I feel like I just crawled out of the toilet, so have another survey thing.
This is a pathetic attempt at cheering myself up, but I know it’s not going to work.
Optimism!
JANUARY 2016
Where did you go on new year’s?
Nate and I were at my dad’s place, hanging out with my mom (my dad was out cruising).
Did you have a New Year’s Resolution this year?
Always do!
Does it snow where you live?
Yes indeed.
Do you like hot chocolate?
Nope.
Have you ever been to Times Square to watch the ball drop?
No, but I’d like to go, even though it would probably give me like 10,000 panic attacks.
Is January anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
My dad’s birthday is the 7th.
FEBRUARY 2016
Were you single?
Nope!
Who was your Valentine?
My wonderful husband (who I guess wasn’t my husband yet by that point).
When you were little did you buy Valentine’s for the whole class?
Ha, I did. We were required to.
Do you care if the groundhog sees its shadow or not?
Groundhog’s day is my b-day, yo, so I care by default.
What did you receive for Valentine’s day?
Love. :D
What did you give for Valentine’s Day?
More love!
Is February anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
My birthday is on the 2nd.
MARCH 2016
Are you Irish?
Nope.
Do you like corned beef and cabbage?
I’ve never had it, but the name sounds disgusting.
What did you do for St Patrick’s Day?
Nothing special.
Are you happy when winter is pretty much over?
Yes, especially up here. Walking gets a LOT easier!
Is March anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
Aaron’s birthday is St. Patrick’s Day; my grandpa’s was the 20th.
APRIL 2016
Do you like the rain?
God no.
Did you play an April fool’s joke on anyone this year?
April Fool’s Day can go suck heavy metal balls.
Do you get tons of candy for Easter?
I used to as a kid, but not now.
Do you celebrate 4/20?
Nope.
Do you love the month of April?
Bah.
Is April anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
Nope.
MAY 2016
What is your favorite flower?
I don’t know if I have one. Half the appeal of flowers is lost on me.
Finish the phrase “April showers…”
“Have no business existing and should just leave.”
Do you celebrate May 16th: National Piercing Day?
I did not know that was a thing.
Is May anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
My mom’s birthday is the 15th!
JUNE 2016
What year did/will you graduate from high school?
2006. I’m an old fart.
Did you do anything fun during this month?
I spent a week walking 20+ miles every day, does that count?
Have a favorite baseball team?
The Mets!
Is June anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
Nope.
JULY 2016
What did you do on the 4th of July?
Nothing. I don’t think.
Did you go to the fireworks?
I’m in Canada.
Did you blast the A/C all day?
It’s a decently cold summer compared to last year.
Is July anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
July 31st is our wedding anniversary!
AUGUST 2016
Did you have a sunburn?
I don’t think so.
Did you go to the pool a lot?
No pools for me.
Did you go out of town?
Yup!
Is August anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
Meh.
SEPTEMBER 2016
Are you attending college/school?
Nope.
Do you like fall better than summer?
Summer’s the best.
What happened this month?
I started teaching at U of C for the first time!
Is September anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
Matt’s birthday is the 3rd.
OCTOBER 2016
Whats your favorite candy?
Peanut M&Ms.
What was your favorite thing(s) about this month?
I don’t think I had one.
What are you planning to be for Halloween?
I didn’t dress up this year.
Are you going to be trick or treating?
Nope.
Is October anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
Nope.
NOVEMBER 2016
Whose house do you go to for Thanksgiving?
I’m in Canada now, so Thanksgiving is in October. THIS QUESTION IS INVALID
What are you going thankful for this year?
The fact that my grammar is better than the above sentence.
Do you love stuffing?
Never had it, have no desire to try it.
Anything exciting happen this month?
Nah.
Is November anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
Nah.
DECEMBER 2016
Do you celebrate Christmas?
Indeed.
Get anything special this year?
I always get good presents.
What do you want this year?
Happiness.
What do you love most about December?
The Christmas lights, actually. They make me happy.
Is December anything special to you? (Birthdays, Anniversaries, Vacations, etc.)
Nope.
I Need To Distract Myself
I’m mad at myself for about 34,945 different reasons, so let’s talk about the future.
The beginning of 2020, more specifically. That’s when I’ll be done with my Decade of Music project and will have approximately 3,650 new songs since the beginning of 2010.
That’s a lot of music, and of course it must be sorted/ranked/raved about in various ways. So here’s what I’m thinking I’ll do once the project is over.
- A list containing the top song of each decade.
- A list containing my top 10 songs overall (regardless of decade)
- A list containing my top 10 “most beautiful” songs (regardless of decade)
- A list containing my top 10 music videos (this will require me to watch every single song’s music video…a daunting task, but so is this entire project)
- Maybe a top 10 list for each major genre?
- A list of my top 5 songs for the entire 10 years, with explanations. It’d be hard to find the top 5, but I think it would make me really think about which songs were my absolute favorites.
- And, of course, stats on genres, stars, song lengths, etc., both overall and for each decade. Because that’s what I do.
Is there anything else you guys would like to see from this project? The end is NEAR* and I’m getting excited.
*The end is actually not that near. But it’s 2017 now and this thing is set to end in 2019, so it’s actually not that far off.
UGHLSKDFJALFEAPFEFKNVKFJADF
That is all.
High Resolution 2K16
So 2016 was an eventful year. BUT WAS IT EVENTFUL ENOUGH?? ? ? ?? ? ?
Let’s find out.
2016 resolutions:
- ACCOMPLISHED: Get the thesis done and defended. This went a lot smoother than the 2011 version did.
- ACCOMPLISHED: Blogs: do them daily. Nailed it.
- ACCOMPLISHED: Musics: do them daily. Nailed it.
- FAILED: Win NaNoWriMo 2016. Ha. I’m garbage.
- SORT OF FAILED: Complete and format all my blog archives, in honor of this being my 10th year of blogging. Well, I managed to get all 10 years copied down into Word documents, but the formatting still hasn’t happened. But if Eigenblogger goes up in smoke for some reason, I’ve got backups of everything now.
- ACCOMPLISHED: Walk 2,000 miles. I actually did way more than this. I’ll talk about that on the 1st.
- ACCOMPLISHED: Win another TA award. I actually can’t remember if I won a regular TA award this year (I don’t think I did), but I did win the award for being one of the best TAs in the whole Faculty of Science, so that totally counts, right?
- ACCOMPLISHED: Draw more. This is kind of subjective since I didn’t really specify what “more” was, but I do believe that I’ve done more drawing this year than I did in 2015.
- FAILED: Improve my sign language. Maybe…be able to sign 200 phrases by the end of the year? Hahaha. Nope. But I do remember the few signs I taught myself at the beginning of the year.
- FAILED: Keep writing. Work on Prime, mainly. And maybe a short story or two. And maybe Arborhood. NOPE. My writing’s so crappy that I don’t feel like there’s much of a point anymore.
- ACCOMPLISHED: Get married! YAY!
2017 resolutions:
- The blogs.
- The musics.
- Walk either 4,000 miles (if I’m teaching all year) or 3,000 miles (if I’m not).
- See if I can muscle my way into a more permanent lecturer position at U of C. This is something that’s mostly out of control, but hey, I can try.
- Win NaNoWriMo 2017. For serious this time. It’s been too long.
- Write more in general. Vague resolution is vague, but I guess I could narrow it down to either editing Prime or Arborhood.
- The blog archives. Get ‘em done.
- Along the same line as the previous resolution: figure out some sort of way to get my archives printed and bound. I’d love to have a hard copy of each year, sort of like an Encyclopedia of Eigenblogger thing.
- Be a better wife for Nate. He’s the best husband I could ever ask for and I’m still getting used to this “wife” thing, so I definitely think there’s a lot of room for improvement as far as being as good to him as he is to me.
- STOP BEING GARBAGE.
That’s all that I can think of for now.
Cap’n ButtBlog Blogs a New Butt
Well today was sufficiently awful because I’m a bag of garbage. So have that end of the year survey thing I always do.
What did you do in 2016 that you’d never done before?
Got married!
Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
There will soon be a blog post regarding this!
Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not anyone super close, no.
Did anyone close to you die?
No.
What countries did you visit?
Just the States.
What would you like to have in 2017 that you lacked in 2016?
Job security.
What date from 2016 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
July 31st. Wedding day!
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Finishing that damn degree.
What was your biggest failure?
Being me.
Did you suffer illness or injury?
NOT YET
What was the best thing you bought?
I’d say my smartphone, but I didn’t technically buy it. So…Clefairy plushie!!!
Where did most of your money go
School, rent/condo fees, groceries.
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Getting married AND teaching! It’s a tie.
What song will always remind you of 2015?
Lone Digger by Caravan Palace.
What do you wish you’d done less of?
Panicked.
Edit: Actually, I take that back. I panicked just the right amount. Panic is good for the soul.
How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas was yesterday. I walked a whole bunch and went running at Anytime Fitness ‘cause Nate and I had our “Christmas” on Christmas Eve.
Did you fall in love in 2016?
Nope, but I stayed in love with the most wonderful man ever!
How many one-night stands?
I reiterate from last year’s answer: Over NINE THOUSAND!!!!
What was your favourite TV program?
I don’t know if I have a favorite new TV show, so I’ll go with the old standby of Metalocalypse.
Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope.
What was the best book you read?
Of the books I’ve been re-reading on my book list, my favorite from this year was The Chosen.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
That will be revealed on the 31st!
What was your favourite film of this year?
I really enjoyed Captain America: Civil War.
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 28. I advise you to go back to my blog for my birthday to see what I did that day, ‘cause just thinking about it makes me mad.
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably satisfying?
Getting married to the love of my life.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2016?
“Nonexistent.”
What kept you sane?
PFFFT.
Which celebrity/public figure(s) did you fancy the most?
Leibniz. Always and forever.
Who did you miss?
My mom, my dad, and Annabelle.
Who was the best new person you met?
I don’t think I met anyone new this year.
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2016:
ALSkdfjalkfhkvjgahfkjgfgbn.
Have Another Garbage Blog Post
Courtesy of your local garbage human being.
Yeah, this is all you get.
I don’t even caaaaaaaaaaaare anymore.
BUSLFHL
I am So. Goddamn. Sad. I hate the end of the year/beginning of the year. It always makes me very depressed no matter what the circumstances.
On the plus side, though, look at this manlicious thing I get to stare at above my computer desk now.
I’m Trying
Hey peeps.
So I had this incredibly long, incredibly personal blog post written out for today, but as I was going through all my blogs and actually publishing them, I felt like I wasn’t quite ready to make public everything that I’d talked about in this post.
I took the post and moved it to its own Word document with the goal of saving it for whenever I’m finally ready to talk about the stuff it contains.
I thought I was ready, but I’m not. I’m sorry.
I’ll try to convince myself to post it at some point, though, because despite the fact that its contents are incredibly embarrassing and shameful, I feel like it’s important to make it public so that people know about it.
Just not yet.
I’m sorry.
ZOMGGGGG20
How was it that I’d never found this website until just now?
I’m going to read everything on it.
Everything.
I’m still hunting for the perfect headphones for me, if there is such a thing.
We Wish You a Merry YouTube
It’s not Christmas without some Pentatonix.
Edit: Woah, nice:
That lady in the white sweater? Yikes, what an awesome voice!
Choke
So the local Calgary news crew had a little artichoke dip mishap a few days ago and now the video’s gone viral:
Oh, Canada.
Milo’s Cat Sanctuary
Reading about all the amazing cats at this cat sanctuary makes me simultaneously sad (to see how much many of them have suffered) and happy (to see how much they’re cared for and how much people are trying to get them adopted out or sponsored).
I know this blog post probably won’t actually get posted until after Christmas (and maybe after my birthday, haha), but if anyone would like to make a donation to the sanctuary as a gift to me, I’d appreciate it.
QUAGGA (this has nothing to do with the blog content)
Woah, what an aesthetically pleasing advertisement.
Sorry, I’ve got nothing for today but this. It’s pretty, though, huh?
Another Quality Blog Post from the Dumpster Fire that is Eigenblogger
I took approximately 0% of this survey seriously. Fair warning.
1. Last movie you saw in a theater?
I have no freaking idea. I can hardly remember what I did yesterday, let alone whenever I was last in a theatre.
2. What book are you reading?
Book Reading for Dummies.
3. Favorite board game?
Scrabble.
4. Favorite magazine?
I don’t have one. I gotta get through Book Reading for Dummies before I can tackle Magazine Reading for Dummies. Who do you think I am, Einstein?
5. Favorite smells?
DREAMS BEING CRUSHED AND GROUND INTO GOURMET PEPPER
(zomg “Pepper-Ground Dreams” would be the best heavy metal band name)
6. Favorite sounds?
DREAMS BEING CRUSHED AND GROUND INTO GOURMET PEPPER
7. Worst feeling in the world?
Feelings.
8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
“MA-CHO, MA-CHO MAAAAAAN! I WANNA BE A MACHO MAAAAN!”
9. Favorite fast food place?
Chain: McDonald’s.
“Local”: Cougar Country.
10. Future child’s name?
BotTot 3001.
11. Finish this statement. “If I had lot of money I’d….?
Be rich. OHOHOHOHOHOHO
12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Nope.
13. Storms – cool or scary?
Storms are awesome, yo.
14. Favorite drink?
Water. ‘Cause I’m hard-core like that.
15. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?
The stems are disgusting. Florets or GTFO.
16. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
The missing shade of blue.
17. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in?
Do I gotta?
18. Favorite sports to watch?
Baseball. That’s pretty much it.
19. What’s under your bed?
The floor. And sometimes cat toys.
20. Would you like to be born as yourself again?
No. I am a chronic disappointment.
21. Morning person, or night owl?
Mornings suck. Nite owls 4 lyfe!
22. Over easy, or sunny side up?
Are we still talking about mornings?
23. Favorite place to relax?
Relaxing is a foreign concept to me.
24. Favorite pie?
Transcendental.
25. Favorite ice cream flavor?
Oreo!
26. Of all the people who play, how many of the posts do you usually read?
Play what? OH GOD IS THIS A GAME? CAN I STILL WIN??
RRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOAAAAR I’M FREE NOW
Hahaha, so I was showing Nate some of Picnicface’s YouTube videos because he hadn’t ever seen such gems as All About Halifax and NFL Crunchtime and one came up on the playlist that I hadn’t seen before: Super Bingo.
So enjoy.
A SURVEY HAS BEEN ANSWERED!
USING ONLY ONE WORD PER ANSWER!
1. Where is your cell phone? Desk
3. Your dad? Moscow?
4. Your other half? Couch
5. Your favorite food? Broccoli!
6. Your dream last night? Tunnels
7. Your favorite drink? Water
8. Fear? Failure
9. Your home away from home? Moscow
10. Where were you last night? Bed?
11. Something that you aren’t? Relaxed
12. Muffins? Poppyseed (that’s one word, shut up, Microsoft)
13. Wish list item? Principia
14. Where you grew up? Moscow
15. Last thing you did? Cleaned
16. What are you wearing now? Jammies
17. Your TV? Off
18. Your pets? Wonderful
19. Friends? Few
20. Your life? Aerdsfkvhgdkg
21. Missing someone? Yes
22. Car? None
23. Something you’re not wearing? Hat
24. Favorite movie w/one word title? Sunshine!
25. Your favorite color? Orange
26. When is the last time you laughed? Today
28. Last time you cried? Yesterday
30. One place that I go to over and over? Campus
31. One person who messages me regularly? Mom
32. My favorite place to eat? Home
The Calg
I really do love it up here.
I just had like 30 Jolly Ranchers and OH MY GOD AM I HYPER so here we go
I freaking love Jolly Ranchers, bro. But only the green apple ones. The rest can go suck it. Especially the grape ones.
(Grape-flavored candy in general is terrible.)
Jolly Ranchers remind me of my dad’s old condo. Back in 7th grade I’d walk there after school, go upstairs to the computer, and eat Jolly Ranchers while I acted like 2001’s Biggest Troll in the Yahoo! chatrooms.
Fun times.
Why are they called “Jolly Ranchers” anyway?
TO THE WIKI-MOBILE!
“Bill Harmsen founded the Jolly Rancher Company in 1949 with the goal of having a name that seemed friendly and welcoming to customers.
Makes sense. I guess “Angry Cattleman” wouldn’t sound as appealing.
“Jolly ranchers are amorphous solids, meaning their molecular arrangements have no specific pattern. They are hard, brittle, rigid, transparent and have low molecular mobility.”
Your MOM has low molecular mobility.
Also, I HAVE AN AMORPHOUS SOLID IN MY MOUTH
“Jolly Ranchers are manufactured by creating a solution of corn syrup, sucrose, glucose, or fructose syrup that is boiled to a temperature of 160 °C and cooled to create a supersaturated mixture that is roughly 2.5 percent water. As the mixture is cooled, natural and artificial flavoring, artificial colors (red 40, blue 1, yellow 5, yellow 6.specific) is added to individual batches of syrup solution which is later mixed with malic acid to improve shelf life and add further flavor. Once the mixture begins to cool it is then extruded into long malleable strings that are cut to size and individually wrapped and packaged”
Recipe translation: sugar, other sugar, that sugar, this sugar, Sugar Ray, more sugar. Add heat. Add rainbow poison. Poop ‘em out, wrap ‘em up, sell.
GENIUS!
…and now I don’t remember what I was originally going to blog about.
WE’RE IN THE POSITIVE FAHRENHEITS
TIME TO WALK OUTSIDE ASLF;AJDSFLKAJSFLKAH
Edit: Yeah, it feels really good to be able to go outside and not feel like you’re going to die within 10 minutes. Also, I reached and surpassed this year’s walking mileage goal of 3,500! There’s (practically) no way I’m going to hit 4,000, but I’ll see how far I can go before the end of the year. Assuming this cold lets up.
Yay!
sdf\
Proof that I have matured 0% over the past few years: this is still hysterical.
Sorry, that’s all I’ve got today.
End o’ teaching
Teaching is over for the semester.
I am sad.
But I’d be a lot sadder if I didn’t have anything to teach next semester.
I really, really hope that I’ll continue to be needed as a lecturer. Hell, I don’t need any major job security at this point. If it has to be semester-to-semester for a while, I’ll take it.
I just…I want to keep doing this. This is what I’m meant to do with my time on this earth, I’m sure of it.
Weather, u ok?
YEAH THIS LOOKS ENJOYABLE
And yes, that’s Fahrenheit, not Celsius.
Okay, weather, I get it. You want to be cold. But you’ve consistently been in the -20s with wind chill for the past week. A bit of warmth would be great.
And by “warmth” I mean “temperatures that don’t cause frostbite within 10 minutes.”
Want to know what -27°F feels like? No. No you don’t.
So Calgary’s in a deep freeze but I still have about 75 more miles to walk to hit 3,500 for the year.
GONNA DO IT, FROSTBITE OR NOT!
Also, what in the hell year was my coat manufactured?
It also talks about using soap flakes to wash it.
Edit: apparently it was likely made around the late 1950s to early 1960s. If so, it is in super good condition for being that old.
Cat Collector
Okay, so I know I’m behind the times in this (most likely) because that’s just how I roll, but I just downloaded the cutest app: Neko Atsume!
You get a yard and some cat food and can use the food to entice cats to hang out in your yard. The cats show their gratitude by bringing you fish, which you can then use to buy all sorts of goodies to fill the yard and keep the cats coming.
There are a bunch of “regular” cats and then there are some rare ones that appear every once and awhile if you’ve got the right items in your yard.
Seriously. Is this cute or what?
You get a little album for each cat and if they enjoy your yard, you get a little memento from them.
Eigenblogger 