Kung-Fu Kitty

Yeah, I ripped off a movie title. So what? (I would say, "So, sue me!", but in this day an age, somebody might actually take me up on that.) My cold thing just came back with a vengence, but now, in addition to a sore throat, I've got a plugged nose. I've really got to make some serious lifestyle changes when it comes to my health. I've been eating terribly, and been way too stressed out, and, as a result, I've gotten sick, my acne has flared up, and I'm sure I've gained weight, though I've been too afraid to step on the scale.

And for the stressful aspects of my life, there's just too much to tell. I know I'm always complaining how busy I am, but you would too in my place. Anyway, on with the rant. I have four tests, one of which is a final exam, an oral presentation, and an assignement due. It's also my dad's birthday on Tuesday, and our BCO concert on Wednesday. It doesn't seem so bad when I write it down... err... type it. Of course, I have two rather large projects due in a week and a half, but then it's the last day of classes on the 8th, and I have finals to worry about. At least I only have three of those and they don't start until the 14th. It feels good to get that out of my system.

BIG PILE OF POO!!!

And now that that's out of my system... I'm really happy with my English class this semester. It's Arthurian Legend and Tradition, and it's cool because it has given me an opportunity to do a creative project. I drew and then painted a picture of Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, and Merlin, and was also able to do a sketch of the Green Knight. I don't think I would have done as much art recently if it hadn't been for this course. Anywho. That reminds me... I updated my Elfwood gallery today, but it won't be published for a week or so. I have around ten new pencil drawings.

Before this entry degenerates further...

I really hate it when clementines have way too many seeds. I just had one, and although it was delicious, the amount of seeds really decreased my enjoyment of the fruit. But enough about citrus...

Last night was Doppelganger Effekt's very first public performance (Cabaret never happened). It went extremely well, and the audience, though small and mostly composed of our friends, was very supportive. We didn't really mess up at all, and people kept telling me that my violin playing was the best part. I rule! We also got a lot of constructive feedback from "fans", which I posted on Sitra Ahra (see sidebar for link). Anyway, I really had fun, and I think everyone else did. Having a whole case of Moosehead beer for our payement didn't hurt either. Overall, I'm happy!

Today, I was very impressed with the actions of my chemistry teacher, who happens to be female and somewhat petite. A student, a large football player type, came to class very late (about 10 minutes or so), and, instead of ignoring him as she usually does, my teacher said, "You're late. Come back Friday." In a typical football player fashion (not to bash football players), he was confused, and when she better explained the situation to him, i.e. that he wasn't able to come to class today, he protested vehemently, saying, "You can't kick me out; I'm paying for this shit!" "You wanna bet?" she said. Anyway, when he finally left the classroom, my teacher went calmly back to talking about chemistry. At the end of class, she apologised to the class for the confrontation, but I was thinking that she was perfectly in the right. I mean, I'm not the most punctual person, but I applaud teachers who actually act on their threats instead of doing nothing. It was also quite entertaining to see a shortish woman stand up to a big guy who must have been at least a foot taller than her, and to watch her strike a "bring-it-on" pose.

Moving on, our concert is tonight, and I'm not quite feeling the nervousness yet. I probably will in a few hours, though I know some other band members are starting to get antsy. We still have the problem of not having enough amps, but I'm borrowing my brother's, Chris is borrowing his brother's, and Oliver is going to Painchaud to perhaps rent one. Hopefully with Sam's and our bassist's amp, that will be enough. I really don't want to use the Lion's P.A. system because it sucks. At any rate, I have to finish this essay before I do anything else, so that's what I'm going to do.

As I listen to mellowed-out jazz...

I guess I was over-reacting yesterday. I want to apologize to everyone I got mad at, especially Etienne. It's not his fault he's sick. I thought that not being able to play at the Lion was the worst thing ever when I've got more important things to worry about. I mean, most likely, we will be able to play, and if we can't because Etienne isn't better yet, so be it. I don't think anyone would be mad.

I was just totally unreasonable yesterday. Stress was coming at me from all sides. The thing with our concert, my concert next week with the string orchestra, thinking about my future, school... It was all piling up, and yesterday, I just had a serious panic attack. As I was walking to Bishop's for a band practice that I was terribly late for, I started feeling a swelling in my left hand, like my blood pressure had gone up all of a sudden. Then, later, I had accelerated breathing, a headache and dizzy spells. Didn't help that Chris got angry at me for being over an hour late for the practice (I'd be mad too). I think I really have to find a way to manage my stress or else this is going to kill me. I have to stop crying about everything (I cried at least five times yesterday), and think about this logically.

Anyway, right now, I'm procrastinating instead of working on my presentation for tomorrow... I really have to do that.

I just found out this morning that we won't be playing at the Lion after all. Etienne got sick, too sick to sing, and apparently we aren't ready anyway. To add to that, Jonah's mom might not be able to make it that night, which defeats the purpose of playing for her birthday. I'm really really angry. Probably unfairly, my anger will most likely be directed towards Jonah and Etienne. It's just that we put up all those posters, got everybody excited about it, and I, for one, was really looking forward to it, our first real performance. I got so stressed out about preparing for it, making a song list, the posters, everything. It's just not fair!!!!

Well, I thought I was better, but I'm not really. The day after Cabaret, I actually got sick. Monday, I had a fever and that was fun (actually, it was because I was rather delirious, sort of like being high), and Tuesday I thought I was better. I guess I was wrong. I still have a lingering sore throat that just seems to start bugging me when I really don't want it to, for example, when I eat, drink, do any sort of swallowing, or breath. Fun to the max! Oh well, at least I'm not the only one feeling crappy. Etienne has a sore throat too, aggrevated by his asthma, Jonah's feeling rather crappy too, and so is Chris.

Thankfully, I haven't had a terrible amount of homework lately. Well, relatively speaking. I had a test and a couple of assignments due last week, but it wasn't so bad. Next week, I have a presentation and another couple of assignments, but no tests that I know of. No, I've mostly been stressed out about my upcoming concerts. I have the one at the Lion on Wednesday with Doppelganger Effekt, and another the next week, December 1, with the Bishop's Chamber Orchestra. Ooof... Today, I spent a lot of time making and distributing posters for our Lion gig, and that was fun. Sort of wandered around Lennoxville a lot.

I also did a lot of crying today. Mainly because I'm a big baby and the slightest thing would upset me, but also because I have to make big decisions soon about university. I could go to a university that's far away and go into the program that best fits my interests, but miss all my friends and especially Jonah, or I could just go to a university that's closer, but to into a more general program. Oh well. I'll figure it out. Gotta go eat supper!

Last night we played at Cabaret, the Bishop's music department open mike night type dealy. It was Doppelganger Effekt's first real performance in front of an audience. The theme was superheroes, so we were all in costume. I was Kazoo Girl (red cape and gloves and everything!), Sam was a random Batman stooge with a black eye, Etienne was the Mad Hatter, Jonah was some weird Russian experiment (with a trench coat, communist hat, and goggles), and Oliver was the Almighty Conga Man, with his little conga which he bought at Painchaud. Even my mom dressed up, unofficially as boob lady.

Our performance didn't go so well though. The drum set was much too loud, and I'm fairly certain it wasn't the drum set's fault. It was so loud, in fact, that that was all one could hear. I know I couldn't hear myself, or Sam, or Etienne, or anyone else but out drummer. I know Etienne was really pissed, and I wasn't so happy about it either. For our next show at the Lion, I think we're going to have to either insist our drummer tone it down, or just get rid of her. Personally, I thought we sounded much better without a drum set, period. Of course, others in the band don't seem to think that way, but I'm past caring at this point. If we're merely visual complements to a drum solo that lasts the whole piece, there isn't much point in playing.

Anyway, last night I ended up going to Jonah's to sleep over and it was really really cold walking there, and I wasn't dressed properly. As a result, I'm sick today, though I've been getting sick for a while now. I have a sore throat and tummy, and I feel really weak and tired. It sucks. My brother is also sick, and last night, apparently, he was throwing up all night and didn't get any sleep. I hope that I don't get that bad because I have some important things due soon. Like, I have a test on Wednesday that I really want to do well on. Oh well, I'll stick to my echinacea and see what happens.

Meanwhile, we're waiting patiently for Sam to make CDs of our practice that we recorded, but I think Keum still has the minidisk. Darn. Yeah, and I'm going to sign off. Before I go, I just want to say that Sam may possibly be funnier drunk when I'm not also drunk... hmmm... go figure.

I'm so excited, and I just can't hide it! There's more to that song, but it doesn't really express how I feel, so I'm quitting there. I'm so happy because I bought myself a brand new violin contact pick-up. This morning, in the freezing cold, Oliver and I went to Painchaud (that's hot bread in french, wich wouldn't make sense because that's a music store) and we tried out various musical implements of destruction... Yeah, that's what I meant. For over an hour, I was trying out pick-ups and amps, and finally got one where the contact head is actually a Sleeman beer cap, which is cool. Oliver ended up getting a microphone for Etienne, and we looked at many amps, but couldn't find one we really wanted to pay for. That's ok, we might come back. The guy at the store was really nice and when Oliver and I each bought a kazoo, he gave us each a free one. Yay! Now we have to write a song with kazoos in it.

Darn... I have to go to supper... to be continued.

Man, I am so, totally glad that this week is over. I had at least 6 things due and a test and a quiz. Aweful... this has been my hardest semester, by far. I'm made my schedule for next semester already, and I only have 5 classes. Unfortunately, two of my required math courses are with the worst math teacher at the school so I'm screwed. Fuck. Why didn't I take Linear Algebra this semester? Oh yeah, because then I'd have taken four science courses in one semester and that's just way too crazy. Fuck it. I'll do well anyway.

Anywho, this week has been hectic, and tonight I didn't actually have to do anything as I finished all my projects and assignments during the day. I hope I wasn't missing that lab... but the teacher said he'd cancel it to give us time to work on our integrative project, and I hope I did that right... Oh well. I just hate it when teachers tell you what to do, but don't actually give you a project outline, so when you're doing the project, you don't actually know if you're doing it right. Huh. I'm sure it will be fine. I should back up. The project is for my Astrophysics class, and it basically consisted of using Excel to make a graph of a ball being thrown and using Newton's laws and all that. I think that I just had to print out the tables and the graphs of x versus y, but I may be wrong. Well, it's too late now, and if I fail, I fail. I'm already getting, like, 95% in this class anyway.

Right, I'll stop rambling (no, probably not), and talk about this evening. Completely off subject, Triple Sec is really good with pear juice and fizzy water. Anyway, this evening, I finished up my Astrophysics thing while Sam screwed around with M.T.'s Champlain account, setting his home page to N'Sync's web site, and changing his background to some random picture he drew on paint in five minutes. We then went to town, to get food, and we saw Ryan, whom I hadn't seen since he got back from his European Adventure, working at the pharmacy. We pestered him for a few moments, and then got our food, and eventually wandered towards Tom's where we drank coffee and regaled each other with stories of stuff (which I can't remember at the moment). We then went to Ian's and partied it up. I had a lot of fun, and laughed a lot. Many, but not too many, "in my pants" jokes were to be had. I called mom, eventually, and went home... And here I am now. Lalala...

Oh yeah, and Arafat died today... Look at me caring.

P.S. The Doppelganger Effekt (see link in margin), will be playing at Cabaret, which is November 13, at Bandeen Hall, at 9:00 pm. Entrance is $2. Also, we'll be playing at the Golden Lion Pub on November 24, at 11:00 pm. Be there or else... I'll do something.

I'm really really bad at writing this essay. Or even getting started... well, that's not exactly true, I have started it. I have about a half-page done... I just got distracted by the wonders of the internet, and I figured I'd better do something slightly productive whilst procratinating. And I did promise to write more often. So there.

The evening at the Italian restaurant was pretty fun. The food was slightly pricier than it was made out to be by the person who recommended the restaurant. Of course, "lots of food for a reasonable price" can have shades of meaning, and many different interpretations. At any rate, I found that you didn't get the quantity of food worth the price (if that makes sense), but the quality was very good. For dessert, I had some ice cream that was supposed to be gelatto, but wasn't. It was really good, but there was a three inch in diameter, by two inch chunk of it for five dollars. Not worth that much money, but I guess since it was home-made and stuff... Anywho, I'm going to stop complaining about how bad the prices were. The company was great. I went with Em, Keum, Sam, Jonah, and Keum's Irish boyfriend Simon. We had some great laughs and conversation.

By the way, those of you who read my blog regularly (the very few of you) might have noticed that I've put up the same commenting system as Sam. Hourra! It's wonderfuller than blogger's system because it actually works on my computer. Going out to all blog-keepers, get a commenting board from Haloscan so that I can comment on your blogs... because my computer's old and crappy and won't support the blogger system. That's all.

Well, I'd better get back to work. I've got a ton of things due this week which really must be done. Tata for now!

I've really got to write more often. Everyone keeps complaining that I don't make enough entries, so, from now on, I'm going to try to update more often. (Fat chance, but it's worth a try.)

This morning I woke up, looked out the window, and, lo and behold, all of nature was covered in a pristine blanket of snow. This is the first real snowfall of the year, even though we've been having bouts of freezing snow-like stuff for the last couple of days. It's sort of beautiful, while being the most ugly thing in the world at the same time. I guess some enjoy winter, but I don't really. Oh well, I'll just have to get out my boots and winter coat, and live with it.

Last night was very cold, and then warm later on in the night. I had a band practice where we recorded things, which was cool, then, since there had been a concert going on that had just finished, so we stole some of the food at the reception. Heehee! Sam and I eventually ventured towards Tom's house where we imbibed the sweet ales of Belgium, purchased at the Esso. We watched TV most of the night and I fell asleep at some point and started drooling on Tom's couch. I think we were watching professional poker on the boob tube. How boring is that? Anyway, at almost two of the AM, Sam walked me home (such a good boy), and, since we had been talking about zombies hiding in random places all night, I was actually scared that a creature of the undead variety would jump out at me from my dark garage. I sure am glad that skunk ran away. For more information read Sam's blog.

This weekend I have to write a 5-8 page essay about red maples... how am I ever going to do that? Also, I'm planning on going to a fancy Italian restaurant with some cool people tonight... Alright, that's all for now, before I degenerate further.