i've realized that most of my posts recently have pretty much entirely focused on justin, and how handsome and wonderful he is, and what sorts of things we do together. i guess i should remember that most of the people reading this (if anyone actually reads it anymore) do not know justin yet, and they are maybe tired of reading about someone they don't know.

okay. so here are some things about just me:

i am pretty much hating it in victoria. i really hate my program and the classes i am forced to take through it. i should probably not be posting this on the internet, but... i dunno. i wanted to do a master's in museum studies, and i was also very interested in indigenous language revitalization. UBC offered a museum studies master's in anthropology, but since i didn't get in to that (and neither did any of the other students in my program, except for one, who for some reason chose here instead), i settled for anthropology here. that was a mistake. anthropology is not the right discipline for me. i minored in it during my native studies degree, but managed to avoid most of the theory and history of the discipline. i guess i assumed that it was pretty similar to native studies. nope. it seems like all we talk about is foucault and discourse and power/knowledge and bullshit academic concepts that either (a) don't actually matter to people in communities, or (b) could, and should, be rephrased in more accessible language. i feel (and am) obligated to continue this degree because of my funding, so my mild acts of resistance include posting this on my blog, complaining to my classmates, and being dismissive of academia in class. i am entirely unsure of whether i will be able to get funding for next year, which means that it is very likely that i won't be able to afford to finish this degree (since the major scholarship i have now is only available for one year of a student's life); i have hardly been able to speak with my supervisor, so i have no idea where i should go with my thesis or if it would actually be useful for communities at all; and i am not able to take classes i am interested in. however... next semester should be better, at least for the classes. i'm taking kwak'wala (a language spoken by the kwakwaka'wakw in northern vancouver island and the mainland near there) and minority language maintenance, both of which are through the linguistics department. and i just found out that i may be able to take classes at UBC through the western deans' agreement (which allows graduate students to take classes at universities other than their home institutions, but pay tuition only to their home institution). i spend ALL my time here reading and writing, so i haven't had any time to join any activities (for example, i really wanted to join a rowing club), and my classmates and i want to meet up regularly for crafting, but we all have too much homework to even allow ourselves to meet for a few hours each week. blah.

however... there are a few highlights:

1. i have been knitting. it's a sweater for justin, and it's about halfway done. i'm hoping to have it done by christmas.

2. i am really, really looking forward to christmastime. justin and i are both flying into edmonton on tuesday, december 14th, and we'll be staying for three weeks. i can't wait to see everyone and for justin to meet everyone i love (and for them to meet him)!

3. i'm living by myself for the first time ever, and it's awesome.