It's Times Like These You Learn To Love Again

Stolen from my dearest Peta.

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 05:49:25 GMT

Pick your birth month.
- Strike out anything that doesn't apply to you.
- Bold the five to ten that best apply to you.
- Copy to your own note.
- Tag twelve friends.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

JANUARY:
Stubborn and hard-hearted. Ambitious and serious. Loves to teach and be taught. Always looking at people's flaws and weaknesses. Likes to criticize. Hardworking and productive. Smart, neat and organized. Sensitive and has deep thoughts. Knows how to make others happy. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Rather reserved. Highly attentive. Resistant to illnesses but prone to colds. Romantic but has difficulties expressing love. Loves children. Loyal. Has great social abilities yet easily jealous. Very stubborn and money cautious.

FEBRUARY:
Abstract thoughts. Loves reality and abstract. Intelligent and clever. Changing personality. Attractive. Sexy. Temperamental. Quiet, shy and humble. Honest and loyal. Determined to reach goals. Loves freedom. Rebellious when restricted. Loves aggressiveness. Too sensitive and easily hurt. Gets angry really easily but does not show it. Dislikes unnecessary things. Loves making friends but rarely shows it. Daring and stubborn. Ambitious. Realizes dreams and hopes. Sharp. Loves entertainment and leisure. Romantic on the inside not outside. Superstitious and ludicrous. Spendthrift. Tries to learn to show emotions.

MARCH:
Attractive personality. Sexy. Affectionate. ~~Shy and reserved~~. ~~Secretive~~. Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic. Loves peace and serenity. Sensitive to others. Loves to serve others. Easily angered. Trustworthy. Appreciative and returns kindness. Observant and assesses others. Revengeful. Loves to dream and fantasize. Loves traveling. Loves attention. ~~Hasty decisions in choosing partners~~. Loves home decors. ~~Musically talented~~. Loves special things. Moody.

APRIL:
Active and dynamic. Decisive and hasty but tends to regret. Attractive and affectionate to oneself. Strong mentality. Loves attention. Diplomatic. Consoling, friendly and solves people's problems. Brave and fearless. Adventurous. Loving and caring. Suave and generous. Emotional. Aggressive. Hasty. Good memory. Moving. Motivates oneself and others. Sickness usually of the head and chest. Sexy in a way that only their lover can see.

MAY:
Stubborn and hard-hearted. Strong-willed and highly motivated. Sharp thoughts. Easily angered. Attracts others and loves attention. Deep feelings. Beautiful physically and mentally. Firm standpoint. Needs no motivation. Easily consoled. Systematic (left brain). Loves to dream. Strong clairvoyance. Understanding. Sickness usually in the ear and neck. Good imagination. Good physical. Weak breathing. Loves literature and the arts. Loves traveling. Dislike being at home. Restless. Not having many children. Hardworking. High spirited. Spendthrift.

JUNE:
Thinks far with vision. Easily influenced by kindness. Polite and soft-spoken. Having ideas. Sensitive. Active mind. Hesitating. Tends to delay. Choosy and always wants the best. Temperamental. Funny and humorous. Loves to joke. Good debating skills. Talkative. Daydreamer. Friendly. Knows how to make friends. Able to show character. Easily hurt. Prone to getting colds. Loves to dress up. Easily bored. Fussy. Seldom shows emotions. Takes time to recover when hurt. Brand conscious. Executive. Stubborn.

JULY:
Fun to be with. Secretive. Difficult to fathom and to be understood. Quiet unless excited or tensed. Takes pride in oneself. Has reputation ??. Easily consoled. Honest. Concerned about people's feelings. Tactful. Friendly. Approachable. Emotional temperamental and unpredictable. Moody and easily hurt. Witty and sparkly. Not revengeful. Forgiving but never forgets. Dislikes nonsensical and unnecessary things. Guides others physically and mentally. Sensitive and forms impressions carefully. Caring and loving. Treats others equally. Strong sense of sympathy. Wary and sharp. Judges people through observations. Hardworking. No difficulties in studying. Loves to be alone. Always broods about the past and the old friends. Likes to be quiet. Homely person. Waits for friends. Never looks for friends. Not aggressive unless provoked. Prone to having stomach and dieting problems. Loves to be loved. Easily hurt but takes long to recover.

AUGUST:
Loves to joke. Attractive. Suave and caring. Brave and fearless. Firm and has leadership qualities. Knows how to console others. Too generous and egoistic. Takes high pride in oneself. Thirsty for praises. Extraordinary spirit. Easily angered. Angry when provoked. Easily jealous. Observant. Careful and cautious. Thinks quickly. Independent thoughts. Loves to lead and to be led. Loves to dream. Talented in the arts, music and defense. Sensitive but not petty. Poor resistance against illnesses. Learns to relax. Hasty and trusty. Romantic. Loving and caring. Loves to make friends.

SEPTEMBER:
Suave and compromising. Careful, cautious and organized. Likes to point out people's mistakes. Likes to criticize. Stubborn. Quiet but able to talk well. Calm and cool. Kind and sympathetic. Concerned and detailed. Loyal but not always honest. Does work well. Very confident. Sensitive. Good memory. Clever and knowledgeable. Loves to look for information. Must control oneself when criticizing. Able to motivate oneself. Understanding. Fun to be around. Secretive. Loves leisure and traveling. Hardly shows emotions. Tends to bottle up feelings. Very choosy, especially in relationships. Systematic.

OCTOBER:
Loves to chat. Loves those who loves them. Loves to take things at the center. Inner and physical beauty. Lies but doesn't pretend. Gets angry often. Treats friends importantly. Always making friends. Easily hurt but recovers easily. Daydreamer. Opinionated. Does not care of what others think. Emotional. Decisive. Strong clairvoyance. Loves to travel, the arts and literature. Touchy and easily jealous. Concerned. Loves outdoors. Just and fair. Spendthrift. Easily influenced. Easily loses confidence. Loves children.

NOVEMBER:
Has a lot of ideas. Difficult to fathom. Thinks forward. Unique and brilliant. Extraordinary ideas. Sharp thinking. Fine and strong clairvoyance. Can become good doctors. Dynamic in personality. Secretive. Inquisitive. Knows how to dig secrets. Always thinking. Less talkative but amiable. Brave and generous. Patient. Stubborn and hard-hearted. If there is a will, there is a way. Determined. Never give up. Hardly becomes angry unless provoked. Loves to be alone. Thinks differently from others. Sharp-minded. Motivates oneself. Does not appreciate praises. High-spirited. Well-built and tough. Deep love and emotions. Romantic. Uncertain in relationships. Homely. Hardworking. High abilities. Trustworthy. Honest and keeps secrets. Not able to control emotions. Unpredictable.

DECEMBER:
Loyal ~~and generous. Sexy. Patriotic.~~ Active in games and interactions. Impatient ~~and hasty. Ambitious. Influential in organizations.~~ Fun to be with. Loves to socialize. Loves praises. Loves attention. Loves to be loved. Honest and trustworthy. Not pretending. Short tempered. ~~Changing personality~~. Not egotistic. ~~Take high pride in oneself.~~ Hates restrictions. Loves to joke. Good sense of humor. Logical.

I tag you all! Hahahaha!

Amusing ramblings...or atleast they were amusing to me...

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 03:52:41 GMT

So I am now a shift supervisor at Starbucks - which makes me happy! I ran my first full shift by myself this morning and it went flawlessly. Hooray!
I'm opening again tomorrow and it's one of our regulars' birthdays so I made sure that she was coming in when I saw her today...we'll have silly string, a sign, and candles for her scone all ready to go tomorrow morning.
Exciting.

There have been a few funny incidents at my store lately:
a) I told another regular that he looked a bit like Daniel Craig - the new James Bond - and of course he's not Daniel Craig but he gave us a big tip because of that. The next day I saw someone come in who I thought looked a lot like Bruce Cockburn...so this is what happened:
Me: Sir, has anyone ever told you that you look just like Bruce Cockburn?
B.C: *looks shifty eyed* Yeah, I get that a lot. *pulls out a wad of cash to pay for his drink*
The man behind him was obviously with the B.C look-a-like and looked like the manager type...
So I argued with Josh about wether or not it was infact Bruce Cockburn...and finally I got a third opinion from one of the other baristas who agreed with me that it was Bruce Cockburn...so I went outside and said, "Excuse me, I don't want to bug you - but could I please get your autograph." To which he responded, "Of course, I thought you might have figured me out." And then we had a pleasant conversation about what he was doing in Victoria, etc. All in all, I was right and I got to meet Bruce Cockburn and get his autograph! Yay!
And apparently hardly anyone my age knows who Bruce Cockburn is...it's been hard to brag to people about it...
The next day I saw the James Bond look-a-like regular again and mentioned to him that I liked him better because he tipped me even though he wasn't James Bond but when I told Bruce Cockburn that he looked like Bruce Cockburn he didn't tip...

b) So Starbucks has turned their music company, Hear Music, into an actual label now. The first artist to be signed to the Hear Music Label was Paul McCartney....so of course for his brand new cd we had to play a special copy of it all day long in every store in over 27 different countries....
Needless to say, it was the worst thing I've ever heard and the Starbucks signs that say that "this album is worthy of his entire music legacy" are actually insulting Paul McCartney by saying that the rest of his music is this shitty....which some of it isn't.
I thought that I might have to slit my own wrists after just the first song, but we had to listen to it all day - 8 hours on repeat!! I was keeping a tally on a chalk board beside our bar - it read: Paul McCartney (number of times we'd listened to his cd that day) vs. Megan: 0....but then people started voting for me! Woot! People were coming back multiple times to vote...it was exciting. I won.
So part of the whole Paul McCartney horrible extravaganza was that we were selling the funniest looking limited edition starbucks cards with a terrible picture of Paul McCartney on them - but each store only received 25 and so they were gone pretty quickly...but someone came in this morning and used up his Paul McCartney card that someone had bought for him - so I asked if he'd like to keep it to refill it but he declined and said that I could have it - which I told him was actually awesome because it'd been wanting one because they were so funny looking.
In addition - once my manager got to work she told me she had a gift for me - she took out the Starbucks stereo system cd of Paul McCartney's cd which we'd had to play all day the day of the release (the cd's expire after) and said that she'd been thinking of destroying it but then thought about who would want to destroy it the most and so she'd saved it for me.
So I thought about it for a while - my Paul McCartney cd and starbucks card - and I told Jess (my manager) my plan for what to do with them - I'm going to frame them together in a frame with a little caption that says "Worst day of my life" and that way whenever I think I'm having a terrible day I can look at that picture frame and feel okay about my day because it can't possibly be as bad.
tehe.

Not a whole heck of a lot has happened lately - I'm working 37.75 hours a week which is nice and I tend to have weekends off which is even nicer!
Pele's wedding is coming up and I'm incredibly excited for it and to be the photographer for it.

I've been listening to some cool music, if you'd like to be in on my playlist (Penny can tell you that I tend to have a pretty interesting taste in music but sometimes it's worth checking out):

The Barenaked Ladies version of Lovers in a Dangerous Time
Ella Fitzgerald - Too Darn Hot and Ain't Misbehaving
Lilly Allen - Nan You're a Window Shopper ( I love this song)
Peter, Bjorn and John - Young Folks (very catchy, excellent whistling.)
Anything from the John Butler Trio - I really like them.
Paul McCartney's new song: Feet in the Clouds (the most painful song ever...try to listen to it without making remarks and making fun of how many times he says the word 'never')
And everything off of the new Fiest Cd "The Reminder" but especially My Moon, My Man and Limit To Your Love

That's about all for now.
Love
Meg

Mr.Falcon

Thu, 31 May 2007 00:24:43 GMT

I'd just like to say that we have a cute minister of Transportation here in B.C....I don't know if he's any good as a minister...but he's cute.
All of this week is Bike to Work week in Victoria and Starbucks is a Gold Sponsor so we've been busily supplying coffee to different check points in Victoria. Yesterday morning was the Commuter Challenge and our store was the finish line so there were banners, speakers, pastries, coffee, big racks to hang people's bikes on, and lots and lots of bikers. Pretty cool.
This morning we were brewing coffee for a station just down the street infront of the library where there were pastries, bike lock checks, and a tune up station. When I got to work my boss told me that I should go down there for a few hours and hang out/ help out because it was better if she stayed in the store and I had woken up with a cold so I wasn't feeling great...so it meant I didn't have to be on the floor, which was cool.
So I hung out with bikers and the organizers from 6:45 until about 9am - serving coffee and cutting up pastries.
The Minister of Transportation showed up to shmooze and was introduced to me and he and I did a coffee tasting...weird...and then I hung out with his pleasant assistant.

There is probably more that I should write about, but I'm really groggy so I'm going to stop here.
Megan

Up, Down, Up, Down, UP!

Wed, 16 May 2007 22:49:21 GMT

Things have been so up and down lately, it's going to take a while to explain...so here it goes:

This past weekend, Travis and I created our own long weekend and took a much needed holiday together to celebrate our one year anniversary of dating...
Rather than doing anything expensive or hectic, we decided just to borrow my grandparents' condo in Whistler and that way we could come down to Squamish to visit our families for Mother's day before we came home.
On Thursday night we went across to the mainland, stopping to see my Gran in the hospital before heading up to Squamish to spend the night at my parents' house.
On Friday we drove up to Whistler, got some groceries and got settled in and then we packed a lunch and headed up to Nairn Falls. The hike out to the falls is really beautiful and easy going - one of my favorite things about Whistler in the summer is the smell of the alpine. There is one particular tree/plant that drops pollen all over the place in sticky little packages...but it smells soooooo good. I couldn't get enough of the air up there.
On Friday night we met up with my buddy Robyn and her boyfriend Roger in the village and had excellent burgers and beer at Merlins.
Saturday we spent kayaking on the River of Golden Dreams off of Green Lake - it was a great experience - I'd never gone kayaking before and I loved it. My hands are still all blistered..but well worth it.
Saturday night we went to see Spiderman 3 in the village.
And Sunday we came back down to Squamish and had a mother's day dinner with my parents and Trav's parents. And then Trav and I sat outside in the back garden with a blanket and some white wine and toasted our anniversary.
On Monday we went out for breakfast at the Howe Sound Inn and then we drove down to Vancouver and caught the one o'clock ferry home to Victoria.
All in all, a very fun weekend.

But then...
My co-op job with Madrona Farms was set to begin yesterday, Tuesday, and I arrived at the farm at 6:45 in all of my gear - including rubber boots...which I hate wearing...and slathered in Sunscreen, to find out that my employers were not only still in their pajamas, but they had forgotten to call and let me know that they are 2 weeks to a month behind schedule on the farm and wouldn't need me yet.....
So I spent the better part of yesterday very pissed off - I picked up a shift at Oak Bay starbucks for 4 hours...but it didn't help much.
See - Co-op is not just supposed to be a learning experience but also a job and it's hard when you depend on your income to pay the bills and allow your boyfriend to save up for his schooling...to be on an irregular and almost non-existant schedule....not to mention that after I got in contact with the Co-op people about what had happened and they obviously called Madrona, the woman from the farm called me to reassure me that they'd get me working in a month or so...and told me that one of my tasks was going to be to help them with their daughter....well that's not really a learning experience - that is babysitting...not that I'd signed up for.
So this morning I had an emergency meeting with my Co-op Councillor who agreed and completely backed me that I should back out of this job and not worry about it.
So we did that. She was not impressed with Madrona...neither am I.
However....
Today got better again...
I immediately got in contact with my starbucks to let them know that I'm now available to work full time with them this summer/fall and that I'd like to train to be a shift supervisor and my manager called me back mid morning and asked me to come in this afternoon for my first of two interviews for shift supervisor....and it went really well!
Tomorrow morning I have my interview with the District Manager and if she is impressed then my training starts next week when I otherwise wouldn't have anything booked due to the farm....and I'll be booked onto the next schedule as a shift right away!!!
I'm so excited and the best part is that everyone at my work was extatic which makes it even better that everyone is so happy to have me as a shift. All of the shifts and the baristas were congratulating me...it felt really nice.
And immediately after my interview with my manager, one of the shifts, Mack, came into the back to invite me to a shift bbq at his house at the end of May....so it's like a super secret club!!! cool!
haha.

Today has gotten so much better
I'm actually really relieved.
As crazy as it sounds, I love starbucks and I want to make a difference in that company and I'm exstatic to be moving up through the ranks.
Tehe.
Megan

Massage

Wed, 02 May 2007 15:37:31 GMT

I went to the massage therapist yesterday - she worked on my shoulders/the base of my neck. The strange part is that I haven't felt tense in that region lately but as soon as someone starts rubbing it, it is incredibly painful.
The massage therapist told me that this is a very late sign in the tension - that the muscles have given up trying to convey to the brain how tense they are so they start to kind of just lose sensation - they are literally drying up and clogged with toxin crap...
Anyways - she recommended that I should come back a few times to see if it makes a difference - and also to buy a magic bag and alternate between 3-5 minutes of cold and 15 minutes of heat on that region to try and increase circulation.
She also wants to try getting me to take homeopathic caffeine pills just to see if I've developed a sensitivity to the aroma of caffeine from work and am giving myself 'caffeine poisoning' - which honestly I find to be amusing and it would be incredibly shitty in my line of work.....
I didn't want her to stop rubbing at my back...I love massage - it feels so good. I should pay for Travis to take massage therapy classes....hmmm good idea.

So for the past week the flushing mechanism on our public toilet at work has been broken completely and this means a strenuous manual flushing which includes taking a swim in the tank....so we've had the bathroom 'Out of Order' to customers. We've had a sign on the door...but apparently this hasn't gotten across to the public.
I love it - we've started keeping a tally of how many times a day we get asked - "Can I have the key to your bathroom?" and we have to tell them "No, I'm sorry but it's out of order right now." and they look at us and ask, "Does that mean that I can't go in there?"...I love it. It makes my day everytime and I have to work really hard at holding my tongue to not say - "Well you can go hang out in there if you'd like...but you can't use the toilet."

We also had a staff meeting last Sunday in the morning which was absolutely amazing and unlike any staff meeting I've ever had. I had a wonderful time. We held it at the Cook St. Starbucks because they have a meeting room added onto their store - and we had all sorts of snacks, a coffee tasting, photography, activity stations, tons of joking around...and an all around good time had by all - plus it was a beautiful day and we had some nice times outside playing amongst the cherry trees. Our manager, Jess, handed out some of what we call 'Green Apron Cards' - they are little appreciation cards that you can fill out for other partners to thank them for things - we fill them out all of the time but she made some special presentations of them and read them out to everyone - and she presented me with one - and I'm going to brag by writing it here:
It was a 'Knowledgeable' card - Love what you do. Share it with others.
Which read:
Megan, You've brought a new level of enthusiasm and legendary service to the store. When we work together you are always one step ahead of me. Your intuition and creativity are very appreciate - Thank you. <3 Jess.

Tehe.
I love my work.
See - it would suck to have caffeine poisoning...
haha.
I'd have to wear a mask. hahaha.

After the meeting I went home and made salmon steaks/ baby potatoes/ salad/ berries for dinner and dessert because my parents were coming over and that was really fun. We had mother's day and father's day early because I was so excited and I couldn't wait.
I suck at celebrating holidays on their actual day.

And now I have two days off - and my new glasses are ready to be picked up so I'll post a picture soon enough.
Lots of love
Meg

Glasses

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 21:52:45 GMT

Lets just get this part over with, because it's the inevitable - I have a headache...and it hurts.

In other news,

I went to the Optometrist on Wednesday to rule out the possibility that this headache has anything to do with my perscription - and because I hadn't been to an optometrist in like 3 years. Haha.
So no, the headaches aren't due to any eye-related issues. However - somehow I got suckered into buying new glasses when I only meant to get lenses....it was really quite abrupt and I felt like I was hit with a whirlwind.
However, since this optometrist has their own lab plus they buy a huge amount of lenses wholesale - they had a pretty good deal and I got lenses, and frames for only 215.00 dollars - which is less than most frames - and they were very nice frames.
I'm content.

That's about all I can think of for the moment - this entry is a bit lame - but no one else had written anything in a while so I thought I'd do one.

Headache Front

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 18:34:54 GMT

This week on the headache front:

It's still going strong. I think we're approaching 6 weeks.
The last few days were a lot worse than normal with a lot more pain for longer.
The results of the CT scan, and the blood tests from the weekend were clear. When they called to tell me about the ct scan they said that the results were "mostly normal"...good answer. Apparently it was fine.
So on Monday I went to visit Dr. Ray with UVic Health Services to discuss the next step - she got me an appointment that afternoon with a neurologist at Victoria General Hospital.
I went to meet with him there, as he was running the Stroke Clinic that day. It was amusing waiting in the lounge for the stroke clinic because no one would take me seriously that I was there to see the doctor as I was surrounded by little old people who had obviously had strokes. Although this meant that I got to sit beside a nice little old man who asked me if I was doing card tricks while I was playing solitaire and then went on to tell me about a magician he'd watched on t.v the night before.
When I got in to see the doctor he told me that he's pretty sure that it's just tension headaches however because I've been having these nerve tingling sensations that run from my head down my spine and to my feet and cause me to have problems walking he wanted me to have an MRI just to make sure he didn't miss anything. Apparently I get to have two MRIs as he's doing the head and the neck. FUN!
That should be in about a month.
Today and tomorrow are my day's off from Starbucks so today I am getting my eyes checked at an Optometrist just to rule out that this has anything to do with my perscription...also maybe I can get new lenses/ get my glasses fixed so that they're not crooked! yay!
And I've scheduled an appointment for a massage next week after work for my neck and shoulders as referred by the doctor.

Blah.
This is exciting - and annoying. If I never have a headache again for as long as I live it won't be long enough.

Secret

Mon, 23 Apr 2007 00:29:22 GMT

I just scrolled throught the secrets posted to this week's Post Secret.
Post Secret, for those who haven't ever seen it, is a website (www.postsecret.com) where people make little post cards displaying their secret and mail it to the man who runs the website and he publishes a certain number a week and also makes books of them. I own one of the books. It's in Squamish and I miss it sometimes.
Anyways, every Sunday he posts new secrets.

Travis often reads them over my shoulder and laughs at them, and I guess at me for reading them, but Sunday Secrets are an important part of my week. I have some very hard opinions, and sometimes reading secrets helps me to see how many truths, no matter how bad, can have some justification. It's such an interesting insight into human nature. Also, it is rewarding to find someone who has the same secret as yourself - you don't feel quite as guilty, or alone.
Sometimes the secrets are sad, sometimes funny, sometimes lovely and sometimes they are pretty grusome - but they mean so much to me. They open up your mind and your world to a better understanding of people I think.
It makes me sad that Travis laughs, and sometimes it makes me feel bad about myself - but mostly I feel more connected with the people who send them in. - Maybe that's my secret.

Here are some that I like and have saved onto my computer.

Bond, James Bond.

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 03:46:00 GMT

So I just finished watching the new Bond...which isn't so new anymore but I hadn't seen it yet. I'm a strong believer that there is only one Bond - being "the Sean"...and all the rest are good movies but not quite as good. I hadn't heard good things about this Bond....and I wasn't particularly happy about there being no 'Q' and therefore no fun gadgets....but I have to give it credit - it was a great plot, fantastic dialogue, not anything more than the usual Bond movie amount of violence and it wasn't bad to watch at all - and the car was gorgeous. And he did have a few nice gadgets - the fact that there was his own defibulator in his car was pretty cool. But there were no sillouhettes of women in the beginning theme music part, this Bond looks too villainish for me, and there was no 'Q'...therefore....not as good as it could have possibly been. But not a bad one. Oh and he has a line where the bar tender asks him if he'd like his martini shaken or stirred and his response is, "I don't give a damn."....shaken, not stirred damn it. What's the point of trying to make this Bond stand out from the rest- that defeats the whole purpose - Bond is Bond, and if you change that then you might as well give him a different name and make movies about someone else as well as movies about Bond.

News on the headache front - not much has changed - I was told to stop taking anything for them to make sure that it wasn't some sort of 'rebound' headache - but I still have them everyday so I'm guessing it's not. The doctor that I saw also tested my motor skills and said that they were fine but she referred me for massage therapy to see if it helped and also sent in a referral for a CT scan. I haven't heard when that will be yet. I hope that they make a date soon just because it would appear that my boss at Starbucks has my life completely booked until I start at Madrona Farms and then I'm totally booked until November...apart from the one weekend that I'm managing to book off for the weekend before I start at Madrona - which also happens to be Mothers Day and the weekend that Trav and I will have been dating a year - so we'd like to do something special and get away.
I'm not worried - I'm sure that I can get time off whenever the CT scan is - It's more important than one shift at work.

Exams are going well - I've only had one so far and two left to go. The one was fine and I felt pretty good about it. The other two I'm not feeling great about because they are going to be really tough.

That's about it for now.
I've stolen the meme from Jesse, which I will post below.
Megan

Reply and I'll...

1 - Tell you why I friended you.
2 - Associate you with a song/film.
3 - Tell a random fact about you.
4 - Tell a first memory about you.
5 - Associate you with a character/pairing.
6 - Ask something I've always wanted to know about you.
7 - Tell you my favorite user pic of yours.

As you can see I've changed the layout of my LJ

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 01:56:52 GMT

I'm not entirely sure why I chose a peach, cute cartoon elephants and little bobbley clouds...but it struck my fancy.

I've been getting a lot of reading done recently - I was reading Mary Stewart's novel The Crystal Cave, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Thanks mum! I just finished it last night - or rather, this morning at 4am. I shall explain why I was up so late/early.

For the past three weeks and counting since my mum and gran were here visiting I've had headaches all day long - from about an hour or so after I wake up in the morning until I fall asleep at night - nonstop. Not throbbing but a dull ache in a band from about the bridge of my nose upwards all around my head - not in any one particular area. Light and noise both irritate it, and the intensity sort of comes and goes. My sinuses are fine and my neck wasn't sore at all until yesterday which I did to myself because I was sitting stupidly in my chair for most of the day. At times the headaches get so bad that I feel faint and often loose balance - I also get a bit of the chills and feel a bit feverish. The worst symptom seems to be that I have a really hard time falling asleep at night - hence being awake until 4am when I'm desperate to fall asleep - because it hurts to rest my head on a pillow or my arm, or any surface - it feels like I'm pushing down on the pressure and it starts to sting really quickly.
Anyways - I've been taking tylonal and advil for them but nothing seemed to be making any sort of improvement so I went to have it checked out by a doctor at the clinic up the street from our condo - the doctor told me that it was probably tension headaches and he gets them a lot so I should take the maximum dose per day of both tylonal ultra and advil liquigels...so I did for a few days - no difference. It was really intense last Friday after work and I collapsed trying to go lie down on the bed when I was home alone so as soon as Trav got home I got him to take me to another clinic (thanks for looking one up for us Pen) and the doctor at the clinic told me that he was a bit concerned and that he wanted me to go see a neurologist at the hospital - so we went to Royal Jubilee and sat around for 5.5 hours waiting to see someone - yay for holidays at hospitals! - but when I saw the doctor he checked my blood pressure, temperature, pupils, etc. and said that everything looked fine. He also said that it confuses him because he wanted to just assume that it was a tension headache but I don't have any neck tension and nothing in my life is making me particularly tense at the moment - I'm actually really relaxed lately. So that was Friday. A week later I still have headaches. The emergency doctor gave me 6 T3s to try out to see if it would help me sleep but they aren't having an effect either - I've only been taking them before bed if the headache has been bad but they don't seem to improve it at all or help me fall asleep any earlier.

I'm a little exhausted from all of this. I had to take two days off work last weekend and I have a full load of work and studying this weekend to get through but I'm giving it my best shot. I've been trying to relax during the days this week - reading that Crystal Cave book and studying for Cultural Geography and taking some naps to catch up on some sleep.
I'm not sure what else to do. Apart from trying to find a permanent doctor in Victoria so that I can request my files from the hospital here, etc. to have on a file somewhere - and also to possibly try going to an optometrist to have my perscription checked? I'm not sure if that might have something to do with it - but it doesn't seem to make any difference to the headache wether I'm wearing my glasses or not...oh well.
Confusing!
ARG.
Meh - I'll try those two things and if I still have a headache next week then I guess it's back to the drawing board for me.
Blah.

I created my mother's mothers day gift today - as well as ordering my father's fathers day gift too - I'm on the ball - oh yeah!
I'm quite happy with both. Tehe and I'm not giving any hints.

Haha - I took Trav out for dinner last night at Whitespot because we were feeling lazy - and I ordered a Crantini - which unfortunatly they make with a very unpleasant brand of Vodka - very watery....and definatly not enough Cranberry juice. But oh well. I explained to the waitress that it was quite watery and could I please just have a glass of cranberry juice instead of the Crantini - but apparently I was misunderstood as she brought back a decanter glass of cranberry juice thinking that I wanted more to pour into my Crantini - we tried but it didn't help - Trav drank the Crantini and I drank my water and the rest of the decanter of Cranberry juice.

Meg

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 18:57:56 GMT

I really like this song - it's from a new Starbucks album.

Sparrow sing to me -
The song I heard last spring.
It's the melody I can't retrieve no matter how I try
it seems that song has left this place.
Sparrow fall asleep,
cause you're safe here next to me
Atop our summer leaves we fall
And winter spring won't care at all
that we have found our place
That we have found our place.
Sweet summer singer come along,
and lets walk down roads that we've already walked upon.
ohhh
Sweet summer sparrow sing your song
You know that I've waited all year long.

Singer, I have found
That by tearing at the ground
I could make it to you dear, in time
for words of yours and words of mine
to be my truest game.
Singer, I believe
that it's music when you breathe.
But with help of words and melody
or speech, or song, it's heavenly.
And I could fall asleep
oh I could fall asleep

Sweet summer singer, come along,
and walk down roads that we've already walked upon.
ohhh
Sweet summer sparrow sing your song,
Oh you know that I've waited all year for you.
Sweet summer singer, come along,
and walk down roads that we've already walked upon.
ohhh
Sweet summer sparrow sing your song.

It's a nice song full of pretty guitar, and a nice smooth voice. It makes me feel relaxed. I think I'm going to buy this album. It's called Off the Clock and you can actually listen to the songs online and vote for them on the Starbucks website. Ack - I was going to buy the album on itunes - but it's only posted on the U.S itunes store and for some reason if you have a Canadian licensed ipod you can't buy from the U.S store...it's stupid. Stupid stupid stupid.

So basically today I have been typing up a study guide from all of my notes for Cultural Geography - it's my first exam. I'm also going to start typing up my study guide for Anthropology 200. I have exams on the 16th, the 19th and the 21st and then I'm done!!! I'm so excited. And I don't start farming at Madrona until May 15th - so I've got some time to work at Starbucks and chill out. Yay!

We bought the kittie a little scratching aparatus yesterday so that our couch may live a longer life. She's asleep on top of it right now...I hope that it works out. It's not big, so it doesn't take up a lot of space thankfully. Last night when we caught her scratching the couch we picked her up and put her paws on the scratching post instead...so hopefully she'll catch on.

We scored big time this weekend - we took the ferry on Sunday at 11 across to Tsawwassen and drove up to Chilliwack to be at Travis' nana's big family Easter Dinner - so we were the first ones there at about 3pm - we helped Nana put out all of her summer patio furniture, etc. She took us upstairs after and offered us this really great big buffet piece made of solid maple, and most likely an antique..it's been in the family a long long time. She offered to pay for it to be moved to us here in Victoria! This is exactly what we'd been looking for - we have a wall on the other side of the kitchen that we'd been planning to find something like that for - so that we can put the dishes that we don't use on a regular basis/tea cups/salad serving bowls/table clothes and such in so that we would have some more cupboard space in our kitchen! So this is perfect. yay!
We also got a set of three really nice bowls from Trav's mum out of the blue - and the best of all was that Trav's nana had bought each person coming to dinner a purdy's chocolate egg filled with the little eggs, and a little white chocolate bunny for a present - but she also brought spares because she didn't know how many people would be there - and she didn't want all that chocolate in her house afterwards - so she sent it all home with us! So we had our own, plus hers because she didn't want it, plus all of the extras...plus a box of chocolates that one of her grandchildren had bought her which she also didn't want tempting her...so we scored big time.
We also had a really great time - Trav's dad's side of the family is great! We played hide and go seek in this huge huge house in Chilliwack with Trav's cousins and his sister/her boyfriend Ben for a few hours and had a great dinner with really awesome pumpkin pie from the Chilliwack airport for dessert. And then Trav and I stayed the night at Nana's in a room with two twin beds, so we shared a twin, which looked impossible but actually worked out well - apart from the fact that when I woke up in the morning I forgot that I was still in chilliwack so I rolled over to look at what time it was in the place where my alarm clock here in Victoria would normally be but all I could see was fuzzy white (the wall) so I thought I'd lost vision in one eye and it scared the crap out of me....
Good one megan.

We then drove from Chilliwack after breakfast to the huge outdoor mall thingy at No.5 road in Richmond and Steveston Highway to meet my brother, Peta, and my parents for lunch at BP - good times. This is where we bought the scratching post...yay.
And then we caught the 1o'clock ferry and came home. Woot.
And the book that you brought me mum - I finished last night. It was horrifying as usual but some funny bits about trying to find out the sex of the baby and using the little probe while the doctor was out of the room to find the baby using the sonogram machine...and then thinking she's found the baby so she starts talking to it and when the doctor comes back in - they tell her that she's actually been talking to her bladder...haha.

Anyways - that's about it. I must study...icky.
Meg

Mon, 26 Mar 2007 20:08:54 GMT

I haven't written in a super duper long time - sorry about that.

Yesterday (Sunday) I opened at my starbucks - which was incredibly painful seeing as that starbucks is soooo slow on Sundays whereas I'm so used to Squamish where Sundays are crazy and busy all day - but one of my co-workers was telling me about a Sushi place just down the street that has incredibly good, very cheap sushi that I should check out. I didn't tell her that I'm really not a huge sushi fan - I don't really like seaweed - but I honestly want to keep trying it just to see if there are certain styles that I will like and what not....
Anyways - so Travis and I went out for dinner - intending to go to this Sushi place but it was closed - so we went for Thai food instead. Luckily, my favorite Thai place is right down the street, half a block from my Starbucks and was open. I am making myself hungry just thinking about how I can possibly tell you about the amazing things that we ate for dinner last night. Uggghhhhh I love Baan Thai.
So we started our dinner with Travis drinking a Sangha Thai beer and me having a Grower's raspberry cider with lime juice..super tasty! And for starters we had Thai spring rolls and a sweet and sour chicken soup with little mushrooms in it - that was amazing. It had a lot of cilantro and lime in it with some chilli sauce - sooo good. Just spicy enough to get our tastebuds up and ready for the main course.
So for our main course we shared Travis' Paad Thai Gai - chicken and rice noodles with slices of tofu, carrot, bean sprouts, etc, and my dish of sticky rice with chicken, cucumber, pineapple, red and green pepper, onion, and tomatoe all cooked up with this red kind of sweet and sour sauce. It was absolutely amazing and mind boggling. If I hadn't been so full after it, I would have gone for the fireworks finale of the deep fried pineapple rings covered in honey and coconut served with vanilla icecream...ugh I'm drooling. I want to go back tonight!

I've been searching online for Thai recipes that resemble this meal...the guy at the restaurant said that it's really hard to recreate at home and that you can never get it quite right. I'm willing to try and prove him wrong, but I also don't mind going to Baan Thai instead.

Oh Thai food makes me so happy. I feel content.

After dinner, Trav and I got drinks from my starbucks and then made our way up to UVic to watch a 7pm screening of Blade Runner - an older movie starring Harrison Ford - it honestly wasn't great at all and the not so subtle name dropping of brands was a bit annoying. Anyways - we had to watch it for Cultural Geography so one of my class mates set up a showing of it in our usual classroom last night. Only about 7 of us attended, but oh well.

Not a whole heck of a lot has been new apart from that - I've been working a lot and will be working a lot. I think that Trav will be coming to atleast Chilliwack for Easter but it's highly unlikely that I will be leaving the island seeing as I have to work...
I had a good time with my mum and my gran while they were here - very fun.

We adopted our cat, Narra, formerly Maxine, the one that Peta and I went to see. She's fit in very well. Last night she tried to crawl down behind the washing machine and then got stuck so Travis and I had to do a kitty rescue mission for her...this morning she sat on the edge of my bath and watched everything I did intensly...she's not sure about baths yet.

I have class this afternoon so I have to go but I thought that I'd atleast update.
Megan

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:41:05 GMT

So what's new you ask? Well...

a) I've gotten back into my scrapbook and so I have spent the last few nights sewing buttons onto envelopes...and then little nooses onto the top flap to do up the button...I finally finished that this morning. Thank god.

b) Peta and I drove around yesterday trying to find the Central Saanich Animal Hospital - damn Stelly's Cross Rd....- anyways, so we finally found it (we've now seen both sides of East Saanich Road) - we were originally going to go look at a cat up for adoption there named Buffy who had a bit of a bad life so far and I felt bad for it...but she's so freaked out of other cats that she's loosing her furr - she needs to be on special food for the rest of her life...and she just isn't going to become a lap cat or a comfortable outside cat - so instead we took a look at two others - Maxine and Gabby. Gabby was a beautiful manx cat but not interesting in being a lap cat. Maxine is a gorgeous black and white fuzzy, soft, green eyed girl. She's only 10 months old and very pleasant. She's also a big shmuz - which is what we're looking for.
I filled out adoption papers for Maxine and the receptionists told me that they'd get back to me within 24 hours to let us know if we'd been approved or not. They had to call our landlord to check up on us, and they wanted our vet's number in Squamish but I explained that our pets in Squamish belonged to our families and not solely to us - nor do we pay for them...so they didn't call the vet. I got a phone call this morning saying that Maxine was ours if we wanted her so Travis and I are going to the Animal Hospital (if I can find it again) after work today to let Trav take a look at her and hopefully we'll be able to bring her home. I'm really excited. Of course this means that we have to miss watching Lost and ANTM with Pen and Em which I feel really bad about because Em leaves for a bandtrip tomorrow but if we don't get the cat tonight then someone else might adopt them and we've been waiting a long time for this. Plus I'd feel bad bringing it to a new home and then leaving it for 3 hours....
But I'm still excited. I can't wait to have someone else to snuggle - not that Trav isn't nice for that - I just miss cats.

c) We went for a walk down around some streets in Cadboro Bay this morning for our Cultural Geography lab - it was really nice as the weather is gorgeous today and we were all actually starting to overheat in our jackets...but it was fun. Erin and I had to be Matt's poster girls - haha - holding up the poster of different examples of Victoria architecture every time that we stopped infront of a house that Matt wanted to use as an example of one. However, we snuck off at the end of the tour because we were so close to the Cadboro Bay starbucks and we both wanted a drink.
So for this project we have to choose a city block's worth of residential neighbourhood and then sketch 5 or 6 different styles of houses on the block and write a 500 word paper on the general architecture of the neighbourhood and wether it's all very alike or if it's a real mix of cultural diffusions of architecture. I like the concept - a lot of people see it as irrelevant - but I really like the idea. I find that it's a mix of history and geography - mapping architecture that reflects the different cultures of the people who built houses in an area...anyways - there is a really cool street just a few blocks up from our apartment that I tend to walk along when I go for walks and it has a really neat mix of houses so I'm definatly going to use that street. The only problem is that I'm a bit uncomfortable with taking pictures of other peoples' houses just randomly. I feel like I should be leaving notes saying who I am and what I'm doing with my pictures of their houses...just incase they object to it....I've nervous to go do it...

d) When we came home this past weekend for my birthday party (thanks everyone who came to that by the way - it was really fun!) Trav and I brought one of my families' bikes back to Victoria with us for me. Trav spent the better part of Sunday evening fixing it and getting it ready for me. Apparently it needs new innertubes for the tires but as soon as he's put those in then we can go for a ride. This is part of my game plan to 1) get some exercise in and 2) bike to work at the farm in the summer rather than driving. We'll see how that goes. Luckily for me, Trav really likes to bike and he has his bike here too so I have someone to go with until I get used to it - someone to push me to keep going when I feel like I'm about to die. I hope that it works out.

That's about all that I can think of.
I was goofing off today because it was nice and sunny and I have these pretty tulips here in our living room so I was taking some pictures and playing with them on Picasa. I made an album of them on my photobucket. They aren't really in order unfortunatly, I wish that it would let you move them around a bit...anyways I put up the original pictures along with all of the variations of the originals that I made. Check it out if you would like.
http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u288/scottish_mafia/I%20play%20a%20lot/

Have a good evening.
Meg

More pictures for your amusement

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 04:11:55 GMT

I've posted a lot lately...and I actually should be writing a geography paper right now...but I just wanted to quickly add a link to my photobucket account because when Travis and I went out for dinner tonight to celebrate my birthday (because I have to work tomorrow) we went to Don Mee's in Chinatown and I took some more pictures of Chinatown but this time at night. I liked them a lot.
I just combined all of the chinatown pictures from new years, the tour, my class tour, and tonight into one album.
http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u288/scottish_mafia/ChinaTownTourFeb25/

So if you're interested feel free to take a look.
Meg

Tue, 06 Mar 2007 04:22:37 GMT

Wah - Wah..I'm tired.

So for those who might not have heard - I was hired at a starbucks recently. I worked two weeks ago and then again last week for them. I ended up working friday and saturday morning but I went home early on Saturday because I caught the flu/cold thing that's going around the store...icky. Thanks...
I also get to work this wednesday night - not only am I then missing the newest lost, and the new ANTM, but also my birthday...not happy about that. Oh well - money is much much much needed.

On Friday night we went for dinner with Jesse and Peta at Smuggler's Cove - the best pub down the road from the university in Cadboro bay..I love it there. Anyways - good dinner apart from beginning to feel sick. For my birthday Jesse and Peta got me a kitty litter box, food dishes, and a cat toy. (Travis and I are soon to be adopting a cat) I joked that because I'm turning 20 I finally get to be box trained. Yay for me!

On saturday night I hung out with the toilet - see the one word meme.

On Sunday I still felt shitty but we managed to get a lot of work done - took all of our bottles and cans back, did groceries, returned some movies, etc. I think that grocery stores in Victoria have caught on that everyone is sick so Jello was on sale. I bought two - raspberry and strawberry kiwi. I made the strawberry kiwi and used some grape juice instead of ice cubes...and then I took it with me to dinner at Whitespot for Emily and my birthday. I was kind of counting on Whitespot having chicken noodle soup that night...but alas they did not - both of their soups were cream based those jerks - so I ate my jello with the spoon the waitress brought me and generally moped while everyone enjoyed their cream based soups and desserts (Thanks for dinner Pen, it was really nice, no sarcasm there, it was infact really nice and I had a good time. Please send pictures) Barry somehow charmed the waitress into letting him have a pirate pack for dinner...lucky. Oh and on the way into the restaurant my heels and the floor did not mesh well and I ended up sliding and falling onto my knees...driving today was somewhat painful. Walking feels fine, but having my leg at an angle to reach the peddles really hurt. Oh well.

This morning I went to the campus doctors to get them to reperscribe me my antidepressants before I run out - I just got the 75 mg because although that other Victoria doctor that I saw told me to go up to 200mg because I was hopeless - I feel really good at 75mg and I haven't had a breakdown in a month or so, so why mess with a good thing?
I also went to my first class - but not to my second - I spent more of my day hanging out with the toilet.

And now I have baked a cake. I shall not say for who...maybe me, seeing as my birthday is in 2 days.

I'm tired..and this all sounds so boring to me. I hope I've lulled you all to sleep.
I lulled myself to sleep..
Nighty-night.
Meg

I enjoy a challenge. Formal update on life to come...

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 17:08:50 GMT

1 word survey: Can. Only. Type. One. Word. Not as easy as you might think.

1. Where is your cell phone?
Hand

2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend?
Amazing

3. Your hair?
Disheveled

4. Your mother?
Splendid

5. Your father?
Ditto

6. Your favorite thing?
Smiling

7. Your dream last night?
Musical

8. Your favorite drink?
Juice

9. Your dream car?
None

10. The room you're in?
Workable

11. Favorite Food?
Undecided

12. Your fears?
Spiders

13. What do you want to be in 10 years?
Undecided

14. Who did you hang out with last night?
Toilet

15. Muffins?
Usually

16. Favorite Place?
Squamish

17. One of your wish list items?
Health

18. Where you grew up?
Home

19. The last thing you did?
Sick

20. What are you wearing?
Comfort

21. Your TV?
Black

22. Your pet?
Coming

23. Your computer?
Addicting

24. Your life?
Moving

25. Your mood?
Sick

26. Missing?
Health

27. What are you thinking about right now?
Sick

28. Your car?
Sunbird

29. Your work?
Starbucks

30. Your summers?
Work

31. Your relationship status?
Married...

32. Your favorite color?
Changes

33. When is the last time you laughed?
Morning

34. Last time you cried?
Weeks

35. School?
Tomorrow

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 23:38:11 GMT

So last week while waiting for a lab to start, I was sitting in the hallway where our lab classrooms and the graduate students' offices are...when I saw a poster for a tour of china town and the Silk Road Tea House for free. I signed Travis and I up for two spaces and we got them. So today we met at the Gates of Harmonious Interest at 10:50 after grabbing coffee and apple cider from the Moka House. We met our tour group - turns out that this was a Graduate Student Society tour...so one carpenter and one 2nd year undergrad were kind of weird...but oh well. The group split up between two tour leaders and we went off in opposite directions. First, our group went to the Silk Road Tea House - this is a store which sells all sorts of tea, tea accessories (weird, but tea pots and strainers and such) and it's also a spa...it's very very cool. If you google Silk Road Tea House Victoria you'll get their website. It's really cool. Anyways, from 11-5 today they were having an open house where they were sampling all of their "shaped teas" which would have been kept for only the emperor to drink in ancient times. The idea behind these teas is that they are hand wound around flowers and such, so they come in little balls and different shapes and when you pour boiling water over them they open up to reveal a beautiful secret. They are also very delicious. I bought a little bag with two balls of a shaped tea called "ethereal garden" for my favorite T.A, Kinga. She's been so great to me over the past two years and we had been talking about this tour and she was so excited about it so I thought I'd get her something. I'll copy what it says on the package so you have a better idea of it:
Ethereal Garden - Haven of Peace - An intriguing bouquet of delicate notes. Chinese black tea grown at 4900ft on Tai Mu mountain in Fujian province. Lavender blossoms, rose petals.
Black tea leaves are hand sewn around a bouquet of lavender and rose petals. As the tea unfurls, lavender blossoms float to the surface, revealing a delicate rose at the centre. This delightful flowering tea symbolises joy, beauty and abundance.

So after you steep one of the balls once, you can take it out, dry it and re-steep it up to 7 times before it loses flavour.
We also got some really cool chinese style coasters and a black tea brick that you display..or you can shave off a tsp of it to make tea if you wanted to.
After the Silk Road Tea House, Trav and I wandered around Fan Tan Alley and the never ending store. We wish we had tons of money to spend on cool decorations for our house. I'm thinking that next Christmas I'll be heading to china town for fun gifts for people.
We then met up with the second tour leader and she took us to the Chinese Temple and the Chinese Public School. I actually didn't know there was a temple - it turns out that it's the oldest Chinese temple in Canada. You have to go up about 3 stories of tight stairs to the top and they burn a ton of incense so it's pretty smoky but nice smelling. There was one little old man running the place this morning so when he left the room I asked the tour guide if we could take pictures and she said that she wasn't sure but that I should - so I snuck out my camera and snapped a bunch of pictures before the man came back.
Families will often have a temple sort of set up in their homes - but for public worship you can come to one of these places and bring your own, or buy incense to burn while you worship. There are a few shrines and a table for offerings. Traditionally the Chinese offer fruit - mostly oranges - and booze. They bring alcohol, pour it into a little cup and then pour it into a permanent vessel or onto the floor while they say prayers. There is also a neat thing - if you want an answer to a question you take a box that contains little inscribed bamboo sticks and you shake until one comes out. Then you would traditionally go to the person who knew what the stick meant to give you your guidance/answer, but now they have a little binder with the meaning of the sticks written in it.
The Chinese public school is neat, but we couldn't go inside as they don't really open for tour groups on Sundays. They offer all sorts of classes on Chinese language, history, art, etc. People of all ages and races are welcome to attend classes there. There is also another bigger temple inside the school with seperate rooms for Buddhists, Daoists, etc. to worship. This building is definatly a good example of the blend of Western and Chinese architecture in Victoria's Chinatown - it is brick, with high stairs going to the front entrance, but it is also built in a pagoda style.
After the tour we all went for Dim Sum together at Don Mee's. It was interesting - I've never had Dim Sum before. It was all really tasty but I think that I like the sit down and order style of other Chinese food restaurants better. It felt strange having to flag down waitresses to get things from their carts...and it was like playing bingo with them stamping our bill card everytime we got something. But tasty.

I've posted pictures - many of which I edited a bit for fun. http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u288/scottish_mafia/ChinaTownTourFeb25/

Today is the last day of my reading week - basically I got all of my stuff caught up and did all of the readings for this next week so that I'd be a bit ahead. And I've been meeting with my Environmental Resources lab group to complete a project on writing an Environmental Impact Assessment for a Landfill. Right now I'm just finishing up the powerpoint presentation that we need to give on Tuesday during lab.
We also have our official lab China Town Tour for Cultural Geography on Wednesday. I've been taking pictures of Chinese New Year and of this tea-tasting tour to get some really cool, unique pictures unlike the ones that everyone will be taking on the tour. It's a nice headstart. I'm definatly glad that we went today because I've never been inside the temple and none of my tour groups have ever really mentioned it or gone to it so I wasn't sure if we were even allowed to be in it. We have to write a photo-essay about China Town so these pictures are perfect.
Yay.

I also got a job at a Starbucks here in Victoria at Fort Street and Blanshard, which is downtown. It's a really nice small store with great staff - mostly men, some gay, some straight. It was the first time I've ever gone into a starbucks and heard the staff talking about cars...I didn't know how to react. I really like it though. I did a shift on Friday morning and it was really welcoming and really fun. I'm not sure when my next shift is since I'm just being scheduled for the new schedules for one or two weeks from now. They are going to phone me if they need people before then though.
I'm excited to have some money in order to pay Travis back all of the money that I owe him. Ugh. I hate owing money.

This entry is getting really long and I have some other things to do, so I will be off.
Megan

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 16:21:25 GMT

So here are the pictures that Travis/I took at China Town yesterday for Chinese New Year. I uploaded the better ones onto my photobucket account and I posted my favorite 3 here.

http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u288/scottish_mafia/

How would you like this guy up in your face?

Travis refers to this picture as the two lions sniffing each other's bums.

This little girl was too cute to resist.

So basically we got to China town at 11:30 and the parade was supposed to start at noon, however it didn't start until one. So everyone was standing around in the cold on the curb waiting and finally I went off to find Travis and I a hot drink but all of the coffee shops in china town were packed so I crossed the street to the coffee shop/bakery just outside of china town and waited in line for half an hour and was charged an arm and a leg for a hot chocolate and a croissant for Trav - and then I tried to make my way back into the crowd however the drumming had started and so everyone who was waiting inside restaurants in China town had come out and it was now completely packed so the crowd wouldn't let anyone through...so I couldn't get to Travis and was getting crushed - so I back tracked back to the coffee shop and sat around for another half hour waiting for the parade to finish - I didn't get to see any of it. Travis was still in his spot at the curb but because he'd been holding a bit of room for me to hopefully return, some little chinese grandmas started beating up on him to get infront of him...nice.
So I was uber pissed about missing the parade that I'd really wanted to see and Trav was not too happy about being beat up and we went home and ordered take out chinese food for dinner.
So according to Trav, what happens in this parade is that there is a group who does some traditional drumming followed by them setting out some chairs in the middle with heads of lettuce and gold pigs on them and then two of the "dragons" lie down and do a little dance where they get up and inspect each other, as Travis said, "It looked like they were sniffing each other's butts." And then when they figure out that they are obviously both okay dragons, they invite all of their other friend dragons (about 5 in total) to join them in devouring the lettuce offerings and ripping apart the pigs to expose candy which they then throw into the hair and hit people with. And then they dance up the street followed by the drummers. Yay...

Meme-ing It Up.

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 17:58:33 GMT

I enjoy a good meme.
Apparently I have to answer most of these questions about the person who I got this from, so those questions will be answered about Peta.

Meme
1. Ever punch someone in the face? Not that I remember.
2. How old are you? Nearly 20, which makes me 19.
3. Are you single or taken? Taken.
4. Do you eat with your hands or utensils? Depends on the food.
5. Do you dream at night? About three legged cats.
6. Ever seen a corpse? Luckily, no.
7. Have you ever wished someone dead? Not that I remember.
8. Do you like Bush, the president? Hardly.

HERE COMES THE FUN ...

9. What's your philosophy on life? And on death? Life..is like a box of chocolates. I don't have much of a philosophy on Death, the most that I can say is that I always hope that myself and my loved ones will die peacefully in their sleep, or doing something that they loved - such as great granddad barner. But so far I've had a loved one die from river rafting...when she was so young, and it doesn't seem fair or right -however I look at the rest of the rafters and they were all little girls and so I'm almost glad that none of them died. I figure that fate has a way of housecleaning and we shouldn't mess with it. I'm just sorry to lose people like that.
10. If you could do anything with me, and have no one know about it, what would it be?
11. Do you trust the police? (the cops, not the band) It depends, I trust the idea behind the institution and all of the cops that I've met have been lovely people who I would trust to do the right thing, but as of yet I've never met an obviously corrupt cop.
12. Do you like country music? Yes I do.
13. What is your fondest memory of me? Peta, well I think it would be the time that you called our house in Squamish this past summer for Jesse and he wasn't home but I picked up the phone and it was the first time I'd talked to you and I was so excited... I could hardly contain myself. You seemed amused.
14. If you could change anything about yourself, would you? Yes, I'd change the chemical imbalance in my brain.
15. Would you date me? Sorry, but no.
16. What do you wear to sleep? Pj's.
17. Have you ever peed in a pool? While you were still in it? Not that I remember.
18. Would you hide evidence for me if I asked you to? Depends on the evidence.
19. If I only had one day to live, what would we do together? I would take you downtown and we'd grab a coffee and wander about window shopping and enjoying springtime in downtown Victoria and just talking about anything we wanted and it would be a lovely day.
20. What is your favorite thing about me? The way you love my brother.
21. Do you think I'm attractive? You're very pretty.
22. What's your favorite color? My favorite colour right now is brown.
23. If you could bring back anyone that has passed, who would it be? Alison - I always try and imagine what it would be like if she were still alive and in University now like she wanted to be. It's hard not to have her here. The other people in my life who have passed lived relatively full lives, but hers was only just starting.
24. Tell me one interesting/odd fact about you. - I am going to be a farmer this summer and I'm scared because I've never done it before, but I'm also excited because there aren't any turkeys on this farm that I need to worry about, and I love a challenge, and it's going to be a great experience, and I get free vegetables.
25. Will you post this so I can fill it out for you? Yes, I just did/ am hitting the button....now.

hehe

Tue, 13 Feb 2007 18:02:20 GMT

This one was entitled: "Sucker"

nataliedee.com

Happy almost Valentines Day.

I'm going to be a farmer!

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 21:15:47 GMT

Today:

It's 1:10 in the afternoon and so far I have:
- showered
- read the campus newspaper
- gone to Environmental Resource Management Class
- had a co-op job interview with Madrona Farms
- gotten a job..
- had lunch.
- made myself more tea.

So I now have a summer job. I'm going to be working for Natalie and David along with probably about 4 or 5 other full time staff members at an organic produce farm in the Blenkinsop Valley of Victoria.
I'm pretty excited because it's going to be a challenge, really hard work, and it's something that I'm really not familiar with so it'll be a learning experience.
I'm going to be started in the middle of May and probably working until November which will probably count for 2 work terms through Co-op. I work Tuesday through Saturday which sort of sucks...but oh well. And I get to do all kinds of things! Starting at 7am I get to pick produce until about 10am when the "store" opens to sell the stuff. They grow all sorts of things - melons, all types of veg, everything. I'm excited that I get to take stuff home. Yay!
As far as I'm concerned this is like nothing I've ever done and it sounds like it's going to be a great experience...although I'm sure I'll hate it at some point along the way...but oh well.

I also learnt that fresh, non-cooked brussel sprouts taste great! I don't know why they cook them!?! They are so icky afterwards, how do they go from being that great to being so gross? Oh well. I guess now I can partake in the eating of brussel sprouts at holidays as long as mine aren't cooked. That's good to know.

And now I'm eating fudgee-o's and studying.
Hooray!
Megan

Down to business

Sun, 04 Feb 2007 23:34:25 GMT

The matters at hand are:

a) If you haven't read my incredibly awe inspiring post from Friday...or possibly Saturday, I can't remember - you should! Just scroll down a bit. I'm only saying this because you definatly don't want to miss it, and you might if you are just now reading this one and not realzing that there was something better that you hadn't seen yet and I'm not covering it up with some newer junk that's not as exciting. Anyways, it's down there, below this one, and should not be forgotten.

b) Once you've finished reading that one in order to catch up on current events - if I were to start a band called Who the heck? I think that I'd be obligated to play the only natural choice for one such as myself, the bongos. I have absolutely no musical talent, I can dance though....so bongos seem pretty harmless for me.
I can't sing either....someone might have to start a band for me and just say that I was the inspiration for the name. That way, if they suck then I'm not to blame. I only inspired the name of a shitty band. The name is still good - despite the music.

c) Last night Travis and I were watching a movie when we heard a noise from the depths of our apartment that sounded like someone throwing up...Travis' first thought was, "That must be one hell of a spider!" and mine was, "I hate the upstairs neighbors"...
Anyways, so we got up off the couch and went to go find out where the noise had come from...lo and behold, our sink got ill.
That's right, you read it correctly - the sink threw up. We found it in it's usual spot but with a few piles of black gelatinous stuff surrounding it. And it had upchucked it's little tongue-like thing which you put up or down to regulate wether the water drains or stays in the basin...so Trav went to use a baggy to dispose of the sink-sick and found that it had bits of orange, clay-like shell in it. It also smelt like compost and ocean water....we're not sure what went on there, but we're even more convinced that Victoria needs to do something about their methods of disposing sewage into the ocean...apparently the ocean spat it back up into our sink. Gross.
Just the fact that the sink literally made a vomiting noise was pretty humorous. We threatened to feed it some draino - the sink version of alka-seltzer. I'm not sure what the sink version of pepto-bismal is but I'm not sure that I want to know.
It seems to be feeling better this morning as there has not been a repeat offence thank god.

d) I am now going to attempt my mum's shrinking pictures technique for the hell of trying it out. Here goes nothing:

This is my gran and I...hopefully we're somewhat smaller than in real life if this worked properly....it's her birthday coming up! Yay! So many major birthdays this year and last year. Crazy. Happy almost birthday gran! 6 more days. Woohoo! Party!
I was joking with Trav about how immediatly after Christmas it becomes "Megan's Birthday Season" which is somewhat true...in my head atleast. haha. I'm turning 20! Yay! But first it is "Gran's Birthday Season".

Anyways, that all I can think of for now.
Megan

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 18:47:03 GMT

So what's been up lately:

Well I've been sick. Stupid cold. I'm still somewhat stuffy and not impressed.

I wrote a geography midterm on Thursday which I found pretty easy but I've also had tons of time to do all of the readings and study, most people said they found it hard because they hadn't done all of the class readings. The fact that I only have 3 courses and so I've actually been trying (for once) to do all of the readings and take notes on all of them...means that I am one step ahead. Yahoo!

We went for dinner at the Keg the other night with Pen and Em. It was great. I got to play with my food and eat entirely too much bread. I made my rice pilaf into a nice face with a lemon grin, and prawn tail facial hair and actual head hair.

I am going to attempt to place pictures of the things that I speak of here today, onto this via my new photobucket account, but I don't really know what I'm doing...so it may not turn out as planned.

Trav and I had a nice day yesterday because his back was still really sore - he did something to it at work this week and it's been killing him. So he stayed home. We went downtown and got bagels and coffee and sat around in Bastion square...and then we went to see the matinee showing of the movie "Pan's Labyrinth" which was awesome, but pretty gorey. You may not want to eat a meal before seeing it. But it's still really cool!

While we were downtown I pulled Trav into my favorite t-shirt store, Utopia, where they sell really cool silk screened shirts. Trav bought me one, which he didn't have to do, but I love it: It's called the Communist Party and it's red and has a picture of Fidel Castro, Stalin, Lenin, Mao Tsetung, and Karl Marx all partying together. I especially love the fact that Karl Marx has a lamp shade on his head.
Anyways...I'm trying to post that here too.

So while we were at dinner with Pen and Em, I had a great idea for a band name:
Say you named your band, "Who the heck?"
And then you made an effort to play a lot of fundraisers/benefit events...so that you could put up a sign that said, "Who the heck....cares"
haha.
I still find it really funny, and it's been 2 or 3 days.
I blame the cold pills.

Love
Megan

ps - here is my lame attempt at using my photobucket account.

I still don't know how to make it into one of those little side ones...so that it doesn't take up the whole page...if someone could tell me how to do that, that would be great.

Clllifffff-hanger

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 01:08:51 GMT

Wa-Wa...
It's been a while. Sorry.
I've gotten over my doctor experience. I went home to Squamish last weekend to see my family doctor and discuss options with him. He was very helpful.

I also threw a dinner party for myself, my parents, my grandparents, Mr.Tichauer and the Olmstead's. It was fun. I wish I could throw a dinner party for them in Victoria.

It's been really gorgeous weather here but I've been really swamped with essays/midterms/debates and I caught a cold...so I haven't been getting out into it much. I sat outside at the fountain on campus yesterday though, it was nice to do work in the sun.
I didn't go to class on Monday because I was feeling so crummy so I thought I'd try and get some rest, drink some tea and recooperate...didn't help much. I felt better until Tuesday evening when I began to feel like crap again. So I took a nap after dinner for just an hour and then got up and stayed up until 10 doing homework...and I couldn't fall asleep. I tossed and turned and watched Travis sleep peacefully. Finally at 3 in the morning I took a dose of Vick's Nyquil night-time cold medicine and lay back down but didn't fall asleep for another hour. And our alarm went off at 6, so I woke up and then went back to sleep after Travis left until 7:30...yay for 3 hours of sleep.
I have a midterm tomorrow and terminology is kind of feeling fuzzy in my mind.
I also have a debate coming up next week about how Canadian Content regulations hinder artistic persuits and do not help to express a Canadian cultural.
blah.

I'm ready to pass out.
I did have a really good conversation with my Geography T.A - Kinga - yesterday. I was walking through the Geography department to ask my professor something and Kinga spotted me, gave me a big hug and dragged me into her office to talk. I really miss her. I told her things that I hadn't really told anyone yet about wanting to take a break from school for a while and she gave me some advice about what I should do. I wanted to write more about that - but I'm really tired at this point and my hands hurt from typing, so I'm going to leave you at a cliff-hanger.
Megan