bed early after drinking lots of ginger-lemon tea, and this morning I've done Yoga stretches to try to get the riding-kinks out of my muscles (it helped but I still hurt), and I'm drinking lots of tea to try and push back this cold. My mom and sisters have gone to watch some of the horse eventing they found out was going on, when they get back I may need to go to a walk-in clinic. x_x

We're planning on going to the Vancouver Aquarium this afternoon, and tomorrow we're going to meet skjie's mom and sister again at Granville Island, then do the Granville Brewery Tour and some shopping, then hopefully go kayaking in a bird reserve. Monday is Grouse Mountain in the morning to see what they offer wedding-wise, then some more touristing in the afternoon before my family flies away again Tuesday.

I may need a vacation from this vacation. ;;^_^

I got a B+ in English 374, whooo.

My mom and sisters will be here tomorrow. :D

I must finish laundry and dishes. D: