Two nights ago I went to see 'The Notebook' with Tru and her sister. Not only was the entire audience composed of women, but by the end of the movie, you could hear sniffles coming from every corner of the room, Kleenex was being passed around and eyes were red. An entire theatre! Then we all took a look around and realized exactly how ridiculous we all were =) And it was so hard to keep from laughing at ourselves in between sniffles. A group of more than 20 random women, probably anywhere from age 13 to age 60, bonded together by our extreme emotional senstivity and the guilty pleasure of indulging in a good cry. Guys, don't even try to understand.

Um...so remember how I said I was really bad at remembering birthdays? Well, apparently it was Viv Hon's birthday on June 18. Craps...sorry dude! So here's your extremely belated "Happy Birthday!" 9 days after the fact.

Viv Hon is 22 now. It's a constant source of amazement to me that this girl is a year and a half older than I am. Are you sure? Cuz her face makes her look like she's 16 =) And the way she acts...13 would be a stretch =) The first time I met Viv was when she had just moved to Addy 4. That fateful night I went to brush my teeth and ran into this new girl who was running around in a dark blue bathrobe covered in ducks. So we struck up a conversation and before you know it, we were both on the phone home saying "I met this girl on my floor. And she's Chinese AND Christian!". In first year, just having moved away from home, this was a very big thing. And within a few short months she was flushing the toilet and throwing paper at me while I was in the shower. Then before you know it, second year came around and we took turns poisoning each other with our cooking every Thursday night. And then third year when we gave up on cooking and gave in to the most delicious sin of all...poutine. Happy Birthday Viv! If I'm fat...it's all because of you =)

zzz...The post-lunch itis has just set in and I'm just barely keeping awake for my meeting in 15 minutes...I need caffeine...Won't somebody PLEASE bring me caffeine!

The last few days of my life have been relatively dull, hence no blogging =)

At work I've been spending my days learning to program for SAS, a statistics program. I find this ironic because:

a) I'm not a stats person and actually skipped the entire last third of my Introductory Stats course
b) Though I've spent the majority of my life vowing never to become a programmer like both of my parents, here I am plugging away at the "If...then...end" statements.

Other than this I've been making up for lost time with the girls. Yay for all 4 of us being in the same city again! Even if it's only for 24 hours.

In other news, my friend Ah-Ling has a new blog. The lucky girl is in HK and Seoul while I plug away in a windowless room =) Go check it out =)

Busy, busy, busy...

The last two days have been really great. Trudy and Candice are back in town and (very selfishly) I couldn't be happier =) All this plus 4 days with Andrea! What more could a girl ask for?

My trip to Toronto was awesome, good friends, tons of food and shopping and I even managed to learn a thing or two from my conference! There's such a huge gap between basic science research and outcomes research. Important as basic science is, it's difficult to keep yourself motivated when the applications of your work are so far off in the future. Outcomes research is so much more practical, so much more applicable that I could actually see myself doing this type of research in the future. I came away from this conference with a newfound appreciation for my boss and the other members of my lab. Not only was Calgary the closest and the most spirited team there, I've really come to like and respect my boss. One of my favorite moments:

Fiona - "I'm Fiona Shrive and I'm Bill Ghali's student"
Me - "I'm Desiree Yow and I'm Bill Ghali's student"
Diane - "I'm Diane Galbraith and I'm Bill Ghali's research coordinator"
Kris - "I'm Kris Thompson and Bill Ghali was my student"
Bill - "um...I'm Bill Ghali"
Random researcher - "I'm John Doe...but I wish I was Bill Ghali"

Outside of my nerd time, I spent lots of time shopping Eaton Centre and Queen Street =) I made the mistake of going shopping with an ex-model and ballerina which was very hard on my self-esteem =)

Best of all, I got to spend lots of time with Andrea, Pris and the housemates =) Sam Mo! I saw you gallavanting around downtown on Monday night! But we were driving and there was no chance to say hi. Ah well, now that this trip is done, it's back to real life =)

I've been very bad with the blogging/emailing/icqing as of late. Sunday morning I flew out to Toronto for a research conference and just got back about 2 hours ago. There's lots to tell but it'll all have to wait until I get this layer of airplane grease off of me. More posting to come tmw!

The last week has been rough. I'm sorry to those who've had to put up with me in my more sullen moods. Yes, I'll admit, I have my fair share of moods and it's no secret when I do =) So if I'm sitting there not saying much, not making eye contact, don't take it personally =) It's just how I am.

There's been a lot to think through. School first of all, the acceptance letters have not been forthcoming and now I have to seriously consider what I'm going to do next year. But so many other decisions in my life hinged on that acceptance letter - where I was going to live, what I was going to take. Now I'm stuck with having to go out and find an apartment in September, move in, and do all that beginning of the year stuff. And I have to think about courses, not the courses that I WANT to take, but the courses that I HAVE to take in order to pull up my average, apply to other programs etc.

But I've always handled the practical stuff pretty well. It's the emotional burden that has come along in this last week that I can't handle. It's having to go home to yet another discussion about what I'm going to do to improve my chances. It's continuing to have faith when you would prefer to crawl into a hole. It's the thought of having to go through the entire admissions process, again. It's having a friend accuse you for telling the painful truth. It's this job that allows me too much time to sit here and think.

I saw Harry Potter on the wkend. I thought it was a lot choppier than the first two movies were. In the first two, I loved the depiction of their ordinary school life and friendships, whereas this third movie was heavily driven by plot and never slowed to show ordinary Hogwarts doings.

Other going-ons in my life:

I was actually hit by a car last Friday. My arm is a pretty shade of greenish-blue but other than that, no harm done.

Queen's has decided that it no longer loves me =( No acceptance letter for Dez =(

Oh the Flames...Calgary's holding a rally anyways to cheer them for playing so well. We were all pleasantly surprised that it lasted as long as it did but now it's back to real life =)

Yay!!

Harry Potter comes out today and it's the one movie that I'm absolutely determined to see this summer. I know a lot of Christian parents don't like the books, they think it's introducing kids to the occult, evil spirits, things that should not be taken lightly. But I maintain (and you're welcome to disagree with me) that these novels teach kids values such as loyalty, friendship, honesty, courage, and behaving according to your morals. You're welcome to disallow your kids from reading Harry Potter if you think it's going to comprimise them, but I'm buying my kids a box set.

Other things in my life: Went up to Edmonton yesterday to do some apartment hunting for my sister. Or for my sister and myself, depending on how things turn out. I've clocked quite a few travel hours in the last month. Returning from school, two trips to Edmonton, one down to the states, and in about a week I'll be heading back out to Toronto (yay!). Can't wait =)

WE'RE ONE GAME AWAY FROM THE CUP!!! AAAAAAAAH!!!

I love how I say this as if I've somehow played a role. Just the use of the term 'we' as opposed to 'the Flames' or 'Calgary'. Never one to miss an opportunity for self-glorification am I? =)

Paradise is...

Instant, MSG-laden kimchi noodles at 11:00 PM

mmm...makes me miss Viv Hon!

I am, as usual, killing off time at work. My office is fairly secluded, something which (depending on my mood), I either hate or love. On one hand it's great when you want to spend 2 hours redesigning your blog, or ICQ your way through the afternoon, or improve your freecell stats while hoping that no one walking by will be nosy enough to take a peek at your screen (yeah right =). On days like this however, blah days (there is really no other way to describe), I find myself wishing to be surrounded by chattery, gossipy co-workers, utterly distracted from all the other going-ons in my life.

I went climbing last night and discovered this morning that it now takes both arms to pour a glass of milk.

Before I leave for the day to check my mailbox (again and again and again), thought I'd take a sec to thank the lovely uber-supportive ppl out there (this feels like an over-produced awards show, I know, but it's MY blog and I'll gush if I want to).

Squishington, for bearing with my increasing nerviness over the last coupla days. Troidy Ko, for gushing with me via text-message. Ah-Ling, for sharing the burden. Pris, for calling and pulling me out of the shower and then suffering through the indignation of being incorrectly identified. All the wonderful ppl who are sure to ask for updates everytime I see them. You are all wonderful! Muah! Muah! And you'll continue to be long after I get my letters (or not!)