Final exams

I had the most bizarre dream last night that I was taking an English course about Harry Potter, and I was stressed out about doing well on the final exam because I only got 26/100 on a paper I had written for the course.

Iss-SHOES!

See what I did there?  Like a combination of "issues" and "shoes"?

...okay yeah, that was terrible.

Anywho, I was at Wal-Mart yesterday trying to find the shoes I needed for my costume for a group dance number (we all need to match for this one).  I wear a size 6.5 so I was looking for a pair of 6.5s or 7s, but all they had were one pair of 6s and one pair of 7.5s.  I decided to give the 6s a try, knowing the 7.5s would be too big.

I tried on the left shoe first and was surprised that it actually felt a little loose.  I had a look trying to find the size on the shoe itself, and it turned out it was a 6.5.  I checked the right shoe, and it was a 6.  Now, mismatched shoes happen, and it's not usually a huge shock, but when I took this pair out of the box they were still stuffed with cardboard and paper, and were attached to each other!  WTF, Wal-mart?

"Friday" by Rebecca Black, as interpreted by a bad lip reader

Hahahahahahaha,brilliant!  I hope these guys make more of these for other videos.

The downside is that I now have this stuck in my head...

Bizarre playlists

I was listening to one of the playlists on my iPhone when I realized the combination of songs was really weird. The first 5 in order are F**k You, Russian Roulette, Dammit, Africa, and Take it Like a Man.

Eeeeeeeeee cute!

Seems like the cat and the bird are starting to reach an understanding. Yesterday the bird said "hello" to the cat. Today the cat stuck his nose up against the cage and the bird gently touched it with his beak (rather than biting the cat like he usually does). I really have to start recording videos of their interactions - or at least trying. They both have some sort of camera-detecting powers and like to stop whatever it was they were doing as soon as I start recording. It took us 5 1/2 years to get a video of the cat chasing his tail, and he does it almost every day!

Kitteh!

I had a serious "d'awwwww" moment last night: the cat climbed on my lap and went to sleep while I was sitting in bed reading a book. It was kind of uncomfortable trying to sleep with him curled up right in my way, but he's normally NOT very cuddly (more like a little demon in feline form) so I didn't want to discourage his behaving like a sweet little normal cat.

Maybe the awkwardness of trying to sleep under/around the cat is to blame for my tiredness today. I suppose it also could have been due to staying up too late reading about pointe shoes (I recently bought "The Pointe Book" by Janice Barringer). Either way, I wish drinking coffee did something for me, because I'm so sleepy I'm having a hard time balancing while standing/walking.

Anyway, lots of homework to do. Better get back to it!

A few brain droppings

I have a couple pretty spectacular bruises from dance rehearsal last weekend.  They're kind of amazing.  I was doing a backwards roll over another girl's back and lost my balance on the landing, fell forwards and somehow (with my mad klutz skillz) hit my knees and my head.  My head's fine but my knees are all kinds of rainbow colours now.

I got a chiropractic adjustment done yesterday.  I haven't seen a chiropractor in years and I forgot how uncomfortable it can be - at least it's over quickly!  Not really feeling any better yet, but that's not really a surprise since it was only my first treatment.

The bird's been really chatty lately - he is so damn cute!  He's been making some new sounds.  I'm not sure if it's a natural IRN sound, something he picked up at the pet store, or something he learned from us.  His speech still isn't very clear, but he's working on "hello" and "what are you doing?"  He's trying a couple other phrases I haven't figured out yet - I think they MIGHT be "give me a kiss" and "good birdy".  He's also been tearing through his "bird kabob" toy like mad lately (it's a destructible toy made of rounds of balsa wood hanging from a sisal string).  He seems to love it.  His eyes pin like crazy while he's chewing on it.

I have a new song obsession: "Someone Like You" by Adele.  Also digging "Rolling in the Deep".  The album was definitely worth buying on iTunes.

In other awesome news, I saw this on Etsy yesterday, and the item description cracked me up so much - especially the "conversation piece" part.

Also kind of Etsy-related (that is, it's Regretsy-related) - I want this poster so badly (mildly NSFW due to language).  It never gets old.  I <3 April Winchell's hilariousness.

Ooh! Shiny things! (A crass commercial announcement)

Just an FYI for anyone who is a magpie at heart (like me), I just reopened my Etsy shop after a long hiatus.

It contains one-of-a-kind beaded jewelry handmade by moi. I'll be adding more to it gradually, whenever I have time to take more photos. I'd like to add some crocheted items and maybe some of my "artwork" (and I use the term very loosely here) as well, whenever time permits.

Crackity-crack for my back (boring health-related post alert!)

I managed to hurt my back about two weeks ago.  I'm not entirely sure how; I just woke up in the morning with it feeling incredibly stiff and sore, and it has been that way since despite my efforts to gently stretch it out.  With all the dance rehearsals and practicing at home I've got going on, I can't really afford to take it easy, so I went to see a chiropractor yesterday for the first time in 7 years or so (I didn't have a great experience with the last one I saw - nothing terrible happened, it just didn't help me).

This particular chiropractor only does an assessment during the first appointment, no treatments.  Part of the assessment included x-rays of my spine - not gonna lie, I am curious to see what my spine looks like.  Is that weird?  You see, apart from the usual dental x-rays, the only other x-rays I've had done were on my left hand when I fractured my thumb.  I had a physiotherapist a while back who told me I had scoliosis during one appointment, then tell me that it had gone away somehow at my next appointment.

Anyway, the chiropractor was at least able to tell me that I have some wonked-up things going on with my back, neck, elbows, and wrists.  Not exactly surprising, but it's good to know that I'm not just imagining things.  The GPs I've seen over the years have tended to dismiss any pain or stiffness I've gone to see them about, because I have better-than-average range of motion pretty much everywhere, even when my range of motion is reduced due to injury.

I get to find out results of all those tests and the recommended treatment next Tuesday.  I'm hoping he recommends massage therapy - I'm kind of a wuss, and would much rather get a massage than have someone doing scary adjustments on my back.

Um, that was really boring, sorry. Well, at least no one's got a gun to your head forcing you to read it (I hope).  To make up for it, here's a picture of a sign that makes me laugh for no good reason:

Please never stop being awesome, Fire Stairs Dude.

Pointless Dreams

It used to be that I rarely had vivid dreams, but for some unknown reason that changed over the past summer. Now I can't help but feel that boring, mundane dreams are such a waste, when dreams have the potential to be wildly fantastic, colorful brain vomit. This feeling may be due in part to my tendency to have remarkably vivid dreams about remarkably dull tasks. I once dreamt so clearly about pouring out some expired milk that I was surprised when I found it still in my fridge the next day.

My nightmares don't tend to be much more interesting: they usually revolve around being late for class or missing an assignment deadline.

Perhaps I am too focused on the minutiae of everyday life, to the detriment of my dream self. Why waste a vivid dream on taking out the garbage, when I could be singlehandedly fighting off a zombie apocalypse; why dream about grocery shopping when I could be some sort of super-magical dragon flying around eating rainbows and crapping out Skittles? Call me crazy, but since I'm a bit of an insomniac, when I finally manage to get to sleep I want to be free of my mental checklist of chores to do the following day. I want to experience the bizarre flights of imagination that can occur when the limitations of reality are forgotten and replaced by the nonsensical logic of dreams; I don't want to imagine myself describing my new travel mug to my mother.

Get with the program, brain. Sheesh.

The best cat toys

I brought home two new toys for the cat yesterday: a furry plush mouse that moves when you pull its tail, and a stick with feathers that spins when you wind the base.  The cat's favourite?  A package of hairpins I bought for myself.  I would like to say I'm surprised by this, but it's just not true.

Weird Crap I Have in My Purse: Volume 1

1.  A spoon
2.  Mighty Grip
3.  Half of a sunflower seed (I break them in half to feed to the bird, but how it got in my purse I don't know)
4.  A 15-cm (6-inch) ruler
5.  A LastLine bookmark
6.  Three small notepads
7.  A polished rock

Extra special bonus!!!  Weird Crap I Have in My Backpack:
1.  Elbow brace
2.  Foam stress ball - yellow with a happy face
3.  Fabric sports tape
4.  Dynamint muscle balm

Further typing issues

The title of the previous post should have read "brain-to-finger translation", not "finger-to-brain translation".  I'm trying to type what I'm thinking, not trying to think by poking my finger around inside my skull.  I think that would be counterproductive.

My Epic Saga of Dish-Breaking (which has been going on for the last 5 years or so) continued today, as I managed to break a glass by touching it with a dishcloth.  I broke one a few days ago as well, by accidentally (and very gently) bumping it against the side of the cupboard when I was putting it away.

See, this is why I can't have nice things.

Lost in finger-to-brain translation

So, I went to type "blogger" into the address bar and accidentally typed "blerg" instead.

Just thought I'd share.

Time to bloggity-blog things up - TO THE MAX

I've never done the blog thing before but I figured it's about time I jumped on the bandwagon and joined...uh, last decade.  Hopefully I will have something interesting to say but, if not, at least nobody's forcing you to read as some sort of bizarre torture (OR ARE THEY!?!!?  DUN DUN DUUUNNNNN...).  It occurs to me now that perhaps I should have had some sort of idea of what I wanted to write about before I started.  Guess I'll figure it out as I go.

Sooo, Oscars on Sunday.  Will you be watching?  I probably won't be, in part because it bores me out of my skull.  I don't really care who wins what; instead I care about who wears what, and I can look that up online after the show.

Since I'm tired enough that I'm nodding off while typing, I think I'd better call it a night for now.  Tomorrow brings buttloads of homework and several hours of dance rehearsal, so a good night's sleep is in order.