Adventures Around the World

First of all, Kristy-Anne, I just have to say that your idea of hiring someone to rub my feet to make them warmer at night is INGENIOUS! How could I have not thought of that myself?! Second of all, to all those people, and there are a LOT of you, who always tell me you like to read my blog.... Leave a comment!!! Alright, the administration portion of this post is over, moving on...

I bought the new Michael Buble cd on Saturday. Jeff laughed at me because he bought me a shirt earlier in the day because he thought I had no money and an hour later I went and bought a cd. Then I laughed at him because he kinda got the bad end of the deal. Ha. Anyway, it's a really cool jazz cd. He is rather talented. And rather hot. And he is coming to Saskatoon, so perhaps I will have to go the concert. I have always been a music lover but for some reason I have a hard time justifying buying things like cds and dvds. There are SO many I would buy if I could only actually bring myself to buy them. It's a lot cheaper to just download. I can hardly justify doing that either though. What a vicious cycle. I'm hearing lots about Jack Johnson lately, and I think maybe that will be the next one I will buy. I saw in the Future Shop flier that it's out on March 1, which is tomorrow. Maybe once I start becoming a cd buyer, I will like it? We'll have to see.

Tonight Jen picks her bachelor! I totally hope she goes for Jerry, because I think John Paul is a retard. I'm not thrilled with her choice of either of them to be honest, but if I must choose one, I like Jerry better than JP. I love reality TV! It's crazy. I love American Idol, Survivor, Amazing Race, Extreme House Makeover.... then again I just love TV in general... CSI, The O.C., ER, Desperate Housewives, Judging Amy.... then there's Oprah, in a class of her own...And don't forget, Days of our Lives!!! Sigh... I could watch TV 24 hours a day. I miss Friends. I watched the last episode of Friends by myself in an airport in Minneapolis, among 50 others all fighting for a closer view in the pub I was in. Luckily I called my sister and she taped it for me.

Haha, speaking of that very same day, I had dinner at TGIF's in the airport, with a total, complete stranger! It was the oddest thing I have ever done. There was a huge lineup, and I told the hostess I didn't have time to wait that long, and this hot, 3o somethings man asked if I wanted to just eat with him. I thought, well sure why not? He was from the South, so he had a lovely Southern accent. He even paid for me. I felt like I was in a Danielle Steele book, eating with a good looking stranger in an airport on my way home from vacation. If only I had something to hide, like all Danielle Steele's characters!

So it is confirmed... I'm going to Europe in May! I am so excited. I am going to Prague, Czech Republic and also to Vienna, Austria. I keep hearing that Prague is supposed to be the most beautiful city in Europe. I can't wait. I'm going for a geography class about European Heritage or something... heck who cares what the class is?! Our prof was like, "So everyone, we meet at 8pm in Prague at this certain pub!" I was like, oh gosh I have to be all grown up and make my OWN travel arrangements?! I know a couple people going though, so I'm travelling with a girl I used to work with at Moxie's and this other girl that I just met on Friday. She is cute though, she's just young, and she's like, "I've never been on a plane or anything!" So she is a little nervous, but Jen and I have travelled a lot, so she is in good hands. I hope :) I've looked up a couple flights, and many of them stop for a day in Amsterdam or London as well!

I'M EXCITED!

Tomatos, Africa and Cold Feet

Uh oh my mother is going to be very angry that I still have not cut the tomatos for our hamburgers when she gets home. Well thats okay I will risk her wrath.

I have 5 essays to write in March. Today I finally went to the library, and got all the books I need for my politics class. And I was told the most wonderful, liberating news! I can renew my books ONLINE up to two times!!! This is absolutely outrageous!!! No more late fees for me. It''ll be kind of like Blockbuster! Anyway, I'm writing this particular paper on women in Africa. Who would've thought that women account for 70% of the agriculture labor in Africa? Not only do they do nearly all the farming, but they do all the housework, all the water hauling, look after all the children (like all 10 of them!). They literally do everything. They even build the majority of the hut they live in. And do you know what the men do? Sit on their arses. Anyway, this is not new news to me, I just thought I'd share a little piece of my knowledge with you all. Other papers I need to write... one on the Congo which has an incredibly interesting and sad history. And then 3 others that I have yet to decided a topic. At least one more on Africa. I think that next year I'll try to take a bunch of Latin American classes, or maybe some Asian history. China has had a particularly intriging century if you ask me. This year has kind of been African overload, which has been extremely interesting, but I don't want to forget about the rest of the world either.

Mom is home, so far she hasn't said anything about the tomatos. The countdown has begun...

Every single night, when I go to bed, I battle the cold feet war. I don't know what to do about this mess. I wear socks, I wear slippers, I have tried wool socks, I have tried no socks... I would wear my socks to sleep but they are so darn uncomfortable. If I wear socks then all I can think about is getting them off, but I'm too lazy to reach down and take them off. So I try to do it with the other foot, but this is a battle in itself. Usually I just end up falling asleep an hour later with them on. Anyway I think that the solution is this. Wear socks and slippers for at least one hour prior to going to bed, and then take my socks off before I get settled and wrap my feet in my comfy jersey sheets. I tried this last night, and I think its a winning combination. Don't get too excited now, it has only proved to work once. I'll try again tonight.

Well I guess I'd better go cut up some tomatos for our hamburgers :)

Much A'Blog About...

OH what a wonderful day so far! I slept in.... till 1:30pm. Holy Mackaral!!! I think I was making up for lost sleeping in time, since I had to work at 8:30am all last week, even though I had the whole week off school! Nice break. Not even yesterday did I get to sleep in because Jeff was leaving for a big snowmobile trip and he wanted me up to say goodbye and stuff. What a guy, he is gone for a week snowmobiling, and then next week he is on his way to Mexico. Sheesh. He'll have a good time though! Anyways, the other reason I got to sleep in so much is because last night I was up till 3:30am playing The Sims 2, the greatest computer game ever known to man. It is just so much fun. Maybe because you get to be in complete control of your Sims life... you get to make them look like whatever you want, and the best part... you get to completely design a house for them! Oh, my dream come true, all rolled into a computer game! I used to want to be an architecht when I was little, but I never really had the math skills for it. Also last night, some people went over to Charmaine's house and we played three games of Settlers and two games of Rook. My two favorite games in the whole world. I am proud to say that I won the first game of Settlers, and the first game of Rook by a fairly large margin. So last night was obviously games night for me, seeing as it started at 8 and went till 3:30am. I am borrowing Jeff's laptop while he's away so I think thats why I stayed up so late, I got to play the Sims in bed.

Well today my whole family is returning from their long weekend in Calgary. I really truly enjoyed my time without a large, loud and exciting household, but at the same time, I don't like sleeping alone in this big house. I would love to have a little cute house with a friend, but it would be really stupid of me to move out while I'm in university, since living here is free. But it would be nice. Anyway I sure did enjoy a few days. But welcome home family!

There are a few people who I have thought in my mind would make really fabulous blogs. I know that blogs have all of a sudden become the newest fad, and some people just don't want to do what everyone else is doing, but that is no reason not to start one. Especially if you are a really creative person! I am proud to say I have convinced Chad to start one, even though I did the whole thing, and so far he hasn't done one entry besides "hey people"... but hey it's a start! I also convinced Kevin to make one yesterday. I helped my brother, Phil, start one too. I'm all for it because I know how much I have enjoyed making my blog. It's fun to sit down and write some thoughts to the world, no matter what they may be! So some people who I have thought should also make a blog would be my two Ontario friends, Chris E and Lowana because they are two very funny people...Alison because her life is so interesting, in fact it would be cool if you and Leon did one together, that you both could add too...Chad, but I got him already, I just wish he'd do it...Lynnel because I would just LOVE to hear what she'd come up with to say!...Tania because she's so cute...yah that's all I can think of right now. However, I would absolutely positively read anybody's blog that I knew, because everyone should do them!!! That is my blog commercial of the day. I still do not really like the actual word, BLOG, however. It is kind of... manly or something.

Well those are my early Sunday afternoon thoughts of the day. I really wish I had gone to the church for lunch though because they had soup and sandwiches and I still haven't eaten lunch yet, and gosh, I wish I had a sandwich and some soup.

Fudgalicious

Jeff's mom makes the best fudge. She gave a whole bunch of it to Jeff, and today he gave ME a whole freaking carton of it! Frick I love fudge. What is it about girls and chocolate? I just don't know but I sure do enjoy it.

Several little paragraphs about... uh, nothing!

I thought I would attempt to write today while here at work. It has been INSANELY busy this morning so far, but once 12:00 hit, everyone stopped calling. Phewf. It is now 12:29, and I have finally caught my breath. I get to go for lunch in 31 minutes!

What to write about...I considered writing about work, but I realized that its just too risky to write basically anything about your workplace on the internet. Therefore, I shall refrain from any negativities in this area of my life. So far my job has proven to be very flexible for my student schedule, which I have most appreciated, and I truly enjoy my coworkers. I just wished I had my chair back. If you want that story, I'll just have to tell it to you in person :)

Anyway, Valentine's day was nice. Jeff and I went to The Granery. He had been telling me all week long that we weren't going to celebrate this year and blah blah blah, because he had to go on a business trip on Monday morning, and I was all, well obviously we'll do something Saturday night then... okay Sunday night?? Nothing was happening and I was getting a little teensy bit ripped... and he finally cracked and told me Sunday night that he was actually leaving Tuesday, and we were going for dinner on Monday. And he gave me a single red rose. What a good man!

Does anyone know a safe way to clean white leather? I have a white leather watch band that desperately needs to be cleaned but I'm afraid to use the wrong product on it. Like lime green paint for example.

I'm thinking about going to the Czech Republic in May with the University. It would be for 14 days, and there's also a day in Vienna, Austria. I think that it would be incredibly exciting...
I am just trying to find a happy medium between being practical with my money and with splurging excessively with it. I've been to lots of countries but never to Eastern Europe.

Well... I have been slightly boring today. Hmm, sorry folks. Gotta go for lunch!!!

Two hours later...

Back from lunch now. I had some leftover Kraft Dinner, mmmm my favorite! I like leftover KD even better than just made KD for some reason. It's also really yummy if you fry the leftover KD. Then I went and got myself a coffee and someone at work here brought yummy cookies for my afternoon snack. Delicious!!!

Sometimes when I drive, I feel scared that my hood is going to fly up into my windshield. I fear this because it has happened to me, not once but twice. Once on circle drive, and once on Preston Ave. This happened with my old car, which was totalled (of no fault of my own I might add), but I still have this crazy fear that it's going to happen again with my little Geo. I hope it's something that I will eventually get over! But you really can't imagine my fear.

This afternoon at work has been absolutely crazy, worse than this morning! Geez. I am here all week long, full days because it is Reading Week, and every minute I have off, I really like to spend at work. Or maybe it's actually because I am broke. Yeah, I think that is the one. Oh well, when I get the paycheck I go to my happy place. The mall that is.

So I signed myself up for a "Gmail" account. I have jumped on the bandwagon (or is it, I have jumped the bandwagon? I'm not sure). I haven't used it yet though because it's about my 5th email address now. One hotmail, one at Blue Cross, one at School... Okay so it's my fourth I guess. But still, I am just happy that I can be one of the first to participate in the newest email fad. It's wicked awesome!

Top 10 Valentine's DON'Ts

http://www.strangecosmos.com/content/item/105507.html
Submitted by J, L, CR & TJ MORRISON Top 10 Valentine's DON'Ts by Christian Finnegan No.
No. 1 DON'T tell your girlfriend that this has been “one of the best” Valentine’s you’ve ever had. She won’t see that as a compliment.
No. 2 DON'T celebrate your special night by ordering tequila shots – Valentine’s is already poignant enough without inviting Jose Cuervo to the party! Angry shouting and upchucking that expensive dinner you paid for do not a romantic evening make.
No. 3 DON'T try to “avoid the rush.” There’s no such thing as a romantic 4:00 PM dinner (unless you’re over 65).
No. 4 DON'T try to slip how much you spent on her gift into the conversation. She already know the going rate for cubic zirconia, dude.
No. 5 DON'T Forget to compliment your wife or girlfriend on her Valentine’s ensemble. Compliment her dress, her hair, her shoes, her nails, her makeup, her jewelry, her fingers, her toes, her kneecaps, her kidneys, etc. Just keep complimenting
No. 6 DON'T willingly engage in any conversation during which your wife/girlfriend addresses you by your real name. If she calls you “Honey,” or “Sweetheart,” or even “Papi,” you’re good to go. But any conversation that starts with “Michael, I need to ask you a question…” is a potential minefield.
No. 7 DON'T take your Valentine to an NC-17 movie, even if it’s foreign and/or artsy. On a night like this, the only naked body you should be admiring is hers.
No. 8 DON'T be your usual, too-cool-to-wear-nice-clothes self. No need to buy a new suit, but come on man – maybe tonight isn’t the night for your “ironic” Dukes of Hazard t-shirt.
No. 9 DON'T order tequila shots. Do you hear me? I’m not kidding about this!
No. 10 DON'T play mood music that’s sexier than you are. If you’re not 100% certain you can provide genuine “sexual healing,” leave Marvin Gaye up on the shelf. Every man’s got to know his limitations.

Valentine's Day Trivia
-About three percent of pet owners give Valentine's Day gifts to their pets.
-About one billion Valentine's Day cards are exchanged each year. The holiday is second only to Christmas in terms of the number of cards sent.
-Seventy percent of those celebrating Valentine's Day show their affection by giving a card. Others make a telephone call (49 percent), give a gift (48 percent), plan a special dinner (37 percent), give candy (33 percent), have a meal in a restaurant (30 percent), or give flowers (19 percent).
-The Italian city of Verona, where Shakespeare's lovers Romeo and Juliet lived, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to Juliet every Valentine's Day.
-About 110 million roses, most of them red, will be sold for Valentine's Day this year.
-Fifteen percent of women in the United States send themselves flowers on Valentine's Day. -
-During Abraham Lincoln's campaign for President, a Democrat named Valentine Tapley swore he would never shave again if Abe were elected. Tapley kept his word and his chin whiskers went unshaved from November 1860 until he died in 1910, attaining a length of 12 feet six inches.
-In the U.S., it's estimated that 64 percent of men do not make plans in advance for Valentine's Day.

Haven't I become QUITE the computer nerd!

It's true. I'm one of them. It's Friday night. I've sat here at this computer all evening. I ditched friends and everything! What have I become? But seriously I just figured out the most amazing things all on my own tonight! If you look to the right hand side of this page and down a bit, you will see that I added "Blogs I Read" (very exciting stuff I tell you), and actually perhaps I should say while I'm on the topic... it's a little embarrasing really...one of the blogs I mention, Thomas... well he's actually my sister's friend and I'm not sure he even knows who I am. But seriously he is ridiculously funny. If you are in the mood for ridiculous funniness, check out his blog. Maybe one day he'll come across my blog, perhaps via Jenna's blog... and be all like, HEY I'm on this psycho chick's list? Right. Perhaps I should erase this and start all over? No, it should be a rule in blog world, that once you've written it, you can't erase it. Done deal. Back to how incredibly smart, or perhaps retardedly nerdy I am, I also added a "Links" area, which thus far, remains empty. I just want to make sure that the links I provide are actually... well I'm not sure. The problem is, I don't really have a webpage that I just HAVE to read and can't WAIT to tell you all about... when I find a link like that, I promise to post it. It's all ready for editing as you can see. It might stay looking like that for a little while, and if it really bothers you, I'll gladly take suggestions. Okay, and for the finishing touch, I also added a counter to my blog. NO MORE feeling like nobody reads my blog!!! Heck no, I got a counter thingy now!!! There's no escaping me. Problem is, I can't figure out how to get it in JUST the right spot. Also, the teal color is not quite perfect. I'm working on it people.

I also learned a new blogger term today, I'm just thrilled. LURKERS. Yeah, that's right, its those of you who don't leave a comment. That would be most of you people... I'm so glad there's a name for you...

Enough of the technocalities. It's 1:30 am. Whatever am I doing up still?

Well I don't actually have much else to say tonight, other than how proud I am of myself for all that I have learned this lovely evening. Everyone needs a Friday night to themselves!

Chow!

Hotel Rwanda

Tonight I went and saw "Hotel Rwanda." Me, being an International Studies major, thought it would be a good thing to see. Impress those professors. Just kidding, no professor of mine really cares. Anyway. I have learned a lot about Rwanda this year, and it is incredibly sad what happened. I am sad that we abandoned them, and I'm sad we see these things every single day on the news and we "go back to our dinners." I don't know how much there is that I can do personally, but that is why I decided on my major in the first place. About 2 years ago, I watched a documentary on TV about child soldiers, mostly in Africa, but in lots of other places around the world too, and that is when I realized I had a passion for something. I figure I can start with a degree, and see what happens next. Lots of people ask me what I will do when I am done university and usually I just smile and say, ohh I don't know, work for the government or something. But what I really hope is that something meaningful will come up, and that I can do something that matters in the lives of real people. It annoys me in class when we discuss whether or not we should use the term "third world" or "less industrialized" or if the USA is to blame for all the world's problems. I know that it is good for me to see the big picture, and to learn the schooled views of it all... but I hope that I never get caught up in the academic language. When you learn the academic language of something, you risk the possiblity of become separate from the reality... for example, there are several terms used in the military that are strategically used so that the soldier is able to remove themselves from inhumane acts they are doing. You learn of the evil of the enemy, not of a man. In fact the enemy is not fully human. I'm getting off topic here. My point is that I don't ever want to become a women in an office arguing about structural development or modernization. I don't ever want to forget the reasons I'm doing what I'm doing.

This is what happens when you write after midnight :)

Me and my aunt's little baby kitten at Christmas time. 

Sunday in Rural Saskatchewan

I like how in my last post I said I was addicted to my blog, and then I go 5 days without writing anything. Apparently I will be blogging spontaneously and impulsively. Not to worry, I am back. For now!

Something fabulous happened to me right before my African Society and Geography class. I put $1.75 in the vending machine for ONE Diet Coke, and low and behold, it produced TWO! Is it bad to drink 591 mL x 2 in one day? I didn't. But I considered it.

A note to anyone who leaves me a message... It'd be swell to know who's writing. Yes please.

Anyone for a story? Cuz do I have a good one. It is entitled,

"Sunday Snow Day from Hell."
(based on a true story)

Sunday morning, my boyfriend, Jeff, and I left early to go snowmobiling, sledding, tubing and crazy carpetting with about 10 friends of ours. I drove with the girls, and Jeff and his friends rode their snowmobiles to this huge hill about a 45 minute drive outside Saskatoon. It was a beautifully sunny day, a tad chilly (-17 degrees), but we were all bundled up in our snow day gear. We got rides up this huge hill on the snomobile, and jumped on tubes to fly down; we had a fire and made hotdogs, we played like gosh darn little kids. WELL. I had to get home because I had a midterm Monday morning and I hadn't studied, so Jeff and I decide I should just ride back with him on the good old Polaris. Hope I spelled that right. Now you must understand, I'm not really one for snowmobiling, but I figured I could get my ride out of the way for the winter... I have to go at least once per winter just for Jeff's sake. And it IS slightly fun. Just a little bit. We had hardly any gas, but there was a gas station right nearby... but as my title suggests... it is Sunday and we are surrounded by Mennonite farmers. It was closed. So we go out of our way and cut through farmers fields, dashing and dodging barb wire fences... lions and tigers and bears... just kidding, but barb wire yes... and make it to Waldheim, another Mennonite land of No Gas Stations being open on Sunday. Eventually a nice farmer man took pity on us and filled 'er up with enough gas to header home. Our adventure continues. Jeff's fancy glasses were fogging up and we had to cross a highway so he decides to stop and take a clear look. We are in a ditch. We are stuck. Stuck in a ditch. The snow is up to my shoulders. Now for some narration in the story: "Well Kristin, let's start digging," says Jeff. Haha. 20 minutes later we are free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty we're free at last. Back to the bumpy scary ride. We eventually make it to Martinsville... Jeff survived numorous punches and screaming in his ear from me to slow down... but we made it. And... Jeff had left his lights on on the truck. Crap. SOOO we get his friend to give us a boost. The hood is frozen shut. CRAP CRAP CRAP. His friend eventually lets us take his truck home, and Jeff drops me off around 7:30 pm. We had expected being home by 5:30. Anyway it gets worse. He calls me 5 minutes later from his cell phone... he had left the garage door opener IN his truck... back in Martinsville (another 20 minute drive from S'toon town). I felt so sorry for him!!! Anyway it was QUITE the day. Keep in mind that it was -17 Celcius out... although we were all geared up, there's nothing anyone can do to remain warm for 7 hours of -17 in Saskatchewan.

Well I have been really wanting to share that story with the world, so I feel really glad right now that I have a blog to do so.

Are there any Days of Our Lives fans out there?

My Secret Notebook

Some things I find just so annoyingly wonderful. Today after my first class, Politics of the Third World, I run to the computer lab to print off my geography assignment (yes the one from my previous post)...then run to my second class, Gendered Perspectives on Cultural Issues (which I was actually prepared for for the first time this semester), only to find that it was cancelled. Wonderful!!! But HOW annoying that last night I stayed up until 1:30 AM forcing myself to read about the masculinity of physics and sexual imagery in militarism. My goodness. How incredibly interesting.
Anyway I think I have become addicted to my blog. Even if I don't write something every day, it doesn't matter, it's always on my mind. All day long I think of witty and peculiar things I could write about in my blog that day... yesterday I thought about doing the whole Nancy Drew thing, where I carry around my secret notebook everywhere I go. Wait a minute, I just realized it wasn't Nancy Drew who did that... it was a different childhood character... I CAN'T REMEMBER! She had kind of a funny name I think. Ohhh yes, I remember!! HARRIET THE SPY! She wanted to be an author when she grew up, and she thought what better way to practice than to write down everything around her. Unfortunately for Harriet, her classmates confinscate her notebook and read it out loud for everyone to hear. Oh the horror.
I remember always thinking that Harriet would be a good name for a parrot.
[Side Note: I am in the computer lab here at school, and some guy is playing cartoons outloud, for all 40 of us to enjoy along with him. That drives me absoulutely crazy.]
Blogs are a funny thing because absolutely anyone can do them. Funny, interesting, laughable, boring, loser-ish, informative.... but they are all creative. I imagine my blog will mostly be..... loser-ish. Not loserish in a bad way, but in a nerdy, silly and maybe fun kind of way. It's too bad, but hey that's just me. Maybe all my fellow loser-ish friends out there will enjoy it along with me.

University 101

Things you know about me thus far:
I have a nephew. He is so very cute.
I take a geography class.
I procrastinate now and then.

That is not much at all. So I will write this entry with the intent to know me a little bit better. You know, just some basics. Funny because its really only my friends who will actually read this, and they already know this stuff. It's a refresher course for them.
I am in my second year of university, majoring in International Studies. It's quite interesting, I get to take a wide array of classes, in things like politics, economics, geography, history, spanish, sociology and women and gender studies classes. It definitely remains interesting, since there's so much diversity in the classes, but they definitely overlap a whole lot. Like for instance, every freaking class talks about globalization. With the exception of spanish I guess. I've taken lots of political studies classes but really, what can I tell you about politics? Not really a whole lot. University is funny because I should actually be retaining all the information that I get, but in actuality, usually I cram really hard for a test and its great for the short term memory... and not really for the long term part. By now I should really be quite good in Spanish... but no. No I certainly am not. Two more years till graduation, and then what? Probably more school.
Until then, I also work part time at Blue Cross. Not a bad job at all. Not much else to say about that.
I think this is all I'm gonna say for now. I think its probably good for me to take a few minutes out of my day now and then and reflect on whatever it is I'm thinking about at that time. I'm sure its healthy.
Until next time...

Geography? I don't think so.

If you looked up the word "Procrastinate" in the dictionary, there you shall find me. For instance, it is 10:10pm, and I have been in my room for the last hour with the intent on writing a simple, short, 1.5 page assignment for my geography class, but guess what I have done. That's right, I have picked up a shirt here, some pants there, talked on MSN, played a little game of Mah Jong (but my free trial ran out, so that sucks), and now I have begun writing only my second entry for this blog. Which brings me to my next point, I even procrastinate in the little things. Such as this blog. I was so excited to start one, but at this rate it looks like I'll be doing approximately one entry per month. Such is not the life of an avid blogger!!! My sister has brought me back into my blogworld responsiblities. She even left me... pardon me, she POSTED... a message reminding me that I really do suck at this. She updates hers like, every day. I guess have some work to do. Well back to my procrastination discussion, point three here actually goes back to how I am supposed to be doing my assignment... I have gotton as far as opening a brand new word document... and using the spell check to look up the word "procrastinate."
Peace out yo.