english lit – Imaginary Sunshine

Cubicle girl

Michelle — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 02:12:25 +0000

I am now the proud occupant of a cubicle at work. It’s kinda interesting, it got set up pretty quickly considering today’s my third day at work. So I’ve spent a lot of time on the computer today, attempting to get work done. I’ll get more done tomorrow though, and then it’ll be Friday. I’ve set up when I’ll be doing my volunteering as well. They only had one time available on the weekend, for Sundays. Luckily, I don’t have standing plans on Sundays… And it’s only for two hours… And there’s another twenty two hours in a day. Which is always a good thing. Also got my email at work set up, which is really nice since I do need it. They’ve even hooked me up with the same address I had back in 2007. So when I went to open my email, there was all the emails I had in my inbox back in 2007 and 19 unread emails from the summer of 2008. And since they were addressed to me, I did read them. It was kind of weird reading them a year later though. But it was also weird because I’m pretty sure that people had expected some sort of response to some of the emails. Since they asked questions, directed to me… But if I recall correctly, I did resolve most of the issues… Hopefully. Oh well, I’m sure no one is going to read back a year’s worth of emails.

I also have two of four of my grades in! AND I PASSED CHEMISTRY! It’s the only course out of my four that I took this last term that I was really worried about. I got my English literature mark as well, which went well. And my psychology grade isn’t up ‘officially’ yet, but I do know what it is. And with all my bonus marks, it looks very nice, if I do say so myself! I’m pleased with it.

Plus I’m eating cream puffs right now. Lemon flavoured ones with icing sugar on them. Which is very good. And I highly suggest them to everyone. Go out and get one. Or a dozen, then you could even consider sharing them.

In one ear and out the other

Michelle — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:09:51 +0000

This is what I’d let to get clear, straight off the bat:

When I told my family that I had an 8:30am exam this morning, I was not kidding.
When I told my family that I was going to bed at 10pm last night and would appreciate that they not be obnoxiously loud, I was not kidding.
When I told my family that I had my alarm set for 5am (and that would result in almost 7 hours of sleep), I was not kidding.

So when I went to bed at 10pm last night with the intention of waking up at 5am for my 8:30am exam (I left my house at 6am), I was completely serious.

I tossed and turned a little. The last time I remember seeing a clock was just a few minutes past 10, so I’m hoping I went to bed soon after that.

Then, I wake up. It’s dark. But my alarm’s not going off (none of my alarms, more on that later). And I learn laughter. Loud laughter. I shuffle out of my (warm!) bed and end up in the living room. Which is diagonally across the house from my room, as far as one can humanly get from my room. And there’s my parents and both sisters (one just arrived last night) were up. And laughing.

“Could you please not be so loud?”, I said to them, I was rather annoyed but calmly.

They apologize. And I shuffle back to bed. This was at midnight. I get back into bed and promptly fall back to sleep (because I was a) tired and b) tired).

And then it’s 1am-ish.

And I’m awake. Again. Because they cannot fucking shut up. And all they’re doing is sitting in the living room and laughing. And yes, I get it, my sister just arrived (yay…?). But she doesn’t live in a different time zone. She’s not only there for a few hours. She’s here for nearly a week. And it’s one. fucking. am. In the morning. When I’m planning on waking up for 5am. So I really have no clue why any of them were surprised at my response.

Pissed (because they knew I had very limited sleeping time and had a very early morning wakeup call!), I just shouted, from my bed, loudly, going “SHUT. UP.” In English. Which was probably not a good idea, because I nearly included “the fuck” between those two words. But I didn’t! I was good! I didn’t swear (to my parents… from across the house… I’m practically a saint!).

And then they stopped talking. Completely. Within fifteen minutes, I could hear bedroom doors closing.

After that, I didn’t hear a peep out of anyone. I went back to sleep and woke up at 4:55am (alarm on my cell phone). Snoozed that until 5am, when my alarm clock goes off. And my cell phone (again). And then 5:04am, I get a text from Clay because I asked him to text me in order to ensure that I woke up (and got out of bed!) if he was still up.

And my English literature exam? I think it went fairly well. I know I did better on one essay than the other (sighs), but I’m sure that I got most of the identifications (which sucked though) and I left about 30 minutes before the end (8:30am-11am). Got home by noon. And my dad’s all like “Why were you so angry at us last night?”

…

Seriously? Seriously? Seriously?

I am obviously not getting the point across. Because you know what I’m doing next time that happens? (And the next time might be soon, I have a 8:30am exam next week!) I will swear. At my parents. From across the house. If I get woken up again, when I need to get up at 5am.

I vote for the sun to move indoors

Michelle — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 19:09:12 +0000

My front yard now looks like crap (to me!) as it’s not quite a ‘stump’ in my yard, but it’s not a ‘tree’, either. All the major branches have been cut off. Most of the trunk on both sides (the tree kinda split, might have been two? But they intertwined, so I always considered it to be one tree.) have been cut. But it’s not ‘stumpy’. Eh, it looks bad. And yes, it was a DIY-hack job, courtesy of my father. Which is legal, according to my city’s bylaws (not that he probably bothered to check…).

So tired right now, went out last night with the friends since J is leaving (again) for (a new) school (again). I like abusing parentheses sometimes. Then stayed up to chat with Clay. Wish I was still in bed. But I’ve been ‘practicing’ (sort of) getting up early since tomorrow morning I’ll be up at 5am for my English lit exam (whoot…?) at 8:30am (…) so I got up today at 6am. Please don’t ask what time I went to bed or how much sleep I got. Because I really could not tell you, even if I tried.

And my essay topics? I’m prepping for four of the five (since I don’t fel like writing about gardens!) and only three of the five will pop up on my literature final. And then I only have to write about two, so I’m hoping that I get the ones I like! I do rather want to write about disguises though, it works well for Twelfth Night and Marie de France’s work. Prepping for exam topics isn’t difficult, by a long shot. The only issues I have is that we’re not allowed the texts or notes. So I’m trying to keep it easy-to-remember everything. Hoping to, anyways.

What have you been up to this blissfully sunny Wednesday (where I’m stuck indoors and studying as my deck’s dirty and I can’t lie in the sun)?

Party-going in the early afternoon?

Michelle — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:11:50 +0000

Today was the last day of classes (not school – just classes). There was live music in the form of bands (all Canadian ones, or so I am told), free cotton candy, free popcorn, free little carnival events. And in true Michelle-like fashion, I didn’t attend a thing. (Except for the free cotton candy. … And the free popcorn.) The live music wasn’t free (granted, only $20, but no in-and-out privileges and plus the only ‘rest rooms’ they had were blue… plasticky… ick). And, to be perfectly honest, no one else seemed to be doing anything either. Except for the axe throwing. Which is kinda fun to watch because it’s usually only the guys who do it and they try to ‘out throw’ the other guys to impress the girls watching (they’re not throwing for distance, but for accuracy – there are targets set up with giant bullseyes). But the weather wasn’t sunny this year, so there wasn’t a huge turn out. There was major cloud coverage… and plus it’s a Wednesday. Who goes and drinks alcoholic beverages in the middle of the day on a Wednesday? … Actually, on second thought, don’t answer that question.

My English lit prof did not get a standing ovation like my chemistry and biology profs did – it’s actually fairly common practice for the good professors to get a standing ovation. If they’re slightly crappy, they get a half-hearted clap or two from a few individuals who either sit at the front and mean it or at the back and just want to show the prof how much everyone disliked him/her by not having a standing ovation from everyone. My biology prof from first term got a standing ovation that went on for a very long time. But she was an excellent professor who really loved teaching and made the course very enjoyable. Hence the prolonged applause. However, my English lit class is a class of ~40 people so a standing ovation might have been a little awkward. Instead, we all chatted for the last 10 minutes before he handed back our papers (… speaking of my paper, don’t ask how well I did).

Freedom……..? I still have four finals left. Which I’ve already started studying for. Sort of. I’ve already informed volunteering people that I won’t be in next week (I have an exam on a Friday. At 7pm. I think somebody hates me.) I’ll be “officially” free on the 23rd of April (that’s a Thursday and you best believe that I’m going to be counting down!).

Questions for you

If you’re currently attending school, when was your last day of classes?
When is your last final exam?
What are your plans for the summer term(s)?
From September until now, what’s one thing that you’ve done that you’re happy with?

My answers

For the term, today!
April 23rd (Thursday). Whoot!
Working, hopefully…? I need moneys to pay for school so next April I can be making the exact same statement about how I need to work to pay for school so I can make the same statement the year after that!
Umm… Actually going out on a date with Clay? Hehe. Oh! How about not spending too much money on craft supplies? Improving my wardrobe? All very nice things. But that’s more than one.

Hey there, sunshine!

Michelle — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:33:24 +0000

On April 1st, I woke up to snow and the fact that there was snow flakes falling from the sky. Today? I woke up to this:

Yeah, that’s sunshine! It’s amazing how much the weather changes in less than a week, eh? It was such nice weather today, I spent most of my time (when not seated in classes) carrying my jacket and having my sunglasses clipped on (they’re the easy-clip… it’s magnetic and just stays right over my regular prescription lenses – very handy!).

Today’s been pretty awesome, as far as Mondays go. I went to my very last psychology lecture for the term, it was a review session and only about a dozen students ended up showing up for it (out of a few hundred…). I thought it was pretty useful. She went over main topics, told us how the questions would be organized, according to chapters, how it was going to look on the test, and we had several sample example problems to do and she hinted that of the 10 example problems, 5 would be showing up exactly identical on the exam itself. Awesome, of course!

English lit went well today, as always, I’ve really enjoyed that class and the professor is such a great teacher. Plus, you know, making pop cultural references in regards to how pre-18th century English literature can be more easily understood is always a plus!

It’s been a pretty good term, even though it’s not technically over quite just yet. Just a few more days and a handful of exams and then it’ll all be over.

And then I can go and wallow in self pity over my state of unemployment while sending out resumes as fast as I can press the send button and draft up cover letters… This whole ‘feeling of dread over not being about to afford anything next year’ is kinda shitty. Just saying.

I thought I’d include a few other photos: daffodils and crocuses, both right by my front steps! And plus, they make me feel a lot better. Hope you all had a wonderful Monday!

Happy Friday!

Michelle — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 01:41:06 +0000

I’ve been kinda all-smiles today. So… I’m cheerful and overly smiley. Plus, I have marshmallows!

For my psychology lecture, we had guest speakers. We’ve been learning about addiction and how that effects people and such so for our last class on addiction, we had three guest speakers. One was addicted to alcohol and drugs from age 8 to mid-20s, one had an eating disorder for 12 years and one used to attend my school, dropped out and ended up joining a rock band and toured around and got into drugs that way (now he’s clean and working on a degree, an album and a bunch of other stuff). It was really fascinating, because it’s one thing to learn about how addiction affects people from lectures and from a textbook, but it’s another to just hear someone’s life story because it’s just so different that way and it just makes everything seem more profound.

In English lit, we watched clips from a movie called She’s the Man since it’s a modern remake of Twelfth Night (which we’ve been discussing it the past week). And we also critiqued how they changed some of the things. In the play, when Viola reveals to Orsino that she’s really a woman, he gets excited and basically goes “Great, I liked you before, but I like you better now – let’s get married!” while in the movie, when Viola reveals that she’s a girl to Duke (I guess Orsino doesn’t work well in a modern remake…), he goes “… BUT I KISSED YOU!” in this omg, does this mean I’m gay?! sort of way. In the play, everyone’s kosher with the accidental homosexual love, in the movie, everyone’s like -jaw drops, must rinse out mind with bleach-. I mean, I haven’t seen the entire movie, but it’s not very believable. Seriously, in this day and age, if a high school cuts the girls’ soccer team, people would just protest against it instead of pretending to be a guy and playing on the boys’ soccer team. At least, I would think that’s what people would do.

But that went well. I went to volunteering for the first time in pretty much a month. The last time I had signed in was February 27th, and it’s March 27th today. All the recreational staff missed me and were wanting to know how I was. I hung up with my ‘group’ for two hours and we had tea and cookies at first then switched to pop and chips. It was really fun, very chill and it was just an overall really nice time. I knew that I missed volunteering, but it wasn’t until that I actually got there and interacted with the people that I realized how much I missed it. It’s just such a friendly atmosphere and I love it there. Besides, where else would I get the opportunity to spend time with people and hear their life stories and get asked my opinion on if their blue sock look better than their other blue sock?

And did I mention I have marshmallows? Yummy.

Questions

If you were a woodland animal, what kind of animal would you be?
When is the last time you’ve read anything by Shakespeare?
What’s the last new-to-you movie that you’ve seen?

My answers

Bunny rabbit.
Today – Twelfth Night
Marie Antoinette

When I grow up, I want to be yarn harlot too!

Michelle — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 03:06:28 +0000

A library that I frequented almost daily throughout my grades 11 and 12 years of high school recently reopened to the public after undergoing extensive renovations (it’s really pretty inside, but you can tell that they’re not quite done yet as none of the shelves have signs!). So, of course I had to go, even though the grand reopening isn’t until later (the place still smelled like fresh paint – probably because when I walked in, I passed two guys wearing those white overalls and hauling paint around…). Due to the fact that none of the shelves had signs, it was a pain for me to find what I was looking for, but I eventually found the craft books (yay!) and I picked out a few books to read.

Things I Learned from Knitting …whether I wanted to or not by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (i.e. The Yarn Harlot)
Anticraft: Knitting, Beading and Stitching For the Slightly Sinister by Renée Rigdon and Zabet Stewart
The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches from Reader’s Digest
The Crafter’s Guide to Pricing Your Work by Dan Ramsey

And yes, I do knit. Even though it doesn’t seem like it… I learned how to knit (and purl! The only two real stitches in knitting.) before I learned how to crochet. However… While crochet may take up approximately twice as much of yarn as knitting would for something that’s the same size in terms of area… Crochet’s a lot faster. And I’m less likely to drop stitches (… I do that a lot). And I just find it easier (which is really odd, because most people who learn one before the other almost always find the first one that they learned easier). Plus, you know… amigurumi.

That being said, I found an awesome page in the first book (the one by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee). The book has no patterns and it reads more like a list… With a lot of stories. And there was one page in particular that I really liked. It’s on page 122. The page is titled “5 Ways That Knitting is Better Than Video Games”. Numbers 2, 3 and 4 I really like and they apply greatly with crocheting as well (Number 1 doesn’t work for me and number 5 doesn’t apply to crocheting at all).

2. I decide how many points I get and for what.
3. I can do it even if the power goes out.
4 I never lose something because I forget to hit “save” before I go do something else.
– Things I Learned from Knitting … whether I wanted to or not by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (page 122)

It’s a really quick read, but some of the humour would be difficult to understand if you’ve never been in some of the situations (i.e. really screwing up a pattern, working on something with an intensive deadline, frogging an entire project due to something you messed up in row 2…). I finished the book today (I read a large majority of it while walking home – it’s a fairly small book and I really like it, I’ve never seen it in a bookstore before though, which is why I thought it was either very old or very new – until I saw who it was by, then I knew that I’m either just blind or it’s new).

I’m planning on finishing up my English paper today, printing it out and reading it over tomorrow on the bus. It now has a title! Before it just had “Working Title”, highlighted in red, at the top of the page (and centered). Now it has a title and it is… Paving a Road to Hell. Which is kind of ironic considering my paper is a) about hell and b) about hell isn’t a literal place. Still have have of the conclusion to go, hopefully I’ll get it done.

Oh, plus, I’ve been in the process of designing (ohemgee, I used the d-word!) a crocheted hat. I keep on seeing hats with cat ears everywhere. And, while I do like cats – I really do think that they look best knit. The last time I knit anything was when Goose’s wife was about to have their baby girl. And, well, that was last year. Plus, I don’t really want a cat hat, crocheted, knit or otherwise. Or rather, I don’t want to make one. But I shall post photos when the hat is done! I’m hoping that everyone will be able to tell what it is when I get photos up… Let’s see how good I am at mimicking nature.

Questions

How often do you go to your local public library?
What kinds of books do you normally borrow?
Do you think the road to hell is paved with good intentions?

My answers

Used to be frequently, then dwindled down to about once a month or so (which makes me sad, but keeps my reading in check – what with school and all).
Craft books, romance (paranormal romance, the smutty romance), chick lit, fantasy, sci-fi (depends on the author though), literary fiction (usually the teen stuff only – it’s quicker reads).
Yeah, pretty much

Feels like a Monday…

Michelle — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 23:31:54 +0000

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions for my Bible-citing needs. I did clarify with my prof how he’d like me to cite it and he just looked at me and went “… You overthink things way too much. Just do it like this… [he writes things out on a piece of paper] and write this… [writes more things on a piece of paper].” Have I mentioned how much I dislike MLA citation styling? I’m so much better at the citation format for science research papers (CBE and ACS). And my paper’s going stellar… ish. I just have my conclusion to do and then some editing and then it’ll be done!

So umm… Have you ever had a conversation with someone while you’re in a somewhat bad mood and then they say something and you take it the wrong way because you’re in a touchy mood and already somewhat annoyed with the word so you purposely pick a fight or say something hurtful? I did that today. Not that fun, hurt feelings all around. Feel pretty bad about it, and there’s not enough chocolate ice cream in my house to make myself feel better, so I’m settling for yoghurt granola bars (peach yoghurt, really good… -tempts-). I was going to go and buy some yarn today (I have a project in mind, but I need pale green for it or else it’ll look sickly) but I try not to go shopping when I’m upset or else I end up spending a lot more than I plan to (although, have to say, retail therapy is a lot of fun!). And having a credit card and all, that doesn’t make the not-spending any easier. At least when I carried cash around, I could limit myself or remind myself that “Oh, I still have to buy something to eat later” or whatever. So no yarn shopping today… Maybe Wednesday when I head to the library to drop off some dvds (… which I still haven’t seen, shall have to remedy that).

Anyways… Shall leave you all off with a conversation snippet of what went on between me and J before class today (J is the J that bakes cupcakes… and got his foot run over by a car at a crosswalk… Good times.)

J: So I was thinking…
M: Yes?
J: You should set me up with one of your friends!
M: … And why would I do that?
J: Because you want my new frosting recipe. Plus, I’m attractive, intelligent, funny and you think I’m a really good friend.
M: … You’re a chronic cheater, J.
J: Well yes but…
M: What do you mean ‘but’? I’m not setting up one of my friends with a chronic cheater when I know of the likelihood you cheating on them within a month.
J: But I could learn to be better… I could change…
M: They also won’t sleep with you when they find out that you’ve got [insert words here here].
J: I forget that girls don’t want that…
M: You are such an idiot sometimes.

How has your Monday been?

My English paper isn’t writing itself…

Michelle — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:47:35 +0000

Which is highly unfortunate! However, I am currently at… 1025 words! It’s supposed to be 1500-1800 words and I still have my introduction/thesis paragraph (… I have the ‘bare bones’ of it… in note form… highlighted red so I don’t forget it…), which will probably be 250 words. Then I have to conclude my first paragraph still (I’m estimating ~100 words there). And then there’s the conclusion for the paragraph that I’ve written that’s all about borrowing from the Bible (bible? Do I need to capitalize it? I just reference it as ‘scripture’ and ‘biblical passages’…), so probably another 100 words there. And then I need to conclude my damn paper, which will probably be about 300 words… Maybe. Which will bump my total word count up to ~1775 words. Which is going to be awesome as it will fit into the parameters set by my professor.

By the way… I was wondering, does anyone know how one goes about ‘citing’ the Bible? I’m about as atheist as a person can get, so I have no (real) clue as to why I’m writing my term paper on hell and how Marlowe borrows from other works in order to make his ‘hell’ more real so… How does one go about citing the Bible, or is saying the passage number (… or whatever it’s called) enough?

For example, I’m using John 1:8 and John 1:9, can I just go John 1:8 and John 1:9 and not cite it in my Works Cited? I’m assuming so? Because I’m not really sure how one goes about citing a biblical work. And the interwebs are currently failing me…

I’m not a sponge!

Michelle — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 05:02:22 +0000

Today was my last biology lab class. I was placed into a group where I drank 800ml of water (800ml = 0.8L = 1.057 quarts). It could have been worse. I could have drank 800ml of electrolyte and sugar filled water (neon orange Gatorade ftl). It wasn’t a bad lab though, it was actually kind of fun (well, besides the whole ‘Hey, 3 more minutes!’ from J all the time). No latex gloves, but we were all very good and no one spilled or anything. And… I found out that I don’t have diabetes, I don’t have bleeding from my kidneys, I don’t have any major easy-to-diagnose-with-Labstix-strips diseases! Yeah! But the hardest part was drinking 800ml. Because we had to drink it at exactly 9:30am. Have you ever tried drinking nearly a litre of water in a short period of time? I downed the entire first cup (400ml) but I had issues with the second one. We weren’t allowed to drink any form of liquids this morning, so I was thirsty, but really, 800ml and my TA was telling us that we should drink it within 5 minutes. Really? 800ml in 5 minutes? I’m not a sponge!

It was really sad though, since it was the last biology lab. I mean, yes, I still have the paper to write (7 pages with a title page, abstract, graphs and tables and on and on and on), but that’s due after my English paper (erm… the day after) so I’ll work on it after my paper’s done (35% > 4%, correct? I thought so too!).

I was talking with M outside of the biology lecture hall today, he’s wanting to go into nursing as well and he’s applied at one school (we laughed a little at his use of of the ‘all eggs into one basket’ saying). And then we were talking about the school and the program and whatnot. He’s concerned that there won’t be enough experience gained from the practicum and that he won’t get in and to that I just went “…. You’re a guy. You’re practically guaranteed a golden ticket in, M. Don’t worry so much.” Sadly, it’s true. What with them wanting to show that the program’s equal towards both genders to make it seem more diverse (they get more funding that way – everything’s politics in one way or another), he’s more likely to get into the program than I am. Which is sadly accurate. But then again, I won’t be applying to only one school. Sure, I have my dream schools (Dalhousie University being basically my ‘ultimate dream school’), but I’m going to be realistic about it as well and apply to more than one school. But it would be nice to go there… After all, if you’re going to go to school to go for a specific program, why not attempt to shoot for the stars? … Besides the fact that I wouldn’t be a local student and it’d be really expensive and they reserve very little seats for people outside of the Maritimes and, right, it’s in Nova Scotia. They get a lot of snow other there. I complain enough about the snow here as it is – imagine how my blog would be come autumn/winter/spring. It’d be like “… It’s May and it’s still snowing!” (that was a hyperbole, I don’t know if they get snow in May or not).

So now I’m going to go over my notes for my English paper again (I’m doing a very rough outline so I can get my prof to look it over for me – I’m not about to do a paper that’s worth 35% without having his input, I’m not that suicidal… I think.). Maybe reread the poems for tomorrow’s class, maybe even look over my psychology notes (wow, that’s a novel concept!).

If anyone wants to talk about Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus with me, feel free to send me a message via Twitter and I’ll totally welcome any ideas that you have about Marlowe’s use of borrowing from any scripture, mythology or his contemporaries (Shakespeare in particular). Cheers!

Questions:

What’s the earliest that you have to get up during the week?
Do you have a dream school that you’d want to attend if you could (and if money wasn’t an issue)?
What’s your dream career (realistic and unrealistic)?
If you’ve had the flu recently, how long did it take you to get over the damn cough?

My answers:

6am on Tuesdays, but now that I no longer have my morning lab, the earliest will be 8am.
Dalhousie University, for their nursing program.
Realistic (I hope!): to be a RN, specializing in pediatrics or geriatrics. Unrealistic would be a novelist, or making a living off selling jewelry.
I haven’t a clue because I’m still coughing (but I’m drinking tea again! I was off caffeine when I was really not feeling well, now I’m drinking tea again, so I’m getting there.).