conversations – Imaginary Sunshine

Say what now?

Michelle — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 06:40:59 +0000

I’ve been getting a lot of mail lately. Some of it was solicited (TEXTBOOKS!!#$%!) and others was not (dear playhouse that I purchased musical tickets from you 2 years ago, you’d think because I haven’t bought tickets in 2 years, that would be a hint to stop wasting paper). Unfortunately, I’m still unable to intercept the mail so my dad always sees it first.

Dad: Why are you getting mail from [insert name of local community college]?
Me: I applied there.
D: long pause. What program?
M: Their 4 year nursing program.
D: longer pause, I can practically see the wheels churning inside of his head. Is it the same program as at [insert name of big university/the one that I attend]?
M: Yes.
D: hands over the envelope, finally. Okay.

Because even nearly 5 years after I graduated from high school and even after he even admitted that trades was an “appropriate” career choice, he still has a problem with smaller schools, or not internationally recognized institutions, even if they’re public, government funded & approved schools.

My sister J started school this week. She graduated from said Big University in either 2006 and is just going back to school now for a trades program. Granted, it’s a medical-relate program, so it’s not like she’s becoming a mechanic. But J is the Golden Child and can never do anything wrong. So because she applied (and was accepted into) a trades program, suddenly trades is the Best Thing Ever.

And my father had the nerve to ask me:

D: Why didn’t you go into trades as well?

Well, dad, maybe it’s because you spent the first 17 years of my life telling me that I need to go to university and get a degree because it’s what I’m fucking supposed to do. That and I get to live rent-free at home provided I stay in school, so it was kind of no brainer. But I have friends who graduated on time (unlike me) and are woefully unemployed. A friend of my sister’s has been out of university since 2006 and just got a full-time job in her field (she has an education degree and spent 5 years being a substitute teacher, filling in when people were sick or on maternity leave and having very uncertain employment). Having a Bachelors, regardless of what it is in doesn’t mean a whole lot these days. Mostly because a lot of people have a Bachelors degree. Which is really depressing to think about, considering I’ll be graduating with one at the end of May. And it’s going to be fantastic. The word “Science” will be mentioned on that piece of paper 4 times in my degree title. Not because I wanted them to emphasize how much I love science, but because of what my program was. (A lot of science.)

But really. Having my dad tell me when I’m 9 credits away from finishing my BSc that I should have gone into some sort of trades instead? Like a knife through the heart. Maybe he should have been pushing that for the first 17 years of my life instead. Or maybe he should just keep his opinions to himself.

I saw this coming like a predictable movie ending

Michelle — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 00:50:57 +0000

D: So I have this friend…
*long pause*
M: I have friends too!
D: *gives me a look* So I have this friend and he has a daughter…
*long pause*
M: I have friends that have daughters too!
D: *gives me another look* And she’s coming to Canada to go to school.
M: *can see where this is going* That’s nice.
D: And she’s going to [insert name of school that I go to]
M: Okay…
D: And she’s going to be starting this September…
M: *can really see where this is going* That’s nice. *continues eating*
D: And she’s going to be in first year. She’s going to be in first year science. Just like you!
M: I’m not in first year. *mentally adds “thank you very much”*
D: That doesn’t matter. I want you to be her friend.
M: You want me to what?
D: I want you to be her friend. She doesn’t know anyone. So you have to be her best friend here.
M: ‘Have to be’?
D: Yes, you have to be her best friend. She’s my friend’s daughter, so you must treat her well and be her best friend.
M: *looks at dad like he’s gone off his rocker* …
D: I will call him tonight and tell him that you’ve agreed. I will arrange for you two to meet.
M: *wtf look* What?!

From country bar to the ER

Michelle — Sat, 29 May 2010 19:01:31 +0000

Last night I went out to celebrate the 21st birthday of a very country-music loving girl. It started off well. I got picked up by a super awesome designated driver (C) and there was already another girl in the car (M), who I mistook for the birthday girl because of a) the hair, b) I only saw her from behind because c) the windows were all foggy. We picked up said Birthday Girl (B, only because her letter gets taken and I don’t feel like using numbers…). I can’t remember how many people there was in total (~10?). It started off well.

We got there super early (by early, I mean there was at MOST 10 other people in the bar when we got there at 8pm-ish), B went and got herself a drink, we all sat around a talked, there ended up being more people. I ended up with a drink (yay for vodka…), other tables started being filled.

And then one of B’s friends came with a bunch of boys, people started dancing more, more drinks were ordered. And then this guy sat down next to me. Like right next to me. I thought it was one of those invited boys from an invited person from the group I was with – no such luck.

Let’s call him Julian, because what’s what he said his name was. He started talking about himself. Where he was from, what he did. And then, wouldn’t I like to meet his friend? Doesn’t he look great? Wouldn’t I want to dance with him and did this Julian mention that he was single? Ahh, hilarity ensued. Julian went “So, you look like a smart girl. Right? I mean, that’s what I first noticed about you, you look really smart.” (I wanted to ask if it was the glasses or the Asian thing…) and then I answered back with “Thanks, my boyfriend thinks so too.” and that was answered with “You’re very subtle. Very subtle and cute. I like that about you.” And then Julian switched seats with the friend he introduced (Brian). Would I like for him to buy me a drink? Erm, no thank you. He starts talking to me, I try my very best to ignore, but it’s kind of hard when some person is trying to get your attention and putting his arm around your shoulders. Grrr. K rescued me by going “I’m going to the washroom, want to come with me?”. Are there trees in a forest? Hell yes.

I will have to admit – the music was not as bad as I thought it would be (but B, you will never get me to admit it out loud!). It was mostly country (not to my taste) but there were some songs that I did recognize and could sing along with. For instance, Taylor Swift? Yeah, I totally sang along to that and danced a bit to that and to other songs as well. And, erm, yeah, I could recognize songs, but not artists or song titles, oh well!

Awkward Person #1 (Julian) came back with a cowboy hat on and told one of my friends that he bought it just to impress me (a.k.a. he stole it off the head of one of his friends) and so they were going “OMFG, GO FOR IT! HE’S SO CUTE!!!!” (dood, not taking advice from people who aren’t dead sober and that I don’t know how impaired their judgment is when drinking – and he wasn’t cute).

J: You know, if you didn’t have a boyfriend, I would date you.
M: And if I didn’t have a boyfriend, I would not date you.
J: You’re a bitch. And sincere. Very sincere. I like that.
M: Right…
J: I bet I could love you if I was dating you.
M: Okay then… *edges further away*

Sometime later, Awkward Person #2 (Brian) was sitting next to me (but not right next to me, so that was okay) and he looked super depressed and was drinking by himself and his friends would come by and try to cheer him up. Oh well… At that point, we decided we would go (it was around 12:30am at this point). We tracked down people, pulled people away from boys that they found (yeah, I’m kind of a killjoy sometimes). Oh Birthday Girl, I’d like to remind you of what you said to that boy while holding onto him. And not letting go.

B: They’re saying I have to go home now… I don’t wanna go home… I don’t wanna go home…

Yeah, lovely. So I got a hold of M, who’s a very cheerful drunk when she’s in a bar and around other people. I pull her out and we’re waiting for the others to get out. And she starts talking about how she wants to walk home (it was lightly drizzling and we live too far to walk). She wants to walk and starts talking about walking home and jumping off the bridge, or oh, there’s a street over there with traffic, she wants to just walk into oncoming traffic. Not cool. She’s taller and bigger than me and had far too much to drink and was trying to fight me to leave. The others come out and we convince her (I’m still not sure how) to get into the car and our lovely designated driver (C!) drives us back to the city that we all live in, yay.

M passes out and then partway home, she starts breathing more audibly and makes crying sounds. The two in the backseat noticed a huge series of cuts on both of her arms. We couldn’t just take her home because she’s a) suicidal and b) lives alone. So we debated for a bit and then drove to the ER at a local hospital. Oh, we also parked in ambulance only parking for a little bit before moving to the 15 minute parking only for patient drop off. Go us. Birthday Girl was awesome, at that point M was a little bit of awake. We debated what we were going to do. Parents were called to let them know where we were – except for mine (my land line was replaced with a ‘internet’ phone that’s connected to the internet and frequently when I call home, I get the “Beep, beep, beep, the number you have dialed is not in service, please check your area code and try your call again.” <- I just select “Home” from my contacts…

None of us really knew M too well (C and B are coworkers, K and I have only met her 2-3 times), I dug through her wallet for a Care Card, but her driver’s license worked well enough for the person handling the triage desk to fill out the paperwork. She was put into the cast room for a while before they got a bed ready for her. We got so many questions asked about her and we just didn’t know a lot of the answers. She was moved when they had an area ready for her

It was maybe 2:30am-ish when K called her dad so she could get a ride home, I got home too. Hugs were given. I got home and just fell into bed after changing into pajamas and was trying to figure out how the night ended up like that.

Since my home phone wasn’t working last night, no one in my house knew anything that was going on. I told my parents when I woke up this morning (…. at 8am, not enough sleep) that the phone just plain sucks and told them about what happened. They said we did the right thing and then my dad goes “Why didn’t you just call though?”. Selective listening ftl.

Study!

Michelle — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:21:45 +0000

I’m studying today…

… can’t you tell?

On a similar note, I had the follow conversation ~5 minutes ago with my dad (D for Dad, M for me):

D: You need to go and buy milk.
M: I’m studying.
D: You always say you’re studying when I want you to do something.
M: *holds up lab manual* Stud-eeee-ing.
D: You’re just lazy. *stomps off*

Please not that I’m not lazy (most of the time?) and that my father is ‘retired’ and spends all day at home. Oh, and the store that we go and buy milk from is a very short walk from my house. And he was home all day and waited until I got home from school to inform someone in the house that we need milk. Because, you know, it’s just too much damn work to change out of one’s pajamas and to go for a (short!) walk to buy something that one would like to be able to consume.

The Not-So-Awesome Wednesday

Michelle — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 01:53:32 +0000

Let’s get a few things straight:

You don’t get to take out your anger at me when you’re the one who calls me up to talk.
You don’t get to take out you anger at me when you ask how someone in my life is and I answer honestly.
You also do not get to take out your anger at someone that I know and love (and someone that you don’t even know) just because you’re having a bad day.

So for fuck’s sakes, don’t act like the victim when you get offended at the fact that I’m actually willing to hang up on you and refuse to talk you. If you would like to talk in a calm and rational and reasonable manner, I’m willing to listen. If you’re going to ask about someone and then start attacking them, unprovoked, because you’re in a snit of a mood, I am not going to listen to that and nor should I have to do so.

Sincerely,
Me

Little conversations

Michelle — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 05:55:28 +0000

One of my friends from university that I haven’t seen since early 2009 (whoops…) even though we attend the same school and even had a class together last term (but we never saw each other) saw me today while I was leaving my lab class. She ran up to me and gave me a huge hug and we talked for a little bit. In the nearly 10 minutes that it took us to walk (… slowly) to the bus loop, we caught up on everything. Life, school, assorted things. And as I was about to get onto my bus, she said something to me.

You’re not longer… crazy hyper with a mad sense of humour*, telling me that I should hit on the cute, totally fit guys playing frisbee on the field or that I should jump a TA. What happened?

My answer?

Life happened, A. Maybe I grew up a little when I wasn’t looking.

* Hah. Someone thinks I’ve got a “mad sense of humour”.

Fur goodness sakes

Michelle — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 04:20:31 +0000

Picture this scene.

It’s about 3pm on a Saturday afternoon, let us say that it just happens to be January 9th, 2010. Michelle and her family decided to go shopping (gah, more shopping?!) and they ended up at a high-priced store. So while Michelle is seeing how a particular Burberry coat looks on her (didn’t buy it – it cost more than how much I paid for tuition for an entire term), her sister J picks up a neckwarmer/scarflet/I-don’t-know-the-technical-name-for-it*

J: Hey, what do you think of this?
M: [putting uber-expensive coat back onto the hanger] … Is that fox fur?**
J: What? Of course not!
M: [reaches for the object to check the label and reads] Genuine Fox Fur from Canada…
J: %&#&!&%$(#*
M: What did you think it was?
J: Uhh, thought it was fake.
M: [holds up price tag] Not at $480!

* Pretty sure, thinking back now, that it was a stole (which is technically different from a scarf).

** For some weird reason, I can identify fur when it’s no longer on the animal. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.

My sister was disgusted at that point and went to look at other things. Our stay in the store did not last very long after this incident where she was horrified at having touched a fur object. Me, on the other hand, while thinking it was sad, also did marvel (a little) at how soft it was. (Please don’t throw red paint at me, the only ‘fur’ object I have that is wearable is a fake, vintage tiger-print jacket that I got as a gift from a family relative – 100% polyester. Other furry items would be my stuffed animals, but those are made from synthetic materials.)

Just a few questions for today:

What are your thoughts on wearing fake fur/real fur?
How about for clothing items that were made before people really began to realize the impact it had on populations of species? Or items that have been in a family for a few generations and gets passed down?

Hope everyone had a lovely Saturday!

Hello, 2010!

Michelle — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:43:27 +0000

Whee, new theme for welcoming in 2010! The photo was taken by my mom when she was on vacation. I’ve also rearranged things and removed some things from my sidebar *points to the side*. I changed the number of Flickr images that show up and just changed up the way things show up over there. Also, some pages have been organized (for example, all my past layouts are now on a page by themselves) as well as some being removed so things are getting cleaned up around here, which is nice. Umm… Let’s see, what else have I gotten done lately? (Also known as me dumping all my new website stuff in one go!)

Ames got a new layout (grey, slightly monochrome), Chelle-Chelle.com got a little change with the header and I’ve written a few articles lately and also been working on Heartbreakee.net (not open, yet!). Oh, I also went pro on Flickr – go add me as a contact!

Oh, I’m also talking to my friend J on msn and she goes:

J: If I go over in the summer*
J: you wanna learn pole dancing?
M: ROTFL
M: Seriously?
M: Sure

* She’s currently out of the country for school – a school where she has classes on Saturdays.

Ahh… Anyways… I went to a friend’s boyfriend’s New Years party last night. J (the friend, not the same one mentioned above!) and N (her boyfriend) were hosting it. And I only stayed for a little while, because N has douchebags for friends as one of them dropped a pill into my drink (a screwdriver, for all those who care, which was quite good before it had a bright blue pill floating at the top). I dumped the drink of that guy’s head, by the way, before I left. So I walked to one of the train stations downtown, and got home super early (way before midnight) and worked on some online stuff when I got home, as well as taking a nice hot shower and watching a chick flick while eating potato chips.

School starts on Monday – wtf. I only got 13 days off from school =/ One of my friends has been off school 10 days before me, so she got 23 days… Oh, the unfairness! Anyways, today is all about purging out my wardrobe (boy, that’ll be fun) as well as cleaning up some things and hopefully being productive (and cursing my psychology prof for not issuing our final grades yet!)

Hope everyone’s been having a wonderful first day of the new decade!

It wouldn’t be Christmas without the backhanded insults!

Michelle — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 06:38:04 +0000

Oh… Christmas, Christmas, Christmas… What can I say about today?

My family and I had crepes this morning for breakfast. Super organic crepes. If it could, the bag of crepe mix would have had a superhero cape because it was just that full of seeds and other healthy things. It tasted super healthy, even with copious amounts of strawberry jam (yum) and peanut butter (not on the same crepes… but damn, does it ever taste good). Opening presents was kinda fun, my sisters got me a 2g micro SD card (from J, for my Nintendo DS) and pretty cupcake liners (from D, and also a ‘gift certificate’ for bakeware, score!). There was also chocolates from my mom (Lindt… delicious! and some chocolates from the someone at work). Tertiary Jane was a birthday/Christmas present from my parents, so she’s been out for a while… And was not repackaged and put underneath the tree.

I went with my family to my aunt and uncle’s new house for Christmas lunch. And after, I remembered all the reasons why I don’t like family lunches (or dinners… or meals in general). There is nothing like sitting there and eating your lunch and taking a sip of tea and then your aunt commenting on how you’re the only one who’s had seconds of the main dish. Insert coughing/choking on the tea (which was delicious tea, by the way – she did give me a box of it, it’s a type of green tea that she’s never been able to find in Canada, she bought it in Taiwan) and then I politely go “Pardon?” (in Cantonese). And then she repeats herself. “Oh, you’ve had seconds of [insert dish name here]” (I can’t translate things well, lol). Apparently she’d been paying attention to my eating habits? And if she had been paying attention, my first bowl had been only half filled, as opposed to everyone else who had a completely filled first bowl. And then came the whole “So how much weight have you gained over the last few months?” Hello, appropriate extended family Christmas lunch conversation topics? Not really.

I have never been comfortable with the family (extended, or not) talking about my weight. And, for some odd reason, it’s always during a meal. My aunt mentions it. J is always “too skinny”. D looks like she hasn’t been eating much lately. And me? “Oh, Michelle, have you been gaining weight lately?”. My mom just laughs and then talks about how much I eat at home, compared to everyone else. At home, for Christmas dinner (with just the immediate family – we had leftovers), my sisters were talking about my weight, and my mom joined in. I asked them to stop it (because I was eating at the time and because I’m in a ‘normal weight range’ for my height/age/whatever). And they continued. So I left the dinner table and went to my room. Where I have stayed, I only left to go to the kitchen to do some chip swaps for my dolls.

And, as always, odd family gossip gets revealed during holiday meals together. Like so-and-so recently got married, but the new spouse only got divorced a week before the wedding and the new spouse used to be (or is?) her boss (how scandalous) and someone else got a loan from a loan shark…? With daily interest at 30%? Yeeeeeeep, I have awesome relatives, right? In my defense, I didn’t pick them.

Also… My dolls had a good Christmas morning and Sophie and Tertiary Jane got new green chips. =)

Cute, but odd

Michelle — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 03:29:03 +0000

Just a few things to mention that occurred today:

Handed in my application for the nursing program at one of the schools that I’m applying to for August/September 2010
I’ve been on 8 buses today.
I got 8/10 on my cell biology term paper (the one on primary cilium and their importance) – whoot?
Today is World AIDS Day, not that it really ‘occurred’ or rather that it actually ‘was’. Did you wear a red ribbon today?

It was reported in the newspaper today that the majority of people in Canada with HIV or AIDS are in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec. I’m not surprised. Why? Because of the majority of the country’s population are in those three provinces. That’s like saying the majority of fish live in oceans in comparison to seas and rivers and lakes.

Today’s been pretty relaxing. I managed to stay up during my biology lecture today, studied, made cookies.

And I had this awesome (MSN) conversation with my friend J:

J: You just reminded me how much i miss you
J: We don’t have anyone weird here…
J: It’s so sad
J: =(
M: … Are you calling me weird?
J: Well, we are
M: … LOL
J: But yes
J: I think people that roleplay dolls are counted as odd
J: Cute, but odd

At least my friend thought that it’s a cute habit?

I am currently on the lookout for a decently advertised (Canadian) price on a 2gb micro SD card. That’s not $20, because I feel like being cheap. If anyone notices one that’s at a decent price, feel free to drop me the link!