Category Archives: Life

Milestones

(Not the restaurant chain.)

I haven’t been very good at marking milestones of late. But apparently it’ll make me happier if I do, so what the hey… I picked up my diploma on Monday. Only 4 months after my degree was official, 8 months after I deposited my thesis, 9 months after I defended, and 11 months after I actually finished writing it. Needless to say, after all that waiting, it was a little anti-climactic (Fall is officially the worst semester* to finish if you want closure!). Hence skipping convocation—well, that and a) I’ve been to enough graduations; I know the drill b) we went up to the Okanagan last Friday instead and c) I do plan to go to my PhD convocation (come on! you get to wear the poofy hat and garish outfit! of course I’m going to that!), so you know, I think that’ll cover it.

Anyhow, when I saw Debbie’s comic this morning and went “Hey! That’s what I did! For reals! It’s even in my TC bio!” (which I guess I need to update now) I knew I had to write this post so I could share the comic.

Blog writerP.S. I do finally have the hard copy of my thesis, but it’s not online yet. !!!

*Actually a trimester. No idea why they call them semesters. (From uni website: “The University operates on a trimester basis with three semesters…” ?!?)

Will Sings “Sensitive Song”

Back in the day (as in junior high), I wanted to be an actor. That particular career ambition was discouraged, and I chose to pursue other opportunities, as they say. One of my cousins did, however, become a professional actor. Also, he can sing. Which I cannot. Here he is, singing “Sensitive Song,” which is apparently from Cops: The Musical! (bwahahaha).

Warning: may not be suitable for all audiences.

Mine! All Mine!

Finally got around to visiting the garden store last weekend to pick up some flowers and herbs, including, of course, catnip. Here’s P reacquainting herself with her BFF:

Catnip!

P: This stuff is teh awesome!

Cool News

Bald eagles make comeback on Catalina Island

AVALON, California (AP) — Two bald eagles have hatched in the wild on Santa Catalina Island for the first time since chemical contamination there wiped out the majestic birds decades ago, conservation officials said.

Biologists spotted the first eaglet Saturday and the second one Sunday, according to Catalina Island Conservancy officials. The eggs had been laid in a cliffside nest on the 76 square-mile island located off Los Angeles County.

I Said It First

So last night we had AC360 on and he did a segment on the current annoying trend for everyone and their dog to go into “rehab” to mend their public image after they’ve committed one transgression or another. The thing is, I commented on this a while ago—it’s now almost a rite of passage for celebs and (especially) pseudo-celebs to party a little too much, do a few dumb things, and then go, “Hee hee! I’m off to rehab!”, which seems to trivialize genuine alcoholism, drug addiction, etc. Of course, no one was listening to me because I’m not on TV.

Then just now I’m catching up on my many Bloglines feeds and I run across this Maud Newton post about John Steinbeck, East of Eden and Journal of a Novel, which a number of people seem to have referenced. But wait! Sound familiar? As a matter of fact, I wrote about this first! Yep, I scooped Maud Newton. Oh yes, I did. 😀 Muahahaha.

(Note to self: this writing stuff down business can be very gratifying!)

Sit On Your Fingers

As my co-editors will attest, I am unfailingly polite in my responses to all the questions that we receive at TC, even the silly ones (there are no dumb questions! 😉 ). I know this is the Right Thing To Do, the choice I will not Live To Regret. But of course, there’s always a part of me that’s dying to write what I really think. I don’t, of course. Because I’m mature and all. Unlike, say, our “honorable” (ex-)Minister of State for Mining, Bill Bennett, who wrote this charming response to a constituent (scroll down).

Bwahahahaha. And also, yikes. And that kids, is why you sit on your fingers instead of hitting send. Thanks for the reminder, ex-Minister Bill!

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

We went to Seattle!

First stop: Wallingford (tee hee).

Wallingford

At Gas Works Park, we watched people sailing on Lake Union:

Space Needle

Discovered the Ballard Locks (Hiram M. Chittenden Locks) are an endless source of entertainment on a sunny Sunday afternoon:

Ballard Locks

The Space Needle may be a cliche destination, but you can’t argue with the views:

West Seattle

Downtown

Gas Works Park, Lake Union

Pike Place Market: like Granville Island, but bigger and less yuppified. The fish-tossing is a bit silly, but the Market Spice tea is yum!

Pike Place Market

This post has nothing to do with books

White Tulip

But a picture’s worth a thousand words, right? (Nothing like a glib cliche to cover up one’s deficiencies ;-))

As astute readers may discern from the above photo, I finally got a digital camera. I know. 21st century and all that. Which means the flickr account I set up a while ago in anticipation of such an event will now actually have photos in it … and all 4 (or is it 3?) of my readers can anticipate more photo-posts from me.

So I’m just playing around with it at the moment, learning all the things it will do (it shoots movies!). I think my favorite feature so far is the continuous shooting setting–that will be awesome for taking triathlon photos.