So bored

I thought maybe my Rock-Band-obsessed neighbours had moved out since it had been almost two whole weeks since I’ve had to listen to their drunk off-key singing and horrible playing skills. No such luck.

They’ve been playing the game, yelling, laughing hysterically, and in general being assholes for about 4 hours now. I know London has a 24-hour no noise policy, but at the same time I tend to give these guys until 11:30pm to give it up because I’m generally up at least until then. So far I’ve yet to hear them play longer than that, at which point the drunken yelling also calms down and most people leave.

I feel sorry for whoever lives next to them downstairs though since they’ve been banging on the wall for an hour and been ignored.

Look Ma!

Today me and Dean went for a 3-hour walk up through school, around on Richmond, and all the way back again. It was nice, but it really made me wish my orthotics would come in so I wouldn’t end up limping by the time we got home. I feel old.

I was proud that I went over multiple bridges without freaking out and freezing up. The last time we walked in those particular places was a couple of summers ago when we stayed at Western for a weekend so I could get my bearings. Those things freaked me out pretty good the first time. I still have trouble with the one on Oxford though, since I walked back from downtown once last term and had to stare at my feet and force myself to keep moving.

This time around we didn’t see any furniture in the river, but we did see a construction sign sitting there for all the world like it belonged. See?
construction small

We also saw a helicopter coming in for a landing on the pad in front of University Hospital. If we’d have walked slower we might still have been on the other side of the river and got a close-up.
helicopter small

Today was a good day. We need more nice days like this so I can wander around more.

Cure, Please.

I’ve had the flu since Saturday and it’s really pissing me off. I can’t get much homework done because of it, and when I take medicine that makes my head so funny that it’s even more impossible. Gah!

Too Good To Be True?

Today my textbook for 558 arrived in the mail. It was a bit funny, since I was on my way back from picking up my hold at the library when the mail truck pulled in and when he buzzed and didn’t get an answer I kinda wondered and asked if there was mail for me. Turns out there was, and he was buzzing my apartment.

This wouldn’t normally mean much, since it’s just a boring old textbook. But the text for this course is an older edition. It’s either out-of-print or very nearly there since Chapters and Amazon have it listed but “temporarily unavailable to order” so you have to get it used. The bookstore doesn’t have them since the prof didn’t tell them to buy the new edition. It’s $150 and we don’t need any of the new stuff so we’re supposed to find a copy of this older one.

So, I get home after the first class and check the used listings to see what I can find. Turns out there’s a used copy of this book on Chapters’ website for $8 because it “may include highlighting/writing, some completed exercises, missing dustcover, crease and/or overall wear.” I’m thinking the book might be crap, but at that price I was willing to risk it. So I go for it anyway.

Today, I opened the package and see no evidence of any writing or highlighting in the book at all. If there are completed exercises I can’t find them. It even still came with the discs with the files needed for the exercises. It’s true, the spine is a little weak, but damn. I got myself a book in better shape than some of the stuff you can get used at the bookstore and for unbelievably cheap.

Like a good student, I started reading it right away. But then after about 3 pages of reading up on how awesome databases are and how they are the greatest invention of modern times I decided to read Confessor instead.

Red, Red Wine

“I’d have sworn that with time thoughts of you would leave my head.
I was wrong.” — Neil Diamond

Marin said today that “the Harlot is to knitting trends what Oprah is to book sales” and she’s not far off on that. You see, on Wednesday Stephanie posted about Vintage and people started snapping it up. I ordered it in the Pinot colourway yesterday. The funny thing is, I’m not usually one to go out and buy things just because someone makes them popular. I don’t buy books that Oprah endorses, I tend not to follow trends that Stephanie does either. This isn’t a case of that even though it might seem that way on the surface.

What happened in this case was that Stephanie’s blog was the means through which the gods finally caught me. When I went to the website and saw these socks I swear they were daring me to knit them. I don’t back down from a challenge. Especially when it comes in the form of knitted socks. This might sound like crazy-talk, but I get the sense that these socks are the embodiment of the Dionysian spirit. It’s not just the subject matter. It’s because of the arrogance I sense coming from these socks. They know they are magnificent but at the same time they also know they’re going to make you let go of your fear and inhibitions, make you get into another mindspace and do things you wouldn’t ordinarily do in order to get them done.

Now, I don’t need to commit hubris against the knitting gods and have things come crashing down on my head, but at the same time I realize there’s a lot of work involved here and I refuse to let these socks beat me. I tend to see it as a way of putting my skills to good use serving a higher purpose, whatever that turns out to be.

Here It Goes Again

School has started up again and I’m really enjoying all my courses this term. They all integrate very well with each other and where I think I want to be going at this point so it’s so much easier to take them seriously compared to the required courses. One thing I’m eagerly anticipating is the release of Office 2008 so that I can finally open all these files that people with Office 2007 send me without having to go to school to do it. I hate going to school for things like that. In truth, I will go to to great lengths to avoid campus most of the time since it makes it more bearable that way.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful place. That’s part of the problem actually. The more time I spend at school the more stressed I get and the more I associate school with said stress and can’t enjoy it. Plus the NCB is ugly. It’s winter and I can’t fully appreciate the trees since I spend so little time outside.

I’ve got some socks that I finished to post later when I find the cable to the camera, and maybe another pair if I can finish Mis’ socks in a reasonable amount of time. I’m halfway through the first one but I broke a needle and might need to get creative to be able to finish these on the ones I’ve got.

Time for sleepz!

Well, damn

That lasted a whole 29 hours. I’ve just expelled my IUD. I didn’t have any pain or cramps or anything, just decided to check for strings and found the whole IUD was out of my cervix as of 5 minutes ago. Crap.

I guess I get to reschedule for January anyway, unless I can talk the doctor into giving it another go on Monday.

It’s funny. I thought I’d be more disappointed. Instead I’m pissed off and annoyed. Not as pissed as I’m going to be if I expel the next one though.

ETA: We had a chat today and the doctor isn’t willing to do another insertion. So, since I really want to try this again and I can afford to, I’m going to call the city health unit and see if someone there would be willing to give it a go.

If it doesn’t work then, I have another pill I can try, but after that I’m pretty much out of options. *grumble*

The "Code"

Every time we get into a discussion in class about the American Library Association’s code of ethics someone brings up the fact that it is unenforceable. Then the prof brings up the fact that these are rules we should strive to follow but that we won’t always be able to do this.

On the web page, the ALA says themselves, “These statements provide a framework; they cannot and do not dictate conduct to cover particular situations.”

Does anybody else upon reading this hear Barbossa saying, “The code is more what you’d call guidelines than actual rules”?

I am such a nerd.