The Great Mango Tree of Life
Wednesday, February 25, 2004
Happy Ash Wednesday everybody! It is now officially Lent, and time for me to give up something hard for 40 days. This year is a repeat of last year (since that didn't work out so well). Once again I am giving up complaining. I'll need everyone's help for this one, so if you catch me complaining on here, please comment and I'll print an official recant and apology. Thanks!
Monday, February 23, 2004
Today has been interesting - for someone who hates phonecalls, I've certainly spent alot of time on the phone! First, I got my computer back today. It has a new harddrive. The good news is that I got my data back and the computer now boots. The bad news is that I got it back with no programs on it, so I still can't use it. I've called IBM for a restore cd, but it'll be a few days, so I'll be paying for the rental a bit longer. Meanwhile, in order to access my disks (for work) I have to load them on my computer, save them to my USB key, and edit them on my rental, then save transfer them back to the disks on my computer. *sigh*
Big thanks to Alex for walking me through the mess. No thanks whatsoever to the campus computer store, since this should have been dealt with last September, and they're making things more difficult than they have to be.
I also got a call from the courts downtown. My boss's boss put the paperwork through in record time, and I got my summer job back -- with a raise! I get to pick my start and end dates, and then I'll call her back. Now I have one more annoying phonecall to make (hopefully it will be dealt with quickly) and then I can start on my work for today, which is mounting quickly.
Lunch was really fun today, even if bunches of the "guaranteed" people showed up, and we had a surprise visitor instead. (TechKnight has a gf!!!) I didn't get drunk, because I had to pack afterwards, but that's ok because I had wine at home instead.
I got a new toy! MotivatedTea got me a USB key-chain. *grin* I like this better than burning cds. Hopefully my computer (which is reportedly fixed) still has my data on it, so that I can copy the important stuff onto my new card.
Saturday, February 21, 2004
Yesterday didn't turn out exactly as planned. I skipped work with dad to sleep in (which was very necessary, since I haven't been feeling well for a few days). Then I went to the law library and spent about two hours NOT finding the case I was looking for -- although I did read about a million cases about cows and horses getting out of improperly-built fenced areas and being killed by cars and trains in various locations in Ontario. Lunch with mom was amazingly great. We went to the Kim Moon Bakery and ate a ton of food for only $6 (between the two of us, not each)! Then I went home and didn't do my ABCs.
You see, I came up with a plan last night to remember the three things I really needed to do yesterday - I just had to remember my ABCs.
A = alter dress for the commerce formal (in March)
B = buy felt (for cleaning my violin)
C = call Rebecca (re: visiting this weekend).
I did exactly none of those things, so I have to do them today instead. Today is also studying-for-387 day. *sigh* I don't like studying.
Thursday, February 19, 2004
There's something extremely exhausting about this week. It shouldn't be called either reading week OR slack week, because I don't do much of either during it. However, I will attempt to muster up the energy to blog, because if I don't do it soon I will have forgotten everything.
Tuesday - Dentist in the morning. Had lunch with MT and friends (or students, since he's their TA) at a very nice Italian place. Very much enjoyed Robert, who was the outgoing, non-intense one in the group (of graduate engineer students). Went to my job interview, to discover that my former boss had open heart surgery at the end of January!! The good news is she's recovering, which I heard from HER boss who was in for the afternoon and who gave me the interview instead. She likes my resume and everything seemed good -- except for the fact that the position still doesn't exist because they haven't put the paperwork through and it might not get approved etc... so it's all up in the air still. Also worked on Gliere with MT.
Yesterday - went to a client with dad, who was very Godfather-ish and also kind of insane (or at least not remotely practical). Visited Osgoode on the way back, and learned some good things and some bad. Did ALOT of walking. Got home in time to accompany MT to school, where he gave a tutorial (I studied). Went with MT to a TSO concert. SOOOOO amazing. I jump up and down every time I think about it. Watched Moonraker until 1:30am.
Today - met with a lawyer (client of dad's) who works in a small firm of entirely women. Very interesting experience. Met lawyers from all over the place, and learned more good and bad things about different law schools. Had lunch with one. Meeting new people is very stressful for me, so it was good but tiring. Had a nap. Did some work. Went to Remenyi's to pick up my wonderfully re-haired bow and to get some violin polish. Ran into a former Queen's grad (singer from QSO last year) and had a fun chat.
Tomorrow - work with dad, lunch with mom, law library research all afternoon, ice cream with mom, need to buy some felt. I think (hope) that's it.
Monday, February 16, 2004
Today was productive. I got up early to accompany MT to the campus, after which we dropped off my bow for re-hairing. I finished re-doing my resume (from scratch, since my original copies are all on my computer which still isn't fixed). Actually, that was an interesting assignment. I re-organized the whole thing, so I think it's better now than it was. Hopefully I will have my job interview tomorrow, so that I can use it. I also have my orchestration assignment a bit more than half done, and I practiced the Planets yesterday, so that will be in good shape by next week. In the afternoon was my orthodontist appointment, followed by a phone call from Lawyer #1 regarding law schools and jobs etc. (I've been asking around for advice).
The best part of the day was definitely dinner with Justin. We ate Korean, which brought back all kinds of fun memories of the tour in 2000. Had a bet over what one particular item of food was (which I won - but I had the unfair advantage of having eaten alot more Korean food than Justin). For those of you who know me, you'll be shocked to hear that I not only ordered and ate tofu, but I thoroughly enjoyed it -- well unless you saw me in Korea. Then you'd understand. Tried all kinds of other interesting-looking things (most of which I had had before) and ate entirely too much. Then went out for dessert, because I just can't walk past a Baskin Robbins, especially not that particular one. Now I am SO full that I am going to stop talking about food and start thinking about finishing work (before I talk myself into having a drink of some kind. I drink way more at home than at school!)
Friday, February 13, 2004
If anyone is interested, I wore the purple dress (the new one - thanks mom) and there were 89 pins in my hair. Also, I have a new "a funny thing happened while I was in the orchestra" story. Gordon gave roses to all the singers, and had one extra, so he gave it to Stephan and said "give it to Sandra" - and Stephan didn't, because he wanted to keep the rose, or something. So the whole first violin section turned to Stephan and said "GIVE IT TO SANDRA." Which he did. And then the first violin section (and I WILL get them back for this) said quite loudly, "KISS HIM." Apparently, I gave them a "no way in hell" look and took two steps away from Stephan. I don't actually remember because I was in shock. lol. But I got a rose out of it, so I guess I can't complain.
Thursday, February 12, 2004
Tuesday, February 10, 2004
Update on the status of my computer - hardware problems. *sigh* Hopefully they can retrieve the data on it. Somehow I don't think I'll be getting it back very soon, though.
Monday, February 09, 2004
So... I got into Queen's law.... with a scholarship!!!!!!! Happy days are here. Now I just have to pick where I want to go, 'cause I have all these fun options! *grin*
Sunday, February 08, 2004
Just in case anyone is interested, the following are my plans (to date) for Reading week:
Assignments: study for 387 midterm, complete orchestration transcription assignment, practice Gliere duets/Beethoven
Appointments: orthodontist and dentist (Monday, Tuesday), doctor?
Do Stuff With Family: dinner (Sat 14th), TSO concert w/Alex (Wed 18th)
Do Stuff With Friends: Justin et al (Mon 16th), Anthea/Stuart?, Todd?, Joe?
If you're in there and you have a ? next to your name, you might want to recommend a date/time/event. If you're not in there and want to be (or want to be more than you already are) then you can do the same. I just love being busy and social at the same time.
PS - if anyone is wondering why I'm not online as much lately, it's because my computer died and I'm currently using a rental. (Thanks for the use of your disk-drive/printer, Eva! Greating having "dinner" with you, too.)
Saturday, February 07, 2004
I'm back from Ottawa. The conference was good, but I'm a little too tired to talk about it right now. However, I do have one story which needs to be told. For this, you will have to refer back to August, when I took another trip to Ottawa and had a bit of difficulty getting back. This time, there was a huge storm so we had to leave the conference early to make sure the cab had time to get us to the bus on time. Which we needn't have bothered with, since the bus was half an hour late. Then, just past Kanata, the windshield wiper motor for the bus died, and we had to wait for a mechanic -- who came after some time and decided that he couldn't fix it, so we had to wait for one of the Montreal buses to get back and pick us up. More than seven hours to get from Ottawa to Kingston. Not as much of an adventure as last time, but not too bad considering. We watched a Nicholas Cage movie (which wasn't so great -- good acting, bad plot), and lots of people complained and mentioned refunds loudly and continuously. (All in all, the Nanoses are much more fun to be stranded with.)
Sunday, February 01, 2004
Cab companies are evil. I called a cab so that I could get to Carmen 40 minutes before the show. I called three times! Still no cab. It is now five minutes past the time I should have been at the theatre, so I gave up and started running. Keep in mind that I'm incredibly sick today, and hadn't taken any medication yet because I can't play after I take it. Get halfway there and finally flag a cab down. He drives me about four blocks, and charges $5 for it! I get to the theatre with two minutes before downbeat, and completely unable to breath (felt like a hole in my lungs). That was the hardest concert I have ever had to play at, except maybe the first night in Korea (at least we got intermission). I don't even know how I stayed conscious for the whole thing. I definitely don't remember how much of it went, although Lisa said I sounded fine.
So, turns out my ride after the concert can't take me after all, so I called a cab. (Different cab company, because the first one was evil.) Stood outside in the cold, despite the fact that I can barely stand up, for 20 minutes. Still no cab. I'm about to give up and walk, when Glen and Lisa come by and offer me a ride. To be polite, I should have called the cab company back and cancelled the ride, but I was mad at this point. By the time we get to Glen's car, pick up another passenger, and head back towards the theatre, 10 more minutes have passed. I check the stage door as we go by... still no cab. Now I'm glad I didn't call them, and REALLY glad I didn't wait any longer.
Now that I have vented (and eaten something) I'm going to lie down, because I really need to. *sigh* Not a good ending to this run of Carmen.
