terug van weggeweest

Reading week is already over and we are on the homestretch. The next pitstop is the summer, and I am not quite ready for that one yet.
Spend a few days in Ottawa and a few days in Owen Sound this past week. And experienced almost every type of weather on the way back to Hamilton this past Sunday. I was wow-ed by the amount of snow there was back home, and had a super fantastic time in Ottawa. the last part just makes me anxious to finish school … and move. maybe? It was also the first time I tried skating in a while, on the Rideau Canal, and even if I was not very good, it was the ultimate Canadian experience for a Dutch(wo)man. + think beaver tails. Talking about Canadian – Dutch experiences: I thought this article was pretty cool:
across the pond
with the current exam schedule for this semester: it looks like I will be here until the bitter end; the 25th. a more detailed update to come later

week theme song: nowhere with you - joel plaskett (as a tribute to my sisters :-) )

looking from the outside in: or inside out?

at least north america could do two things right: milk & cereal (the real thing) and ice hockey. even though the latter never fails to drive me crazy on some front.

counting down to reading week and done midterms for a (short) while: in the meantime hoping for some creative energy to get this paper done ... ok go, here it goes again ;-)

learning to run up the stairs with a full glass of water without spilling. it is a learning process, and i apologize to the housemates for wet socks ... right now i am simply intrigued by the sounds of icecubes in a glass of water, while enjoying a lifehouse marathon, and wondering how i can become more productive, why google hates me, and how many calories i lose from running up and down the stairs when answering the phone ... so many thoughts, yet so few apply to this paper i should be working on. love it. for now.

song: chris daughtry - it's not over (i think the only reason he is good because he did not win american idol ... he is so much better off now)

necessity and sufficiency?

"Hij maakt zoet wat bitter is" (He makes sweet that which is bitter) - a.f. troost. alluding to the story of the isrealites in the desert who complained about their thirst, not asking (nor even thinking about asking) God for help. but the gracious God that He is, made the water at Mara sweet. so also He provides us, despite our complaints, with even more than we c(w)ould ask for: the living water [Exodus 15] how can we ever be thankful enough for such grace, or even the 'simplest' daily blessings?

by Thor! from a Photoblog

it was absolutely gorgeous outside today. i was also pretty restless - something that was easily attacked by vigoursly cleaning the kitchen this afternoon. then i 'rewarded' myself with a new episode of supernatural, and got some study time in. now i am pondering religious intolerance in europe and the ottoman empire and thinking of running for some strange reason. pretty sad situation for a friday night. no excuses.

"and where the answers won't come around i blame myself for being me again"
song: di-rect ft. wibi soejardi - blind for you (if only for the piano play)

not my kind of pie

==wishing for a snow day ... if only to gain some perspective, and focus==

what is a crusting sleeve? whatever happened to putting stuff in the mircowave and pressing start?

i ought not to be worried. i think i am not worried. but i am fooling myself thinking that. because in actuality i am. it makes me think of this disney computer game we got for free with some sort of cereal: it is with these lion king character timon and pumba? i am not sure what they are called (and i am too lazy to google it) but anyways, there is this point in the game where you have to get across the river by jumping logs, and the character goes "decisions, decisions ..." now i wish i could say that i can't really identify with disney characters, but i can. i can't decide. i mean, from buying shoes, to ordering dinner, to guessing on M/C tests, to what to do this summer, to what to do with my life. ugh. and then i'd like to think it would be nice to have all the answers ... but then i am sure that would not make me much happier either. and then it comes down to trust and faith, which is never easy. interestingly i am probably the 6 billionth person to think this today, and many more billionth in history. i guess sometimes it just helps to articulate stuff. interesting trend is that this thought only comes up after i want to kick myself ... after writing some sort of test or midterm. talk about confidence eh?

i was looking for a picture to break up all this text for a bit: and came across this pic that i "stole" -> it is from the war museum ... and speaks to me like this: "toughen up, G, toughen up"
in the meantime there are many little things that make life so good. like wearing a clean sweater washed with my new laundry soap. i am smelling gorgeous ... even if i am the only person thinking so. hey, there is something about vanilla that just soothes the soul: think here coffee with french vanilla cream as well. i am also feeling a little lost, as i signed up to clean the kictchen rather than the bathroom for this week ... interesting how that throws me off eh? in the meantime i will try not to worry about the playoff status of my favourite hockey team. i realize that i may have made some enemies in the house with my obsessive cheering and loud bashing of this "other team," but i just want the world (or small blog audience) to know that i feel privileged to cheer for the greatest team in the league and that no matter how big the suck/rock factor is in the season: i am still loving it! [wow] ... so mushy ... maybe i really did fall in love or am thinking slightly incoherent because of the amount of coffee i have consumed in a short span of time. [wow] i better stop rambling before i regret something ... thankfully there is always the edit function .. if only everything in life had an edit function. except for maybe not.

so indecisive!
(note: descision trees are not an option, and never the solution)

song: DJ Tiesto - Just Be AND Just Keep Dreaming

a world of difference

back at school again.
frouke, gertine and myself braved the bad weather to come down to hamilton, so i could go back to class tomorrow. now, in itself i would have rather stayed, but exams and assignments dictate otherwise. church was cancelled for the afternoon which signals the extent of the bad weather, and as expected for the first 50km we could see less than a meter in front of us, and the rest was just an endless array of whiteness. but of course, as we come south there is next to no snow, and i have relearned the definition of winter ... and we dont have it in hamilton. except for cold of course .. which now is where it should be: outside of our walls.

and ... this time a real good drumroll please ... the heat is back! a whopping 21C. which makes me very happy, after a humbling experience, i wont be taking heat for granted again. plus i got the battery for the computer fixed, so this week will be much better than last if only for warmth and limited computer problems. i am also very excited for my laundry soap. i realize i must sound pretty crazy like it, but it is vanilla and waterlily, and it smells soooo good!! little things in life.

too bad ottawa lost to toronto in a shootout this weekend though. which has been nicely rubbed into my face this weekend by my so-called friends. i did for a moment think it was not really fair to put the pressure on my favourite J-man to win the game, but then again it was just a game. and shootouts in my opinion are not really a game ... more like an expensive way to flip a coin. either way, congrats to those who care.

song: "Ik ben boer Harms en kom uut Drent' en ik hou van disco Ik weet het is nie te geleuven moar het is zo Als ik die disco heur dan tril ik op mien benen ..." - nothing beats these kind of songs

home sweet home

i am thinking that i might even know what he (sjakie) feels like, out there in the cold .....

what i thought was a white winter in hamilton, is pretty sad in comparison to the snow overload here in owen sound ... it is so beautiful! even if it means that with the expected snow i might not be able to drive back on sunday .... to be honest though i am not very excited to have to think of the realities of schoolwork and heating problems? I will have to pass on the family trip to harrison park because i have quite a bit of work to do, and i figure that way i can take my little brother to hockey practice tonight ... even if that means i have to miss out on HNiC. i think that that would be a good thing ... for my nails anyways.

happy birthday to oma!

song: racoon - love you more

how low can you go

currently 8C and the winnie the pooh meter has given up 6 degress ago. wow! i think i might choose Mills library over being home today ... the landlord is coming, but not until the weekend --- luckily i will be going home before then

9 pm update: i bet that if i cried right now my tears would come out frozen ... like hail i guess. but i think i figured out what is wrong with the heater, now if only we had the tools, read screwdrivers here, to fix it. and some knowledge of electricity and gas would be useful too ... but knowing my luck i would blow up the house before i even figured out what was really going on ... so maybe i will just keep to the books .. or owner's manual in this case.

bleeding hands

and it is almost february ... already. time is just flying by, which means that the semester will soon be over, or that due dates are creeping up, or that playoffs are coming soon ... which ever way i decide to look at it. but maybe i should count down the number of days till reading week, which has me all pumped up for a few days of ottawa!! it will be the third time in one year, but definitely worth it.

right now it is 14C in my room according to the winnie the pooh thermometer in my room .. now i am not sure how credible anything by winnie the pooh is, but either way it is pretty cold in here. i know the entire house is pretty cold, the heater is broken, the landlord does not seem to care much, but when i came home this aft and opened my door, there was this cloud? of cold coming out of it, i think i could make a claim for the coldest room in the house. in any case ... makes you stronger right?

anyways, tonight i will be going to some economics careers night, which will probably have a great impact on my perception of the field in terms of my future, and so i am pretty excited, or worried? plus there will be free pizza, which is always a bonus. but for the couple of hours before that i will get some studying done, read up on some hockey news, and look up the new episode of prison break. hey, in my defense it is a good alternative to 24h of csi miami.

where is google when you need it? or don't need it ... maybe it is a message to have me do something productive.

song: di-rect - good thing AND eric prydz vs. floyd - proper education

to be a child again

snow fights and snow angles on the front lawn: never too cool for that

and ... drumroll please ... the heat is back on!

song: katie melua - nine million bicycles

smart one

again, it is has been a while ...

but as per usual it has been pretty busy, although not busy enough to warrant me weriting three posts a day. i thought right now i could straigthen my hair and update my blog at the same time .. it is not really working though. but leaving my straightener on for an extended period of time does have the positive effect of heating up my room a little bit .. which at 16C with a shitty furnace is always welcome. despite the cold i am glad winter is back, and the snow just makes the whole world look better. although i may not have that same opinion after i actually wipe out on the sidewalk. it was pretty close today, when i was so smart as to wear sneakers to school. but the slipping and sliding on the way home did bring back fond memories of ottawa and the holidays .. so it was not all bad.

i really have a lot of reading to do, but you can only take so much theory and discussion of religious tolerance in the ottomon empire ... i think that will be the reading theme for this weekend. at least i have the hockey game to look forward to tomorrow, especially as my favourites will be back.

this past week has been pretty fun ... mostly leading up to the belated birthday/all star party for jax, sherry and cindy. as much as we try to keep secrets from each other, it is pretty hard, plus after a week of lying information does not match up very well anymore. but i think altogether it was pretty successful .. except for the west winning the game of course. interestingly people like bringing over a lot of alcohol ... only thing is we dont drink much, in the end we have a cupboard full of drinks ... i guess for a rainy day? or for a day like today when the furnace is failing to keep up warm and we need to look for other sources of heat.

better get back to studying for a couple of hours, and then EM! should be good.

song: racoon - love you more (especially like this version)

lonely no more

this is the respect we do(n't) show Chara .. hehe

"they're all coming back to me ...."

after a weekend of being pretty alone, everyone came trickling back in. cheers to Cindy for coming over and visiting on friday and cheers to Julie for coming back early on Saturday! For other noteworthy happenings, I sat through quite some time of watching tennis on fridaynight, and rather enjoyed it. and shopping on saturday morning ... and then Skate Canada on saturdaynight and hockey! It was all quite a waste of time ... but rather enjoyous. Today was a day of many firsts. Some acrobatic stunts and extensive car pushing was quite entertaining.

Anyways, I don't have too many good stories or happenings to report on ... so i will lay off on boring entries. just thought i put out an entry for the week.

UPDATE: on the car story, let me refer you to the all the details ... good times!

song: take that- patience

ode to snow

beautiful surprise this morning: no school! just when i was getting worried about getting far behind, i got an extra day to catch up on readings and more readings. also had the chance to do a bit of shopping, clean my room, do some planning and make for the first time red cabbage for dinner . also, i was able to do four push-ups today which is quite an accomplishment seeing that i have never been able to do even one before. also realized facebook is getting out of hand, where i had only signed to get pictures from a friend of mine, and now have been added left and right. i don't do anything with it though. but still, i am one of them now. right now a neighbour is doing some extensive construction it sounds like, and as such i will do some more essaying before i call it a night. just wanted to praise God for his perfect timing (as always).

song: set the fire to the third bar - snow patrol ft. martha wainwright (again).

in the groove

it took me a while but i am back to my 'normal' self ... (although i had a lot of excitement to recover from over the holidays). these are my indicators =D

• have been listening to the same song(s) for the last two days
  
• back to tracking hockey, while studying (and suprisingly it has been effective)
  
• i tried to deny it, but i really miss him
  
• back to one cup of coffee a day
  
• obsessive need to clean and keep up with laundry
  
• and reading without actually reading
  
• only takes me about half an hour a day to go through my favourites list to check all "important" websites and blogs
  
• oh .. and i bought more bran flakes after i thought i could live on corn bran squares; i am back to the old stuff (that's what i call loyalty)
  
• appreciating mcmaster for two-ply toiletpaper and foamy soap
  
• and most importantly writing useless blog entries
  
• mood: mellow
  

song: make this go on forever - snow patrol (and interestingly i do .. with the repeat button)

answers

today: i realized that the satisfaction of completing something (ie. getting some work done) > than that i gain from slacking (ie. watching TV/surfing the internet)

although i already knew this; the 'ephiphany' translates into renewed energy to work hard and as such i am very excited

tomorrow: hockey day in canada!

upside down

pedal to the ice - after 40 minutes
after a 2-0 lead by the boston bruins i was sure that all was lost on the eastern front. i figured that as soon as i felt a bit confident about a playoff position for ottawa i would be disappointed (again) ... but then someone lit a rocket called the ottawa senators. and 5 goals followed.

Team 1200 - 3 stars:
3. Tim Thomas
2. Mike Comrie (the new guy)
1. Dany Heatley
Hardest working senators : Chris Phillips
Honourable mention: Anton Volchenkov (for blocked shots)

All-Star Starting Roster is out - and no rory.

i finally made a decision on the courses i want to take. now that is all figured out, it is time to get all my textbooks in order .... and get crack-i-lackin. well slackin' has been the word of the year, but like the senators i got some fire under my study rocket.

cheers to reaching my goal for marks last semester (finally i have them all)!
cheers to a senators win over the bruins!
cheers to mom and dad's anniversary tomorrow!

double cheers to SNOW!!!!!!!!!

song: solarstone vs. sirocco - destination

what is it good for?

"Education: the inculcation of the incomprehensible into the indifferent by the incompetent. " - Keynes

new kid on the block

hennessy sure had his game face on this afternoon, scoring his first NHL goal. as such a shout out to him!

i have not updated much lately on hockey. probably a relief to some people, but here are some scores in the new year:
2-3 OTL against Atlanta Thrashers
6-3 W from Buffalo Sabres
2-3 L against New Jersey Devils (or Brodeur)
6-1 W from Philadephia Flyers

a good start? i am not sure. i hope it is good enough for a playoff spot.
oh and be on the lookout for my edition of 100 reasons why the sens are better than the lea(ve)s. note though that i have given myself a 4 month timeframe to complete this list ... and any help is always welcome!

anyways tomorrow i have early class so i wil make it an early night, for as much as that is still possible.

Monday - starting at 9.3o, where every line represents an hour:

ECON 2P03
HIS 2HH3
ECON 2GG3

ECON 3C03

oh and with regard to new kids on the block: a huge welcome to anna! you are adding to the cool (note here: top floor cool only). as for some other happenings: finally watched Mighty Ducks 3 on the weekend. and continued my search for the hat i want. i really am a woman on a mission as i have gone from store to store to store to toronto to ottawa to barrie to owen sound to hamilton. no luck so far, but i am hopeful.

song: new kids on the block -- new kids on the block. although i have never heard this song, or this band i figured it'd fit well with today's marginal theme. thanks for understanding.

reminiscing

although i never make new year's resolutions i have thought about it for some 4 days and i think i should try to spend my time a little (a lot) more productively. where productive means wiser. and wiser means a lot of things. in terms of academics, in terms of social circles, in terms of work ... but even more so in God's service. i want to be more faithful. more focused. less selfish and self-indulgent. with this comes to mind proverbs, and the hours i spend in catechism and memorizing verses. i remember specifically being frustrated with the idea, with the work i had to put into it, but with hindsight it has been more than useful. i don't only want this, i am also going to work towards this. so please hold me accountable.

"the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline" (1:7)

2007: meet the world

world: meet 2007.

back at school and ready to rumble. so excited, even if a few more days of holidays would have been nice. anyways, hopefully 2007 will be the year of acing classes, good grades, fun jobs, working hard, good moments, God's blessings, and many happy things ... among them a stanley cup for the senators?? hope so. let's just remember all things are possible.

song: snow patrol ft. martha wainwright - set the fire to the third bar

still excited

i think i am going to leave writing a full commentary on the weekend for when i am back at school, because dial-up internet is giving me significant grief and that way i can relive happy moments when i should be studying ...

but first off: happy birthday to sherry. happy birthday to cindy. happy birthday to dad, and happy birthday to 2006: you are almost one year old.

for now i will let some pictures do the talking.
skating at nathan phillips square. while some of us were skating, and some of us were watching, there were some interesting "sting"tunes with crews setting up for new year's eve. as this day was a day of many firsts i should mention that it was my first time in downtown toronto and on the subway.

skating was followed by some significant defrosting/warming up and dinner at the food court in the eaton centre. easily finished a 10 inch sub right there. and after that .... the highlight of all highlights: the leafs-sens game at the air canada centre:
the overtime win was more than my voice could handle, but very important as i am now assured that i am not bad luck. and maybe we can't beat toronto in fanpower, or level of obnoxiousness, or immaturity, but we can get them where it hurts the most: on the scoreboard. and i'll gadly take it.

i was led by my "cheesy" but very effective posters:

the final scoreboard as evidence for a hard fought victory. or excellent goaltending skills. i'll take either explanation. with very close seats to the ice i was rather disappointed spezza was not playing, but it's all about the game so nothing beats this night.

above: sherry and ken .... and embarassed leafs fan? ok, i will put down my weapons, take off the gloves and call a truce on this one ... but it should be duely noted it was all in good fun.

the night ended with some drinks at a downtown bar, as a tribute to our birthday girl. and yu and france. very many million thanks!

anyways, a slightly bitter ending was with a speeding ticket on sundaymorning. i am guilty, but at the same time they were pulling people over in half a dozens. luckily it was only very minor. only a few hours left until 2007. thus, i will leave with a HAPPY NEW YEAR wish and a promise for an updated entry when i get back to school and have some decent internet. but i don't want to go back to school. not yet. sigh ... i think mcmaster really does hate us. well, i might just be whining. which would make me like tucker. which is the leafs. which sucks. then i suck? that can't be. so i will stand tough and excited to see all the girls and to decorate the house. i mean there should be some use for my posters. somehow. somewhere. i mean i get 1/7 of the living room wall space .. dont i?