Things

I had three things to tell you. I was going to do so on Tuesday as they happened on Monday. But here I am and it's Friday. So... without further ado!

1) On Monday I went for a lovely bike ride. Although it was quite cold. But anyway I got back into my office, was just taking my helmet off, and then this big noise started on the roof... and it was rain! Pretty heavy rain at that! So I thought that was pretty clever of me! (For the record Claire told me that was the most boring of my three things, and to put it first).

2) The second thing was at about that very time I heard another loud noise. It was a vigorous buzzing... so I thought "oh no! a bee or fly is caught inside". I listened a bit closer and realised it was coming from inside my shirt! I looked down my shirt and there was a bee in my shirt!!! I quickly pulled the neck down and it flew out. But the puzzling thing to me is how and when that bee got there!

3) Also relating to the bee, once it had been liberated from my clothing the bee then proceeded to continually fly into the window, as they do, so I decided to catch it and put it outside. I grabbed my pen holder cup and caught it, then grabbed my notepad. The problem with the notepad is it was a bit thick for this job, but it was the first thing I had grabbed. Anyway while keeping the cup pressed firmly against the window (lest the bee escape) I was trying to pry the bee off the window into the cup. I must have been pressing too hard though, being too concerned about letting the bee out because I accidentally chopped the bee in half. I was totally devastated. And I still feel guilty about it :(

In other news I had dinner with Charmain, Mike, Rach and Greg last night. It was lovely. Charmain and Mike are here visiting from Italy so it was fantastic to catch up with them. Really nice evening.

Also tonight we have our hip hop dance recital. Hehe it's so funny. Our dance is about 1.5mins long HAHA! We have only been learning for a term so we got tacked on the back of another group (of 8 year olds or something, who are better than us!). Oh well it will be a bit of a laugh!!!!

Have a great weekend all!

:)
Mindy

SNOW!!!

Hey everyone

Guess what- it's snowing! Yes, I know I'm in Canada but snow in Vancouver apparently isn't that common. It is super awesome snow to. A lot more powdery than back home. Ooooo. I just got an email froma Quebecan. He said if it is still snowing this heavily at 3 this arvo we will make maple toffee. I think that is where they use the syrup to make this mixture which they then pour into the snow. Should be cool!

I got up early this morning to try and get photos before the snow got all mucked up but its still pretty messed up from last night. I went down to the beach, it looked really pretty.

So yeah, it is very cool going christmas decoration shopping (as I did yesterday) with it snowing outside. It is very unlikely there will be snow here on Christmas day but I will see snow right before as I'm going skiing at Whistler and then I'm going up a mountain where they do a whole north pole thing with sleigh rides and ice skating on a big lake. I have to get through exams first though!

Hope everyone is well in sunny nz.

(by the way, this is St. John's College- the residence where I live)

Busy and yet not busy

Well I feel like I've been really busy lately. But I haven't. So go figure. I have been busy at work though so that might have something to do with it.

Exciting things that have happened in the last few weeks. We took Jesse to QEII then to sumner for something to eat. Here's a picture of that:


So yeah that was really fun. I like hanging out with Jesse he's cool. And he's very polite. Which makes him all the more cool really.

Also I saw some ducks. They were at my doorstep. So I took some pictures of them. Hehe. Here they are making their way from my doorstep to the stream:






You can actually see them if you click to enlarge the image.

Other than that stuff I've been trying to do a bit of training for the next triathlon. My hip is still acting up which is annoying though. My new bike is fantastic! I ride it to work everyday and every second day I take it out on a ride at lunchtime.

And also I love Kirsty lots!

Sorry there wasn't much more substance to the update but hey.

:)
Mindy

Random Stuff about me

hello everyone
I havent got much news these days as all im doing is school work (E.g photography) and eating and sleeping. i have no where near the exciting news amy and mindy have about their umbrellas and earring holders.

i am currently trying to study for a media studies exam i have 2morro afternoon and a classics exam on tuesday. sadly i find studying for classics easier than for media so i am lagging behind in my media topics.

But i have some exciting news, school has finished for me! just have the external exams and that is it! it was very sad this week at the leavers assembly, everyone was crying. but we still have the lunch in a few weeks so that should be good!

hmm.. any other news i can say...um well someone lit our school on fire with fireworks. it was $30 000 worth of damage. they found out who it was because stupidly the guy taped himself doing it on his phone and sent it to his ex girlfriend who then went to the police. what a dumb bum!

that is all from me!

Sad News

Just over a week ago I bought a very very nice umbrella. It was the one pictured but in bright pink (yes, the boy's have winked but you have nothing to worry about thomas). It was from a shop that sold only umbrellas and I was told it was very very strong. Then last night this storm hit Vancouver bringing lots and lots of rain and as I was walking today this mammoth gust of wind came along and bent the frame. I think I will try and get it repaired as it is so nice but it is very sad.

Walking around campus is depressing today. It is like a cemetary for dead umbrellas. All the rubbish bins are full of them and there are bits of broken and abandoned umbrellas all over the pavement (note EVERYONE has an umbrella here, it is very rainy). At least mine is still fixable. I have that to be thankful for.

A moments silence for all those who werent as lucky as mine would perhaps be appropriate.

Earring Holder

Well I have been exceptionally bored in the evenings these days. This week especially. I think it is also because this week I have been very tired, thus don't have any energy to do anything really exciting in the evenings so end up staying home bored. Last night though I made something. And it was a very satisfying experience, I would highly recommend it and I will endeavour to make something some other time in my life too! Anyone got any ideas? Here it is:


In case you couldn't figure it out it's an earring holder. Now my earring are all neatly organised. Although it's depressing how many single earrings I have. But this won't be a problem anymore now I've got my holder.

In the spirit of making things I was in a shop at lunch when I saw this and just had to buy it:



Isn't it the best screw driver you ever saw! Anyway I always need a screw driver and end up using Darrens. He has so many tools though and I have hardly any so now I've got this. I'm thinking about slipping it into his tool box one day as a joke too.

:)
Mindy

Bike

My bike is here!

I just checked and see that I don't think I actually mentioned here yet that I bought a new bike. Well I bought a new bike! Well a second hand one off trademe, but I got a fantastic deal! It's a proper road bike and it's so cool! And really fast, well hopefully it'll be fast. Here's a picture:


I've ridden it to work twice now, and took it out at lunch time yesterday. I'm getting used to it, though my butt really hurts now. Will have to invest in some padded cycle pants soon!

Got the second triathlon on Sunday. Not sure how it'll go, I feel like I haven't done too much training recently for it, had to stop running for a week or so because of a sore hip. But I think it should be ok. This one is a 200m swim, 15km bike, and 4km run. I'm hoping it won't take me much more than an hour. But we'll see.

Have a great Friday everyone!

Mindy

Happy Halloween!

Hi everyone
Happy Halloween!
This is probably what I was most looking forward to about living in North America. We had a party at St. John's on Friday night. It was pretty cool. I dressed up as Maleficent (from Sleeping Beauty, although shame on you if you did not know that). I must say, I looked pretty cool. I think my face suits green. The costumes were pretty cool and it was a lot of fun.

I have just been on a candy run in case I get trick or treaters. Which is unlikely since I live in a student dorm. And I won't be in my room tonight (I am going to see Rocky Horror).

So, last midterm for a little while today. I will probably fail but at least I wrote something for each question! I am looking forward to maybe taking half a day off this weekend and going shopping for some warm clothes (Canada is freeeezzzzzzing!)

I hope everyone is well in NZ. Only 54 days till I will be home! I am looking forward to seeing everyone and giving a certain someone a great big hug :)

Love to all,
Amy