the white line's getting longer and the saddle's getting cold

I didn't end up going to Steeps on Tuesday night. I was too sick and too tired. I just stayed at home and slept.

On Wednesday I went to Vivid Print to pick up some prints I had gotten done. Then I had Cree at noon. Usually I am in the 2:00 class, but my instructor gave me permission to go to the noon class on Wednesdays so I could go to CSL 300 from 1:00 until 4:00. I am really excited about the CSL class. Its full title is, "Theory and Practice of Community Service-Learning: Communities, Knowledges, and Health." It is basically about developing healthy communities through volunteerism. We had some representatives from non-profit organizations come visit our class and talk about volunteer opportunities, because there is a course requirement that we complete 30-35 volunteer hours with an organization. I decided that I wanted to do my work with the Bissell Centre, because I've worked in inner city Edmonton before, and enjoyed the clients but ended up emotionally, mentally, and physically exhausted. I have a couple of friends who work at the Bissell, including one girl who worked for the same organization I had and had left feeling the same way I did, and they all really seem to love it there, so I'd like to find out more about how the Bissell takes care of its staff and volunteers. I am going there on Monday morning to get all my paperwork done and hopefully to start working at the drop-in. After class I bussed to Whyte Ave to meet Jessica and Kaylin at Steeps. Kaylin stayed until about 6:30, and Jessica and I stayed until 8:30. We just drank tea and talked and made crafts. I taught Jessica how to crochet. She was supposed to host an open mic there at 8:00, but no other performers really showed up that night, and she was feeling as sick as I was, so she decided to cancel it. I got some pizza and a cream soda from The Funky Pickle for supper. I walked home and crafted and read for the rest of the night.

Thursdays are going to be riDICulous for me this semester. I have 8.5 hours of class every Thursday. It starts out with NS 211 in the Education building. Then I have an hour before my NS 390, Community-Based Research Methods, starts in the General Services Building. Then I have another half hour to kill before Cree in Pembina Hall. This week, I spent that time buying earphones from the university bookstore and coconut earrings from a vendor in SUB. Then I have half an hour before ANTHR 323, Ecological Anthropology, in Tory. I ran into my friend Courtney, who I hardly ever see unless it is in a totally random run-in, so we talked for a bit before class. After anthro, I have one more free hour before NS 260, Contemporary Aboriginal Art, in the Ed building. I was really excited to learn over the Christmas holidays that my instructor for that class would be Jane Ash Poitras. I've never had an instructor whose name and work I've recognized before the class, so this is pretty exciting stuff. From what I know about her, she's pretty eccentric, and I wasn't sure whether I would totally love her or totally hate her. Based on last Thursday's class, I think I can safely say that I totally love her. She's funny and irreverent and bright, and best of all, she's getting us to do COLLAGES for class assignments. Could I possibly love this class any more? I've already started my collage. It's not due until mid-February, but I couldn't resist. Maybe I'll post a photo of it on here when it is finished. So far I've covered part of it with acrylic paint to make it kind of texture-y, and I've done one acrylic gel transfer of a photo and am halfway through another gel transfer. Exciting!!!

On Friday I kind of bummed around all morning. I was feeling garbagey because of cramps. I went to work at the elementary school, but they had a lot of people on, and I was feeling yucky, so I asked if I could go home. They said yes. I walked to the grocery store to get some soup to make myself feel better. Then I walked to SUB so I could get a few pictures photocopied for the acrylic gel transfer thing for my collage. At 2:00 I had my Cree lab in the Arts building. After Cree I went home and napped. At about 6:00, I took the LRT over to Kaylin's apartment, where we wrote junior high-esque letters to each other and watched R. Kelly's ridiculous rap opera. Then we walked over to the downtown library so I could drop off some books and get some new cds. Kaylin asked the librarian how much she would have to pay in late fees in order to be able to use the library again. She was told $30. What a relief! Kaylin once had a $400 library fine, but they forgave it. She is the worst book-loser ever. After we walked around downtown for a bit, I LRT'd back home for some crafting time.

On Saturday I worked at the Legislature from noon until 5. I finished reading "Catcher in the Rye" while I was working in the gift shop. Then I LRT'd all the way to Clareview, and bussed/walked around over there to get to Home Depot, where I bought some yellow, apple green, and "espresso" brown spray paint and some sandpaper. I ate supper by myself at Wendy's, which made my guts hurt. Then I walked over to Future Shop to buy some better earphones for my Ipod (the ones I bought from SUB are no good, so I am going to return them tomorrow), and I finished off my trip to the northeast side with a visit to Michael's, where I bought some bamboo double-ended knitting needles, some other knitting paraphernalia, and some burnt and raw umber paints for my collage. I was also pretty happy to hear a collection of Garth Brooks hits being played over the store's stereo. Meghan and her boyfriend Nick picked me up from Michael's, and drove me to my apartment. Meghan and I walked from there to Café Select, where we met Jessica for the Notebook Magazine Issue 4 release party. Mostly we just sat on the floor and talked and thumbed through the magazine. It was a pretty swanky place and a pretty swanky party. We left at about 9:00 to walk Jessica back to her work, so we could meet her crush, who works there. He is definitely pretty dreamy. Then Megs and I walked back to my apartment to drop off some stuff and then head out dancing. But when we got to my place, I realized that I didn't have my wallet! I tried calling Café Select, but they said they were too busy to look for it then. Meghan and I retraced our steps around Garneau, and ended back up at Café Select, where the woman at the merch table immediately asked if I was "Caylie." Whew. Meghan and I were relieved when we realized that someone had turned my wallet in a few minutes earlier. We LRT'd downtown, because we wanted to go dancing at Oil City Roadhouse (which is TOTALLY not my style, and INCREDIBLY trashy, but we had wanted to go because we had heard from Kaylin that it was so disgusting and lame and unpretentious that you could just dance hard and not worry what anybody was thinking). Anyway, when we got there, there was a huge lineup of jerkish-looking boys and girls with too much makeup, so we left. We were both ridiculously tired anyway. We ended up just watching "Take the Lead" - one of my sister's movies - and eating junk food and going to bed. It was actually pretty enjoyable.

Meghan slept over last night, and she left at around 11 this morning. I left then, too, to go to work at the Ledge. I worked until 5:15. I did some knitting and some homework while I worked in the gift shop. When I was finished work, I called Emery to see if I could come to his house to pick up some sheet metal that his roommate had gotten me so that I could make some magnet boards. It turned out that Emery was just driving by the Legislature when I called, so he picked me up and gave me a ride to his place, where we got the metal. He gave me a tour around his house. I am pretty jealous of people who live in houses. I'm getting pretty tired of this apartment living. I just want to DO something with my living space. Commit to a painted wall or something. Also, I am jealous of Emery because he has a bedroom AND a making-stuff room. I need a craft room/sewing room/studio. Soon. Emery dropped me and my metal sheets off at home. Since then, I've worked on my collage (rubbing the paper off the back of the gel transfer), read a chapter in my ecological anthro textbook, knitted, done my laundry, and washed the floor in the back hall. Now I think I am going to bed.