elanya

I watched the movie Fido tonight. It was a little fantastic. The world needs more ZOMCOM. Not more ZomCon, though, possibly.

It is the story of a boy and his Zombie. The zombie is Billy Connoly. The flick also has Carrie-Anne Moss, of Matrix fame, rocking some 50's styles.

It is clever, and funny, and I recommend it to my fellow zombie flick fans!

Also, it has the bacony scent of Canada all over it, which is extra awesome.


...okay there was just a drunk lady singing Edelweiss outside my window o_O She actually had a pretty nice voice all things considered. But I'm still going to close it before I go to sleep. In like, a minute. Zzzzzzz

Just a head-s up to my local peeps that B_CS has an apparently quite active freecycle group, for the gaining if things and the getting rid of things... Just now, for example, I saw a notice for someone giving away an unused, still-in-the-box toaster oven :o

Thanks to mousme for indirectly nudging me to check and see if there was :o

I made it home tonight, with only a 6 hour delay and 30$ extra. This feels like a win, which is saying something about my travel luck.

I got to Houston, and the put me on standby for a 9:35 flight. I also had a confirmed reservation for the next morning. I figured I would also check out the shuttle option, and found out that the next, last one of the day left at 9 as well. So, pay for the sure thing or risk staying in Houston over night? I obviously went for the sure thing, which wound up being not so sure. I was anxious because I didn't have a watch (and the power died on my laptop around 7:45), and didn't know exactly how the thing worked. once it did finally show up, it turned out to require reservations which I didn't have. luckily not everyone who was supposed to show up did so. Due to stupid people we were late leaving, which meant I didn't get home until 12, even though I was the second one dropped off. Anyway, I'm here, though the front end of my apartment seems to have no power. I have heat, I got the internet working, and my fridge is running, so I'm happy enough for tonight.

And with that report. I'm going to go watch some more Avatar. I mean go to bed. ;p

So, apparently, my apartment complex got HIT BY A TORNADO the other day. So, the only real things I'm worried about are my books. Mostly. I e-mailed the complex to see what info I can get, but, ummm.... yeah, so that sucks, eh? Glad to have been home, and thanks to tethys123 for the heads up :o And at least I don't live on the second floor :o

Not here, anyway, I guess I'm lucky :o

The power is out at school - it happened just as LeeAnne and I were leaving the gym. We thought we'd go get some fastfood and discovered that the power was down a lot further out than we expected. However it is on here, and at the Schlotsky's deli that is near Walmart, so we went there (the deli, not Walmart, though they do have a subway) for food and she dropped me here. I told her to call or come over if she doesn't have power and things are annoying, so we'll see.

I also switched to my temporary wired internet service tonight. it is kind of annoying, because it is cable internet and I only have one cable port. So i can't have TV and internet at once. This is not acceptable! I should be able to watch House while I put together my handout for my presentation *and* be online, but I guess I'll have to choose :V A long term solution would be to get one of those splitter things that lets you connect multiple coaxial cable bits at once, I suppose.

However, I'd also like to not that my set up did not come with any coaxial cable! the idea of having to buy all these extra bits so that I can watch tv and play on the net (something I don't even do that often) is kind of annoying though. I may not bother. But it is the principle, grrr....

Well, I am going to work on the presentation handouts. Sas tells me House is a repeat!

Sea

I had a really great time tonight. I got to hang out with people in person! it was not the people I'd *planned* on hanging out with, however, and i apologize to them -_-

Claire, a girl in my program, thought it would be a good idea to get people together to pick up the drafting supplies we will need for one of our classes from a local hobby shop (well really it is a big chain shop, but whatever) - we could all go together, so that everyone would have rides and also all be able to find and get what we need. So, I went and did that. And then we were silly for a bit in said shop, and then some of us went out and had dinner at a big fake Irish pub the name of which I forget. They had a menu where everything seemed to revolve around Guiness, however. I had the Guiness bacon cheeseburger or somesuch. It was huge, and delicious! I am sure I am spelling Guiness wrong, but anyway.

After that, it was just me, Claire, and Leanne, and we brought Leanne's dvd player over here and hooked it up to watch Velvet Goldmine. VG is one of those films that I'm not sure how I had avoided seeing it previously, but of course enjoyed! I think those two are Good People. I could tell about Claire after I noticed she was wearing the One Ring on a chain around her neck. Now if she'd been wearing in on her *finger* I may have worried ;)

We are planning to go see Snakes on a Plane, and possible see PotC2 (again), since Claire hasn't seen it. Both of these options please me.

In other other news, obviously my home internet is restore, and working better than ever. I have also managed to set up my laptop to use the school's wireless network, so score!

I am considering seeing if I can get in to check out the local LARP game on Friday as well - we will see what else is happening. However, I definitely want to see those people some more, as they were also quite fun. There may be room for overlap as well :o

Happy Birthday to my dad, who I was not able to call as planned because of the above impromptu socializaion, and more properly to my sister, who I hope receives her present soon :o

Thismorning, the system had finally been updated with the correct tuition amount, taking into account all of my fellowship and such. I went to pay online. Oh, wait. Texas A&M does not accept Visa. WTF, eh?according to their site, this is because:
VISA permits TAMU to charge a convenience fee but requires that we charge the same convenience fee (percentage or fixed amount) for all payment options we offer. The vast majority of our customers have elected to pay using e-checks. Charging convenience fees at a higher rate to our e-check customers or diverting scarce dollars from academic pursuits or other necessary student services in order to support the acceptance of VISA would be inappropriate. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Any inquiries can be directed to VISA at the Cardmember Service telephone number on the back of the card.

Now, I can't decide who to call bullshit on here, VISA, or the school. Convenience fees my ass - we should pay you money in order for you to take money from us? Bite me. Take it out of sports :p Anyway, this caused me stress and hassels because, of course, I haven't been able to transfer money from my Canadian account for various reasons. So I was just going to pay with VISA, see? I eventually got it sorted out after I got home from a pointless meeting and running around like a chicken with my head cut off by going to my bank. *sigh* So now I go back up to campus tomorrow....

The meeting I thought was new graduate student orientation was actually not, even though I was told to come and that this is what it was. So in fact, I rushed up to Campus to try and take care of my fe issue for *no reason whatsoever*. if I'd have had more time, I could have called some placed and tried to figure out a better solution (like the one suggested to my by my dad, which is the one I took) and saved myself a bus trip there and back, as well as a bunch of aimless wandering.

Well, if nothing else, I have now re-stocked on stamps, so I can send out mails! :) See i'm all relaxed now because I have the thing I need to pay tomorrow, *and* I went swimming, and I am going to try making whole lemon muffins tonight. With poppy seeds because they didn't have any cranberries. Yum!

I also should say that I had a great time out with daemonnoire, ruby7829, and the other ladies. The Mexican was bad, as promised. The margaritas were effective. The conversation was varies, and interesting :) There is going to be a thing next Wednesday night, somewhere... And yes, it should be fun. We are going to watch The Machinist, I believe, and those who have crafty projects can work on them.

The weekend is over. I did nothing. I didn't even get dressed, really, just lazed about the whole time in a sarong. Never left the house. Saturday I hardly left my bedroom or bed. I dragged my laptop in there to watch Battlestar Galatica, as I can set things up there for watching fairly easily. I watched all the rest of the second season over the weekend, and I re-read one of my Terry Pratchett books. I also did some one-off writing projects, visible over at measured_words.

This morning I was supposed to go in for an International Student Orientation thing, but I forgot to check my schedule this morning and missed it.

Today, I need to get out of the house. I need to make myself get dressed. I have things I need to get and no idea where to get them. I could go out wandering, except that it gets so stupidly hot here, and I don't know that i'm up for that. So I'll just go back to the grocery store and buy some stuff for baking, maybe, as someone has put into my head the desire to make scones. And maybe I'll read more. I will write more, of course. Blah. Blaaaaaah!

As an aside, this is really one of my favourite songs ever.

Okay, getting dressed and such now. Then going out. Yes.

I have almost everything unpacked except for books and knicknacks. I don' have all my furniture exactly where I want it yet, which is part of the reason I'm holding off on those two things. I have all my clothes put away. Did I mention that i have two walk in closets? Yeah, that's pretty sweet, especially considering how much costuming stuff I have. Plus the space is nice for storing sewing crap.

Today I actually went to campus. For those of you who don't know, the A&M campus is *huge*. I had to jump through a couple of hoops for ISS so that I could get the blocks removed so that I could register and the department could process my fellowship and such. I have to pay my tuition before Wednesday. this will be an adventure as I've lost my red folder, probably at Dina's, and it has my checks in it. eep!

In any case, the bus route is not too painful, and there is a stop right outside my house. During the school year, buses will run every 18 min, which will be sweet. Atm they run every half hour, which is still a lot better than some other places I've lived.

After I got home, i went and got some more groceries. I forgot margarine *again* though, which was the whole point of the exercise! Well, half the point. I'll just go back - it isn't far. The round-trip experience took half an hour or so. And then, I came home and went swimming! The pool here isn't very deep - it ranges from 3 to 5 feet, but it is very nice. It isn't a standard apartment pool by any means, and as quite clean while not being painfully chlorinated. i can see myself spending lots of time there....

And now dinner and game :)

Of course, this all has to be considered in the context of last week, and this past weekend. I'll give a quick point form recap.
- Tuesday-Wednesday: spent time waiting in an apartment with no power/ac hoping to see movers show up, after having left Dina's number as a contact number. nothing.
-Wednesday afternoon - finally get ahold of movers. Say they can come Friday. Freak out because my plane leaves the next day, but then Dina says she can pretend to be me. Problem seemingly solved.
-Wednesday night - Britain thwarts terrorist plot causing security at US airports to tighten.
-Thursday AM - arrive ten mi too late to check my baggage and catch my plane, due to increase in security. Book new flight leaving Saturday, and pay through the nose for it.
-Friday - Movers are three hours late, but things are loaded.
-Saturday AM - get to the airport in plenty of time. Worry about missing my connection in Houston because the plane was late leaving Charlotte. have to go through a second security check where they threated to take away *my asthma inhaler and aerochamber*.
-Saturday PM - Airline loses my luggage, tell me that can deliver it and that it should be in later that day.
- Arrive at apartment complex, sign my lease. Nice lady allows me to Paypal all my bills because my checks are in my checked luggage (ha!). she also took me to a cell company so that i could get a phone - this plan thwarted by my lack of a driver's license, so that they want to charge me a 500$ cash deposit. Yeah, right.
- find out that i can't really access the internet from the apartment complex computer because it has ridiculous protection stuff on it. rent a wireless card to access the wireless network. The card doesn't work.
- on the plus side, learn that I am right cross the street from a bank, grocery store and Walmart, and that there is a dance studio in the strip mall right beside the complex. Get a movie and a pay-as-you-go phone at Walmart, some food at the store. Find out the phone can't call or receive calls from Canada. Leave contact number for moving company. Watch pale Rider, sleep on floor in cloths because no luggage.
Sunday - office is closed, cannot use any internet, cannot get phone number for airport, etc. txt rob, who sends me important numbers. Spend all day writing. Buy an oven pizza and a travel toothbrush kit. Discover that my oven doesn't work. Listen to the first 5 eps of Battle Star Gallactica, season 2, because I don't have the divx codec. Spend another night sleeping on the floor.

Monday - call airport again, they promise to bring stuff. Get wireless hooked up and paid for. Get a new oven. Hear from movers. Do a dance of joy!

Yes, I have my stuff. Yay! *Dance* All is well. I am going to finish unpacking, have a shower, and eat pizza, not necessarily in that order.