Photobomb/Snaking.

Every time I see Tina snaking into this shot, I die laughing and watch it loop seventeen more times.

Ender's Game: A Book Review

Update upon finishing: mind blown. So worth it. Get it, read it, love it.

Lycra.

Today in my teenage angst, I marvel at the phenomenon of lycra. Most wouldn't consider it a phenomenon, but looking at it from this book's perspective, I certainly do. These pictures are courtesy of a Yoga book at the library. I found it, squealed and couldn't not leave with it. 

I'd just like us all to consider the life implications of owning this much lycra. Furthermore, the implications of owning that many matching leggings and belts. 

Snack.

Today in my teenage angst, this is what I need. I need the perfect snack food. I need a snack food that I can pop in my mouth for a continual twenty-minutes and feel zero guilt about. It needs to not be a vegetable. It needs to have some crunch but needn't be a carb/starch. It should be salty but not too salty. I have a sensitive palate.

I'm at the end of my semester and I'm dying a little. I just don't care anymore about the process of memory and sentencing policies in Canada. Those two things don't go together. They're just an example of two things I no longer care about. Either way. In the midst of this, my fatigue and the general busyness of the I just want to snack. I want to snack on all the bad foods. But I can't do that. Because I have to regulate my eating so I don't feel full and so I get enough nutrients to stand and walk and haul books at the library.

So I need a snack food. You all know what I mean.
So . . . anyone?

Trend.

Today in my teenage angst, I appreciate roots. On an entirely different train of thought, I really hate trendy paraphernalia. I do have a tiny little Sorting Hat that works like a magic eight ball. I am also in possession of a homemade hunger games t-shirt that I feel only a little bit weird wearing. Once the hype dies down, it will be loud and proud. Not that it's not now. Janelle and I did a small photo shoot in the library sporting our obviously awesome shirts.

When the Keep Calm and Carry On campaign started, I noticed it first on a notebook and immediately regarded it as I would regard one of those plaques that encourages you to Espresso Yourself - with contempt. While I thought the typeface was indeed attractive, I swore to never own anything of the like. I did, though, see a Harry Potter version that stated Keep Calm and Carry A Wand. I wanted it a little. Anyway, my sister sent me this video a couple days ago that shed new light on the phrase, its history and an utterly amazing bookstore in England that is now on my list of things to do before I die. Legit.

Have a look and a listen and appreciate the aims of those in government to shore up public support in the midst of trying times.

Baby.

Today in my teenage angst, I give you Karlie. Even though you've met her before.

Karlie and I have been together since we were eight. Early in our friendship we really had very little in common. Her family owns one of the biggest ranches in Saskatchewan. I'd never been on a horse and wasn't interested in doing so. Their livelihood is beef. I didn't eat red meat. I'm proud to say that I've come around. At the beginning, her dad was pretty against our friendship - that's mostly kidding - because I was so opposed to their livelihood. I obviously wasn't against it; I was eight. I just simply didn't want to participate in it. Once, Karlie's mom made me mix the meatballs we were going to eat. It was one of those character building moments.

Karlie and I graduated together and went on to College together. At registration we met this guy - who I may or may not have had a tiny little crush on. What? I said that out loud? - and I told her, you guys are going to get together. She scoffed. Two months later, they were legitimately in love.

They got married and have been kicking the difficulties of marriage in the butt for three years now. It's been the biggest pleasure to watch. My friend, who is now way cooler than me, has someone who loves her just so incredibly much. I can't even fathom that measure of love.

Fourteen months ago, Karlie told me they were trying to have a baby. I asked them to make it their new year's resolution to make me an Auntie. They laughed and maybe weren't intending to but they totally did. As soon as Karlie told me she was pregnant - which was a hilarious conversation - I started plotting her baby blanket.

I am not a creator. I'm not crafty and never look at anything and think "I could make that." I feel like that's a lucky part of my life. But I can knit in a straight line. What else do you need? So I set out to make six inch squares, varying in color that would suit Karlie and Tim's personalities as well as the future of this precious gift of life.

And so I knit. For eight months I knit. 48 squares later, I started sewing.

By the time it was finished I loved this blanket almost as much as I love the little darling that this blanket will keep warm in the spring breeze. 

Suzy wrote the baby a letter, something I could never have penned, and I scorned her - only a little - for doing it first. I'm not going to do that. I had it in my mind to write up eighteen letters for the baby to read on it's first eighteen birthdays. But then I tried to think of even eighteen single points of encouragement and wit and depth to write and I got tired and took a nap. I think at this point, as Karlie prepares for the birth of her first baby tomorrow, it's more important that I tell you how much I love her. And how amazing I think she's been through this entire pregnancy and how I can't believe that one of us is going to be a mom and how much I praise God that it's her.

I'm so excited for Karlie and Tim to have this little one in their lives and there is no doubt in my mind that they're going to be the best parents of all time. It's not even a question. I'll be sitting by my phone all day tomorrow to hear of the miracle that is her birth. Or if baby feels like surprising us, his birth.

Wouldn't that be a slap on the knee.

Also. Look how good she looks pregnant. She looks better pregnant than I look regular.

That time.

Today in my teenage angst, it's that time. Every time I start a story with ''one time", my friend Janelle follows it up with "at band camp." Now I've never seen that movie, and she herself saw it for the first time this year at a New Year's eve celebration. She said she could've done without. That is not the point. The point is that it's 'that time' of the semester.

There are rarely points, as a student, when I question why I'm doing this. But as I come to the end of my time as a distance student, I question why I chose to do it this way.

The earliest philosophers noted the strength of community in learning. One of the greatest things we can take away from the philosophies of Descartes and Dostoevsky is that it shouldn't be done in solitude. We were not created to learn alone. We were not created to be presented with material, learn it, think about it, recall it for proof of learning and then apply it, by the power of our own devices. This is not to say we can't; it is to say we shouldn't. I really admire those who do whole degrees by distance, and there are many. But I can't help but wonder how much they might've benefited from being surrounded by fellow learners.

When I was a student in St. John's I took Introduction to Microeconomics as an elective. I'm certain I'm the only one in history to take that class as an elective. I really loved it and it was really hard. I really loved it because it provided me with an economic context that I never could've garnered if not for the class. It was really hard because it's math oriented and all the testing is multiple choice. I worked hard and had a good mark going into the final. But that was a bomb for a couple of reasons and I ended up just along the average. Beyond all of that, it was there that I met Barbie. We met because she couldn't stop coughing one day and I don't have an qualms about germs so I gave her some of my water. From that class on, we sat together. I got to know a little about her and survived that class in part because of her. We didn't hang out aside from class or even study together for our exams. But she was there. We were there together, learning, suffering and sacrificing. She, in order to get into the business program and me, because I'm stupid.

This is the point of learning together. There's no point in learning if you're not spreading that knowledge somewhere. Sometimes there's not context to spread that learning, such as the significance of Gatsby's illusory relationship with Daisy in comparison to his legitimate friendship with Nick; and that's okay. Most times though, there's plenty of opportunity to spread and share the wealth of knowledge. Marjorie Reeves said that education is sacrifice. What better way to sacrifice, than together?

Also, a note on the picture. I feel like I know that guy. Like actually. But he goes to the University of Miami (thank you google) so I doubt it.

Questions about Buffy: The Bronze.

Adolescent Oddities 2.0.

Today in my teenage angst, I love adolescence way more than I did when I fell into the category. I don't know if you saw this video over at Suzy's place but I've seen it now about eight times and I laugh just as hard each time. Adolescent oddities are just so wonderful and since we recorded it, our list has been steadily growing. Just yesterday Rock Tumblers was added. Those are almost more of a pre-adolescent oddity but they're weird enough to count.

Anyway, I came across this video, by a teenager that lived in the dorm of the boarding school attached to my college. That's a complicated concept. Anyway, a lot of kids come over from Asia to go to that High School - the purpose of which I haven't figured out - and end up thriving. We love them and lump them all into one category; the Asians. This is one of my favorite Asians, though we were never actually friends. I'm fairly sure she doesn't even know I exist. Either way, this video made my day. I love teenagers who are willing to make ridiculous productions like this. Just because they can. And that, my friends, is what the internet is for.

Enjoy.

Questions About Buffy #4