They say we have to learn to compromise/ stay inside our means and we'll all be fine

Hell week is going much slower than I had feared, but way faster than I'd hoped. Strange, I know, but perhaps there is a grain of truth in that statement. No? Didn't think so.

I accomplish many many things every day at school. I go to class, I go to lunch meetings, I call bus companies, I type permission forms, I apply to universities, I request transcripts, I talk to teachers, I run meetings, sometimes I do homework... but at the end of every day, I'm exhausted and there are still a million things left. Once you get to the middle of a week like that, it's really hard not to give up altogether. I really can't afford to give up, since most of my deadlines are about applying to university... Can't miss that. At the same time the whole thinking about university thing is giving me the heebie jeebies, so I will not think about that right now and instead mechanically write soulless responses about how my experiences with Insight Theatre affected my philosphies on teaching and how I want to use the knowledge I'd gain in Communications Studies. Yuck-o. One high point to these afternoons is passing by other very busy friends, walking to the bus stop with John Wishart ("It's laundry day... so I had to improvise an outfit), chatting with Andrea when really, we both should be working (who wants to work anyway...).

Improv has become the huge task tacked onto the end of my day. I never get enough sleep*, so by the time improv practice rolls around after 3, I am exhausted, drained physically and emotionally, and I have a splitting headache. Not the best feeling for creativity. Improv is also stressing me out SO much, because I feel so unprepared... but I want to do well. K keeps telling us that we're doing so well, we know what we're doing, etc, but I don't feel prepared. She says we all just get it, and it's easy for us, and maybe that's true, but still... I'm nervous. Mostly because I leave next Thursday for Europe on a school trip and don't get home until three days before competition, which is only 2 days after March Break ends.

Amid all the stress, there comes a beacon of excitement: In 8 days, I will be in Paris. Ok, with the flying it'll be 9, but still. I love Paris. It is my favourite city I've ever been in. I have a secret dream to study/live in Paris for a year. I love the language, the culture, the metro, the history, the art, the smell, the feeling... Paris is, in a word, breathtaking, and I'm so excited to go on this trip.

Also on the trip, we're visiting Avignon in Provence, and then Barcelona in Spain. It's a whirlwind trip, so it'll be fast, but I think it'll be great. I'm only worried because I know almost no one on the trip at all, I'm rooming with two girls I only kind of know, and I'm on a plane of 12 students (the other group is like, 45) with no one I know well. My hope is that we all bond on the plane ride over and everyone is friendly and great and who the fuck cares anyway because I'm in Europe and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

Now, if the luck would only stretch to improv regionals...


*Like, right now, it's 11:00 already. How did that happen?

Canada: America's Hat.

I am an Oscars girl. I love watching the Oscars. I love watching the dresses and the speeches and the montages and then I cry and then I laugh and then Jon Stewart always hosts and I'm happier for it. I really enjoy it. I am most happy for Diablo Cody* and Once. Great writer amazing song. Also, great dress, cute speech.

But the BEST part of Oscars night is OscarBlog. Let me explain. Every year, a bunch of my friends from Indiana and I hang out in an IM chatroom and watch the Oscars: together, but apart. It's very nice. There have been dramas in the past (like that once year where Michael and I got into a fight about Orlando Bloom and his hotness and my being an annoying 13 year old girl in love with him and then he blocked me for the next two years until we both started watching the same shows), but we always have so much fun. I spend the night laughing my ass off. It's unfortunate that I never get to see these people. This is why OscarBlog is so much fun.

Here are some highlights for you. I hope you understand them, without knowing the people. It might be tough. My advice is to focus on what we're saying , not who is saying it. This year's blog was called "OscarBlog2008: There Will Be Blog"


Michael: Xavier Bardem? Really, Regis?

Me: ARGH.
Erin: Bad TIVO?
Me: When mom wans to record Pride and Prejudice and dad sets the thing to record URBAN FREAKING JUSTICE with STEVEN FREAKIN SEAGAL.
Michael: GO DAD!

Nathan: My ! mark button was jammed. I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to get excited.

Marten: Damn. Harrison Ford is old.
Michael: Which is why the new Indiana Jones movie is going to be awesome.
Nathan: Hence, Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull.
Erin: The movie I will always call Indiana Jones and the Retirement Home of Doom.

Michael: You heard it here first! Schindler's List gave Spielberg menopause!

Michael: Don't listen to Evey.
Me: What did I do?
Michael: I anticipated mockery of There Will Be Blood. Which...didn't actually come.
Me: lol. You Americans and your preemptive strikes.
Michael: We do love them!
Marten: That's a low blow, I think.
Michael: The preemptive strike joke? I thought it was funny.
Me: Well, I come out on top. Geographically.
Marten: Canada: America's hat.
Michael: It's quite a snazzy hat, though.

*Diable Cody is her blogger name. She was an exotic dancer, wrote a blog, and some Hollywood type commented on her blog that she should write a screenplay. So she did. And it ended up being Juno. See, everyone I know?? Bloggers are moving up. Just look at how Fidel resigned. He's clearly with the times.

The endless nights of Genova Heights are hard to leave, so hard to leave

I am in love. It's a love that is true and pure and will last forever. I had forgotten this wonderful feeling for a while, but I have tasted it again and it is delicious. The object of my affection is peanut butter.

I have always loved peanut butter. I was one of those little girls who was raised on PB + J sandwiches and Barbie dolls. My peanut butter intake decreased significantly once I entered the peanut-free school zone and then I dated a guy who was allergic to peanut butter. Since I saw him almost every day, I cut out peanut butter, for fear of causing death. The first love euphoria made up for it well, but once the relationship started to fade, I missed peanut butter. When I visited my cousins, I ate it by the spoonful everyday until I came back home.

I guess I'd forgotten about peanut butter for a while. Turned into a jam on my morning toast kind of a girl. But yesterday, while holding my thick slice of fresh sourdough bread, I thought "hey, why not peanut butter?"

Mmmm. I will not forget again. I love peanut butter.

Une derniere verre (pour la route)

Today I went home after lunch and slept for three and a half hours straight. How did I do that? I guess I really am sick. Bad news is that it has skewed my sleep pattern a little, so I'm not tired yet. You just know what tomorrow is going to be like, what with the marathon improv practice semi-planned.

Oh improv. Many of you know, I'm sure, of my love for improvised theatre, and how psyched I was when I made the team this year. Improv is basically the best part of my life right now. In the drama room after school, the door shuts and it's just us. And we improvise. I love it.

The thing is that the team this year contains a group of people who have eleventy million things to do. One member is in the military and is gone every second weekend to do training. Almost all of us have jobs. Then there's homework... Being in high school is busy and hectic to the max. But improv keeps suffering because of it. It drives me nuts when we can't get the team together for a practice, and it makes me the most mad when I miss a practice, because I can't ask other people to "Get there!" when I can't. This happenned last week when I didn't know about a practice until I got a phone call at 3 o'clock and I was at home already, not able to get there. It frusterated me so much.

Today was the worst. When I woke up from the aforementioned epic nap, I turned on my computer to check my email, and a teammate messaged me to ask why I went home this afternoon. Turns out that most of the team had been waiting at the drama room after school but we couldn't practice because there weren't enough people without me. I only went home because I thought we couldn't have practice anyway, our coach told me so, but to wake up and find out practice was off because of me? I'm so, so angry about it.

I just want us to kick ass at regionals*. Whatever happens after that, happens. I just want to kick some ass. And by kick ass, I mean, make amazing scenes with my team.

*Come and see us perform! All the info I have so far is in the sidebar. Improv is a ton of fun, I promise you'll all love it. Tickets are something like 10 dollars.

Family Day Flu

I am so sick. My head is completely blocked up, I'm exhausted, and all my energy goes into improv. I'll be boring for a couple of days.

I have never finished a knitting project before. Never. I have been an occaisional knitter since I was about 7, but I always gave up when something went wrong. That kind of knitter. But this yarn was so pretty, and I got new needles and so... I started knitting.
To be fair, I started this last year. I think in like March. So it has been almost a year of work, on and mostly off. Eventually, the knitting got stuck up in my closet, but since I have been redoing my room (painting, new furniture, etc... more on that later), I found it and decided to finish today.
I am very proud of my scarf.







*In the picture, notice my Family Day getup of relaxation: sweatpants and lazy shirt. You can't see the teacup on the table behind me.

Though I love chocolate and love, Valentine's Day has not really been my thing. Sure it's kind of fun to have a honey, but it's nice every day. I will accept chocolate from anyone, any day. However, Vday did provide a good opportunity to hang out with some fun blogger types. Megan suggested a hang-out at the Manx. I hadn't been to the Manx before, and I really enjoyed myself. They made me like black beans! Me! Shocking.

It was a very enjoyable evening with lovely people. My tea buddy Andrea was there with her Better Half, as well as Jennifer with the MoS. I also met Michael Bhardwaj of CBC radio, who regaled us with many funny stories. They must teach good story-telling at CBC, because everyone I meet who works there tells great stories.

Even though I was the youngest member of the party by quite a bit, it didn't matter, which I love. Who cares what year is on my driver's licence? I hang out with people I like to be with, and hopefully they feel the same way. Now, if I need to work on turning 19 so I can have a beer legally*.

*Don't even get me started.