☆❀☆

Here, have a boring "stuff that I did today" entry:

☆ Went and mailed the package to the person who won my book draw, hooray! Now it's up to the mercy of the postal services. But I paid for tracking and insurance, so it should be... fine... I think. Thank gods I had the foresight to save some of my Christmas money, because that was expensive. And I feel kind of oddly guilty about spending it on something like this, but I think that's because family always gets on my case when they find out I've spend my 'present money' on boring practical things. But like, what would I have spent it on otherwise? Candy, books, music, cologne. Y'know. Stuff I don't need. This, well. It's important and I reallly didn't want to cheap out on postage. Here's hoping it won't take a month to get to its destination... [/crosses fingers]

☆ IT WAS WARM TODAY. IT WAS -12C. I was so happy. Hella' snowy, though. I made the mistake of wearing sneakers instead of snowboots, and the walk to the post office is 40 minutes, and... let's just say I regret everything. 8') But dealing with snowy wet jeans was totally worth it. PLUS!! I SAW A FOX! It was hanging out by the recycle bins, playing in the snow. I tried to get a photo, but I'm not used to using the camera on my mp3 player, so it turned out a little bit... um... well... See for yourself:
( Image under cut )
BEHOLD THE MAJESTIC FOXIPEDE. Always make sure you have the panorama setting turned off before attempting wildlife photos. ;p

☆ I wrote today! A lot! Well, not as much as some days, but it was a lot. I've smashed through my wordcount goal for the month; it's kind of crazy. Anyway, it was a pornfic that I'm allllmost finished wording on, so it's great that I managed to be able to go to the cafe today. ...It's kind of funny, I keep hearing people say that they're embarrassed to write that kind of thing in public, because of a feeling that somebody might see it. But like. If somebody is close enough to read my scribbly handwriting, then we have way bigger problems than the fact that I'm writing that kind of thing in public. And ditto for laptop/tablet screens: those screens aren't that big! Unless you're writing in like, 16 pt font, nobody's going to be able to see that unless they're getting way more close and snoopy than they should. ...And that's my feeling on that.

So. It snowed yesterday.

( Photographic proof )

I am not impressed. Yes, that photo's from yesterday, not from February or anything. Goddamnit, Alberta. Just when it starts turning nice, we get a snow-storm.

When I said "we need some precipitation up in this joint" that's not what I meant.

Not much else to report. Still jobless. Still trying to find time to write. Still a bit stir-crazy. But my parents are going to Edmonton for the weekend, so at least I'll have a few days to myself. I intend to spend them cleaning, researching, writing, and listening to loud music without my headphones on. :)b

It's hard to get any reading done around here because whenever mum sees the history book I've been going through (The Hammer and the Cross, about the vikings) she keeps going on and on and on about how they didn't have any worthwhile culture and they were just barbarians and uncivilized and blah blah blah. And I'm just like -- Yes, okay. This is a time period you don't care much about (and you don't know much about it, either). Why on earth do you think I want your opinion on it? She has a very particular and strict definition of "civilized" anyway (in which case Italy = civilized and everyone else = uncivilized, apparently) and whenever she brings it up it just makes my eyes twitch and gives me the urge to punch things.

... But other than that, everything is fine and dandy over here. I suppose.

✿ I've been having mood swings all day. There's no explanation for it, and the only conclusion I can come to is that two days home away from work is enough to drive me nuts. My family, I tell ya', they're enough to make anybody loony.

✿ I finally managed to settle down for some studying. Mostly working on small vocabulary. Numbers, that kind of thing. And pronunciation. I swear, I'm going to keep banging my head against it until it sticks. I'm finally on my way toward not mixing up the difference between the way a and ä sound (umlauts aren't there for decoration!) but that's actually only because of, er, something I will never forget about Estonian language (the Estonian word for "two", kaks, sounds kind of like the English word cocks... and the sound in Finnish for kaksi isn't much different). Well, whatever helps, I guess. orz

✿ I have now heard (well, read) someone say that giving a blowjob is similar to playing a harmonica. I don't think I will ever look at my harmonica the same way again. (Though I will say that I'm pretty sure the person making that comparison has never played a harmonica, because uh... it's really... it's not much like that and er I'm just going to be quiet now)

✿ Finally, we went out and bought me a replacement hat. It's not much like what I wanted (I wanted something made in Canada, damnit, and coyote or beaver rather than rabbit fur because it holds up better) but, well, it's not a bad hat. At least it's the right style: full-fur and boxy.
( Check it ooouuuut, man )

So, there we go. That's... that's it for now, I think. Considering this entry has been kind of (well, a lot) ridiculous.

(Man, I feel like an idiot. I will possibly regret this silly entry in the morning.)

WELL. Let's see.

☆ We put up the tree today. We used to do two trees, one downstairs and one upstairs, but this year we are only doing the upstairs tree, so fortunately it took just the afternoon rather than the whole day. Check it out under the cut-

( Very, very sparkly )
'cept, we haven't gotten a new star for it yet, not tinsel neither... but I didn't want to wait to take a photo, haha. Oh, well! So there it is. ... We'll see what it looks like when the dogs get to it. I am not optimistic.

☆ After much thought I've decided to drop French and start setting myself up to learn some Finnish. I'd originally planned to hold out until I finished my French workbook, but I honestly don't think that'll happen - I have no motivation to study French at all, whereas I think that even though I'm busy, I'll have the drive to make time to work on Finnish, because I really like it and want to learn it. I think what finally pushed me, though, was Minni teasing me about how I'd pronounced her surname wrong. Pfft. If I'm going to go there, then at the very least I should learn some pronunciation, goddamn. I don't even know what sounds vowels with umlauts make! This needs to change. ... So I've downloaded some materials and I'll see about getting a workbook somehow, and maybe I'll start this week.

☆ I started reading World War Z the other day and I have a sneaking feeling that I'm going to have a load of nightmares by the end of it. Zombies are one of those things I can't handle -- and yet, I find the idea fascinating. I think it's related to my fascination with plague and contagion, something I also find terrifying. But there's something about zombies that gets me in a way that, say, the Black Death doesn't. Not sure what it is. Regardless, I'll probably find the novel hard to get through, but it's my own fault.

☆ I'm going to be really busy and probably kind of nonsocial in the next few weeks. We'll be heading into Christmas hours, so my time around will be even more limited than usual, and I'll be absolutely exhausted most of the time. I'm not exactly thrilled about this. On the upside, at least I'm going to have Solstice off. I'm willing to put up with this because the pay is good and at least, at the very least, I get Solstice off.

☆ And I'm working on getting the cards done... slowly! There's a lot of you guys. It might take a while.

First things first: Happy birthday, diplopod! (ﾉ◉ヮ◉)ﾉ :｡･:*:･ﾟ'✿,｡･:*:❀･ﾟ'❁
Just be glad I'm not singing it to you. I always forget the words.

ANYWAY. Now. I haven't been getting as much done as I thought I would because these dogs are a huge pain in the butt, always up in my business. But perhaps today I'll get something more done. We'll see.

I took some photos yesterday! Not much, just one with the dogs and also a little bit of the area near where I live. I couldn't go very far because again, dogs. And I took a bunch but only a few turned out because they kept pulling at the leash and making my hands shake and resulting in blurry photos and fuuuuuu. I'll just post the ones that turned out.

( Autumn leaves! And dogs. )

Things have been an enormous clusterfuck lately. Crazy weather. Thunderstorms everywhere! I have no idea what's going on. My own life hasn't been making much sense either.

On a brighter note, I finally started reading the Kalevala. It had been collecting dust on my bookshelf for six months, but I was talking with Bice about it lately, and it turns out we both have the same translation/edition. So, we're going to kind of... read it together, I guess! Should be fun. At the very least, it'll be getting me reading something that requires more brain power to comprehend than Black Jack and Stephen King novels. Not that there's anything wrong with that stuff, but er, I should probably read somethin' else for a while.

So, I started it tonight. I'm only two cantos in, but I really like it so far. This translation is nice, not heavy or thick; it's good for leisure-reading.

Aside from thatttt nothing of note, except that I did get out to take some graffiti photos the other day! Unfortunately, while I did remember bug spray, I forgot to wear proper shoes, so I wasn't able to get any of the river-rocks. However, there was enough in other locations, so there we go. I actually did neglect to get photos of some - I'll have to go back later.

( Graffiti in Saskatoon: here we go again )

Aaaand that's it for now - until I remember to go out again, this time with bug spray, camera, and proper footwear.

Well, my body is still trolling me, but I'm starting to get used to it, I think. In any case, while the weekend was up and down and up and down, the first day of spring was pretty okay. I went out for a long walk on that day, headed down by the river. Things are starting to melt pretty nicely, though there's still a bit of mud in the brush, and it's still awfully muddy all over the place. But, when things start to clean up, it'll look mighty nice. At any rate, it's better than what went on back home - Fort McMurray got a few inches of snow on that day, according to my dad. Compared to that, Saskatoon sounds pretty nice, muddy or not.

( Took some photos while I was out. )

( And some older ones too, from October )

I really should go around to more different areas to take pictures. The thing is, though, I tend to feel a little silly when I do it. Saskatoon isn't exactly a tourist destination, to put it mildly, so someone going around with a camera is a little bit weird - especially if they're doing it in a residential area.

Urgh, I really should be in bed now, because I have an appointment in the morning. I'm not sleepy at all, though. Just my luck.

Took this last night. We have snow. I am not impressed. :| TOO FUCKING EARLY. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, NATURE? Anyway.

PSA: Going away for a few days. Gasp, whatever will y'all do without my daily tl;dr?

I'll be leaving in a couple of hours to go to my relatives' house for Thanksgiving. I'll be gone until Sunday evening, and I won't be taking my laptop with me. Might have access while I'm there, but not much. So, the best way to contact me will be through LJ and through PM.

I have nothing else to say except that I did not get enough sleep and I foresee that I shall be very cranky in the near future. :|

Oh yes, and the issue I was having with a friend has been completely cleared up. Everything's fine now. I can stop losing sleep over it. <3

[edit 12:30 AM] safe and sound in Alberta. Get good reception with itouch but writing on it is a pain. Catching up on Flist and the meme. You guys write too much ;p

Good gods. Took me long enough, eh? Well! This will (finally) be about my trip to Waterton Lakes. You know, that one with my parents, month or two back. Heh. Anyway! This entry will be quite photo-heavy. I took a ton of photos (even had to delete the Fort McMurray photos from my camera to make room), and while only maybe a small amount of them turned out, that "small amount" is still a lot. Okay, moving on!

( The photos, and the trip )

kittencuffs wanted to see collection photos and such. I decided to share. :D

( Almost all the ones I decided to bring with me )
( Closeup of the first group )
( Closeup of the second group )
( The third group )
( Sparklebabies )
( Closeup of Up, Up and Away )