My side of the fence..

What is a real woman?

2009-09-06T07:08:46Z

*Truly insightful piece that I came across in an LJ community
Credit: euphonious_glow

Originally posted at the AfterEllen.com community. Thought it was suitable here too.

I've noticed some interesting things in response to gender expression among certain lesbian and bi women, and I think it's worthwhile to have a post that addresses this concept. In several threads on the AfterEllen.com forum I've seen comments such as "I like girls who look like girls" or any phrase that's generally in that vein.

But what does it mean to be "like a girl/woman?" This is the question I've been asking myself for the past several years as I came to terms with my sexuality and my gender expression. It seems like there is often a tendency to regard femininity, in the stereotypical manner that our culture defines "femininity" or anything that is associated with women to be, in gender expression to be more valid. In at least one post the mod had to step in and point out that people were being disrespectful toward women who are more masculine or butch in presentation.

I'm not posting this topic as a woman who identifies as butch. My gender expression varies from rather traditionally feminine to tomboyish, and even so I've often been faced with doubts about how "real" of a woman I was because of messages that society gives us for how we should act and dress as women.

First of all, I want to look at the concept of what femininity really is. Is it a personality or state of being? Are feminine girls more meek, quiet, happy, uncomplaining, superficial, more emotional and sensitive, unaggressive, uncontroversial? Does it involve interests and hobbies that have been traditionally associated with women, such as cooking, sewing, fashion, etc? Does it involve dressing in the way that is considered more acceptable for women by a largely straight and sexist society, such as form-fitting clothing and uncomfortable shoes that impede movement? But femininity is not weak, even if mainstream society secretly (or not so secretly) thinks so. Why do you think being considered feminine is insulting to a man? Because traditionally female things are not respected in this culture, even if women are expected to stick to them. To be emotional is not weak. To enjoy fashion is not weak. To wear skirts is not weak. To be soft instead of muscular is not weak. I know many feminine women who have gone through hell and back, who have passionately defended their rights to autonomy and choice. The feminine can be powerful, but I doubt that the stereotypical traits of either femininity or masculinity in their entirety exist in any one individual. Femininity is not inherently better or weaker than masculinity.

So, on that note, what does masculinity mean in a woman? Does it really matter? Is a woman any less of a woman because she likes to dress comfortably, or has short hair, or enjoys sports and other traditionally male interests? Lesbians were once considered to be men trapped in women's bodies, because no "real woman" could love another woman. Are confidence and self-assurance only male-associated traits? Is "masculinity" merely a word to bash women for having solid careers, for making their won decisions, for standing up for themselves and their rights? For daring to be as good as any man, for not letting the media and advertisements determine how she feels about her body. For not letting the ideal of the "nice girl" keep her from enjoying sex, or abstaining from sex and not feeling "frigid" or like less of a woman. For not having a relationship or children if she chooses, no matter how much society tells her it is "natural." A masculine woman is beautiful, because she is true to herself and her convictions, regardless of what society tells her to be. It does not make her less of a woman.

Wanna know why my icon features Alex Cabot from Law & Order: SVU? (this is relevant, I promise) Because she's the coolest, most confident, most awesome fucking woman I've ever seen in fiction. On first glance, she looks stereotypically femme, but she is the perfect example of masculinity and femininity existing in one woman. Sure, she dresses classy and feminine, but her attitude, her bearing, is more masculine than any butch woman I've ever known. Just look at that smirk on her lips. On that point, Olivia Benson in seasons 2 and 3 looked fairly butch, and she'll stand up for herself against idiotic sexist men when she needs to, but she is also compassionate and gentle in some ways. But both women fight for their convictions, both in their own way are working to protect victims from those who would abuse and exploit them. I point out these two amazing fictional ladies as perfect examples of how women are more complex than just their appearances, and traits we consider masculine or feminine can exist in the same individual.

We should get beyond this talk of "real" women (and "real" men, for that matter). Women are women, IF they self-identify that way, no matter what their gender expression is, no matter what clothes they wear or how they act. Is there anything sexier than a lipstick lesbian with that glittering look in her eyes that says, "Here is a woman who is confident and self-assured and loves women with all of her being despite the constant messages that society sends her about how her body should look or that she must exist purely to titillate the sexual interest of straight men or that femininity is weak and degrading, who can dominate in the bedroom just as surely as she can dominate in an intellectual conversation?" Or how about a butch lesbian who is secretly as romantic as a shining knight of old, who treats her lady with respect and courtesy, and who is revealed to have soft, beautiful curves and delicious strong muscles underneath her clothing?

Femininity and masculinity are both strong and wonderful and beautiful. I personally believe a balance is perfect, but individuals should be free to be themselves without being considered "less than." Femme does not equal weak or overemotional or selling out to the patriarchy. Butch does not equal overbearing or trying to act like a guy or being a stereotype. Butch, femme, androgynous, whatever. We are ALL 100% real women, whether cis or trans. Whether lesbian or bi (or straight), black or brown or pink or yellow. So let's appreciate the lipstick ladies who show strength in their own way, or the pretty bois who are graceful and proud. Women, united in our attraction and love for each other.

I'm not saying you have to be attracted to every kind of gender expression out there. I'm not saying you have to date butch or femme girls. But keep an open mind, because you may fall deliriously head over heels for a woman you would normally not think of as a romantic interest, because yeah, women really can be that awesome, and looks aren't everything.

If you've read this far, then let's try to make it a point not to judge other women on how feminine or masculine we perceive them to be. Let's try to respect each other as individuals, not as cardboard cutouts. We may express ourselves differently, but we are all here for a reason: we LOVE women. Simple as that, really.

And so another year draws closer..

2009-04-03T06:36:02Z

It's currently 2:30AM, April 3, 2009 and I've been home for over an hour from campus. Tonight was our WMB Banquet, and I could be happier with how everything turned out. I was one of the three recipients of the Brad Masters award, and I feel like everyone else who received awards today were definitely deserving of them. It was just in general a really, really good day. Minus the morning I guess.. which was nice in a way of its own.

Afterwards, the group of us headed over to the Spoke for some liquidy good times. How much did I have again? Ah yes, like 4 pints >_> I'm going to admit I'm still tipsy and I can't fall asleep. We've taken some amazing pictures today. Facebook will explode with pictures soon times.

Tomorrow (today) is soph rally. I won't be there... I don't want to be there, I hope I won't even need to see a single soph tomorrow.

On one side, I'm so completely exstatic and excited for the year to come with the WMB. I'm going to miss the grads so much. Then on the other hand, the never-disappearing fact that I won't ever be a soph. HA. I sound like a broken record. geeze, I'm almost disgusted with myself. I'll probably watch unhealthy amounts of video media tomorrow to keep myself distracted. Do I even want to answer my texts tomorrow? Doubt it.

Exams are coming up. I've got 5, on April 14, 16, 19, 21, 28... oh boy. Ah yes, I've been elected as the new Quartermaster to the WMB exec of 09-10. =] hoorah! Before I get to that, a couple of my high school friends are most likely coming up to Western next weekend. I'm excited, I can't wait to see them. A sense of familiarity at this point would be so comforting. I hope Heather'll be able to make it out to dinner too.. I think it'd be nice to finally introduce the two groups of friends. Anyways, that's my update for now.. I'm going to drink some more water to sober up.. and hopefully sleep to keep my mind off things.. I hope tomorrow goes by quickly... oh fuck... Health Sci better not have their predrink just outside my window again... -_-"

Give me a break already..

2009-03-30T03:11:25Z

The new Health Sci Soph Team of 09-10 is throwing a house party next door. Their loud music, drunken singing, and enthusiastic cheers tell me that they are enjoying themselves and are getting ready for rally this Friday. It looks like I'll get little sleep tonight and I'm in for a depressing week. No matter how hard I try to let go, life won't let me and I just can't get away...

Love Raspberries... =]

2009-03-09T07:51:41Z

AWWEEEESOME weekend. I just need to work on stop going to bed at such ungodly hours.

"Things are going to be okay."

2009-03-07T00:12:58Z

Fuck man.. Things couldn't possibly be working out better.

I just emailed my landlord and he's cool with letting my roommate sublet to my friend who will then move in with me for the next year. I just gotta call him and make an appointment with him and Hyoung and things will be good to go. I'll also need to talk with Salma about rent, and then work things out between her, Hyoung and I. Then I'll need to cancel cable, and change over the hydro name.

I was also just puzzling over registering for Intersession. All along I had been planning on taking the second half of Calculus over the summer so that I can finally get that damned credit over with. Well, apparently the section I wanted wasn't available, but there was another one that I could take. Oddly enough I couldn't enroll in it, and it was Summer Session. That really bummed me out, because if I stayed in London in May-June, I'd be here for Heather's birthday, band camp and all that other good stuff. So then I called the parentals and worked things out, and they left everything up to me to decide. I cleared everything, and went to check out if there were any Biology courses I could take that were during Interssion. The only Biology courses available were 2290, Ecology or Evolution. Ecology was during summer session, so I might as well take Calc if I were going for that. 2290 was M-Th 9-12... BOOOO... Evolution is MWF 1-3. BINGO. Hyoung is an Evolution major too.. works out SO perfectly. I'll be here, things are going to work out.. and things are going to be okay.

I haven't said that to myself in a while... "Things are going to be okay."

Aside from that, I'm going to see if I can work in a part time job with all the free time I've got.

This weekend is going to be an exciting one. The Men's Basketball team have made it to the OUA Finals and that is going to be a wicked awesome game! The band will be there of course in our tunicy glory. Also... *drool* Matt Curtis... Afterwards, I'm gonna head over to Heather's place to hang out, eat dinner, movie and such... sleepover! and then go see The Watchmen with her, Ben, Megan and Deborah Sunday. I'm looking forward to it...

"Things are going to be okay."

ahjingjing @ 2009-03-05T01:03:00

2009-03-05T06:20:08Z

So uhh... I didn't get an interview.

I called Heather to see where she was and she was in the band room. I went to go see her, and she walked me halfway to class before we had to split. The walk itself wasn't so great, and she knows why. I wasn't really upset with her per se.. since I didn't really know what to think in the first place. On Monday, I said that part of me would be relieved that I didn't make the team, because then there'd be some stress off of my shoulders. I now realize that that is a very small part of me. I can't help but wonder what it is about me that isn't right for the program. It's been two years of trying, and two years of failing. I've got to tell Kat... she had high hopes, heh... right.

I came outta that carousel knowing I wouldn't get an interview too. It's not like I went into the carousel feeling my best. Like I know what all the correct answers are, and how to answer it. I had no will to make myself seem special... I didn't fight to make my voice heard. Considering the group atmosphere, I failed that aspect. I wasn't feeling it, and it's too late to try and make up for any of that now. I almost teared up halfway through cell bio too. Luckily I wasn't too distracted and Megan and I didn't talk much during class.

After classes today, I went to the band room to get ready for the Basketball game. Hyoung was sitting outside, so Deborah and I chatted with her. I told her I didn't get an interview, and she understood right away. I told her that I'm not going to go for it next year, and should I try, I wanted her to stop me. She told me, "I'm not going to stop you, because if I stopped you, it'd mean I didn't think you'd be able to do it and I believe you can." It was nice to hear her say that.

The basketball game was intense. There were easily over 1000 people in the stands. We had both sides of stands open to get more people in. It was awesome. People had things to shake and make loud noises with, and they were into the game. We won 98-66 which is BALLIN'.

I guess that's all from me for now.

I'm not going to go through this again next year.

Let's hope history doesn't repeat itself

2009-03-03T05:14:04Z

I am so unbelievably antsy right now. I guess that's understandable, considering tomorrow's the release of the list of applicants who qualify to stage 2 of the HealthSci soph application process. I can't believe I'm putting myself through this again. I think I also find out my mark for the Classics midterm tomorrow. Looking at the Ethics mark really makes me want some good news..
A part of me really wants the interview, so that I can keep trying and be part of this team.. but then there's the other part of me that wouldn't really mind not getting an interview.. because then I can be like, "oh well, I tried, now this is over with.." There's no unbelievable want like the one I had this year.. I walked into the meeting room, and there were over 200 people in there. This team is so foreign to me and doesn't really feel like home. Maybe if I do make it onto the team, I can build a relationship with these guys, and then it'll feel like home.. This is really aggravating in a way too.
On another note. Tomorrow's Tuesday. We all know what happens on Tuesday, oh favourite day of the week, please don't fail me now.

The end is drawing near...

2008-12-17T08:17:26Z

First semester is almost over!!!
I will deliver a year-in-review blog shortly, however, I just need a way to procrastinate from my last exam. It's Biochem, tomorrow night. It will be difficult I know, but I'll be staying up all night, so no worries.
Here is a little to do list for myself once I finish all my exams:
- WMB 12.12 Minutes
- WMB Email regarding availabilities for athletics and halftime show practices for the new year
- Christmas present shopping: Heather, Kenneth, Natalie, David, Parentals, Christmas card for the Williams
- get Rock Band 2 the second day I'm back
- send out Mahjongg party invitation email: date tbd... should be David, Eric and Eunice?
- make sure parents are okay with having me host New Years party
- send out New Year's Party email: Dec 31 (obviously), byob, pizza party or potluck? movies, rockband, fooseball, mj, videogames, board games, etc. Need to make sure there are designated drivers or I'll just have a giant slumber party too...
- visit McDonald's: downtown trip is needed with Rebecca, Komal, Andrew, Izzy, etc... should probably send email and check up on them
That sounds about it... I will probably send out the band emails while I'm at Heather's... eeeeeeee sleepoverrrrr. SO excited =] Will be good times. But first, I have to get past this exam first.
I've already written orgo, critical thinking and classics. Critical thinking went horribly because the 4 days prior to it I had immersed myself in orgo. Classics went well, as expected. Checked my orgo mark... I've gotta say I'm really disappointed... never before have I drained myself so much for one subject... I've noticed it for a while, and it's something I really want to change but haven't figured out/haven't taken the time out to change it yet. I ALWAYS completely understand subjects after giant term tests. It's really irritating, because it's not like I don't know the material. le sigh. Father called me around 8pm... I told him about my mark. He sounded disappointed as well, but he knew how much time I had put into it. Mother hurt her back/neck. I will need to call her some time very soon... I hope she is okay. I need her to be well so that I can play Rock Band with her.
Anyhow, that's enough from me, I need to get cracking on the biochem. Also, if you were interested at all. I'm not as sad as I was on my birthday, it's slowly going over... which is for the better I suppose. I also haven't had any alcohol since my birthday. Anyhow. the 18th and the 19th are days I'm looking forward to. Lots of time devoted to an important person. ^^
Oh yea. Megan commented on a picture of me on facebook. She said she loved me and that I was amazing and adorable.

ahjingjing @ 2008-11-25T22:24:00

2008-11-26T03:25:36Z

Considering I just celebrated my 19th birthday, I feel oddly depressed.

ahjingjing @ 2008-10-21T21:19:00

2008-10-22T02:38:34Z

Today was supposed to be a good day... What the fuck happened to that?

The band is currently playing a game of assassin. I haven't been killed off yet, but after today's events, I've somehow lost my will to stay in the game. I pulled another all-nighter thanks to those ever-so-wonderful minutes. Why must I be such a perfectionist with them? Like shit...

So this morning, I got two kills, it was nice, and then Heather and I went back to the band room to spend some time with each other. It was nice, until we started wrestling. I seem to be getting increasingly easily agitated lately. I'm sorry, I still don't believe I fought cheap. But whatever, it's over now and things are "cool."

Anyways, so that was interrupted by an unwelcomed text from a friend from home. She just recently broke up with one of my best friends. Both of them want me on their side, and apparently I'm at fault for telling the other what one said to me. Geeze, grow up. I can't believe I got so angry about the text that I had to leave the room and go call Dana. But fuck, I'm such a pushover, I left her a message to give me a call and I apologized. We'll see what happens from here. Randomly my nose started running and Heather probably thought I started crying. I tried to walk about Alumni Hall to cool down but that didn't work. I worked my way back up to the band room. I really didn't want to talk to anyone at that point and I went over to the desk to organize the 72 band members numerically via student number. That was fun. Heather came over and got me to talk about it. Don't worry, I'll tell you later when I'm not half dead. I hadn't been that angry in a while. Heather told me it was probably because I care. Which is untrue because I believed their relationship was doomed to fail anyhow and I really didn't give a shit about it. Their individual friendships with me I did care about, however. Their personalities are so different, it will take a while for me to adjust back to highschool mode...

Heather tried to cheer me up... didn't work. She apologized, but I was never mad at her to begin with, but she messed with my head enough that the text was able to take its toll on me. I was already excessively exhausted and dizzy, this wasn't what I needed right then. She then left for Brescia at 1:15 to go to class and about 10 seconds after the doors closed an uncontrollable stream of tears rolled down my face. It'd been a while since I had last cried. It was soothing in a way. After I regained composure... which took about 3 minutes, I went downstairs and headed over to class.

I couldn't concentrate at all. I chose to sit at the back in one of those side alleys, and I just kept drifting in and out of sleep. I wrote a couple of good notes I guess. I then decided that I wouldn't be able to go to Biochem. I was way too out of it. I went back to the band room and finished the rest of the student numbers I had to write. Then I collapsed and slept for a grand total of 10 minutes. I think I woke up once Heather put her jacket over me.

Hyoung dropped by later, and she slapped my ass really, really hard. I hadn't felt that kind of pain in a while. It was uncalled for, but kind of needed. It made me laugh, and I really needed that.

The exec meeting tonight lasted approximately 3 hours. I am very unimpressed and I can legitimately say I hate meetings. The next 48 hours are going to be brutal for me. I'm going to catch up on some sleep now before those are whisked away from me as well.

UWO Homecoming 2008

2008-10-07T02:28:49Z

October 3-5. Western Homecoming 2008. It was pretty much amazing the entire time. Technically it's my first Homecoming since I kind of slept through all of last year's. I was also told that this would be my last sober one. I shall begin Regine's day-by-day recap.

Friday
Friday started off just like any other day. I woke up and went to my classes, and then went home and took a shower because I knew there wouldn't be much of a chance in the next day or two to come. I put on my blue jacket and reached into the pocket and I found the little plastic whistle that I had from soph rally last year and realized that it had been half a year since I had last worn that jacket. There are still Shinerama stickers on it because I've been too lazy to take them off. I was excited to go to dinner, but then that kind of gave me an emotional flip. I went to The Wave at 6:30 for dinner with the band. That was pretty much insane. We had a great turnout, which is about 40-50 people. Heather and Ben had to leave a little early for a performance downtown that their music teacher directed, and that left a little gap in the table, which was cool, at first. I told Lia about my desophing about a month ago, and she asked if I was okay, and other normal questions then. But I found it really weird when she continued to ask me if I was dealing with it okay. I mean, it's been over a month since I'd told her, any other regular person would've dropped the topic already. Unluckily for me, she chose to bring it up after dinner that night, and with the whole jacket situation the night just wasn't starting off right. I had to brush her off pretty quickly before she or anyone else could notice I was visibly upset, though probably no one else caught our conversation. After dinner, Megan gave me a random hug, I was a little surprised since it was our first hug, and then she told me she would surprise spoon me later that night.
We left The Wave and waited out by the street for our bus and Brock and I stole Megan's bus pass, and then handed it to Hyoung, and she hid it in her bra. Heckling Megan is hilarious. Anyway, we got on the 10 and headed down to Fleetway for a night of bowling. I bowled over 100 both games =D Go me! I was going to play pool for my second option, but then they turned on cosmic bowling and that was too much to pass up. Amanda brought a hi-lighter and Megan proceeded to draw a penis on my wrist... except it didn't look like a penis at all, which leads me to question her artistic abilities or what kind of penises she's seen.
After bowling we got some DQ and walked to the bus stop where we sang band songs in our respective parts waiting for the bus to come. I really missed that from high school... *sigh
I got home at around 11:30, and since Heather was gonna sleep over the next day, I decided it was prime time to change the bed sheets. If everything happened according to plan, I was to be in bed by 1:30 and everything would be good. However, this is my life, and things never go the way I want them to, leading things to go horribly awry which generates great stories to tell afterward.
I grabbed my bedsheets, loonie, quarter and detergent and headed downstairs to the laundry room where I loaded everything up, put the detergent in, put in my $1.25, pushed, and noticed that it got stuck. I pulled it back out and noticed the price had gone up to $2.00, so I was like, okay, and ran back upstairs to grab another loonie. I put that in, and pushed it in all the way, and this time it actually got stuck. I was confused at first, and then I proceeded to struggle with the machine for the next 20 minutes, cursing at it the entire time. I really didn't want this to happened because it was past midnight and I had to get up at 7:30 the next morning for the parade. By the time I gave up it was 12:30 and I grabbed everything and went back upstairs and threw all the towels and bedsheets into my bathtub and filled it with water. From then till 1, I started to handwash all of my sheets. By the end of it my back was hurting like crazy because of all the hunching I had to do. At 1:05, I grabbed all the wet sheets and headed downstairs again, this time with $1.50. Luckily the dryer cooperated with me and it worked. I went back upstairs and my clothes were all went from carrying drenched sheets. The dryer works for about an hour, so I had to wait till after 2 to go back and get the stuff. While I waited, I did a bunch of stuff, including blowdrying my march pack and putting reinforcements in it to make sure that none of it would ever fall into a puddle again. By the time I folded all the sheets, and brushed my teeth and fell asleep, it was 4.

Saturday
I got my wake up call from Heather at 7:30, and I was so exhausted. I told her my laundry story because a) I had to rant and b) it's our way of making sure I'm awake. Basically, the rundown of Saturday is as follows.
8:30 - meet in band room for Homecoming parade
9:00 - Emily informs me that Tiffany hasn't showed up yet, so I call her res phone to wake her up. Sure enough she was still sleeping and I got her to get ready and bolt over as fast as she could
9:30 - everything was a go for the parade
10:00 - parade time! saw a whole bunch of people drinking on the front porches during the final Richmond stretch before the gates. I will also never enjoy playing the Western Song ever again. Hyoung and Mike also developed a hilarious way of twirling that the entire band caught on to.
11:30 - headed over to Mike's Garden for a free lunch! yay! We all quickly stripped ourselves of our tunics because it was so unbelievably hot. Most of us also unbuttoned our band pants. I had to go to the washroom, and the Dean's luncheon was across the hall in the Great Hall. When I walked out of our room, I walked straight into a group of adults and my band pants were undone, fly done and the whole thing. I was pretty embarassed, and turned a sharp right and ran for the washroom. I later told that story to Hyoung and she gave me a high 5.
1:00 - performed for the guests at the Dean's luncheon
2:00 - footballllllll.... so tiring, but so much fun.... though hecklers are not my thing... also, I sang parts of the Western Song with an Asian accent, which made the band relatively happy... but it also made Heather tip me >_> I also really enjoy Cheer C...
6:00 - chill in the band room for an hour = Heather taking a half an hour nap on my legs causing them to go numb. not good after a parade... but whatevs =b
7:00 - head to the Thompson Arena for the Hockey game... played a couple songs
Then we went home! Then we went to Mike's! We were supposed to go to Steve's kegger later, but then we heard some stories that made us not want to go as much... so instead we stayed at Mike's till about 1 playing rockband... which I'm ALL for.. =] There are some pretty great photos and videos of drunk people. Hyoung gave me a drunk kiss on the cheek... haha
Heather and I went to bed at around 2, and I actually got some sleep this time! Probably an hour or two's worth... haha

Sunday
Heather woke up at like 9:30 to go shower, and her jumping out of bed woke me up for about 10 seconds before I fell back asleep. She came back at 10:20 to get me out of bed. I complained for about 20 minutes before I actually got out of bed lol. We headed over to Mike's at around 11 for some pancakes. mmm.... blueberry... banana and chocolate chip... but eww to the peanut butter... also yum to sugarloaded coffee. Then we played rockband again till about 3 (Heather, Ben, Emily and I went back to campus to grab stuff and then returned though, minus Ben). I've decided that I'm going to use OSAP money to buy rockband this Christmas. NOTHING is going to stop me because that game is probably one of the greatest inventions in the world. Music + Gaming = Love. I also realize that I played more rockband this weekend than I slept. Which I'm okay with. At 3:30 we left, and Heather gave me a ride to campus where I met up with Val and Atkins for lunch. That was pretty fun. I got to catch up with them and I told them about my laundry incident and they laughed at me and told me that I should become an author because those are the type of things that would only happen to me. -_-" Anyways, I hope I haven't left anything out. Of course I couldn't write about everything that happened this weekend, or else it would go on and on and on. Just know that it was epic, and I wouldn't have wanted it to go any other way. Maybe except the Friday dinner part... anyway, that's all from me for now and I give you a great thank you if you've stuck with me this long and actually read through all of that.

Not bad enough to deserve Hello Kitty.

2008-10-02T07:01:01Z

So today I attended my second orgo lab. I never really look forward to them because they're individual labs and I don't know anyone in it. Anyways, we were doing extractions today and got to work with acids that had high molar concentrations. Each person had a stopcock to work with and that device helped them titrate their solution to get each layer. My stop cock happened to suck, and every time I went to go turn the knob to relieve the pressure inside the glass tube, little bits of solution would come flying at me. Luckily there was a glass panel in between the liquid and my face. I couldn't say the same thing for my hands though. Anyways, I was working with some 3M HCl, when the stopcock shot some at my finger, at first it didn't register because I was like, "ehh, I'll wipe it on my lab coat later." All of a sudden there's this great sting and I realize the solution is eating through my skin. Luckily these were individual labs, so I gritted my teeth and hung on tight to the stopcock to make sure I wouldn't drop it and continued the procedure. It didn't even occur to me that I should put it down and go wash my hand. Anyways, after a while, I finally admitted that the stinging wouldn't stop so I wiped my hand on my lab coat (still refusing to go wash it). I looked at my finger and there's a little bit of a hole in the side of it. I was like, "great... now there's skin hanging off the side of my finger," (except it's not as bad as it sounds...)

Anyways, so I continued the procedures, and then it came time to work with the 3M NaOH, and AGAIN the stopcock shot liquid at my fingers. Wow... so since it's basic, it doesn't sting. Unfortunately, we're talking about me here. The liquid slides down my hand and reaches the part where the 3M HCl had touched and begins to react with it. Thus further deepening the whole in my finger. Now that I had NaOH eating into the side of my finger as well, I reluctantly dropped what I was doing and went over to the sink to wash my hands. As I'm washing my hands, I realized just how basic my hands were because it felt like I had applied a layer of soap everywhere.

Please don't ask me to show you my finger... because it's like this pathetic slit in the side of my finger and you'll just call me a pansy. My mom bought me a box of 20 Hello Kitty band aids when I moved in here, and then in a letter, Heather gave me two more Hello Kitty band aids. They make me so happy. I already had to use one for my thumb when I peeled off too much skin and it almost got infected. This little acidic accident doesn't deserve a Hello Kitty band aid, and I'm content to stay at 21.

ahjingjing @ 2008-09-28T20:07:00

2008-09-29T00:51:05Z

Thought I'd leave a little blog here because I don't really want to start work.

The band went to Queen's yesterday for the football game, which also happened to be their homecoming. It was quite an eye-opening experience. It was really amazing how they have so many different traditions there. Also, the alumni (well.. the older ones anyway) were really nice. Too bad that's all the good things I have to say about that university at the moment.

The convoy was a lot of fun. I was in the drum line van. A little out of place for an Alto Sax player, I know, but HA... I was on the drum line van. =b We thought we were going to be SUPER tight for time, but it turns out we made great time. We made it to Kingston in about four and a half hours, instead of the expected 5 and a little bit. The fans were rude, to put it simply. We had a whole slew of pop bottles thrown at us, they were plastic so obviously they'd hurt. They also exploded upon impact with the track we were walking on. They also had these plush footballs that the Queen's spirit squads threw to them. Luckily those weren't hard, though 3 did hit my head. We also had cans and pizza boxes. I was no amused, and it's really angering to know that some people don't have the decency to realize you don't throw things at people. Anyways, there was also this other guy that tried to pick a fight with the drum line for wearing sunglasses... ha... dumbass wouldn't have known what hit him if he actually did try to start shit.

Let's talk about the good things about the trip. Which almost entirely occurred during the convoy. We got to wake up at 5am! I got around 3 hours of sleep, which was alright haha. A couple of people were no shows which was unfortunate. Megan managed to slip a potato into my backpack through all of the excitement, and I didn't find out until later on the way there when I was digging threw my backpack for my DS. We sang songs, and napped. The vans were really comfortable. Too bad they ended up to be SO damn expensive. On the way back, we stopped at a rest stop and I bought two Mama burgers from A&W for $4.20 I ate one there and saved the second for later because I knew I'd be hungry. It was a great idea, too bad Heather didn't think it was too... haha...

Today was the third set of carousels for the band. They were always enjoyable. There's this kid, he's in my section... He's nice I suppose... but uh, really weird, and says things that just aren't cool. Also, I threw a potato at a girl. I felt really bad, because she wasn't looking when I threw it at her... Oh well, that's a new band tradition. Also, Heather broke my potato, I am unhappy with her.

School is going decently. I've been keeping up with all my readings and I've been going to class. That's on top of all the band, band paperwork, meetings and socials I've been going to. I'm behind in orgo homework questions though. That's worrying me a little bit. There's also this biochem assignment due a week tomorrow that I haven't started. I hear it's difficult, so I should probably get moving on that too. Anyhow, that's pretty much all the updating from me. Tomorrow is rehearsal and I'll have lots more paperwork to do from the new members at carousel today.

Regine. Out.

O-Week is over.

2008-09-07T18:34:19Z

I believe that is the official sign that summer is over as well. A part (though a small part) of me is sad that it is over, I can no longer sit around for hours on end doing nothing.Though for the most part I am thrilled to be able to do something with my life. The 2008-2009 school year is the year to redeem myself. After an enjoyable, though disastrous first year, I can't wait to get my life back on track. Frosh week was nostalgic, and I want to be able to be in it... I want to be able to live it.
I've come to terms that I'll never get over not being a soph this year, but I know that I don't have to be a jerk about it either. It was my own fault, and the only thing I can do to right that wrong is to be a better student. I'm here to get an education, not to fool around. I'm just very grateful I've gotten a second chance to go to school.

So, promotion with the band went well this week, the halftime show was decent, and in general I was exhausted. It hurt every time I saw the Alumni House team, or every time I saw Heather... I know that's not something I should say, but that's how I feel nonetheless. So a large part of why I'm happy would be that I don't have to see them in uniform constantly now. Though Scout (aka Tree Hugger) has a gift for me... Lilaya told me it was a t-shirt, probably with BABY CHOMPS on the back, but I'd like to know what it is... I'm very curious about it.
Yesterday, I went textbook shopping. Saw Mark in the middle of it, we bought our books together, and then ate lunch. I guess I spent ~$300... which isn't so bad, for the semester. I just have one more book to grab.
My schedule is pretty great too, though Wednesdays really look like a drag at the moment. Luckily the Wednesday night lab isn't weekly =]

Term 1 Schedule
Time	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri
7:00 AM
7:30 AM
8:00 AM
8:30 AM
9:00 AM
9:30 AM			HEALTSCI 2800 LAB 006 HSB-14
10:00 AM			HEALTSCI 2800 LAB 006 HSB-14
10:30 AM
11:00 AM
11:30 AM	HEALTSCI 2600F LEC 001 SSC-2050		HEALTSCI 2600F LEC 001 SSC-2050
12:00 PM	HEALTSCI 2600F LEC 001 SSC-2050		HEALTSCI 2600F LEC 001 SSC-2050
12:30 PM	CHEM 2213A LEC 001 NCB-101		CHEM 2213A LEC 001 NCB-101		CHEM 2213A LEC 001 NCB-101
1:00 PM	CHEM 2213A LEC 001 NCB-101		CHEM 2213A LEC 001 NCB-101		CHEM 2213A LEC 001 NCB-101
1:30 PM	HEALTSCI 2600F TUT 002 TH-3154	HEALTSCI 2800 LEC 001 HSB-40		HEALTSCI 2800 LEC 001 HSB-40
2:00 PM	HEALTSCI 2600F TUT 002 TH-3154	HEALTSCI 2800 LEC 001 HSB-40		HEALTSCI 2800 LEC 001 HSB-40
2:30 PM	CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1		CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1		CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1
3:00 PM	CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1		CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1		CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1
3:30 PM		BIOCHEM 2280A LEC 002 NCB-101		BIOCHEM 2280A LEC 002 NCB-101	BIOCHEM 2280A LEC 002 NCB-101
4:00 PM		BIOCHEM 2280A LEC 002 NCB-101		BIOCHEM 2280A LEC 002 NCB-101	BIOCHEM 2280A LEC 002 NCB-101
4:30 PM
5:00 PM
5:30 PM
6:00 PM			CHEM 2213A LAB 022
6:30 PM
7:00 PM
7:30 PM
8:00 PM
8:30 PM
9:00 PM
9:30 PM

Term 2 Schedule
Time	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri
7:00 AM
7:30 AM
8:00 AM
8:30 AM
9:00 AM
9:30 AM			HEALTSCI 2800 LAB 006 HSB-14
10:00 AM			HEALTSCI 2800 LAB 006 HSB-14
10:30 AM
11:00 AM
11:30 AM
12:00 PM
12:30 PM
1:00 PM
1:30 PM	BIOLOGY 2382B LEC 001 NCB-101	HEALTSCI 2800 LEC 001 HSB-40	BIOLOGY 2382B LEC 001 NCB-101	HEALTSCI 2800 LEC 001 HSB-40
2:00 PM	BIOLOGY 2382B LEC 001 NCB-101	HEALTSCI 2800 LEC 001 HSB-40	BIOLOGY 2382B LEC 001 NCB-101	HEALTSCI 2800 LEC 001 HSB-40
2:30 PM	CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1	HEALTSCI 2610G TUT 008 TH-3154	CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1	HEALTSCI 2610G LEC 001 NS-1	CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1
3:00 PM	CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1	HEALTSCI 2610G TUT 008 TH-3154	CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1		CLASSICS 1000 LEC 002 NS-1
3:30 PM	HEALTSCI 2450B LEC 001 HSB-40
4:00 PM
4:30 PM			HEALTSCI 2450B TUT 002 HSB-40
5:00 PM			HEALTSCI 2450B TUT 002 HSB-40
5:30 PM
6:00 PM
6:30 PM
7:00 PM
7:30 PM
8:00 PM
8:30 PM
9:00 PM
9:30 PM

Well... That took a little bit more space than I predicted.... lol

It's going to be a good year, I'm looking forward to it.

Here we go again.

2008-08-21T19:16:10Z

I move back to London in two days. I've been hanging out with the old crew a lot lately because of all the free time on my hands since I quit McDonald's last Friday. In the back of our minds we all know that we have few days left together before we're thrown back into normal routines.

Saturday was Danusha's birthday party, so a bunch of us went to Jack Astor's to celebrate and then to Robyn's afterwards for some sandman, poker and mafia.
Monday night Danusha, Carol, Rachel and I went to Ten, an upper class restaurant on Lakeshore, and then we went for icecream (well... milkshake for me because of my lack of icecream skills). We took a walk by the lake, and the weather was nice and the wind felt cool on my skin. We then went to Blockbuster to rent a scary movie, err... attempted to rent a scary movie. Rachel had some difficulty allowing us to pick some intense ones. So in the end we settled on 1408. Don't rent it.
Eric and David came over yesterday to play some mj, too bad Val couldn't make it so my dad filled the empty spot near the end of the night and smoked us.

My dad called our landlord a couple of days ago, and he said that the tenant in the apartment before us still hasn't moved out yet. He says that everything will be in place by this Saturday, but I'm feeling extremely doubtful. With O-Week preparations coming up for the band and everything else, I can't afford to find another place with such short notice. Hyoung is currently being a bushwoman so I can't really contact her either. I'm just praying the timing will work out and that my apartment will be ready for my move in. Why must things be so unnecessarily stressful?
To add to the stress, I've been having nightmares this week. They're not really scary, per se, but always put me in this state of constant anxiety. I wake up in my room and I realize that I'm late for class. I can't find my schedule and I have no idea where my first class is or what time it's at. Which means I'd have to run to campus but I wouldn't know where to run to. At this point I'm angry, frustrated and stressed, but I'm still running around my room searching for a schedule that isn't there. Then I'd wake up and be relieved it was just a dream.
Two nights later I have the same dream, except at the part where I was supposed to wake up, I run to the washroom to wash my face. I look up into the mirror and my face and entire body is covered in boils and welts. I can still remember my arm reaching up to feel my face and arm, and the texture was so real I can still feel it on my fingertips. I'm very grateful that dream hasn't come back in the past two nights.

But on the other hand, I'm really excited to be back in London and back on campus. I'm really looking forward to having some me-time and having my own space. I'll have to get used to my schedule and stuff, but that should be enjoyable. It'll be exciting to see all the new frosh, and to see all the people from Glenforest move up.

Before I can enjoy any of that... I have to work on taking 5000 pictures off of my two flickr accounts to put on my mothers digital picture frame. It's quite annoying when I have her nag me all the time. Especially when I only have two days to complete it and I have to download each picture individually.

Band... oh band. I miss band. I miss everything about band. More importantly I have an enormous stack of paperwork waiting for me to do after carousel and registration. I anxious for it, looking forward to it even. My little black binder is eagerly waiting to be filled.

EDIT: Father just called the landlord and everything is a go for Saturday. Definitely breathing a sigh of relief.

a quickie

2008-07-07T22:26:10Z

I spent the past weekend up at Owen Sound with my family and some family friends, and yesterday we spent some time at Sauble Beach. The weather was gorgeous and the water was warm. I was sitting on the beach talking to mother... or maybe it was father... anyways, suddenly I heard a *splat* and my knee felt really warm. I looked over to my right and there was some fresh bird shit. I cursed in Cantonese and ran for the water while 10 people laughed at me.

In two weeks I'll be returning to Sauble Beach for a weekend with a group of amazing people, the AHouse soph team. I have a hunch that some drinking will be involved, though I'm going to try my very best to avoid that. I went to London on the 30th to hand in my appeal. I'm still waiting on the doctor's note from my chiropractor so that I can fax it in. I'm praying that it'll go through.

I think I'm going to take up the piano again, not with a piano teacher and everything though. I'll feel like I've wasted my entire life if I don't return those skills at least to a grade 9. Once I get that, I'll pick a couple gr10 pieces to practice. I'm confident enough in my own skills to believe that I can do it without a teacher. First things first though, I'll need to stop spending so much time on this damn laptop.

Speaking of things I need to do during the summer, there's a beautiful 1000-piece puzzle that I need to put together, that I've got tucked in the corner of my room. I'll also need to put a couple hundred pictures into mother's digital picture frame, alone with music. Unfortunately I dropped my harddrive two days ago, so I'll need to see if I can get it fixed so that I can transfer some files. I hope it's salvagable... my poor movies. -_-"

Working makes me want to smoke. All the kids I hang out with do it and they know I like the smell, but I won't do it. So they've made it a happen to breathe it on me. I don't think I like it so much anymore. So instead, I've turned to gambling even more. Scratches... I do love my scratchies, and a group of friends and I got together and bought a $12-Super 7 ticket. oh yerrrr

Hopefully the good ol' gang will get together soon this summer? I miss my music nerds. I'll plan a trip to the TSO if I have to. Also, Whatever happened to our MJ get together?

Ever wondered what pus tastes like? STOP WONDERING.

2008-05-22T16:11:24Z

The taste is awful, especially first thing in the morning. Be careful what you wish for. My cannabalistic thoughts did not go as planned. Let me start from the beginning so that this makes more sense.

Disclaimer: The contents of the following blog are rated 14A and is not suitable for younger audiences. Reader discretion is advised.

So as most of you know, I had one of my 4 wisdom teeth taken out a couple of weeks ago. Approximately last week, I began to notice swelling on my gum near the removed tooth. So I thought to myself, "hm... perhaps I should just take care of the place where that tooth used to be better." I just left it alone, thinking that the swelling would stop. However, the amounts of McDonald's food that I've been consuming really doesn't help the case. Obviously, the swelling did not stop, of subside. Instead, the swelling grew larger.

So last night, as I was feeling it with my tongue, I thought, "hmm... this doesn't feel like a normal swollen jaw, and it's near the first molar, which nowhere near the removed tooth. Let's take a look in the mirror." To my horror, there was a large blood blister growing out the side of my gum. It was about the size of a dime... no, not 10 pennies or two nickels, just a dime.

Naturally, knowing me, I would pop it. So I did. [insert exploding guts noise here] The blood began pouring out of the blister and running down the side of my face.This all happened so fast, that I just couldn't stop staring into the blood sea that was my mouth. Aisde from not being able to stop staring, I forgot to stop applying pressure with my fingers, so the blood continually flowed. I finally regained composure and spat out the blood that was in my face, and resumed cleaning the wound.

Now with the taste of blood fresh in my mouth, the adrenaline was pumping. The dangling leftover pieces of flesh from the blood blister had grown limp and lifeless, so pinching it with my fingers, I ripped it out of my mouth and unceremoniously flung it it into the sink where the water drained it away. That went on for about 5 minutes, blood still flowing down my face. I had to wash it a couple times. When I was all done and satisfied with my removal job, I wiped the counter clean.

By now, it was about 1:15 and I rushed over to the next room to wake my parents up and inform them. Mother went to the washroom with me to get a better view, and immediately said it was because of the lack of sleep combined with fried foods. *Ding!* Right on the button. Father just continued to lay in bed and told me to go to bed. She looked at it, then went back to bed, whereas I went back to the washroom to look at it some more and do some touch-up cleaning. Finally I went to the kitchen, put some ice in a ziplock bag and a paper towel, and resumed icing my jaw like I had done a couple of weeks ago.

Summerrrr

2008-05-05T22:16:37Z

Remember those awesome McDonald's blogs circa 2006/2007? Well, they may make a return. I'm also making no promises about those Asian dude type blogs... >_> everything's free game.

I walked into No Frills earlier today, and a cover of Get On Your Feet came on... and I had the strong urge to mark time... but I couldn't... cuz then that would've put me out of step with my mother =[

The bunnehs are coming in 5 days. That makes me very happy.

My tooth (or lack thereof) is feeling better... the stitches are on kind of tight, so that makes my gums sting cuz it's making them sensitive... but then the one actually closing the gap in my gum, I think I've accidentally undone that one with my tongue...hmm I think I'll let the dentist be the judge of that tomorrow.

Anyways... not much left to report. Peace out.

He was going to break my face.

2008-04-30T02:57:33Z

So I'm sitting here on my bed with a cotton sheets in my mouth and an ice pack on the side of my face. Let me take you back in time and tell you how my wisdom tooth was extracted.
I was not put asleep during the procedure, and I wasn't getting all four taken out. I was only going to get two of them out, and a year from now, I'm going to get the other side's out as well.
At 3:30 my dad came home and took me to McDonald's so that I could eat dinner. We went to pick up my mom from work and then we went downtown. This means that I haven't eaten since 4 today... We arrived at the dentist's office at around 5.
I have a HORRIBLE gag reflex. So when the doctor put in those little film thingies I couldn't stop gagging. In the end he stopped trying and asked me to use my finger to hold it in place instead. Then at 5:15 he came in and gave me several nerve blocking shots to put the right side of my face to sleep. He then went to treat the other patient so that it would give time for the anesthetic to work. He left for about half an hour, and during this time I just sat there and listened to music while constantly pinching and poking and scratching my gums because I was fascinated that it didn't hurt. Then I would do the same to the left side and wince because it did hurt.
He comes back and takes a look at the xrays and he tells me that the one on top was still underdeveloped and that we'd have to wait a bit before he could remove that one. In my mind I was like, "Aww... you little fucker, now my face is over drugged, all for one tooth."
So now we start the procedure. He asks me if it was fully frozen, and I said yes. So he tells me that if i feel any pain at all that I should raise my hand. He begins with several tools and starts hacking away at my gums, tearing it away from the tooth. I was amazing that I felt no pain at all. But every once in a while he would remove the tools from my mouth and they would be soaked in blood. Good thing I love blood. Then he took this weird skewing tool and told me not to be scared if I heard cracking noises. I was like, okay, no problem.
Damn! He pushes so hard into my face, and he was like shoving it into my root area, trying to pry it lose. I thought he was gonna break my face! After 15 minutes of pushing into my jaw, the pieces of my wisdom tooth came out. He then put stitches into my gums and I was free to go.
At around 9, the anesthetic started to wear off, and now it's hurting like a bitch. I can't really drink anything, because it all tastes nasty. I can't eat anything because it hurts too much. Also, I'm still bleeding! WTF? That explains the part where I'm still biting on this cotton sheet... UGH... I'm going to have to go through this at least 2 more times. Once for tooth number 2, and then again for numbers 3 and 4... joy...

On another note. I'm getting a bunneh!!! Maybe even two. =] Thanks to Lia who was able to hook me up with the little tykes for free ^^ I can't wait. Lia tells me they're dwarfs, which is completely adorable.. *sigh*

Oh yes. Goodluck to everyone going to OFSAA this week! Do Peel proud.

Late night reflection...

2008-04-19T06:55:32Z

In three days, my first year of university will be over. That's an amazing thing to be able to say, and even though I've made a bunch of mistakes along the way, I'm proud of myself, truly, I am. So, I'd like to take some time to reflect.

Even though not a day goes by that I don't think about how things could've been different had I gone to UTM for Forensics like I had originally planned, I don't regret coming to Western at all. But really, how can one look towards their future with courage if they're still constantly being haunted by their past? Not going to lie, I'm scared, there are so many reasons to be scared. I'm unsure of where my degree in Health Sciences will take me, unsure of the state of my marks, unsure if I'll have a place to live next year, unsure of what my parents think of me, with so many uncertainties, I find it amazing that I, and others in situations similar to mine, can still keep trying. I don't think it's quite time yet for a year-in-review post, but one will come. I'm not sure how epic I'm going to make it, but I do know that It's not going to be on facebook, livejournal only people!

As I mentioned earlier, I will be done in three days. My father and brother will come late tuesday afternoon, and we will back the contents of this room into our Toyota Sienna, drive back to good ol' Mississauga, and most likely not return to London until August. I am going to miss London a lot this summer. Home has been Alumni House for the past 8 months. I mean, I've visited home less than 8 times this year. That's incredible! You have no idea how unfamiliar my room looks to me everytime I go home. My shower is probably going to skin me alive because I'm now used to the weak, light ones hear. My bedsheets don't even feel right to me because I've had my Hello Kitty and Doraemon ones here. Or maybe it's because I get to decorate my room in residence any way I want, and the walls of my room are so bare and boring I can't really stand it anymore. The freedom that I've experienced has really changed me too. Like, the feeling of being able to go out whenever you want to without having to check-in with your parents is an odd, and oddly satisfying feeling.

As ghetto as this city can get, it is a wonderful place. I mean living on campus kind of puts me in this little "Western Bubble" as they call it, where we are completely unaware of what's happening in the outside world. It's so true! If little news feeds don't show up on my Google home page, I'm basically clueless. I have no time to watch the news, hardly ever read the Gazette anymore, and being 18, I never go downtown because I don't go to the bars anyway. Though I do go downtown occasionally, for like, Encore, or Prince Al's, or... yea, actually I don't really go downtown because I fear of getting shanked.

This advertisement on the side of this entry creater is distracting, and it's advertising Puzzle Pirates. Oh joy.

I've written 3 exams in 4 days. It was quite intense, and I was able to have somewhat of a break today. I still went through about a third of the entire course in one day though, which is basically all the content in the exam. After this entry I'll probably study through all of it one more time, or maybe half, and save the other half for tomorrow morning, since it's already 3:00 in the morning. I went over to Heather/Ben's today, for Ben's birthday party, which was combined with Sarah and Alice's, who are Ben's friends. It was a lot of fun actually, mainly just watching music majors consume a large quantity of alcohol, followed by a wonderful pinata bashing session which I got to participate in. I didn't consume any alcohol incase you're wondering because I have an exam in less than 12 hours, haha, though you would want drunken stories, wouldn't you? Heather also showed me the world of The Muppets. We watched like 2 episodes from the first season. Hahaha... yes, it was glorious. By the time it was 10pm, Heather and I were basically trying not to fall asleep, though in sleeping positions on her bed. What has she done to me?! I am a creature of the night! That's okay, I'm still awake now aren't I? Anyways, studying was actually productive today, and by no stretch at all can I say that I regretted coming. In all honesty, Heather kind of brings out the good student in me, one that I hadn't honestly seen since preparing for my grade 12 biology exam. (Which I kicked ass at by the way) I'm praying that this is a good sign for tomorrow's final, because I really need to do well. For that, I thank her.

The weather's been gorgeous lately. It makes the Western campus even more beautiful than it already is. It's no wonder that it got voted as one of the most beautiful destinations in Canada. I believe it even beat out Banff National Park in Alberta. I was supposed to lie on UC Hill today to study since it's so nice outside, but you know, the usual lounging that I do and the lack of ability to wake up at such hours of the AM make it almost impossible for me to be able to enjoy such luxuries. Oh! That's what I wanted to talk about. So, I killed a wasp today. I know, not really interesting, but it happened to be in the suite. I have no idea how it got there, but Heather says it's probably come through a window, since I highly doubt it came through the front door and through hallways and up 4 flights of stairs to get to the 3rd floor of the East Wing. Anyways, it was hovering above the light, and me, being creative in my ways to deal with things went to the washroom to grab the bottle of AirWick air freshener. Standing approximately 3 feet away from the light above the sink, I aimed and sprayed. I did a little left to right swaying motion to make sure I got it. Of course the spray irritates it and it flies spastically. I spray it two more times before I head into my room to grab the air cannon. That's right, I pulled that thing back and blasted air at it powerfully. I knocked all the contents on the counter into the sink in the process though. So, I quickly cleaned the mess and got out of the suite hoping that I had taken care of the mess. I then headed out to go study/buy Ben his birthday card. Fast-forward through the party I had just told you about, I come home to find the wasp in my room hanging out by the window. I then pull the blinds down and slam my fist into where it was. Lift the blinds, wipe the guts with a tissue, then picked up its little body and flushed it away down the toilet.

I'm not sure if there's anything else I'd like to add tonight, since I'm itching to compile some comprehensible notes. There's also not a whole lot I can add since I've been doing nothing besides studying, and wasting time when I should be studying. You know, the whole Facebook, ANTM, Youtube fiasco. I wonder if this counts as a long entry, I guess so, I've ranted for a very, very long time. I shall end it here. Good luck everybody with studying and finals!

ahjingjing @ 2008-04-13T02:06:00

2008-04-13T06:19:39Z

Not much to update.. exam time has begun.. but I'm finding it incredibly difficult to keep my mind to the books.

"If I never met you, I wouldn't like you. If I didn't like you, I wouldn't love you. If I didn't love you, I wouldn't miss you. But I did, I do, and I will."
- Anonymous

"I miss you when something really good happens, because you are the one I want to share it with. I miss you when something is troubling me, because you are the one who understands me so well. I miss you when I laugh and cry because I know that you are the one that makes my laughter grow and my tears disappear. I miss you all the time, but I miss you most when I lay awake at night and think of all the wonderful times we spent with each other; for those were some of the best times of my life."
- Anonymous

"Love is missing someone whenever you're apart, but somehow feeling warm inside because you're close in heart."
- Kay Knudsen

"Missing someone gets easier every day because even though it's one day further from the last time you saw each other, it's one day closer to the next time you will see each other again."
- Anonymous

"Parting is all we know of heaven and all we need to know of hell."
- Emily Dickinson, "Parting"

and finally...

"I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can play together all night."
- Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes

rawr, it means "I love you" in dinosaur

2008-04-08T18:19:13Z

So, I had originally written a blog around 10pm last night, however due to circumstances I could not control the entire thing got erased. I will now try to recreate it in all of its glory as best as I can. Here goes:

This past weekend was pretty much one of the most epic weekends I'd ever had. It's so epic in fact that I will write it in point form rather than my normal properly formed sentence/proper grammar form.

Thursday:
- WMB recording session! As usual I play solo -_-"
- to Value Village with Heather to buy neon clothing for band banquet. We come back empty handed probably because other bandies have raided the store already
- Starbuck's for "dinner"/caffeine fix
- on the bus back to AHouse where I bump into JPretty, JMaybee and SZerter
- JPretty and I go buy plastic cups and Sprite
- TGIT begins!
Friday:
- Heather invasion at 9:30 in the morning
- I feel like doodoo
- to Goodwill to buy neon clothing for band banquet. We come back empty handed probably because other bandies have raided the store already.
- visit Heidi
- come back and chill with Vanessa, JPretty and JMaybee
- 3:30 prep for soph rally!!!
- SOPH RALLY!!!! WHOOOOO
- not feeling like doodoo anymore
- 6:30 rush over to Sommerville Hall for Band Banquet =D Good times
- 10:00 head back to AHouse for predrink (no intention of drinking)
- Loudness ensues in 2Central with new and old sophs
- ends of up drinking a quarter of a cup of vodka/orangejuice/applejuice thinger from "Never have I ever..."
- Depart AHouse for soph pub... well... Spoke underage portion
- Not cool, most ended up walking about, talked to GHuff, saw Heather when I was about to leave.
- Heather hands me sombrero to take care of for the night
- back to AHouse to sleep about 1
Saturday:
- Nothing interesting happens... at least nothing concerning you...
Sunday:
- up at 11:30
- to Central High School to watch Heather perform with Encore... The Concert Band, volunteer and watch with her parents
- the kids I was volunteering with were pretty funny people
- Heather's mom gives me a present... laughter ensues... -_-" lol
- Heather gets honourable mention from Phil (band director) for winning Frosh of the Year award in the WMB and also mentions that I had to take home the prize for her (sombrero)... we are both creeped out...
- I get invited to go eat dinner with Heather's family
- head back to Williams residence to pick up Ben, etc
- to eat Greek food!
- many stories ^^
- induction into new family... -_-"
That pretty much sums up my weekend. I know that a ton of details are left out... lol...
I'm officially in the last week of classes for first year of university! This is pretty frigging exciting if you ask me. The weather is amazing, and I couldn't be happier with how things are going. We've got our WMB turnover meeting tonight and then dinner, so I'm looking forward to that.

I've got a special shout-out to give to a certain random Googler. So, last thursday, as I was checking my email around 11:30, I got this email about a reply for a blog entry I had written almost a year ago for my Livejournal. This person explained that they had come across my journal from googling "Mr. Reilly test Glenforest" So, to answer your questions, no, I don't attend Glenforest anymore, I graduated last year, and no, I don't write entries everyday. I used to write really frequently, but I recently picked it back up, so I try to update whenever time allows. I go to The University of Western Ontario now. I wonder if I know you, since you probably don't know me from my livejournal username. If you're in the music program at all, you probably know me, know of me or have heard stories about me. Anyhow, feel free to leave another comment, it keeps things interesting.

P.S. I'm not impressed that no evacuation happened.

Time for Evacuation!

2008-04-03T04:21:43Z

Dun dun dunnnnnn
The Thames River which runs inbetween the UDr residences (Alumni House, Elgin Hall and MedSyd) is rising as I type this note. Last night at 3AM, Scout and I went to the Elgin parking lot to see how high the river had risen. We couldn't even stand in the parking lot. The water level at 3AM last night was already above our ankles. Some of my friends couldn't even open the doors of their cars to drive away from the parking lot. It is currently two to four meters above it's normal height. The university has an emergency evacuation plan if the river happens to rise above the 80 inch threshold. Unknowingly, us students still cross that bridge every day to get to and from class, extra-curricular activities, etc. However the level of the water rose to 79.6 inches today. The rise in water level of the river is due to the snow melting North of campus, the extra rainfall we've gotten as well as water deposits from snow banks North of campus.
You may be thinking, there's no way the water will flood so much that the entire UDr will be flooded. You know, that's very true. However, you know that power plant next to the Health Sciences building? Yea, that building supplies all the residences across from the river their electiricity. Once that threshold is breached, power will be cut-off from those residences and there will be no heat. It is illegal to live in a building that has no heating system. So, let's say I refuse to leave the building, they will physically remove me... haha. Don't worry, I actually want an evacuation... I'm excited, I've already packed.
So, here is the university's emergency plan.
Once the 80 inch threshold is breached, an email will be sent to the students living in those residences. It will ask all the students to get ready, and pack (if they haven't already) approximately 3 days worth of clothing, and necessities, like books, towels, hygenic items, etc.
Then, all 1500 students (240 - Alumni, 500 - Elgin, 700 - Medsyd) will be moved to lounges, study halls, etc, of other residences. In these areas, they will set up cots, that's right, cots. Of course, residence floors will be organized together so that you won't be staying with randoms. Yup... so that's the plan.
I've thought ahead, I might stay with Hwilliams given her parents give the thumbs up, or sleepover at Valshmi's if that falls through. Oh man... if this evacuation thing doesn't happen, I'm going to be SO disappointed.

"Ow, my most of me!"

2008-03-31T06:54:10Z

(Thanks to HWilliams for reminding me of that very appropriate quote)
It is almost 3am, and I am lying in bed with my laptop kinda peeved at my charger for not working the past two weeks.
I don't know why I'm still up, perhaps it's routine now, or perhaps the pain I'm in is so great that I can't rest. Why am I in pain you ask? Because I spent all of yesterday and this morning participating in an all-nighter relay for Cancer Research with the band. Not only that, the band decided that we'd relay the bass drum. I had that for about over an hour. The event was a huge success. About $20000 was raised in total. Lots of activities were going on. Dodgeball, soccer, family feud, guitar hero, watching halfnaked boys dance to Daft Punk (video available), and of course walking around the track!
We won the Spirit Award for the second year in a row, it was incredible, the endurance and spirit we carried all through the night. We went through the track via various ways... haha
The band also played while teams went into the UCC for registration and we played for opening ceremonies. It was the last time this year that we'd be donning our beautiful tunics.
Matt came by to visit, that was exciting. Rashmi and Akshita were also there. That was really exciting too. I attempted to run a lap with Akshita on my back... I made about 75% before we collapsed =D good times. hahaha. She later felt bad for jumping on my back a second time because I had carried the base drum for over an hour. Though she was surprised at my back strength haha.
My back is in pain... my feet have blisters on them... my shoulders... oh man my shoulders... and my legs... the chafing!! Those band pants are not your friend if you're going to do many activities. We had those wonderful K-ways... lol. poppin our collas. Sportin the whiteboy gangsta visors as well. It was definitely an amazing experience that I'm going to repeat.
This week is going to be exciting.
Monday: calc, chem, bio lab, band, calc assignment
Tuesday: calc, bio, healthsci, filming for rally, exec meeting, anthro, soph training, soph meeting, more filiming for rally
Wednesday: calc, chem, chem lab?, someone want to come to value village with me?
Thursday: calc, bio, healthsci, band, TGIT
Friday: Sleep in... maybe get invaded?, get ready for soph rally, get ready for band banquet. It will be a friday of epic proportions.
So in conclusion, I am dreading Tuesday.

A new week, new beginning, new me.

2008-03-28T20:29:23Z

Hey everybody =]
As you can see, this rough week is over, the anthropology paper is finished, and WMB elections are over!
First off, I'd like to congratulate the new council, it's going to be a kickass year!
So for anybody thats interested, since this isn't just a fb note, it's x-posted to my personal journal as well, I got elected as secretary. yay!
Last night was Alumni and Elgin's joint formal, I didn't go of course, I stayed back here, and chilled with my anthropology paper, and then Jeff afterwards.
Oh! Some highlights from my speeches include:
- saying I was running for Treasurer. (Congrats Hwilliams)
- being completely incoherent at the beginning of my secretary speech because of the 6 energy drinks I had consumed the couple days before + extreme lack of sleep
- claiming (I'm not sure of the correct quote, correct me if I'm wrong) "I've stuck my head in some places in the band room... *laughter*... I mean... I looked around."
- claiming "I get on my hands and knees in residence all the time... *laughter* ... Jeff lives in my residence too... *morelaughter*"
All in all, it was an amazing experience, even if the band needs to get their mind out of the gutter, since I didn't know I was so spontaneously funny *rollseyes*.
I realize I haven't given you guys an update on Montreal... haha too bad.
Um, interesting aside, Heather is currently lounging on my bed, talking about how she shaved last night >_> which apparently hasn't happened since halftime shows... am I impressed? in a slightly disgusted way, yes.
On another note.. I wonder how much weight I've lost since September. Last time I checked was around reading week in February, and I was at -18lbs. hmm
Tomorrow night is Relay for Life! The band'll be playing in tunics. Man, tunics are fucking sexy...

So come out and watch a little bit, we'll be at the UCC from like 6pm-7am.. come and support our lack of sleep for cancer research!