dear dairy,
i had the best day of all days today! first, when i woke up, i talked to kelseydawn on the phone (because i am going to see her tomorrow and needed to know if i needed to bring anything in particular. and the answer is yes: a bathing suit and a longboard, not to be used together. yay! i like that our swimming/longboarding skills match. as in, we are both mediocre at both. bff.). i like her lots. then i went to the tory building at the u of a, to pick up some "consent of department" forms for some anthropologt classes for next year (i start registration next week). i loved being in the halls! i love school so much! i can't wait! also, i ran into alyssa just when i was getting out of the elevator. weird. then i went to pembina hall (where the native studies offices are) to pick up some more "consent of department" forms, and the lady at reception told me to talk to matt, who turned out to be my "shadow" matt blimke! i knew he worked there, but it was nice that he was the person that i needed to talk to. he gave me a tour of pembina hall (it is amazingly cute, and i can't wait for classes there next year), and i met some neat people. one of the ladies i met was working on a master's thesis on a prayer book by bishop grouard. grouard!?! that's the town i am working in/worked in last summer! as part of my museum job, we give tours of bishop grouard's mission! crazy! (he's a neat guy, by the way. he was a catholic missionary who served the area between edmonton and alaska for over 60 years, doing most of his travelling by foot. he spoke 7 languages - french, english, and five aboringinal languages. so neat. he translated the entire bible into cree syllabics. he did some really neat paintings in his churches, using all-natural dyes. he was a good guy, i think. ALSO! he had the first printing press in alberta - he brought it over from france, where he was originally from. AND - get this - it is rumored that the first book ever printed in alberta was done on his press - in an indigenous language (i would guess cree, but maybe not)! how's that for some neat history!?! good on ya, grouard. anyway. i digress. back to my wicked awesome day. i left pembina hall and lrt'd to northlands coliseum, where a sewing and crafts show was being held at the sportex. i was tempted to go in, but a) $12 is too much to pay for admission, and b) i am kind of creeped out by quilting ladies. maybe because i know i will become one soon. so, i got back on the lrt and went to bay station. i listened to sufjan on my ipod on the lrt. i love the lrt. i love turbulence on airplanes because it reminds me of the lrt. from bay station i walked to the second cup on jasper ave and i had a vanilla bean hot chocolate made by the fantastic kaylin betteridge. she was too busy to talk much but she looked cute in her brown apron. then i walked to the ledge to drink my hot chocolate. ledge = maybe my favorite place in the city. i drank my hot chocolate pretty fast because i needed to get back to the university for... wait for it... this is why i need a form of cyclical writing...

before i went to the university, i walked on the edge of the ledge wading pool. there was no water in it yet but i just like walking there. and i found a toonie!!! the world is comin' up caylie! i walked back across the high level bridge (east side - also maybe one of my favorite places in the city) and went back to the university for...

...bannock and tea in the native studies department! at first i felt awkward because the room was full of people i didn't know, but then one of the ladies i had met that morning invited me to get something to eat. so i did, and then i started talking with the grouard lady. then i saw a girl named jill, who had worked for AFL in sucker creek for two summers before i was there! then matt blimke came in, so i had TWO friends! and THEN i saw a girl named amanda, who had gone on a ghost river rediscovery internship (just like mine to guyana, only hers was to dominica)! wow! so many people! nice to talk with them all.

then i walked back to the apartment to pick up alyssa. mom and dad think emily and i exclude her a lot of the time, so i tried to engage her by asking her to go make-up shopping with me. what!?! i haven't bought/worn make-up in 5 years, and even then it was the first time in about 5 years before that. anyways, in guyana, i just decided i wanted to feel better about how i look, which included not looking like a drab, tired housewife all the time. so we went to west edmonton mall to buy make-up. ew. i am embarassed for myself for saying that. okay, but first, we stopped at a sewing place on 142nd and I BOUGHT A SEWING MACHINE!!! yes, i did. congratulations, self. i don't have it yet - i am going for a little tutorial next thursday, and i'll pick it up then. thrilling. AND the machine was A HUNDRED DOLLARS LESS than i had originally seen it listed for in lloydminster. yeah!

so... sewing machine, make-up, then i dropped alyssa off at josh's and went to see miss jenni at her house. i sure do like her a lot. she looked all... not-fashionable, which is a rare thing for her, i think. we had a nice talk and tried to remind each other that satan does not have a hold on either of us. things are really coming together for her, and i guess for me too. that's exciting. i hope she stays in emminton for a long while. i like having good people in my city. i wish kelseydawn would leave calgary and move here. i love edmonton. also, matt blimke told me he loves edmonton. i like that. our city is so neat! we have really good recycling! is anyone listening!?!

i said goodbye to jenni. i went home. i showered. i had a bitta tea, i played a bitta nintendo. i picked jenni up from the riverdale hall and we went to pick up supper at planet organic. we listened to some mediocre soca and some fan-friggin-tastic sean paul. we picked up kaylin and blake. we went back to riverdale hall or whatever. illfit outfit played a show. things i liked about it: my crush. jenni being all cute. the EPs. things i didn't like: all the underage kids making me feel all grandmothery (in a bad way) and not cool. i wanted to dance but the lights were too bright, and the kids were too... highschooly. i picked up a neat magazine in pembina hall, so i read that a bit. i drove kaylin and blake home. i went home.

eff. i am tired. in a few hours i will see kelseydawn!

i'm the best!