"We’re not speaking. We had, an argument."

I am a Mac loyalist, and a little bit of a Mac racist. I mean, I will use Windows if absolutely necessary*, but only if absolutely necessary*. I mean, it’s shiny, it always treats me right, and it makes witty jokes ads about other boys computers. *cough* No, I don’t suffer from acute anthropomorphism of electronics✢, why do you ask?

I also started a Youtube account. This was prompted by my SHINY new jewelry which I had to show off, and mainly intended for my close freinds. (They seem to think me being incoherent and giddy is amusing/loveable/entertaining. You see why I’m friends with them? I NEED that ego-stroking❧!)

I’ve been making videos. (All three of them!) Without edits. Or grammar. WHooooooo, I’m grammar-free! And Bahnree, who I dearly love, suggested I use edits, on more videos. I whined and complained and agreed. Because I’m just gracious like that.

Actually I told Fraulein that she had to make a vlog. Because I’m just courteous like that. So we filmed four takes, with the intention of editing them together. And then we opened iMovie. And the abusive behaviour started.

It was a bit confusing at first, but I figured we could get through it. We cut out the bits we didn’t want, added an effect or two (crickets sound effects!) and then the audio disappeared. Um, what? So we re-imported the offending clip and tried again. And again. And Again. It kept loosing the clips? Finally we get it to work, and go to export it. (this is an hour and a half later?) The benighted thing FREEZES. Okay, that would be fine, only IT DIDN”T SAVE. *anger*

I don’t feel like going over all the pain and repedative steps of pain. Suffice it to say, two hours later, I am not speaking to my OS. It DECIVED me. *sulks* I want to like your iMovie, OSX, really I do, but no. Just no. I can’t take that kind of abuse from my computer. I’m a delicate and easily angered person, that’s why I came to you in the first place! Just take iMovie aside and give him a talking to, and I”m sure we can get along just fine in the future. Don’t bother to talk to me before iMovie has been punished. *lofty*

*turns away*

*Absolutely Necessary. “No, you may not use your personal laptop on the secure network.” “No, our budget does not allow for a mac in addition to the other public-use machines.” “No, we only have the one computer in the college, why do you ask?” And things of that ilk.

✢Anthropomorphism of Electronics. Don’t worry, Yinsen, honey, they didn’t mean those mean things. You just stay over here with me, I’ll recharge your battery and it’ll all be fine.

❧ Ego-Stroking. “You’re so pretty… *stares*”

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"Never underestimate the money to be made from good quality drug dealing."

Wow, I haven’t blogged in quite a while. It is not for lack of things to talk about, strangely enough, or even lack of interest, but my computer time has been rather full of late. Right. Anyhow!

On Saturday we had a biker gang descend on our house for lunch. The “gang” was comprised of retired police officers and their significant others, one of whom is a nurse of Gideon’s. So we served them chili and chatted. My title is the career advice one of them gave me. This particular man was also the lead tenor of the Nova Scotia Black Gospel Choir, despite the fact that he’s white. It was a fun lunch hour, for sure. Then I went and worked from 4:30 pm to 2:00 am, which was not quite so fun, but now I’m 80 dollars richer. Wah-hoo! By the by, what would you do if you answered the drive-through beep and was answered with “You’re sexy- we love you!” and lots of feminine teenage giggling; but when the car gets to the speaker 

the only inhabitants of the car are three 20-something guys? I put on my most queenly aspect for about an hour and smiled benevolently at my subjects. 

Sunday I went over to Ms. B’s house and played with her computer again. T’was fun. I realized belated at one point that had I actually said, “I love the sound of hard drives spinning up.” How do you even recover from a remark like that? I just had a coughing fit. Seemed to work. However, she has realized that mac software is really easy to use, so she probably won’t need me to set up things any more. Bah. 

At any rate, Ms. B had some friends coming over, so while we were waiting from them to trail in we watched X-men 2. It was a very fun movie- the special effects in particular were brilliant- but I think watching the first one might have helped my comprehension factor. Once everyone, (two other girls), were there, the debate began as to what we were going to do. After brief discussion it was decided to go to a bar in a town an hour away once three of Ms. B’s guy friends arrived from St. John’s. I said something about how I didn’t want to go out of town tonight, so it was all good. We would hang out until the guys showed up. 

This is where Photobooth is opened up and silly pictures are taken. 

While waiting I chatted with a friend of Ms. B’s little brother, who was going in for an interview on Monday at McDonald’s. I said- jokingly- that he just had to be sure not to curse out the interviewer and he was good for the job. Whereupon he, with a swiftly disapproving visage, replied that as he was going to be a Salvation Army Officer he’d better not be swearing! *blinks* All the sudden I was painted as the bad girl. It was a new feeling, for sure. 

THEN, we went out for ice cream and stopped to wait for the guys at the train park, me a little subdued. Since I was feeling subdued, I climbed onto the top of the train. What, you mean you don’t climb things when you’re unusually contained inside yourself? Strange. But the other girls followed my lead, and soon we were all over the train. When the guys showed up we had traversed the entire contraption and were sitting down; whereupon in a blatant bid to impress the girls, the muscly guys started hauling themselves around the engine. Rather more clumsily than we had done, I will point out. Silly boys. 

Brief conferences are held, and as some of the crowd now doesn’t want to drive an hour to the bar, swimming is decided upon as the evening entertainment. I’m asked if I want to come. Hmmm. There are three guys, and three girls other girls- all of whom are trendily dressed. (I’m not.) No one has swimming gear. It is after nine, and dark out. It’s cold. Skinny-dipping is mentioned. Hmmmmm. I remember that I think I have to work in the morning. So I’m brought home, where it is pointed out that it is after nine, I left at two, and I haven’t called home. Oops. It seems this social life thing is hazardous in more ways than one!

Monday was work, and Fraulein and I watched Take The Lead, which is a fun movie provided that the characters or lack thereof are not though about too much. Tuesday was work, and I made a slideshow of pictures from Universal Studios, to show to the Wish people in town. Wednesday was work, and showing the pictures to and talking with the Wish people.

I had my first encounter with instant coffee, and am much wiser for the experience. 

• Canned milk in coffee- good. 
• Powdered milk in coffee- acceptable provided one does not look at it. 
• Fresh milk in powdered coffee- like nothing else around. 

The film on top tastes like it is actively corroding the lining of one’s mouth. The liquid in the middle is so bitter it induces involuntary imitation of a pretzel. The sludge of the dregs at the bottom has to be tossed down the throat with one’s eyes closed. The eyes are closed, you see, to manually restrain them from vacating one’s head. And why I found my hands on my throat in the aftermath of that experience, I cannot tell. 

"I don’t want to plunge to my death with uncoordinated accessories! People will talk!"

Ms. B’s computer came in yesterday! I got to play with it. And it was lovely. 

A brand-shiny-new MacBook, and an ipod touch, all decked out with the latest software. If that does not rouse your salivary glands a little bit, I’m afraid I have to tell you that there is something fundamentally wrong with you. 

Kidding! Just Kidd-ing…

I recognize that some people don’t find computer set-up fun. But I am not one of them. I got to set up logins, and partition the hard drive, and set up itunes and iphoto, and organize things, and sync the ipod, (which is amazing), and set up a back-up system, and generally poke around a beautiful new computer for a protracted period of time. 5.5 hours, in fact. 

Ms. B did not want to set up her computer all by herself, since she’s not used to mac. So she picked me up from work at 6 and we started into unpacking and organizing. At 11:30, she decided that she was going to call it quits for the night. Silly girl. 😛

It was very fun to see how everyone was fangirl/guying over the ipod touch. I’ve heard of what it can do, but everyone else who came into contact with it was astounded at its capabilities. It’s Apple, what can I say? 😀

Anyhow, we stopped setting up and such at 11:30, since it was backing up, and downloading a software update, and Kayla was tired. Then we went of a drive about town and chatted. Then, at 12:30, I really notice the time, and do some mental math relating to the fact that I have to be at work at 7:00 am tomorrow. Which is, 6.5 hours… *heart sinks* I guess I’m not getting a lot of sleep tonight, huh?

So now I’m tired, rather. But according to the business section of the newspaper; we’re getting a Natural Gas refinery on the south coast, there’s all kinds of drilling going on offshore, our MP is lobbying for a federal penitentiary in this town or one an hour away, and a mystery employer is recruiting over a hundred highly trained people in a town an hour away. Come to Newfoundland! We have jobs!

"Canadians and your obsession with Britain…" "Well, Americans and your obsession with- YOURSELVES!"

As you might have noticed, I did some research into Post-Secondary Distance Education this morning. It was not a stellar success. But I shall draw a veil over that, and continue on. 

The drive on Sunday was fun. We went out to K and C’s cabin, and threw rocks and such. 😀 Then Grammy left for her home in Colorado on Monday while I was at work. That was a rather interesting work day, since I was the most senior non-management person on shift for much of it. In two weeks, I’ll be the most senior non-management person on staff, period. I started in MAY. Talk about a high staff turnover rate! 

Side note; I watched The Queen last night, which was good. Very quiet and fun, though there were some scenes obviously put in for American audiences. Just things which don’t need saying in Britain, or even much of the Commonwealth, such as the fact that the Queen was a mechanic during the War. I think my favorite scene had to be when it was being explained to the Queen Mother that they were going to use the funeral-plan code named Tay Bridge for Diana’s funeral. 

“But that’s my funeral!”

“Yes ma’am. But it is the only one that has been, *pauses* rehearsed. It is the only one we could have ready in time.” *awkward pause*

Hmmm, I thought I had a bunch of news to talk about, but I have forgotten it. No wait! It comes back to me now. 

Today I stopped by the bank, and I’m back on the list for a possible job. They’ll call me on Friday or Monday. Fingers crossed, eh? I also this evening went over to Ms. B’s house, and helped her to buy a school computer. Hers had died, and her dad wanted to buy a $400 toshiba. I said NOOOOOOOO!!!!! Only, I actually put on my professional demeanor and explained, “that will break in three months, and cause you to tear out your hair in pain and frustration when it’s not broken.” Then I waxed slightly poetic on the virtues of Macs, and the crisis was averted. This is where being able to keep a straight face wins the day! Augustine, you come in useful yet again… So, we bought, with her dad’s money, a shiny new MacBook. 

*is gleeful*

Moreover, she wants to show me how to get around in Mac. This MEANS that I get to play around with a brand new computer in two weeks or so. No, I’m not looking forward to it at all. /lies 😀 Maybe I’ll get to name it too.

And now my memory is shutting down, so I can truly no longer think of anything to write. Must go to bed now….

It’s like sitting next to a can of soda! *pop!*

[NOTE: This post was written with no plan of attack, and is rather stream-of-conciousness. I lie; it is comepletely stream-of-conciousness. Read at your own risk.]

A discovery! Two Tetley tea bags in an average mug, allowed to steep for 15+ minutes, produces a drink which is so strong it actually feels like it’s etching the inside of your mouth. You can smell the caffeine.

Right.

…

I’m sure you’re all delighted to know that piece of information. Immeasurably enriched, I know. Or perhaps, un-etched? *ducks*

Due to all the work, this summer has gone VERY fast. I think because I haven’t had to plan out things to do, or look forward to them. I’ve only had to figure out at which place I was working, and at what hour I would transfer to the other job- every day. Does wonders for your time sense, that. 😀 But I see the light at the end of the tunnel! (No, I’m pretty sure that’s not a train. Pretty sure.)

However, I’m on the home stretch of the library Grant. The last week! w00t! I’ve only got 15 hours left, and then I’ll actually have free time! That is not to say that this job is not very self directed. I have had an incredible amount of leeway, and lack of official duties. This has led to a lot of time reading and on the computer. (It’s a hard life, working for the government.) However, come next week, I’ll be able to go on a walk for fun! And maybe even go into Gander for people watching, or shopping. *dances*

Interestingly, the substitute librarian seems to regard me as the first line IT person. Yesterday I fixed the Internet twice, and tried to fix someone’s laptop which wasn’t seeing the wi-fi. I was unable to heal it, though. However, he came back today in the hope that it had pulled its self together in the night, and I was able to ascertain that the antennae was not turned on. Makes a difference, that. The fact that it was a windows machine, however, drained off most of the fun of working with a computer. For one thing, I am NOT familiar with it. I have a basic understanding of Mac- enough that I can figure out when I need to call for help, and when it’s something that can be puzzled out. Windows, I have no clue. If it was a food product, I would be wearing protective apron, mask and gloves before touching it, and that with a long sharp stick. “Did it move? I think it just moved! Grab the colander! Trap it!”
*goes off into reverie about chasing deformed Widows-food around the kitchen*

*cough*
Right. Also, I don’t really like Windows. The only joy it brings is the vengeful triumph of having bested an obtuse and malicious foe.

This was not intended to be a rant about Windows, so I will cut it off there before I bring out more absurd analogies.

I just looked at the calender, and I will be twenty in exactly a month. TWO DECADES. I still will not be legal to drink in the states, which puts it in perspective a bit, but Twenty! The mind boggles. Particularly so since I’m reading All Quiet On The Western Front right now. It’s about the Great War, from the view of a German Infantryman. (How much history does it say I’ve read that I can think of WWI as the Great War without trouble? :P) Anyhow, I was reminded again of the average age of the soldiers in that conflict; 19 year olds were veterans. It makes one feel rather old and ungainly in comparison. It also puts the frantic push to have a degree at age 23, “otherwise you’re wasting your life,” in a new light.

Life is so much more interesting when you think about what “everyone does” instead of just doing it! Compare, weigh the options, think about the causes, run the odds, ask questions… *sigh* Tis fun. 😀

In other news, my Grandmother has come to stay with us for the week, which is lovely. 😀 Also, I have an appointment with Ms. B for a “computer buying party” next week, where in I coach her through the perils of the Apple Store Online. 😉

Lord Momo of the Momo Dynasty, your momo-ness.

Well, the art paper is done. *collapses on the floor in a huddle of exhaustion* I am actually not too displeased with it. Turned out that I had more information than I needed, not less, (which was what I was expecting.) So I was able to pick and choose what I was including, which was nice. *glee*

EDIT: I stole this description of the mental state of the house from Third World’s blog, because I think it’s hilarious.

Slow Descent Into Madness: Day Two.

It’s been very entertaining watching the slowly degrading mental states of the students in my House, myself included. One of us will launch into this completely nonsensical train of thought, or jump from talking about a paper to singing something random, or stroking their laptop and wondering what they should name it. It’s even more amusing when I ignore it at first, and then realize what I or someone else just did. Example: Snazel just took her scarf off, wrapped it around her like a belt, took that off, and made it into some kind of tunic-thing, all while giving a lengthy treatise on why there are no actual examples of early Christian art. It might not have been exactly like that, but you get the picture.

Now it’s on to the scriptures paper. I actually know what I am doing for all of my projects now. I mean, I know the themes. *scoffs* I have no idea what I’m actually doing! No, that’s too pessimistic. I will make it through!

*sigh*

Latin quiz tomorrow, and then we’ll most likely get our music papers back. That should be ~interesting.~ However, we have a four-day weekend because of Easter. It all balances out, no?

We worked it out today, and exam week will be over in just a month. The mind boggles, I tell you. BOGGLES! The time is moving so fast. I already bought my ticket home. (I’m flying Westjet, NOT air Canada, and I got the flight at half price. Take THAT, air Canada! *sticks out tongue*)

Oh… *grins evilly* Over Christmas, I took a screen shot of my desktop, including all the widgets. I found it yesterday, and placed it as my wallpaper. Now I have an Apple desktop as the background on a Windows computer. This pleases my sense of the ironic, which as we all know is very deficient. *dances off*

The most beautiful place in the world

That’s where I live. I rode in to St. John’s on Saturday, and I realized again just how beautiful my home is.

The drive in was very fun. Daddy was driving, and he had made 4 mix cd’s of driving music, everything from country, to blues, to rock, to folk, to pop… So we talked, and listened to music, and took pictures. Essentially, my dad is very excellent.

Once we got into St. John’s we went to Costco, and my soul was pleased within me. Warehouse stores… *smiles* A HUGE warehouse with wide aisle, containing everything from wide screen tvs, to canned milk! And the selection is always changing! SO yes, you won’t be able to find runners here today, but check back next week. I tell you, if I could, I would do most of my household shopping there, just leaving produce for the grocery store. Gallon jars of marchino cherries, 50 lb bags of flour; the Scottish part of my ancestry is delighted! Unfortunately, there is no way I can shop at a similar store here. It would take me months to get through the amount of bulk they sell in, and I don’t have the storage facilities. But someday, I will shop at Costco!

And there was another purchase Daddy made at Costco. An ipod shuffle, for me!
Now I understand Frauline’s making a quilt to keep her ipod warm! It’s so pretty and shiny and mac and cute. *sighs* Thank you Daddy!

Life is fun.