Study! Study! Study! ~ Note to self in the Magical Book of Everything

It's beautiful outside again. The season must be ending because I'm sneezing less. But I'm feeling blah more.

Put in a volunteer shift for Corporate Challenge again this year. Was completely surprised and happy to see Nikki at the event. We were to be scorekeepers in the volleyball game. I was amazed by the level of playing. She however was distracted with her course work and was trying to read an article on "Social Capital". She tried to explain the basic concept, and it seemed very familiar, but also kind of out of reach (the wikipedia article helps a bit too). It also seemed strange to think of my relationships with people at work in such a calculated way (i.e. profitting from networking), but I knew from experience that these relationships were different from those in my "regular" life. Another hour passes, both of our energies were running low. Finally, Nikki sums up the solution: "We need someone sublimely gorgeous to play on our court."

Yesterday, we got an extended lunch hour to go go to Enterprise Square's Spring Fling / Open House event. As luck would have it, I won a doorprize! A professional course of my choice as offered by the Faculty of Extension... oh the possibilities. I have decided, it will not be in accounting!

A Math-Music weekend

Beth fills my belly with lovely grilled cheese-tomato sandwiches (left: before toasting) and vegetable soup before we head out to Three Bananas. On our way we bump into someone we had met at Micah's housewarming, and we gave our pitch: We're going to the Martingales CD release party - wanna come? Despite our persuasive powers, she doesn't join us (something about Chimprov).

A short LRT ride later, arrive in Churchill Square to see many familiar faces. I manage to be the first to buy a CD and receive a special bonus commemorative button!

Not long after, the music starts. Realised that I haven't actually heard them for a long while and there were lots of new songs (nicely introduced and referenced to the CD). Thanks are given (Math-groupies included).

(Right: Rem is ready to make [a] toast)

While we listened, the night had crept on us and road blocks had been set up around the Square. I wait for the bus a little further away than I'd like, with the final encore cover Fake Plastic Trees caught in my head.

Next day head over with Na to Allendale Community Hall for Automata's CD release / good-bye part. The place had been transformed with rugs and mood lightning. And before long, I was recruited to be bartender / beer wench! I watched the show from a strange angle and served beer and juice, all the while Michael encouraged, Chris and Simon's heckled of my tab-keeping methods. The opening acts got the kids dancing and people clapping. When Automata started playing, I was bopping along in the kitchen.

After the main show, a massive jam session started. People switched instruments, and musicians from the audience join in. What a treat.

By the end of the night my tip cup just had just enough to buy myself a copy of the CD, and I had a great time. Maybe this is my new calling :P

Days to exam: 14

Room is as clean as it will for the next while. The textbooks have come out.

Check up

"Are you stressed-out at school or work?" I wondered if this was a trick question. I was at the dentist, (same place, different dentist) and while she turned away to look at the X-rays I thought on how to answer. Should this assessment be relative to my usual life, or what I would like to be handling at any given moment? I don't feel panicked... but isn't the fact that my jaw is locking at least partial evidence that my body thinks I'm stressed? My thinking pause goes longer than she expected, so before I actually answer, she advises I try some stress-reduction activities, such as yoga, because there wasn't anything wrong as she could see (in my jaw - that part I infer).

"Did you update your resume?" I cringe, and not so subtlely try to direct Lidia to another subject. Having an updated resume would be "acceptance" I think, and right now, I'm still in denial.

"Isn't it awful...?" The big smile on my face from holding the long awaited Sarah Slean "The Baroness" CD, felt really silly. The stranger in the library continued, telling me about how the litigious in the US were asking for ridiculous sums for settlements, when people's efforts and dollars should instead be directed to helping the people affected by the earthquakes in China. I slink away guiltily.

(Potential) Conditions for a breakdown

"From now on you have only 5 seconds to make a decision." ~ Rem

It's raining and I feel like dancing. The drugs have finally worn off, and with out all the allergens in the air, I feel like I can think again.

I had returned from visiting the Mathies, to find I've been asked to take Lorena's place at a downtown meeting. Considering I only had time to grab some paper and a pen, I think it went pretty well... at least I hope. Was ravenous when I finally sat down to eat lunch at 4 p.m.

Noise

Lana: Underwhelming.

The weekend is now over. Sleeping was a big part of it, but also was staying at home not studying, hiding from allergens, getting rid of some books, and listening to the original Broadway cast recording of Rent in the dark. A restless quiet was inside my head. And I couldn't account for it with antihistamines. Good thing there were distractions:

Left work Friday and headed over to Erik's for Feast. Na and I arrived greeted by a very fluffy and excited dog. While we ate from the grill, this dog weaved between our feet. It was later revealed that it was Erik's half-birthday. We didn't sing, but did dig into another wonderful Baked Alaska (baked onsite by Erik), and rounded the night with fortune cookies. These were cookies were by VH Sauce, and the fortunes read like adverts. Mine was one of few that could actually benefit from adding "in bed". But it was really Micah's reading of it in French that upped the "saucey" factor.
Also on the surprise birthday front was Slywester's birthday barbeque. Vienna let Christiana and me in on the secret, but everyone else was in the dark... until we lit the candles on the cakes (two because Sly doesn't like chocolate). Conversation through the night lingered on radical engineering experiements. One in particular was creating concrete from coffee grounds. Turns out what they really needed was a dietician (such as Christiana) on the job... and then maybe Sly wouldn't have needed to bake so many specimens. We then played Wii and agreed we had to have a girls night soon.

Victoria Day: Caught Darren for a little bit on the phone. He's headed to Las Vegas for a bachelor party. I tell him he can trust me with his stories... Later giving up on dusting, go over to Erik's to watch Lawrence of Arabia. Amazing desert landscapes, stare downs, and stretches of silence. And somewhere between it all Rem's voice: "It sucks to be a camel."

This is your Lana on drugs.

"Just say NO!" ~ Janet, re: manual statements, which require much, much work

Was at work again last Saturday. Got another batch of statements done, some manual (which is where we go and build/change the statement because the system generated one is lacking). Then I caught Iron Man. Having few expectations, I thought it was all right. I was fairly entertained... but it could be because I was also watching Travis eat his popcorn, and thinking about Simon's eating method (note: not the same). The trailer for Dark Knight, definitely caught my eye.

Next day, went on a mini-mission with Chris: find jeans. Oh, the styles we saw! The Bay had a reasonable selection and it became a matter of pulling things off the shelves that were the right size, a likable colour, and having him try them on. It became a whole different challenge when we reached Urban Outfitters (one of my favourites - at least to look). The jeans there have names, such as Mahattan and Detroit (remind anyone of naming nail polish colours?), and were wildly different from each other. Chris humoured me and tried a couple pairs. That's when it became apparent: Back pockets that were so low they hung mid-thigh, low-cut waists that made kneeling challenging, and "suggestive" fading / shading are current themes. These were then paired with long, either outlandishly wide pant legs or extremely skinny ones. We left empty handed, but we did have a good laugh. Or at least I did.

(Left: Baby Winston looking slightly distressed. / Right: Possible cause of distress.)
It is again my allergy season. And as usual, I stubbornly avoided taking antihistamines. I finally broke down mid-week when Lidia stopped staying "Bless you". She knew my sneezes would be followed by a string of atleast another 5, and thus decided to economise and wait until I was truly done. So I take the pink pill. Before long, I noticed something was different: I was even more dopey and dizzy than expected... Realisation: these were the pills I brought back from New York! (Had I violated another law?) Good thing I wasn't operating any heavy equipment... just things with numbers on them. And I still managed to arrived safely, walking with Na, Steph, and Rem, to Micah's "Housewarming of Destiny". And once there, to not embarass myself too much (I hope).

It was the Mathies, and Feasters, and Micah's new and old co-workers at Micah's new place, a basement suite all to her herself. The grand tour revealed a bedroom with a nook, a kitchen / dining area with chairs (only one of which did not allow for fancy sitting), and shelves and shelves of books. We wondered about the differences between sherbet and sorbet, and listened to opera (and other) records at different speeds. Mark and Jen arrived with their baby Winston. Micah brought our her Polaroid camera and created for us some instant nostalgia. We didn't "shake it", instead holding the edges gently watching the picture develop. The faded colours made the captured scene feel like years and years ago. A black and white cat from upstairs also came down to visit. His long tail brushed across my legs, as I stood, but he did not let me pet him. Na and I head out together after I had knocked something over, brain still feeling like mush. Looking in from one of the windows I made faces at the people still inside. This is why Lana shouldn't take drugs. (Right: Blue chair and Beth.)

"Once you wear a bow tie, you can't go back." ~ Boss Michael

People nibbled the assembly line cucumber sandwiches (white bread with the crusts cut off) and drank cups and cups of English Breakfast and Earl Grey tea. What really caught people's attention though, at our "Pseudo-British-Tea Coffee Club" (in honour of Victoria Day), were the McVitie Penguin biscuits. I wouldn't have thought them to be British, but they sure were tasty (and totally covered in chocolate). Wendy and I had dressed up for the occassion. She in Bobby helmet and me in an "old lady hat". Andrew (the only other person who dressed up) gave a demo on how to tie a bowtie to a rapt audience.

(Left: "I don't know but don't try to fix its bow tie.")

The caffeine from all that tea hasn't been able to counter the post drugs / allergy reactions. I am so very glad it is the weekend - and a long one at that. At some point I will sleep this off.

Found out why Lidia was so upset yesterday: One of the project managers told her that while a group of us (me included) was going to be working on the next phase of the project, she was supposed to "hold down the fort". On top of that, she thought I knew that was going to happen and didn't tell her! I was in disbelief. She was still upset, but I think she realises I wasn't keeping things from her.

Had laughed when I saw at Chapters The Office Espionage Kit... but maybe this is what I need since I'm not sure what's going on here at all.

No Feast tonight. Meeting Travis for dinner.

Henry *heart* Brunettes

... and blondes... and redheads... and summer.

Steph had only been gone for a couple of days, and Rem was already finding solace in the arms of other women - through swing dancing! Rem, Na, Michael, and Erik all came for the lesson and social. Together we learned the infamous "kick the dog" move and a dip! At one point we noticed the Feasters and Beth's friends from church made up over half of the people there. So if we had wanted to switch over / introduce some ballroom music... it wouldn't have been too bad to ask... right? After a not so bad freestyle attempt, Erik says he'll have something planned for me next time I ask him to improvise. This probably does not bode well.

Next day. Not exactly one for rest. Listened to Vinyl Cafe, the special musical guest: The Weakerthans. And moody as I was, headed to Whyte Ave.

First stop: Chapters. I met with one half of "the twins", Kirsten, to start the birthday celebrations. Na, the other twin, Catherine, and Kelly joined us as we headed down the Ave, visiting / exploring shops we loved and had newly discovered. Found that Cirque du Soleil has clothing line (as bizarre as you might have imagined), and that new Gravity Pope Tailored Goods store has gorgeous wallpaper (baby blue with birds) imported all the way from England.

Ready for a bit of rest, we stop at a cafe for a drink... and ponder: what would a birthday celebration be without a little bit of minor vandalism?

Then it was time for our dinner reservation at Yanni's. Kelly and I shared a dinner for two and I tried fried cheese for the first time. I was disappointed they didn't set it on fire... but it was still pretty tastey.

The night still relatively young, we head over to Dream Tea House for dessert (endured a dramatic Celine Dion CD on loop which didn't quite fit the mood). Then went to Shoppers Drug Mart for added fun. Armed with bubble blower, chocolate, and gummy candies containing a devious little red dye, we headed towards Wee Book Inn. Along the way we discovered the truth about Henry.

Happy birthday girls!

From Saturday Afternoon

Just finished 5 hours of overtime. It went by pretty fast. Statements steadily moved off of my desk into the completed folder and I got to listen to CBC at the same time (Go was in Edmonton and DNTO was about the voice). Lidia predicts we'll only need one more Saturday before the deadline to be done! My fingers are crossed.

Yesterday's Feast was a lot of fun. It was too bad that Steph wasn't there. Instead, the fuzzy pink hat made an appearance. And amid the Math jokes there was also shop talk on cameras and photography (exposing me as a total fake)... and then wrestling. Beth at one point commented that the conversation wasn't slipping into the usual gutter... eventhough Malcolm was there (he who suggested sending me a pizza delivery at work, at tea earlier in the week...) So we mused: Is Stephanie the actual culprit?

Tonight there will be more swing dancing! People from Feast have agreed to try it out. Until then, I still have a few hours to enjoy mild breezes, blue skies, and Whyte Avenue. A part of me though itches to be home cleaning... getting rid of things... definitely not studying. Thirty-five days until exam. I still have time.