Today was a reasonably good day.. not too exciting, but nice.

I really like Mondays. I can sleep in, without feeling guilty or irresponsible because I dont start classes til 11:30.

So, I was able to get up at a leisurely pace.. putter around for a little while, and then head over to my Gender Differences class (in case I havent mentioned it before, I love this class. Like, absolutely LOVE it.. it makes me wish I majored in Women's Studies) In class today we discussed the benefits and downfalls of marriage, and the idea of absolute and comparative advantage in terms of working couples. We also touched on the idea of employment in relation to abusive marriages. It really is absolutely fascinating, and if all my courses were like this, I'm sure I would always love going to class. As things are, however, this is not the case.

After class, I proceeded to Mac-Corry to help out with the Samosa sale, to raise money for the dance team. I had been kind of dreading this.. I sort of find certain members of the dance team to be slightly stuck up.. but while I was there, it occurred to me that in fact *I* was the one being stuck up by acting "too cool for school" and not making any effort at all to include myself in their little clique. So.. yes.. not very pleasant realization, but hopefully I will be able to make amends from here on in.

By the time the sale was over, the weather outside was frightful.. so instead of going home, I went over to AL's place.. I showered, napped, did a (VERY) little bit of reading, ate, and watched Shall We Dance and then proceeded to rehearsal for Bhangra.

Now, this bhangra section was one that I'd been struggling with. Those of you who have ever seen me dance know that I am NOT the bhangra type. So I had been confused about my being cast in this section at all. After our first rehearsal last week, I was convinced that I was right and that casting me had been a dreadful mistake. But to my delight, we found out today that the choreography had been changed!! And which parts of the choreography had been amended? Oh, only the parts that I'd been having trouble with! AND it had nothing to do with me!! Woohoo!! So now I think that bhangra might be my favourite section. How things change, eh? :D

After rehearsal, I went home, waited for my room to warm up, fought with my computer over its lack of printing and general disobedience, and went to bed...

Good day. All in all, a very good day.

While fighting with my computer, I also drew up a schedule for tomorrow which is shaping up to be ridiculously hectic. But as LZ told me: Busy is Good.

I'm Such A Bad Girl

So much for new year's resolutions, eh? Barely a week, and this blog has already been pretty much completely abandoned.

This has, of course, been because I have been too busy carpe-ing the diem-s to blog. For the most part, each day has been better than the last.. classes are going well, I'm (sort of) keeping up with the out-of-school academic work (ie: prep and studying etc)

There have also been the bad things.. like me taking up what my housemates have described as a "vile" and "filthy habit".. of course, all in all I havent been too bad with it. It's basically under control, for the most part. So far this month, it has only won twice.

Our house is unofficially on the market. This means that all weekend we have had a parade of prospective tenants traipsing through our house; which, in turn, means that our house has been thoroughly cleaned and is now absolutely spotless.

Dance rehearsals for the WICSA show are well under way... I rehearse for two hours on Mondays, and an hour on Thursdays. On top of that, I take fitness classes with JD for an hour each on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. That's five hours of exercise a week! As TW said, I'm gonna be SO cut by the end of the term :D

I don't have any butter, and I would really like to sautee some green and yellow beans in some garlic butter.

oh.. and another terrible addiction: The O.C. HOW did this happen to me? I started watching the first season, and I just couldnt stop.. I watched six episodes in a row, and then two more the next day. Terrible, I know. I'm also rapidly getting hooked on "Desperate Housewives".. but I figure since I'm doing so much better with the physical fitness and academic work, I deserve to take some time to relax.. right?

Anyway.. that's all for now, folks..

More frequent updates from now on.. I promise.

*

Today was a bad day for one simple reason: it involved the dreadful ordeal that is packing.

I know what you're thinking:"You've got four more days before you go back to school!" and you're absolutely right. But my mum likes to have everything all prepared well in advance, so I got to pack up all of my clothing etc today.

I was planning to go visit Ms W and Ms H back at my high school, but due to inclement weather conditions, that didnt quite work out. Instead, we picked up Su from school, and headed over to my aunt's place for tea. She's lived in this apartment for about a year now, but this was my first time actually going up to it. It's rather nice.. furnished with Ikea.. all white and red. It's really attractively done.

So, we spent a few hours there.. chatting about her trip to India, books, movies and computers (yes! computers!) and then headed downtown to meet Daddy for dinner at Spring Rolls.

I always eat the same thing when I go to Spring Rolls. The Red Thai Curry. This time, I decided to branch out and try something different, so I went with the Spicy Szechuan Vegetables and Tofu. It was alright, I suppose, but I think I'm going to stick with my red curry from henceforth. I tried some of AK's pad thai. I generally don't like pad thai too much, but this was quite yummy.

Came home and felt really full and bloaty.. ("It is so a word, it’s a word ‘cause I said it. That’s how words get invented, ‘cause people say ‘em and then other people say ‘em"... brownie points and many hugs if you recognize that quote) so I decided to have a nice long shower... shaved my legs.. I love shaving my legs.. and I love the feeling of freshly shaved legs.. especially once you rub some baby oil into them.. mmm.

I got out of the shower and came back to my room to get dressed and guess what I discover: I have packed all my clothes, so I have nothing to wear. Stupid me, forgot to leave out some stuff for the next few days. ARGH! So I had to unpack, and repack.. SO very aggravating.

Made arrangements to have lunch tomorrow with RS, to discuss opportunities for next summer.. which means that I have to get up at a reasonable time, get dressed and pretty and head downtown for noon. Gah. Oh well.. there are certain things that just must be done, right?

So, on that happy note.. off to bed I go.. Bon Nuit.

All Caught Up

Entries for Monday and Tuesday have been slipped in.

I'm now back to where I should be, and I can continue to write one entry a day.

I know I've had a lot of good days, lately, but today was probably one of the best yet!!

I GOT A DOG!!

okay, im getting ahead of myself.. im just very excited.. *deep breath* let me start from the beginning.

Today started off rather badly, actually. Mum was nagging and yelling at me to finish my laundry and to get it out of the laundry room. When I didnt respond, she took matters into her own hands and did it for me. Not such a shabby deal, right? Wrong. What that meant was she went through all my clothes and threw away everything she thought was too old.. basically the clothes that have been well broken in, and are now super soft and comfy. AND she threw away something that didnt belong to me... so, needless to say, I was pretty upset.

When I did get out of bed, I grabbed one of my favourite shirts out of my closet, and since it was a little crumpled looking, I decided to go downstairs to iron it. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but as I'm running the iron over the material, I notice that the fabric seems to be seizing up.. and suddenly: Oh My GOD! A HOLE!! yes, that's right.. i burned a hole through my favourite shirt. Yet another article of clothing going into the garbage.

i sulked for a little while, and made myself some peppermint tea while mum made me some tastie toasties.. i ate one, somehow getting cheese all over the place (wrists, elbows, knees, the kitchen table.. everywhere.. dont ask me how) and wrapped the other one up in foil, to eat on the road.

so our first stop was the indian grocery store, where i bought a couple of those packaged foods that you just stick in the microwave, stir and eat.. (gotta love the fact that there is a brown version of president's choice, eh?)

next, we hit la senza.. i bought three new bras, and six new underpants. yes.. underwear shopping. and you all know how happy that makes me.

then we went crazy at loblaws. seriously, loblaws is the best store in the world. i absolutely ADORE it.. bought some food for kingston, food for here and this is where i met and fell in love with my new dog. He's this big grey and white husky.. and he's just the cutest thing ever. The moment I saw him, I knew I had to have him. And fortunately, I have a very loving Mum who agreed to buy him for me.

he's stuffed... like, a stuffed animal... and too cute for words. he's missing a nose, which makes him cuter still. I'm thinking he can live on my bed, in Kingston.. or perhaps in the living room. I'll have to see.

He has the most beautiful, vibrant blue eyes. The first thing AK said when she saw him was "His eyes are like Frank's" (as in Frank Sinatra).. so we considered the name Sinatra, for a while. Then, speaking of Frank, AK began humming the tune to Mack the Knife. So we thought "Mack" might make a good name.. that developed into "Macheath" (part of the song, for those of you less familiar with good music :P) which after a while was abbreviated to Heath. Heath the Husky... we figured it had quite a nice ring to it. We then decided to make Heath short for Heathcliff, rather than Macheath, and a typo (yes, the three of us converse over MSN.. it reduces the noise pollution in our house.. although we frequently are talking from room to room, as well as instant messaging each other) changed it to Heathcliffe, with an E. And that became his name. Heathcliffe. The newest member of our family.

Finally, we wound up at a shoe store where mum and I each bought a pair of boots. Mine come up almost 3/4 of the way to my knee.. and have a herringbone sort of laced pattern on the back.. they've got pointed toes, and very nice heels, and they fit like a dream, which means that I can wear them with jeans as well as with skirts... just dont tell my mom.

Came home, bummed around a bit, ate dinner, watched some of Choice: The Henry Morgentaler Story on TV, played with Heathcliffe a bit, and bummed around a whole lot more over a lovely bottle of dry white wine.. (I didnt drink the entire bottle.. we had it with dinner)

*Insert #2*

Today was a nice relaxing day.. I got up, showered, did some laundry, helped mum make dinner, finished Angels and Demons, watched some TV, caught up with some old friends, and went to sleep. The End.

No, no.. that would be cheating.

Alright, so AK took Su to school this morning, as she and JC (hey cool.. both of our best friends have the same initials!) were going to visit faculty and take a tour of the new building, so she took Louie (Louis? I'm not entirely sure how his name is spelled) which basically left me trapped at home (well.. not entirely, cuz there was still Joe, but mum doesnt quite trust me to drive Joe on my own)

I threw a load into the washing machine. I love doing laundry at home. The appliances are so BIG! seriously.. the amount of clothing that fits into a single load here would make up about 3 loads in the washing machine in my house in Ktown. Which means I only have to do 2 loads! Oh, joyful bliss!

So, after I threw half my laundry into the wash, I came upstairs to hang out with my mum as she made dinner. Making myself useful, after I finished eating, I volunteered to stir the kadi (a yogurt and chickpea flour based soup) so that it didnt stick to the bottom. Little did I know just how frustrating a task this would turn out to be. The kadi grew thicker, and thicker, and thicker.. providing more resistance against the spoon, making it harder and harder to stir... after a while, my mum poured in some more water, to thin it out a bit... but this also cooled it, which meant i had to stand there stirring for even longer, while i waited for it to boil. this pattern continued for about fifteen minutes, by which point i was getting REALLY annoyed.. WHY wouldnt it boil?!? and then my mum jokingly bent her head down and glared at the pot, and miraculously, little volcanos started erupting on the kadi's surface.. hurrah for mums!

i love cooking.. i really do. it's so exciting to mess around in the kitchen and experiment with different things, in the hope of creating something truly delicious. but i honestly just dont have the patience for it. if only i had a string of sous-chefs to do all the boring stuff like preparation, and stirring.. *sigh*

So, after this, I warmed up a mug of apple juice with cinnamon sugar and a splash of rum, and curled up in the family room to read the last half of Angels and Demons. Louis Pasteur once said "Chance favours the prepared mind." Only today did I appreciate just how true that is. There is truth, beauty, love and inspiration everywhere. There is something to be learned from every tiny facet of life. Anything that we may come across can stimulate us, or serve as a muse... if we are open, and willing to let it do so. Angels and Demons is a thriller.. and yet, I found that it sparked such unbelievable reflection about human nature, and the individual spark of the divine.

After dinner, we watched some of The Amazing Race together.. it really is such a cool reality show. And it always amuses me how involved audiences (including me) tend to get with the "characters" on these shows. I mean, obviously the production of the show is constructed in a way to portray certain characters in specific lights, but still.. i HATE Jonathan! He's such a jerk. I hope his wife divorces him after they get eliminated.

One of the highlights of today was catching up with my dear friend AL. Over the past year or so, we've drifted apart for various reasons, but today we talked about these reasons and (hopefully) worked things out. He has always been such an incredibly supportive friend, and so it was no surprise at all that he continued to be there to offer advice, a helping hand, and an understanding ear. Definitely a plus on the APS!

Administrative Details

okay, so i have set this blog to post times at GMT +10... which is 5 hours ahead of the time here in Ontario.. this way, even if I post something at 2am (which I am likely to do) it will still appear to be on the right day. I'm so clever, arent I?

i have also fixed the comments so that anyone can post, not just registered blogspot users.

finally, for those who are wondering why i need three blogs, let me explain. "smallfat" is where i post random links to things, and quiz results, and random cryptic messages which usually take the form of numerical digits (really not so cryptic: they're just countdowns); "skwishy" is where i talk about my neverending battle against the bulge, as well as certain things of special significance to me; "shrad2005" is my newest blog, and was created as a means to help me to shift my attention away from the purely negative, and to embrace life. this is where the "pennies" go.. the little things that happen during the day, that are of no great consequence, but make each day unique.

Back-Dated Entries

I have some catching up to do here... so here we go..

Oh, wait a second.. I should just ACTUALLY backdate them. Silly me..

*Inserted*

Today I died and went to lingerie HEAVEN! Yes, that was the highlight of my day.

We woke up, had lunch, and chatted about the results of last week's bloodtest (marginally low B12 levels.. need to start taking multivites) and then headed out to that new mall.. Vaughn Mills. So, as most of you will know, I absolutely hate shopping. I HATE it. But we entered through the La Senza entrance. This store is MASSIVE.. twenty thousand square feet, to be precise.. it was awesome! So.. as an inaugural purchase, the three of us (Su, AK, and I... mum didn't want in on this particular bonding experience) decided to buy matching bras.. they're bright red, with little white snowflakes and a tiny dangling "jewel" on them.. very cute. We wandered around the mall for a little while longer, tried on a few pairs of shoes and some sweaters etc, but I was getting cranky (as I mentioned, I HATE shopping.. except when it's for groceries and lingerie.. and occasionally for shoes), and we needed to head back to meet up with my dad for dinner, so we left and went back to toronto (it was like a 45 minute drive each way!!)

Oh, while we were at the mall, my mum's cell phone rang. She chatted with the person on the other end for a while, and then passed it to me. I was rather confused as to who it could be, but imagine my surprise when it turned out to be V! On the 30th he had mentioned that he and one of the host's sons were planning to go skiing on Monday, and suggested that I go along. He said he would call me on Sunday with the details. I assumed he was just being polite, so I didn't really expect a call, and wasn't disappointed not to receive one. But to my delight, he called on Monday.. to apologize for not calling on Sunday, and to explain that the reason that he hadn't called was because they decided not to go skiing after all (due to the warm weather), so that I wouldn't think that they had left me out of their plans. Isn't that the cutest thing ever? (disclaimer: i'm not going out with him or anything.. there is nothing going on between us.. he and i are just friends.. not even that.. just acquaintances, at this point.. but hopefully we'll stay in touch and be able to rekindle our old friendship)

Anyway, after we left the mall, we met up with my dad, and went to this little restaurant called Tangerine for dinner. We had a great time.. lots of laughs..

Mum and I then dropped AK, Su and Daddy off at home, before proceeding to run some errands. We first went to fill Louis (my car) up with gas, and then went on a quest for the book Angela's Ashes, because Su needed it for school the next day. We drove up to the Chapters location closest to our house, and looked around for a bit, but we couldn't find it, so we were redirected to another location, where they had placed the book on hold for us. This second location was less than 10 minutes away, and I sat in the car as mum popped in and picked up the book, which was waiting at the cashier, and we drove back.

During this time, the radio station that we were tuned to began a "6 songs in a row" session. The songs: On a Day Like Today, Bryan Adams; The Reason, Hoobastank; Love Song, Sky; Daniel, Elton John; Don't Turn Around, Ace of Base... and we pulled into the driveway before the sixth song started...

It was a SUCH a nice way to wrap up the evening..

Slept in again, and spent the afternoon just relaxing in the family room. AK and I were looking forward to spending the entire day reading, and playing scrabble by the fire. However, that didn’t quite work out. Su came home and requested that I give her a ride to Yonge and Eg to see a movie that afternoon with a friend. Since J, L and I had tentatively decided to get together that afternoon for coffee, and to meet L’s boyfriend, we made arrangements to do that.

Drove down in a panic, as Su was freaking out about missing her movie, and I was freaking out about the lack of gas in the car. I dropped her off, parked, and went to meet up with the girls.

Ordered myself a Peppermint Hot Chocolate… I hate to admit this, but this drink is absolutely DIVINE. Far superior to Second Cup’s Candy Cane Hot Chocolate. I’m not, and never will be, a Starbucks girl, but this drink really IS delicious. Anyway, we had a great time chatting about the good and bad of life; (omg, I almost wrote “the good, the bad and the ugly”); everything from astrology, to body language, to movies, to fitness, to desserts, to etiquette, to flirting, to maraschino cherries.

The boyfriend (H) was about an hour late, so I didn’t really get much of an opportunity to talk to him, although he certainly seemed very nice. He brought a friend along (the prospect of meeting up with three girls, two unknown, must be rather intimidating) who also was very friendly. I left about fifteen minutes after he arrived.

Su and I went back to the parking lot to get the car, and to my horror I realized that the exit I had used to leave the parking lot was a fire exit or something (although the door was propped open, so it wasn’t like I had set off any alarms or anything) and there was no way to get back into the parking lot at that point. So we walked around the block (and bumped into Vanny! It’s SO weird to see teachers out of context!) and finally found an entrance to the parking lot. However, since it was different from the exit, I was totally disoriented and couldn’t find my car. Poor Su had to walk all the way around the parking lot until we finally found it.

As we finally left, I continued to freak out about the lack of gas, and my lack of gas card, but we fortunately were able to reach home safe and sound. In the meantime, while we were out, Mum and Daddy had begun to watch Meet the Parents, so we watched the remainder with them. A good time was had by all. We also chatted about taxes etc. which was, as you might imagine, thrilling (read: boring) beyond belief.

We then decided to embark on a quest for Mum’s old classmates from her boarding school days. After much searching, we finally found a listing of fellow alumnae, and sent messages to two of her closest friends, whom she hasn’t been in touch with in almost 35 years! I think I am possibly more excited about this whole thing than she is. The internet is SUCH a wonderful thing.

New Year's Day!

Exhausted from the New Year's Eve revelry, I ended up sleeping in until about 3pm. When I finally got out of bed, I sat down in the kitchen with "Angels and Demons" and a plateful of food. About half an hour later, I realized that I had to be at the Cs house for dinner at 6pm, and I wasn't anywhere near ready.

I jumped into the shower, and then ran around between three bedrooms clad only in a towel, trying to choose something to wear. After about five outfits, I finally decided on one, and got dressed, did my makeup and prepared myself to head out. Only then did I realize that my mum had gone off to the airport to pick up my aunt, and had taken my car. So I had to wait for her to get back before I left.

Dinner turned out to be a most enjoyable event. There were several very interesting people there, some of whom I had met before, and a few with whom I wasn’t yet acquainted. Conversations throughout the evening were absolutely enthralling. It truly was a fascinating group of people. Dinner itself was delicious, and I had a lovely time.

I forgot to call home when I arrived, though, which resulted in very angry parents. Fortunately, after a livid phone call, and a sound scolding, no more was said of the matter.