Rock, Step, Cha Cha Cha!

About a week ago Selena, Michael, Shannon and I were leaving yoga when we noticed a sign for dance lessons. I'm not sure who said "that would be so much fun", but I'm glad they did, because it was! Shannon and I are unattached, but decided to sign up with each other, reasoning that we could always drag Michael off and make him lead for a bit. Selena is perfectly happy to get rid of him once in a while, and was content to lend him out (hey, what are friends for?).

Friday night we showed up, equipped with no prior skills or abilities, and hoped for the best. It was fantastic! We learned the closed basic movement (gear shift - second, neutral, fifth), a fancy little cha cha step and twirl bit (cha cha cha, turn around and grab your keys...), underarm turns (watch your elbow!), and some back and forth step sequences (rock, step, tic tac toe, rock, step). There were a number of couples, but not so many that we were running into each other. Normally, half the fun is watching the other people, but we were so busy trying to get our feet in the right order there wasn't time to observe others.

Our instructor, Todd, had the amazing ability to move his hips effortlessly and glide around on the gym floor with grace. He was classy and his movements lithe. This is now officially classified as Todd-esque. However, we were (perhaps) not so graceful. No one actually fell, but one or two toes got trampled, and Michael did ask if it was possible to spin me into a basketball hoop (thank-you very much). Despite that comment, I had the advantage over Selena because I'm shorter than she is, and he didn't have to work as hard to get the turns right.

Shannon and I turned out a very nice performance, probably helped by our stellar posture, acquired I'm-not-sure-where. Yoga probably. We must remember to thank Kathleen. Apparently ballet can create good posture, but I don't think the 38 torturous weeks of ballet made that much of a difference (especially since I was only about 8 at the time).

We were definitely enthusiastic, and learned some quality moves. I think it's safe to say that we'll all be there for the Jive workshop in November. We rounded out the evening with a few drinks at Earls, and congratulated ourselves on our new moves.

Be warned: if you do one of these workshops, and enjoy it, you may find yourself going through DVD's and looking for dance scenes so you can watch them over and over. Then you can exclaim "hey, we can do that...oh wait, maybe not that...oh yeah, that bit before the complicated stuff!" This is best accomplished with a martini in hand.

At least he isn't threatening to twirl me into a basketball hoop (this time).

Selena with a little extra spring in her step.

Michael was a hot commodity since he is an actual male.

Shannon and I managed a very nice Cha Cha

Selena and Michael dancing

Welcome to Grad School!

Back by popular demand! I wrote this last semester, during the thesis proposal writing season. At the time I was also struggling to understand why two grad classes could be so much harder than five undergrad classes. I have yet to find anyone who can provide a reasonable explanation for this, but let me reassure anyone considering grad school that it is true.

Maybe the professors' expectations are higher; maybe it's the feeling of trepidation that accompanies the knowledge that any grade under 80% is a fail and could cause a scholarship to be revoked? Either way, I took it upon myself to write the "Introduction to Grad School...but Hopefully Not." In short, if you're in grad school, you can probably relate. And if your;e not in grad school...get a job. Really.

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Introduction to Grad School...but Hopefully Not (aka USOCS and GSB)

So, you think grad school is for you? You’ve been through your undergrad degree, breezed along getting good grades and now you can’t get a job. So why not kill two years and get additional higher education? After all, if you can handle five, or even six, undergrad classes, it’ll be easy enough to deal with the two insignificant grad classes each semester.

Congratulations, you have “Undergraduate Scholastic Over-Confidence Syndrome” (USOCS – pronounced u-socks). Symptoms of USOCS include:

- a desire to pursue years more school (you fool)
- an apathetic attitude regarding “real work”
- Thinking: “writing a thesis can’t be that hard, it’s just like writing 10 essays all in a row” (don’t have a clue do you?)
- Thinking: I get paid to go to school! (Can you say: pittance?)
- Delusions of skill level (my supervisor won’t make me re-write anything; I got an A in English 12 so I know how to write an essay; of course I’ll be done in a year; I’ve done labs, my own research will be easy…)
- Delusions of self-importance (I’ll get to be the evil TA and fail them all now!)

If any 2 of the above symptoms describe you, make an appointment to see your academic advisor (to cancel your grad plans) and get going on job interviews immediately. If you don’t find a job right away, you run the risk of getting accepted to grad school and developing Grad School Burnout (GSB).

Signs you’re got Grad School Burnout (GSB)

1. Your friends call to ask you how you’ve been and you immediately scream, “get off my back, bitch!”

2. You are basing your studying schedule for comprehensive exams or defense around the fact that you “might” die before the test. You can always get hit by a bus right?

3. If you hear someone say, “rewrite this section” again, you just may have to jump off the nearest bridge.

4. Cleaning, emailing, blogging and other forms of procrastination have become perfected art forms.

5. Pajamas and a hair scrunchee are your daily uniform and you've discovered you can subsist on Ritz crackers and pop.

6. You talk in acronyms and shorthand and actually think people understand you

7. Visions of the upcoming weekend help you make it through Monday.

8. When the fire alarm goes off in your building, you perk up excitedly because 1) you get to go outside; 2) there is a legitimate chance your work may be lost forever and it won’t be your fault.

9. You instinctively reference everything you say.

10. You destroyed your planner in a fit of rage/frustration, but you still can’t miss a class or a deadline.

11. You think your brain might implode and your eyes will start bleeding if you read another journal article.

12. You write a critical review of a paper that isn’t really critical, but you don’t care.

13. The drunken Thursday nights of your undergraduate career are a distant dream because you can’t afford to lose a day of studying to a hangover.

14. When you’re marking essays as a TA you have to take frequent breaks since all you can think is “kill me now”, or “even a trained monkey could construct a more coherent sentence”. This is even better when you’re writing these things on the essays.

15. You think about how relaxing it would be if you were in jail right now.

AND you take out your frustration by writing lists of your current habits and preoccupations.

A Bit Of Tongue in Cheek, Digitally

Today I was reading about the new xbox. I'm not exactly sure why or how I got onto the site since I've never owned, or wanted to own, an xbox. Indeed, those of you who are familiar with my 3D abilities can attest to the fact that I frequently run into walls, and get killed easily. In short, I'm useless with any type of console.

However, I am a bit of a gadget addict (excluding xboxes, game cubes, or anything of the sort). This is somewhat peculiar given that first, I'm a girl, and second, I'm a student (whose money goes to charities - like Franco Sarto and Kenneth Cole). I actually read online reviews and look through men's magazines (just for the articles, I swear!) so I can see what cool new gadgets are up and coming.

The other day I was lamenting that I was missing the new CSI due to advanced yoga. So Selena suggested that I tape the show and watch it later. Now, this seems fairly obvious, but there is one problem - I don't have a way to record shows. It didn't actually occur to me that people still own VCR's. Why would I have one of those? I have lots of DVD's and no VHS movies. As much as I don't want to miss CSI, I'm not going analog again.

And I found out this summer that there are people here that actually survive without the internet! Can you imagine? I mean, we aren't talking about the world wide population here, we're just talking Saskatchewan. I was trying to send out my research survey to farmers in rural areas, and they didn't have an email address. I was shocked. It was like someone saying, "I'm sorry, I don't wear pants". It's just not done!

This summer I had a forced hiatus from the internet (thank-you very much Sasktel, next time call before you dig!). If I had planned it, or been on vacation with a margarita and a beach, I wouldn't have cared. But instead, it was a frantic, "where can I get online in a hurry" scramble. I was without phone, internet or TV for a week. Since I'm an avid reader, I survived, but it was terribly difficult. What if I'd needed to call 911, or order a pizza?

So thankfully I have the internet full time, and usually hassle free. And thanks to my old roommate Ryan, I have a phone that announces who's calling in addition to my regular phone and now, cell phone. Does that seem excessive? Digital camera, MP3 player, TV, DVD player, computer, digital, wireless meat thermometer (still excited about that - chicken tonight!), digital recorder, and assorted other toys. And this isn't even very much! And the "Please, gadget fairy, Please" list is somewhat extensive too.

I don't think all of these things are necessary, but I do admit that I like having them. I take pictures of everything now, and stalk my friends (and so far they are very accommodating). One of my favourite gadgets is the USB mini desktop aquarium. A little motor, powered by USB, moves the water and the faux-fish "swim" in the tank. And I think it is a nice set with the optical liquid mouse (where the faux-fish is in the mouse). NOTE: I do not own these. And there are many things that I don't want including: a Hummer laptop, laser-sighted slingshot, scrolling LED belt buckle (hey baby, how YOU doin'?), and plant watcher/waterer. But I have to say, it's reassuring that I could get them if I needed them.

P.S. Spell check didn't recognize either VCR or VHS. And yet, it had no problem with DVD. Is that discrimination?

A Discussion of Procrastination

Procrastination (verb): to put off doing something, especially out of carelessness or laziness.

I've reached a new level of procrastination genius. I'd like to think that I've mastered the art and I could delay just about anything...but even I recognize that there has to be a point where the work STARTS. I've never really been one of those people who "just can't relax".

Today I got to the point where my place is so clean that I could eat off the floor, the closet just can't be rearranged again, the walls are officially decorated, I'm already going to the gym four or five times a week, and I've even filed all the old bills. In short, there is no alternative; I must start working on my thesis.

Now you'd think that this revelation would have been useful about three months ago, but who works during the summer? So I dusted off my thesis proposal and reread it with the expectation that I'd (more or less) remember what I wrote. Apparently that was hoping for too much, given the time that has passed. However, I can recognize that I wrote the damn thing (who else would use the word mitigate like it's going out of style?).

I've identified a key formula: A1VEC1 = d (mpt) x mp. If anyone out there recognizes this formula, and wants to give it stastical run, please drop me a comment, and I'll be glad to let you have my data. There was also the concordance analysis formula: cii = (E Wj + 1/2 E Wj/)/(En Wj). There were some superscripts and subscripts in there too, but I don't know what they mean, and I really don't care.

So by now, a few bright sparks will be thinking "hey, she's really only writing this entry to procrastinate more". And you'd be right, except, you're wrong. I am not, in fact, procrastinating more, I'm simply informing those of you concerned about my (theoretical) thesis that progress is continuing (or at least, kickstarted).

A common grad school motivator is fear. Not fear of never finishing the thesis (although, I'm sure that is a valid concern for many), but more of a concern that the supervisor may discover the (lack of) progress. I'm now officially avoiding my supervisor in the halls, and if I had one of those little mirrors to peak around corners, I'd be using it. I know I have to meet him this week though, and hence, el progress! One day I might motivate myself like I did in my undergrad degree, or even high school. But until then, I'll continue work in a state of apprehension that my supervisor might actually ask "how is the thesis going?"

P.S. Bram, if you're reading this, I can't wait until our meeting!

A new form of torture...aka cardio kick!

This morning I thought I'd hit a new level of post cardio kick pain. Somewhere between the sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, martial art type punches and kicks, yoga-esque moves, squats, and dips, I think bits of me just gave up. However, this morning they made themselves known again, and were protesting heavily.

Despite my better judgement (which had been clearly lacking since I did cardio kick in the first place), I went to advanced yoga tonight. Now, I will admit that I loved it and it felt great, but I'm now in quite a bit more pain. It hurts to laugh, just a little bit. I was excited that we were worked so hard that I managed to bind myself into new positions. Mental note to self -- Binding is good, getting stuck there is bad.

The Beaver Creek Expedition

Bruce, Shannon, and I decided to go for a hike at Beaver Creek to walk off some of the thanksgiving turkey we consumed on Saturday. After driving past the ecological reserve three times, turning around twice, and watching the road disappear in front of us once, we finally managed to find the entrance. During our hike we sighted several deer, some stuffed birds, and Jana, another geography student. A few pictures and a beaver education room later, we left and headed back to town to catch a movie.

Speaking of which, "Just like Heaven" is a good chick flick, and quite a feel-good way to pass a couple of hours.

Shannon and I on our (windy!) hike.

Bruce and I at Beaver Creek.

The Thanksgiving Feast

This was my second turkey cooking attempt, and I have to say it was quite positive. Of course, the digital, wireless meat thermometer was an excellent aid, and provided hours of entertainment (is that sad?). Any time you can be 100 feet from the oven and use your handy, belt-clipped readout to check your turkey, you know you're having a yuppie cooking experience.

However, it was a good day for us (maybe not so much for the bird), and we managed to transport the turkey, stuffing, gravy, and cheesecake to the designated location without too much hassle. I almost ended up with a lapful of gravy, but almost doesn't really count.

Sadly it was Nat's last week in Saskatoon, but since she gets to move to Kelowna, I don't feel too bad for her. Many thanks to her dead aunt for the hazlenut tort recipe though.

We departed after much food and wine, and with leftovers firmly in hand. I know I'll be eating well for a few days...

Our thanksgiving dinner, a potluck with everything from traditional turkey to delicious yam and gouda stuffed perogies (and three types of dessert)...yummy!

Shannon and I after thanksgiving dinner, which was fabulous!

Day One

And a new blog is born. So Shannon (fabulous and slightly wacky girl from Ottawa) started one of these to keep "her people" up on the craziness here in the prairies, and I think it's a good idea. Since I have a reputation for talking/writing anyway, I might as well put it to good use.