Alright.

It has taken me a little longer than I expected to get to typing this. Today was a bad day for me. My watch broke. My wallet broke. And until I got to campus at 11:25 and bought a sandwich from the Math C&D;, I hadn’t eaten a meal in 24 hours. It turns out that the amount of food that I thought I had did not actually exist, and I woke up too late this morning to make myself any of the oatmeal I had.

Anyway, we will start with a week in review.

On the holiday weekend, I went home to enjoy some time with family. Another added benefit was that in Stratford, I do not have to tolerate the loud, annoying music thundering from the room of whoever lives in 2D above me. The music is loud. It is rap and bad techno. And the worst part of all is that they loop the same song…again…and again…and again. But I digress.

The weekend was good. We had Baby Denise over for the entirety of the weekend so that my cousin and his ladyfriend could have some time to themselves. So, Denise was in our custody for the time being. My mother loves Denise, and I have to admit she is adorable. She made her first pseudocrawl while she was with us that weekend. She appears fascinated by our television remote, and I used it as an incentive to get her to crawl a little.

Of course, she has yet to grasp the mechanic for crawling yet. Her procedure consists of getting into the crawling position and completing one of two scenarios:

1) She lunges forward with a burst of speed and lands on her stomach. However, this motion does propel her forward, so she seems content with it. 2) She lifts one arm and prepares to move. However, her hand is such a distraction that she puts it in her mouth and loses balance.

Both scenarios are comical. That being said, I was hoping to be able to get her crawling before we sent her back to her parents. She seems to be learning rapidly, as she has ‘crawled’ before reaching the age that this traditionally happens.

Also, I am going to shape her young mind so that it is prepared for mathematics. Odds are if she lives in the K-W area, there is a possibility I could be her math teacher at some point. That being said, I want to plant the seeds of mathematics early. I know there are some people who hate math (her father included) and I don’t want her to be one of those people.

Tuesday

Got back into Waterloo in the morning. Missed my Physics class because I dozed off briefly.

After my classes for the day were complete, I met up with Subject B and Subject C from my CLV days. Subject C had recently purchased a Playstation 3 and a copy of Grand Theft Auto 4, and he had enticed me with the prospect of playing it for an evening. So, I decided I would visit them at their condemned abode.

Despite all GTA 4 related promises, the reason that they had invited me over was much more sinister. After playing only about 2 minutes of the game (as Subject C insisted that he have an extremely lengthy turn every time I died), Subject B revealed the true agenda for the evening: Dungeons and Dragons. Specifically, D20 Modern.

Over time, I have grown to despise DnD. It would be okay if Subject B could develop a good storyline, but the worlds and scenarios that he has created lack any real depth. He forces your characters down rigid paths and the only way the game is made interesting is when my character does something completely unexpected and it forces him to think on his feet. Otherwise, we would be incredibly bored.

This scenario was no exception. D20 Modern - as one might infer from the name - is a game of Dungeons and Dragons that takes place in a modern setting. It was a post apocalyptic scenario that took place on the UW campus. Unfortunately, Subject B’s alien creatures were uninspired and his non-player characters were flat and boring. In fact, to spice up the scenario, my character killed one of the NPCs and entered into a Mexican standoff with several of my fellow players. Then we wrapped up for the evening.

I am hoping to avoid having to conclude that game. I was tempted to actually shoot everyone else so that it would be over, since Subject B’s scenario did not present any real threat. After the evening concluded, I made the long journey home alone (everyone else playing lived in that house) and contemplated about how bitter I was at not truly getting to enjoy GTA 4. Talk about false advertising.

Wednesday

Wednesday was a mediocre day as far as classes were concerned. Sometimes, MTHEL 206A has slower pacing then I would like. But I guess our professor wants to ensure that when we teach in high school, we do not move at the mile-a-minute pace of a university math classroom. And that makes sense. When you get so far in your field of study, you tend to forget how complicated easy concepts are to someone who is just learning them.

On Wednesday night, Binks and I grabbed dinner at Swiss Chalet. Talked about the bathroom girl and whatnot. As a completely irrelevant sidenote, the burgers at Swiss Chalet are delicious. As another completely irrelevant sidenote, Binks, we definitely should have gone to Sonny’s. It is a nice burger place just around the corner. Really good food. I apologize for not having thought of it at the time, as we seriously missed out on a delicious burger opportunity.

Thursday

Another one of my busiest days as far as class was concerned.

At 4:30, everyone met at the TSA office to head to the Beginning of Term party for us teachin’ folk.

It was pretty interesting. I thought it might give me a chance to talk to Stevie Nicks, but she ended up having to book it out of there for an evening class before most of us had even eaten. The rest of the evening was spent playing Rock Band and laughing with people in the program. Eventually, all the T1’s (first year TO students) had left so I decided it was time to leave. I decided I would walk home (because I need the exercise). This turned out to be a mistake, as it took me an hour to get home and when I arrived, I was too tired to complete my physics assignment. Oh well.

So, the evening was a bust. My main goal was to talk to Stevie Nicks in a casual, non-academic setting, but it all backfired. Ugh. Normally, I interpret events such as these as signs on what my next course of action should be. However, the cosmic signs - so to speak - that I had been receiving seemed to conflict largely on this issue. I’ll get back into my crazy beliefs later.

Friday

Went to a training session for a campus tour day. I had volunteered because I thought it would help me meet more people in the program and - lo and behold - Stevie Nicks had volunteered too. So, I was hoping to see her at the training session. However, she was not in attendance.

Still, those of us who were at the training session talked and laughed about how we behaved when we were first years. Good times.

Saturday

Woke up early to get prepared for the campus event that I had signed up to volunteer for. A lot of us TO students were volunteering at the Math Faculty booth in the SLC. In addition, we were going to be giving some tours of the MC and Davis Centre.

Overall, the day was interesting. We received Math Faculty shirts. Most people put their shirt on over their existing clothing, but I had foolishly worn a shirt with a collar (the Math Faculty shirts also had collars), so I looked like a tool. I went into the SLC study room set aside for the Faculty, and I accidentally walked in on one of my fellow TO students changing shirts. It was awkward, but fortunately she was around the corner and had just finished putting the shirt on when I came around the corner. Had I not tried to change in the mens room first…well…it would have been extremely awkward for both parties.

Anyway, I changed shirts and went out to the floor. Met a lot of new Math students, including a few who are interested in the Teaching Option. Gave quite a few families a tour of all Math related facilities. I also had to walk a family to South Campus Hall. It was not fun. It was hot and our shirts were black. I probably smelled really rank by the end of the day.

Although I had hoped to talk to Stevie Nicks during the course of the day, those plans were shot to hell. While I had volunteered for the whole day, she had only volunteered for the latter half. She arrived on the scene while I was giving a tour. Then, she took a family on a tour. Then, while she was still gone, I gave another family a tour. By the time I had returned, she had been told she could leave early because the event was dying down.

It was unfortunate. I got to speak to her for a little while. It was established that we are both terrified of teaching kindergarteners. There was another thing as well, but it has slipped my mind.

Anyway, I was thoroughly disappointed that I was unable to speak with her more.

After the event, I hung out with Binks and Andrew. The evening was relatively uneventful, unless you count Andrew’s staggering victories in Mario Kart or Binks’ struggles with some sort of noxious intestinal parasite. After Binks left, I traded a Ditto to Andrew. I put this in writing because he owes me a Chimchar baby for my Pokemon party.

Sunday

I discovered I did not have enough food to last me until Monday night.

As a result, I had nothing to eat from Sunday at 11:00 AM until 24 hours later. I got a Tuna Salad sandwich from the C&D; and my face happened to be buried within the sandwich like an oaf when Stevie Nicks entered our Lin. Alg class. I felt like a bit of a slob. But I was damn hungry.

Anyway…I’m tired now. I’m going to bed.

I will try to post more often so you do not have to read this in one huge post.

EDIT: Also, Facebook has alerted me that Stevie Nicks’ birthday is on Thursday. So, now I’ve got to try and casually wish her a happy birthday without saying anything stupid (believe me, I have serious issues with talking to beautiful women).

SECOND EDIT: Haha. I looked Stevie Nicks’ up on Wikipedia. The real Stevie Nicks (Stephanie Lynn Nicks) was born on May 26. So, her birthday was just yesterday. Odd that the girl I like and the origin of her pseudonym celebrate their birthdays within a few days of one another.