So, since I didn't get everything done between Saturday and today that I wanted to, and because I have to work today (7p-11p, got called Monday morning about it), here is what I need to do today:

*laundry (at least 1 load, including work vest) (4:14pm and it's in the dryer)
*buy new work shoes
*buy (maybe) cheap pair work capris/mend old ones (old! I got them in May and they've a hole in them already *pout*) (might ment others on Sunday)
*get new nail clippers
*buy basic, staple-type groceries (got milk and juice and tea, shampoo, and such. No carrying power for the rest of the list. Also got a deli sammich and bottle of water.)
*eat SOMETHING! (and was sick because it's too damned hot out)
**email chicago-guy about rentery stuff

Hmmm... now I just need to do some homework and get ready for work while I wait for the dryer to finish. Cool.

And here's the Face Your Manga thing. Give it a try if you want. That's almost the shape and colour of my glasses. They don't have any of my eye colours, sadly, and my hair isn't that sleek. Oh well.

Now I'm really, really, really going to do some homework. (Well maybe I'll do another meme today, I haven't decided yet. There's a nifty writerly one going around.)

Because appleshoelace asked. Sorry there isn't a before picture but I have homework to do today. :)

So, anyone else want to share their desktop background?

Saw it at teardropflower's

You Are the Innovator

You're the type of person who is always a step ahead of everyone else. You thrive when you're experimenting with new designs, ideas, and attitudes. You are a creative person with many talents. You have to have artistic outlets in your life. You need to create - whether it's writing furiously or redecorating your home. If not, your life becomes chaotic. You tire of doing the same thing every day. You change your job, friends, and personal style often. You are at your best when you have a focus. If not, you develop a flaky artist's temperament.

So, the chapter I read last week for my class has a fun little assignment. I've been thinking about it for the whole blasted week and can't decide what to do for it, so I thought I'd ask my LJ friends for opinions.

Basically, what I want to know is: Which of the following words has the most character?

delicious
atrocity
masquerade
head
augment
integrity
catastrophe
anxiety
spinster
chauvinism
clarity
sketch
draw
cougar
environment
charity

Basically, I'm to write a biography of the word, an entertaining one including origins, travels, marriages, divorces, flirtations, skeletons in the closet, changes in opinion or personality. You know, the usual biography things. All in one page.

The technical part (ie research) will be easy, having access to the OED online and wiktionary (which is usually good for a giggle sometimes). Even anthropomorphising words will be easy. The hard part is actually deciding which word to use.

Help?

Had a dream last night that I took a set of barber clippers to my hair and buzzed mst of it off. O.o I don't know what that's about. I mean, I know I need a trim but that's a bit drastic, even for me.

The last place I saw it was at appleshoelace's:

I'm the 775,288,641 richest person on earth! Discover how rich you are! >>

Question: What reason can there be for a group of 5-8 year old children to start chanting "Gilgamesh" during a thunderstorm? (The storm in question was yesterday; we were storm-free today for the first time in I can't remember how long!)

Promise: Pictures of the new glasses after the cuz's wedding on Sunday. :P

Teaser:

Has anyone ever told you you have pretty eyes?
I honestly cannot remember. Probably similar sentiment but not those words. Oh. Wait. Does the person trying to sell me new glasses count (flattery => sale?)?

Do you ever keep arguing when you know you're wrong?
Sometimes I have to - university papers, for example. Or is that not the kind of arguing the question means?

How is your hair?
Oh so bland (the dying was unspectacular, or maybe it's just subtle?).

Have you ever changed clothes in a vehicle?
Yes. At my grandma's burial even.

( The Rest )

It feels like it's been a long time since I've written here, yet I'm almost sure it hasn't been that long. Either way. Life's taken a decidedly upwards turn recently, certain events seeming to move at breakneck speed, and yet it's all taken a month to sort out.

As I type, I'm looking around the room I share with Jeff and contemplating how best to set myself up with a study space here. I'm finding myself mildly daunted. I'm really feeling the lack of proper clothes storage keenly, although it shouldn't be such a big worry. But aside from that, I see all the stuff that Jeff and I each accumulated separately, and together, and wonder how we ended up with so much stuff - so much to the point that I feel inadequate to the task of managing and organizing it all.

But that's all beside the point! The point is that I need a study space! As of 1 Aug 2008 (although I have the course materials already and can start whenever I want), I will be a U of R student taking ENGL 381 at AU. I'm rather excited by this turn of events. Almost as excited as I am about the fact that this is one of only three classes I need to take to finish my degree!

If all goes to plan, I'll start ENGL 381 early, finish early, and then finish off with 2 electives in the Jan-April semester. Depending on grades, I'll be done and graduated by the end of May.

Of course, all of the arrangements I've been working at to get to this point with school, as well as with working full-time hours and travelling about three hours every day (1 to get to work, 1 during lunch (I walk to the grocery for a sandwhich and yogurt parfait very often lately), and 1 to come home), mean that I've not been writing as much lately. That makes me sad and feel very guilty, actually, but now that arrangments are all in place, I think that I'll be able to balance my time between writing, studying, and work.

I might not feel so confident about it, if it weren't for the study schedule on the course webpage. Most U of R classes are less than 16 weeks total, and this is 20 weeks. I've definitely had more demanding courses, including LEAD 300 (sadly, no longer offered), where I pulled off more coursework than I ever have in my entire life - all in about 12 weeks (well, more like 8 since Sept was spent easing into things, and getting to know the group and Dec we had completely off), while running on 3-ish hours of sleep every night.

Oh. I'm getting new glasses this week, I think. Definitely going for the eye appointment anyways. I'll put a picture up, if I can get a decent one, and maybe ask for ideas about glasses styles and hair colours (yes, I'm dying my hair soon, too, since I'm going to my cousin's wedding next month).

Oh, going bike looking/shopping at 7:30 on Wednesday evening. 3507 King St. (South end near Regina Court and Fitness, 1 block eastof Pasqua.) With any luck Jeff and I will each walk away with a bike for $15 or less. I'm really hoping the one from the 70s is similar to my old one - I've missed it for a long time. And, if it works out, I'll have chances to practice before Critical Mass on 25 July.

Anyways, I'm rambling and excited. I should probably go and calm myself so that I can finally fall asleep when I need to go to sleep in another hour or hour and a half. I'm on the 8-4:30 shift this week with the 6-8 year-olds' Astronaut Training Day Camp. Should be a fun week.

I finally got my acceptance for readmission to school! I can resume classes in the fall, after doing a grad check with the registrar. Woohoo!

Still not recovered from last week at work, or from Saturday's birthday party (17 kids, 2 parents, 2 science explorers and still was rocky as all hell. Bad, very bad.)

Had a good Saturday night, though. Caught up with some of Jeff's friends who we haven't seen in a long time.

Friday and Sunday I had opportunities to sleep in shattered by my mother who called to ask for hints for her video games. We usually end up talking about a lot of different things but the chats always start with the games.

I only work today, tomorrow (yay stat pay!), and have a meeting at work on Thursday. I have so many days off I don't know what to do with myself. I was thinking about heading out to the farm and coming back on the 6th to see Jeff's mum and aunt but I got an email last night about Astrogirl's birthday. So, lots of days off but not enough days to have plans that don't conflict with each other, lol! I'll probably skip going to the farm this coming weekend in favor of the birthday since I went to the farm a couple of weekends ago.

Still working on tHP #34 attempts. I think I might have something worth the name of Draft soon. I forgot how long it took to fully flesh out an idea into a story; I'm so out of practice. I think I can sprint (and not the writing kind) more easily than I can write a complete story right now.

Anyways, must be off. Start work soon.

Today goes down as grossest day at work.

The pizza/activity/breakfast/workshop lab at work was a disgusting mess this morning - especially the half-full containers of yogurt thrown in the paper recycling (that somehow did not have a bag, so dripped down to the floor and started congealing), the half-full juice boxes thrown upside down in the recycling bins, and the usual holey bag in the garbage can.

I just about passed out when I walked in there to put the food for breakfast out; it smelled so rotten. I would have had the kids have breakfast anywhere but there, only there was nowhere else.

Part of breakfast shift is cleaning the lab after the kids are done eating. I needed rubber gloves, all-purpose cleaner and bleach to get the job done and it took more than two hours.

I ended up getting sticky rotten juice in my hair while cleaning out the recycling bins. Nasty. I spent a good part of my lunch break washing my hair in the sink with dish soap. I spent the rest of my lunch walking 12 mins to the grocery to get a sandwich, drink and dessert; on the way back to work from that a bird crapped on my hand. Ew.

Near the end of my shift I went to separate the turtles (it's their territorial part of the year), and the little one crapped on my foot and shoe.

Ugh.

I showered almost as soon as I got home. Now I'm going to bed cuz I work 7-12:30 and 6-9 tomorrow (both at the Science Centre).

EW Top 100 New Classics list (aka Entertainment Weekly).

Bold: Read, Italic: TBR
( Only 6/100 this time... )

Any recommendations?

Stole it from Madame.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicise those you intend to read. (I only italicized those I actually own on Mt TBR.)
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-)

I'm going to steal Whytraven's idea and

"Because all those instructions usually end up giving me bad HTML and a headache, I'm just going to say what I thought of the ones I have read."

( I lost count... )