His hand looks like a spatula. I love it. 

Volleyball Stuff

Okay, so I thought I'd write a post about one of my favourite sports, to play and to watch, volleyball. Unfortunately, since multiple injuries (I am now making my ashamed face) I don't get to play as much as I'd like (though now that my finger's okay and my shoulder has stopped popping in and out I think I'll start up again) so mostly I've just been restricted to watching games. And that's okay, because U of A has two amazing stellar teams, the Pandas and the Bears. If any of you out there haven't gone to see the guys AND the girls play then definitely do, they're amazing to watch (I actually seem to pay more attention when the girls play, maybe because what the guys can do seems relatively unhuman.. honestly, the hits they make and take are absolutely ridiculous, are they seriously genetically engineered or something??)

Anyways, the last couple of nights I've been working, and got to watch U of A's teams go up against the Calgary Dinos. The Bears won against the Dinos pretty easily, but the Pandas lost both nights, both in the fifth set, which made it really hard to watch. The Pandas seem to have a thing, I've noticed, about winning the first set, but losing in the fifth set... there's always those teams that struggle through and manage to win against all odds in the fifth set. The Pandas are not one of those teams. The Dinos are ranked #1 for women's canada west volleyball right now, while the Pandas are #4, kind of funny when you think about it, because they are extremely close matched teams, as the two games can definitely show.

I could go on and on about the awesome stars on both teams, but I was checking out the Volleyball Canada website, and there's quite a few players from U of A on both the men's and women's junior and senior teams. I'm probably missing a couple of the players, but it doesn't really matter that much I suppose. For the womens's, there's Larissa Cundy and Tawana Wardlaw playing for the Women's Senior "B" team, and Alexa Berton for the Junior team. That kind of surprised me... I've just started actually reading the programs to see who was on the team last night, and those are my top favourite players for the Pandas. Larissa is an awesome setter. Ralph, who I was watching the games with last night, commented that everytime she's on the court, she somehow "brings good luck" to the team. Right. But she's fifth year right now, so goodbye next year, Larissa. Next, Tawana (4th year) is a phenomenal hitter, her attacks are brutal... don't know what her stats are, but they're pretty awesome. She even looks a wee bit intimidating, and like nothing done on or off the court phases her in the least, which I think adds to her finesse, as strange as that sounds. Alexa's just a first year, and her blocks are amazing, I think that she's the best on the team in that area. Only little thing she needs to work on is her defence, I think, with balls off the net (Larissa is amazing there, though) and dives, especially. Still, I'm the furthest thing from a pro at judging vball skills, and all the players out there are great.

Anyways, for the guys, it almost seems like the entire Sentior Men's team is made of U of A players... Larissa's brother, Nicholas Cundy, Brock Davidiuk, Alexandre Gaumont-Casias (he's my favourite player on the guy's team, I bet he even has numchuck skills.. but he's only first year, so he doesn't get to play as much as I think he should), Dallas Soonias, and Leo Carrol are all on the team. For the Junior men's team, there aren't any U of A players on it, but our very own Doug VanSpronsen (they spelt his name wrong on the site, though, blasphemy!!) from DC, who plays for the TWU spartans (currently ranked #2 for men's canada west vb, while our Bears are #1... random comment, they also have the #1 women's soccer team, another of my favourite sports) and he's got one awesome block, if I do say so myself... I'm sure he's been told that once or twice before, though, so I won't boost his ego any more.

I think I've gone on enough, and I should stop procrastinating. What am I doing? I have two midterms and a lab report due this week. Someone shoot me. Side comment - I finally tried new peanut butter chocolate oreos, they came highly recommended and I have to agree that they really are pretty darned good. Chocolate and peanut butter were always meant to be. And I installed my odometer/speedometer/24-hour clock on my bike. I feel all high-tech and stuff now... and maybe I'll make it to class on time now that I have a clock... but that's probably just wishful thinking. I wonder if I'll ever be able to "think" in 24-hour time.. like someone in the navy or marines... or like Nisha, who always tells me the time like that.. I think just to confused me.

Oh, and one last thing... February 11th and 12th, TWU vs. U of A here in Edmonton, if you haven't watched any good volleyball recently, this is one you probably won't want to miss. Come out, come out, one and all!! email me @ Je_Neeners@hotmail.com if you want some free tickets, I still have some left that I'm not likely to use otherwise since we're not allowed to use them for the Telus/Canada West Cup Conference games (aka, the big Western Canada men's hockey tournament in March). So feel free to drop me an email, if u want tickets or not, it all helps out with my procrastination/study break needs. Over and out,

Jeanine

Hmm, just some random things I thought I'd share with the world. Today I went grocery shopping, and managed to bring home ~$90 worth of groceries on my bike. Why did I do this, you ask? I'm not sure why. Although I haven't gone grocery shopping since Christmas, I still could have gone a little longer. I have so much stuff in my cupboards already, you think I might try and use some of it before I get more. But this time, my landlords got a new freezer, and I felt obliged to fill it. So I did. And then I went on a crazy cooking streak and now I don't think I'll have to cook for another month (no really, this is not an exaggeration.. I cook a lot, fill up ziploc containers, freeze them, then take one with me to school every day). So now I think I can go for another month before I have to take another fun trip home from Safeway. I was amused by the fact that the grocery bagger offered to carry my bag out for me after I filled it with as much as I could (still leaving me with 6 full grocery bags) and he could barely lift it. It actually wasn't that heavy... I think he could use some "textbook" conditioning. We all know that feeling after visiting the bookstore and then realizing that not only is your bank account that much emptier, but you also get the privelege of bringing them home with you....

What else? I now have a new accident tally. And if you haven't noticed, I was clean for 17 days before I hit an unlucky streak. That must be some sort of new record.

Also, I'm changing my quote, but I'm posting the old one up so that Ian's comment can make sense still:

"If you ever get your tongue stuck to a flagpole, the best way to handle the situation is to take off all your clothes. Then people will say, ‘Hey, look at the naked guy!’ instead of, ‘Hey, look at the idiot with his tongue stuck to a pole!’ - Craig Stacey”

I read through the pamphlet and estimate I just got in the mail for my orthodontal surgery. I don’t think I should have read the pamphlet all at once though, it might have been better to break it up into little chunks. It’s pretty frightening to read all at once… “The pain usually peaks in twenty-four hours”…”On the third day, we expect the pain to level off and gradually start getting better”, “It is normal to bleed or ooze for some time following oral surgery”, “Loose sutures may be gently removed with tweezers or the long ends can be carefully trimmed”, and “ If the oozing continues or reoccurs the following day, reapply the gauze until it subsides.” Maybe it’s because my previous experience with surgery was so great, I’ve probably told lots of people about the entire wonderful experience, so I won’t recite the whole story. But I remember puking about every fifteen or so minutes for the entire day after… and on the way home from the hospital, my dad decided to pick up some milk and a few groceries, and ran into some of his friends, and had a great long conversation, while I was waiting in the truck with the door open… yes, I love you dad.

So, it looks like I’m getting all four of my wisdom teeth out. Teeth 18, 28, 38 and 48. Goody. Tooth 38 is the most expensive, he costs $421. The description for him is “extraction complete tooth”, which I don’t understand. The other ones all have different descriptions… does that mean he costs so much because they’re taking the whole tooth? Are they not taking the whole tooth for 18, 28 or 48? Just little pieces? Anyways, I hope they give him back to me so I can stick him under the pillow for reimbursement. I’ll put him towards, say, a month’s worth of living expenses, or two of my textbooks… whatever I wants more at the time.

The last couple of days I’ve really been missing my camp friends, Nick and Amy and Sierra. Especially Sierra. I’ve also been thinking about my plans for the coming summer, and I’ve been praying and thinking and dreaming about what I should be doing, and I think I’m going to go for a job with the foundation, being a counselor out east, in Ontario or Quebec or Nova Scotia. It’s hard for me to make that decision, but I think it’s the right one. I’d like to stay in Dawson Creek (make more money) or go back to Kananaskis (both more money and more fun, and also, get the chance to see my old friends that I really miss), or even stay in Edmonton (yeah for not having to move… again… sick). But I think the choice is going to be to get out and see some more. I’m a bit afraid to leave everyone I know so far behind, but I’ll regret it more if I don’t take the chance. So I’m going to start sending out my resume, and hopefully in a month or two I’ll know where I’ll be spending my summer.

Speaking of dreams, last night I had a really cool dream. One of my friends had a hovercraft plane thing, that he used to explore a waterfall. Then we were going to take it up to the mountains and take turns dropping out if it to snowboard, but we had just left and then I woke up. Hate it when I miss the good parts.

Hmm… I also bought new lightbulbs today. They’re sitting on my desk right now so I thought I’d mention that.

Nisha is going back home to Germany in a week and two days. Mina’s already gone home to Japan too... why does everyone have to leave? I don’t know what I’m going to do when Nisha’s gone, she’s become my best friend and this house is going to suck without her. Yeah. Really suck. She’ll be taking a part of me with her, whether I like it or not, and I want it back. I guess all this means that I’ll really miss her once she’s gone.

Anyways, I have banana bread to bake and study notes to make. Good nite, all.

Everyone should know their cereal history. There's no excuse for ignorance, for puffed wheat or raisin bran, whatever it might be. Remember that.

Needed to Post Something!

Right, well, it's been a long time since I posted anything of worth, so I decided I needed to post something. Not sure what it's going to be about yet but I suppose I'll figure it out. Okay, well, today I didn't bike to school, I tried biking home last night but "tried" is the key word. I walked most of the way home and fell about 3 or 4 times. It was a good day for me to decide to wear my Sorels. And taking the bus today, I remembered all about why I hate the bus and love me bike. like.... getting from the Tory lecture building to the Van Vliet Center within 5 minutes is slightly easier to do when you have a bike.
Something interesting I learned in psychology today. Say you meet someone that you're interested in. There are specific flirting steps that one normally takes.
Step 1: Eye contact. Step 2: Look away. Step 3: Eye contact again. Step 4: Friendly smile.
And at this point, even though you can't normally tell, if the person's pupils are dilated, that tends to be a positive response... there have been tests where people will look at a bunch of different pictures of the opposite sex, and the attractiveness of the people in the pictures get a much higher rating (even for the same person) when their pupils are dilated. And, according to our psych prof, biting your tongue will cause your pupils to dilate. Right. Who says you can never learn anything useful in an arts class? Well, technically this arts class is about as close to science as it gets, but still. Pretty interesting and very entertaining.
What else... I took my first hip hop class today and realized just how out of shape I am, not as bad as a bunch of people in the class but still. I enjoyed the choreography, but doing a choreographed routine is definitely not what I'm used to! So, I'll be hip hopping around my house tonight when I get home I think, before I go out. Ahhh, how I love Fridays. Swimming, hip hop class, and dancing all night long. With mebbe a bit of class and some studying :P. Tomorrow, if plans work out, I get to go snowboarding up north of Edmonton, and then Sunday I'll be doing some pool physiotherapy work with one of the disabled people I work with. That's kind of cool, especially because I'm considering physiotherapy or occupational therapy right now. And now I have my brain and behaviour psych class to go to. All stupid definitions... apparently physiological psychology and psychophysiology are completely different branches of neuroscience. Yeah. Someone gag me with a large pokey object. Actually don't, just kidding. Well, cheerio!

New Updates

I am now drawing attention to the two new links available on the sidebar... things I don't like, and to be optimistic (all things in balance, right?)... things I do like. Also, note my new profile picture, that's me and my amazing friend Heather, back in November. Enjoy the new and updated page, eh?

Hmmmm

I actually had something important I was going to post about... okay, I never really post about much important stuff but I think it was interesting. But I forgot. That's okay. I'll remember later, I think. So, my Christmas holidays were probably the best I've had in a long time, I got pretty much everything I wanted and more, my friend Nisha came down and we had a blast together (staying up until 7 in the morning making jigsaw puzzles was never as funny before) and I got to spend lots of time seeing old friends. Not to mention, I got to teach Nisha how to snowboard, that was a blast. I've probably taught about a dozen people how to board but she was definitely the fastest learner I've had, I was worried because she'd only skiied once before and hated it. Maybe that made her easier to teach because she didn't have anything to unlearn. But snowboarding always puts me in a good mood yet only makes me crave it even more. Stuck in Edmonton, not so many chances to get out there as you'd like.
So, I got back yesterday afternoon, unpacked (wow, I had a lot more stuff than I thought I did, took me several hours) and had a nap before going out with Nisha. That was awesome, I haven't been out to a club in ages, since before exams. It's kind of addicting. So anyways, we went out and the music wasn't that great but we had a fun time dancing and making fun of the little guy in the white shirt and the robot moves. And the couple that decided a piggyback ride was a new form of hip hop. Just because you see it in an Usher video doesn't make it cool in real life (which reminds me, I love the car in his "U Remind Me" video). No offence to those that really love the robot and piggyback rides. So long as you're out there having fun and enjoying yourself that's all that really matters.
But then when we came back home and I went to sleep, I had the worst nightmare I can ever remember. I have no clue what brought it on. Those that know me well, know that I dream a lot, and can remember a dream most nights. But this dream was really long and detailed, and though most of my dreams are complete nonsense, this dream seemed to make complete realistic sense from beginning to end, which made it that much more frightening. I won't relate the entire dream because it is too long, but someone had attacked me with a needle and gave me an incurable disease that would kill me (I forgot what exactly that kind of disease is called). It wouldn't have been so bad, but most of the dream was of me getting sicker and sicker, and my whole body was weakening.

Everyone around me in my dream either didn't think there was anything wrong with me or knew there was and wouldn't tell me, but then I finally found out and I was given a choice between two ends, neither of which were very pleasant. I tried to find out who was responsible for making me sick by getting revenge, but I ended up giving up because the person who I thought was responsible was actually innocent and I came close to making him sick too.

So then I planned out the last two weeks of my life, which was just before Christmas and I decided that I would at least live until after Christmas (which was a Wednesday, how weird). I could tell that most people didn't think I would last that long, but I went ahead with my plans anyways... I had a basket of apples and I visited all of the people that mattered to me the most, and gave each one an apple, to say goodbye. The dream ended with me looking into a mirror, and I made the decision that I knew was right but was very painful to make. Anyways, this dream was definitely one of the scariest I could remember, and ended up haunting me all day. I told Nisha the entire dream and we looked up some of the dream definitions on the internet (in German, but later I went to www.dreammoods.com and found a lot of definitions and some interesting facts:

Toddlers do not dream about themselves. They do not appear in their own dreams until the age of 3 or 4.

Men tend to dream more about other men, while women dream equally about men and women.

If you are snoring, then you cannot be dreaming.

Well, that’s all I have for now. Back to school on Monday, a bit nervous but mostly pretty excited! Take care, everyone!