So the spontaneous wireless network that was in my parents' house? Yeah, it's gone. And I hate my parents' computer. So unless the wireless network comes back, I don't know that I'll be posting again (unless I disconnect the modem from my parent... hm... nope... too much work, and my mom'd freak - she freaks when I defrag her hard drive, for pete's sake) until I get back to school (January 7).

Happy New Year to you All, and all the best in 2006.

Ok, it's not as gruesome as it sounds. Honestly. I'm working on a paper that involves 204 18th-century infanticide trials, so yay for cheery Christmas reading!

But things are good here at home. Not much has changed, really, in the last 3 months, except that Tim Horton's got rid of its English Toffee Cappuccino. Bastards. Oh, and they're really developing the barren patches of land to the north with such fun commercial enterprises as a 7-11 and a Costco (7-11 link included for the benefit of any non-North American readers).

So what have I done since I got home? Not one hell of a lot. And that's the way I like it.

After I went to sleep on the evening of the 22nd, I slept for something like... 15 hours all together, BUT I woke up a few times... Like at 4:30 a.m. local time, since my body was telling me it was 11:30 in the morning in England... and then again at 8:30 local time, since my body was really trying to tell me that I was wasting the whole bloody day... Finally got up after noon sometime. Spent a few hours putzing around, ate some soup and crackers and cheese, and went to work. I went to FEP really ridiculously early - I got there about 5:15 and didn't have to start work until 6:30. BUT, as I knew I would, I spent about 1/2 an hour chatting with my Park Host-y buddies, then some time just wandering around, got changed into my costume and spent some more time chatting with Interpreter buddies, then went and took up my place in R-House.

HOLY CRAP, I miss FEP. Seriously. I was about to start crying when I got there. I got to see almost everyone from the summer that I wanted (a few unavoidable absences with people doing things like going off on cruises for Christmas, or visiting their families). And then Llewellyn and I went out for coffee afterwards (ok, I had dinner, because I hadn't eaten since 3 in the afternoon and it was now 11 p.m.).

Christmas Eve was the same old Christmas Eve. Started to watch the Pope giving mass on TV (I'm not even remotely spiritual in any way, shape, or form, but I like old things, tradition, and old-school church music, so midnight mass is the way to go - especially when it's on at 4 p.m. here!). So the station on which I'm watching it gets about halfway through, then decides that the news was more important. Buggers. Had dinner, went to bed. Seriously. Things would be all right if my body stopped trying to wake me up at 4:30 in the morning all the time.

Christmas Day... fairly uneventful. Boxing Day, fairly uneventful. Although I went to a friend's place for their annual BDay open house, and bent down to take off my shoes. When I straightened up again, there was this white ball of fluff in my face. They got a new puppy! It was so cute. When I find the energy I'll install the software for my new camera and post a pic.

Yesterday I went to the mall. Malls are scary. But, honestly, it wasn't too bad. The walkway in West Edmonton Mall is actually wider than some of the streets in York, so things were nowhere near as bad as I remember. Waits for changerooms were kinda nasty, but that's to be expected. Then Beaner and I went for dinner at the Olive Garden. Again, the wait was nasty, but there were seats at the bar, so we Bellini'd it up whilst we were waiting.

I woke up aroun 9:30 this morning. Promising. Maybe my body is figuring out this whole time zone switch thing. Yay! I've been working on my paper since. Not so Yay. But, it has to be done. And it has to be done in two weeks, so I need to get my ass in gear. So. Back to the 18th century with me.

So. Yesterday was the shittiest day _ever_. Why, you ask? *Warning, I swear a lot in this post!*

• I woke up at 4:30 a.m. Yup. 4:30 a.m. I had my route all sussed out to get to Heathrow from my friend's place by 7 a.m. to actually check in for my flight on time for once.
• Catch the DLR. I'm on time. BUT I get to the underground to switch onto the Circle Line and discover that I've JUST missed the circle line train I was supposed to catch. So when's the next one? IN HALF AN HOUR. Fuck.
• Catch the tube, catch the Heathrow Express, get to Heathrow, I'm in the queue to check in, I'm only a few minutes late after all, and they tell me my carry-ons are too heavy. Fuck. So I check one, praying life will be all right, as it's the bag that has all my Christmas gifts and such in it.
• Flight from London to Toronto was surprisingly smooth. Get to TO, pick up my bags, go through customs, re-check my bags, grab a bottle of Coke, go sit down at my connecting gate, flip open my laptop to do some work, and PSSSSHHHT! I open the bottle of Coke, which was apparently having some pressure issues, and it's everywhere. EVERYWHERE! On my laptop, on me, on the book I'd just bought. Luckily a kind soul sitting in the same area went and found me some stuff to wipe it up with, and I had a couple of hours to let my laptop just sit and dry out. There doesn't seem to be any damage, except for a slight stickiness to the keys.
• Get on the flight to Toronto. Looking forward to it. That book I bought is good (actually finished it all in one go on the flight), it's a relatively short flight... and then I look around. I'm sandwiched in the midst of about 5 children, all under the age of 2 years. And they took it in turns to cry throughout the flipping flight. Once we actually got underway, that is. We ended up sitting on the flipping Tarmac for an hour and 15 minutes because someone lost paperwork about the cargo hold. Unimpressed, I must say.
• Finally get home at 5:30ish. Factor in the time difference. That was 12:30 a.m. London time. Yup. I've been up for 20 hours. Now factor in the time it took to retrieve my luggage, drive to my parents' place... I was fuckin' knackered last night. Forced down some dinner (because Air Canada makes you PAY for your food on flights scheduled for less than four hours, bastards), had a bath, went to bed.

Woke up this morning, though, and things were looking slightly better. I woke up at 4:25 a.m. local time. BUT, I fell asleep again until 8:30. That's, like, 11 hours of sleep last night. And I'll probably have a nap later today, as my work at Fort Edmonton is going until 10 p.m. tonight - that's 5 in the morning, England time. And I need to find that No-Doze I bought when I was working nights. Yup.

BUT, I checked out my laptop, and as I said, except for slightly sticky keys, everything seems to be in fine working order (THANK GOD!). AND! I'd forgotten to turn off the wireless detector (you can do that on my laptop as a power saver thing) and think my next-door neighbours have a wireless network in their house, because somehow I'm connected to the internet without any cables and without my parents' having wireless internet. Mmmhmm. That's right. It's slow, but it's here. Internet in my room! Without paying for it! Score, baby!

So I'm off to wrap presents now, find my Christmas cards, etc.

Maybe it'll actually start feeling like Christmas now.

Warning: The following link may contain imagery that is difficult for men to handle. But it's flipping hilarious for most of us women. There is some questionable language.

This was written by naamah_darling over at livejournal.

Click here:

THE RANT

So. As I mentioned last post, we had a handbell gig this weekend. At Darlington Railway Museum, where they were having a "Victorian Christmas".

Ha!

I'm spoiled. And I know I'm spoiled. But seriously, it was the LEAST Victorian Christmas I've ever seen, unless you count the trains from the 1800s. None of the staff even TRIED! My handbell group was the most Victorian thing there, and honestly, well, after Adele and FEP, my expectations are pretty much sky high. So imagine my shock and horror when I was handed a costume made from synthetic materials and with a zipper up the back. Mmmhm. Yup. Reminded me a bit of an 80s prom dress, but that's ok. I wore the boots, though. I even took off my watch.

And once my inner cringe was over, I managed to have fun for the rest of the day. The place wasn't heated very well (Thank god for the shawl!), but we played/sang/whatever for 5 hours straight, and it was definitely fun. Went for fish and chips afterwards, and had tea at one of the girls' houses in the evening and played silly board games. It was great!

And now I need to nurse the slight bruise I developed playing four-in-hand - have you ever had a bruise between your two fingers? Most awkward place for a bruise ever, but hey, it was the result of a fun day - I can deal.

After two and a half months of taunting, teasing, running around like an idiot, etc., I finally found them. They have been staring at me from the website, from the occasional shop window, but they've never been quite right. But today, completely by accident, I finally found them. Yes, that's right. I found them. And they're mine. A bit of a splurge, but I don't care. I can quasi-justify it.

That's right. I am now the proud owner of some nearly-perfect Victorian-style boots. Ignore the zipper up the sides. Seriously. Just ignore it. I mean, my boots this summer had a plastic 'spur' on them and green plastic-y stuff on the soles. These ones... not a bit of plastic in sight. And they're rather dressier. We're giving a hand bell concert this Saturday, and we're apparently borrowing victorian costumes from somewhere... and I'm working one evening back at FEP over Christmas... so there's my justification. They're black, they're shiny, they're gorgeous, and they're mine. I think I'm in love.

Oh dear.

Had Latin class tonight. And much as I'm thrilled that Rudolph's nose was so lustrous it would make you want to tell everyone (although I gotta give the teacher credit for attempting to keep us amused), there are more interesting things out there. Like this meme I just found:

10 random things you might not know about me
- I speak French well enough to be considered almost completely bilingual by the Canadian government.
- I'm absolutely addicted to "hint of lime" nacho chips
- While I can't be bothered doing it just for myself, I am, in fact, a good cook/baker.
- I have a massive collection of stuffed animals living in a huge trunk in my parents' garage.
- I'm fortunate enough to have found the Ladies of Lallybroch online and have consistently visited them for more than five years now.
- By the time my year here is over, I will have been to Scotland at least 4 times
- I was once on the TV show HiQ - which was a quiz show for junior high students
- I have a tattoo
- I haven't seen my grandmother in... 3 or 4 years now.
- I keep Spice Girls and other useless pop music on my MP3 player to jog to.

9 places I’ve visited
-Venice
-Paris
-London
-Switzerland
-Germany
-Belgium
-Mexico
-Scotland
-Disney World

8 ways to win my heart
-Make me laugh
-Cook for me
-Just hold me
-Do something nice for me without a reason
-Give me a hug
-Teach me something without making me feel like an idiot
-Be kind
-Listen to me

7 things I want to do before I die
-Become Dr. Kate
-See Australia and New Zealand
-Learn to play the organ and/or harp
-Get a job I really love
-Find someone to love
-Take singing lessons again
-Donate a lot of money to charity

6 things I’m afraid of
-Heights
-Bridges
-Traffic in Europe
-Being alone
-Losing someone I love
-Dying and having no one care

5 things I don’t like
-Avocado. Blech.
- Negativity. Everyone's allowed to have a shite day, but all the time? Can't deal with it.
- Depression. It's a debilitating illness and I seem to be feeling it a little more acutely lately.
- Green tea
- The color pink

4 ways to turn me off
- Come across as arrogant and 'holier-than-thou'
- Nasty/negligent personal hygiene
- Show violence towards the weak
- Attempt to show off how much alcohol you can hold

3 things I do every day
- Read blogs
- Check email
- Sleep

2 things that make me happy
- The thought that it's now only 10 days until I board the plane home
- Knowing people care

1 thing on my mind right now
- The paper I should be working on but have so far neglected horrendously.

Here it is, December 12, and it definitely does not feel like December. It hasn't been cold, there's no snow, and, get this, there are roses blooming. Mmhm, that's right. Roses. I don't get it. It's December 12. I may have already mentioned that, but my mind is really having difficulties getting over the fact that there may, just possibly, actually be someplace in the northern hemisphere where there are roses that bloom in December. This pic is not one of my own, and the roses I saw on my walk into town today were rather a lighter shade of pink, but still. I mean, it's roses. In December. I'm from a place where December looks rather more like this:

This, ladies and gentlemen, is winter. Not roses! Ok, granted, it's technically NOT winter just yet - still 10 days to go, but nonetheless, I'm feeling a distinct lack of Christmas enthusiasm (Christmas still feels like it's months away), and I have a feeling that there are several reasons for this.

1. I have no Christmas decorations in England. I was unable to pull out my Santa pillow, put up my Christmas lights and/or little tree.

2. People don't decorate as much for Christmas around here. I mean, I don't expect a scene out of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation or anything, but I've only seen one or two houses with Christmas lights up. That being said, the centre of town is looking lovely and understated:

Congratulations to the people of York for not going totally,
completely and utterly freaking nuts with their Christmas decorations - and not a cheesy plastic santa in sight! Yay!

And while my camera doesn't necessarily capture the subtle beauty of the Christmas decorations in this medieval town, then at least you get a bit of a sense of what I'm dealing with here.

Right, so back to the whole point.

1. I have no decorations
2. Few other people have any decorations
3. The weather is decidedly not conducive to any mental associations with Christmas in my mind
4. I don't have a television and have not been subjected to nasty Christmas ads
5. I rarely listen to the radio and have not been subjected to bad Christmas music by the pop star du jour.
6. Didn't get to the Butterdome this year

In short, my regular Christmas routine of exam panic and mug after mug of hot chocolate whilst studying has been completely interrupted, and as a result, I am feeling decidedly un-Christmassy.

Argh.

I did it! I finished my first ever knitting project (well, the first one that was more complicated than a dishcloth). I did Mittenettes! Yay me!

Mmhmmm... that's right. I rock!

Yup, that's right. Homesickness hit this weekend. I think it was because I was away from my home away from home and hit with a real dose of foreign touristy stuff. But all day yesterday and today, I've been feeling like absolute shite, and wishing I could just pick up and go back home. Don't get me wrong. I'm enjoying my program. I'm well aware that this is the opportunity of a lifetime and that I'll be glad I've done it when I'm done... but right now I would kill for an electrical socket that looks like the ones back home... I would kill to see French on the label of my Canada Dry (which, yes, they do sell here!) Ginger Ale... I would kill to run grab a cup of coffee at the 24 hour Tim's... and the list goes on.

I generally pride myself on being one of the least emotional, not-so-homesick people in a group, but I'm alone here, mostly, and it's been two months - the longest I've ever gone without seeing someone from a 'previous life' - friends/family - has been a week or two, and the longest I've ever been out of Canada was a month.

So I spent most of yesterday evening bawling. I'm serious. I even went to class today, and I thought I'd done a pretty good job of covering up - although my nose is red because I have a cold and have blown my nose raw (stupid Kleenex) - and one of my classmates told me I looked... what was the word she used... draggy... in the sense of slow, lethargic, tired. Yup. That'd be me. Sniffly to begin with, so luckily I was able to hide most of my in-class sniffles with tissues, leaving my classmates to assume that it was just the cold (I was only about to cry once in class, and I managed to avoid it with only a slight watering of the eyes).

I want to blame it on the fact that I've cut my meds (for those of you who don't already know this, I suffer from borderline clinical depression and have been on meds for 3.5 years now) - but the cut was towards the beginning of the summer and things are only getting bad now. So, nope, it's just me being 'weak' (in my own personal estimation*) and finally succumbing to what I was hoping I'd manage to avoid. I actually got to the point yesterday where I started seriously looking for jobs in Canada because I didn't want to come back so badly. But thanks to the lovely ladies of an internet community to which I belong, I've had some moral support and am feeling slightly better - and it's less than 20 days now until I fly home! And god only knows, by the end of my couple of weeks at home, I'll probably be ready to come back here to England.

*This is generally why I don't see counselors. I hate admitting that I'm anything less than strong, stable and good to go. So I guess this blog is sort of a quasi-counselor vent session-type thing.

Sorry to leave you all on such a negative note, but hopefully I'll have good things to write in the near future.

And I have photos. Unfortunately there's a lot of them, so it was easier to post them on Kodak. Go check them out!

HERE

I will write a real post again at some point in the near future. I promise.

Yay me!

Just wanted to let y'all know that in spite of the roaring cold I seem to have develolped, I'm off to Edinburgh for the weekend. Pics and other such fun when I return!