Love is All You Need

Just a quick post of a video that everyone should watch. It is a fantastic display of creating tolerance for everyone! It had me in tears!

More posts probably in the new year!! I promise!

Update on NYR 2013

I haven't written in this blog for a while. I keep coming back to it and updating everything else, but I just haven't sat down and wrote here. I am not exactly sure why, but I believe that I use this blog when I am at another point in my life. Or I am stressed, anxious, sad, or overrun. And I am not those things right now. I am, in some sorts, but for now my life is okay. I still have the everyday stresses that everyone else has, but I have learned to overcome them in a different manner.  So instead of ranting today, I thought I would update everyone on my New Years resolutions, and how my my year will hopefully end.  I had six items on my Resolutions list and I will go through each of them, with my wins, and my utter failure. =)

The first item was finishing my courses for my BA in Psychology. And I am proud to say that I only have 4 more courses to go! I am looking at five different courses at the moment, but that will be narrowed down soon after the first day.  What is next is looking at whether I want to go for my Graduate degree right away or do something else. I am more leaning towards teaching English as a second language abroad, just because it is a way for me to travel. It's just figuring out where to go, and getting used to being okay in a completely different country by my little ol' lonesome self.

The second item on my list was reading 50 books by the time the year is up. I've read 11 books. Sadly. So. I am hoping that this semester isn't too too crazy that I can read maybe 20 more books. But that probably wont happen. I have started a couple different books over the year, but some are weird and confusing. And I've read and LIKED weird and confusing. So that is saying something.

The third is finish writing a novel.... I can say I started a new one. And it takes time. I am hopeful that after this last semester of school, that I can breath and actual complete this. And I think if I put my mind to it, I will be okay. It's different then the previous novel I was writing, but it has more want to be completed. If that makes ANY sense at all. =)

Working out. I bought a bike, and for every day of my summer classes I rode to school. Rain or shine. Then I started getting 40 hours a week at work and my energy went to kaput. When the school year starts up, I am planning on staying and working out at the school for the three times a week.

The next item was Thailand! And I actually have a trip booked! I am heading to Thailand in March 2013 for 16 days! I have paid off $700 so far, and only have to save up another $1400. It sounds expensive, but with everything that is included on the trip it is pretty cheap! I am really excited about heading there. And I just cannot wait to get out and see it.

The last item was volunteering. Which I have done none of. My life is a shame.

It's different having resolutions to look back on. I think in the future I will try harder to make more resolutions and follow through with them.  I will be honest, it has been a crazy year so far. And with everything happening in December (Sisters wedding, final exams, 22 birthday, quitting my job, potentially moving home, etc.)  I hope that with a majority of my items that I can come closer to trying to complete it.

Calgary Flooding

My home is back up north in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.  And a couple days ago there we declared a state of emergency due to excessive water and flooding. I am in disbelief at what has come to my city and to my fellow Calgarians.  However, it is the support that those in need are receiving from all across our province and our country that makes me proud to be Canadian. I do not even really know what to say, but I thought I would share some photos about the devastation that has occurred. All images have been found online, and some may include other areas that have been hit, as a majority of Southern Alberta was also in a state of emergency.

The Stampede Grounds

An aerial view

And this wasn't even the worst

The entire town of High River was evacuated

And Calgarys' very own: Mayor Naheed Nenshi:

Stay safe everyone! 

The Sun and The Moon

Well, May the Fourth be with you. But don't be afraid of Cinco de Mayo, for there is always the Revenge of the Sixth. =) Yeah I'm a nerd. Deal with it.

So I just finished reading a book called "The Sun and The Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth-Century New York" by Matthew Goodman.  It was really interesting of how he related all of the different aspects that he was writing about, except I was hoping that instead of just summarizing what the newspaper articles were, that he would have just inserted the actual article. The newspaper article that I am talking about was written by Richard Adam Locke and was about inhabitants living on the moon and the hoax was that New York thought it was all true.  I was hoping to read what he had actually said, but maybe there was copy-right issues. I'll just have to go out of my way to find it. It is really interesting, if you are into that sort of thing. Mind you, I'm a little weird. I read a book all about the underground system in England. And I've never been there, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I even tabbed a lot of pages. Wow. I need to get out more apparently.

This was the hardest semester of my entire University degree.  But it's official  final grades are up! I didn't write for a while because my professor accused me of plagiarism and I may have cried for a week straight.  But now it is all better, and I have a lovely GPA of a 3.43 for the semester. 7 more courses to go and then I am done my undergraduate!!

Anyways, that is all today. Hopefully this summer I will get back to writing more. But we shall see. =) I am taking 3 courses though.

1. Egypt
2. Music Therapy
3. American Popular Music

Hope you all have a good rest of the weekend!

Hello there old friend...

Procrastination. I feel like it could kill me at one point.  No joke. I really need to start getting on top of things before they are suddenly piled up on me.  And yet as I say this, here I am blogging instead.

This reading week, I had a lot of stuff to do, and I didn't do it.  Instead I decided that this week would be the perfect time to watch all four seasons of Heroes. And so currently on the 3rd season and starting to become severely sleep deprived, I decided that homework late at night was a good idea.  Yeah, no. It was not.

I had to read a 30 page paper on the "Genotype-Phenotype Correlations in Lesch-Nyhan Syndrome" and then summarize it into a one page abstract report. Firstly, I got lost reading it.  Secondly, trying to condense that much information into a tiny tiny page is bat-shit crazy.  And still, for some reason I decided to choose the most genetic disorders for my 75-minute presentation (X-Linked Disorders).  I can barely speak half they things I am reading and have to talk about it.  Hypoxanthineguanine phosphoribosyltransferase.  Try saying that in one breath. I am not only going to be nervous about speaking in front of my peers, but also about my inability to speak proper English.  I mean, I can't even say invitation properly.  I say invintation. InVINtation. Who says that? This girl, right here.

For the next month I am in some big doo-doo.

1. Feb 26: History Midterm (25%)
2. Mar 3: Moodle Posting Due
3. Mar 6: Music Project Due
4. Mar 10: Moodle Posting Due
5. Mar 13: Music Quiz/Psychology Presentation/6 Abstracts Due/1 Companion Reading Due
6. Mar 17: Moodle Posting Due
7. Mar 19: History Primary Source Paper Due
8. Mar 20: Music Project Due
9. Mar 24: Moodle Posting Due
10. Mar 31: Moodle Posting Due

And, another joy to my life. I found out that my ONLY two final exams are on the same day.  With a lovely hour in between them. And I also have my psychology papers for a final exam due on the same day. FML.

I was actually really looking forward to the next couple semesters and being done with school, but I got a chance to look at the courses they are offering. And it looks like I may have to stay another semester.  I need 7 more courses to graduate, and I can't even find 5 to fill in my schedule.  Sometimes my university makes me re-think my choice to go there. 

Ugh. Someone just switch places with me. Please? Maybe I could be like Bilbo and a wizard will just come and take me on an adventure...

Well now...

I just finished reading The Casual Vacancy by J.K.Rowling. I...I don't really know what to say. I thought it was well written, but there were certain aspects that I did not like about it at all. There was almost too much detail about certain items and then I was just confused with the slow plot line. I still don't really even understand what she was trying to get at with her novel. All I know is that the people in the town have interconnecting lives, which is no shocker. It was almost as though the novel was only good for the last 50 pages, because it made sense (slightly) then, but still it was confusing.  I don't know if this was just me, but when I read it I felt as though she was switching between characters in the same paragraph. Characters that don't really apply to each other much.

I don't know. Who am I too judge. It definitely isn't my favorite book AT ALL and nor would I suggest it to anyone to read.  And this coming from a HUGE Harry Potter nerd. It's not her writing, just the story itself that....doesn't interest me at all.

Time for bed for me! And tomorrow I will pick out my next book to read....I'm feeling a comedy, but who knows. Happy Blogging!

Textbooks

Textbooks. The dreaded T-word. For some, its not terrifying and for others it is horrendous.  I think buying textbooks is horrible at times, because Universities overprice them. And I realized that this year when I was looking at one of the required textbooks for one of my classes. At my university it was selling for around $91 before GST (which is a goods and service tax, the only one we have here in Alberta).  My professor was talking in class on Monday, when it was brought to my attention that my university ran out of copies of it. Joy. So my class decided to talk about other ways to buy it, and a girl said that she had bought one through Amazon. I have never bought anything off Amazon, but I thought I would check it out because I needed a textbook at some point in my class (it was one of the few textbooks that would actually work longer in my degree if I went on). And low-and-behold to my astonishment, the textbook cost $81 with FREE shipping! Are you shitting me?!? Next semester I am going to check my textbook list and check online to see the pricing. Because that was ridiculous. (I am not in anyway at all saying buy all your textbooks from Amazon, I am just saying that my University is ripping students off....No promotion. Promise.)

Another thing, at my university, on some textbooks, they offer rentals. Which makes sense, because half the time the University wont buy back your textbooks or if they do they buy them back at $10 when you spent $150.  What is really awesome, is when they allow rentals on Used textbooks. Its quite nice because I don't want to fork out a huge chunk of change just to use a textbook for one class and never use it again. And it is frustrating (for me) to not get back the money I spent on it, so I wont sell back my textbooks often.  Then you are sitting around for years with a bunch of textbooks you will never ever use again. They pile up. Well. For me they do. I think it has something to do with me being unable to throw out books, even if they are textbooks from a horrid class. 

Anyways, on an off topic note I just finished my second book of the year. It was called The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter.  I really enjoyed it. I was initially nervous after reading the cover because I really didn't know what to expect, but it was really good. And I was looking on Wikipedia more about the authors (because I am that much of a geek when it comes to good books, I want to read more by that same author(s)) and I found out that they are planning a sequel! Which is coming out June 20th of this year! So excited! Because to be honest, the ending was quite sudden and I definitely need to see some closure. If I ever become anything in this world to do with writing, I would adapt this book into a movie in a heart beat. Just because there is so much you could do with it, and I think that it would just be an amazing thing to see on the big screen. This is coming from a girl who would pick apart movies that have come from books.  I can just see how it would go and how to do it. So I swear, if someone doesn't do it and years down the road if I ever feel like someone takes my writing seriously, I would consider doing an adaption of this book. Hands down. 

But I am off to bed, work tomorrow until 3 then class from 4-9. Long day ahead of me. Bleh.

New Year, New Semester, New Classes

So far, my year has been...productive. To say the least. I've tackled a couple starting points off of my 'list', so hopefully I stick to it and pull through. But this post isn't really about that today.  I thought I would write out what my classes look like for this semester.

For some people, they may know me and know that if I take 4 courses this semester, I only have 7 more courses to take before I graduate.  Which is exciting and terrifying at the same time.  It is exciting because I will finally be done and able to travel and work in the real world (yikes), but what is terrifying is people's expectations on where I should go, what I should do, and how I do it. It's a lot of pressure, and I am already started to get nervous.  I know that there are some in my family who think my degree is pointless and I agree...in some aspects. Psychology isn't really a course that you just take for a Bachelors. To get any job (basically) you need a Masters or higher. But to get your Masters is a whole other story.  And I know I've been looking at going in to get it, but it scares me that I'll make a decision and not do what I love. On the other hand, what scares me even more is trying to do what I love and failing at it and not having a fall back. I like to be prepared... what can I say.

Anyways, to stop freaking myself out more than I need to at this moment, I thought I would explain what courses I am taking this semester:

1. Music 2500: Introduction to Music Technology - making music, and mixing it.... my friends tell me this is a good GPA booster
2. History 2100: Main Themes in Medieval European History - self explanatory, if I do say so myself
3. Health Science/Psychology 3570: Contemporary Issues in Mental Health - I haven't had my first class yet, but I am pretty excited it should be good. I'm thinking this will be aiming at diagnostics, and the issues surrounding peoples perceptions
4. Psychology 4000: Children with Disabilities - my scary course. Because I have to give a 50 minute presentation in front of the entire class on a topic of MY choice and then lead a 15 minute discussion. Yowza

Overall, I am pretty happy with my courses. I am nervous about Children with Disabilities though. Just for the fact that on the same day of my presentation, I also have to hand in a Companion Reading response (based on the article we choose to base our presentation off of), AND an abstract assignment (which consists of reading 6 different articles and have 6 critical responses of those articles). All on one day. 60% of my grade. Just 60%. Because we also have a take home final (which is practically writing 5 essays in a week) and a journal assignment (which is another 7 or more page paper). One class. I might cry. Or go white. I was going to say grey, but I already have grey hairs growing in. Hardest semester of my entire life, here we come. 

Hoarding Resolutions

I have not written here in some time. And I apologize. I seem to have forgotten about my blog as work, school, finals, birthday and Christmas stuff had taken over my life.  But I do have some amazing news. The semester is over, finally. Neuroscience really wore me out. That was all that I was studying basically. I studied for that and after the exam I started studying for the other exams that I had. Thank the Lord baby jesus that I only had 3 classes this semester, because otherwise I would have been even more screwed then I already was.  I had Neuro on the 13th (my 21st birthday) which was sucky. But what can you do. After that I went home to study, and then out of the blue I get a knock on the door.  I'm thinking, f*** me Joyce, leave me alone, but when I open the door there is my dad. And looking to the right, there is my mom. And then my sister walks over from the left. What just happened? I was really not expecting them to come down, but it was nice to see them.  They decided to all get together and come down to visit me on my birthday and just to take me out to dinner (I had to throw out the chicken that I was cooking later that evening).  Good dinner, but horrible studying. I didn't really study anything else that evening, so I decided to wake up early the next morning, and study for a bit at the Uni. Which was...good...ish. I tried to study, but I felt as though I didn't really learn anything. Then I went and took my Jazz final, because at that point I was ready for the semester to be done with. After that Mak and I got together for lunch and "studying" before I took my last exam, History.  Dun dun dahh.

Overall I was pretty happy with my results, I mean with the amount of studying that I actually put into it, it wasn't too shabby. So hopefully I can finish out these last couple of semesters quickly.

In another new news, Bre got engaged to Cody, which is exciting. I think Cody was going to propose on Christmas, but got too excited on the drive to his parents house, because they got engaged on the way there on the 23rd of December. I thought she was going to plan a destination wedding and go to Mexico, but now it sounds as though she is going to plan for a Winter Wonderland wedding back at home so that more people can come. I'm happy for her. Not so much for me because this means that I will have a lot more stuff to do to help her plan, being Maid of Honor and all that jazz. Hopefully, I wont be too busy with school and everything. But she has time. Lots of it, because now she is officially finished her degree! She just has to convocate.

In some more random thoughts I seem to be haunted with, the title is Hoarding Resolutions. I named it that, because I have come to the conclusion that I could never be a hoarder.  For some reason, at times I try to 'collect' things (I use the term loosely), and then months or even years later, I get bored of it and just throw it away. Or sell it. Or spend it.  I'm not saying that I am the tidiest person that has ever walked the face of the earth, but I can't keep the mess that I make.  Now to the resolutions part of the title.

I decided that since it is almost a year since I started this blog, that I would write a post on "my resolutions".  Well, actually I don't like calling them resolutions because it is very disheartening when you don't complete them. But seeing as I still don't have anything else to call them, we will just leave it at that until I come up with a wicked awesome name.

Resolutions:

1) Finish all courses for my BA in Psychology (11 courses)

2) Finish reading at least 50 books

3) Finish writing a Novel

4) Work out at least 3 times a week

5) Save up money for a trip to Thailand

6) Volunteer somewhere and make a difference to someone.

There is a lot to do on that list, but I believe that this year will be a great year for me.  I have a song that makes me smile for some reason, because it relates to my life so much.  And it's not that I feel this way the entire time, but sometimes you can't help it.  But listening to the lyrics, I know that I want to complete something that I have started. And this year is when I do it.

Wish me luck and I'll write soon! Happy 2013 to you all!!