No More Top - 3... I am over it

The Not So Brady Bunch

Disclaimer: what you are about to read is awkward, really awkward.
Necessary background info: my parents are divorced and remarried.

So a couple of months back, my mother and I decided to switch our individual phone plans to a family plan. It seemed like the perfect solution to our overages and ridiculous monthly fees. We made the switch effortlessly. One family plan. Two family members. For now... Within the next day, included in our plan was my mother's common law husband's son, aka my sorta step-brother.

Now this may seem normal enough but just wait...

I was so excited about my new plan that I told my father all about it. I bragged about my cheap rates, unlimited texting, 300 weekeday minutes, etc. I guess the offer was so appealing, that he wanted in. So he called up my mother, aka his EX-wife and asked to join this family plan. Within the next day, my father was in on the deal.
And here we have the world's most awkward unfamily family plan ever. A daughter, her two divorced parents, and a sorta step sibling all cashing in on bell's latest offer. The best though is that there is free calls between members!

Can't you just picture my father calling his ex-wife's new husband's son???

Top 3 - things I should be doing (instead of blogging)

1. History of Journalism essay - worth 30% of my grade - due tomorrow
2. Radio Package Script - worth 25% of my grade - due tomorrow
3. Marketing Assignment 7&8 - already a week late - due last tuesday

Off to try and make some progress in my work load. peace.

Friday's 2nd Fabulous Event

Update: fireplace seems to be empty although nothing ever flew out... my dog however was haunted all night and slept INSIDE the fireplace.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So last night four of us journalism students attended a women's hockey game in support of a fifth journalism friend Keely. The game was at 7:30, clearly an unpopular time for hockey because the rink was empty (or people don't care about girls hockey). There were maybe 60 people besides for us.
Anyways, its midway through the first period and they announce a contest. I am not paying attention at all to what the DJ is rambling about but journalism friend Evan, reaches into his pocket and takes out his ticket. He gets all excited because they called out #115 and hes was #114. Meaning that most likely, it was one of us who had won.

SURE ENOUGH I scramble in my purse to find winning ticket 115. I am instructed to go up to the DJ booth where a girl tells me I have a chance of winning $650 to Super C. All I have to do is go onto the ice and take a shot from center ice and get it into a tiny slit in front of the net.
Cool that I have never played hockey.
Cooler though, that I felt totally guilty cause Evan is a hockey player and probably could have gotten it in. He told me that whatever I do, don't turn my body and don't use too little power (so it doesn't make it down the ice).

At the end of the period the DJ wishes me luck and I am escorted by the girl onto the ice. I am very focused on not slipping because that would probably be worse than missing it. Then with all my might I attempt the $650 shot. Obviously, I do the exact opposite of everything Evan warned me about and send the puck into the side boards barely making it to the other end of the rink.

Then followed the walk of shame back to my seat...

Luckily though, I received a souvenir puck, I didn't slip and I had the satisfaction in knowing only about 56 people saw me fail!

This WOULD happen to me

After hours of procrastination, I finally begin my homework. I set everything up in my basement which has a huge table. I call my dog downstairs for company. My dog cuddles up beside me for about five minutes and all of a sudden it leaps off my lap and runs to our fireplace. She begins barking, crying and jumping up the walls.

So I am thinking that she has thrown one of her balls behind and is trying to get it out when i hear the squeak. I listen closely and that is when I hear fluttering feathers and chirping. Sure enough, there is A BIRD IN MY FIREPLACE. My dog is freaking out and so am I.

I call my mother - she is useless.
I decided to call the SPCA, they tell me to call the Wildlife Control. They tell for 350 dollars, they can send someone to try and get it out - no guarantees. Oh thats nice, no guarantees meaning you might come and leave without saving no god damn bird. Not going to happen.
I call my mother back - she is still useless. $350 non-guaranteed rescue is out of the question (duh!)

I try to distract my dog by putting her outside. After 10 minutes of yelping on the back balcony, I let her in BUT she ran to the basement and cried even louder. Fun fact = dogs don't have short term memory. So I thew her back outside where she is currently barking. I am sure my neighbors love me! Plus now I have moved all my books up to the kitchen out of the echoes of dying bird.

Nothing says study atmosphere quite like dying bird and crying dog.

Fabulous October/November

So in the next month, I have lots to look forward to. Unfortunately though school is interfering with all my excitement. Overall the transition to university has been relatively smooth, but this past week I find myself totally overwhelmed. Of course school has been stressful since day 1 but deep down I knew that I would do everything I needed to....eventually. I don't have that same belief in myself these days however which is lame. There is something about a 10 page research paper on the history of journalism that does that to you.

Anyways, I mostly wanted to write this post to list some of the wonderful events that will happen between now and the end of November.

First there is Halloween. Although I am not really excited actually kind of the opposite but I'm being optimistic and hoping I attend some crazy awesome party. Very doubtful. I am excited about the Halloween Journalism Student Association (JSA) Stache Bash where students are encouraged to wear/grow a mustache in exchange for a free beer. The reason this is so exciting is that at work (toystore), we sell fake mustaches and I am always like WHAT are these for? Now I know! I wonder if I should sport the handle bar or fu manchu.

There is also my trip to BOSTON. So excited. More details to come...

The FEIST concert for which I bought tickets in like april so really it is about time.

Oh and how can I forget? JACK'S MANNEQUIN concert too!

So as I struggle through school I am trying to focus on these fabulous events rather than sulk about all the work I have, that I am not doing.

Top 3 - Things I Can't Live Without

Midterms have left me no choice but to love the following 3 things

1. Diet Coke
Honestly without diet coke I don't think I would ever study. Plus I use it as a treat/reward as a way to limit my daily consumption.

2. Pomegranates
Sounds totally random I know. But a pomegranate is probably the best study snack ever. In general while I am study I need to be constantly eating so like this fruit has what a million seeds it takes me hours to finish. Plus, it is a lot healthier than chips/popcorn which was my old study snack.

3. Desk Chair
I just recently bought a new chair for my desk and it is the love of my life. It leans all the way back which is just fabulous really. I owe its wonderfulness to my bureau en gros employee friend. Unfortunately though it doesn't really fit under my desk which is sort of a problem. Oh well.

As you can tell from these top 3, there isn't really anytime in life anymore to think of anything unrelated to midterms. The season is almost over though, just in time for essays to be assigned.

W - is at the end of the alphabet

For one of my class assignments, we had to do a "streeter" which is where you ask people on the street one question, in one location. Easy enough. Our question was preassigned: are you planning on voting in tuesday's election? why or why not? So I headed out to a relatively busy street corner near a bus stop and a grocery store. I was so nervous I had to walk around the block several times but eventually I got it done.

It was miserable.

Today in class we had to discuss our experience. Now my teacher decided that she would start right up at the top of the class list and ask each individual student to talk about the streeter. As always, I have the pleasure of being W. Being last on the class list, I had the pleasure of spending an hour listening until it was eventually my turn. So as my classmates told their stories, it seemed that all of them had a good experience with a few exceptions here or there. One girl was told by a passerby that they had no spare change to give her. All in all though everyone seemed to have little trouble at all. But not me, I suffered through this.

Here is a list of what went wrong:

- Was so nervous, I walked around the block 2X before even taking out my pen and paper
- Finally asked some man who after sharing with me his most intimate thoughts, wouldn't give me his name AKA I cannot use him in my article
- There was a man who was a little "off" who throughout my streeter was calling out questions to me. I finally decided to go approach him and had to hear all about his life
- I approached a nice looking man with a baby stroller and I was getting very useful information. Then his wife came along and right in front of me she goes to the man "who is she?" Let us not forget I was standing right there. Awkward.
- I also had the pleasure of having a couple fight when I asked them if they were voting and one of them said no but the other wouldn't accept this as an answer.
- As I have mentioned before, campers love to ruin my life and throughout my streeter I had camper interruptions and spent 15 minutes making small talk with parents and 10yr old girls
- BUT the best had to be when my "stepfather's" ex wife approached me
Well hello to you too!

P.S: Thank you Alex and Caro for visiting me, you probably saved me from tears.

Warning

For those unaware, The Gazette writers have voted for a strike. This is the email all journalism students received from our head of department. I just had to share it.

"It's come to my attention that some Concordia journalism students have been
approached by CanWest to replace regular newsroom staff should there be a strike
or lock-out at The Gazette. While that decision is ultimately up to you,
I would caution you to think very carefully about accepting such an offer
as it is a form of scab labour. Not only could it harm your reputation
and the reputation of our department within the journalistic community,
it interferes with the ongoing collective bargaining process between Gazette
journalists and their employer."

Moral: DON'T write for The Gazette during their lock-out, it is career suicide. Not that I have much of a career right now...

Summing it Up

A friend pointed out that my blog has lacked substance lately. I agreed, so decided to share a few of the things that made my week oh so pleasant.

Tuesdays there is always a conference for first year Journalism students. This week we had the lucky treat of having recent journalism graduates from 06/07 who are currently "working journalists". I was so impressed one worked at the Gazette, another at Global, CTV, Chom, and CJAD. After they introduced themselves and spoke about their careers, I was so inspired. They then spoke about how they haven't had a weekend or summer in two years and shared embarrassing moments and career costing mistakes they have made. Hearing their first hand accounts and their honesty of bad experiences freaked me so much that after the conference I was ready to switch into psychology.

Signing onto facebook and seeing a friend request is something I used to look forward to. However, recently there has been an epidemic of campers adding me. I mean this is expected in August and September but by October I thought I was free from 10-12 year old girls requesting my facebook friendship. Clearly I was wrong. Not only do they add me 100X a day, but they flood my newsfeed, and my photo albums so that I can no longer do any discreet/effortless stalkage.

Public transport was my worst enemy wednesday. I had my first university midterm at 1015 downtown. I left at 915 more than enough time to get there and get a little studying in before the exam. But instead the bus arrived at 925 so full that standing on top of someone was the only option. Of course, a crowded bus is expected at rush hour but not when you live on the route's second stop. Hoping to do a little refresher on the bus was clearly no longer an option. I dealt with my frustration by realizing I still had the metro portion where I could do a little studying. So I get to the metro and hop on the cart just in time to hear that the orange line is down for an undetermined amount of time. Cool. It is now 9:40 and my class and midterm are so soon that I begin to freak out and contemplate heading out to find a cab. I decide to wait it out but I'm so nervous that I will miss my exam, that studying while waiting is no longer an option. I decide I will wait two more minutes. It is now 9:47 and I can no longer wait. As I am about to get up and go, the doors thankfully shut. But by then I am so nervous I stare at my watch the entire rest of the ride. With no studying done, I get to my exam just in time. This seems like a happy ending unless you know anything about me which means emily + nerves = death. I will be surprised if i get more than 25% on my midterm. Fun times.

So I don't really think this vent session counts as substance but it is a little more personal than my Top 3s. I am just thankful that tomorrow is Friday. Hopefully the weekend will bring me and this blog some more excitement...