Merry Christmas everyone!

home for the holidays

Well, i'm on my parent's dial-up, so I can't take long, but so far my vacation has been pretty great. It started a little rough with me finishing my exam at 9:48pm thursday night, packing until 1am and then getting up at 5am to catch the first ferry so that I could meet Mika for breakfast before i caught the 2:45pm bus to kelowna. I was SOOOOO tired I could barely function. But I made it, me and Mika had a deliscious breakfast at The Nam (I'm recommending it again!) and I finally got to see her pictures of Japan - which was really cool. The bus was full so I got to take the overflow bus which was much less crowded, even if the busdriver wasn't 100% sure where he was going, and had no idea how to check the tickets. We made it in one piece. It was So great to see my cousin Emily and her boyfriend Leo. I had a lot of fun hanging out with them, even though both me and emily were a little sick on saturday (well her much more than me) and all we did, after shopping for presents in the morning, was watch movies and knitt. it was grand. i was sad to leave them. :( And, the bus depot on sunday was crazy busy! I had to wait in line for over half an hour to buy my ticket, and then the bus was sooo full that me and several other passengers had to wait even longer for them to get another overflow bus ready. But it worked out just fine because there was only eight people on teh bus, so it was a nice roomy ride again. I can't complain. And now I'm here, at home in the snow (although I have to admit, there's a little less snow that I'd hoped for and anticipated... but I'm sure that it will snow again soon) I look forward to sledding, and sipping coffee while watching snow drift gently down beyond the window. It's great to see my family, adn my little second cousin katie whom I fall in love with every time I see her, she is way to cute! Today I had coffee with my good friends Norann and Dave, and it felt like no tim ehad passed at all. I love that about good friends, you can just pick up where you left off, without a hitch (well, maybe a few) ;) Now, I'm getting ready to sleep (after I put the extra foamy on my slightly too hard futon) and tomorrow I'm meeting my roomates for tea and then hangingout with my cousin cayley. Life is good when there's nothing to do but visit and chill out.

there's not too much better than reading a sweet card from a great friend after a hard day.

...writing english exams is even worse... I was actually hitting myself in the head, going "think! THINK!" to no avail. I think I've written better essays in highschool... BUT, at least it's finished, and I don't have to think about it again.
and tomorrow morning I get to have brunch with my friend Ben who I haven't seen in a while and miss, so that is definately a plus to my day!

...studying for english exams is hard, and not too fun...

An Evening of Christmas Cheer

Ah, there's nothing like a gathering of friends sipping egg nog (some with rum), and enjoying homemade treats before a crackling fire. So it took a few tries to start the fire and we breathed in a bit of smoke, we got the job done and when the air cleared there was a merry little fire all aglow (well, it tried to go out a couple of times, but we nursed it back to health).The egg nog was tasty, and so were the desserts (if I may say so myself, I made a pretty delicious - and rich - batch of cranberry and pecan chocolate truffles). We listened to christmas music and played Balderdash, if you've never heard of it, look it up, it's a great and amusing game where you pick a word (frmo the card if you have the game, or you can use a dictionary and scraps of paper) and everyone has to write a defination for it (you generally try to find obscure or strange words). Then the judge reads them aloud, including the real one, and you have to guess which one you think is right. We had some good answers... good times. We did however, have to pause in the middle of our evening to watch the "amazing race" because the boys downstairs and Crystal are addicted to it (not like I should talk). It was pretty cool, definately one of the better reality contest shows.
But now the guests have gone home, or downstairs, and all is quiet. well not quite, the wind is exercising outside rather vocally, maybe it will bring in some snow! (probably not, but I can dream right?)

one down, two to go!

The poetry portfolio has been handed in. YAY! While I'm not completely happy with every poem, it was a relief to hand it in. Now all I have to do is wait...
and since I said that I'd post the revision of the Hinges poem, here it is:


Hinges

Sarah is interested in the sharp
separateness of things: the dog with one blue
eye and one brown, the spilt salt
on the kitchen table, the stone dislocated
from her ring. How a tear, when fallen,
can bruise the tough red of her cotton shirt.

This morning Sarah discovers the way
a throat, soft like brushed leather,
thick in the belief of lips, becomes a rock
at the surprise of a callused hand;
the way a heart lurches,
like a socked foot meeting the slick
of linoleum; the silence just before he swings
and just after; the sound a door makes–
wail of hinges, thunk of wood;
a strand of her black hair
splayed against the white floor.

a great way to spend the night after a tiring day: a girl's night in with pizza, movies, and of course knitting. (oh, and our dowstairs neighbour, Brent)
We rented "Mean Girls" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", both which are great. But now i must sleep because tomorrow brings much work (school and otherwise) for which I must have my wits about me. (well, at least while I'm attempting poetry revisions) ;)