Sproingy

No matter how you count it, spring is here. In the past week or so I have seen plenty of robins, at least one starling and, just the other day, a red-winged blackbird. My hyacinths and tulips are poking their noses through the earth and the daffodils are already budding. The honeysuckle is leafind out and the lilac has made it through the winter. Tiny green leaves are showing on the delphinium and the carnation has greened. We'll see if the echinacea and lavendar made it. Chipmunks and squirrels are frolicking in the park. I literally saw a squirrel doing backflips Tuesday. Seriously. The most bizarre thing I've ever seen.

A Window-Washing Day

Nice day again today, weather-wise, although the park at work was very, very foggy. A comination of the cold lake water/ice and the warm air temperature. Got my first mural finished and will start another one next week.

Instead of going to the gym like a good girl, I came home and cleaned my living room windows, inside and out. So very grimey-- but that's city air for you.

Have to study lots tonight, as I have a Greek test tomorrow (provided I don't get stuck in the elevator on my way to class). I also have an essay coming due, so lots of reading for that--I need to have enough done to go in and talk to the prof about it tomorrow or Thursday.

Here's the article about the guy who was killed near my house.

'Tis Better To Have A Bad Day Than No Day At All

Wake up tired and sore, decide to forego 8.30 class. Cat not happy-- thunderstorming and I'm personally responsible for it somehow. No hot water and out of hair gel. Leaving for class and the street's blocked. Someone was hit crossing the street early in the morning. Body still there, covered with a tarp. Got the bus, hauled my huge bag o' books back to the library and in time for my 10.30 class. Then Greekified on the seventh floor, as usual. Held the elevator at prof's request, on the way to class, but then got stuck in it. Inside doors closed, outside doors didn't and the open door button wouldn't work. Prof--in the hallway-- managed to save me in time for class. (Note: must bring him chocolate chip cookie Wednesday). Doors eventually slammed shut by themselves and rocketed down to 6th floor. Not the first to be stuck in those %^#*(&#)@ elevators, and won't be the last. Have heard some pretty scary stories--why can't the uni manage to get us real elevators, not cast-offs from the remodelled engineering/sciences buildings? Got back home, no letter so looks like I didn't get a research award for the summer. Why is it everything I've put my hand to this year has failed? Relationships, academic stuff, work stuff---feels like everything's going down the tubes. *sigh*

First Sunday as a Chorister

Today seems to be going well, despite a Very Embarassing Incident on my way to church this morning. Decided to stop at Tim Horton's on my way for a croissant and hot chocolate (still resisting donuts!) but I got a little flustered and ACCIDENTLY turned the wrong way down a major one-way street. In my own defence, the TH was right on the corner and it's not my usual neck of the woods. Fortunately, traffic was light and I could do a funky little turny thing right into the TH. Ever tried to do a left-hand turn from the right-hand side of a one-way street when you're facing the wrong direction? Some guy did honk at me, and it was mega embarassing. The minute I was into the turn I realized my mistake, but I was already too turned to straighten out again... oh dear. Some days I really believe that I'm a horrible driver and can't drive.

Of course, heading down the stairs into the church I spilled my chocolate on my skirt. Not too much, fortunately. And, after all that, I didn't even win anything from roll-up-the-rim.

But I think my first Sunday in the choir went okay. There was a brief practise in the upstairs in the cathedral beforehand, and everything sounds so different up there, compared to the practise hall. I'm told that when we're back in the chancel it sounds different yet again. (They don't use the chancel during Lent: the pews are arranged in a circle with an altar in the middle. The choir sits mixed in with the congregation except for the motet (anthem), when the choir stands on the chancel steps.) It was a really pretty piece this morning, "Lord For Thy Tender Mercy's Sake" and I quite enjoyed singing it. The choir does the motet sans accompaniment. I also feel more like an official chorister now that I have a folder AND a little cubby slotty thing in the cupboard. Once I get a robe, that will be Very Official feeling.

Today is foggy and cold and damp. I'm heading back to bed with a heating pad for my neck/back, and possibly a hot water bottle as well. Must get lots of homework done today (if I can) and not forget to put the garbage out for tomorrow morning. Also must remember to get next Sunday off work as there is an evensong service.

Today is Officially Spring

Today is officially spring, because:

1) Snow is all gone
2) Rained all day
3) Saw two robins--together--in the park my way up to the museum
4) Saw our chipmunk at the museum
5) Starlings on the lawn when I got home from work
6) Daffodil shoots poking up
7) Tree buds are on the point of bursting
8) Some maple trees are beginning to flower already. (Their flowers are the red, spidery-looking things that precede the leaves.)
9) Muggs prefers being outside
10) Eleven degrees today
11) Tomorrow is one week to Palm Sunday and two weeks to Easter
12) A week and a half of classes left

My (younger) peers and classmates have elected me, with my wisdom of old age, to be one of their fearless leaders next year-- they elected me VP of the Classics Club. Should be loads of fun!

Still alive--if only barely

Just thought I should post and let anyone reading this know I'm still alive. I'm craving donuts like mad (gave them up for lent?!). Finished one essay, another one to go and a backlog of regular homework. Choir rehearsals good, singing on Sunday. Bimble's heading this way in a couple of weeks (he better let me know exactly when!). Went to Murmin's gem class with Hermit to see Murmin open his oyster and find a pearl. Work is interesting--busy drawing on the walls again. Muggs is loving the spring weather.

The Importance of Clear Writing

"Traditional German lederhosen with a built-in cellular phone, a bathroom mirror that can give current stock quotes and a BMW sports car that can talk and listen drew the crowds Thursday as the world's top high-tech fair opened."

Gee, who wouldn't love some knickers with a BMW in them? But I'll pass on the mirror. I don't need a mirror in my pants.

http://www.canada.com/topics/technology/story.html?id=75ab56dd-6ed5-464d-a375-eb33c618165a&rfp=dta

Update

Muggs is loving this weather. I am too, although the dampness isn't great for my body. The snowbanks are gone--it was 14 C today!--but they are calling for flurries in the next couple of days. Wonderful, typical March weather. Muggs loves being outside now that the ground is bare and the weather milder. I need to get out and get my balcony cleaned up--it is covered with birdseed from the feeder and litter from people who think the street is a giant garbage can and if they throw their stuff on the lawn (where it blows onto my balcony) it somehow magically disappears.

Just saw a report on the nightly news that something else is bad for you... candles. Yes, ordinary candles that you burn in your house emit--gasp--ultrafine particles into the air when you burn them! And--double gasp-- some of those particles can break down into potential cancer-causing chemicals! Oh no, the world is coming to an end! Is the sarcasm oozing out of your computer screen? I get so tired of there being some new health risk hyped each night on the news. We should all be dead and extinct by now. It's amazing the human race has lasted as long as it has without experts to tell us how bad everything is for us.

Thought of the day: Education is merely a process that makes you aware of how little you know.

Remind Me That I Signed Up For This

Remind me that I signed up for this. The pressure of essays and test and work all colliding at the same time. This picture is only a tiny portion of the reading, research and homework I'm trying to plow through.

This week is March Break, which means work is crazy busy, I have extra hours and it is absolutely exhausting with so many people going through. I come home so exhausted I just want to go straight to bed and sleep through the night.

Tomorrow (the 12th) is a Greek quiz. I think this is going to be one of the things to give-- it's not worth a ton of marks (the upcoming test and essay are worth far more marks-wise.)

March 19 I have an essay due. The pressure for this one is on, and it is my own fault: it's on the same topic that I want to use for my summer research grant and for the same prof who agreed to supervise me, should I get it. I have a stack of books and have made a very small start on the essay. I still need to get more books from the library and, of course, do far more research before I can actually start writing.

March 19th I also have a substantial test in another class, and there is an absolutely mammoth amount of reading for this. I am trying to reconcile myself to the fact that there is no way on earth I'm going to get myself through all of it.

But I signed up for this, willing....

Very Important Notice

Remember back in 2005 there was a discussion about changing daylight savings time? Well, this is the year when the clocks change earlier than they used to.

DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME WILL START THE SECOND SUNDAY IN MARCH.
http://www.attorneygeneral.jus.gov.on.ca/english/news/2007/20070306-dst.asp
http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2006/10/27/c5392.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html

That means: don't forget to turn your clock ahead one hour this Sunday, March 11, 2007. If you do forget, you will be late for work and possibly be fired. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Daylight savings time will end the first Sunday in November--later than it used to. That means we have to wait longer to get back our extra hour of sleep.

BTW, we're only doing it 'cuz the States is doing it.

Four A.M.

Yet again I have awaken before four am, tired and sore yet unable to get back to sleep. It is now just a few minutes before seven and I am up. So I figure I may as well update this blog, as I have an hour before I have to leave for class.

Three hours into a very deep, solid sleep, Something pounced on my bed. And pounced around me bed. I am now well-familiar with these particular pouncings, which indicate that Someone has brought me a game to play. A game called "Watch Me Catch A Mousie In Your Bed." Unfortunately, she decided to let this mousie (number eight) run away for a temporary reprieve. I assume it is still in my bedroom somewhere, but she couldn't find it. This makes me nervous. I had a little talk with her, reminding her that mommy likes it best when she brings DEAD mousies. However, I have every confidence that in a day or two I will have a dead (or live) mousie presented to me on my bed.

Last night I was sorely dashed upon the rocks of despair, then lifted by the rising tide of hope and laid gently on the beach of opportunity. (If that sounds cliche, it's supposed to.) To apply for this research grant, I must be a full-time student. While MSNing with a friend, she brought up a question of my academic status-- she thought that since I wasn't taking a full course load, uni didn't consider me full time. Most unis consider students taking 60% or more of a full course load (full load=5 courses/semester) a full time semester. But I wouldn't put it past my uni to be different. Even though I am paying full-time fees, would I still be eligible to apply for the research award without a full course load? So I too easily let myself despair, although I figured I would apply anyway. But chatting with another friend, he confirmed my original belief, so my hope was restored somewhat. Then, while laying awake in bed this morning, it occured to me that I am very definitely full-time, as my student card validation sticker says so. So I am restored to the beach of opportunity. I just need to go into the registrar's office and have a little chat with them: I did orignally enroll as a part time student and although I am now full-time I am still showing up as part-time on my online degree audit.

Speaking of degree audit, by the end of this year I will have completed 27 of the 60 credits required for my degree. I will actually wind up doing closer to 70 credits, as I need some extra language (Greek & Latin) courses for grad school. Progress is being made!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My research proposal is done-- even if I don't get the money, I do now feel like a true scholar. Personally, I think my proposal is very well-written and I know it meets all the requirements they are looking for, so we will see if they will deign to grant me one of the six awards. I think the prof who has agreed to supervise me really wants me to get it. (However, I have now raised the bar for the essay I need to hand in for his course in just over a week.)

Did you know that they make microwaves with push buttons these days? My last microwave was so old--it was a hand-me-down from a museum, which really tells you how old it was--that it had one dial, for the time. It would take four minutes to heat a mug of cocoa. There was one spot in the whole microwave that actually heated, so your frozen dinner could be boiling in one spot and frozen in another. Literally. I kid you not. It was so small that some of my mugs couldn't actually fit into it. I got the new one yesterday at the big blue store for the tidy sum of $60. It's still small, but bigger than the last. It has preset buttons, different power levels, a turntable... it's amazingly beautiful.

Anyway, time to grab my raspberry smoothie from the fridge and get through the day the best I can with only three hours sleep.

Try, Try Again

Despite all the disappointments this year, I refuse to give up. Especially in regards to summer plans. Which is why I now find myself writing a last-minute research grant proposal for this summer. I thought the deadline had long passed, but it turns out I have until Wednesday at four and rumour has it not many people have applied for the six available grants. So, in a matter of hours today, I have selected my topic and lined up a professor to supervise me. If I do get this, it will be very exciting as I hope to have a publishable paper by the fall. But I don't have my hopes up, as my track record this year hasn't been so hot. If I don't get it, I'll just apply again next year.

Now I Feel Dumb

I kinda wondered why no one looked at the email groundhog day card I sent out. Now I see that it sent it out THIS month instead of LAST month. So, do I email everyone and explain or do I just let them figure it out themselves and think I'm dumb?

In Wales the Daffodils Are Blooming

In Wales the daffodils are blooming. And here? Well, here we are in the grips of another winter storm. As many of you know, the daffodil has long been one of my favouritest flowers. This cheery yellow flower is also the floral emblem of Wales. And today is St. David's Day, a celebration of the patron saint of Wales. So, to all my Welsh friends (and those like me who wish they had some Welsh in them!):

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus!
Happy St. David's Day!
March 1st