I'm back in Halifax, refreshed and ready to blog again.

Liam and I are slowly getting settled in our new apartment. Moving was absolute pandemonium, but I guess that was to be expected. However, I can't really complain: we managed to finish up just before the torrential downpour started. We couldn't have done it without help from Dee, Emily, and Vinny, who were awesome.

We had a mini-visit from Laura, who saw the place at its most chaotic. The three of us had just enough time to grab some crepes at the Farmer's Market before she headed home to gear up for her adventures in Hamilton.

The first day of orientation for the new SIM students was yesterday, and the second years got the cutest little file folder buttons to wear. I'll post a picture as soon as I can get Liam to take out his camera. Today I helped give a tour of the campus and tonight is the Faculty of Management mixer, which I would totally skip except they're giving out free drink tickets.

Liam's classes start Friday morning, but I don't have anything until Monday, so I'm hoping this will be a relaxing weekend. There's a SIM picnic on Sunday, but I don't think anyone has three-legged races or egg-in-spoon races planned. Sorry Lynda!

I'm starting to be able to help answer some of the complicated reference questions at work, and I can't tell you how excited this is making me! I'm going to be a really, truly librarian who can find things! People come into the library and think I know what I'm talking about. I love this!!

I think everyone has a list of books they'd like to read someday and movies they mean to watch when they have the time. Usually I'm much better at reading the books on my list than I am at getting around to watching the movies, but in the past week I've seen three movies that have been on my "To Watch" list for quite a while.

I started last Friday with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which Michelle first told me to watch several years ago. I've always thought the premise for this movie sounded strange, but I actually really enjoyed it. I like the idea of an enduring connection between two people who've been in love, even when they think they hate each other, and I thought the plot was extremely clever. I wonder what it's like to be able to think up stories like that. By the time Kate Winslet whispered "Meet me in Montauk" I had already decided I wanted to watch the movie again because I bet it will be even better the second time. And who knew Jim Carrey is such a good actor when he's not making weird faces?

Then on Thursday I psyched myself up to watch Shindler's List, which I've avoided for a long time. If you've ever heard my story about watching Life is Beautiful I think you'll understand why. In fact, if you know me at all you probably understand why. Surprisingly, I wasn't as emotionally affected as I thought I would be, but I also don't think I let myself become fully absorbed in the movie because I knew if I did I would 1) use an entire box of tissues and scare my blind cat whenever I blew my nose and 2) probably not sleep well for several weeks. I made it through most of the movie without too many tears, although the part where the bodies of all the Jews who've been killed have to be dug up and burned did use up a lot of kleenex.

I saw the first half of Forrest Gump when I was twelve, but tonight I finally watched the whole thing. I definitely understood a lot more of what was happening than I did in 1994. I really, really loved this movie. Really loved it. I know it might be a little syrup-y, but I'm a syrup-y kind of girl. Tom Hanks is brilliant, although it was a little odd to see Mack from CSI New York as a legless man with long hair.

Anyway, I'm interested to know what other movies should be moved up to the top of my "To Watch" list. What do you guys think? What do I need to watch next? I know several of the people who read this blog have very strong opinions about movies, so please suggest away!

Yesterday saw the return of Lynda and Rosey's Fabulous Adventures. Taking advantage of a sunny Sunday afternoon Lou and I piled into her car and set off to explore. Our last PEI adventure took us out to New Glasgow and Rustico, so this time we decided to go in a completely different direction and headed towards Montague. Instead of taking the main roads we meandered a little, which meant we got to see Sharon and Kieran's new house in Valleyfield.

After we hit Montague we continued on to Murray River and Murray Harbour. Alas, the bakery in Murray Harbour was closed, which meant we couldn't sample the Brad Richards cookie (which Lynda says is delicious), but we did see the large "Pride of Murray Harbour" sign. (Why is it that only sports figures or musicians seem to be the pride of places? What about all the people who gets PhDs or do other impressive things?)

Next up was a drive along the beautiful southern shore of Kings County. The scenery here was absolutely breathtaking. Everything was saturated with green and the wind smelled like grass and ocean. Even the cows looked happy. We stopped in at the Cape Bear lighthouse and played tourist for a while.

Then it was time to head home. On the way back we drove through Pownal and Alexandra so Lynda could have a trip down memory lane. Lynda and Rosey's Fabulous Adventures return next weekend, although we haven't decided what direction we're going to go yet.

Yesterday I was looking for something in the stacks at work when I noticed a row of books about pigeons. "Why," I wondered, "would Veterans Affairs be interested in pigeons?" My question was answered a few minutes later when I took a closer look at one of the books and realized it was about pensions, not pigeons. Once again, I was left shaking my head at myself. But not too hard. I didn't want to damage the brain cells that remained.

My civic duty is done. I voted on my way home from work and now I'm looking forward to an evening of watching election results.

However, there is one issue I felt was never fully discussed during the campaign. How is it that no one else noticed the lion is eating Robert Ghiz's head on the signs in his riding?

It snowed a little again today. Seriously. I have had enough.

Two exciting pieces of news:

1) I just got back from spending the weekend in Halifax, and I am happy to report that Liam and I have a place to live next fall! We'll be moving into Katie and Dave's super awesome apartment. Remember, visitors are welcome!

2) Dee's sister had a 9 lb. baby boy on Saturday. Welcome to the world Jonah Victor! And congratulations Auntie Dee.

To the various deities in charge of the weather:

I would like to register my extreme unhappiness with the several centimeters of snow that were on the ground when I woke up this morning. I realize you are occupied with larger concerns, such as climate change and the upcoming hurricane season, but today's date is May 17th, which means the merry month of May is more than half over and summer should be on its way. Snow is highly inappropriate.

Sincerely,

Rosey

PS. I promise I will never leave my parka liner and winter boots behind to save space in my suitcase again.

This is truly the cat of a future librarian. He's blind and yet continues to be attracted to books.

I am now an official employee of Veterans' Affairs Canada. I have one of those little identity cards to wear around my neck and everything. The VAC library is extremely different than any other library I've worked in so far, but I really love the lady with whom I'm working. She's always laughing and we share a love of chocolate and cats.

Speaking of cats, it's amazing to see the difference spring has made in Socks. He has a spring in his step (still a little bit of a limp, but he is sixteen, after all) and his tail is waving up in the air. I take him for a walk in the backyard every day when I get home, and his favourite thing to do is follow Kahlua around and bite her tail. It sounds mean, but I think they like sparring with each other like a big brother with an annoying little sister. His sense of smell is so strong that sometimes it's almost like he can see.

In another exciting news, my family bought a second-hand canoe. Canoing used to be my favourite part of summer camp, so I'm looking foward to trying it again. Hopefully this won't be as traumatic as Catherine's boating experience in Ontario a few summers ago.

And that's it for now. I know my posts lately have been erratic and pretty boring, but hopefully as the stresses of schoolwork continue to fade away I'll feel more like being interesting.

Well, I finished my practicum on Thursday. Making a little boy laugh until he fell over was definitely the highlight of my three weeks in the Children's Loft, but I also enjoyed being the troll in a puppet version of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, playing with construction paper, having a four year old tell me I was soft (I assumed it was a compliment), hearing a boy gasp excitedly when I showed him the shelf of books about dinosaurs, helping an elderly lady send emails to her nephew in Japan, and explaining to a little girl from Columbia what the word "poo" means. And if any of you have a chance, look up the book Bark, George by Jules Feiffer, because it might be one of the funniest stories I've read in a long time. That's what I was reading when the little boy fell over.

Friday I went out to UPEI to visit at the library and hear about all the groovy things that are happening since the new head librarian's arrival. I spent the rest of the weekend making myself walk around in the great outdoors (can anyone explain to me why it was snowing on Satuday?) and watching ridiculous amounts of Season 2 of Grey's Anatomy. Oh, and I bought pants, which is a significant achievement for me.

Tomorrow is my first day working at library at Veteran's Affairs, where I'll be for the rest of the summer. I'm looking forward to learning about life in a special library and Nicky, my new boss, has promised field trips to several other types of libraries in Charlottetown as well. Who knew there were this many libraries on PEI? I sure didn't.

Still in the Children's Library and still having fun.

Two events of note occurred today:

1. I had Shreddies and apple juice for breakfast for the first time in almost a week. A week without Shreddies!! I can't even remember the last time I went that long without Shreddies. I enjoy swallowing immensely.

2. My practicum started today, and I did not throw up on anyone! I knew I was going to be reading stories on the trolley bus, but I thought it was going to be during the afternoon and I'd have a chance to buy some Gravol at lunch. Unfortunately, the bus trip was scheduled for 10am, so I had to embark sans Gravol. I got to read about three stories (including the classic If You Give a Mouse a Cookie) before I became extremely nauseous. When we got to the mall the librarian who was with me took me to Zellers to buy Gravol. I barely made it back downtown. The bus route was all over the place and the roads were slippery from the snow. Thankfully, after realizing how miserable I was, the librarians told me I can concentrate on other programming activities for the rest of my time. On Monday I get to do a performance of the Billy Goats Gruff with puppets!

So last Thursday afternoon, as I struggled to stuff everything I would need for the summer into my suitcases, I decided I'd leave my ski jacket liner and my winter boots in Halifax to save space. After all, I though, how much snow are we really going to get in April?

After I got home on Friday afternoon, I had a conversation with my mother about the outbreak of mumps in Halifax and how awful it would be to get sick during the final crunch of the semester.

Saturday night it started to storm. It snowed until Sunday night. There was more snow for Easter than there was for Christmas.

In the wee hours of Saturday night I woke up with a throat so sore I could barely swallow. By morning my face resembled a chipmunk's and I had a fever. It looked like I had the mumps. Thankfully when I went to the doctor on Monday it turned out to be a bacterial infection of some sort and the antibiotics he gave me started to clear it up right away. This meant I did not have to be quarantined for nine days (hurray!), but I wasn't able to start my practicum on Tuesday either (boo).

The moral of the story is that Murphy's Law will get you every time. In fact, although I am pretty much better and get to start my practicum tomorrow, it's supposed to storm again tomorrow night.

In other news, I have a job in a library in Charlottetown for the summer! I don't want to put details here, but anyone who wants to know more can email me.

There are days when you're just so grateful for something someone has done for you, when you don't know what you would have done without their help, and today is one of those days. The person is my brother. I came within seconds of a full-out meltdown last night and he stayed up with me until 2am to fix a computer problem I had no idea how to solve. All I can say is thank goodness for computer genius brothers.

SIM party tonight; home tomorrow.

As requested, here is a photo of the giant birthday penguin. Isn't he fantastic?

Thankfully, the theme of this post will not be Adventures With Fire. In fact, I haven't really done anything that interesting since the middle of March. Right now my days are mostly filled with assignments, assignments, and more assignments, and in just two weeks I will be one-half of a professional librarian! My practicum starts on April 10 in the children's department of the library I used as a kid, which is pretty exciting as well. Some of the planned activities sound pretty cool, plus I'll get to organize some of my own. This also means I get to come home for at least a few weeks!!

I had a lovely birthday last weekend. Friday night there was a potluck dinner with an insane amount of delicious food and three kinds of cake! Drew and Dee were busy in my kitchen all afternoon, so there was chocolate cake for Vinny and white cake with pink icing and sprinkles for me and then Shannon brought DQ cake as well. I am now also the proud owner of a gigantic stuffed penguin. Plus I got to wear a tiara!


Mayhem will ensue on Monday when Dee and Emily move a bunch of their stuff into my place to be stored for the summer. Thankfully space isn't an issue, but I'm trying to get some things organized now so there will be less mess to worry about later. Since Dee's bed and belongings will be here, Dee herself is also going to stay for a few days until she heads back to Winnipeg for the summer. Happily, the other end of the storage bargain means Liam and I will have people to help us clean and move in August!

Welcome to another installment of Roseanne's Adventures with Fire.

Last night, at about 3:30am, I was awakened by a ringing noise. Assuming it was my alarm clock, I hit snooze and rolled over to go back to sleep. As the ringing continued, I groggily realized it was actually the fire alarm going off and that hitting snooze was not going to make it stop. I stumbled out of bed, found a pair of socks and a sweater, put on my parka, and hoofed it down five flights of stairs.

The lobby was filled with the yellow dust from a fire extinguisher, and everyone was huddled on the sidewalk. It wasn't long before three fire trucks, an ambulance, and four police cars were parked out front. I don't even know what happened, but it was a very cold and windy hour before we were allowed back into our apartments.

Like I said before, I'm starting to be a little perturbed at the attraction that seems to exist between me and fire alarms.

In other news, Liam arrives tomorrow to spend the weekend and the SIM St. Paddy's Day party is tomorrow night. Hurrah for socializing!

I wish I could tell you I've been doing something exciting while my blog has been AWOL, but unfortunately I've mostly been hunkered down doing incredible amounts of homework. Thankfully nothing has reached the panic level of the 24-hour literature review, but that doesn't really make for exciting blogging either.

On another note, my youngest brother finally got his license last week (yes, procrastination is a family trait). Now all the Gauthier kids can drive! Woot!