Reinfected!!

I spoke too soon. Now I can't even start my computer it is so messed up. I'm taking it in to get fixed tomorrow and I hope to be back online soon.

Cured!!

I downloaded AVG like tons of people suggested. It saved my life. The first scan took forever but it caught whatever it was plaguing my computer. I can't believe that such good, free anti-virus software is out there. I don't understand why people still pay money for McAfee or Norton. So I'm back and running with the computer, though the keyboard is typing strange, there is a bit of a lag sometimes. I'm going to get it cleaned over Christmas since I'm sure that it is filled with dust and hair (both cat and human.) I found out today that my work blocks both Facebook and my blog so I won't be posting from there. But if all goes well I will be able to keep posting from home on My School Pet (my laptop).

Infected!!

My computer has a virus and I can't seem to get it to go away. I have tried downloading a number of free anti-virus, anti-spyware type things but they don't seem to be working. My laptop is running super slow, programs are freezing, it's shutting down randomly, and I'm getting tons of pop-ups, some of which are really gross porn ads. I'm so upset, I want to cry. I'm really tired and stressed. I need to work on a bunch of school stuff, which is obviously on the computer, but it is not cooperating. I could go to campus to work on a computer in the library, but I just came from a really long day at school and don't want to go back. All the solutions to this problem are just making me more upset and stressed. I want to crawl into my bed and sleep. My poor sick laptop.

Hiccups

I get them all the time, after almost every time I eat and drink. Everyone has really random cures for the hiccups, here is my brief summary:
-Well Known: Hold your breath
-Well Known: Someone scares you
-Mine: Bend over and drink water upside down
-Erik from IGA: Drink the brine from a jar of olives
-Jerrica: Turn a glass upside down on the counter
-Girl from NRCan: Take a deep breath and push on your stomach
-Kristen: Blow out all your air and swallow 7 times
-Mom's Client: Massage the middle of your middle finger on your left hand
Feel free to add more in the comments...

Thrill The World

Thrill The World is an annual organized worldwide simultaneous dance of "Thriller!" From one event in Toronto in 2006 to 1,722 people in 52 cities on 5 continents in 2007 dancing at exactly the same time. These set two new world records for Largest Simultaneous Thriller Dance. On Sunday, October 29th, 2006, Thrill Toronto's 62 zombies officially set the first Guinness World Record for “Largest Thriller Dance!” (in one location) and the second was set on October 27th and 28th, 2007 for “Largest Simultaneous Thriller Dance” (multiple locations). Today I stumbled across part of the 2008 event when I was on Ottawa U campus. This year's Thrill the World was bigger and better than ever before! The date was set for Saturday October 25th at 6pm UTC / GMT, which meant 2pm for Ottawa. There were 93 events in 91 cities across 12 countries this year. There isn't an exact number of participants yet but they might have broken record for Largest Simultaneous Dance. The current record is 197,569 elementary school students doing the Hokey-Pokey in 681 locations across Canada in April 2002. If they didn't break it this year, there is always the 2009 event.

Cheesy But True

Find a guy, who calls you beautiful instead of hot.
Who calls you back when you hang up on him.
Who will stay awake just to watch you sleep.
Wait for the guy who kisses your forehead.
Who holds your hand in front of his friends.
Who wants to show you off to the world when you are in your sweats.
Wait for the one who is constantly reminding you of how much he cares about you and how lucky he is to have you.
--Found on Facebook

Asking For Money

I hate asking for money. I never liked fund-raising as a kid. For the most part my parents would help out by taking it to work and getting people there to sponsor me. Now I'm too old for that, I'm also too new at my job to use my own work to raise money. The Literary Society is running a 'Recite-a-thon' next Wednesday to raise money for Pen Canada. We will be charging a small entrance fee to get into the cafe style event but also people who will be performing are supposed to raise money through pledges. Pen Canada is a charity that works towards 'freedom of expression' they have programs that work against censorship in Canada and they support writers in prison or exile in other countries. I am going to be reciting, from memory, a poem at the event so please feel free to both come and to sponsor me. Anyone want to give me money? $$$?

No Credit

I found out today in class that Sara Jeannette Duncan was from Brantford. Duncan is an amazing women writer around the time of Pauline Johnson, also from Brantford. While growing up we hear about Johnson all the time, I had never heard of Duncan. As a female novelist and political journalist at the turn of the century she is pretty impressive. Best known for her novel, The Imperialist, but she wrote a vast number of novels and articles. I think she is way more impressive than Johnson, who I have never really enjoyed. Brantford needs to start spreading their pride around instead of focusing on Johnson and Wayne Gretzky.

Zombie Walk

There is an annual zombie walk in Ottawa every year around Halloween. This year Jerrica wanted to do it so I thought I would dress up and tag along. It was insane, there were so many people. Everyone just dresses up like a zombie, meets up and then walks through town on a Sunday afternoon, acting like zombies of course. Here I am resting after walking for about 2 hours, the steps of Parliament are surprisingly comfortable for the undead.

Lucky

I have started to realise that I just might be a lucky person. At first I thought that it was just having a positive outlook that helped my life progress smoothly, but now I'm seeing that good things tend to happen to me when I need them to. (Though I'm sure that having a positive outlook is still a good thing. ) I have been feeling a little tight on cash lately, since my job hasn't started and it will be a while until I get paid. I came home today to a letter from the provincial government that said "The Textbook and Technology Grant is part of the Ontario Government's efforts to make sure students like you have the support you need to succeed. I wish you all the best in your studies. Sincerely, John Milloy, Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities." Then there was a $150 cheque. Perfect timing!

Pavlov's Cat

"I want to talk about a guy called Pavlov, who was Eastern European, I think Russian, and did the famous experiment, 'Pavlov’s Dog.' You probably heard of, ring bells and dogs eating food, response times, Pavlovian kind of response. And he wrote these experiments. Day One – Pavlov’s Dog – Rang bell, dog ate food, very excited - Very excited… terribly excited here in Russia. Day two – rang bell, dog ate two loads of food, very excited. Day Three – rang three bells, dog ate a whole bunch of food and my leg, too. Very excited, win Nobel Prize. So he did this, he won the prize… Nobel, whatever he won, and Pavlov’s dog, we all know that, but you never heard his cat results, did you? You probably thought he was finished! Pavlov’s Cat Results – Day One – rang bell… cat fucked off. Damn… Day Two – rang bell, cat went and answered dog. Day Three – rang bell, cat said he’d eaten earlier. Day Four – went to ring bell on day four, but cat had stolen batteries. Final day – Day Five – went to ring bell with new batteries, but cat put his paw on bell, so it only made a ‘thunk!’ noise. Then cat rang his own bell! I ate food…”
-Eddie Izzard
SEE CLIP

It Could Be Worse

You could have wasted tens of thousands dollars on the wrong program.
You could feel like a failure.
You could have spent the last five years paying rent.
You could own nothing, no house, no car.
You could have little to nothing to show for your life thus far.
You could be living in a city that your tired of.
You could have whittled away money on travel.
You could be planning to use your inheritance paying back OSAP.
You could have no plans for the future.
You could still be searching for the right dream.
You could have ruined your chance at some of them.
You could be out of shape and overweight.
You could have to take pills every morning to function in society.
You could be alone.

It could be worse.
You have shown me how it could.
It could be much worse.

I have found things I'm good at.
I have my whole life ahead of me.
I have an adorable apartment and an affectionate cat.
I have a passion for learning, from school, from others, from experience.
I have the best family who gave me an amazing life thus far.
I have the greatest friends who love and support me.
I have plans to visit new and exciting places.
I have some inheritance left.
I have time to try new things and learn about myself.
I have never been without.
I have worked hard to overcome obstacles I encounter.
I have learned to run, dance, snowboard, and play piano.
I have medicine that stops illness from holding me back.
I have total and utter freedom to live life to its fullest.

Happier Times

-Photo by Work Erin or maybe Anne, I'm not sure.

Real Estate

I have a bit of a 'House Bug.' It happens every now and then, when I get the urge to buy property. I would love to own a house or condo. Taylor is a new homeowner of a beautiful house on a huge lot in Castleton. My brother bought a house in Brantford just over a year ago. My parents also bought a second property when I was 16, our cottage, and have spent the last few years gradually building a new house on it. I find all of this so exciting that I tend to get a little jealous and want to buy real estate of my own. The big problem is that there is no way I can afford it, especially in Ottawa, and definitely not in the area of Ottawa I would want to live in. I have found a solution though. A company called PFNC makes houses out of shipping containers, the big metal boxes that you see on trucks and trains (See Above). Each unit goes for a price of less than $10,000 US (about $11,600 CAN). They look cosy!! (See Below). Currently they are being marketed to developing countries, but I think that I could put one on a lot in Old Ottawa South and be perfectly comfortable. It might not be made to last a Canadian winter though.

In School Too Long

I am in the process of writing an essay for one of my English classes. When I went to save what I have done so far I found another essay already there with a similar name. Turns out, while I'm comparing two texts for this essay which is a totally different assignment, a few years ago I wrote an essay on one of the texts already. I did not remember at all, and it isn't even a short one. I went to go look for the hard copy to see how I did and what the prof had written about it. I went searching through all my saved notes but couldn't find it. (Turns out, now that I'm looking at the saved copy on my computer, I wrote it at the end of the year so probably never got it back.) In the process of hunting I came across a bunch of other essays that I didn't remember writing, a few even for a course I don't remember taking, with a professor's name on it that I don't remember having. This really freaked me out, so I started to look into this mysterious SOCI1010 that I guess I took at some point. I had no idea that I had taken a sociology course. It took me a while in the undergraduate calender to figure out that it was a first year Human Rights course I had taken a few years back, that I do remember. Also we were supposed to put our TA's name on the papers, so it wasn't that I had forgotten the prof, just I didn't recognize the TA. I really think I have been in school too long when I have written so many essay I can't keep them straight or even remember them but I guess that happens to everyone in the upper years.

DVD

The best special feature on a DVD is always the 'Gag Reel'. If there is an 'Alternate Ending', which is very rare, than that is good too. The rest of the special features are always stupid and usually have to many clips of the movie you just watched. The DVDs I have for Willow and Labyrinth though have these 'Original Making-Off Featurette' which are from the 1980's so really get into all the strange things they did for special effects. Since it is before computer graphics they were really creative.

Learning With The Berenstain Bears

There was a Berenstain Bears book when I was younger about kids having temper tantrums, especially in public when shopping. When I go grocery shopping, while I don't have temper tantrums, I always tend to buy more then I need/should/want/thought/can afford. The solution in the book was that ahead of time the kids got told that they were allowed to pick one treat. If they made a fuss before the check-out then they didn't get their chosen treat, and if they had a tantrum later on it got taken away. Well I worked in the book for Brother and Sister Bear, I thought it might work for me too. When I last went shopping I got everything on my list, but I was allowed one extra thing that wasn't written down. Even though I saw a number of things that I wanted, I only got one. You are never too old to learn from children's books.

Exam Schedule

I have the worst exam schedule ever!! Because I had planned my trip to New York City and The Daily Show around the two day break between classes and exams, in the hopes that I would not have an early exam, fate called my gamble. The trip would have been a go as long as I did not get an exam in the very first timeslot on the very first exam day. The bus home from NYC overnight would not get me back in time to make it. I admit that I would have been stupid to take the trip if I had any exams on the first two days but I probably would have done it anyway. Turns out that not only did I get an exam in the very first time slot, 9am the day after the taping, but also the following day I have two exams back to back, 9am and 2pm. So none in my favored 7pm timeslot, no time to study for my three exams, and no Jon Stewart!

Not Ready For Third Year

Carleton has this new policy where professors are supposed to have a small assignment due early in the year. That way students get early feedback on how they are doing and what is expected. They are usually really small assignments, for my English courses they are a page or a paragraph. I have started to get some back and I'm doing terribly. I used to be very flippant with my assignments and not put much care into my writing, usually doing it the night before. I would get great marks and think to myself, "Yea, I'm great, I pulled that out of nowhere." This year I'm not being nearly as cocky and have been trying to put thought and effort into my work. The marks coming back are telling me I have to put even more effort in. I don't like to improve or work towards good marks, I like to get good marks at the start and then just continue them.

Back To The Gov

The golden rule for employment at the government is that nothing is final until you have signed the letter of offer. So until you have signed something, you don't have the job. I just got phone confirmation though and I'm taking it as I GOT THE JOB!! It is an FSWEP position with the Department of Justice that I was really excited about and waiting to hear back from. I start in a few weeks, if all the paperwork goes through.

Spelling Counts

For the first time in my university career, spelling is important on a handwritten exam. I have a midterm in one of my English courses tomorrow and I'm really worried that I'm going to bomb it because of my terrible spelling issues. I was freaking out about this and what I could do about it to my parents on the phone yesterday. My mom suggested writing down all the words I spell wrong when typing on a piece of paper beside my computer. Every time spell check identified a word, I would look carefully at it, try to fix it, and write down the correct spelling on the paper. I have spent the day typing up notes in preparation for the test and have spelt a ridiculous number of words wrong. They are all longer words and when I misspell them I screw up the vowel sounds because I have no idea how the whole vowel thing works. This list has not comforted me at all, it just made me realise how terrible my spelling really is and I fill a little hopeless faced with it. Here is a list of the words (the * are when I misspelled it more than once): decided, conservative*, defeatist, Fascism, rhythms, hypocrite, ridiculous*, doesn't, coherent*, vacation, tragedy*, strangely, voyeuristic, necessary, conscious, simultaneous, separation, conciseness**, tongue, decipher, explicitly, stupor, ambivalent, mechanization, prophetic, disastrous, impasse, caricatures, fascinated, pursuit, frustration*, diseases, philosophic, and controversy.

Link Change

Steph has three blogs. How she keeps up with them all, I have no idea, I can barely handle this one. I had chosen to not feature her third blog on my site and instead had given a link to her Deviant Art page. I decided to change it up and instead of that, I now have a link to Stephanie Beach Photography to the right. Check it out. She is an amazing photographer and just got a wicked camera. She took the picture below of my favorite bird, a chickadee, isn't he adorable.

The Big Apple - Not NY

Kristen, Taylor, Heather, and I went away this weekend. We went to Taylor's hometown and had a relaxing country weekend. I feel that the best event of the trip was Karaoke at the local bar on Friday night. We had such a blast. It was also great to just hang around and laugh with the girls. Kristen and Heather had never been to The Big Apple which was one of the area's attractions. I always used to want to go there whenever we passed it on the highway. I think it was in Grade 10 on a French Trip to Quebec City that I first went there. Since that point I always begged my parents to stop when we passed it, to see the bunnies and get an apple dumpling. I have stopped asking to go there because it never lives up to what I think it is going to be, as it is a very lame attraction with very expensive apple treats. This was confirmed on this visit as there were no bunnies and no apple dumplings. We still had a great time, for sure, with these girls you can't help but have fun. For the first time we went up inside the apple which I had never done before. The picture above is of Kristen biting it, Heather holding it up like Atlas, and me trying to push it over. Despite the fact that the scenery, forest, and general area around The Big Apple and other places Taylor took us is amazingly beautiful, the view from the top doesn't do it all justice. You can see a bit of it behind the picture of Taylor on the right. The changing colours of the trees are nice. To sum up: The Big Apple, a bit of a disappointment, The Trip, an amazingly good time.

Makes No Sense

I had a dream last night in which someone said to me, 'You remind me of when my father was a child.' It reminds me of a famous quote by my dad, said to his euchre partner after playing badly, 'If I was you I would be hitting me right now.'