I'm stuck in bed for the next week, so if you have anything awesome to entertain me with, now would be a wonderful time to post it. I really need something non-mind draining to occupy me, here. Quarantine is boring.

So I "probably" have H1N1. I had a cold all weekend, today it turned worse with a fever and fatigue, so I called my campus clinic. The nurse said that it sounds exactly like what they've been seeing a lot of with H1N1 in this area, so that's probably what it is. Drink lots of fluids, and don't go out.

I've got a shitload of stuff due this week. A quiz tomorrow, a group presentation on Thursday, a unit plan on Friday, a website next Wednesday. So on one hand, having an actual diagnosed excuse to opt out of classes and work on everything at home is a bit more of a relief than if I'd had just a cold all this week. On the other, I'd really rather not try to get all this done while feeling like shit.

My poor group for that presentation. Now they're down two, possibly three people, from five. My cohorts and I, we are dropping like flies.

And I have an appointment to help someone edit her paper on Thursday. Gotta find someone to cover me on that. And I'm meeting another group on Sunday. Gotta hold out and see whether that's sufficiently past the 7-day mark. There is a WUSC social event on Thursday I get to miss. The Amnesty International film festival is this weekend.

Just, damn you Swine, I have THINGS to be doing right now!

Poor Sazzu is also sick with bronchitis or something, and we can't even be sick together, because she has asthma and my sick could therefore kill her. Awesome!

Also, I can't even download the new Dr. Who special, because I can't ever get BitTorrent to work here. I think my landlady somehow manages to block it. Sooooo watching anime on YouTube it is, then.

So many of you fic authors just friended me recently, and now I'm telling y'all to move out of my house.

(No, not really, you're lovely people, you can stay.)

But I am no longer going to be posting writing-related stuff here, to spare my poor Flist from having to see my real life mixed up with my fiction, because it is an awkward and uncomfortable unity. So anybody who was never really here to read about my boring self anyway, move on over to: tasting_stars

And maybe, just maybe, that will kick my ass into being more productive. One can still dream, yes?

Meme part 2! Back with more questions from other people. You can still comment here or on the other post for questions from me.

Questions from venusorbit1:

( witty cut text goes here )


Questions from willowmae:

( and also here. )

Wuh-oh, one of those viral memes is making the rounds.

Leave me a comment saying "Are you my mummy?" and then...

• I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity
• Update your journal with the answers to the questions
• Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

Here are my answers to she_who_is_soc's questions:

( words, words, words )

So my psych of classroom learning class takes place in the education computer lab, because they physically have nowhere else on campus to put us due to seizmic upgrades to one of the buildings. We often have one or two people peeking in during the class to see whether the lab is free. I don't know why, because I've never been to that lab at a time when there WASN'T a class occupying it, but I'm sure it must happen at some mythical moment of the day.

So we're in the middle of a discussion on locus of control, when this girl barges in and looks around at all of us, as if we're aliens who have just invaded her home. "Is this a class?"

My professor has a British accent, and he has this way of saying things in a politely dry, passive-aggressive, and semi-derogatory way. "Well it certainly looks like it, doesn't it?"

"You're not on the schedule," the girl said challengingly. I should note that I don't think half the classes that take place there are on the schedule posted on the door, probably something to do with the crazy shuffling of classes we all experienced due to that seizmic upgrade.

"I think you'll find that we are," he said.

"Could I just get on one of the computers over there?" She tried to push through our circle of chairs, pointing at some computer situated very inconveniently close to us.

"I'd really prefer if you wouldn't."

"Augh, this is so stupid!" The girl, clearly offended and frustrated, grumbled her way out.

"So," my classmate, Eli, noted. "Low locus of control?"

So we continue our lecture. Ten minutes later, she returns, this time not even bothering to pause at the door before she tries to walk right through us to the computers. "Excuse me," my prof said politely, "we're in the middle of a class."

"Well I checked three different schedules and you're not on any of them!" The girl sneered at him.

"Yes we are," my classmate shouted in exhasperation.

"No you're not!" The girl shouted back.

"You'll have to go take it up with administration, then," my prof continued, still maintaining his pleasantly condescending tone.

"But you're not using any of the computers!" The girl continued to shout.

"No," said my prof, "but we are conducting a class in here, so I'd really appreciate it if you'd leave."

"Get a keycard and go to the lab around the corner," my classmate told her.

"Put it on the schedule then!" The girl shouted at the top of her voice, before slamming the door shut. Another classmate came in a moment later, saying there was some crazy girl swearing and muttering all the way down the hall.

We then spent the rest of the class using her as an example for a variety of different concepts. Lesson learned: never piss off a psychology class.

Brief life update: can be summed up as "is busy." We get a short Reading Break in November, so I went to my sister's for part of it, despite being seriously stressed out about my assignments. I have a paper due Friday that I haven't started on, and a unit plan due Tuesday. Booooo school.

Also incredibly frustrated with my program, because they're still waffling on what our summer semester will look like. It was going to be in July, which would give me June to stay at home after my practicum, and August to hang out here. Now it's in June, so I have to fly straight back after my practicum, have a month of school, then have two months off to do... I don't know what. Fly back home again? Get very short-term job? Hang out on the internets? The kicker here is that they still have not officially TOLD us about this change of dates; I only found out from a classmate who went to ask them.

The thing is, that summer semester may appear optional to them, but it's vital to me. Without it, I don't get an actual BEd. I'd have a teaching certificate, which in B.C., is the exact same thing, but anywhere else in the world? It could mean the difference between whether I'm qualified to teach or not. So all this stuff about "we don't know when it's going to be," "we don't know what the course content will look like," "we can't tell you whether we'll actually offer it until you tell us you're going to take it" is pretty much bullshit, because I can't just decide not to take it.

But that break was much-needed, even if it gives me less time to freak out at things, precisely because it was a break from freaking out at things. When I go there, all the three of us really do is play video games and cook ridiculously unhealthy food for each other. Fried macaroni and chorizo sausage, steak and eggs, cinnamon buns with cream cheese frosting, ham and mushroom fettuccine, and chocolate chip cookies. Pretty much the best comfort food-packed trip ever.

Dan also gave me a homeopathic flu shot, which will hopefully boost my immune system for a while. I need every bit of immunity I can get my paws on right now.

Right. Now to write a psych paper.

I need to stop putting off writing posts until I have ten million backlogged things to talk about. So here is my picking at that backlog.

The Olympic Torch Relay kicked off here in Victoria last Friday, and I made a point to go down and witness the action. People are really, really divided on the Olympics here, so there was sure to be a ton of drama.

( Olympics )

It has been a week of crazy, that is for sure.

( Thanksgiving )

( high school observation )


( Tegan and Sara videos )

And eeeeeeee I saw Where the Wild Things Are with sazzuboo yesterday! It is SO GOOD. Highly recommend. I want to go right back and see it again right now. I cut the rest of my thoughts just in case, but it shouldn't be too spoiler-y.

( Where the Wild Things Are )

sazzuboo said that I should post about our crazy bus adventures today, so I shall do so.

On our way to the mall, we were sitting on the bus, and we were chatting, not really overly loud, but at a decent conversational level considering the loud bus motors and all. I had just given Sazzu her birthday gift, so of course we were a bit chatty (but, you know, no squealing or high-pitched laughter or anything of that sort). Suddenly we were cut off mid-sentence by an elderly gentleman, across the aisle and two seats up, who turned around and demanded that we stop talking so loud. "I'm sorry," I offered, utterly confused, while a girl in the seat behind him gave me a look of both disbelief and amusement. The entire bus fell into very awkward silence, everyone just barely managing to stifle a few giggles.

After a few minutes, we tentatively started talking again, a little more at library-appropriate levels. I'm fairly sure that nobody could understand what we were saying from a seat or two away, even if they could tell that we were actually talking.

Nevertheless, when he moved to stand at the back door right by our seats, he said, "You give me a headache! Your voices are so high-pitched and annoying! I'm glad you don't live near me!" By this point, I could hear whispers and snickers of disbelief all around us. "I'm... sorry?" I said, because seriously, what do you say to that? "I'm sorry, sir, I'll try to speak with more of a baritone from now on." I also think we both have pretty low alto voices, as far as I know, but that's probably beside the point.

Anyway, the only thing that kept me from feeling totally humiliated by this gentleman was how the rest of the bus seemed to sympathize. I heard the guy behind us warning someone who was moving down the aisle, "watch out for this guy, he's snapping at everyone." When he finally left the bus, several people just started laughing.

I do hope that he no longer has a headache.

Bus adventure number two happened on the way back. We ran up to a bus that was completely packed to the doors, and tentatively asked if there was room. Instead of being as grumpy as most drivers are when they have a full bus, he flashed us a giant grin and said "Of course there's room! We're having a party!" We found that there were lots of seats upstairs, so it wasn't as bad as it looked. Then the intercom came on. "Hello everyone, and welcome to the Route 50 to downtown. My name is Bill and I'll be your driver for today. Thank you for choosing the Victoria Transit System, where all your bus dreams will come true!" There was a brief pause, followed by, "for the very first time, someone on board actually has a bus dream!"

After several other announcements, in which he told us the stops coming up and why we would want to take them, we were approaching downtown, where he said, "just a reminder that when you leave this bus, you will be leaving the safest part of your day. So please be careful. Also, if you happen to have feelings of dizziness, nausea, shaking, and light-headedness, you don't have Swine Flu, you're just homesick for Langford! Stay on board, and we'll be back there in 40 minutes." I like you, Mr. Happy Bus Driver.

And then, on my ride home, a guy became particularly enraged that the bus didn't wait for him, so he threw a rock at it. It didn't so much do damage as simply make a LOUD crack that scared the shit out of everyone. I'm sorry that waiting 20 minutes for the next one is that devastating.

Why did this all happen today?

And the SNAFU with my observation got worked out, as the lady who didn't have a placement finally got one, and offered to bring me with her. The bonus is that it's at a school right by UVic, so yay for convenience.