3 Days til I go home!

I like writing on this thing even if no one reads it, although I know that people do. It gives me something to do and keep up with and I like to talk, what can I say. My deadly invertebrate exam went alright yesterday. It started off really good and I was acing the multiple choice. The written was good too, but then I went back and did the questions from the mc that I didn't get before and that made me mad because for the "which one is false" question, I really thought they were all true so it was just a guess mainly. So overall I was pretty happy with how that went. I just have animal behaviour left on Friday. I should have started looking at it a couple of days ago but I am planning on going to the library all afternoon in order to get a good chunk of studying done. It's really weird right now, I actually want to study and it seems like going home is just some reward that I get after I am done.

My roommates and I watched Hairspray last night and had popcorn and stuff. It was good times, but I am super tired today. This will probably be my last blog before I go home. I am pumped to go home and even though I get less than 2 weeks off it will be good. I'm gonna try and go home sometime during the semester this time too. Well that's all for now, later days!

Football Watching Sunday

Warning: this blog is going to be about the football games today so if you don't want to read that's fine with me. Just warning you.

I don't know what the heck was with Tony Romo today. The offensive line was giving him enough time to get throw long but he kept taking some steps forward to throw the ball. The d line was then able to just come over from where they were and sack him. He must have been sacked over 10 times. I don't think that it was the fault of the Cowboys O line either, it was Romo's. He was also trying to hard to make big plays and throw fancy. When he got it to Whitten and Crayton they gained yardage. Both those guys can make such big plays after the catch. It's good that they are recognizing the importance of those guys since TO is being guarded so closely in the past few games. Obviously any team is going to key on him. He wasn't looking that good either today. He lost some spark or something and wasn't really trying to make the play. He can jump higher than his defender and out run him too, but today I didn't see it. Meanwhile, Jason Whitten is amazing. He holds onto the ball, for the most part, and makes good plays after the catch. He is reliable and seemingly always open for the short pass. I like watching him. His height and strength and athleticism are really shining now that he is getting the ball a whole lot more.

I personally didn't think that Dallas deserved to win that game. The defense did a good job, actually it was a good defensive battle, hence the 10-6 final. But the offense couldnt' get it together which I thought started all with Romo. DeMarcus Ware is amazing to watch too. I love defense. I could watch it all the time. He had a couple sacks and some key tackles that made it so awesome to watch today. I am also pretty pumped that Miami won their first game this year too. I know what it's like to be on a losing team, actually pretty much every time I've played on has been a losing team, so it's nice to see them win. I know that my dad will be happy too since he likes Zach Thomas.

I also want to comment on what Westbrook from the Eagles did at the end of the game. He had the opportunity to score with 2 minutes left in the game with the Eagles up 10-6. He just slid to a stop at the 1 yard line. Getting the touchdown would have made it a two score game, but stopping allowed Philly to eat up the clock and secure the win. First off it was a smart play by him but second who in their right mind would give up a touchdown for themselves for the sake of the win for the team. I mean that is really classy. Thinking about it, I know that I couldn't do that. And I know that this is going to go off topic, but I can't help but think how selfish and "self minded" we are these days. I think that's one reason why I like watching football. Sure everyone wants to boost their stats, but you see this amazing team atmosphere that is so unified that no matter what, they want to win. That Patriots are like that. All over the league you see starters sitting or injured and the back up goes in and starts to shine. They are thinking "I just want to be out there to lead my team to victory. That should be me.", but they are the biggest supporters on the sideline. Teams are like that. I miss being part of a team. Basketball gave me this place where I could try my hardest to succeed but by doing my best I help others and we all work together to win and improve our abilities. Sports are just so great.

And wow the injuries. Two guys in the Dallas game went off for massive knee injuries. I cringe watching it. My heart goes out to all those players who's seasons get put to an end by one stupid turn or coincidental collision. Speaking of which, did you hear about a basketball team that was in a car crash in Saskatchewan? I don't know the details I just heard it in church today. It's especially hard on a team, that close knit bunch of athletes who are more like family than anything else. On this topic, you should rent "We are Marshall". So good.

12-2 not bad. We still clinched a first round bye. Apparently not done since 1998. Yay Dallas.

2 down, 3 to go

YAY I am almost half way done. There truly will be no halfway obviously because I can't write half a test, or will not stop halfway during my next one to say that I am halfway done. One more and the hump is over, sort of like Wednesdays being hump day in the week. Once it's passed everything just goes faster and it's almost the weekend

My first exam on Monday went really well so I am happy about that. The one today, algae and fungi, was brutal. I didn't really know how to study for it. It's one of those tests where there is just too much information to process and there is no way of knowing all of it thoroughly. So I did the best that I could. The multiple choice was so easy and so I did well on that but the written questions weren't that great. My friend in that class thought they were sort of unfair and hard too.

So Monday I have EOS, Tuesday is Inverts. and Friday is Animal Behavior. I am looking forward to studying two things at the same time opposed to looking at the same junk day after day. It's easier to study eos for an hour then inverts, then eos, then . . . well you get the picture. It's more entertaining to change it up a bit.

Today was good though. I got my Christmas shopping done and did some other errands that I had been putting off for awhile. I even ate out at Taco Time and so it was an over all good shopping experience. Usually I hate shopping. I think my 12 packs of gum were good purchases too and will keep me going for the rest of my exams opposed to eating a lot of food. I even rented some movies tonight so that I wouldn't have to study and I could just chill. I'm feeling relaxed and ready to hit the books again tomorrow. I plan on studying hardcore for tomorrow and Sat. so that I can still watch football on Sunday!!

I really wish that I was done school already though. Jess went home today, Joe is going home tomorrow, and Leia on Saturday. Let's just say that by the time next Friday rolls around I will be more than ready to be home. Update on my knee: deep water jogging is making it way stronger and is keeping me from running or doing other stuff at the gym that I shouldn't be doing. Of course I am still biking and doing weights, but it makes me think that I am working hard and actually doing stuff. My actual knee hasn't been too bad lately, just my IT band is tight and sore so I have to stretch lots.

Studying is basically the only thing I am doing this weekend. Maybe watch some movies, go for a bike ride, if it's nice go to the beach, and of course whatever other procrastination things I do. Later days!

Games, games, games, oh how I've missed you.

Yes I realize that it has only been 2 days since I lasted posted, but who cares. What else am I supposed to do as I procrastinate studying? I have almost finished seasons of "Murder She Wrote" and "Reba", so I need another vice, I guess you could say.

Everyone is so stressed here for finals and it brings me to wondering why I am not more stressed about them. I am a little worried about the actual possibility of failing one or two of my courses and so not thinking about them helps me ease the worry. You see, you have to pass the lab section and the lecture section. I have high marks in the lab, but in inverts. and icthyology I barely passed the lecture midterm. That's the only thing I am concerned about. Bigger things are pressing on me. To name a few would be how I think that my wisdom teeth are finally going to make an appearance which is causing some pain, and how the weather is so great and I can't do anything outside because I can't do anything period. I would love nothing more than to hike up Mt. Doug today, which I may do anyways just because no one is here to stop me hahaha. Also just other stuff is racing through my mind that makes me think that studying is trivial.

Youth wasn't that great last night. I am getting better at that stupid cup stacking game though. We pretty much just played lame video games and other games all night with only like, you guessed it, two youth showing up again. Figures. What's the big thrill in video games anyways? I mean I like a good Mario Kart race every now and then, but sitting for hours on end staring at a tv screen seems utterly pointless to me. What happened to good old board games and games like spoons or other card games? That's where the real fun lies. Speaking of which, I cannot wait to play games all Christmas. Usually my family doesn't play with just our family because we fight too much, haha, but I think that we have to this Christmas. I have gone a whole semester deprived of games. I wouldn't even be surprised if Jon can beat me at speed or I don't know by now.

Oh I simply can't wait to be home. To see the Christmas decorations, drive some sweet vehicles, eat some cherry cheesecake cups, see my family, play some electronic skipbo, do all our Christmas traditions with McComishs, and just be home. It should be a really good Christmas, and you know what, I am even excited to see the snow. Shocker I know.

Christmas Trees and Studying

Hey folks. It's been almost a week since my last blog, I used to do this more regularily but lately nothing is really interesting and exciting in my life. My first exam is on Monday so I am trying to study for that. I keep procrastinating though. There are 3 days between each one of my exams so I am only worried about studying for one of these at a time. It makes life easier. Yeah, really I just have nothing new to share.

Last night I did go to the Empress Hotel downtown and look at all the Christmas trees. Various organizations around Victoria set up and decorate a Christmas tree in the hallways of the hotel. People then donate money to the BC Children's Hospital when they vote for their favorite or the best one. It's really cool. I'm just going to make the rest of this post pictures of that. These pictures don't do it all justice. There is everything from CARS themed ones, to the Grinch, to Irish, to everything. I have more pictures so if you are interested sometime I could show you them. Enjoy.

Back to Square One

The title explains it all. I hate to just complain on this blog, but my knee is killing me. I have been taking it easier than usual too. I went to physio on Tuesday and she said that I should book an appointment with the surgeon for the 6 month post op check up. She said that it hasn't been getting better and I am not where I should be right now. I should be able to run or at least bike without pain. My knee locks all the time now and it is extremely painful. I think it might be more meniscus tear and she agrees. Who would have thought? I didn't think that I had any left to tear. I don't know how I could tear that without doing strenuous activity which I haven't done. I haven't jumped in over 8 months, haven't ran in over 6. Ugh it's so frustrating. Now that I am done class (on Tuesday) and just have exams left, I am going to hit up the deep water jogging classes. I seem to like those and hopefully it is less painful.

Other than that my week has gone alright. Wrote three lab finals and I think that I did pretty well. I have my last paper due on Monday so Erin and I are going to be working on that tomorrow. Tonight is normally youth but since they are going skating and I can't do it, I am not going. I really like youth now and want to go, but this week I am once again held back by this stupid knee. I am going over to Jess's for supper and to watch a movie tonight. Should be alright.

Christmas is indeed coming soon and I am excited. Nothing really feels like Christmas here though, apart from the little bit of snow that we got on Monday (boo hiss). I am really excited to go home on the 21st. Don't know how great my last exam will go cuz I'll be so excited, but I'm sure I'll make it through.

Well I don't want to bore you all with another long post today so I'll sign off. Peace out.

Last "Crazy Monday" ever!!

I am sitting here after having just finished my invertebrate lab test and waiting for my animal behavior presentation. Safe to say that today was incredibly crappy, but that's okay because it is the last Monday like it. It was good to be back in class after having skipped Friday. My lab test didn't even go that bad. I mean it could have gone better, but having not studied that much, I though it went well. I was supposed to study last night but I wound up going to bed at 8 out of pure exhaustion. It was a late night weekend that's for sure. Here's a recap:

Thursday I went to Abby right after my lab on the 7 o clock ferry. Joe picked me up and we went to the Bee movie. The story line kind of sucked but it was a really funny movie. Joe and I laughed a lot. We also got the refill of the large popcorn, that's somehow irrelevant to you all, but it's not a surprise for us. Haha. I don't believe that this night was too late, about 12 or so.

Friday was Serena's birthday. Boy was she glad to see me. We went for breakfast, played cards, went to BP's for lunch, went bowling, played fooseball, pool and pingpong, watched movies then went to the bball games at 6. The games were so good. The girls played awesome and the guys game was entertaining as well. There was this one guy that canned 6 threes in row and scored 24 points in the second half alone. It was crazy. I didn't really watch all that much of the guys game because Melissa and Katherine were talking to me and I hadn't seen Joe all day so I was chattin' it up with him as well. After the games I went back to Cat and Carlene's which was a poor decision. They ended up watching a movie and going to bed at 3. You all know me and that I can't stay up that late. So this was the breaking point of the weekend and it was only Friday night. I just got really tired and didn't function well the next two days.

Saturday was a good day though, despite being tired. Joe planned a trip to the states for us which was sweet. We went to Applebee's for lunch which was amazing. Then we shopped til we dropped, literally. My legs were so dead. Anyhow Joe got some jeans and some pop and I got some cereal. Fun times. At 8 I went to his hockey game. They won! It was so fun to watch and it was awesome to see them pull out the win. They were super pumped too. They have been doing quite well lately so it's good to keep up the no lose streak. We went to BP's after which was good times as well.

On Sunday we just watched football until I had to go home on the ferry. My mom says that she would never get sick of the ferry, but really it's possible. It's not so much the ferry, it's waiting in line and jostling amongst people.

This is getting to be a lengthy post, but I haven't posted in awhile, I guess more frequently then some. The Cowboy's won again on Thursday. So exciting. The big game between Green Bay and Dallas is on Thursday so I would suggest that you don't miss it. It's so awesome that the team I always cheered for is finally winning and giving me something to actually cheer about. It's sweet having a tv this year too so that I can actually watch them.

Well I have 2 more lab finals this week then I'm done. I have class til next Tuesday, but without labs school is a breeze. My finals are pretty spread out which is nice, but I am only getting home on the 21st. Until then, later days!

Life is Great

Here I am blogging again, but it's been five days so I give myself credit for not writing every day when I should have been doing homework. I am so close to being done my volcano paper that is 10 pages long. I just need to revise it and put the references in and stuff. I don't really know when that came together, but it did and now I am feeling a little less stressed. I can't complain though, life is good. Next week I will be done the dog stuff forever and all my labs will be done for this semester too minus some lab exams.

Many good things happened this week. I couldn't contain my excitement. I'll make it into a list, because I like lists.
1. On Wednesday I went to physio and she did the same old strength tests for my quads and hamstrings thinking that it would be the same as always. But, and it's a big but, my strength was so much better. My full range in extension and flexion was there and I think Leigh was impressed. Ha. She says that I might be able to run next week seeing as it has been 6 months since my surgery and I should have been able to run after 3. Oh well, time heals my wounds.

2. On Thursday I went and declared my major. All I had to do was sign a piece of paper saying that I would get my Bachelor of Science degree with a major in biology. I found out some good stuff though. There is no "marine biology" specialty, emphasis or degree, so biology it is. This is good because that means I don't have the added pressure of going to Bamfield in the fall for a full semester to get the marine part done. It is all research and I have decided that I don't want to do that. Plus it's super far out in the boonies and as it is, Victoria is too far away from important people. The advisor also showed me what I have left to take which is 7 classes of which 3 need to be upper level biology, 3 upper level electives and 1 general elective. This is exciting because it means that next fall I won't be having 4 labs like I have had every other semester at UVIC and I will have my degree in December of next year, 2008. Also I can take some random courses at a high level, such as anatomy and kinesiology things and maybe some other random electives. In general, knowing the end point is making this time now a lot easier to deal with. I know what I am working toward and am going to put forth my best effort to get there.

3. Tonight's youth was so awesome. I always knew that I could be an actor. We played Clue, but life sized version. I was dressed up as Miss Scarlet and the kids had to go around asking all the characters where they were and try and solve who did it. I had a ton of fun and the kids had fun asking us questions. I felt like I really stepped out of my bubble without fear and had a great time.

Wow, well that's a brief overview of what life has been like for me. The rest of this weekend will involve working on my papers and hopefully watching football on Sunday if I get it all done. These weeks have gone by pretty fast thankfully, because I am so excited to go to Abbotsford next weekend. Like, so excited. Serena is going to be there and it's her birthday so we are doing stuff for that and there are home basketball games to watch and cheer for. And for those of you that haven't heard all about it already, Saturday is mine and Joe's one year, so that's exciting too. It should be an awesome weekend.

My family is in Saskatoon this weekend celebrating my grandma's birthday and Christmas with my other side and Leia and I are missing out. It's too bad because it would be really fun, but I'm sure that they will have a good time.

Just a closing side note, how the heck can I get blue pen ink out of my rain coat? Any suggestions? Later days!

I MISS BASKETBALL!!!

Oh man I can't tell you how much I miss basketball. Or running. Or playing tennis, or doing anything athletic for that matter. I have been trying to supress any idea or feeling about this because I just get angry the more I think about it, but I have reached a point where I can't stop thinking about how much I am missing out on. Right now all I want to do is bike the 50km to Sooke and back. I want to go to the gym and shoot 3's till I can't jump any more. I want to go for a however many km run in the rain with no pain. UGH!

It's time to move on. I thought that I was handling this well but I'm not. Basketball was my life. I played it all the time, I would work out in the mornings to be better at basketball, I would think about it during class, and it really sort of defined who I was. Now I have nothing. I feel really lost because I don't have clear set goals anymore. I don't have the drive to do well in school because I was just doing that in the past so that I could play university ball. I just feel like I have lost the only thing that I have ever been good at.

My favorite part of my day is getting up at 6:15am to go to the gym at 6:30. I absolutely love it and don't care if people think I'm crazy for getting up that early. I love working out when other people are still in bed. The gym is the one place in the world where I feel like I am good at something. I can work hard and put all my effort into it and I will achieve something and feel good about myself. Really, I just feel so confident when I am at the gym unlike anywhere else.

You're all thinking, yeah but don't hurt your knee. Well, you know what? I was better off before this surgery. I could at least run and play tennis and jump. Now I can't even walk down the street without pain. I know, I really know that God had a reason for this, but I just don't know what it is and what I'm supposed to do now. I have learned patience or am in the process of trying to be more patient. I have also slowed down to take time to get closer to Him. But in the long run, is arthritis at the age of 30 really going to benefit me? Is watching from the sidelines really going to make me happy? Like I just don't get it.

I guess for now I will just continue to do physio and try and be careful as I do my stinkin' dainty exercises in the gym for fear of pain. It's not even funny. At least today I had a boost of confidence and had to laugh when I was the only girl in the gym and was working with the weights while 6 guys were all on the cardio equipment. It was a sight to see. Anyhow I'm not good at asking for prayer, but I could really use some right now.

Well, I should be working on my animal behavior dog project thing right now. I'll be back on this thing soon, you can bet on it. Later days!

The Iron Chef

Well we all knew that I would be blogging frequently this week as I am sitting in my room alone. What else is new?! I had the spontaneous idea to go home this weekend, but after 5 hours of trying to make a decision I decided to just stay here. So the plan is that tonight I am headed off to youth and then tomorrow morning I am driving up to Nanaimo and catching the ferry that goes to Gabriola Island. That is where my friend Jessica lives. I am going to spend Saturday there and then drive home after church on Sunday. Should be good. She has wanted me to come up there for awhile. So yeah, that's the plan for the week in it's entirety.

The salmon run last night was really cool. Apparently they are a lot more physical and do more splashing at night than during the day. I was really into it for the first 20 minutes, but after another hour I got super bored and wanted to leave. I mean how long are you supposed to watch the things? It was really cool though. All these salmon are just sort of sitting in the water facing the oncoming water and not having to swim against it. There were hundreds that we saw. The whole stream is full of them. It's crazy. And then as soon as they spawn, they die. So the banks are littered with dead salmon and these things aren't your average fish. They are all like almost 3 feet long. Stinkin' huge.

Onto better things, well not really but talking "school" talk isn't all that appealing right now. If you are wondering what to make for supper sometime I would suggest the Salsa Mac and Beef recipe found on a can of Campbell's Cheddar cheese soup. It's so good. I have really been into baking and cooking lately. I love it. When I go back to Abbotsford in two weeks I have orders to bring back some more. Cat just loved my mom's banana cookies so I am going to be making those and then I'm sure that I'll make some other stuff for Joe. I would really like to make some sort of cake for Serena's birthday, but I don't think that it will fair too well hauling it across the ferry on the Friday.

I am running out of things to say, although you all know that I could talk forever. It's true. Just no one here to talk to, so I'll do it through my blog. Everyone's thinking "yes it's the long weekend". And oh yes, you have no idea how long. Fun times. Later days!

Procrastination Time Again

We all knew that this would happen. I thought that staying here for reading break I would be able to get a bunch of stuff done but I think that I am just going to be chilling around my house watching movies and what not. I mean I really do need to do work and since it's group stuff, I will be more motivated to put forth my best effort. I just don't want to do any more work.

Tomorrow I am going to watch my first salmon run. Should be fun, but cold seeing as we're going at night. I am looking forward to it. I also heard back from that old folks home/hospital for volunteering and so I am meeting with the coordinator in a couple weeks when both aren't so busy.

My knee was super swollen from the weekend but is finally going down. I couldn't determine why it was so sore until I remembered that I ran FAST to get on the ferry in time. I was just bookin' 'er. I really didn't think that I was going to make it. Note to self: plan for more than 30 minutes on a Friday. Thanks to my stealthy lane changing and amazing Jeep I made it on time (I think that speed might have helped a bit too, haha).

Another thing on my "to-do" list for next week (yep, another list) is to figure out stuff about school. I just don't know what I want to do. I am declaring my major on the 15th of November so maybe the counselor can give me a better idea of what I should do. But at this point in time, I do NOT want to do a semester at Bamfield in the fall. It's going to be all research and I just don't want to. So the plan at this exact moment in time (6:25 pm on Wed. night) is to do 2 courses at Bamfield in the summer and take 5 classes in the fall at UVIC and finish with a biology degree in December. I can't really get an official "marine biology" degree anyways so whatever. I will probably change my mind soon, even tomorrow. I will know more after my little advising session on the 15th too.

That's about all the major things happening right now. A big shout out goes to Jon and my Dad who have their birthdays tomorrow. I don't think either of them read this blog, but anyways : HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Later days!

A New Week

Well today starts another new week of school. On the bright side though is the fact that this is the second last week of actually labs. The last week of labs is all lab tests. So after this dreaded Monday where I have classes from 10-9 I will only have 2 more left. I will never do that again. I don't think that I even put a lab on Monday next semester so it's looking good. I did get my work for this week done ahead of time and since reading break is next week I won't be doing a whole lot of school work this week. Probably should do some reading for my classes but I don't think that's going to happen.

I was in Abbotsford this past weekend as you may have read on my last blog. It was fun times. We, as in Joe, Owen and I, watched basketball on Friday night. All the girls were so glad to see me. Someone asked me if I wished I was playing, and you know what, I actually didn't. I can clearly remember too much pain in my knee from last year that I really don't wish to repeat it. Both teams lost. They were playing Douglas which is an amazing team. This one guy, Joe's favorite, throws down all the time, it's crazy.

Saturday saw us playing minigolf and skee ball at Castle Fun Park. The scores were 45,46,an 47. Of course I brought up the rear, but one of these days it will change. I only lost by 1 to Joe, so it wasn't a blowout like last time. Joe played hockey at 8, so we went and cheered all hardcore for that. Twas a good weekend. I'm headed back there in 3 weeks for some more fun times.

Yay Dallas. 7-1. It's looking like a good season for them. Only loss to New England who is in fact undefeated, so it's all good.

Well I'm running out of things to say. Maybe I'll try and be more creative next week when I am just sitting around procrastinating on my homework. Later days!

"Oh let the sun shine in, face it with a grin"

Now for some breaking news . . .

Yo peeps. I guess it's about time I updated you on my life. I went to a movie, had supper and went to a college and career thing with Jessica this weekend. We always have a good time together. On Friday I had youth which was fun. We carved pumpkins and ate candy. On Sunday I treated myself to a day of eating popcorn and watching football on TV after having to go out for an hour and watch dogs interact with each other. I hate dogs. I have never really liked them and to have them come up to me and run around and stuff is so unpleasant. I never want to have to study dogs again in my life.

One really great thing that happened this weekend is when I woke up early on Saturday morning (surprise, surprise) I looked out my window and the sun was just rising. I quickly got bundled up and sped to Mt. Doug and watched the sunrise on the mountain. It was so amazing. If you haven't seen the sunrise on the top of a mountain (large hill in this case) overlooking the entire city of Victoria with the Olympic Mountains in the background and ocean on three sides, you should definitely do it! Watching the sunrise at the ocean period, is amazing. (Pictures to come)

I am headed off to Abbotsford this weekend. I went twice in September, but I haven't been there since Thanksgiving and this weekend will already be November, so it's been awhile. Should be fun.

School is, well . . . school. I'm learning lots, but it's not all that enjoyable. I don't know if I would be saying that if I had aced all my midterms, but seeing as how I didn't, I can say that I don't like school right now. 2 midterm marks were confidence boosters, but the other 6 made me wish that I was giving myself a swirly. Ha. That's how bad it was. Time to buckle down I guess.

Not much else is new with me. My knee is holding out. I have been scolded (advised might be the better word) from numerous people, probably everyone who is reading this, to stop going so hard on it. I have cut back the cardio stuff, but last week I started swimming on Thursday! It went so well that it's going to be a weekly occurrence. I'm not a big fan of lane swimming, it's so boring, but if I can do that and go as hard as I want without significant pain, then I will do it.
Later days!

Rempel Reunion

Well now seems as good a time as ever to write this blog since I am procrastinating/rebelling in getting my algae project paper finished. I just don't care.

My weekend with my parents was awesome. There was a definite lack of sleep but who needs sleep while you are partying the night away. Haha. I am giving a play by play on here of the weekend because no one ever really cares to hear about it in real life and I love giving play by plays. I did it everday when I came home from school, I would go through every class and minute of the day and tell my parents what I did. I hope that they enjoyed it because I sure did.

On Saturday I picked my parents up at the ferry and we did some grocery shopping. We went to Kelsey's for lunch and then to the IMAX to watch Wild Safari or something like that. It was good. We slept and I studied and then we took Jessica out for supper at Montanas. After that I whipped my mom and dad in 19 and zilch. Good times.

On Sunday we went out for breakfast at Denny's then went to church. Then we walked around downtown for awhile. We went up to campus and rode the double deck around Victoria for the afternoon. Right in the front seat where it feels like a roller coaster. That's the closest we got to any fun around here. We went to Nautical Nellie's for seafood and my dad got the Alaskan King Crab and let me tell you, that leg was huge! It sure tasted good too. We went to Michael Clayton in the evening which wasn't that good and then went to bed. I was so tired. They left Monday morning.

For those of you that are going to come visit me, know that we will have a good time. We didn't do a whole lot this weekend basically because we had done it all on previous trips. Anyways, it was good to see them again and apparently Leia is liking the beetle.

Jess and I are making some sweet dessert on the weekend and going to Dan in Real Life. Not much else is happening with me though. I'm not really liking school right now but that will probably pass. Usually does. Hope that all your lives are way more interesting than mine. Have a good week!

A Brand New Day

Greetings,

I can't say that I have all that much new to tell you. Exams are still going, 3 down and 5 to go. It's been a rude awakening coming back from CBC last year where things were a tad easier and a lot more enjoyable. I have my algae lab test this afternoon and despite all the complaining that I do about that class, it's actually fairly easy and a bit interesting.

I did catch a cold at the beginning of this week and am recuperating pretty quickly actually. It hasn't been pleasant to study through though. Well enough complaining, my parents are coming to visit this weekend and I am SO excited. I don't have anything planned yet on account of me having no time (I guess that I am writing this blog), but anyways it should be fun times. My dad hasn't seen my place yet so that should be good too.

There's always lots to complain about, but yesterday on my way to get a slush (I miss the good old Tuesday night tradition) I was listening to the song "It Is Well With My Soul" and if I remember correctly that the writer of that hymn wrote that while his wife was dying or sick. It just brought me back to thinking that I am going through nothing compared to what other people are going through. I have the opportunity to go to school, have a great place to live with friends around me, a really great boyfriend, and an awesome family at home. So really I have nothing to complain about. God has blessed me in so many ways.

That's about all for now, I'll catch up on here after I have hopefully survived all my midterms. Have a great day!

Let me get a show of hands who actually reads this thing?

Life is just peachy keen out here in Victoria. NOT!! Midterm season is not just around the corner anymore, it is here. I have had 2 already this week and then I have 5 next week and 1 the week after. Admist those tests, I have a couple of presentations and projects due. Fun fun. I'm not expecting great things from the first two but I'll let you know at a later date how I did.

On top of this, yesterday my physiotherapist said that I should lay off the cardio for awhile. I had complained that my knee hurt with everything that I did and that was her answer. Boo hiss. I'm sure that you all know that I will not stop. I refuse! I may lay low for a while and take it easier but stopping is not in my vocabulary. I slept in for the first school day ever this year because it was my "cardio" day and feel like a slacker.

On top of this . . . just joking. Nothing else is super bad here. I have some free time this weekend so I'm going to head on down to the ocean to do some reading and maybe studying if I feel like it. I am going to play basketball on Saturday too. Actually I'll probably just shoot around, but I really have a hankering to play. Can't stop this.

Oh and if you want a really interesting and entertaining blog to read check out Brianne's: cutelikeabeaver.blogspot.com. It doesn't have many words, but the pictures tell the stories. She's pretty hilarious too.

I have no new pictures to display either. I just never feel like taking any. I had my camera in Abby on the weekend and at our Thanksgiving dinner, but I just didn't snap away. Needed my mom there I guess.

Did anyone catch that Dallas Cowboys game on Monday Night? I heard that most of it was pretty bad, but that last couple minutes were amazing. Dallas got the ball from their own onside kick and got it within field goal range for their rookie kicker to kick a career long field goal. Now I am definitely down playing this and didn't explain it all perfectly, but I couldn't do it justice. It was just amazing! And we are undefeated, which makes it even better.

Keep it real and note to self, don't take another ichthyology (study of fish) class EVER AGAIN!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I guess I am gonna post now seeing as I still don't have my computer back from Staples. Dumb thing had a virus or so they thought and turns out that the whole thing just crashed. A good $120 later I hope it's good as new. I really need it for the weekend so I hope I can get it today or tomorrow.

This weekend I am headed off to the mainland yet again for a weekend in Abbotsford. We are making a big Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday for a bunch of friends, Joe's friends, my friends and Leia and her friends. Should be fun. I am for sure bringing some board games too. An essential to any good party I would say. I'm not too sure if I am going to bring my jeep over or not, so I better get cracking on that decision.

School is going alright. My sweet work ethic from last year has stayed with me and I am getting assignments done ahead of time for once in my life. It's nice to have some free time. Although I do get bored pretty fast. So I bake. Last night I made some sweet monster cookies, I'm glad that they turned out.

The Vikes and CBC basketball seasons are just around the corner so I am anticipating going to many games in the next little while. I always wish I was playing, but no chancy. There is nothing else to watch here really, other than soccer (snore) and field hockey (now that's a pansy sport). So I am left to NFL on tv and basketball when it comes. It should keep me entertained most weekends. It seems that this weekend will consist of much sports watching as well, with BC playing on Friday, the Canucks games on Friday and Sat, Joe's hockey on Saturday, and football on Sunday.

Don't want to keep you long today. Just thought I throw a shout out to all the people who still read this. Hopefully you are enjoying it. Have a good weekend!

"Anybody know what species this is?" I don't really care.

I wasn't going to blog until the weekend was done but I find myself not wanting to do anymore work tonight. Although I didn't do that much today anyways. Yesterday Jessica and I went to a dinner theatre at my church. The food was good and the play was so funny.

This morning I went on the invertebrate cruise for 3 hours. Boy was it COLD! I was already wearing three layers but it went right through me. We saw some sweet crabs, shrimp, and cool fish. Now lately I have been thinking that I am bad at remembering what I learn in class about different organisms and fish. However I am beginning to realize that I grew up on the prairies and wasn't exposed to all the marine life until my first year here. So yeah, that's my excuse. Plus mammals are way more interesting than little things you have to look at in a microscope.

This afternoon Jessica and I went to the Victoria Rebel's football game. Big adjustment to watch Canadian football again. I have decided that I really don't like it and will stick with watching the NFL. The NFL trumps the CFL, but football is football and any chance that I can get to watch it I will take.

I have gotten all my assignments underway now and am less stressed about the work load. I have to do this dumb dog watching experiment. It's so dumb. I don't really like dogs so to have to watch them is a real snore. I think I know some people that would agree with me. Worse if it was about cats. Haha.

This is just a shorty but I don't have a lot of other stuff to say. My knee is okay. I really wish that I could run, but all in due time. I'm just not that patient.

Have a good one.

Seahawks 24 - Bengals 21 WE WERE THERE!

Before I begin this lengthy post about the Seahawks game we went to, I must comment on this picture. As you will read we sat at the border crossing for 2.5 hours and we got bored. I tried taking some nice pictures and this is all that happened. I only posed like this once, the rest I'm smiling nice while Joe was still making faces. Haha the joke's on me.

Let's jump right to the chase. The Seahawks game on Sunday was so awesome. Joe and I were sitting 3 rows from the field on the 30 yard line right behind the Seahawks bench. We were in a section with a whole bunch of season ticket holders which made the atmosphere even better. Now when they talk about Seattle's 12 man and how loud it is in there, you kind of take it with a grain of salt, until you are in the midst of it all. The first quarter was especially loud, my ears were ringing like it was a rock concert or something. The fans and cheering caused 3 false start penalties by Cinncinati in that game and it was so great to be a part of that.

We got to Seattle about 2 hours early and so we walked around a bit and watched the warm up. It amazes me watching all the stretches and workouts that they go through to get ready for the game. They have an actual hawk that flies out of the tunnel before the players run out, which was pretty cool. Oh yeah and they had 4 guys skydiving into the stadium.

The opening drive by Seattle was so exciting and LOUD. We're like jumping up and down and clapping and yelling when we scored. It was awesome. And apparently right after this first drive we were on TV. Pretty cool. It was a really good game to watch. Shaun Alexander had a better second half. The Bengals offense was really good and so many times our defense seemed like it was lacking, but it was just because the Bengals were so good. But Seattle kept it close. The last two minutes when Matt Hasselbeck threw for the touchdown and then when we forced a fumble in the dying minutes were crazy in the stands. It was so exciting to watch. Joe and I both had a really good time and thought it was an awesome game.

Of course we stopped at Jack-in-the-box for supper on the way out of the states. It never lets me down. Hoping to make the 9 ferry to Victoria that night we went through the Peace Arch Border crossing in White Rock. BIG mistake. We waited 2.5 hours to get across. With the Seahawks game and the dollar being so good I'm sure that everyone had been in the states that day. Or so it seemed.

I just took the ferry on Monday after Joe was done class. No big deal. To back track a bit, I went to Abbotsford on Saturday. Joe picked me up and we went to White Rock and walked around for a bit. Then we went to Surrey to get his new Canucks jersey (boo). At 4 we watched the Lion's game in Boston Pizza for a couple hours and waited until his hockey game at 8. Not as many fans as last time, but I like watching Joe and his team play. They lost 7-1.

Now I am back in Victoria and getting ready to hunker down to do some assignments. This weekend will be busy with a dinner theatre I'm going to watch with Jessica at my church on Friday, a field trip on the ocean Saturday morning, and a Victoria Rebels football game in the afternoon. Should be good times.

I thought that I would also add a couple pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Me and Joe standing in our seats.
A good shot at the play and the number of fans that were there.

Play in the background and our view of the bench. That's how close we were!

The Promised Pictures of My Place

Hello! Here are the pictures of my place in Victoria. My address is: 2225 Greenlands Rd., Victoria, BC, V8N 1T6. Just in case you need it, haha.

Okay the door straight ahead is Sarah's room. The living room area is to the left of that chair. Our door, a separate entrance from the landlord's, is to the right. And this is the kitchen with our little table and chairs.

This is the living room area, fully equipped with dvd player and cable!

This is the hallway leading from that other picture to our rooms. Mine is the first one on the right, then Salema's is next to mine. The laundry room is straight ahead and the bathroom is to the left.

My room. All the furniture was provided, a bed, shelves, a desk, chair, lamps. It's pretty sweet!

This is the rest of my room. The door, closet, shelves. Pretty full I guess.

Well there you have it and hopefully you will now know better where I live. It's only about 20 minute walk to school, 10 to the gym, 10 to the my favorite cove on the ocean, Arbutus Cove. I like it and it's relatively quiet! Adios!

Just a Quickie

I got an email yesterday saying that I had won the Millenium In Course Scholarship that I had applied for in June. It is $4000 for one year. For those of you who know how much work I had to put into that thing, I am so excited. It's not the renewable one, which is kind of a downer, but this is just awesome. Thanks to Mrs. McComish who filled out a reference thing and all the other people that helped me write it out. The package with all the information and money will be sent by the end of the month. I just had to let you all know this exciting news!!!

Awesome Weekend in Abbotsford

Well my creativity for titles and pictures is decreasing as my brain is slowly loading up with pictures of fish and facts about sponges. So I hope that I can make some time to entertain you through this blog rather than boring you with the facts. I did learn some sweet stuff on the ferry to the mainland this weekend (keke) and in my class the other day. It was surprising to find out that most of the organisms in the ocean are animals where as on land most are plants. So even things that look like plants are probably animals. Cool eh?

My weekend in Abby was amazing. I don't really want to give you a whole play by play, but Joe and I played minigolf (ending in a massacre, it's up to you to determine who won), went to Mr. Bean's holiday (amazing and hilarious), watched football on Sunday, and watched Joe play hockey. I'm sure that he is going to write about it in his blog but from a fan's point of view I'll explain. All of the stands were full and people were standing 4 back from the glass to the ice. There were soso many fans! We lost 8-2 but every time that they scored they had maybe 5 fans cheer and we started chanting "CBC" so that shut them up. Then we finally scored and the place went crazy. Joe said that he couldn't hear anything on the ice, it was so loud. Then Matt scored near the end of the third period and it was even louder. It was a great goal. You would have thought that we won the game!!

Anyhow I was super tired when I got back here on Sunday night and still am.

I can't thank God enough for great friends. Cat and Carlene, rather Donna, let me stay at her place for night. I had some good conversations with Melissa and Katherine too. Just getting hugged 4 at a time by those girls was so awesome and my greeting at the school couldn't have been any better. Of course seeing Joe wasn't too bad either, haha.

Labs started this week and I already was making rash decisions about hating biology and labs and never taking any more. It's just so time consuming and this semester I have so many assignments and projects for them too. There is this one girl that is in both labs on Monday (back to back from 2:30 to 9:00) so it's good we can be tired and stressed together. I have a whack of reading to do, but what else is new?

Just a quick prayer request, other than strength for all my school work, would be guidance for deciding what to do for volunteer work. I know that I have a really busy schedule but it's really been put on my heart to volunteer somewhere. I am putting so much into my mind at school, heart at church, and body at the gym, but I need to be putting love and time into other people. I have a couple ideas of what I want to do, but I just need help picking one and the time to do it. Thanks so much.

Until later, adios!!

New School Year

Greetings!

Life is good here in Victoria. My place is really great. I will try and add some pictures to my blog sometime if I ever figure out how to do it. My first days of classes have gone well. Except for the fact that having 5 classes and 5 labs is WAY too much! I thought that I could handle it but after the first day I realized that I was going to be way too busy and I was already getting stressed. So I ended up dropping Animal Physiology, which would have been interesting, but too hard I think, and am taking a course of Earthquakes, Volcanos and Plate Tectonics. I have wanted to take that since my first year here.

I went to physio for the first time on Thursday and it was amazing! I waited all summer for that one great half hour. My physiotherapist is so nice and she remembered me from my first two years. Could be because I was in there pretty much every week for two straight years! She is into kayaking and hiking so she was telling me all about her trips in the summer. She saw a whole pod of whales and a seal being born! Crazy stuff. I wish that was me. Oh but to get back to the actual physio, she did some stretching and heating of this one tendon that's been bothering me. It feels so good now. I just knew that she could do something about that. I still can't run because of the pain but maybe soon. She thinks it's from having basically no cartilage left for cushioning. Let's hope that's not the case because I love running.

I don't want this post to be as long as my last one cuz Leia was complaining so I'll wrap 'er up soon. This weekend I am heading to Abbotsford, bringing my freshly baked, but hard as rock cookies along. I guess when Mom says that they go in for 7 minutes, she means 7 minutes exactly. Haha. I'm sure that I'll get better at baking over time.

I guess that I'll catch up you all on my life later next week when I am practically living at the school. 4 three hour labs and 5 three hour classes a week makes for a very busy schedule. Oh well. I'll see how I feel once it actually starts. Bye for now!!!!

Vacation Time in BC featuring C, Le, Bre, and Momsy

I'm back in Victoria and it's so exciting. It hasn't been overly sunny or anything here so it's kind of a drag. My new place is awesome. We have cable (a big selling point haha), a big room, all new furniture, a fully loaded kitchen and it's only about 5 minute bike or 10 minute walk to the university. Apparently there are shortcuts but I don't know them yet. I will explore tomorrow or Tuesday.


Well, my dad didn't come on our vacation so it was different. Still fun though. The drive up was rainy and frustrating because Brianne and I just fought over who's music to listen to. In Vernon we met up with Leia's friend Charissa and had supper there. In Kelowna the next day we chilled on the beach, Okanagan Lake, and the hotel pool. We did go mini golfing there and I believe that I won. Haha, I'm sure that my mom is pleased that I put this in here.


Next we headed to Grand Forks on the Saturday. We met up with Joe at Christina Lake, which is the lake my dad really wanted to see. It was a really nice lake. That night my mom and sisters stayed at the hotel and I went with Joe to his camp staff appreciation banquet.
On Sunday we went to church, ate at Joe's house, and then left for Chilliwack. Brief stay in Chilliwack and then onto the States. We shopped,shopped, and shopped. It was great although my knee swelled up to the size of a melon and Leia was in a lot of pain too. Although she got to be wheeled around in a wheelchair while I pushed her.


After three days there, we came back to Chilliwack, visited my cousins and then dropped Leia off in Surrey. She was doing some cruise thing but you can read more about that, I'm sure, in her blog coming soon. After disposing of Leia (no offense, Le haha) we headed to the ferry to ride across to Victoria. Now normally I don't complain or rant like Joe but the ferry is so expensive and it's ridiculous because other than plane it's the only way across. For a vehicle and 1 person it is $51.55. I wish they would lower it or give a deal for "frequent flyers" like me. To just ride on the ferry though it's only around 11 bucks, so I guess that it's not too bad.



Anyhow in Victoria we went to the Craigdarroch castle. For those of you planning on visiting me, which may be few, the castle is alright, but more of a museum. The architecture is cool and it's huge because it's 28, 000 square feet. I would be happy to escort you through it but I've done it twice so if that's not your thing than don't go. We also went on the breakwater, so cool. We shopped some more for necessity things and food for me. We did go minigolfing once too and the course is so good. It's "Around the World" so each hole is a different country, if you have seen "Overboard" then it's like what they are designing. Let me just admit to you all that I am a sore loser and I was losing hardcore the first 9 holes or so. But in my back nine I had a major comeback with 1 hole in one and a couple birdies and won the game. My mom and Brianne were not very pleased. Actually I would say that they were mad. Haha. Good times.



Now I am here writing this blog before going back to my church, this time with Robyn. I am happy to have some friends still from my first two years to do things with. I am also happy to have a vehicle here. The bus system is good despite what most people think, but driving is so much easier. I will be taking my bike to school most of the time though because it's cheaper, faster and better exercise. There is a big bbq on Tuesday, classes start on Wednesday, and then on Friday I am heading to Abbotsford.



That about catches you all up on my life to this point. I really hope to keep up with this blog so keep your eyes peeled. Later!

Gelato and Dust Bunnies

Yesterday saw me in Calgary visiting my friend Katherine from Victoria. Whoa I haven't been to Calgary in a long time. So much construction and new buildings especially in Airdrie. I normally only see the airport and the long straight road home (no comment needed). We chatted 'er up and then went to Moxie's. Good steak! Next was the Bourne Ultimatum. Now I would recommend that you should see the first 2 before you see this one. It was really good but I hadn't really seen the first 2 so I didn't know what was going on. It had good action though. I am really starting to get into action movies. Can't say they are my favorite, but I don't mind those kinds of movies. Oh and then I tried gelato. SO GOOD! It's unique stuff that gelato though.

Now I am home from that and the only thing that hovers over my head constantly is: packing. I hate packing. You'd think that I would be getting used to it but it is not so. I have way too much stuff and I don't use it all, but do you think that I can get rid of it? NO. Leia, Brianne, and I tried to purge the other day but the only things that we got rid of were to each other. I took some of their clothes and they took some of mine. The cycle never stops. My plan is to fit it all into the jeep for the ride out but my mom claims that it's impossible. That's a laugh. I'll show you, Mom!

The summer has been long, boring, and exciting at times. I've gone to Drumheller, Edmonton a few times, had knee surgery, swam in our new pool in the backyard, been to Saskatoon, had relatives come here, went to BC once (oh so long ago), and tried to do physio on a regular basis, but it just didn't happen. I'm definitely looking forward to being back in school. It's been awhile since I was at UVIC so it'll take a bit to adjust to labs and more reading. It's going to be a great year. Different from last year for sure and probably harder in some ways.

CBC was amazing. I loved last year and wouldn't trade it for anything. I often thought of going back, but I think that I would expect it to be the same as last year and it won't. I learned so much, met awesome people, and got to play basketball. That is one thing that I will for sure miss. I have to hold myself back from playing anything at this point in time, which only makes me more impatient. Someday (actually 4-5 months), but seems like an eternity nonetheless. Anyhow, life changes and we have to move on with it.

Hopefully I'll keep this blog updated for you all. It's fun writing so hopefully you enjoy reading. Peace out and keep it real!

"You're on your way with Esso"

Gas has nothing to do with this blog but it seemed appropriate as I am just starting this blogging business. I just thought of joining the club right after googling my name today and seeing it appear on a Joe Kraftchick's blog. Which was of course exciting. Actually thinking about that more, my name came up on a couple of sites. Mostly all statistics from basketball games, but to think, I am almost famous. That's a laugh, maybe someday.This blog is going to be an interesting one I must say. Might be awhile before I let some people know that I have it, although I am sure that some will be explore for such a thing. I think that I am having more fun making up the color scheme than I am having trying to think of anything to say. For this first blog and creation of the site I would like to send out a big thank you to my sister Leia for helping me with my names and getting going. My dad for giving me corny ideas for names and not feeling dejected after I pitched them all. And for all the people who have ever called me Remps. This one's for you.