Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Christmas Cheer

Today I enjoyed a highly anticipated visit with a good friend of mine. We had dinner, exchanged gifts and watched Christmas movies. It was a good night. Although the good times continued even after I got home. 
My dad was watching "A Christmas Carol" (The really really old one that's in black and white) Tiny Tim was saying something and my younger sister announces "he sounds like a girl." My immediate response: "Justin Beiber sounds like a girl." My dad  burst into laughter and my younger sister stomped off. I thought it was funny. 


Later on I told my dad about my final grades for 1st semester. I was pleased with them. I ended up with a B average. So after I told my dad this he says: "Asian Fail." I'm not even Asian... He later told me he was joking, but I was still pissed and I will have my revenge. So guess what the whole family is going to hear about on Christmas? That's right, my favourite supportive father. 


With tomorrow being Christmas eve, it also marks the beginning of the 3 day party with the fam jam. I spend the evening of Christmas eve with family, Christmas is all about family, with the morning spent at home with my dad and sisters, then a trip to my maternal grandparent's house, then finally off to my dad's side of the family for dinner. Boxing day is then spent at my grandparent's annual "Boxing Day Bash" which also happens to be the 1 day of the year when I see a bunch of family/family friends as well as the 1 day a year that my grandma makes her 7 layer dip (which is my absolute favourite.) Needless to say I can't wait!


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone!

Countdown to Christmas

Now that finals are over you would think I would be able to relax a little bit and just enjoy the vacation and anticipation of Christmas. Sadly that is not how life works, I am currently being tormented by the lack of posted grades. Only two of my four final grades have been posted and it is driving me insane! And ironically, it's not even the two that I wrote during the first week of exams (my Dec. 8th and 10th exams) the two that have been posted are the results from the Dec. 8th and 16th. I really want to know how I did on the Dec. 10th exam, I want to see how badly it is going to screw up my G.P.A. I am literally dying with curiosity and anxiety!

The other downside of this vacation is that my younger sister is also home which means that she feels the need to bother me every 5 minutes. Keep in mind there is only a 3 year age gap between the two of us, so it's not like she's a 5 year old constantly seeking attention. She is also the snoopiest snoop ever! For example last week my dad came home from shopping and thus my sister dove to the window to see if she could make out anything that was a possible gift for her. I pulled her away from the window which resulted in her scratching my arms and leaving a pretty good bite mark. (which was visible for literally at least 8 hours afterwards.)

It is almost Christmas so I am trying to keep up beat and positive. The tree is up, it is fully stocked with large quantities of presents underneath and I am not stressed to the max with school.

Part of the tree and a dog who seems to think she is a present.

Finally Finished!

It is official, I have successfully survived this semester! All of my finals have been completed (hopefully successfully and without failure) regardless, there is no way that I am going to fail any of my courses. Not get the marks that I hope for is definitely a possibility, but I'm not going to fail anything so I'd say that is a step in the right direction. 


So today was my last final, Humanities. We had three hours to write two essays. Because I am the Speedy Gonzales of test writing, I was the first person finished out of the entire class. I have to say it was slightly awkward walking to the front of the class to hand in my exam because it was so quiet. Naturally when I finally got to the front I asked my teacher if he just wanted us to leave them on the table and I guess he was completely engrossed in his book because as soon as I started talking he jumped two feet in the air. So that left me like oh...well this is awkward...I'm going to pick up my paper and leave now... Oh well I'm just so happy that I finally get my break.


Now that I finally get my break, does it make me a complete nerd to admit that I'm super excited that I now have time to get some leisure reading done? Sure I spent a ton of time reading this semester, but it wasn't the stuff I wanted to read. I have 4 books on my bookshelf right now that I have to read and possibly another one that I want to buy and at least 3 that I want to borrow from the library. I have 2 weeks to read 8 books... Plus there is all of the visiting with friends and family that I have to cram into the holidays. Oh well we only have time for what we make time for. 

Holidays, Gift Wrap and Santa Claus

The holidays never fail to remind me of the fact that I am a TERRIBLE gift wrapper. I don't know what it is I just  seem to be really bad at it. This year I somehow have gotten a little bit better so they don't look quite like complete disasters but the corners of gifts are something I can't seem to get right. As a result of my inept inability to properly wrap parcels, I'm a bit of a gift bag person because they are much more straight forward. If a gift bag came with steps it would be really simple like step 1: open bag, step 2: insert gift into bag, step 3: place tissue paper inside bag to prevent anyone from seeing what is inside. Where as actually wrapping a box is much more complicated. You have to cut a square of wrapping paper the correct size and then there is a lot of folding that I just haven't mastered. 

Speaking of the Holidays, something that always comes up is Santa Claus. There are two views on Santa the first (and the view point of most children) is that the jolly fat man is real. The second, (and view point of most "grown ups") is that he isn't. But on the topic of "grown-ups" I have one question, is anyone really ever completely "grown up"? Sure you can physically be completely grown up, but as far as mentally and emotionally aren't we always learning things? I don't think that there is just some age where it suddenly clicks and we know everything. Children and grown-ups alike all make mistakes. That last statement is speaking from personal experience as well as through the observation of others such as friends and family. My dad has made mistakes, I've even literally been "the forgotten middle child." (that one was a big mistake that I haven't let him live down.) But that is a story for another time. 

Checking Another Thing Off The "To-Do" List

Christmas shopping = done! After a long day at a crowded mall, all of the gifts that I had to purchase have been purchased and I have to say it was a pretty good day. I got a break from studying, I actually got something done that needed to get done and had a bunch of laughs along the way. I also enjoyed a slice of orgasmic chocolate cake from ABC Country Restaurant. It's called Chocolate Explosion I believe and I couldn't think of a better way to end my day than having dinner with a friend, laughing until I nearly cried and having chocolate cake.

Sadly tomorrow means going back to the harsh realities of studying for finals. But it also puts me one day closer to being done finals and relaxing until Christmas. Every dark cloud has a silver lining right? So now all I have to do is make it through my finals without failing them and I shall be fine.

The Important Things I Learned This Semester.

As I am studying like a crazy person for my final exams, I was thinking about all of the best moments/teacher quotes in my classes and the fact that these will probably be the only things that I actually remember from these classes. They go as follows:
Psychology:
1) When my professor dressed up as Hannibal Lecter for Halloween
2) "The Hypothalamus is responsible for the four F's; Fight, Flight, Feeding and Mating. I'll let you guys figure that one out."
Philosophy:
1) "Zeus was just a horny old bastard. But don't quote me on that."
2) When my Professor forgot his pants
Humanities:
1) Watching The Colbert Report and The Daily Show with John Stuart
(I really had a hard time coming up with anything for this class because I really did not enjoy it)
Archaeology:
1) "I think my dad had Neanderthal genes, I'm an Archaeologist, I think about these things."
2) "Very few humans today have prominent brow ridges, my husband has brow ridges and I like to fondle them."

The Final Craze Commences

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the final craze. My first final is at 3:30pm. This isn't really the one that I am worried about. Tomorrow is my Psychology final, 100 multiple choice questions. I'm not too stressed about that one. Friday is my Archaeology final which shouldn't be too bad either. The one that I am most worried about is next Thursday. That would be my Philosophy exam. For this final I have to know all of the professor's lecture notes as well as every article we read from the textbook well enough to be able to read a quote and be able to respond with who said the quote and what they are saying. My Humanities final is next Friday and I'm not too stressed for that one either because we have three hours to write two essays. He has already given us five essay questions two of which will be on the exam and we will have to answer them. So to prepare for this exam all I have to do is do a rough outline/figure out what I would say for each of these topics. The only problem right now is that I should be studying for tomorrow's exam right now and I keep getting distracted. I haven't even studied for this Friday's exam exam yet either which I should really get on. So I suppose after tomorrow's exam I get to start studying and Thursday I go meet with my Archaeology professor to talk about my last midterm because it was added up incorrectly but other than that Thursday is my study Archaeology day.

Other things I did today while I should have been studying include:
Going back to sleep
Hanging up two collage picture frames
Watching "The Proposal"

Now that I look at the picture frames that I hung up, I realize that I must come across as somewhat narcissistic because I'm in so many of the pictures. Who really cares? Is it bad that after watching a romantic comedy like "The Proposal" I felt slightly depressed because I'm very single and kind of getting sick of it? So I guess the only thing I don't regret from today is going back to sleep. Oh well, let's wait and see what tomorrow brings. (hopefully I won't fail) Wish me luck.

Stand Still, Look Pretty

I just came across this song, which I can totally relate to and I thought I would share. It's called "Stand Still Look Pretty" by The Wreckers.

You can listen to it here -->Stand Still Look Pretty-The Wreckers

I thought the lyrics were fantastic. The general premise of the song being yes my life isn't perfect, there's lots going wrong hence the line "I am slowly falling apart." But at the same time they are telling you that while you're so wrapped up in your own problems there's still always someone out there who has it worse than you do. "people have problems that are worse than mine, I don't want you to think I'm complaining all the time."
All while telling you don't judge me because you don't know the whole story. "I wish you'd take a walk in my shoes for a start and you might think it's easy being me, you just stand still, look pretty." The song just really struck a cord with me.

Movie Theater Pet Peeves Realized While Watching The Fabulous Harry Potter 7 Part 1

After accomplishing my goal of getting at least half of my final Philosophy paper finished, I finally got to go and see Harry Potter today. Because we usually go as a family I had to wait this long, and I was kind of pissed off when I found out that it was only going to be me and my dad going, but regardless, I loved it. I really loved the bits of comic relief that were incorporated beautifully into the film to balance out the intense moments. I'm not going to spoil anything for those who have not read the book and still want to see the movie so the only thing that I will say is that if you are planning on taking young children with you they will probably be completely terrified if you go see it in 3D, and they will probably be scared anyways. But, that's about all I can say.

Something that I did think about after I got home from the movies was about how different the movie going experience would be for someone who has read the book (like myself) and someone who hasn't (like my dad). Because someone like me knows what is coming next and is slightly distracted by all of the things that were left out of the movie. Where as my dad is completely wrapped up in what is going on and doesn't know what to expect next.

Going to the movies also reminded me of some of the things that other people do that really bother me (and probably other people too). The things that bothered me today at the movie theater were people pulling out their cell phones at random times throughout the movie and the people who have to talk during the movie.

1) To the people who pull out their phones during the movie, if you are checking the time because you're that bored, do us all a favour and leave. You are extremely distracting with your bright light in the middle of a dark theater, we all know it was you and you look like a tool. There is a reason they ask you to turn your phone OFF. (My dad was one of the offenders so I told him to stop being a tool and that I was going to have to confiscate his phone next time)
2) To the people who talk during the movie it's very nice that you have your opinion but "opinions are like assholes, everyone has one but I don't really want to know about it." And if there is something that you are talking about that is completely irrelevant to the movie do us all a favor and leave I didn't pay money to listen to you, I want to watch my movie.

Anyways, I still have another 224 more words to write for my Philosophy paper so I'm off to finish that.

Hallucinations of Harry Potter

I am definitely sick. I'm sure it is just some form of the common cold, but it really sucks. I am completely congested to the point that I continuously wake up in the middle of the night because I can't breathe, there is a dull throbbing in my head most of the day, I keep sneezing, the sore throat is starting to kick in and my nose is running like a faucet. But because I am stubborn I haven't taken anything to combat these symptoms yet. If it doesn't let up by this weekend however, I will probably give in and take something. Either way I would really appreciate it if I could get better ASAP because I have a paper to write this weekend and 4 finals to study for and write in the next two weeks.

Despite the sickness, something I have to look forward to (other than the end of this semester), is that I finally get to go see the first installment of the seventh Harry Potter movie.I am a huge Harry Potter fan, (to the point where even before my birthday this year I told my family that for my birthday next year I want a box set of all the Harry Potter movies.) but my family has a tradition of always going together so I haven't gone yet. Even though I am dying to see what they have done with it and all my friends tell me it's amazing and I can hardly wait! Although I'm really curious about the next and final movie because in the book there is a scene where Harry is completely naked so I'm wondering how they are going to do this in a family movie or if they're just going to cut it out all together.

Student + Dying = Studying, and Finals is Really Just an Acronym

School is winding down, I am getting sick, it is really cold outside these things can only mean one thing: The holidays must nearly be here! I am really excited for the holidays not only because it means getting a well deserved break from school, but because it means seeing my family who I love dearly. (some of whom I rarely see otherwise) 

My plans for the holidays look like this so far: 

Christmas eve: go to my Great Aunt's house

Christmas day: shuffle between my house and my Grandma's house before ending off at my cousin's house for dinner with my dad's side of the family

Boxing day: go back to my Grandma's house for her annual boxing day get together. (It is the only time I get to eat her 7 layer dip that she makes from scratch, which is heavenly as well as the only day where I get to see some of the more distant family members/family friends)

December 27th: Go camping down the states (which is really code for go shopping and hit up all the sales) 

New Years Day: Come home from aforementioned camping trip.

Jan 4th: Go back to school and begin spring semester.

Needless to say I'm excited. Now all I have to do is make it through three more days of classes which breaks down to (2 more Philosophy classes and 1 more Humanities class/tutorial), 1 more paper and 4 final exams. I'm going to remain optimistic until I have a breakdown from all the stress of studying for finals.* 

*As I have mentioned before Studying is just a combination of the words Student and Dying. Finals on the other hand is an acronym:

F*@#!

I

Never

Actually

Learned

Shit