[SccHarpGirl]

Yeah, wouldn't it be though? I'm getting more and more excited about the possibility. And no GREs! It actually seems like the Post Graduate Diploma is designed to be a weed-out type of program: They don't make it too terribly hard to get in but once you're in, you better hope you're up to snuff. Of course I'm not sure, the advisor could see my transcript and tell me that my grades aren't strong enough...but I hope not! Their term structure is weird too because of the way the seasons work...haha.

One minor bit of school grousing. In spite of the epic laptop disaster I still ended up doing almost all the work on the Operations Analysis case. The other two MBA students were MIA all day yesterday - one just did a process flow chart and some calculations that ended up being wrong (and I had to redo them) the other did nothing at all. Mike and I did the first part together but he has a midterm tomorrow so hasn't been able to do anything for the last couple of days. I feel kind of like I"m the only one responsible enough to get things done...and the only one on top enough with my other work to be able to sacrifice THREE FREAKIN DAYS to doing a group project designed for four people to split up...and I"m the only one with a real legitimate excuse for NOT doing a lot of work on this particular assignment. Sigh.

[SccHarpGirl]

Hey guys - quick note. My grandmother passed away this afternoon. It wasn't entirely unexpected, and it's definitely bittersweet (She had had Alzheimer's for the last 15 years at least), however my grandpa is taking it pretty hard. Tomorrow would have been their 64th wedding anniversary. If you could keep my family in your prayers I would greatly appreciate it.

I'm flying home Thursday morning and coming back on a red-eye Sunday night so I can be there for the funeral (which I think will either be Saturday or Sunday) and only miss two classes.

I guess it's for the best to pack all the bad stuff into one week...get it all over with at once, eh? But this week has been one for the record books.

[Rainer.]

Hey guys - quick note. My grandmother passed away this afternoon. It wasn't entirely unexpected, and it's definitely bittersweet (She had had Alzheimer's for the last 15 years at least), however my grandpa is taking it pretty hard. Tomorrow would have been their 64th wedding anniversary. If you could keep my family in your prayers I would greatly appreciate it.

I know I've read about the situation with your grandmother before. I'm praying.

[SccHarpGirl]

Thanks Jon

I'm actually feeling guilty at the fact that I'm kinda excited to get a separate trip back to the 'Quah before Christmas time, and that I'll get to see my cousin from Georgia who I haven't seen in 3 yrs (and she's my fav. cousin). Not to mention I'll be able to pick up all the stuff I forgot at home when I packed in such a hurry in August.

Church tonight and then I'm going to go see Across the Universe with some friends. Should be fun!

[SccHarpGirl]

Across the universe was a good movie. It wasn't a great movie but I didn't think it was terrible.

The good:
*Some of the musical numbers were amazing and the interpretations just beautiful. I would have paid $7.00 just to see these.
*Overall I really enjoyed the voices of all the leads and felt they did a good job musically with what they were given to work with.
*In the first half and then again nearer the end I found the dialogue really quirky and charming.
*good on screen chemistry with the actors.
*They did a great job with the mood of the 60s and bringing in lots of cultural icons/symbols.

The bad:
*Some parts felt like a "greatest hits of the Beatles" - some characters and plot settings were clearly contrived just to be a vehicile for the song.
*With a couple standouts, I felt the arrangements of the songs could have used a bit more creativity. The film would have been better if it had fewer songs (how many were there? 33??) and better arrangements of the songs they used.
*the middle section felt like it was trying way too hard to be artsy and as a result just looked overdone and like a Moulin Rouge wannabe.
*definitely at times the plot took a backseat to the "Beatles greatest hits" feel.

But overall I liked it and I'm rather indifferent to the beatles.

Today was a fun day. I had way too much coffee before Regression and as such was Super hyper and my friends kept making me laugh and drawing funny doodles, etc. I had way too much fun for a math class. Afterwards went out to lunch with a friend, came home, t was sunny and I went for a run, then went to french class. Now I have a few things I have to absolutely have finished up by tomorrow b/c they are due on thursday and on thursday I will be on a plane to hades, aka tacoma wa.

My family is a disaster zone right now, basically. I talked to my mom and it's like "woah." I mean my immediate family is great, but my grandpa is irrational, having crazy mood swings, I don't really wanna talk about the full extent but it's driving everyone crazy. My aunt and uncle who are going through a nasty divorce are both coming up here and that's a big drama and my other aunt worked out this complicated plan of where everyone's going to stay and didn't really people if it was okay. Oyoyoy. And i'm flying into the storm. My mom says that I have a "calming effect" on my grandpa and he needs it, so I guess I'm on damage control duty this weekend.

Oy.

[Iceman-bass14]

Hey!Just returning your visit to my blog!Also wanted to say i heard in your other thread about your grandmother and iam sry.I will pray for your grandfather/family.I know what its like my granpa died when i was 5 and i miss him a lot.Also my other grandfather was diagnosed with alzheimers about 2 years ago but looking back we think he had it for about 3 1/2-4 years.But i hope everythings going well for you!Have a good week!

Iceman

ps-i love the imiginary phone.

[SccHarpGirl]

Heya! Thanks for the visit

I'm home right now. Getting here was was tough, cancelled flights, missed connections, wind storms, etc, but I made it on Thursday in one piece! My grandmother's viewing was yesterday and the funeral was today. It's emotionally draining but I think my grandfather is coping as well as to be expected under the circumstances. The funeral was lovely. The family is full of nuts as usual, but everyone mostly behaved which was good. We're kind of neurotic as a bunch. Funerals are sad but there is a component that is happy - getting to see teh whole family together.

It's nice being home. One thing I appreciate about home is that there is ALWAYS good stuff to eat - seriously they're going to have to roll me back on the plane to Montreal. i'm going to church tomorrow with the family and then taking a red eye flight tomorrow night back to face the reality of school 1st thing Monday morning. Woot!

I hope all is well in CGRland!
oh yeah, my laptop is fixed. I love my dad.

[SccHarpGirl]

As weird as we are, I do really love my family. But we can be strange sometimes. Here's a rundown of the high(and low) lights of this weekend.

*The cali relatives drove for 5 straight hours because they got on the freeway going the wrong direction. Did they think to stop and ask for directions? or stop and call us when they realized they were lost? Oh no. They drove up and down I-5 (we were going, for those who know the area, from Tahoma cemetary near Covington to Lakewood, south of Tacoma), ended up on I-405, and somehow got into Renton, where my dad drove up to rescue them.

*After the funeral service, we walked off with, not just our flowers, but the church's flowers as well. Flowers that were especially intended for a wedding that night. And guess whose car they ended up in? The cali relatives that got lost for 5 hours! Only us would steal flowers from a church.

*At the funeral service my grandpa gets up to say a few words about my grandma. Which story does he decide to tell? The one about where they went skinny dipping in the mountains and there was another couple also skinny dipping, grandma told him not to stare at the other woman and he said "Your ass is prettier than hers". The reaction was kind of a "☺☺☺?"

*My dad, while making his speech that he hadn't prepared, would occasionally bang the casket for emphasis. I think he did in unconsciously

*At the viewing, my youngest sister's first reaction was to go up and POKE grandma on the forehead. Twice. and then my grandpa took a ton of photos. Of the corpse.

*For me though, the moment that best defines our family is at the actual internment, my grandmother, as a veteran, got Taps played on the bugles and the folding of the flag over the casket, which was presented to my grandfather. He lost it bigtime when he received the flag and was sobbing...eventually he controlled himself enough to say: "Let's get some more pictures".

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the Fredricksons do a funeral.

[SccHarpGirl]

On a more serious note, though, the funeral service was lovely. It turns out that I was it for the music but I think it came together really nicely, the priest did a great job (it helped that he'd been the priest at St. John Bosco when the Grandparents had gone there before Grandma got sick), all the services were nice and the reception at grandpa's house went very well and I think did him a world of good.

It's heartbreaking for me to see him in so much pain and I just hope that he can find something to hold onto now that Grandma is gone, or we are going to lose him quickly, i fear. I'm not sad for my Grandma. I'm happy that she doesn't have to suffer the way she's been suffering the last 5 or so years. But I cried at the funeral for my grandfather.

Flights back to montreal also a disaster. I never, ever in my life have gotten motion sick or anything so I'm not sure what happened...I'm still feeling slightly sick now and I haven't eaten hardly anything all day (I've only had like eighty bajillion cups of coffee), so I think maybe it was some sort of flu and not motion sickness at all. But an airplane is the worst place in teh world to feel crummy.

I did go to class. In sweatpants with no makeup, but I was there. I think I'm going to skip my evening class tonight, though. I'll do the readings, and go to the interactive session, but I didn't get any sleep and I just don't think I can handle an hour and a half in a dark lecture hall without completely zonking out. On the plus side I had a groupmate over for coffee, cookies, and homework, and we made progress! This is good because I was worried today was going to be a total waste since I'd be so tired. But I guess not. Now I have to decide whether or not I want to go to my prof's office hours, which would involve going outside...or go to my class, or go to hw. All are good options.

[SccHarpGirl]

my day = procrastination central. At least I did go to the gym, that's one positive. The negative is that the regression assignment is not even half done (I did the proof questions but so far haven't done the computer questions in any detail at all...), and not much studying has happened for my two midterms that are a week from today (the two I think will be my most challenging...)

What's the deal with CGR 2.0 anyway?

[SccHarpGirl]

Today was most excellent!

Classes were blah, but I talked to my friend in california for awhile and bible study was great.

Speaking of Cali, my Dad's cousin and aunt, who i recently just met, have had to evacuate their homes due to the fires. My dad's aunt's husband is a firefighter down there too, so if you could keep them in your prayers that'd be awesome

[SccHarpGirl]

Curling is the greatest sport in the WORLD.

Some people i know from Newman Centre are members of a curling club and formed a team, and a crowd of us went out to cheer them on last night. So much fun. It's so funny. i then met another friend for a "we survived the week!" celebration and cracked open a bottle of wine while watching "Men with Brooms".

These are the highlights of college.

[SccHarpGirl]

I am irresponsible. My two hardest midterms are tomorrow, and what did I do last night? Went out to a sports bar to watch the world series

[SccHarpGirl]

AHHH MIDTERMS!!!!!!!!

I'm at the "It's 12am and I'm going to fail EVERYTHING!!!" stage.

[SccHarpGirl]

Well they are OVER and I only failed 1~!

but I went down in FLAMES. it was impressive. I'm not even upset, just kind of puzzled because I felt reasonably prepared and got hit with some real out there questions. And when a midterm is only 3 questions, well...

Sampling midterm went alright, though. Not as well as I'd hoped by far but it wasn't so bad.