Just Another Manic Monday...

I was walking around on campus and I didn't realize how terrible Mondays are for people - students in particular- until I looked around and saw all of the somber dreary faces and heard the slow shuffling feet moving about around campus.. Some people just can't survive after the weekend! My classes of approximately 70 students were at about half capacity today even a little less.  Insanity.

We just got back from reading week.  It was completely uneventful for me thought I managed to purchase and read 3 non-school related fiction novels (yay!) and meet with a few friends that I haven't seen in a long time.  It was mostly unproductive though as far as school work is concerned... I feel like such a bad student because I barely lifted a book and I only opened my notebook at the end of the week to check my schedule so I could plan my Sunday night sleep time accordingly (wow homework fail on my part)...

After it snows on campus everything looks lovely and white and sparkly... you saw the pictures! But after the temperature heats up a bit, the sun comes out and everything melts, followed by gray skies, rain and more melting of snow and frozen ground the university campus takes on a muddy soggy appearance and turns into a giant puddle. The appearance of small lakes has become something to be expected when you are walking around the campus grounds post snow and during the melting days of rain and sun- and yet students everywhere forget to wear rubber boots and water proof foot gear (shoe fail!).  The grounds, walkways, and the buildings entrances and hallways also become messy, dirty, wet, muddy - basically disgusting.. and students do not care about it, they will walk anywhere in muddy shoes, even smearing the dirt onto the backs of chairs in lecture theaters just waiting for that unknowing person to rub against it as they pass or put their coat directly on top of it.. eww *shakes fist in anger at student ignorance and bad hygiene*

Anyway, I thought I would show you all a few shots of the giant puddles on campus today- they were so large and treacherous that entire pathways were blocked off with yellow wooden caution horses and orange pylons. So enjoy these images!  Don't forget I appreciate any and all feed back on here, drop me a comment or e-mail me at bilichc@hotmail.com

Beside the tree on the right is a caution horse that became partially submerged.. insanity

Where did the path go? It just disappeared! You can see the caution horse on the father side of this water mass- the other one is beside the tree on the right.. it became a part of the lake :(

 Good Night All - please comment!!

XOXO
Cris

It's Midterm Time!!!!

 I know I should be studying right now, because I totally have a midterm at 3:30 pm tomorrow but I wanted to post because I haven't in a while and I apologize..

I'm sitting at my computer fighting the urge not to open up a tab on firefox and watch The Nanny on youtube but it is very hard ...

must.
resist.
will
power.
decreasing.
AHHH!

Besides my midterm tomorrow afternoon I also have an early morning eye doctors appointment!! WOOo! because I need to get my vision checked as it seems to be getting worse and worse lately... I'm getting tired of having to squint through my lenses to see the signs, black/white boards, and peoples faces which are 20 feet away from me! I have glasses so I can see.. but they are so not helping right now. I don't want to get new frams though, because I'm in love with my current ones, so I hope they can replace my lenses and not damage my frames... after the appointment I have to rush to school for a 2:30 class on the literature of everyone's favorite 18th century british novelist- Jane Austen!! such a great class.. I got an A- on a paper I wrote for that class which discussed Jane Austen's ideal masculinity in Northanger Abbey using the character of John Thorpe and making a small comparison to Henry Tilney to prove that the ideal masculinity is everything which John Thorpe is Not... I know.. craziness, but hey I got an A- and there were only 2 A grades given out of the entire 200 student class!! Go Me! I should post it so you can all read it.. maybe next post.. hmmm..

... right, back to the Native American lit midterm.. ugh..   

My lovely sisters just came in and they brought me a chai tea latte!!! So Tasty!! and yesterday I went to the store and bought a large box of my favorite candy :D

Now i'm plunked in front of the screen with my latte, my nerds (so appropriate!) and my midterm review, obviously not studying right now (have been studying since 4pm this afternoon thought).  I decided I'd take a moment to express my self creatively before I go crazy...

So here are some pictures for you to enjoy..  Pray for me tomorrow from 3:30-5:30 while I write my midterms.. I'm going to need all the support I can get.  Well I wish you all a good night and I hope you will be thinking of me fondly while you are all enjoying your wonderful afternoons and I am stuck identifying terms and making comparisons of themes in native literature to native poetry and novels.. :(

I love the class, I am just so lazy right now and I cannot wait for next week.. Reading Week! The university student's much needed "February" (march) Break! It's almost here, just 48 hours to go.

XOXO
C

New In The World Of Literature...

I thought I'd share with all of you that congratulations MUST go out to my family's very own Dr. Smarty-Pants whose first academic book has just been put up for pre-sale!  Only If You Are Really Interested is being published and will be available to the general audience in the spring/summer of this year!!!

We are all soo excited and so proud of your accomplishments and cannot wait to be the proud owners of such  a moment as this! I am quite looking forward to reading said book, which is right up my cultural alley.

I hope you will all join me in congratulating Dr. S-P and his family in this wonderful success! I have posted a link below so you can see the publishers ad page for this wonderful book.

http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-6274-2

Did you know? -  Being published, especially on your own is very important for University Professors? The more they have written and have been published, the more likely they are to get a job because being published means your thoughts/written work are good enough (ie you are good enough) for the world to read! (or for other academics in your field at least).  Most of the literature we read, even main stream fiction stuff, has a Professor, or Doctor of Letters/Philosophy's editorial notes published with it?  You can write a million words but if none of them get published then there is very little hope for you in the future.  Because it means nobody likes what you are studying, thinking and arguing about.. Such is the life of a professor.

Enjoy! Please e-mail me bilichc@hotmail.com OR drop me a comment on here, let me know if you checked out the link, or what you think about books, literature, writing ,reading ,publishing etc..

XOXO
Cris

It's A Snow Day!!!!!!!!!!

The part of Canada that I am currently living in has been ferociously attacked by a raging blizzard of 20-35 centimeters of snow!  It is soo fantastically exciting because the university had common sense to close for the day because no one would be able to make it nor have the will to do so.

I intend on spending the day with my family in my parents house eating, drinking tea, reading Austen's Sense and Sensibility among other novels that I have to catch up on.  And staying in my pajamas all day! My sisters and I quite enjoy lingering about the house on a blistery winters day soaking up the family chaos and surviving the stir-craziness that comes with being locked up in the house an entire day.

What are you doing for the snow day? (those of you who live in the same area of the country as myself or who are in parts of Manitoba dealing with much more snow than we have here) I hope you are enjoying your day resting and lounging about in your fuzzy slippers - I have yet to find mine.

So I decided to brave the storm and go outside in my pj's and boots to get some pictures of the wonderfully white scenery so that my readers far and wide can get a glimpse of what we are seeing from our windows.  I returned inside quite cold and rather covered with snow. 

Anyway here are some pictures of my house in the new blizzard conditions and the aftermath of last night, enjoy and comment and e-mail (bilichc@hotmail.com) please you know I love my fan mail (if I ever get any) :D  Enjoy!

From inside looking out the window to the right

from inside looking out the window with the curtains closed

looking out the window to the left

standing on the front porch looking left

standing on the porch looking forward at the covered lawn (you can't see the rock wall partition under all the snow!)

standing on the sidewalk outside facing the house

standing on the driveway facing the front left window and our trademark snow wave on the roof

standing on the driveway facing the giant mound of snow on the lawn from the shoveling

from the porch again just before going back inside

 I hope these pictures make you happy to be inside warm and snug and not outside facing this insane amount of snow. 

XOXO

C

Respect. Hope. Help. Support. Faith. Words Written in Common Spaces For Everyone.

Something completely everyday turned into something random and yet wonderful.  A plain and normal, ordinary bathroom stall in a woman's washroom on campus has turned into an extraordinary space for women of all university levels, experiences, faiths, cultures, beliefs and identities to come together and anonymously help, confess, heal, ask, answer, advise, teach, support and strengthen each other.  The wall was being used to write on by girls because bathroom graffiti is always en-vogue right? The university kept sending someone in to paint over the beautiful, hopeful and inspirational words.  Then someone got wise and got large white boards screwed onto the walls in both of the end stalls so that they wouldn't have to keep painting the wall over.


These white boards have come to promote positivity and feminism in a good way,  give advice from woman to woman, pass on encouragement, strength and support to those who have expressed fears and worries, nerves, pains and hurts etc.  It is a completely random but awesome way for those girls who can't talk to anyone to finally have a voice, be heard and hopefully get some help and for those girls who have many inspirational words and much wisdom to pass it down.  Problems get asked and solutions given in return by many different opinions and voices of different cultures, faiths and experiences.  Hurts get shared, common pains that girls face with love and life are expressed and acknowledged, self-esteem issues are discussed and reassurance given both spoke and unspoken. The ability to have your voice heard without prejudice or judgment is probably what gives most of the girls who have written the courage to do so.


I decided that I'd let my readers into this small space of a million words, thoughts, feelings, circumstances etc. So I hope you all enjoy the pictures, I apologize for their quality and clarity, it's hard taking pictures sideways squished in a stall and trying to avoid white glares and hoping they turn out well.


Enjoy!

This is what you see when you open the door to go into the stall

This is a front facing view of most of the white board

this is writing left over from the wall that was not painted before they put the whiteboard onto it. Yay For Mutual Love and Respect!

Powerful Words Indeed! Especially for an audience that always tends to forget to love themselves.

a power eyes with scrambles of words and sentences spouting everything from randomness, hope and support to politics and words of warning for personal health.

Proof that every women feels alone and needs support in the worst case scenario- Proof that help, advice, support and love will always come when needed. This situation of pregnancy facing young single motherhood is a common one for women, put the love, faith and respect for life opinions shown here touched my pro-life heart. Pro-choice opinions were given here as well, but mostly Pro-life women fought back and took over the support system. Follow up in the lower right hand corner as the pregnant 2nd year student says she's keeping the baby and finishing school as far as possible. So Awesome!

More opinions from women commenting on this poor girls situation I.E big scrawly letters saying The Father Is Responsible isn't He? Make Him Involved!- bad or good, at least someone is listening and ready to help out right? it can't all be bad out there. Hope. Inspiriation. Support. A Better World Indeed.

The best thing on the whole board!!! Someone wrote up a positivity Alphabet from A-L, other people filled it in with messages of hope and inspirational words of love, peace, strength etc.  I filled in letters D, M & P!!

Someone else finished the alphabet from M-Z and more people filled in.  So Wonderful Go Sisterhood! Go Woman power!!

Another view from the door...

Writing on the back wall above the toilet.  The first thing you see, read clearly and acknowledge when you walk in.  I guarantee it's left so many women with happiness in their hearts and smiles on their faces after being in there.

I hope you comment on this post.. It's really important to me - when I use this washroom and frequent this stall, as I often do for it is in a common student area of the university, the little feminist in my head always runs around flailing her arms in joy and shouting happiness to the highest heights for woman power, peace, love, support, friendship, sisterhood and the common good of womankind!


XOXO
C

Winter Time On Campus

If you don't know already I am obsessed with taking pictures of nature i.e flowers, water, the sky at all times of day or night, trees, landscapes..anything and everything that is beautiful and magnificent or small and commonly known that exists within nature on this awesome blue and green sphere!

Walking around on campus since we've gotten lots of snow has been just wonderful!The university's grounds are beautiful any and every time of the year, in spring and autumn when the flowers are blooming, the magnolias and roses make you happy and feel at peace to watch them as you walk by, the green of the trees, the jaw dropping beauty of the large 100 year old willow trees... Doesn't it just make you want to sing?

Anyway, I was going to class in a building surrounded by a lot of grassy areas and trees with pathways cut through-out for students to walk on which lead to the different buildings and I just love the way campus looks covered in snow!  Everything is so white, and the areas between the paths are practically untouched so it seems like you're walking on paved bridges over magnanimous gleaming, shining brilliant icy lakes.  It steals my breath away.  The trees are lined and trimmed in frostiness, and students run about laughing while hurling snow balls at one another merrily.

While walking today I came up two large round balls of snow.  I was so surprised and then I began to feel filled with joy because I could just imagine the university students who wandered about rolling snow to create these large balls.  Naturally they are on the grass area in front of the Engineering building, where the usual random things occur or can be found such as Frisbee or soccer games, half built cars, men attached to large mechanical and wooden devices, numerous amounts of people all wearing the same color and shouting. tents for outdoor events etc.  Well I suppose no winter could be complete without someone making large balls out of snow.  The first ball is rather large, it would probably take 3 strong guys to lift it, and the second ball is slightly smaller.  It looks like they were attempting a snow man, a large snow man, but couldn't lift the second ball onto the first and didn't bother to make the head..or it got destroyed thus lack of head.

Anyway I thought you'd like to see some pictures of the snow, and trees around campus during this glorious winter season as well as the infamous giant snow balls.

Enjoy!

I will definitely be getting more pictures from the campus grounds as soon as possible and i will post those as well- these ones were taken on my way to class so I apologize for the quality and such.  Please comment or e-mail me what you think - if you send me pics of winter around your area I'll blog about winter wonderlands again sometime soon.

XOXO
Cris

A Horse Is A Horse Of Course Of Course...

Completely random!!

I was downtown waiting for a bus to go to school  a few weeks ago and I saw two police officers (one male, and one female) on the side of the road just near the 1A king bus stop.  They were wearing fluorescent yellow jackets but there was something different, something odd about them.  What was it now??

Oh Yeah!!

They were on Horses! Like seriously sitting atop two very large brown horses! I was so surprised.  I knew about our city getting "mounted" police to patrol the parks and recreational trails and such but in the downtown city core? So Random!

Thought I'd share some pics with you, they're not the greatest because I was standing on the side walk with people around me, bus shelters and vehicles in my way and I was trying to be inconspicuous since I think its illegal to have pics of them- or maybe just illegal to touch the horses...hmm either way I didn't want a ticket for being a horse paparazzi.

Enjoy!

This was taken with me on the side walk some 30 feet away- I know they are far away, my cells phone camera only zooms so far. Many pardons.

this was taken when i was finally on the bus and we drove past them- I was seated on the lower part of the bus by the back door and had to be creepy and zoom in past this girls head to get a good pic

So there you have it folks, the special forces ride again in our town.. it's incredible what the government will spend money on these days.. Just a fun fact- did you know that these police cannot do anything but ride the horse around while on duty? Seriously, they aren't even allow to dismount and get a delinquent or involve themselves in horse to car chase if someone goes through a red light.  All they can do is call for backup.  So really.. it's all for show.  Wonder how much training these police officers had to get to just ride the horse? talk about a useless profession- can't even lasso a bad guy let alone use your gun.  So tragic

XOXO
C