Wednesday, March 14, 2007

I Tried Not to Do It

I don't think it was me, so it's some other person out there in Saskatoon, or even the greater Saskatoon area.

I was walking back to my car yesterday, on campus, strolling about in the sunshine and basking in the warmth ... listening to the little birdies chirping. Thinking about putting away my jacket, and about the smell of soccer on the air. Thinking about the "S" word that would be coming in next week. Yes ... the "s" word, because I'm wise enough at my age to know that even thinking about the long version of the "s" word while on the prairies in march can have a detrimental effect to the weather.


So ... a screen shot of the U of S webcam right now:

So ... this is what I've got now. A mini-freakin' blizzard ... and a return to the darkness of winter. Someone said it. Someone thought it. I refuse to take responsibility ... but I'll help organize the committee to find out who did it (as long as committee snacks are taken care of ... I've been hankering for some finger sandwiches).

In any case, we had the curriculum presentation today, where you learn about the balloting process and course selection for 2nd and 3rd year. Also had a couple of tutorials that made the part of my conscious thought not operating in denial go into panic schisms at the thought of exams fast approaching (would have appeared to those in my class as delicate little coughs).

And now I sit in my bedroom, getting ready to hit the books with a vengeance, while sipping a beer in celebration of making it through yet another day of winter-torture. I almost bailed on the ice on my way to the car, and I was cursing the fact that I didn't have a scarf. Oh, how I miss the beautiful weather of yesterday. Yeah, not yesteryear ... yesterday.

Double sigh.

Oh well - it is America's Next Top Model night, and my roomies invited some of their friends over (who, I get to be friends with due to proximity ... you didn't know that proximity was good for more than just establishing a duty of care? Well ... through proximity you can establish friendships, knowledge, experience, and good looks ... trust me ... I wouldn't lie) for pizza and ANTM goodness.

I'm excited.

And jealous of my little sister who's new job is taking her to Las Vegas next month. What the heck, hey? What about me??!?!??!?!?!

All I can say is that I'll have some Victoria's Secret demands that she'll have to fit into her schedule of events somehow.


Oh - and today I got to sit in the cushy jury chairs for the first time in the moot court room. Fun.

Oh - and I'm feeling some Battlestar Gallactica withdrawal. It's kind of bad. I miss them like I miss my real friends, so in addition to the split-personality disorder as described above (i.e. part of the conscious mind operating in exam denial vs. part that is suffering appropriate panic attacks), I also am having some problems with reality (i.e. feeling as though fictitious characters could actually be my friends).

But then ... I feel my muscle pain from the gym, and am reminded all too quickly that reality=pain. It's symbolic. Reality=pain=life. (reference to Bwick Elias).

Monday, March 12, 2007

Not a Bad Day at All for a Monday

Started the day waking up late (thought I pressed snooze, but actually pressed "off" ... oops), so made it to my Constitutional class on time, but didn't have time to do all the readings. We're doing equality, section 15 of the Charter, and it is pretty interesting stuff.

Interesting thing about constitutional class, our professor, Professor Norman, mentioned a past talk given at the law school by Sheila L. Martin (now, Madam Justice Martin, as she was appointed to the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench in June of 2005) regarding the "grounds" component of analysis in equality challenges to the charter. I'd actually been looking at some of Madam Justice Martin's research, as she was a previous Dean of Law at the University of Calgary, and looked to have done research in both feminist law, and health-care law, both areas that I am interested in dabbling in (maybe).

After constitutional class, the law school had a guest speaker, Dr. Gail Anderson from the Simon Fraser University School of Criminology. Dr. Anderson is a forensic entomologist (one of only two in Canada), and gave a talk titled "Maggots and Murder". She was an engaging speaker, and had some vivid and amazing stories to share about her work with the BC Coroner's Service, and the RCMP.

Wrapped the day up with contracts class, and I'm now at home trying to be productive before I head to the gym (and yes, I will head to the gym).

Got some positive feedback today about the Friday T-Party, so it looks like people generally had a good time (yay).

And ... now I hit the books.

Sunday, March 11, 2007

PS

I went to the movie 300 last night, and all I can say is eye-candy from wall to wall. The Spartans wore just that ... spartan ensembles of not that much ... and bodies that were chiseled ... chiseled I tell you. I think I want to be a warrior now.

The T-Party

So ... on Friday my roomies and I threw a T-Party. Everyone had to come dressed as something that starts with the letter "t", we had t-snacks (twix, twizzlers, triscuits, and tostitos), and we had t-activities (table tennis, and twister). I was amazed at some of the costumes, people went all out. Here are some pics:


The Three Roomies - Tobogganer, Tool-Man, and Tinkerbell:


Mr. T and Tomb Raider Lara Croft:


Tree-Huggers:


Tobogganer, Theory of Relativity, Tortious Apple (inside law school joke), Tuxedo, and Toilet:



I'm waiting for some more pics (since my camera is in Calgary, I'm reliant on all those that grace me with a spirit of sharing), and I'll post them as I get them. It was a pretty funny night, everyone had a good time.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

I Hate Repeats

It sucks when you work hard all day to get ahead, you bust your ... you know whats, you even sacrifice your lunch break (well, some people do, I didn't though), just to clear your schedule for the great night of TV that Thursday has to offer, and you're faced with repeats. What a gyp.

I guess it's just the universe's way of motivating me to get on with my Pro Bono project, which is not the only thing on my plate besides keeping up with reading, and with preparing for exams.

Oh, and finding a summer job.

Scary how fast the end is coming.

I love SK, by the way, when it's warm. LOVE it. Feels like Calgary when it's warm.

Another thing I love is popcorn. Especially when dealing with my rambunctious hot air popper, right near the end, when I'm waiting for it to wind down, I have to close my eyes to protect them from rogue poppers, right before I pull the plug.

I also like words that start with the letter "T". There are so many things that start with T ...

Tornado
Truckers
Tomatoes
Toes
Turnips
Tonsils
Tongues
Torts
Tina Turner
Toys
Turtles
Transformers

There's more. I'll post some more tomorrow. Maybe with pictures to illustrate. Well, probably I'll post them on Saturday, depending how I'm feeling.
I Know I Haven't Been Keeping in Touch

As well as I'd like, anyway. I blame it on a few different factors, some of them fair and legitimate, some perhaps not so much ... I leave it to you to decide.

1. School has been pretty busy. The readings haven't stopped, we've had an assignment out there that's due tomorrow, and I really just want to start buckling down and preparing for exams.

2. I've been trying to go to the gym, and that seems to take a significant chunk out of my day.

3. I really have to get my Pro Bono project done by the end of the month.

4. I've been living a jet-setting life with flying back to Calgary every weekend on a flight pass that ended last Tuesday.

5. U of S is such a rockstar law school, they've been wining and dining us students (or ... perhaps it was pancake breakfasting and coffee-ing ... but in my mind they're almost the same).

6. I'm no longer afraid to take to the roads of Saskatoon, since the scary sheaths of winter ice appear to have disappeared and revealed that there is, in fact, still pavement on the roads for my car tires to connect with in that same old loving feeling kind of way.

7. America's Next Top Model, cycle 8 started a week ago.

8. Laundry seems to be taking over my life.

9. The Roll-Up-the-Rim competition at Tim Horton's is THREATENING to take over my life. A few of my classmates have succumbed (NOT naming any names, but you KNOW who you are ... I do hope that you win soon so that this crazy train can dock at a station - and yeah, crazy trains are from space in my world). I'm scared that the two-fold addiction (i.e. caffeine and roll-up-the-rim gambling) will be too much for me to handle in the fragile state that I'm in ... well .... I feel like I'm fragile sometimes. No? No-one is buying fragile? Hmmm .... well, in either case, still not sure that I can cope with the temptation. I am only human ... and humans are generally fragile ... aren't we? Hmmmm .... this one might be a hard sell, even MY powers of persuasion seem to be struggling.

10. I've been abducted by aliens, and the android fraudulent copy of me that's been taking my place on Earth just isn't very good at this law school thing, or this keeping in touch thing, and has been making a real mess of it all.


The funny thing is, that for those that really know me, #10 isn't the one that is the obviously illegitimate response.