It’s that time again.
My classes start on Tuesday, so this is my last week of freedom before I’m inundated with weekly readings, long papers, intellectual discussions, and endless self-doubt. So what am I doing? Dog-sitting for two adorable little knuckleheads and attempting to get ahead on my reading. I know, it might be too much to handle.
What are you up to, my dears?
72 replies on “This Weekend Open Thread Is Going Back to School”
I’ve discovered muesli and I’m obsessed. I made it with bananas, cinnamon, and almond milk and had it for a snack (…twice…) yesterday, twice again today, and prepped some for breakfast tomorrow. Sooooo delicious.
HOW SICK AND WRONG IS THIS:
Are you talking about this? Major Scaled #2 : REM – “Recovering My Religion”. Because I haven’t finished it yet, but can’t find the sickness until now ..
Yes! Oh it’s wrong. It makes me feel icky in my toes
. Also! It would be a totally boring song in that key. Minor thirds for the win.
Oh, geesh Q! I thought it would be glorifying rape sick, don’t terrify me like this!
I <3 the Nopetopus.
Why are there no new blog posts today?
It’s a public holiday in the USA: Martin Luther King Day.
I just watched this and maybe have a little something in my eye.
This is incredible. What an amazing family!
HONEYMOON PLANNING YEAHHHHH
Air NZ’s website is fucking amazing, ladies. Huge searchable activity directory has allowed me to pick and choose different day trip packages rather than just searching aimlessly for “Wtf do I want to do in Middle-Earth?”
So now I have an actual demo itinerary for Rotorua, Wellington and Christchurch all based around day trips that hit all my must-haves: LOTR stuff, Maori stuff, and ecotourism. Nothing ‘real’ since our honeymoon isn’t til late 2014 but damn it feels good to have a plan.
Dude! I am totally in NZ. What? When? Do you need anything done from this end? When are you coming? 2014? Too bad, I need someone to house sit for me in Auckland for 5 weeks over this coming July for $300 to have my apt for 5 weeks.
Waaaaait seriously? I didn’t want to come over in winter but celebrating my birthday back in NZ would be amazing.
Yes! Wait, aren’t you somewhere totally cool in Europe? We should set up an apartment swap. It could be winter there, I’m Canadian, European winter doesn’t bug me. I would PM you, but for some reason I don’t get notifications for PM’s or when someone responds to my comments even when I check the box. I should figure out why.
You guys totally have to do this and then write a post about it :)
I’m in Amsterdam, but I would have to get boyfriend freckle in on it as well if we’re going to do a swap. And you would come over to July (but a Dutch July, so don’t expect too much). But it would be really cool.
I would totally take Amsterdam. It couldn’t be this July, I have to be back in Canada. However, if 2014 worked for you we could probably figure something out for later in the year.
Darn, I might be in The States in 2014. But let’s just keep this idea warm and comfy on the back burner of our minds ;)
I don’t think we need anything done! We’re looking at like Dec 2014 over our Christmas break. I’mma list the day trips:
– Wellington LOTR location tour by bus
– Christchurch 2 day whale-watching and DOLPHIN SWIMMING (!!!!!) by boat
– Christchurch Mt. Sunday trip by bus
– Rotorua hangi show
– Rotorua zip lining
– Hobbiton set tour
We don’t need any ‘stuff’ since we’re not looking at buying a house btw now and wedding time, and we have everything we need in our apartment, so we’re thinking of doing a honeymoon registry. If that gets off the ground successfully, I really also want to go here: Awaroa lodge
Also WOULD THAT I COULD HOUSE-SIT.
Awww NZ is awesome:) If you’re into hiking I utterly recommend the Tongariro Crossing, it’s just one day but you’re walking across the volcanoes and the views are absolutely incredible. When I was there my hostel ran a bus to it from Lake Taupo.
Looks very cool. Bookmarked for sure.
I took this photo there and it’s still one of my favourite-ever photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/39820705@N04/4148208109/in/set-72157622009235999/
oh man, I lived in NZ for a few years… Personally, I would say stuff the big-city (relatively speaking, for NZ) tourism. South Island is amazing (okay, both islands are amazing, but for real. South Island). Oooh, I miss it so much! @Frigg, if I had the funds I would take your apt in a hot minute.
Arrghh I know! Looking over the ‘stuff to do’, so many cool things are waaay in the South Island (Franz Josef, Queenstown things) but they’re not sufficiently high priorities for my LOTR-loving fiance.
Maybe we’ll rent a car and just bomb around bothering sheep for a couple of days out of Christchurch.
Wait! Don’t rent a car, do this instead:
http://www.standbyrelocs.com/default.aspx?c=2
it is totally legit. They did a big news story on it. The popular way to see NZ is to rent a self contained camper van and ‘freedom camp’ your way through the two islands. This inevitably means companies need camper vans driven back places. You rent the campervan for either $1 or $5 a day and drive it where they need it to go within a specified time frame. Most times ferry crossings and gas are included.
You can get one way flights within in NZ super cheap so you just hop a flight back. You can do Christchurch / Auckland, Christchurch – Nelson, etc. Lots of choice.
How long are you coming for?
Oh my gosh that is an amazing link! Gonna have to think about planning a trip to NZ now.
Right now we’re budgeting for 10 days, hopefully all at hostels to keep costs down. The max we would come would be two weeks since it’s over our Christmas break from work.
So something like that.
This idea sounds FAB. PMaggers are the most helpful people on the internet.
That sounds amazing. I’ll have to remember it if I get the chance to go to NZ someday.
I need to write a 2-4 page paper for my class, and I am procrastinating. I just don’t want to be productive today. :P
So do it today, hurray!
(said she who didn’t edit the last nine pages of her story yet)
Ugh.. I know that feeling oh too well. Write at least one page (then you’re 1/2 – 1/4 way done!) then do something really fun/worthwhile instead of just the mindless procrastination.
(said she who stayed up past 12 last night looking at craft projects instead of writing my own paper)
Mr. Nonsense shaved his hair off today. :( Yesterday it was in a pony tail and I already miss it. Every time I see him, I do a double take and remind myself it will grow back.
Damn, I think I’m more attached to his hair than mine. Lol.
In other news, we’re moving in a couple of weeks and it’s amazing how much shit I’ve accumulated over the years. De-cluttering has been amazing.
Is it for charity or ..?
Nah. It wasn’t long enough for charity. He just wanted a “fresh start.”
Wow.
Is it wrong to be annoyed at a person (boyfriend, in this case) who has the flu? Here is my reasoning:
1) His “I don’t need to get the flu shot, I never get the flu” attitude. Which he STILL doesn’t agree is flawed even as he sits there miserable.
2) His claiming of the LIVING ROOM as his quarantine zone. He did it with good intentions so I could continue sleeping in the real bed, but now I have to walk through his germ air to get anywhere in the apartment. Not to mention there goes any chance I have of watching tv.
At least my apartment is benefiting from this situation- my kitchen and bathroom have been cleaned like never before, and all of our lightswitches and doorknobs have gotten lots of bleach-wipe attention.
It’s never wrong to feel annoyed at someone else’s actions. I would save the anger and demands for reparation until he feels better though. Then you have righteousness AND martyrdom on your side!
So I maybe forgot to go through the gifs with random filenames in my downloads folder and I’m finding things that really should have gone into a few of the gif posts I’ve done. (I knew I had naked Mal somewhere!!)
And for the booze list:
and
Also, love this: pretty much exactly
“I want to drive a fucking flying car someday, and the trans person who might invent it is stuck responding to Guardian editorials that treat them like they’re subhuman.”
http://www.thefrisky.com/2013-01-18/guy-talk-why-a-straight-man-like-me-cares-about-transgender-rights/
That was a great article – thanks for sharing it!
I found it via Trans Media Watch on Twitter – a good smiley read for a Saturday. Is it snowing in your part of Scotland?
And smiley reads are always appreciated. It keeps trying to snow here, but so far, our little part of Scotland has been surprisingly mild. No where near as bad as England, from what we’ve been seeing/hearing – how are you in your part of England?
It snowed pretty much all yesterday but nothing during the night or so far today – but there’s still about 2/3 inches on the ground. Selfishly speaking it hasn’t affected my buses or anything yet:) Venturing out in a bit in search of pubs showing the rugby soon, will be wearing snow boots anyway…
Snow boots are one of the wonders of the world. I have a pair of North Face Nuptse boots that I bought for a fantastic sale price and I’ve barely taken them off this winter. Our snow isn’t even lying on the ground, and fingers crossed it doesn’t get worse, since we’re meant to be travelling (and albeit relatively short distance) on Monday and I have no desire to change plans. Pub and rugby? An excellent way to stay warm!
Mission accomplished! And my team even won! I <3 my snowboots, I swear they increase my foot-to-ground contact area by about 100%.
Some coworkers suggested going to the public ice skating rink after work last night. It was… DISCO DJ NIGHT SKATE! With the exception of the fact that we were the only 6 people there over the age of 15, it was super awesome! The flashy lights, the awkwardness, the shitty music. That is definitely happening again, and maybe over time we can start to get enough people to raise the average age a little more.
That sounds like so much fun. Although I’d prefer roller skate over ice skate because I’m much less confident on those.
Eeeee! My boss told me this week that barring something mad happening I am getting promoted in 3 months.
I’ve had a lot of jobs but this would be my first-ever promotion ever.
You rule this!
Thank you!:)
Y’all, I have had the month of sorta-okay-but-mostly-failing.
I’m not homeless, at least, but things are half meh and half okay. But I started the month going full speed at the temp job (the first weekend everyone worked two full days, plus last week we had overtime every day). Which helps make up for a week of leaving early every damn day, and being sick early this week, but. Meh.
And, well, Fella apparently hasn’t been feeling that “spark” for a while. And only mentioned it last week. We’re not totally broken up but “taking a break” and, well, I’m not so happy about that.
I also fail at mailing things. Seriously fail. All of the fail.
AND I managed to repeat something I did while in college — took a small strip of skin while shaving my legs. It’s gonna scar and I had to use my Christmas money to buy bandaids.
Also, unrelated, but kind of justicey:
A group of knitting friends and I are reporting a grifter to Social Security. She’s on disability, uses medicaid for all kinds of doctor’s appointments (every week she’s looking for a new diagnosis), and most recently claimed to have set up a charity for which she is asking for cash and gift cards to buy supplies and cover transportation in a shoeboxes-for-poor-babbies collection and delivery effort. Huge amounts (the gift card wish list is $500-$5000 EACH), and delivered to her personally. There’s no accountability for said charity. And several months ago she mentioned convincing her husband to quit working and claim SSI/SSDI (I really don’t know which is which) so he can stay home and “take care of her”.
I kind of feel bad about how this will play out for her, but at the same time…There are SO many people who need SSI and SSDI and don’t/can’t get it (or are waiting forever). Hopefully she’ll at least get a serious “no, you can’t do this, if you keep trying to do this your benefits are gone” conversation. (I don’t *really* want her benefits cut off entirely, but she needs a serious reality check if she’s ignorant and a serious ass-kick if she’s intentionally conning the SSA and hundreds of well-meaning people on the internet.)
Urgh. It’s horrible when it feels like lots of things are going wrong at once. Feel free to vent here, and in the meantime have a fox on a trampoline (and a glass of wine or a hot bath or a good book whatever self-care thing you can do right now).
I love the fox gif…. It always makes me happy.
I do toooooo.
<3
I love that gif. I only had the boring version before; saving yours!
I just finished exam week at my school after two weeks back and its strange. I love this job though I’m terrified that I’m not doing enough or doing it right, but I do have a chance to do a check in with the head of school soon, so I’m putting together a semester report.
Its being a nice reminder of what I have done and I finally got up the nerve to submit something for the weekly newsletter put together by the school head that supervises me and isn’t good for my confidence. Life is full but I appreciate that I don’t have to go back to work until Thursday though I’m going to a school MLK celebration on Monday.
Oh and finally did some important moving paperwork that I should have done months ago, but this entire new job and move has been chaotic and stressful.
More hiding in the house today after another warmup/flash freeze. This weather is crazypants.
I’m gonna repeat my plea for info from the P-Magger whose Etsy store I bought a couple of things from: I think it was Sheena and haven’t seen any sign of it in the mail – Sheena, are you around? I could really use that knitting bag and necklace!
Anybody else watching the series finale of Fringe??
I agree. I can’t figure out what temp to keep my apartment and the hard frost sucks to get off the car in the morning.
<< The worst at things. This gif represents my last month.
AHAHA. I figured something had come up, just worried that I’d missed them in the mail. The thing with no home delivery is that the post office here will keep it for a week and then toss it back to sender, and we were away for two weeks over Christmas so I was a little freaky-outy.
Excellent gif is excellent.
I’m hoping to go see Mama tonight. By myself, which is exactly how I like to watch my horror movies.
I watched the short that inspired that film after Guillermo del Toro was like, “this is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen”. The first minute or so I was all ‘pffff this isn’t scary. nothing is happening. hmm…what…well, this could be good, WHAT IS THAT!??I DON’T LIKE THIS!!!!’.
Basically the moral of the story is if Guillermo tells you it’s scary, it’s scary.
Link if anyone would like to not sleep tonight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRqS6pBC42w
Ima spoiler this:
I was pretty freaked out until Mama actually showed up. Then I was disappointed. It looked so…odd…that I was no longer really all that scared by it.
Although to be fair, I had the sound turned down cause I don’t normally like to be scared by things. And I also prefer psychological horror.
Wait, that didn’t spoiler right! :(
How did you like Mama? Is it sufficiently scary?
Ok, my tolerance for ‘scary’ is a bit out of line than most people. I thought it was definitely creepy at parts, the little girls were surprisingly good/convincing, and the ending actually surprised me.
I just finished making spinach empanadas for an international food party tonight, and now I’m worried they won’t like them… and that someone might be vegetarian/vegan without me knowing and so can’t eat them. Blagh. I’m super excited!