Post-Christmas Un-Wrap-Up

Hope you all had a merry Christmas. It's almost New Year's, then it's back to school and back to work. Hard to believe that I will a) be starting my SEVENTH year of university in January; b) will have been living in this place for a whole year come January 13th; and c) Boy and I will have been dating for seven months as of the 31st. This time last year I was not only single, but also running between old apartment and new, trying to get the new apartment painted before I moved and get the old place packed up while commuting 40 minutes to and from class-- all with no one to help until my mother stepped into the breach and rescued my aching body from the backbreaking painting. The place got mostly painted, but I STILL haven't gotten around to painting the trim. I'm telling myself that maybe this week I will do a bit of painting, but the truth is that I've gotten so used to looking at the unfinished paint work that I hardly noticed it anymore.

Speaking of painting, Boy seemed to like the painting I gave him for Christmas, which makes me glad. My dad also seemed to like the charcoal drawing I did for him. Well, I had done it a number of years ago, but I framed and matted it and gave it to him for Christmas. I invested in some mat-cutting equipment and by the time I've framed a few more pictures it will pretty much have paid for itself-- two framing jobs for mom's present, one for dad's and a matting job (more like correction!) for an existing photo at my folks' place. I still need a little practise cutting the corners (harhar) but I'm getting better at it.

The random things from around my apartment that I wrapped up and gave away to family members went over somewhat mixed. I think most people got the gist of it and didn't take it to seriously, although one sibling did make a remark to me. Oh well, it was all meant in fun and as far as I'm concerned, if they don't like their stuff they can gift it on. I tried not to pick completely useless, junky stuff and stick to stuff that either hadn't been used or worn at all. My little niece got this big spoon-strainer thing from my kitchen, which was metal so nice and shiney. She seemed to have fun with it. Her other random thing was also very educational: a classics textbook that is now worthless because the edition changed. It is all hers to read and there are lots of maps in it she can colour. Never too soon to start on the classics! She should know the entire history of Greece and Rome by kindergarten. Although next time I do this sort of thing, I will have to remember to remove ALL the used sticker pages from the package before gifting it... that was rather comical!

I think the best gift award goes to my brother giving my little sister a pair of bright red boxing gloves. No one really knows why, but it was pretty funny. Especially as she was using them on him within minutes! My little niece (15 months) tried them and looked so adorably cute trying to hold her little arms up. She was getting over a strep throat infection but it was in a good mood with lots of smiles. She just loved it when Grandpa would bring her a pressie-- her arms stretched out as far as they could go, while staying securely seated on her mom's lap!

Friday, Boy decided that on Monday he would come spend Christmas with me and my family. He joined us for dinner and pressie-opening (I made sure there were random things for him to open!). I'm glad he seems to get along so well with my family and that my family is welcoming of him. Spending Christmas day together makes up for having to be apart New Year's Eve and I am just so very glad he came. It works out well for us that his German Christmas tradition is to celebrate on Christmas Eve!

Boy and I exchanged our gifts Saturday evening when he came down for a visit. It was a lovely evening-- we went on a tour of the castle and, since we had both seen the place before (albeit without its Christmas decorations!) and I work there (sort of) we hung out at the back of the tour group. This tactic enabled us to grab a nice, private smooch under the kissing ball in the front hall--although I'm not sure I'll be sharing that story at work! Anyway, prior to this special evening tour (which ran to 2 hours!) everyone had to sing Christmas carols in the front hall. The minute we started and the interpreters heard Boy's voice ringing out I saw big smiles on their faces! Boy got lots of compliments from them after the evening was over and I was so proud to be standing there with him in the front hall listening to his gorgeous voice ring out and lead everyone else along. Of course, I sing very quietly because I don't think I can sing too well ( my family insists I can't sing AT ALL) and so I'm shy about singing with Boy.

I don't know what has possessed me, but Boy has convinced me to bring up my flute on my next visit to his place and play some Welsh airs for him. I really am quite nervous, as with my (in)ability as a flutist this could either make or break our relationship....

For the Love of Boy

They say love makes you do the craziest things. In my case, it's true. Love made me drive to three different malls in two different cities after work tonight. Circling parking lots, fighting crowds on the busiest shopping day of the YEAR. All for love. And all for nought. It turned out that the one specific item I was after for Boy was not to be found-- sold out. Now, before you label me a last-minute shopper or a thoughtless girlfriend, allow me to explain.

I had scouted out exactly what item I wanted, but I had to wait until today to (try to) buy it because today was payday. Boy's gift is multi-part, and part of it won't be ready until next week (hopefully) but I wanted to have at least part of it to give him tomorrow. And unfortunately the pay schedule got in the way. I guess I will take him out to dinner when he's down tomorrow night and that will have to do for now.

I am so glad that I didn't have to try buying gifts for my family tonight. They are receiving random things from around my apartment, as well as individually hand-crafted gifts. Unfortunately, hand-crafting gifts takes more time than a student in exams and working full-time hours has, so the gifts are only 4/8 done.

Speaking of love...Boy and I took our relationship to a new level last night. I went to see him sing (he didn't know I was going!) and afterwards we grabbed supper. It was late, I was exhausted so I crashed at his house. Yes, we reached a new level of intimacy, doing something I have never done with anyone ever before: I used his toothbrush. (And you thought I was headed somewhere else with that, you dirty-minded reader! This isn't that type of website!) I have never shared anyone's toothbrush before in my life. But I think Kris Kringle needs to bring Boy a new toothbrush this year: his is getting pretty frayed.

Anyway, I have just been given Sunday off work, so I will be able to head home to the folks' while it is still daylight. I'll be taking three weeks worth of laundry home to keep the washing machine busy--and just in time. I have just enough clean underwear to get me there.

Depths of Despair

I feel right now that I am under so much strain I'm just going to implode. It is almost ten o'clock at night; in 11 hours I have a Greek exam that I am nowhere near ready for. I am exhausted. I have a sinus headache and a sore neck. I can't remember the last time I slept right. I still have another exam after that, and the upcoming interview may as well be another exam because I'm stressed about that, too. To top it off, Boy is still unreachable on his cell phone and the phone at home is busy so I can't even cry on my mother's shoulder. You would think the special Christmas service at church tonight would have been good for me, but I spent the whole two hours agonizing over relative pronouns, passive verbs and the third declension. And to top it off, that idiot is playing another loud movie tonight so there's no hope of concentrating. Oh, for a shoulder to cry on!

PS. How appropriate: just read this on canada.com http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=3f51e095-3185-4e9a-9ad5-903740ec1d70&k=29687

You Call That MUSIC????

Why does TGU wait until I come home to start blaring his music? No sooner had I sat down at my desk to do some work than I had to listen to that awful cauterwaling that he plays up there. Grr. If he played some decent baroqeu music it wouldn't be half so bad....

Got mostly caught up on my sleep last night, but am still a little tired. I have two exams to study for and I'd really rather just go back to bed. I was feeling pretty good this morning, but for some reason I'm feeling a little down now. Oh well, I'm sure some hugs and kisses from Muggs will help.

His mercy endures forever...

It is a quarter past two in the morning and I've barely slept at all tonight despite hours spent laying in bed. Shortly I will have to shower and get dressed and go pick up a friend to take her to the airport. Part of me thinks that I must be crazy to be doing it, but I know what it's like to be
an exchange student and there's no way I would wish on her the experience of finding her way out to Pearson by public transport in the middle of the night. I only wish I weren't quite this tired. At least I have company for half the trip and a strong cup of tea should help as well.

There's a couple of reasons I can't sleep. One is that I hurt-- the weather has been changing these last few days and I have been feeling it. I wish it would get cold and stay cold--I don't hurt so much that way. But when it fluctuates as high as 8 or 10 degrees Celsius then it's a problem. The rain doesn't help, either.

I am also anxious about a few things. I am anxious about the new staff that will be (hopefully) starting soon at work. Will they share my exhibit vision? Will they want to help with it? I am anxious about my exams, especially the Greek exam Monday morning. How am I going to have--and keep-- everything memorized? The exercises from chapter three are already
unfamiliar again and I still have to work my way through redoing the exercises in chapters 4 to 6. I am most anxious, perhaps, over a situation with a friend. I need to have a difficult (for me) conversation, and the sooner the better. It could go either way-- I am trying to think positively
yet prepare myself for the worst. I keep telling myself not to imagine the worst, but it is hard. I am anxious about Christmas as well-- I literally have no money and the gifts I am trying to make for my family and Boy will not be done in time.

I know I need to rely on God's mercy right now, to take my hands off my life and let God steer. Last night I flipped my Bible open and it opened to Psalm 136 (or 137, I can't remember now). That Psalm is 26 verses long, and every verse ends with the same phrase: His mercy endures forever. I've usually only skimmed it in the past, but last night, remembering that all scripture is profitable for study (forget the location of that verse just now) I decided to think about why God says it 26 times. Obviously so thick heads like me will get the point! I mean, if you're repeating something 26 times, you've got to mean it. I was thinking about how God's mercy endures through both time (from the beginning of creation, like the Psalm says) and through circumstance. No matter what I do, or what happens in my world around me, God's mercy is still going to be there. I just need to rely on His mercy. I guess this is my challenge for this week!

My Own Contact Lens "Horror" Story

I don't wear my contact lenses often. It's often difficult to get them and even more difficult to get them out again. I use the single-use disposable type so I don't need to worry about cleaning them and stuff. I like to wear them from to time when I get dressed up so I can show off my eyes. Well, Boy took me to a symphony concert Tuesday night and I dressed up and wore my contacts. When I was taking off my make up when I got home, I felt one of them come loose from my eye and I hurried to take it out. But ever since, my eye has been hurting and felt like it had something in it. I thought it was maybe an eyelash, but I couldn't find anything so I figured that maybe my eye just got scratched or something. I was planning to go to the doctor tomorrow because it is quite painful. But tonight I was sitting here at my desk, and rubbed my eye (once again) and half a contact lens fell out. Finally! So it turned out that my lens had ripped when I was taking off my eye makeup and beca
use my eyes were so teared up I couldn't see that I had only taken half a lens out. I guess the gist of this story is that a) I have my own contact lens horror story; b) it might hurt, but if they float around in there long enough they'll come out on their own; c) it's not going to roll around behind your eyeball and be lost forever; and d) I should really wear them more often so I get better about putting them in and taking them out.

Auld Lone Syne

So it turns out my plans for New Years have fallen apart already. Oh well, serves me right. I'll be the first to admit that New Year's is a bit of an overblown holiday, but there is something truly pitiful and pathetic about having to spend it on your own. Unless that's what you really want to do, and in my case it's not. I don't ask for much for a good New Year's party--some munchies, some fun board games, a good movie and friends to share it all with are enough. The key word, of course, being friends to share it with. Last New Year's I was on my own, and it looks like it'll be that way again this year. So, if you're a friend and feel like adopting me for the evening, let me know-- I'm open to pretty much anything at this point. Otherwise, it'll be just me, the cat and the drambui...

The Myth of the Pickle

So I did a little looking into the story of the German pickle on the Christmas tree. Sadly, as wonderfully hilarious as it sounds, it is very probably a myth. Boy and his mother (both Germans) had never heard of the pickle story, and my poking around the internet turned up that most Germans never have-- but Americans steadfastly believe it is a German tradition. The only real link with the glass pickle ornament and Germany is that, for a while at least, in the 19th century some town in Germany was famous for its glass ornaments. It would appear that the pickle story is merely myth, dreamed up by some guy in marketing who wanted to make a few bucks. They first started to surface en masse in the 1990s. Maybe a family someplace in the world had some such family tradition, but it certainly wasn't a German cultural tradition. Of course, now that it is being sold as 'tradition', it is becoming tradition. All the same, it's a pretty funny-looking ornament and I like the idea of having something a little different hanging on my tree--especially if it makes me laugh. Although it does annoy me that our gift shop is selling them with the German tradition story-- I'm a bit of stickler for historical accuracy, and they're only perpetuation the myth. For the record, my pickle was apparently produced in Czech.

Deck the Flat...

My tiny flat is now decorated for Christmas. The small, 1950s-era tinsel tree (a family heirloom) is up with it's tiny coloured balls and lots of curly ribbon. A fake evergreen garland across the mantle is light with white icicle lights and hosts my various Christmas ornaments. Including the most recent addition, a pickle. It's a very lovely pickle. Apparently it's a German tradition but it made me laugh so I had to have it. My nativity scene, which is getting a little dog-eared, is set up. And the radio programme tonight is reviewing new recordings of Handle's Messiah. I always think that Messiah should be more of an Easter piece than a Christmas piece, but who am I to muss with tradition?

Did you know that there's no definitive version of the Messiah, as Handle kept revising it his entire life? I was to have gone and see Boy's choir perform Mozart's version of Handle's Messiah, and Boy even arranged a ticket for me, but of all the evenings in December to have an evening exam, they had to pick that one. I am very disappointed.

Christmas is also a sucky time to be skint.

His Bright Crown Adorning...

This is for Blonde, and those like her who are struggling with the all-too-tragic bereavement of their dear friend.


When He cometh, when He cometh
To make up His jewels,
All His jewels, precious jewels,
His loved and His own,

Like the stars of the morning,
His bright crown adorning
They shall shine in their beauty,
Bright gems for His crown.

He will gather, He will gather
The gems for his kingdom,
All the pure ones, all the bright ones,
His loved and His own.

Like the stars of the morning,
His bright crown adorning
They shall shine in their beauty,
Bright gems for His crown.

Little children, little children
Who love their Redeemer,
Are the jewels, precious jewels,
His loved and His own.

Like the stars of the morning,
His bright crown adorning
They shall shine in their beauty,
Bright gems for His crown.


When He Cometh by William Cushing and George Root, 1866 (Malachi 3:17)

I didn't know Michael, but I know my friends loved him. Somehow, as I was reading their tributes, this childhood hymn came to mind. My condolences to you all.

Happy Birthday to Me

My second term at McMaster is drawing to a close. Today was the last day of classes, which included a party in Greek class (no, classicists are not all old and our and lifeless). Now it's just time for exams. *Sigh* So much to do in so little time.

As some of you may know, I just had a birthday. Now, a true lady never reveals her age, but at work the guesses ranged from 20 or 21 to no older than 25. So I guess I'm aging well. We had a 'party' at the farm Saturday, with a feast cooked up by my mom, all the siblings in attendance including the in-law and niece! Of course, I invited Emma because I knew that if she were coming, everyone else would come, too! I received a number of extremely (and unexpectedly) generous gifts. Boy came to the feast at the farm, and then he came down to Hamilton Sunday evening as well.

It's so amazing to see the little niece grow! I last saw her at thanksgiving and she was crawling; now, she can take a few steps on her own and is already talking. She looks more like a toddler than a baby now. Too bad I can't see her more often. She's so fun and cute to watch and interact with, and we all had a good time with her as central performer (she loves posing for the camera and playing the piano!)

Tomorrow's a full day at work. It's going to be hard to be dedicated to my studying, seeing as I have at least a week until my first exam, but I must be diligent and do my Greek every day. There's too much time in which to forget it all.

I wanted to pass along the Weffriddle site, which some of you may enjoy. Personally, I find these sorts of things frustrating because I just don't have the mind for it. Some of my siblings are much more gifted in this area than I. Anyway, we were looking at it uni the other day (I actually have a group of people I could call my uni friends!) and I thought I'd pass it on to the rest of you. I have more fun- and school- related links I need to get put up on my website.

My Christmas decorations went up Sunday. Not that there's a lot of them, especially in a one bedroom apartment. I am making gifts for my family this year (we all give to everyone else, so it can get pretty expensive), but I am also giving random things from my apartment wrapped up. I just have to be careful not to regift something a family member gave me already. Anyway, it should hopefully be funny if my siblings have a sense of humour about it.

I have more that I've been meaning to write about, including my rant about the raw milk protest recently in Toronto, but it's 5.30 and I still haven't had my nap so I should go have supper now. Leftover birthday cake, roast beef.... yum!

Oh, I should mention that the development of this cold or flu thing that I've been experiencing this past week or so has seemed to 'stall' at the minor sore throat/sinuses/earache stage. Let's hope it doesn't get worse before exams!