stressstressstress... FREEDOM!

I'm home--and still working feverishly on my book. I've set myself a deadline of sometime in May '14. And yes, I'm obsessed.

Monday: I spent much of the day studying for the Twentieth-Century Art midterm, which was on Thursday.

Due to my workload, I'd only started work on the gallery review for Topics in Modern Canadian Art a couple days prior and was worried that I wouldn't get it done on time, so I told Carla about my situation and she gave me an extension. It's now due the Thursday after Reading Week.

That day was the first day of the Peter Gross Ball Hockey Tournament, and Photo won its game.

Tuesday: The whole class was devoted to exam prep, and by the end my hand ached.

My appointment with Joan was basically an hour-long gush session for me--everything from the fact that my friend's cancer is easily treatable (yay!) to the fact that I'm turning this blog into a book (it's going to be so weird reading about the making of said book--hi, Annapurna of the future and anyone else who reads the book--including my parents!).

Afterward I had my first shoot for my independent project, which was an interesting one, as Jack's studio is more of a hangout spot due to the fact that much of his work is performance art (don't ask me how that fits into a BFA). I spent the rest of the afternoon editing photos and studying.

Wednesday: Studying. And stressing out. All day. 'Nuff said.

Thursday: I stayed up too late studying, so I was more than a bit tired. Somehow I managed to pull through the exam and I treated myself to lunch at Cora's when it was over--after all the stress, I figured I'd earned a treat.

Friday: I'd originally planned to head home that day, but due to a storm that hit NB, I had to change the date on my ticket. I spent the day at my favourite coffee shop working on my book.

That day was the final day of the ball hockey tournament at NBCCD. Photo made it to the finals, but had to settle for second place. You can read about the tournament here (including Photo's first game), here, here (including Photo's second game) and here (the final). You can admire the trophy here.

Saturday: Up and at 'em. Way too early and on only five hours of sleep. After a bit of a scuffle (won't say anything beyond the fact that it's related to what I went through in the Fall) I hurried down to the lobby where I called a cab--and made my first-ever request: I needed a cab right then because I was in danger of missing the bus. Within minutes, a cab was pulling up to the door.

I got to the bus station just as they were boarding (whew!) and spent a couple hours--you guessed it--working on The Book. I worked on it until my computer's battery started to get low (BookSmart is a bit of a power-suck). The bus between Halifax and Moncton was rather cantankerous and a few times I wondered if we were going to be on time. The driver had to pull over a few times and while we were still in the station he took the keys out--and the thing kept on running until he did something (probably under the hood) to shut it off. Freaky. We did get to Moncton, though--and just as I entered the station, they announced the bus that was headed to F'ton (usually I have to wait for about half an hour).

When I finally got to the F'ton station, I only had to wait a few minutes until Mom arrived. After I asked about changing my ticket over the phone (there's a possibility of another storm on Sunday--grrr...), we drove home, talking most of the way (everything from the latest news about Ca-r-ma--a cat TNR group that she volunteers with--to whether or not rites of passage--which are an important part of various religions and indigenous cultures but are, for the most part, nonexistent in secular Western culture--are necessary (I say yes).

Tom bought a new CD player this winter, as the old one had bit the dust. He'd told me that the new one is the best we've ever had, so I was itching to try it out. I put on the last track from Hika--and once again, Trond knocked my socks off: the sound was so clear. The best way I can describe it is by using a Claritin ad as an analogy: the old CD player is the part of the ad that has the film over it. The sound was really good, but at the end of the day the sound was that of any old CD player. With the new player, the sound was richer and revealed things that most other CD players would miss (the film has come off). Trond might as well have been playing in the sunroom, where the sound system is.

Sunday: I'd planned to get work done on the gallery review and a few other things, like studying the Nutcracker conductors' score. But although I dug said score out, I spent the day--yep--working on The Book.

Monday: While I'm still obsessively working on The Book, I've managed to work on the other stuff as well.