Spiders are NOT creepy!

Must have something to do with this sudden warm weather. I've either heard or witnessed at least one person a day freaking out about a tiny little spider! This annoys me (this is an understatement!). First, I seriously dislike shrieking hysterical females. Second, I seriously like spiders. Fascinating creatures they are. Truly! Third, the shrieking hysterical females are generally several thousand times larger than the fascinating little spiders, which really makes any subsequent stomping and smooshing totally unfair. So to all you spider stomper-smooshers out there ... meet my little friend Charlotte. Feed her a bug (click the little MORE tab bottom right of her web) and think twice before you freak out about Charlotte's kin!

UPDATE:

• term papers ... nearly finished the last one (due April 5).
• course presentations/projects ... almost ready for the last one (next Monday)
• knitting ... 11 new dishcloths finished. # 12 will come off the needles on my way home today.
• social life ... no. Okay, that's a teensy lie ... N and I took last Friday evening off and had dinner at the Waddling Duck (fabulous fish 'n chips, and I so miss my favorite fish 'n chips joint near the Quay!), then dessert at Tastebuds. If you've never been to either, you should go! Then A and I took Saturday evening off and went to see Inside Man. Good flick ... Denzel Washington and Jody Foster, directed by Spike Lee. Just the right amount of action and intrigue to make it worth the price and the popcorn. Besides, my brain REAllY needed a break!
• exams ... first one is 8 days and 15 hours away ... EEEK!

I hope its sunny wherever you are. have a good week, and be kind to spiders!

Two done, one to go ...

I probably say this every semester, and you're totally forgiven for thinking I've lost it and taken to repeating myself -- which is likely true! -- but this has been the semester from hell! I've struggled like mad to keep up with course readings (and I'm only taking 3 courses), and getting presentations organized, projects finished, and papers written has about sent me fleeing to the funny farm for some time out! However, one more paper to go (topic: diabetes and circumpolar peoples), due April 5, followed by final exams. Then I can take a deep breath ... and do it all over again next semester. Yes, I will be doing summer courses. I'm making damn sure I've got enough credits for that blasted piece of paper that says 'congrats, here's your BA' next year this time!

I have to tell you, all this academic crap is seriously impinging on my knitting time. Its taken me OVER 10 days to finish ONE sock! So I've switched to knitting cotton dishcloths for awhile. Like socks, one can never have too many cotton dishcloths ... agreed? Socks, and now dishcloths, is my travelling knitting project. In other words, its small enough to fit in the side pocket of my book bag, and simple enough to pull out on the bus, during a break, or even during a lecture if I think I can get away with it -- which I can most classes. (One prof has put in her order for socks for next winter!)

At home I've been patiently knitting at a kid mohair stole. I love the feel of it, but don't ever make a serious mistake, 'cuz frogging kid mohair is a huge pain! Funny that ... knitting with it is okay, but frogging it makes me sneeze violently. Psychosomatic perhaps??? Its a lovely cream colour with ever so slight a hint of pink to it. I keep picturing myself wearing said stole over a swishy dress at the symphony or opera in one of the posh theatres in Vancouver. Okay, I know I'm 'up north in the sticks' and not in Vancouver, but ya gotta have dreams! That being said, I'm quickly running out of cream-coloured kid mohair ... let's keep our fingers crossed about having enough to finish my stole!

Hey! Spring's here! These past two days, our neighbourhood snowbanks have turned into sloughs in the sunshine. It was a long time coming, but it happened fast when it did arrive! I suppose y'all 'down south' have trees in bloom already . . .

So I'm taking a "brain break" this evening. It's been 12 and 14-hour days every day these past two weeks, and I'm reaching (reached?) that point where I can re-read a page or paragraph four times in a row, and nothing sticks in my head. Instead, I'm picturing 'jammies', some kind of mindless fluff on TV, maybe a little knitting, maybe a big plate of nachos, and early to sleep.

Toodles for now . . . go outside and enjoy the sunshine!

No time to blog ...

... but I'm gonna write something quick anyhow ('cuz I'm procrastinating ...).

PROGRESS REPORT on last weeks goals: one sock finished, one term paper not finished but due in 6 days and 20.5 hours! Yikes!

S.T. shared this with me this past weekend. Try it! (These kinda things always amaze me!)

YOUR AGE IN CHOCOLATE

DON'T CHEAT BY SCROLLING DOWN FIRST! It takes less than a minute . Work this out as you read ... Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out! This is not one of those waste of time things, it's actually fun (& somewhat educational)!

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10).

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold) .

3. Add 5.

4. Multiply it by 50 (I'll wait while you get the calculator).

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1756 .... If you haven't, add 1755.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number .... the first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times you want to have chocolate each week). The next two numbers are YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!) If it isn't .... you muffed up your arithmetic .... do it again!

Cool, eh? I have to go to the vending machine now ...

Did you watch the 'Oscars'?

I did! Naturally, I was rooting for my favourite movie of recent months, WALK THE LINE, and was absolutely thrilled when Reese Witherspoon won best actress in a leading role for her fabulous portrayal of June Carter Cash! I was touched by her acceptance speech when she told how June Carter used to say "I'm just trying to matter" when folks asked how she was, and that's what Reese was also trying to do. Nice. I would have been doubly thrilled had Joaquin Phoenix won best actor in a leading role for his incredible portrayal of Johnny Cash. However, to be fair, I have to admit I haven't seen the film Capote yet, so can't criticize Philip Seymour Hoffman's win in that category.

March of the Penguins took best documentary feature, and well deserved. Have you seen it? Great film narrated by Morgan Freeman. All penguins, no humans. I was also happy to see Brokeback Mountain take several awards (best director, best adapted screenplay, best original score). I haven't seen Crash yet, so I'll reserve judgment on whether Brokeback should have taken best picture or not for now. All in all, it was a good Awards evening ... no, wait! What the heck was that so-called best original song -- "It's Hard Out There for a Pimp" -- meant to accomplish??? Excuse me??? We're feeling sorry for pimps now???

Besides watching the Oscars, I worked on term papers (will it never end???) most of the weekend. It was nice to take a break Sunday evening to watch TV and work on my latest at-home knitting project (versus my take-along knitting project -- socks) -- a Kid Mohair Stole (I'll have to try and figure out how to post some pictures when its done 'cuz I'm really liking the looks of it). Okay, I just told y'all a slight wee lie, 'cuz I actually took a break Saturday night to go out to a movie. (I'm feeling a little like Ebert & his buddy doing all these movie reviews!) I tried to see Eight Below again, and it was sold out AGAIN! (Is it something really special, or what???) So I ended up going to see Bruce Willis in Sixteen Blocks. My advice? Save your money and watch it at home when it comes out on DVD -- its got a bit of action but not really much story line. Only redemptive feature: the sight of veteran cop Jack Mosely (Willis) with a hangover at the beginning of the show is pretty much enough to scare a person out of drinking again ever!

My goals for this week: finish one term paper and one sock. What does your week look like???