A Survey worth a look

Your Linguistic Profile:

65% General American English

15% Yankee

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

What do you think? I must be a true hybrid breed. Once again, I've been finding myriads of semi-interesting stuff on other blogs. I thought I would have a higher percentage in MidWestern, or general American English. Anyways, give this a shot if you like it

The Can Opener

This is a cartoon I made to vent my frustrations I had with my can opener about three weeks ago. I would have posted this MUCH earlier, but my scanner and I are currently resolving our problemos. I am seriously crying because I don't own nor have enough knowledge to use cool programs like Photoshop, which means I had to repencil everything with a darker pencil before I scann it, so the quality suffers somewhat. Even if you don't think this is funny, this is pretty much how I felt while trying to open a can of dessert rice for breakfast one morning, and I laughed so hard, almost to the point of tears, while reviewing my work for closeness to how things actually happened in reality. Enjoy! (My hair is longer here because this is before I got a haircut and was on the serious verge of a shag.)

Procrastination

While looking for a birthday gift for Adam (even though I really did know somewhat what I wanted to get him, time was an issue) I stumbled upon this blog. For any of you who are feeling like they are behind in dayd to day tasks, read this post, and between laughing really, really hard, you'll feel better about yourself.

I know I did.

http://www.crazyauntpurl.com/archives/2005/06/a_day_late_and.php

What's up with that?

Two days ago, while talking with a friend of mine, my medieval philosophy professor passed us, and I said, "Hey, we were JUST talking about how wonderful your class was!" (It was the typical Brennan statement of humor, sincerity, ADD bubbliness, and a little bit of sarcasm. But only a pinch.) The professor turns to my friend and says, "Is he always like this?" And my friend Corey says, "Yeah, he is." THEN my professor says, "Oh, ok. Just checking."

Not to mention the fact that when most people start to get to know me, they usually ask someone who is standing right next to me, "Is he always like this?" I thought I would be used to it by now, but is this a really common occurence, and I am starting to worry.

Can't a guy be, uh, himself?

Ieeeeeper!!!

Yes, yes, YES, I have FINALLY gone to Ieper.

Again.

Ieper rocks.

Now, please sit back and relax while we take you on Brennan's Tourism Ride Ltd. Remember to keep your hands inside the ride at all times. Europeans are dangerous. Especially to loud people like me who keep making french jokes which people don't realize are about Quebecios french, and not THE French. My bad. This trip happened on the 22 of October, 2005.




Ieper has an ENORMOUS number of chocolate shops. It should be noted that almost every one of these shops nearly FORCES pieces of Belgian chocolate into your mouth. All the samples you can eat until you literally start bleeding chocolate. This here is a picture of a chocolate fountain. One must constantly remind oneself in situations like this that you're not allowed to bathe in public fountains, no matter how chocolately they are.




This, my friends, is the best Cathedral you wil ever see in Belgium. Well, maybe. It's the nicest one I've ever seen, and all the aaaaammmmmaaaaaazing pictures I have of the inside of the cathedral still gives me the chills like I am actually there. And, no, I'm not going to show you the amazing pictures of the inside. I forbid you to live vicariously through me--at least in this case.
This part of Brennan's Tourism Ride Ltd. only occurs in real time. And I don't do programming, so don't even try and make the obvious pun out of that one.





This is a big mouldy stone with a cross on it. We (My group of friends that went with me to Ieper) played anthropologist for about five minutes trying to decide what it was. Then we debated whether it was ok to touch the green stuff. Then we looked around at the stalls selling t-shirts and jeans for 5€. Then we went into the war museum.





This is the stone carving that was in the enterance to the Flander Fields war museum. I gotta tell ya, it was a heck of way to start off a museum. The quote, in case you can't read it, is by H.G. Wells, and says, "Every intelligent person knew that disaster was impending and knew no way to avoid it."



When you walked into the Ieper museum, you get to take a little randomized card that you put into a telescreen terminal, and it showed you a random person from the War. My guy was a kid named Alfred Caenepeel. I decided that he was too sad looking for me to read on and so I didn't wanted read the rest of his three page mini-biography. Everyone else got war criminals or famous unknown soldiers or other people who sounded cooler than my person. In the war, however, it was painfully obvious that no one was pretty. Most people looked like they had a bad bout with the Ugly Stick. Also, I have just realized that my radomized dude's is rather funny. Can-a-peel??? Yikes. That must have earned him some childhood scarring.






This was the FABULOUS group of people I went with. From the left: Sean, Sarah, Corey, and Maria. They're all absolutely hilarious people and a great bunch to be around. And, best of all, they laugh at all my jokes. How sweet is that???? I have a captive travelling audience. We're probably going to tour again sometime soon. Muhaha. More joking for Brennan. People will laugh. I pay them to do that.



This is a picture of Corey holding one of the cushions in the war Veterans museum which is in an Anglican Church. Comparitively speaking, it's certainly not as nice as St.Maartens/St.Nicholas Church (The Church in the other picture) which caused Sean to make a crack about Anglicans that was CERTAINLY non-ecumenical. I'm attributing this to the fact that Sean is from Notre Dame, the uberest of uber Catholic schools in the US. Also, he's a theology major, so...I think they all make religious cracks like that about other religions they're not studying, I don't know. I'll have to look into it. In other news, the cushion that Corey is holding is one of about a hundred or so that are present in the church, and overall it's really cool to see how many war regiments are represented in the Church. VERY cool.





This was one of the unmarked graves from one of the many cemeteries in and around Ieper. Unfortunately, the best grave site that you can see by train is located 25 kms OUTSIDE of Ieper. Rough. However, the cemeteries here are beautiful. I saw several Canadian graves, and many, many graves that were marked unknown. It was disquieting in a way, but it was certainly one of the better experiences I've had all the same. Generally, graveyards seem to me to be very good places, very calm and very peaceful. If only war hadn't happened. Hm.






And now for something completely different. No, I'm not joking with you, this is an actual waste bin in downtown Ieper. Ieper used to be famous in the Middle Ages for their "Cat Throwing Festival" where they would literally throw cats out their second story windows onto the streets below. The reasoning behind this was that cats would keep the mice at bay (Re: eaten) during the winter months, and that once spring hit and people didn't have to be cooped up inside all the time, POOF! Out the window you go, Fluffy! As we can see in this photo, the good natured citizen is throwing away poor Fluffy into her proper receptacle.

While this festival is still practiced in Ieper, they now use stuffed cat dolls instead of real cats. I suppose there's a reason behind this. We may never know.



And, that, good friends, was a short-ish tour through Ieper. I recommend you go there, visit the war museum, buy some expensive chocolate, listen to the Last Post at Menin Gate (Which I unfotunately don't have pictures of, sorry) and visit the Cathedral. All in all, it was a very good use of my travel money.

I have more stories, but I will save them for later. Keep on rockin'.

Today, while walking in the rain, I started paying attention to people's umbrellas. This did not become amusing until I noticed a tall, thin man, with punky brown hair, wearing all black and all leather, carrying a Wile E. Coyote style pink-with-white-polka dots umbrella.

I wonder if this was a statement of some sort.

Thesis Work

Here is the follow-up from the meeting I had with the professor I e-mailed earlier this week. I feel this event is best expressed in art form.





Round 1- I go in with the forcefulness of a needy grad student! Sting like a butterfly, float like a bee!










Round 2: Ack! I recieve a swift blow! The professor is requesting sabbatical next year! Brennan is down for the count! KO!







I would like you all to realize that this is the extent of my life, and possibly of all graduate students. Rejection, dejection, introspection, and...um, clandestinely wishing to be cynical without knowing how.

Life is good. =)

YAR!

*SIGH MAJOR*

OK, I was all excited because I had scanned a super cool thing to show you people, but it seems that my scanner, which converted everything into pdf files, is now not letting me access and upload things. CURSE YOU SCANNER SOFTWARE!

Anyways, I decided I would treat you all with...dun dun dun dunnnnnn....another episode from BRENNAN'S COOKBOOK OF TERRIBLY....GOOD FOOD!!! Welcome to the realm of weird, cooking style! =D =D =D


PINEAPPLE SALSA


· 1 can of pineapple ( I had pinapple rings, I kinda chunked 'em into pieces, and poured in the pineapple juice from the can as well.)
· 1 red bell pepper, (I only had a half-full bag of half frozen mixed peppers, so I poured the whole thing in. Ingenious, really.)
· 1/2 cup chopped green onion (I used about half an onion, chopped coarsely.)
· 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (I just threw the whole thing in. Two of them, actually.)
· 1/2 tsp salt (I didn't add salt, I didn't think it needed any, since my serving size was much smaller than the actual recipe.)
Combine all ingredients, let sit 30 minutes before serving for more flavor.

I am planning on using the rest that I don't use as salsa, and cooking it in with some chicken, and then having some crazy pinapple chicken. It should be good. I think this would work well with fish, too. Afterwards, I took a plate of nachos, put shredded gouda cheese on top, and white pepper, and heated it in the microwave until the cheese melted, and then put the salsa on top. It turns out too be pretty much too thick to just dive in with a chip, but if you put it on top of the cup, and then eat it, it works out fine. It was probably one of the tastiest things I made in a long time. Um..a day or two. The actual recipe, since I stuck pretty close to it, is from www.hfoods.com/genpage.php?pfriendly=1&name=foodspice&dbid=34

OK, this is my first attempt at e-mailing a professor about a possible thesis project:

Hi Prof. _____:

I am one of the many so-called masters students who are going to be knocking incessantly at your door asking if you have time to promote their thesis project. If you do, let me know, as I will commence knocking at your door during your office hours this week.

Sincerely,

Brennan Sarich


Was that perhaps too smug? Well, be who you are, I guess. Go smuggidity!

Woah. That has to be the best word I've made up in a long time.

Gold star.

I will inform you of the results.

Bonjour?

Just so you know, I check every post I have religiously to see if anyone has commented.

Mainly, so that I know whether I'm being more than a little silly. I aim to please.

So, if you leave a comment, I really like it. If you don't, it's not BAD, but it's a good way to have little convos.

Justto keep you on the down low.

And if anyone ELSE starts posting spam on my blog, like where I can buy a new microwave or something, I think I'm going to hurt somebody. (See recipe post comments for details. Also another attempt to be silly.)

Tales from Brennan's Cook Book of Terribly....Good Food! (All Rights Reserved)

This dish was an attempt to make 'Paprika Dill Chicken.' I would like to say I'm joking, but I'm really, really not. Once again, 90% of all cooking with Brennan involves me throwing out the cook book and saying, "I can cook better than any of you fools! FORGET YOUR SILLY DIRECTIONS!!!! MUHAHAHAHA!" *Lightning crashes in the background*

Well, I don't always have the lightning. It sort of comes and goes. And I don't really call people 'fools.' I'm usually the one with that label, really.

All of that aside, and in the interest of good cooking, you come out with something that actually end up looking a lot like a stir fry. It tastes QUITE good, too. Very different than anything I've ever made. Of course, that usually happens when I cook. We went through this. I only cook weird. And, um, act weird. And, uh....I recommend this. Easy to do.

Rrr-fry?

Ingredients:

1 cup of pre-cooked chicken
½ cup broccoli ( mine was frozen)
handful of chopped onion
3 cups macaroni, cooked
1 egg
¾ cup of sour cream
½ cup of chicken broth (or bullion cube mixed with water)
a couple spices: pepper (I used white), a combo spice (garlic, lemon zest, pepper) and a secret spice. (I would tell you, but I don’t know the name of it because it's in Dutch and I mistook it for black pepper, which it is certainly not. It’s tastes amazing, however.)


Steps:

1. Start cooking that macaroni if you don’t have it cooked. I’m sure you can figure this one out.
2. Take a Tbsp of olive oil, let it get hot in the frying pan, throw the chicken on to heat it up, let it fry a bit.
3. Once cooked a bit, take off for a moment, cook the broccoli and onion.
4. Throw the chicken back in for round 2, add the broth/water with bullion cube, add spices as desired. The ones I used worked well. Something with a touch of lemon, garlic and pepper is the basic idea.
5. Once the mixture is going at a hot rate with the liquid bubbling for a minute or two, crack egg, let the egg almost cook, stir it up in the rest of the mix like it's an embarassing stain on your clothing you want to get rid of. (You’ll get the super cool stir fry egg look.) I used a WHISK to make this happen in a nice uneven way.
6. Once most of the liquid has burnt off (Which should be fairly quick if your burner was on high heat like mine.) throw this all into a bowl and mix in ¾ cup of sour cream until coated. The sour cream is totally optional, but definitely worth it.
7. Throw the mix on top of cooked pasta. Add cheese or something colourful for garnish. If you like garnish. Or...if you think it's a waster of perfectly good food that could be used elsewhere, save it for Brennan's OTHER amazing dishes. Like...his Poor Man's Potatoe Stew! (Also dish ala weird.) Or his Steak Panzanella! (If Liz is reading this...I ruined your recipe. Twice.) REVOLT AGAINST THE GARNISH! DESTROY ALL WHO OPPOSE US! I mean, do it however you like. You know, I'm ok, you're ok, that kinda self-help book. Eat the pasta.


Est. time to cook on lousy burners: 40-ish minutes
Prep time: 5 minutes
Serves: Two medium portions

Thankgiving-Part II-The Belgian Edition

This is a picture of my bestest thanksgiving ever. =)

I had such a great time tonight, I have never laughed SO HARD in a LONG time. All I can say, is that I'm grateful for such friends as these. I have SO MUCH leftover food in my fridge it's not even funny. LOL. Which is great, since that's what thanksgiving is all about, right? Luckily, Mareka (on the left) brought the dessert, (I still have leftovers. Mega goods.) Sarah in the middle brought the bread, and Maria brought OJ, which I was super happy about, because I realized I didn't really have anything to serve as drinks. (If any of you have been to any sort of food party I have hosted, it was a typical 'Brenan is running around with his head cut off' sort of moment.)

I made perogies on my own! They were sooooo good. The best part was that I wasn't entirely sure what I was doing, because I was using a different recipe than my family uses, and I had to use my baking soda container covered with plastic wrap as a rolling pin, which was amazing because a)Mareka suggested the rolling pin method, which worked perfectly, and b) I finally have baking soda, so now I can make welsh cakes! Wohoo! (They're one of the BEST recipes my friend Liz sent along with me. Best present EVER. Well, that and my laptop. Thanks, Dad.) It was fun because I was trying to show everyone how to make perogies, and my perfect triangle perogie starting getting a little too sticky, and I ended up making little pergoie balls instead of actual perogies. But no one there had made perogies before, so we all pitched in, and Mareka was our 'Belgian Dignitary made honourary Canadian citizen' for the night, and she had a lot of fun making this classy Ukranian dish. They turned out really good, even if they weren't all that aesthetically pleasing, although we made a few of them that were pretty triangular/rounded. I then had WAY too much filling left over, so we just heated that up and made that a side dish. Very tasty. I'm totally stuffed, and everything turned out well, even if the planned meal time ran a little later than I expected. Yes, once again, typical food party of Brennan's. Everyone is waiting for Brennan to finish cooking because he mixed up several crucial ingredients and ended up with a partial kitchen explosion and began to panic by running around in circles. Yes, very typical. *Sigh* LOL. I'm sure Honey (Grandma) would be proud of me. Perhaps a little embarassed at my attempt to make perogies, but I'm totally working on it. LOL. I'll work on it, I swear!

It feels nice to finally hang out with people who just like to hang out and laugh and have a good time. Hopefully I can do this sometime with philosophy people. I would like to be good friends with these people that I work with. Anyways, it was great, and I'm glad I did it. I love food parties! LOL. And...uh...dishes. Dang. Mega dang. Well, there's not that many. But only one sink. Mega dang, yo.

Happy Thanksgiving.

My favourite Book list?

I wanted to put this in my profile, but I had a large list, and I felt the need to share. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but an on the spot list, and they're not in order of which is MOST favourite, but only ones I like/recommend. I've forgotten tons of books that I've read, so keep that in mind. So, by genre:


Fantasy
1)The Finovar Tapestry by Guy Gaveriel Kay
2)The Wizard of Earthsea Trilogy by Ursual Le'Guine
3)The Sword of Knowledge by Mercedes Lackey and some other unimportant people. Read Mercedes Lackey. She roxors.
4)The Dark is Rising Series (If you haven't read this yet, you are OFFICIALLY being commanded to. Right. Now.)

--and possibly the Wheel of Time series, as long as Robert Jordan doesn't croak before he finishes it. (WRITE FASTER DARN YOU!!)

Romance/Teen and Child Fiction:
1) Bridget Jones' Diary Series
2) Anything by Louise Rennison, particularly "On the Bright Side, now I'm the girlfriend of a Sex God" and "Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging" The British appendix in the back of these things will kill you. Absolutely hilarious, and a good intro to Brit teen culture.
3)The 3 NBs of Dorian Gray- I don't know HOW this book did NOT recieve every single award that children's literature hands out. Best writing I've read in a long time. It's fun to read at the beginning. A must read, in my opinion.
4)The Complete Winnie the Pooh Series by A.A. Milne. (A canadian writer that certainly deserves more recognition for how good and engaging the poetry is.)
5)A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket (The movie, while beautiful and I loved it, simply doesn't do this series justice in its level of Unfortunated-ness)


Mystery
Ahem, anything NOT by Dan Brown. Thank you.
(Can't find the names of my favourite mystery authors right now, unfortunately. Grr.)

Classic-
1)Moby Dick (Although I'm not finished yet)
2)Fifth Business
3)The Canterbury Tales
4)Sons and Lovers (Although it still creeps me out)
5)1984 (Same as above)
6)Gulliver's Travels
7)Through the Looking Glass/Alice in Wonderland

Favourite Poems:
1)The Jabberwocky (Lewis Carroll)
2)Hope (Emily Dickinson)
3)The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coelridge)


I invite comments on what you think I should read next. I would love to hear more about what other people are reading that is good.

Ring, ring, ring ring ring...bananna phone. Sigh.

For any of you that have ever heard William De Jong (Or any other extremely pop culturally savvy person) sing the bananna phone song, which is comprised, of, "Ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, ring....BANANNA PHONE," you probably know that it is not a very deep song. It comes from that genre of songs like, "This is the song that never ends," made famous by the persnicky Lambchop, (who I must say, is still my hero) and the ever classic Little Rascal's song, "I got a dollar." (Which I sing quite often when I have a dollar. Not as common now, since, "I have a euro" is not quite as catchy...apparently.) However, the last two days have been a culmination of the bananna phone song, in which my bananna phone (aka. my cellular/mobile phone) has been ringing non-stop. The problem is, and it is turning into quite the cumbersome problem, is that international calls naturally, perhaps unnaturally, cut off after about fifteen minutes. So, my reception is so-so, my phone cuts out every now and then, and add in a few younger brothers whose enunciation is not exactly expertly practiced, and you get a very awkward phone call home. Perhaps even uber awkward. Perhaps mega uberawkward. There's a lot of, "What?" and "Oh, um, yeah" going on. More so than a regular conversation with my little brothers. Although the art of small talk and actually communicating with something other than fists is a skill that all three of my little brothers are developing at a rather fast rate, there is still room for improvement, I like to think. Take for example, today's conversation with Martin, my now turned 13 year old brother:


Martin: Hey Brennan.
Me: Yeah?
Martin: So when we were hunting, there were ducks on both sides of the road, and me and Clayton went down to shoot some and...no you didn't. No, I said that. Yeah I'm telling him that. No, that's not what happened. Hey, shut up. No, I'm not talking to you. Yes, that's what I said. Yeah, I'm telling Brennan.
Me: So, uh, yeah. Go on.
Martin: Yeah, so (garble from phone static) and then there was a duck coming right for me and then I went (more garble) and so then we went and got a big stick and...

And so on and so forth. I did get more out of the conversation than you think I could have, but I had to pay really close attention to what all my brothers were saying, but that's par for the course with all the tangents that they go on when you talk to them on the phone anyways. (My whole family is pretty ADD when on the phone, it seems.)

The night previous, my Kevin Dad (ie. biological father for those of you who are out of the loop a bit.) phoned me and we chatted for about 2 hours. It was over the internet phone, and finally showed him my place using my webcam once Tyler hooked up the newest version of MSN messenger. Pretty useful, that webcam.

However, there are two major issues with this whole transatlantic phoning, which are currently highly amusing and highly alarming. When talking to my Mom and Kevin Dad, both of them are aware that when they call me in the afternoon around 4pm, it is actually 12am here. What is problematic is that a)After THEM phoning ME, I get in trouble for 'staying up all night' and 'what were you doing up anyways? Go to bed' and b) is that basically any attempt I would like to have made in terms of having a regular sleep schedule is totally shot. My parents, I am sure, will be phoning me often enough that just as I will myself (And I really do have to will myself) into a real sleep pattern of normalcy, I will be waiting for an hour so that my brother can come over to my Grandpa's house and show them how to hook up their computer so that we can talk over the internet phone again. It's probably a good thing that I only have one class a day, because I am sure I am going to turn into a first-rate insomniac who sleeps for three hours a day, in random fifteen minute intervals. (Not that I wouldn't normally do that back home, but whatever. I was trying to break the mold, here.)

Secondly, I am both amused and slightly worried at how much my parents are missing me. I thought for sure, they'd want to get rid of me, have me out of their hair and all that and that it would be a nice change. However, both my Mom and my Kevin Dad talk like they miss having me around, they talk about how proud they are of me and what I am doing, (ACK! PARENTAL EXPECTATIONS! RED ALERT, RED ALERT!!!) and how they can't wait for me to come home. It's really weird because I am certainly not used to this kind of praise and encouragement. I am waiting for more of the you-deserve-a-back-hand-in-your-face-we-love-you because-you-have-a-big-head-and-that-makes-us-laugh sort of method. Where'd that go? Apparently not to Belgium. In fact, if I had had a dime for how many times my mom had said 'I miss you' in the total of the two minutes that we talked, I think I would have had enough money to cash in for a cheap plane ticket to Canada. This certainly gives me the warm fuzzies, because, hey, nothing says love like 'I miss you' (aka. there is someone to validate your existence other than the plants in your room.) but once again, where's the love-hatin' method? Because that's the everyday love, you know? The kind that smacks you upside the head because the people around you can hardly stand you but they sure like you anyways. So, I might cop out and buy a land line, have a real bananna sized phone, and get better reception, which will allow for all the awkward stuff to get out of the way, and get to what really matters. Like Tyler telling me I smell. (An older brother classic, for sure.)

Other than that, I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. I know I am thankful for a lot of things. I have a lot to be thankful for. Such as you. Thanks to you. So, to all my friends, keep it real, and I'll chat with you later. I should have some cool pictures and some cool things to tell you after this week. Talking with my family really helped put me in a good moment, where I didn't miss my family terribly, but instead got all pumped with the good vibe...I hope you can have the same experience of happiness, and I encourage good family time. It's what it's all about. You only have one family, and I guess that's what you make of it. Feel the love. =)

Two little bits of possible sources of amusement

This game is really, REALLY, fun. You should play it. Although the ethics behind this, when I think about it, are a little sketchy. Think about it.

http://www.flashplayer.com/games/infectevolverepeat..html


Also, this article will test your so-called knowledge of geekery. I would debate that anyone who does well on this is a 'geek' so called, since almost anyone can pass this with an extremely large amount of ease, but I digress. Give it a shot.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4287006.stm


More Brennan updates soon to come. Be patient. =D

More meeting and greeting and less seating

Well, I wanted to post yesterday...I was just so excited...big news...I cleaned my entire aparment! LOL. I dusted, swept, mopped, and otherwise removed gross things from my humble abode. It didn't take me that long to clean everything, which is good, but I am annoyed how things get dirty so fast. That, and I am finding my hair everywhere. I shed like a...like a...like an animal that sheds a lot! LOL. It wouldn't be so noticable, but I have hardwood floors and tile, and you can basically see every little bit of of anything that you've created in your place. Gross to the alpha major, I say.

I have also learnt, thanks to watching an American friend of mine put away garbage, that it makes much more sense for me to wash my disposable containters so that they do not smell up my kitchen grossly. (Re: the salmon filet package) Yes, I had salmon again. No, I didn't leave it out in the sun this time. Although I did manage to forget to wash the salmon packet off before I threw it in the garbage. Thus, every time I would walk into my kitchen, I would think...
"Why does it smell really strongly of salmon in here???" I looked everywhere but the garbage for the offending odour. And this is after I had been washing out everything ELSE to prevent strong smells. Yes, yes, a regular genius am I.

I also just joined the international acting troupe at Pangaea, and I had a really great time. I was a little concerned at first, because the brochure said it was supposed to be all improv, and I'm kinda sketchy at improv (no pun intended) and sometimes I get stage fright whilst doing improv. However, I had a blast. The people there are super nice, and it's funny, because all the actor stereotypes that you see on television movies of people who are very artsy...well, they were all definitely there last night. LOL. It was cool, but a little unorganized...somtimes when we were doing a skit/activity, I didn't know what was going on...and, uh, we sort of just, improvised, I guess. LOL. It was good, though. Even if you were doing something you maybe weren't supposed to, (Well, heck, half the time I didn't even know if I was doing what I was supposed to.) it didn't really matter, everyone was really just there for being into it. I enjoyed it, and we all went out for coffee to the cheapest cafe I have been to in town afterwards. (And easily one of the nicest...all the servers are super friendly. Even better, they give you as many blankets as you like if you're sitting outside and in front of the cafe. How cool...er, how HOT is that???) They also had hot chocolate, where they give you real flakes of chocolate to go with your hot milk. Very swanky. Because it was a special occasion (me joining my first real social group) I actually had a hot chocolate myself. It-was-amazing. Anyways, it was the nicest treat/drink I have had in a long time. This cafe was SO good. And so cheap. (most meal items were under 6€) AMAZING cafe. Anyways, it was really cool hanging out, meeting new people, and I will go back to that cafe to have lunch or something sometime, when I am feeling very in the money spending spirit.

I also went to a 'come see what all the activities are like at Pangaea' night tonight. It was PACKED. I thought it would be less crowded, but everyone came there to socialize. I saw a lot of people I have seen from my trip to Brugge, and also from the acting group. Very big exciting news...Pangaea is doing a trip to Ieper for 25€!!!!! WOHOO! There is also a trip to the Ardennes this month...but I think I would rather go earlier in the month/semester than later for a trip somewhere, and also I would rather go for a two day trip (which is what I get for 25€ to Ieper) compared to a one day trip (which is what I would get for 20€ to Ardennes) and besides, going to Ieper is, just by the nature of things, going to be cooler. Ieper rocks. ROXORS WITH L33T SKILZ! LOL. I would go to both, but finances are a little tight this month because of set-up costs in September that had some unforseen skips and bounces in the upward range, and I am also trying to figure out how much money I have to play with during the month once everything like electricity, groceries, and rent are paid for. I think I can afford one trip somewhere, but definitely not two. Besides, Oct 22 is WAY too close to when I need to be picking a thesis promoter, and I still have a LOT of work to do in that area. Er, yeah...I'm...uh...on it. LOL. I should get back to work. Like...now. Like two seconds ago.

Today was somewhere around15C, although the wind was cool enough to put people in fairly heavy coats. What am I wearing, you ask?

Shorts. And a t-shirt. And people stare.

Go Canada.