are you pondering what I'm pondering?

You know you've been in university too long when one of your profs looks at you on the first day of classes and says "you're still here?"

So far, this year is going really well but I am nervous. Econometrics makes me nervous. My Honours paper makes me nervous. Grad school applications make me nervous. But I CAN DO IT. I just need to focus.

The only school I'm applying to in Atlantic Canada is Dal, and that is my safety school. It's all quite exciting but the idea of moving again makes me want to throw up. And the thought of being away from Peter makes me sad. But we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. My program would only be a year or two anyway so it's not the end of the world.

Ugh, three girls just sat down at the table next to me in the silent area in the library and are talking and laughing very loudly. SHUT UPPPPP. Anyway.

I'm going to Montreal on Friday!!! I can't wait, I've never been there before and it's going to be super fun to go on a mini-vacation with Peter. I'm going to shop and sight-see and eat delicious food and enjoy myself. But first I need to finish the million assignments I have due before I leave. Yay!

Time to go be productive.

An update? I guess so.

What has happened? I came home for a couple of days, most of which was spent doing family-things. Peter was well-received by friends and family, which makes me happy although I had no doubt that they would like him.

Since then, I have been working full-time at the bank and doing two courses online. This is the third summer in a row that I've done this but holy crap, this summer is KILLING me. The courses are ridiculously demanding and everything is coming due at once. After this Wednesday I'll have a bit of space to breathe, which is good.

Work is... work. It's hard to believe I have been at the bank for four years but I am definitely sick of it. I can't wait to graduate so I can get the F out of there.

I need to take five more courses this fall and four in the winter and then I will graduate with two Honours degrees. Currently, my Economics average is 0.64% below where it needs to be to make this happen. This scares me because I know it's going to be an extremely demanding year, but I know I can do it. Then... grad school? A job with the Feds? Will I stay in Newfoundland? I have no idea. Not knowing what I'm going to be doing a year from now is a weird feeling. Up until now my life has been pretty planned out.

Now I have to go write a journal entry for my Women's Studies course and talk about how the articles I had to read made me feel. FML.

I finally learned the key to effective studying! It involves getting enough sleep, eating well, reducing my caffeine intake, managing my time and not trying to cram everything in at once.

It only took me four years of university to figure this out.

Since last week, I spent at least 6-8 hours in the library every day. I have definitely had my fill of the irony of girls with perfectly done hair and make-up wearing sweatpants, people talking on their cell phones in the silent area, and computer theft alarms going off in the Commons at random. My exams went really well (except for the first one, kind of... but we won't talk about that) and it feels pretty good to be done. However, I find it difficult to be too excited because my summer semester starts in three weeks and I'll be working full-time at the bank until September. I'm also a little bummed because a lot of my friends are graduating and I still have another year to go. However, next spring I will graduate with two Honours degrees and I'll feel all special and accomplished and stuff. So whatever. At least I have another year to put off deciding what I want to do next.

Now I'm going to go enjoy this sunny day before I have to go to work.

I am not very good at keeping this thing updated.

This semester has definitely been the most demanding of my university career. Between juggling an insane workload and work at RBC and Economics Society Executive stuff and a social life I seriously feel like I haven't had a lot of time to... to just do nothing. So that's what I'm doing right now. Well actually I'm avoiding finishing a term paper. But whatever.

I have had a wicked off-and-on headache for the past week and a half. It's weird because I almost never get headaches... it's right in the back of my head and Peter thinks it's probably a tension headache but, I don't know. It worries me. I'm trying to drink lots of water in case I'm dehydrated. I don't know.

Exams finish on the 21st, at which time I will be very happy. Then I have a whole summer of part-time school and working full-time at the bank to look forward to. Note the sarcasm. Fortunately I love my life here in St. John's. I have a wicked apartment in the perfect part of town with an awesome roommate. I have great friends and an amazing boyfriend who I'm so compatible with it's almost scary. Despite how much I like to complain, I love school and my job isn't so bad. Yay life.

I will be in Cape Breton from April 30 to May 4. Just a quick visit but I feel like that's all I can really tolerate anymore. Staying in my parents' house and relying on Mom's car to get anywhere sucks. Anyway, I'm bringing Peter home to meet the folks so that should be interesting. He's definitely in Dad's good books since they're both bankers, but it might take Mom a little bit longer to warm up to him. She admitted to me after the fact that she never liked Thom, which is kind of funny. Also, I briefly went through my dating history with my co-worker yesterday and she called me a 'serial monogamist.' Hilarious.

OK I think that's it. I frequently question whether my life is interesting enough to even have a blog. Oh, I got a Twitter account but I don't understand it so I gave up. The end.

So! New Years Eve I got all dressed up - I'm not normally one to boast, but I looked pretty fucking awesome. Alyce curled my hair and Maribeth did my make-up and I had a lil' black dress. We went to a party at Ryan Gainer's house and it was super-fun. Then we went to Bunkers and I was there for all of five minutes and became ill. Too much champagne plus a bumpy car-ride, I think. Buuuut I made it home that night, (I was worried that I wouldn't) so that was a bonus. Yesterday was the annual New Years Day brunch-potluck at Alyce's which was wicked. I made awesome banana pancakes.

Today is my last day in CB. I'm going to Halifax tomorrow morning and then flying to St. John's on Tuesday. I'm kind of itching to get back to NL but Hali should be fun times. Today I need to get all my shit together. Maybe I should go get a shower. Here's some 2008 surveys for your reading pleasure. ( there are a lot. )

I do not like what Cape Breton does to my skin. Ever since I got home, my face, hands and lips have been disgustingly dry. No matter how much moisturizer I use, I still feel gross. Other than that though, home is good. I've been working at the bank, which sucks, but I like money. Only three more days left of it, anyway.

Christmas at the Rankin household was nice and quiet. We did all our family-visiting on Christmas Eve, so Christmas Day it was just the three of us. I got a sweeeeet set of bed sheets that I am super stoked about. My mother also gave me a 'Newfoundland Stocking' (AKA, what she got in her stocking when she was a kid... note that she had 15 brothers and sisters and their family was super-poor). It consisted of grapes and hard candies wrapped in wax paper, shelled nuts, an apple and an orange. The funniest part was how hilarious Mom thought it was. Boxing Day was fun and incredibly, incredibly drunk. I love Bunkers. I apologize to anyone I might have crossed paths with that night, haha.

Really though, I've had my fill of CB. I'm looking forward to New Years, but I wish it was tomorrow night and not three days from now. I'm going to Halifax on the 3rd and then flying back to St. John's on the 6th. I really like my life there and am looking forward to going back. Plus I am interested to see if my 'work-crush' will continue to develop into not just a crush. Haha, I am so cool.

Time to go be lazy and read a book!

I am finally home, after a long-ass day of traveling. I'm excited for sleep.

Last night was most excellent. Apparently my "get drunk and kiss them" seduction technique is foolproof. I can't stop smiling.

My parents screwed up their wireless connection so I can't use my laptop here. I'm currently using their shitty PC and it's kind of infuriating. BUT I just looked at the calender that's on the wall in here and my dad has written on today's date "CHRISTINE COMES HOME :) YEAH" My heart just melted a little. My parents are cute.

I love being home. Excited for tomorrow? You bet I am.

Last night Dan, Maggie and I came back here after drinking and dancing to ska music at the Rock House. We smoked some pot at the kitchen table and decided to make nachos and eat pie. I put the pie on the bottom rack of the oven and the nachos on the top rack, which was about half an inch below the element.

A few minutes later, Maggie goes to check the nachos and says OH MY GOD THE OVEN IS ON FIRE. She opens the door and the nachos are actually FLAMING. Plus the extra oxygen made them flame even more. For about ten seconds, we didn't do anything... just stared at these flaming nachos in stoned disbelief. Then after a few seconds of the three of us panicking, I got the bright idea to turn on the tap in the sink and grab oven mits. Our kitchen was then filled with smoke and burnt-smell. The pie was still good though.

Now I'm going to go study for the exam I'm writing in four hours.

A short update from my new place of residence! :)

I probably couldn't have picked a worse day to move. It was POURING rain the entire frigging day and it was extremely windy. Fortunately I had a lot of help from my awesome friends, which made things run fairly smoothly. I went and cleaned out the old apartment today and gave back the keys, so I am officially no longer a resident of 65 Calver Avenue! My new room is almost twice the size as my old one... it looks so awesome! Once everything is 100% set up I'll post pictures.

Only twooo more days of classes! Well three, but I don't have classes on Tuesday. Now I just need to write this stupid paper and I'll be all set. Damn you, Adam Smith. Why does The Wealth of Nations have to be so long?

Today I bought a bar of soap that is shaped and smells like a lemon. Sometimes it is the smallest things in life that make me the happiest.

Bah. I hate moving. I packed up a bunch of stuff tonight but I still have so much to do! Anyone wanna do the rest?

It's not like I have anything else to do. I just need to write a huge paper, put together a presentation for said paper and study for five final exams. YEAH! The class the paper's for only has four other people in it, and when I asked them today how theirs were going, they were all like "oh, I'm pretty much done" or "oh, I have like 5098709380 pages written so far" which made me several times more stressed that I haven't started writing mine yet. Fuck my liiiiife.

I think I suffer from some sort of pre-endeavor anxiety. Like, once I finally bring myself to write that paper, I'll be able to pound it out in a day or so. And once I forced myself to start packing, it wasn't that bad. But the GETTING STARTED part, I find really hard. I am a crazy person.

I have the shittiest schedule ever next semester. I mean, I'm looking forward to most of my classes but the times are really crappy. I miss first-year classes that had a billion sections to choose from. Mondays I'm in class from 9am-9:30pm, but with many oddly-placed gaps in between. Wednesdays I finish at 4:45 and have to work at 5. How will I get to work on time? Magic, perhaps?

This entry has been brought to you by the letter Stress.