come on, star! come on, snow! come on, car!

kelsey's sick of filler, so i have to start getting to the point.

wednesday, february 27: jessie and i hung out at steeps from 4:00 until 5:00, then bussed downtown for cree at the native friendship centre. i had mad cramps, so i left at 7:00 and walked to jasper ave. and bussed home. i laid in bed with a hot water bottle but couldn't sleep. when i felt a little better, i had some chicken and bannock that alyssa had made for us for supper.

thursday, february 28: class all day. i went to vivid print and then a framing place in HUB to see if they could stretch my knitted raven. i ended up just buying a piece of foam core and binding my raven onto that.

friday, february 29: went to the elementary school, but it was p.d. day for them, so they were closed. i ran into shannon m. on the street - i hadn't seen her in YEARS - so we made plans to go to good earth café for coffee next friday. walked to the paint spot to buy some canvas. bussed to earthly goods to buy some black wool felt. had cree class. went to see "famous puppet death scenes" with becky, sarah d., and beth t., on jonathan k.'s advice. i wasn't sure what to expect. i'm usually not all that into theatre, and i didn't think i'd be into puppets at all. the show was AMAZING. i couldn't believe it. everything was so beautiful and incredibly creative and well done. go see it if you ever get a chance. afterwards becky and sarah and i went to steeps because jessica was working (she had to miss seeing the puppet show to work) because there was a show going on. i ended up seeing a ton of people i know: jessica, jenni, bethany, joel, bethany's sister kaeli, marney, marney's boyfriend simon, liam, liam's girlfriend mel, doug, lisa, and hahn. i ended up seeing twenty people i know that day, excluding classmates. that's a lot! it makes me feel like i am experiencing good community in edmonton.

saturday, march 1: hung out with my friend kev. we met at my house, and stopped at remedy to see davina (we are all former AFLers), and also saw bri and karen, who were hanging up bri's photography for her show opening. then we walked to the farmers' market and hung out there for a while. we walked to the legislature, stopping at remedy on the way for some complimentary tea and chicken that davina had promised us. at the legislature, we stood around in support for the gathering for the people in fort chipewyan. they were calling for a moratorium on new development in the oil sands, and pleading for people to think about these issues when they go to the polls. kev and i LRT'd back to my house (we would have walked, but it was SUPER cold), and then he drove me to whyte ave. so i could pick up some paint from the paint spot. i bussed home. at about 8:00, i met jessie at remedy so we could check out bri's show. there were a lot of people i really like there, but i wasn't feeling very sociable, so jessie and her brother eric and i went to the movie studio to rent some movies. they went to their place, and i watched "edward scissorhands" by myself at my apartment. it was really nice, especially since it was so cold and snowy out.

slowly going the way of the buffalo

this is the collage i made for my contemporary aboriginal art class. it's done with spray paint, acrylic paint, and acrylic gel transfers. the photo at the top was taken near vermilion in 1871. it's a cree camp. the other photo is my dad and his horse trixie.






my big ipod is not working so well, and it would cost me $149 to fix it, so i bought a new ipod yesterday. it's a green 8 GB nano. i finished my homework a lot earlier than i expected yesterday, so i made myself a new ipod case.

any time i need to see your face i just close my eyes

i volunteered at the bissell from 10:00 until 1:00 on monday. i usually go earlier, but that day, i was supposed to meet with my community supervisor over her lunch break, so i got to sleep in a little later than usual. everyone seemed to be in a good mood at the bissell, i think maybe because of the sweetgrass that an elder had brought in for people to smudge with that morning. my supervisor and i went out at noon for our lunch meeting, but a couple of blocks away from the bissell, we saw one of the bissell's clients pass out on the sidewalk. he was pretty intoxicated, and was sitting in a puddle of water, so we spent 45 minutes helping him sit up, pulling him away from where he had puked in front of his crossed legs, helping him to stand up and walk across the street, and finally running to hope mission to get some of their outreach workers to help us out and call EMS. when we finally left the situation, we only had 15 minutes left for lunch, so we went to rosie's for soup and sandwiches. we actually didn't talk too much about the bissell. instead, i just wanted to hear her talk about her life. she had said earlier that she was from the pine ridge reservation, and although the name of the reservation set off bells in my head, i couldn't remember just what major event had taken place there. she reminded me (it was the wounded knee incident and massacre), and told me about lakota history and tradition. it was nice to just hear her talk.

i went to the library downtown to drop off some books, and ate a chicken and jalapeno panini at three bananas café. then i LRT'd to the university for cree class at 2:00. i came home, napped for a bit, did some homework, and then bussed to bri and bethany's house for their "wear what you wore in junior high" party. it was really low-key and fun. i wore my old blue and black airwalks, and 5 shirts (i used to wear between 6 and 13 shirts every day to high school. i'm not sure why or how. but it was a pretty big part of my identity), including a red and white striped soccer jersey with a weezer patch sewn on, a black hoodie with a TMNT patch safety pinned on, and another grey hoodie with some silkscreening i'd done in CTS class and another patch pinned on. since most of us grew up in christian circles, we listened to some newsboys, along with the entire now 3 album, some savage garden, and some spice girls. i think that all of us were past or present king's students. there were a couple of girls i didn't know, but most of us had been on the students' association together. joel's brother lewis gave me a ride home around 10:00.

i don't know your timetable; i don't know your face off by heart

on friday, i was in vermilion, but both of my parents were at work. i hung out at home for the morning. in the afternoon, i went to my mom's school and taught her grade 4 class how to make dreamcatchers. it might not have been the most accurate craft to make in central alberta, but i'm not exactly proficient at making birch bark baskets, so whatevs. my parents and i had some delicious roast beef for supper, and my dad and i went into town afterwards to visit grandma and gido again. i worked on some more homework and did some blogging and some laundry after my parents had gone to bed.

on saturday, my dad drove me to the greyhound station at 9:00. i bussed back to edmonton, and took the #111 to oliver square, where i picked up a billy collins book i had lent kevin that one time we'd hung out. i bussed/LRT'd home and napped for a long, long time. i worked on some homework until about 9:30, when joel picked me up to go see “be kind rewind” at south edmonton common. the movie was pretty much exactly what i expected it to be. not my favorite michel gondry film, but still considerably more enjoyable than most movies that are out now. there were definitely some pretty adorable parts in it.

on sunday, i worked on homework, made some mix cds for jessica, went skating at hawrelak park with emery, and took the cds to jessica at steeps.

i don't ever drive by your house to see if you're in

on wednesday the 20th, i volunteered again at the bissell for my CSL class. i got up at 6:15, made myself some oatmeal with raspberries and blueberries and brown sugar, and then bussed to the bissell so i could start by 8:00. they were a little short staffed that morning, so i worked the drop-in desk for an hour, and then i worked on the food surveys i had started the day before. everyone was really grumpy or hung over or cracked out, so i got yelled at and had food thrown at me, etc. i'm not going to rant about it on here, but i was certainly irritated by the whole thing. i came home and napped for a bit, and then i walked to whyte ave. for an eye exam at regent optical. i had ordered some glasses from there, but apparently my prescription isn't up to date, so i needed an exam. fortunately, if you buy glasses there, they do a free exam for you. whew. afterwards, i met jessie and cam at the stop for the shuttle bus to the airport, because cam was flying back to thunder bay. jessie and i LRT'd to churchill station, and we walked to city hall, where i skated and she slipped around on her shoes for a bit. we heard the bells ring at 5:00, and they sounded really nice. then we bussed/walked to the native friendship centre for cree class at 5:30. jessie's friend layne met us there. we started with half an hour of review, and then we all ate some amazing supper that was provided for us by the centre. the class was really fun, and everyone seemed really friendly. they are pretty much going through the same book that we're doing for my cree class at university, so it is nice to have some review. i'm learning some new things too, though, so it's a really nice balance.

after cree, jessie and layne went to steeps, and i waited around for emery to pick me up. he was kind of late, but it was okay, because i just stood outside and watched the eclipse. we ate supper at bacon restaurant, which is kind of in the northeast part of the city. we'd both been wanting to eat there for quite a while, and that day presented itself as a good time to go. i had a bison burger with molasses, which was not as good as i'd hoped it would be. i had texted emery earlier in the day, telling him to bring his skates, because we'd been meaning to go skating together since christmas, and i already had my skates with me since i'd gone earlier that day with jessica. on our way to hawlrelak park after supper, emery told me that his roommate had seen him heading out the door with skates in his hand, and had said, "you're totally going on a date," to which emery protested that we weren't. boo. it had seemed kind of date-ish to me. whatevs. i've been tricking him into going on semi-dates with me since we met, so i guess the only thing i can do is remain unfazed by his oblivion. anyway, we got to hawrelak park just as they were turning the lights off, and since it was dark and cold (and i was kind of bummed by feeling so rejected), we decided not to skate that night. we slipped across the ice on our shoes to check out some ice sculptures, but then emery drove me home.

on thursday morning, i walked down to whyte ave. to pick up my new glasses from regent optical. then i packed up a bag and LRT'd to the greyhound station downtown, where i caught the 1:00 bus to vermilion. i sat next to a very talkative university of saskatoon student from peace river, who was friendly but seemingly inept at reading "i'm-not-interested-in-talking-right-now" body language. with half an hour left in our trip, i realized her real intentions in continuing conversation, as she launched into a full-blown evangelization routine. yeesh. having self-identified as a christian for eight years between high school and my first degree, i had a pretty good idea of exactly what she'd try to tell me. i was relieved when the bus crossed the overpass at vermilion, and i had a legitimate and polite reason to end the conversation. my mom picked me up at 3:45, and we got some groceries and some craft supplies in town, and then came home. we watched some t.v. (i don't have t.v. in my apartment, so i like to watch the simpsons when i can), and then dad came home and he made some steak fajitas for supper. afterwards, dad and i went to visit my grandma and gido at the lodge in town. my grandparents are adorable. they will have been married 65 years this coming summer. wow! when we got to their place, they were watching the leaders' debate on t.v. my gido is this huge old ukrainian farmer, and he was sitting in his chair in bare feet, wearing a ball cap and leaning forward, pointing at the screen and saying, "yes! yes! that's right" as the leaders bickered back and forth. it was good to visit with them. i especially liked visiting at that time because my gido and i are the only ones in our family in this province who vote for the same political party (i have some cousins and an aunt and uncle in b.c. who also vote the same way). it's nice to connect with him over that. afterwards, my dad and i came home, and i did some homework until i was too tired to stay awake.

dust in the light, falling through

on monday i worked at the legislature from 11:00 until 4:30. since it was family day, we had a pretty big celebration going on at the ledge, with hot chocolate, a real owl, face painting, carnival games, balloons, ice sculptures, and tours of the ledge every couple of minutes. i spent most of the day giving tours. they were really condensed versions of the tours we gave, but still pretty exhausting because there were so many people in each group. after work, i met becky at the south ledge grounds, where we went skating for 20 minutes or so. neither of us had the energy to skate much longer, but that was the perfect amount of time. i hadn't been skating all winter, and neither had becky, but we did pretty well, i think. neither of us can stop very well, but at least we didn't fall. becky drove me to my apartment, and then went to wash her car while i packed up some craft supplies. she then picked me up and we went to her house for the evening. her roommate sarah was at home, so i made the three of us fried bannock and tea for supper. we talked about aboriginal law, because sarah is going to school to become a lawyer, and i am going to school to become aboriginal. just jokes. but honestly, i don't have any faith that any kind of law is going to make things better for aboriginal people any time soon, and talking with sarah made me realize even more how messy law is. it was really nice to talk to sarah, too, because we've known each other for a long, long time, but i don't think we've ever really considered each other friends. anyways, she is bright and compassionate, and i hope we get to be better friends. after supper, sarah did some reading, and becky worked on beading her moccasins, and i worked on crocheting my raven. becky drove me home at about 8:45, and i went to bed fairly early because i was feeling tired.

i was up at 6:15 the next morning so i could be at the bissell at 8:00, to fill in some volunteer hours for my CSL course. becky works at the bissell, so she came downstairs to give me the tea i had left at her house the night before, and just to say hello. every time i am at the bissell, clients and other staff members ask me if i have a sister who works there. they always think that becky and i are related. people have been thinking that for years and years and years. i don't think we look that similar, except for our body shape and hair color and short bangs, but i really like it when people think we're sisters. it's gotten to the point that i look forward to being at the bissell, just because i am sure that at least one person will ask me if becky's my sister. maybe it's exciting for me because i don't look a thing like my real sisters. anyway, i worked for about an hour at the drop-in, and i spent the rest of the time doing a food survey for jason, the food services manager. i had to go around to clients and ask them if i could do a six-question interview with them regarding the food the bissell serves. the questions were:
a) is 10:30 a.m. (when the bissell serves food) your first meal of the day? if not, where else do you eat?
b) do you eat anywhere else during the day?
c) does the meal at the bissell give you your only food for the day? keep you healthy? provide socializing?
d) what are your favorite kinds of food served at the bissell? do you like the food?
e) rate the service of the food (cleanliness, friendliness of staff, length of lineup).
f) how can we improve the food service? different time? healthier/more/fresher food?
it was really interesting to see how people answered. some clients told me that a lot of inner city people are missing many of their teeth, and therefore have a difficult time eating raw vegetables, which in turn leads to a dietary deficiency of nutrients. they'd prefer to have softer, cooked vegetables. other clients raised issues about the importance of snacks throughout the day for diabetics. still others reminded me of the importance that different kinds of meats play for different cultural groups. most complained about being fed sandwiches.

i LRT'd home after my shift, and took a nice long nap. emery woke me up when he texted me to ask if he could use my sewing machine for a couple of hours later that night. i cleaned up my house, which was no small job, and made some soup for myself before emery showed up. i also worked on my CSL journal.

emery came over at around 7 or so, and he brought a couple of cds for me to listen to (the whitsundays - the band we had gone to see the week earlier, but had to miss because of transit schedules; and plants and animals). i set him up at my sewing machine, and he got to work on some little wallet-esque card holders. i went to go work on my journalling on my computer, but he kept telling me things from where he was sitting and i couldn't hear him from where i was working, so i eventually just decided to chill out in my room (where he was sewing) and talk with him while he worked. it was much more enjoyable than doing homework. plus, my all-time favorite way to hang out with people is to chill and talk while we are making something. emery and i have hung out a lot, but we never just hang out and make things. so nice. he stayed until about 9:30 or so, and then went home. i spent a little bit of time working on my CSL journal, and then i went to bed. i also texted emery before i went to sleep to tell him that:
a) i had forgotten to give back his cds, and
b) i had forgotten to add my usual disclaimer when i told him my kissing-a-boy-behind-a-tree-at-the-u-of-a-last-spring story, claiming that i am not a total whore: i am just addicted to awkwardness and excitement.

i thought we could be friends

on friday morning i slept in, and then worked at the elementary school from 11:30 until 12:30. as usual, it was a ton of fun. my favorite kids, the grade 1s, gave me lots of hugs and begged me to go tobogganing with them. i did, and so i'd kneel down on my crazy carpet, and they'd all grab onto me and my sled, and then we'd inch down the top of the hill until we started sliding. there were usually about 10 of us attached together. near the end of recess, kids were just grabbing onto us and sliding down the hill on their stomachs in their snowsuits without any sleds, and some of them would just jump on my back as soon as we started sliding. so fun. i LRT'd downtown to pick up some books from the library, and since i had a little bit of time before class, i decided to have lunch by myself at three bananas cafe. it was amazing. i had been meaning to go there for quite a while, and i'm really glad i finally did. i had a life-changing chicken and jalapeno panini. then i LRT'd back to the university for my cree lab. after cree, i watched "smoke signals" by myself. that evening, i met jessie and her brother eric and her friend cam, who was visiting from thunder bay, at the u of a transit station, and we LRT'd downtown to see doug hoyer and toy singers play at the velvet underground. i keep seeing this dude around shows in edmonton, and i've recognized his face, but could never remember his name. finally, earlier this week, becky or jessie mentioned a name, and i realized that it was this boy's. i remembered that he used to play in a band called audience of one about eight years ago, and that my ex-boyfriend evan used to live with one of the dudes in that band. whew. anyway, the show was fun, and i got to hang out with jenni for a bit, and there were free cupcakes because it was toy singers' cd release, but we had to leave early to make sure we could catch the LRT back across the river and make it back home.

on saturday, i worked at the ledge. i think that two out of three of my tours went. although i like having days when i don't have to do tours, when i do have to do them, i realize that i kind of enjoy doing them. after work, i came home for a bit, and then met jessie, eric, and cam at steeps. we walked/LRT'd/walked to the treehouse, where we saw the joe, orange in the light, and illfit outfit play. the joe was extra entertaining, because:
a) he's just a good rapper,
b) he seems like a super positive, good guy, and
c) there was this one girl who knew all the words to his songs, and so she was singing them and dancing and smiling super hard. adorable.
we LRT'd back across the river after the show. i went home and jessie, eric and cam walked all the way back to jessie's.

on sunday my parents came up to visit me and my sisters for family day. they first bought emily a bunch of groceries downtown, and then they came across the river to buy some more for alyssa and me. we unpacked the groceries at home, and i showed my mom the art projects i've been working on. then we went to the cheesecake café (alyssa's choice) on the west end for lunch, and stopped at michael's so i could get some yarn and embroidery thread. then we went to west edmonton mall, so my mom could buy a bathing suit for the trip she and my dad are taking to mexico in the spring. my sister works at a bathing suit store in the mall, so she had a pretty substantial gift certificate to use up. i scammed her into buying me a cute brown dress. i also wandered around h&m, because i had never been there before and because i wanted to see if i could find a pair of cute red tennis shoes like kaylin has. the store was a total nightmare. there were a million people everywhere, and everything was shoddily made in sweatshops around the globe. ugh. the mall was pretty packed, too. finally, after about an hour, my mom picked out some things to buy, and we headed out, but not before stopping at london drugs, where dad bought alyssa and me a new phone for our apartment. i drove us back to emily's apartment to drop her off, and then mom and dad dropped alyssa and me off at our place. i took "smoke signals" to jessie at her work so that she could watch it, and then i walked to the movie studio to rent a movie. before i went, my dad called and told me i should rent young guns and young guns 2. i'd seen the first one, but not the second. anyway, because i hate shopping or picking movies, and could find nothing i'd rather watch, i rented both movies. i watched the first one and half of the second one that night. i actually like them quite a bit.

freedom from myself and from the land

on wednesday the 13th, i woke up at 9:00 so i could be at the bruce peel special collections in rutherford library south by 10:00. a couple of us from my NS 211 class met there so we could take a look at the javitch collection, which has a lot of information pertinent to native studies. we looked at a copy of treaty 6, and some old prints of photographs. after that, i stopped in SUB for a bagel, and then went to pembina for cree at noon. i LRT'd to bay station, because my CSL class was meeting at the edmonton chamber of volunteer organizations that afternoon to hear some guest speakers. i heard some crazy statistics, including one bit of research following 15 homeless people in calgary for a period of 18 months, which found that each of these people used approximately $200,000 worth of social services in that time. ho-leh! i left class a little bit early so i could LRT back across the river for an appointment with my naturopath at 4:00. we are trying to figure out what is causing my millions of allergies, and he thinks it is food, so he has proposed that i either do a cleanse, and then gradually add in more foods and see if i react to them, or do a blood test. the blood test is just a finger prick, but it costs $250. the food experimentation will cost about the same because i will have to eat very particular foods. ugh. i talked to my mom about it later that night, and she said she'd pay for half of whatever i decided to do, but only on the condition that if they found anything that i was allergic to, i'd have to commit to stop eating it. i dread that the tests will tell me i am allergic to sugar or potatoes or meat, and i don't think i can live without those things. so here comes a brand-new season of debilitating allergies! afterwards, i met becky and jessie at steeps, but we all only stayed for about an hour. becky had to go to her moccasin-making class, jessie and layne went to cree class at the native friendship centre downtown, and i went home to study.

on thursday i went to NS 211 at 9:30, where we had a really great class discussion on indigenous education. it was easily the best class of that course this year. afterwards, i skipped NS 390 and cree so that i could study for the two midterms i had later that day. i wrote my ecological anthropology midterm at 3:30, and i'm quite sure i failed. that's especially frustrating for me, because i think i have a pretty good basic understanding of the ties between culture and nature, but the prof for that class blows through all the information very quickly, and then asks really ridiculous questions about the information that she has hardly given us time to process. plus, all we are really learning about in that class are the 5 subsistence strategies (foraging, extensive agriculture, nomadic pastoralism, intensive agriculture, and industrial agriculture). boo. i finished my exam at 5:00 and, feeling pretty bummed because i had done so terribly, rushed to good earth cafe to pick up a roast beef panini and an orange poppyseed muffin to eat while i crammed for my contemporary aboriginal art midterm. i wrote that exam at 6:00, and i think i did considerably better on it than on the earlier exam. afterwards, as we handed in our exams, we showed our instructor the collages we had each made, which were worth 10% of our final grade. my instructor loved mine, and asked if i were an artist. i told her no, i wasn't, but that i made a lot of crafts. as i was walking down the hallway after class, a girl ran up to me and asked if she could see my collage, because she had seen it when i was at the front of the room and wanted to see it up close. all that made me feel really good about myself, so i bussed down to steeps to show jessie my collage and to tell her about my instructor's reaction. then i walked to safeway to buy some orange juice and multigrain bread, and then i came home and knitted my raven for a while.

i trip fast and then i lose, and i hate looking like a fool

on saturday morning i met dr. e at steeps on whyte for tea and gossip. it was really nice to hang out, because we haven't done so for a couple of months. we hung out for about an hour and a half, and then i walked home to clean up my house. a girl i know has been asking me to teach her how to make wallets, so i had planned to have a crafting day so that a bunch of us could hang out and i could show her how i do the wallets. however, she got sick that day and couldn't show, so i just had a quiet hang-out with claire and jessica. mostly i just played old-school nintendo (super mario brothers 3 on original NES) and talked with jess while claire drew and wrote an amazing postcard for her crush. i love crushing on boys in the company of those girls, because they as inclined to swoon and overanalyze and give in to a rollercoaster of emotions as i am. claire had to leave after about an hour to go to work, so jessie and i walked her to her work, and stopped at the movie studio, where we rented "in the realms of the unreal." i had been meaning to rent it for quite a while, but it seemed like one of those movies that you have to be in a very particular mood for. anyway, we watched it at my house, and i knitted my raven as we watched it, and it was super interesting. jessie left shortly afterwards to go to the hayden concert, but i stayed at home to get some studying done.

on sunday the 10th, i worked at the legislature from 11:45 until 5:15. it was totally dead, and i didn't give a single tour all day. after work, i came home, and emery texted me to ask if he could use my sewing machine for a bit before we went to a movie we'd planned on seeing. he told me he'd come over at around 7:00, but by 7:45, i still hadn't heard from him, so, feeling quite irritated, i tried to call him from my cell phone, and realized it wasn't working. i then tried my home phone, and realized that it, too, hadn't been working. i called him from my sister's cell and found out that he'd been trying to get a hold of me all that time, but, realizing he couldn't reach me, had gone to school to get a bit of work done. anyways, at 8:30, we met at the basement of my apartment, where he gave me a creme egg for the movie. nice! then he drove us (in his roommate's borrowed vehicle) downtown to the metro cinema to see "helvetica," a documentary on the typeface of the same name. the film was magical, and felt like a love letter to the font. emery drove me home afterwards and i went to bed.

on monday morning, i got up at 6:15 so i could be at the bissell at 8:00. i talked a lot with bev, the volunteer coordinator, and with angie. i went to cree class at noon, and then napped for part of the afternoon. i went to my popping and locking class from 7:35 until 8:55.

tuesday was filled with class and studying for midterms.

i spend most of my nights guessing - are we not? are we together?

i worked at the bissell on monday morning, and LRT'd back to the university for cree class at noon. i came home, napped until 4:00, and then worked on the two assignments that were due the next day (the first: a letter to the minister of indian affairs, addressing indian education; the second: a literature review for NS 390). i went to my popping and locking class in the van vliet centre from 7:35 to 8:55.

on tuesday i went to all my classes and handed in all my assignments, and then worked on some CSL homework after class. emily came over after she was done at the gym, and we went to american apparel (so i could buy more new underwear - they're having a really great sale right now) and boston pizza. then emily left to go see "juno" with one of her friends, and i stayed at home and did some reading.

on wednesday i had cree at noon, and then CSL from 1:00 until 4:00. i went to steeps afterwards, like i always do, to meet jessica and becky and claire. i also met a girl who works there, who is apparently in one of my classes, and we had a really good talk about the class. she had been feeling a lot of the things that i had been feeling regarding the class, but i think she was too shy to express them in class.

on thursday i went to all my classes except for cree, because it had been cancelled for the day. it was actually kind of a relief, even though cree is probably my favorite class. i spent that time at home, working on an art project (part one of four: a knitted raven) that i am making for my "contemporary aboriginal art" course.

on friday, i worked at the elementary school at noon. since it was so cold, we had recess indoors, and i spent the whole time playing dodgeball with the grades one through three. it was the best. i felt especially good because i was able to convince the shy little grade one girls to come and play with the big grade three boys. once they were playing, they realized that they were having a really good time.

after dodgeball, i went to the university to meet with one of my prof's, regarding some of the things i had spoken about with that girl from my class on wednesday. i think it was a really good talk, and i hope a better classroom experience will come out of it.

i didn't have cree on friday, because it was cancelled due to some of the "aboriginal health week" sessions. instead, i bussed to west edmonton mall to buy a glue gun. i am making some cute decorations for my house like the ones kelsey and i made for her house, by gluing old fabric scraps inside of wooden embroidery hoops and then adding embroidery or buttons. the ones i started this week are cut from old nokomis bags. after i bought the glue gun, i also had a gingersnap from starbucks and a cup of fresh-squeezed orange juice from booster juice in the mall, and on the way back to the bus, i stopped and watched the sea lions' show. they are pretty adorable, but i still miss mavis and howard (who, for those who are not so in tune with the goings-on of w.e.m., were the last two bottle-nosed dolphins who lived in the tank at the mall). i had a nap after i got home from the mall.

i walked to badass jack's near my house to buy a bbq chicken wrap for supper, and then i bussed to whyte to meet emery at the fringe gallery to take a look at some art, but it turned out that the show had closed an hour before we got there. boo. so we bussed back to the university, and LRT'd downtown. then we walked toooo many blocks in the freezing, windy cold to get to the ARTery for a show. it was really nice to hang out, and extra nice that we scored an awesome couch right in front of the stage for the second band. unfortunately, because of mass transit, we had to leave the show before the band we had gone to see even came on. we LRT'd back across the river, and i went home and had pleasant dreams.

oi to the world and everybody wins

on monday i volunteered at the bissell drop-in centre from 8 a.m. until 11 a.m. i felt frustrated because the other volunteers and i haven't gotten any training, and therefore don't know where to refer clients when they ask for certain services. i went to cree class at 2, and then had an appointment with my naturopath at 3:30. i came home for a bit and then went to my first ever popping and locking course at the u of a. it's REALLY hard. it's mostly hard because i get so unbearably shy and nervous when people are trying to teach me dance moves, and i stiffen up so much that it hurts my muscles. i really, really like when my timidity becomes physically overwhelming. however, it doesn't really help me learn dance moves very well. it seems really strange to me, too, because i feel really free when i am dancing otherwise. whatevs.

on tuesday i had all my regular classes, as well as a cree quiz.

on wednesday i met up with a lady from the u of a administration, because she has recruited me to do something for her in the spring, when the university has a day especially for recruiting rural students. it sounds like fun. after that, i had cree, and then CSL. in CSL i had to do a short presentation on an article about white students' experiences as they become aware of their socioeconomic privilege. although i've learned a lot about my own privilege and status over the last couple of years, the article was really informative and interesting to read and present on. afterwards i met becky and claire and kaylin and jessica at steeps to craft for a couple of hours.

thursday was full, full, full of class. i was irritated when one of my professors told the class that 17 first nations people in fort simpson died in the first week of the residential school payouts, due to the government's decision to "kill off the indians" by doing the payouts in one lump sum (the actual statistic was 4 deaths in one month, and i very much doubt that the government plotted to kill off people by giving them thousands of dollars), and then told us that the government had also plotted to kill off first nations by feeding them junk food to ensure they all got diabetes. certainly some things have been done incorrectly and unfairly, but i'm PREEEETY sure that neither of those plots were any kind of priority for anyone in government. come on.

this friday i worked at the elementary school from 11:30 until 12:30. since it was so cold outside, we had noonhour recess inside. my favorite kid, taylor, was sitting on the steps leading to the office, looking pretty bummed out because he loves playing outside so much. i sat down next to him, and he told me that he really wanted to play "guess who?" but couldn't find it. we checked all the classrooms together, and then i went upstairs and found that some of the older kids were playing it. i came back down to tell taylor the bad news. he was still pretty bummed, but he asked me if i wanted to play monopoly. i said sure, so he ran to get the box. it was just junior monopoly, but since i hardly ever play board games, i didn't know how to play it. i told taylor that one of us would have to read the directions while the other sorted the money, and he exclaimed that he would deal with the directions. he just ended up making up new rules, so i got him and another boy who joined us to sort the money while i figured the game out. we played the whole noon hour, and it ended up being super fun. taylor just loves to play so much, so he's always a blast to be around, and the boy who joined us is always kind of grumpy, so it's funny being around him too. after work i went home, packed up some stuff, stopped at rutherford library to pick up some books, and LRT'd downtown (skipping my cree lab) so i could catch the greyhound to calgary at 2:00. i ended up sitting next to some girl who gabbed on her cell phone for half of the trip. yeesh. i mostly just listened to my ipod.

kelsey picked me up at the bus station at about 6:00, and we drove to some crazy steakhouse for meat and potatoes. kelsey bought. what a nice date. then we drove across the street to michael's to buy some crafting supplies, and stopped at a movie place to rent "eagle vs. shark." we watched the movie at kelsey's, and it was terrible. it just felt like a cheap, pathetic knock-off of "napoleon dynamite." we ate some corn chips and then went to bed grumpy because the movie was so bad. (i should mention that the reason that we rented it was because the shark costume on the cover was adorable).

on saturday we got up around 10 or so and went to the farmers' market so kelsey could order some custom leather boots. she had her feet measured in different ways so that the shoes would fit her exactly, and that made her ridiculously happy. we also saw some stingrays in a tank, which was nice because i have decided that they are my new favorite animal. the market wasn't as good as edmonton's, i think. then we went to some health foods store so i could buy some stevia (natural sweetener), because my naturopath put me on a 3-week no-sugar diet. boo. i am nearly going crazy. i am basically just replacing any sugary snacks with super carbohydrate-y snacks. then we went back to michael's to buy a glue gun and some glue sticks and white thread. we stopped at the movie place and rented the first season of "flight of the conchords," and then came home. we made tacos because that seems to be our thing or something. then we watched the whole first season of "flight of the conchords," and worked on making some decorations for her wall. basically, we took some of her old shirts (red with white polka dots) and cut them up so that the fabric would fit inside some little wooden embroidery hoops. we glue gunned the fabric to the hoops so that it would permanently stay. then we used yellow buttons and light yellow thread and sewed cute designs on the hoops. i made a couple with some swirls and a tall vase and some flowers made out of buttons. i think they all turned out really well, and will look super cute when kelsey hangs them on her wall. i think that saturday was also the day we tried making some sculpey creations. kaylin is amazing with that stuff, but i guess kelsey and i aren't really. kelsey made some cute trees that broke when we put them in the oven, and i made a brown duck with yellow wings and some things that look like a cross between a lollipop and a kind of seuss-esque tree. mid-crafting and mid-conchording, we drove to 17th ave. to stop at american apparel, because that's the other thing we always do when we hang out. tacos and american apparel. anyway, i bought a green t-shirt and a purple long-sleeved shirt, and 3 pairs of underwear for $25! what a good deal! i might have to go buy more underwear this week from the a.a. here. we stopped at steeps on the way home, and i bought a tin of pear green tea, while kelsey bought a tin of lemon meringue pie tea. when we came home we watched more "conchords" and shared our tea and crafted. those teas are so good! i also taught kelsey how to make bannock, so we made a couple of batches and fried them on the stove. mmm. after "conchords," i started watching "eternal sunshine of a spotless mind," but got too sleepy to finish it. i slept on the couch.

this morning i woke up at 11:00, showered, made some soup for the two of us, and made a cd from kelsey's itunes while i packed. kelsey drove me to the calgary bus stop at 10:00, and my bus left at 11:00. i got in to edmonton at about 2:30, LRT'd home, worked a bit on my NS 390 homework, went for tea with emery at leva at 4:30, and came home and worked on my NS 211 homework for the rest of the night.

all the other girls here are stars

thursday i had class all day. ns 211, ns 390, ns 152, anthr 323, and ns 260. by the end of the day i was quite irritated, but i don't want to get in trouble so i won't write about it on here. I'll tell you about it if you ask. i spent the night doing some reading, i think.

on friday morning i bussed down to whyte ave. so i could buy some gesso and tar gel from the paint spot. i ran into davina, and we chatted for a bit. then i stopped at badass jack's for a wrap for lunch. i walked to the elementary school for work, but all the lights were off inside and no one answered the buzzer, so i guess there was no school that day. i LRT'd downtown to the library to drop off a book, and walked to a quilting store near latitude 53 so i could buy some thread for appliquéing some of my felt animals. i LRT'd back to the u of a, and sat around and crocheted in one of the lounges in HUB until it was time for my cree lab. the lab was from 2:00 until 3:00. then i came home and did some laundry, read "lullabies for little criminals," and worked on my collage. i think i might have done a little bit of writing in my CSL journal, too.

on saturday i thought i worked at the legislature, so i got all ready and lrt'd over there at 11:45, only to find out that i'd mixed up the days and i was actually scheduled to work today. i was a little bit concerned, because i had made plans to meet my semi-friend kevin at the ledge after work so i could give him a tour without having to wear my dorky tour guide clothes. since we are only semi-friends, i didn't have his phone number, so i facebook-messaged him to say that i wasn't working, but we could meet that day anyway, but that he should call me so we could figure things out. he never did get the message. anyway, since i had a free day, i decided to lrt all the way to clareview to try to exchange some earphones at future shop (i had gotten a pair two weeks ago, and already the speakers have blown. yeesh. but... i didn't have a receipt, because i tear up all my receipts before i put them in the recycle bin, so the girl wouldn't let me exchange them), and to stop at michael's to get some supplies for a project i am going to do for ns 260. i bought a bunch of yarn, plus a bunch of embroidery hoops, in which i am going to put pretty fabrics and then hang them on my wall as decorations. i came home and read some more of "lullabies...." at 4:00 i lrt'd back downtown, walking to future shop to exchange my earphones (i had dug through my recycle bin to find the pieces of my receipt, and then pieced them together with tape), and then walked to the ledge pedway, where i waited around for that boy kevin to meet me. i sat on the floor and waited until 5:15. he didn't show. he didn't call. i got mad and, swearing off boys forever, i walked across the high level bridge back towards home. to make myself feel better, i went to high level diner, and waited in line to get a table for myself for some blueberry crisp. while i was waiting, i got a call from kevin. it was 5:39. he said he was at the ledge, waiting for me. i told him i was across the river, but that i'd meet him on the ledge steps in 10 minutes. i walked back across the river, feeling significantly better than i had on my last crossing. when i got to the steps, i asked him what time i had told him to meet me, and he said 5:30. i was pretty sure i had said 5:00 (and i checked later - i had), but it was no big deal. we knocked on the door of the ledge, and the security guys recognized me and let us in. kevin had never been in the ledge before, so we went on a quick tour and i even got to show him the palm room. i put my hand in the soil in one of the huge pots that each of the palm trees are planted in. it felt so good to touch and smell moist dirt. afterwards we went for a long walk around the ledge grounds because it was so super nice out. then i asked him if he wanted to go for blueberry crisp with me at the high level diner, since i had already created a craving for it earlier. we walked across the high level bridge one more time and had our dessert. we talked a lot about travelling (he had recently gotten back from a 3-month trip through asia). he bought our desserts, which was really, really nice. by that time, it was about 8:30, and i wanted to get home because my sister emily was planning to pick up a key from me there at 9:00. i invited him to come with me. we had a really fun time hanging out and talking and going through my books and dvds. we ended up watching amélie, because he had never seen it but had wanted to, and i had been meaning to watch it this weekend anyway. all in all, it was a really nice hangout. he left at about 12:30, and i promptly went to bed, exhausted by all the day's walking.

today i worked at the ledge from noon until 5:00. i didn't give a single tour, probably because it was so yucky outside that no one wanted to leave their homes. it was nice, though. i finished reading "lullabies for little criminals" and did some work on my art project. when i got home after work, i worked on my csl journal.

she smoked in her room, and colored her hair

yesterday i went to all of my tuesday classes: native issues and insights, community-based research methods, cree, and ecological anthropology. in between i came home for some breakfast; asked a couple of staff members in native studies if i could use them as references for a course i want to take; ate a really delicious raspberry bagel in sub; and took some papers to csl house, only to find out that they couldn't take cash for the deposit i needed to give for a course. i came home and did some dishes, started watching a documentary called "poisoning paradise" (which i had seen before in a sociology class - it's about the swan hills toxic waste treatment plant, and how the toxic waste is affecting individuals and communities in the lesser slave lake indian regional council), but the copy i had from the u of a library was really bad quality, and kept cutting out. i stopped the video and did some reading for my csl class. then i knitted and crocheted a bit, and read a bit of "lullabies for little criminals." it is a good book, but i am taking a long time to get through it.

this morning my sister woke me up at 8:30 by being loud. boo. i had a shower and then waited around for the shaw guy to come and change our phone over to shaw. apparently you get some sort of deal if you get shaw internet and telephone together. i'm pretty sure the deal isn't that great, but my sister and i were tired of our old telephone provider, so we decided to try shaw out. they neglected to mention that they use the t.v. cable for your phone line, so now we only have one phone in our apartment, and it's in a really awkward location. boo. i was too lazy to protest, though. after the shaw guy left, my dad came up and dropped off a few things, because he was in the city for the day. i got a couple of cheques (gst & tax rebates; money from my mom for food), some snowshoes, and this amazing letter my gido wrote in 1943 to my grandma, just a few months before they were married. it's all written in a spiral. gido bill wrote, "i'm sorry if this letter makes you dizzy, but that's the way i feel." a-dorable. i gave my dad a picture i had had enlarged of him as a teenager, riding his first horse, trixie. trixie is rearing up, and my dad looks totally in control. it's such a rad picture. my dad was pretty pleased, i think. i got him to sign my copy of the picture, because, hey, why not? after dad left, i went to csl house to drop my forms off for the course, along with my $100 deposit in the form of a cheque my mom had sent. thanks, mom! then i went to cree, and then CSL 300. CSL 300 is a 3-hour course i have every wednesday from 1:00 until 4:00. i was good for the first half of the class, but after 2:30, i must have low blood sugar or something, because i didn't say a word for the second half of the seminar. oops. after class i bussed down to steeps on whyte, where jessica, becky, claire and i met for crafting and tea. usually i work on crocheting or knitting when i'm there, but today i cut out stencils of animals that i will use on the bags and wallets that i sew. the stencils look adorable. becky had to leave at 6:30, and claire had to leave at 7:00, but i stuck around until jessica played a couple of songs (including a sufjan song!) to start off open mic night at 8:30 at steeps. she is so great. i walked home and have been working on my CSL journal ever since.

a stranger to the concept of reciprocity

a brief overview of my weekend of january 18-20, because i like to have all this stuff written down:

friday, january 18th
-went to CSL office to get a security check, but i didn't need one, because i had one done recently.
-worked at the elementary school at noon hour
-went to my cree lab
-bought sugar/degradable plastic garbage bags/hot chocolate at earth's general store
-hung out at home
-got some strange text messages from my sister's friend, hassling me to hang out with him.
-went with claire and her mom to a community hall for “Rachel’s Round-Up,” a gathering in support of the Edmonton-Strathcona NDP candidate Rachel Notley.

saturday, january 19th, 2008
-wrote entries for my csl journal
-went to the paint spot to buy masking fluid
-met jessica and claire at steeps at 5:30 - after a bit of tea, we all helped jessica put up some posters around garneau, advertising her open mic night at steeps on wednesdays.
-the three of us bussed to mcdougall united church to see doug hoyer and hills like white elephants play. we got there a little early, so we stopped at starbucks, and claire and i shared an amazing ginger snap.

sunday, january 20, 2008
-stayed home for most of the day
-went for a little walk
-made enemies with landon, because i told him that the religion he is very heavily investing himself in right now sounds a little "effed up."

monday, january 21, 2008
-volunteered at the bissell centre drop-in from 8:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m.
-LRT'd back to the university with john, a boy from my csl class who also volunteers at the bissell
-ate lunch in the pembina student lounge with matt and joel – king’s reunion!
-went to cree class
-bought some carpet cleaning solution from earth's general store, and cleaned some messy spots on my carpet.
-ate some delicious bread at pizza boys with claire. we worried about jessica, because she was supposed to meet us there and we couldn't get a hold of her, but it turned out that she was just having a bad day and didn't have the energy to come hang out.

she makes things... with her hands. it's as if her fingers were married to her synapsis. like this... in this way.

on monday i bussed to the bissell centre for 9:00 for a meeting with bev, the volunteer coordinator. we talked for about 45 minutes, and i filled out some papers, and then i headed home. i'm pretty excited about volunteering there. i need to do 30-35 hours there for my CSL (community-service learning) class. becky and angie both work there, so it'll be good to see them more often and to work in that community. i went to cree from 2:00 until 3:00. in the evening, claire and jessica came over, and jenni joined us later, to watch "the science of sleep." jessica's never seen it, but the rest of us have, and totally love it. i guess it's kind of predictable that crafty, introverted girls would love it, but whatevs.

on tuesday i had NS 211 at 9:30. at 11:00, i had NS 390, where we gave group presentations on our groups' research proposals. the girls in my group are kind of shy, i think, so i did most of the presentation. it was really good, actually, because they are really good at researching and organizing stuff, and i'm pretty comfortable with oral presentations but not so good at those other things, so i think we're a really good group. afterwards a girl in my class said she was really impressed with my presenting skills, which made me feel really good about myself. when i was in guyana, a lot of the work my organization was focused on doing was helping the indigenous youth develop public speaking skills, so they would have the ability and the confidence to speak up for what was happening to their lands and their lifestyles. i wonder if that is a big issue for aboriginal people in canada. i know that most people in general have a major fear of public speaking, and that the only reason i am comfortable in speaking positions is because of years of 4-h. also, a couple of summers ago, the elder that i live with up on the reserve told me, "we need someone who will fight for us. no, we need someone who will speak for us." anyway, i am just curious if that is an issue for aboriginal communities, and if so, i wonder if i could help out some way to help people feel more comfortable public speaking. after NS 390, i went to sit in the little oasis in the agro-forestry building. it's amazing! it's this tiny little rainforest with cute birds and humid air. so nice. then i had cree and ecological anthropology. in between those classes i hung out with my friend courtney in hub. i also stopped at the library to pick up this video called "poisoning paradise," which i can hopefully use for my NS 390 class. that night, i did some spraypainting on my collage for ns 260 (contemporary aboriginal art).

i slept in on wednesday until about 10:30, which is fine, because i don't have any commitments on wednesday mornings. at noon i had cree, and then i had csl 300 from 1:00 until 4:00. then i bussed to whyte ave., and i stopped at the well of health naturopathic clinic to pick up a prescription before i met becky, jessica, and kaylin at steeps for crafting and hanging out. those girls are so great. i worked on knitting a mitten all evening. becky worked on knitting a sock, jessica was crocheting a scarf, and kaylin drew in her journal. at 8:30 jessica hosted an open mic. she opened it with a couple of songs. she is seriously amazing. i am mostly annoyed with musicians, but she is so... something. unpretentious, maybe? and her songs are so sweet. i told her that a few months ago, before we knew who each other was, and she told me recently that she was a little put off because "a trendy girl" (ie. me) had told her her songs were "cute." i felt the same way about being called "trendy." she didn't want to make "cute" music, as described by seemingly "trendy" girls, and i certainly didn't want to be called "trendy." but now that we know each other we understand what was happening. her songs weren't "cute" in the way that so many artists are making cute music right now (ie. the irritatingly predictable unpredictable anecdotes accompanied by a ukelele), but really sweet and understated. i never would have called her songs "cute" if they resembled that genre i just mentioned. hers are great. anyway, the next artist was a cute-songs-on-a-ukelele kind of girl, so kaylin and i left after her set. we walked to the lrt together, and kaylin said that the hangout had been really refreshing, like "an emotional bath." that's so good to hear. our hangouts do feel really healthy.

thursday nearly killed me. i had 8.5 hours of classes (NS 211, NS 390, cree, ecological anthropology (which i left early because i had a hard time keeping up with writing down the instructor's slides), and NS 260). i finished class at 9:00, and at 9:30, a guy named bob picked me up so we could go volunteer at argyll casino for the elementary school i sometimes work at. i worked in the countroom, like i had when i had to do volunteer hours for the rowing club. it's a pretty good deal, as far as volunteer hours go. you get to hang out in a warm room and eat whatever you want for free (i had a couple of chocolate bars and a bison stew), and you only have to do about 1.5 hours of work the whole time you're there. the downside is that you have to be there until at least 2:30 a.m. however, i used my free time to work on knitting my mitten. i got home around 2:45 a.m., and promptly went to bed.

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.

intelligent input, darling

(stolen from my NS blog.)

Monday was the first day back at classes. The only class I have on Mondays is Cree, so it was really nice to kind of slip back into school with a whole classroom of familiar faces (the class is a continuation from last semester). Before class, though, I went to the "Well of Health Naturopathic Clinic" on Whyte Ave. for my first appointment with a naturopathic doctor. I have this low-grade asthma and some seemingly debilitating allergies, and I haven't been happy with the medical doctors I've seen, but I've heard from a couple of friends that they've been really happy with their naturopathic doctors. It was a 90-minute session, which is the most time ANY doctor has ever spent paying attention to me. I have a follow-up appointment in three weeks, so we'll see how these prescriptions and suggestions are working out.

After class yesterday I bussed to Safeway to get some groceries, and then I came home and cooked Jamaican jerk chicken and fried rice for my sister and myself for supper. I only cook about once every four months, so this was quite an occasion. I think it turned out pretty well. I became fanatic about jerk chicken and fried rice when I lived in Guyana, but I'm not really aware of any places in Edmonton that you can buy it. Hmm. I stayed home for the rest of the night and crocheted, knitted, read, and watched Degrassi. I've been pretty sick with a cold, and yesterday was probably the worst day for it.

This morning I had my NS 211 class at 9:30. To be honest, I was kind of dreading the class, but now I'm really excited about it. I feel like I really get where the instructor is coming from, and I really dig his language and teaching philosophy. Plus, we don't have to write any major essays in that class, which is a BIG plus for me.

I am just at home eating lunch right now, but at noon, I have NS 390 (Community-Based Research Methods), then I have Cree at 2:00, and then Ecological Anthropology at 3:30. I'm really excited about that last one. I hope I'm not disappointed.

Apparently "Steeps" on Whyte Ave. screens films every Tuesday at 7:00. I really want to go tonight to watch "The End of Suburbia," but I don't know if I'll feel well enough to go. Maybe I'll just nap after my classes and see how I feel around 6:30.

jan 3

soon, this will be a really, really cute post about the events that occurred on the weekend of January 4-6. keep checking back. it'll be worth it. i promise. maybe.

the blood that we're made of

(i stole this from my NS blog.)

I haven't posted for, like, a week or something. I'm really sorry. I started writing posts over the holidays, but I was suuuuper busy, and so writing posts about all those things is a little bit daunting. In the meantime, I'm going to skip right over to today and write about more recent happenings.

Today was a day of errands. I woke up semi-late (10:00), showered, and began my trip around the city. It included:
-Walking to Tory building, where I picked up my Anthro 474 essay from the department's main office so I could read the prof's comments and see my mark. I didn't do so well on the essay (B-), but I got an A+ on my presentation, so that helped to even the mark out a little.
-Walking to the University LRT station to catch the train to Churchill station. I worked on crocheting a green and brown mitten on the train. When I got off, I went to the Stanley A. Milner library to drop off some DVDs and get some new CDs and a book.
-Walking to Canada Place, where I dropped off my passport application. What a good day to go! The line was super short, and I should be getting my new passport in a couple of weeks. Woo!
-Walking to the bus stop across from Hotel Macdonald, where I waited for 15 minutes to catch the number 6, which took me down Whyte Ave.
-Stopping at two optical places to check out glasses (I want to get new ones this year, since it's the last year I qualify for reimbursement under my parents' insurance policy).
-Stopping at "Crankpots" to pick up the mugs I had painted a few weeks ago.
-Stopping at my insurance place to change my car insurance to just "fire and theft" - I've parked my car for the winter because I don't really need it.
-Stopping at "Vivid Print" to have some 12" x 12" prints made of a ridiculously rad photo I found last week.
-Walking to Pembina Hall to meet with my friend/academic advisor (? I'm not really sure what his title is) Matt, who is helping me get some stuff figured out regarding all the classes I want to take. It's all pretty frustrating, because I want to take a course overload (6 courses next semester) AND take a class that has a time conflict with another class I am taking (but it's really not a problem, because I can take the class in a different section at a different time on that day), but the computers won't let me or Matt or the lady in the CSL department do anything about it.
-Picking up an M&Ms brownie from "Cookies By George" in HUB
-Being sent by Matt to the CSL office, where the lady apparently couldn't sign the slip that I needed her to sign. Apparently she is going to see what she can do tomorrow and get back to me then. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Either that, or just start showing up in the class I want to attend but have not been able to register in.
-Going home to have vanilla earl grey tea and watch "My Name is Earl" episodes on my computer while crocheting and knitting.
-Walking to Steeps on Whyte (which is only about 5 blocks from my house) to see if my new friend Jessica was working. When we hung out on Sunday, she told me that she works every Wednesday until about 4:00, and then just hangs around there until 8:00, when she hosts an open mic night. Anyways, it turned out that she hadn't worked that day, so I walked to Safeway to buy some groceries, and text messaged her on the way, saying that I had gone to see her and that she wasn't there and that I wanted to hang out. I got a message from her about half an hour later, saying that even though she hadn't worked that day, she was on the bus at 4:00 on her way to Steeps, just in case I had decided to come there. Awesome!!! We didn't end up hanging out, but I think I might go to her house on Friday for a potluck, and I think we might both go see Illfit Outfit on Saturday. I am excited about our new friendship. She is sooo rad. Plus, we have the exact same favorite book: "I Heard the Owl Call My Name." She even has a TATTOO of the owl image that is on the inside of all the books. Wow. This friendship is sooo meant to be.
-Walking home from Safeway, I passively stalked my celebrity crush - the one I had served hot chocolate to at the Legislature a few weeks ago. When I say "passively stalked," I mean that I looked through the window of the coffee shop where I know he works (information I found out purely by accident, when a friend and I were talking about how dreamy he is and she mentioned where he works), which is, conveniently, half a block away from my house and conveniently en route from Safeway to home, and saw that he was working. Sigh. What a dreamboat. Every girl I know has a celebrity crush on him.
-Calling my friend Dr. E to see if she could go for blueberry crumble with me at the High Level Diner, only to find that she is sick with pneumonia. Yikes! I hope she gets better soon!
-Watching more "My Name is Earl" and eating pizza and crocheting until my sister Emily came over after work. We walked to the Wendy's/Tim Horton's on 112th to buy supper, and then came home to watch some more "My Name is Earl" and "Degrassi High." I probably sound like a total t.v. addict, but rest assured, I am really not. I think I am more of a crafting addict, and I like to have background noise when I am making things. Today, I worked on crocheting a pair of striped mittens, knitting an argyle scarf, and finishing a handful of garment tags for the mittens, bags and wallets that I make and hope to sell.
-Talking to my friend Jonathan on the phone. I don't talk on the phone very much to anyone, but we've had two really great phone conversations in the last month. It is nice to have that. When we were talking, I was multitasking (working on making the garment tags), and I said something about "A.D.D.," and he said, "Oh, I have that, for real." It's just funny because my sister did the EXACT same thing when she was talking to our friend Nathaniel last month. Yeesh. Learn some tact, girls.

Now I am blogging/drinking more tea/reading about cabling in knitting. I am such an old lady.

forgot, and never brought to mind

i hung out in v-town on the 28th and crafted. on saturday the 29th, my dad drove me back to edmonton in the morning so that i could be at work at the ledge for 11:45. i worked until 5:15.

on the 30th, i hung out with jenni for a bit at my house, and then crafted with becky, kaylin, and jessica for four hours. it was really nice. after they left my house, i met jenni and her jessica at the garneau theatre, where we watched "juno." i really liked the movie, but i got annoyed at how know-it-all-y juno was about music. i just get annoyed by people like that in general.

on december 31st, i woke up at 6:00 and couldn't fall back asleep. i worked at the legislature from 8:15 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. i LRT'd home and then had a nap. joel called me at about 8:00 and told me to come over to bethany's, so i took the 6 toward her house and walked the rest of the way. we had a really really nice new year's party, filled with king's A-listers (including joel, bethany, lisa, and theresa) and a bitchin' dance party. i bussed home shortly after midnight. i sent my mom a new year's text because she had asked me to, and found that my super-drunk sister had also left me a voice message, wishing me all the best. woo.

i don't remember what happened on january 1st. sorry.