Kali

Obligatory Halloween post! School is making me so busy that it took all week to bother uploading pictures. Either way, me ( on Halloween! )

I'm Starbuck! Pilot extraordinaire. Halloween was fun - got way too drunk on the Friday, but I made up for it by being super responsible and only being kind of drunk on Saturday.

I've been crazy stressed out basically since school started, but I'm having trouble concentrating. It's probably just that this is my last year (of this degree, anyway) and I'm excited to be done, and I've been away from home too long. It doesn't help that Stefan isn't here this year - we've seen each other about once a month since I left, but it isn't the same. I've taken to harassing his brother and old roommate on a fairly frequent basis to make myself feel better. I'm going home tomorrow for almost a week (we have a winter break type thing), so I'll see everyone then for a bit.

I'm also glad to be home because my dad and sister have both been sick with Swine Flu in the past couple weeks. It's not so bad with my sister, but since my dad is ill anyway it was bad news - it caused a colitis flare-up and the doctors made him stay home for three weeks. He's never had to stay home that long before, so I'm a bit worried that it's worse than my parents let on. And my sister got diagnosed right before we were supposed to go to a family reunion together! Me and my extended family don't get along too well, unfortunately, and I usually use her as a buffer.

Other than that, been trying not to fail my classes. I got B's on both my math midterms, which is the lowest grade I've got on a math exam since... Well, ever. And these courses aren't even that hard! And, I've been watching too much TV, as usual. I'm super bummed out that Dollhouse won't be on this month!

Monday nights are going to kill me - way too much TV to watch. Not only will I have trouble fitting in all the shows I want to see, but I'll also never get anything done!

Tonight I watched How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, almost all of House and a bit of Heroes. Which means I totally missed Gossip Girl and Castle, but someone has to make the hard choices, darnit! (I'll have to catch them online later, clearly).

( Some spoilers, nothing much... )

Other than that, Stefan is coming into town tomorrow for our six year anniversary and I'm quite excited. Although I haven't heard from him in forever because he's been at camp. Still haven't bought him a present, because I didn't know until yesterday that he was for sure coming! We'll see - I was thinking maybe a PS3 since they're on for (relatively) cheap now? Not sure.

Big news today as apparently hogwarts_elite is ending after this next term. I'm sad to see it go! I've been a member since the summer of 2006, so it's been a few years, and although my participation has certainly had its ups and downs, it's always been fun.

If there's anyone who wants to join hogwarts_elite, now is the time to do so - because I imagine that this last term will be awesome! We'll keep sorting until December, and remain open until February, apparently. They've also decided to allow squibs to re-apply if they wish!

Plus, Hufflepuff won the cup this term, which I don't think I've properly celebrated yet. YAY PUFFS!!

In France! Their keyboard is extremely confusing and frustrating.

Had a hell of a time getting here - flight was delayed, so the next one was missed, so I missed my train... So I was stuck in Paris overnight. Basically I was in transit for over 40 hours and was about ready to pass out! I'm better now, but still tired.

Will update again soon! Too tired to deal with this keyboard right now!

I saw HBP last night! I was totally late, because I was at work and a plane was taking off... I need to wait so I can dispatch them on their way out. Anyway, I got to the theatre at like 6:15pm, and the movie started at 7:00pm. Of course, a bunch of my friends went very early (per my instructions) and were at the very front of the line. I got some angry looks as they yelled "Kali! We saved you a spot at the very front! You can be the first one in!" and I walked past the 150 or so people lined up outside.

Anyway, ( A few thoughts... )


Also, I'm going to France in 14 days! It's getting very exciting... Until then though, it's work, work, work.

I went and saw Transformers 2 last night (2.5 hours of my life that I'll never get back) - but what almost made it worth it was the teaser trailer at the start. There was an Avatar: The Last Airbender trailer! I think I was the only person in the theatre who had any idea what it was, and I was basically jumping up and down in my seat.

It looks so cool. I hadn't realized M. Night Shyamalan was directing it... Not the best of signs. But it looked pretty wicked to me. Plus, it's not like he came up with the premise himself, which seems to often be where his movies go wrong (kind of an integral part, come to think of it).

Point I'm trying to make: do not go see Transformers - it's awful. Do look up the Avatar trailer, because it's awesome.

So, I started my job a couple weeks ago and have been crazy busy ever since. I spent the first week in Shitty Little Town #1, and then the second week in Shitty Little Town #2 (basically, the population of the city I live in is 20,000 and it's over four times as big as any other town in the territory - so, you can imagine the places I'm being sent). Now I'm back home and have absolutely nothing to do all day!

That's okay though, as I'm being paid to basically sit at my computer. I'm radio dispatching water bombers for forest fires, so until there's a fire... It's just me dispatching nobody! And I get killer overtime, since the fire alerts always run past my shifts. Although, that also means I work late every day, and also on weekends... I don't have much of a life right now - but it's worth it for the money. And, it's kind of awesome, because it's just me and two other summer students hanging out for the most part.

Other than that, I've just been geeking out a bit over Star Trek. I ordered the first season of TOS on Amazon, and have been watching it adoringly and wondering why I never got into this earlier. I also bought the first season of The Big Bang Theory and have basically watched it twice in the past week - it's really hilarious. And my Mom said she'd watch it with me, which is basically a first since she usually won't watch anything I tell her about! Me and my Dad have also been re-watching the HP movies, which is always fun - I love spending time with my Dad, and he's been sicker than usual lately so it's been hard.

Stefan got laid off of his job, which really sucks, but I can't help but be a bit glad that he'll have a week or so off before he can find more work - we both just work so much that we never get to see each other. Not to mention that I'm leaving in two months now, and then we'll be living apart again.

And I'm playing RISK tonight with a bunch of friends from high school - basically the first time I've hung out with all of them in a year, so it should be good.

Dollhouse has been renewed (or so the interwebz say)!! My inner Whedon-fangirl is squeeing all over the place. I had really gotten myself ready to accept extreme disappointment, and now I have the complete opposite and I can be happy instead.

In the real life sector, I've been tutoring a girl I went to school with growing up (K-gr. 7) and who I really, really hated. Now I'm trying to teach her grade 11 math so she can go away to school, and she hasn't taken any high school math ever before. It's horribly stressful.

Also, my friend with the heart problem is back in the hospital, and has been for a while. I'm extremely worried because it seems like it's even worse than the last time. I don't know when she'll be getting out... Her dad is coming to see her from Australia - he hasn't been here in like 15 years! He's kind of a jerk, but it's a reality check into how serious this whole thing is. Her heart still hasn't really started healing at all.

I start my job on Tuesday, after the long weekend! I'm going to go see Star Trek again because it was so completely awesome. I brought my dad last weekend (who's elderly and almost never goes to movies, only big ones like LotR, Star Wars, etc) and his grin was so wide when we left the theatre - then the next morning he told me that it was so good that he'd dreamed about it! I wonder if his dream featured Kirk/Spock - because if I was dreaming about Star Trek, I think mine probably would XD

I would say, either Ayers Rock or the Twelve Apostles (which, btw, there were not twelve of! More lies from those Aussies!) that I saw while I was in Australia - I've seen some beautiful things here in Canada, but they were just so different from the usual.

( Pretty pictures behind the cut! )

I'm done exams! Freedom, at long last! Now I've got to pack up all my stuff since I'm moving next week!

Also, my friend Paige (the one who was in the hospital), is doing better - she's back at home, on bed rest. She says she's still feeling weak, and they won't be able to tell whether or not her heart is healing until a couple of weeks from now, when they'll do another echo. She's coming to visit me next week here in Edmonton, so I'm going to take good care of her! Thanks so much everyone who sent their good wishes her way, it's much appreciated!

I have an exam in 40 minutes. My chances aren't looking good. It's so hard to study for the last exam of the year!

However, in 2 hours and 40 minutes, I'll be free!!

So, my Mom just sent me a Facebook message that said "Oh, you're a fan of Tahmoh Penikett? That's so funny - your father and I used to be very good friends with his father, who... blah blah blah". So, now I'm trying to talk her into arranging for us to be married.

Apparently our parents were all political together, and his Dad was the NDP leader in the Yukon. Hope this distant family connection will one day lead to me meeting Helo (or more recently Paul Ballard XD)...

I posted a couple days ago that one of my friends was in the hospital, but I didn't know what was wrong. Thanks to everyone who sent messages of support!

It turns out she has an infection in her heart, called myocardosis. It seems quite serious, so unfortunately my fears haven't been erased. They think it started from a cold, and basically it has made her heart begin to fail. The doctor said that since her heart was swelling, the valve that keeps the blood from falling back after it's been pumped up has been separated, so that only 25% of her blood is actually making it through the pumps. It's supposed to be 60%, and he was saying that most people with heart disease have 40%... So, it seems pretty bad.

He said that most people's hearts fully recover from the infection, but 20-25% never get better. Her health hasn't ever been the greatest, so I'm pretty worried. She doesn't seem to be worrying too much about it, but maybe she's just trying to be brave.

Anyway, I'm glad to be home so I can be here over the next few days.

I just got news that one of my good friends is in the hospital - but I don't have any more information, and it's too late to call anyone who might know. Now I'm seriously worried about it. All I know I was told in the message was that she's going to be there a while. Crap - why don't I answer my phone more often?!

I'm so grateful I'm going home tomorrow so I can figure out what's going on, and hopefully visit her.

I won one of the Hufflepuff superlatives this term - The Peeves Award for the Best Comments! Thanks everyone who voted for me, it made my day!

In other news, I've been writing a rather long paper about mind uploading for my sci-fi class. I just keep reminding myself that classes are almost over!

I was tagged by kristi_ryou for this meme!

Firstly: People who have been tagged must write their answers on their blog and replace any question that they dislike with a new, original question.
Secondly: Tag eight people. Don't refuse to do that. Don't tag who tagged you.

Also, forgive me. I've been drinking, a bit.

( Meme here! )

Who will I tag... How about... gretchystretchy, amaelgreenleaf, smartamy15, dianaish, ohstarling and kutiechick, munanna and crazy_megan. And anyone else who wants to!!!

Took this personality test that I got from my new friend, cetacea.

( Results under the cut... )

I always think it's kind of funny when I get "organized" on things like this. I am organized in that sense of the word - I get work done on time, and done right, and I love lists... But I'm a mess! Is it weird that physically I'm so disorganized, but that I plan and work so carefully? I mean, my living space looks like a hurricane hit it, and I can never find anything... But I do make very strict plans regarding work and my routine.

I love that my first two traits say that I'm probably interested in classical music - I'm not. I love how pretentious it sounds: "You're creative and intellectual, and you probably enjoy classical musical and high literature," all said in a British-type accent, obviously. Mind you, I don't really listen to much music at all (I'm rather strange that way) and if I had to listen to something, classical is as good as the next thing, I suppose.

On another note, exercise is still going well. Went to the gym yesterday, and yoga again the day before!

Dollhouse last night was amazing. Seriously, I loved it. And on a shallow note, I'm okay with them having Tahmoh Penikett spend most of the episode with his shirt off, if they want to keep that up. Also, I think Victor (who I rather disliked at first) is pretty adorable at this point. Hope that the next episode is just as good!

I've got a job for the summer! I'll be dispatching planes for forest fire fighting for the territorial government! I'm glad to have that stress off of my shoulders.

I feel a bit guilty, because I know that I'm going to France in August for this program, and I haven't told them yet. It's just that these government jobs are really competitive (more so this year, with the economic situation), and I don't want to lose my position. I'm playing it by ear, to figure out when I'll basically have to tell them.

Continuing to try to exercise regularly. Hit the gym Friday, and today I went to a yoga class. But I was not prepared for what I got... I was just looking for a place with a Sunday, late-afternoon class, and found one that does Bikram Yoga, which I'd never heard of before. I figured I'd give it a shot... Turns out it's a kind of hot yoga</i. Meaning it's in a room that's like 40 degrees (that's a bit over 100 degrees farenheit, I think (?) for my American friends :)). I was fighting not to pass out the entire time! I couldn't do the entire class, because I was definitely not hydrated enough, but I was sweating bullets even while just resting! Everyone in the class was literally dripping from sweating so much... I don't think I've ever felt like my legs were sweating before! Next time, definitely wearing yoga shorts. That being said, despite the fact that I'm not fit enough to actually do the entire class at this point, I think I'm gonna try to go a few more times at least before writing it off - it's a really great work-out.

I went swimming today!

I've been on a weight loss regime for almost a year now (10 months, I think) but I haven't really exercised at all... Because I hate it. Haha! You know how people are all like "It gets your heart rate going, and even though you hate it sometimes, you feel great afterwards!"? I don't get that. I hate it during and after. And before. Either way, I've been having trouble keeping my weight loss steady the past month or two, so I finally decided I have to just bite the bullet and try to do some kind of activity three or four times a week.

So, day one, check!

And if I write it down here, I might feel more compelled to actually follow through - hopefully.

My little sister broke up with her boyfriend! I loathed him (they started dating when she was 15 and he was nearly 20, and he's a bum), so I'm extremely pleased. She seems to be dealing with it pretty well, too!

I'm ticked off at him though, as she told me he was calling her constantly threatening to kill himself. He's nearly 5 years older than her! He's emotionally blackmailing a sixteen year old girl, and is just really being ridiculous. I've never been prouder of her when she told me she was ignoring his calls now... She has such a good heart, and with it, the tendency to give in too easily. I think that's why it took her so long to break up with him, really. I know it's taking a lot of her strength not to just give in in order to make him happy.

Anyway, YAY!