Sage posted this meme thing called “Random 8″… and I figured it was probably the best way for me to do a super fast update on whats been going on with me. So the following aren’t completely 8 random facts, but rather 8 pretty random things that have happened recently that I think are worth mentioning.

1. I got a new camera. The Canon S5 IS. Beautiful.

It is such a fantastic camera, the one I push when people are looking for a bulkier camera that isn’t quite an SLR… except I bought the last one in the store yesterday, so I’ll try not to push it anymore. A-hem. Our store is super bad for having stock in.

2. I still love my job, but a lot of things are starting to piss me off. People don’t know how to do things, we never have stock, everyone is motivated by money… Just to name a few. Yesterday, my day off, 9 am… I get a call… “Katie, what’s the price of the Blackberry 8830 on the Bell EPP plan?” …I guess in a way it’s sort of nice to know I’ve become a bit of a go to person - but at the same time, these are things that everyone should know.

3. I was supposed to sign for an apartment yesterday but Luke backed out. He wants to wait until November. Gah.  It’s super depressing. The lady was replacing the carpet for us today and everything. The apartment was fantastic, just over 1100 2ft, walk out onto a patio, right by the tennis court, huge living room, big windows, all inclusive at $450 each a month. Sigh, so sad. We won’t find another place like it on our next search. And the landlord was phenomenal.

4. It’s my step-dad’s birthday. He was born in 1943. We were going to get him a sound system, but that seems to be falling through. I brought him into Future Shop to take a look at things and he ended up wanting the $5000 system. Gah, obviously we’re not going to be getting him that… but I was looking at a $700, turns out Steve-Oh didn’t want to spend that much either. So. I don’t know. Anyway, happy birthday paul.

5.  Im curling my hair today.

6. I’m supposed to deal with my benefits for work next week and i have noooo idea what any of it means… level 1, level2… opting out, opting in, vesting… I dont know. If anyone has any idea what any of this means and they want to do my benefits for me, feel free to message me.

7. Mom, don’t read this one - I’ve been looking at jobs in BC again. I miss it there. I know I won’t actually go, I completely understand that, but … it’s nice to imagine myself back out west. I have already registered for school, and got the books, and blah blah blah, so I know I can’t go anywhere, but I am pretty sure I’ll be moving back out west within the next like 3 or 4 years. Only this time to Vancouver, because I love cities.

8. I have a giant crush on a boy at work, and its bad news - we’re not allowed to dip the pen in the company ink. Grr.

The fountain; downtown Guelph

The smell of bubbles in the downtown fountain, the shilling screams of first years finding out what south residence really looks like and jail bait in every single bar; it’s “O week”. (More commonly known as frosh week.) It was harshly brought to my attention yesterday that as a senior student, I’m not really allowed to join in on all the festivities of “O week”, but the fact of the matter is I never really participated in my first year - so why not now? I haven’t actually done anything, I didn’t even take advantage of $0.75 beers last night at Trappers.. (instead we went to the most south end of Guelph possible to the very dead Shoeless Joes, the only bar in town with less than 10 people inside.) Still, I would like to join in on something… It’ll make me feel old if I don’t.

Anyway, I had yesterday off, the perfect opportunity to get involved with a thing or two, so I hiked down to campus (no longer do I just live a 3 minute walk from the center of campus, but instead a 40 minute bus ride…) but instead of partaking in events I thought I should just get some things done. So I got my government CPP form filled out, and requested a letter to get into my RESP. I bought all my text books and picked up my course material for distance ed… all the while looking at all the first years, and missing my own first year. I don’t think I partied enough.

My courses are as follows:

History of the environment:

An introduction to the field of environmental history - its nature and uses. This course provides a historical perspective to environmental issues. It examines the causes and impact of human-induced modification of the natural world in selected areas of the globe, the evolution of attitudes and ideas about the natural world over time and the growth of conservation/environmental issues and movements.

Environment and resources:

This course examines the interrelationships between people and biophysical processes. The main themes are: 1) characteristics of natural resources and processes through which they are developed and used and 2) human response to environmental conditions, including natural hazards and global change. Contemporary Canadian case studies will be presented at the regional and national scales.

Environment and tourism:

An integrative perspective on tourism, addressing diverse interactions between people and tourist resources. Emphasis is on experiences derived from the use of resources, the environmental, economic and cultural impacts of tourism, and approaches to managing these impacts.

Pop culture and punishment:

The course will survey the social, political and intellectual influences upon the leisure activities of Europeans and Americans in the period with special reference to institutions such as the prison, the asylum, the reformatory and the regulation of popular culture and leisure activities. Witchcraft and the witch-hunt will be discussed.

One of these things is not like the other… one of these things just isn’t the same.

Yesterday I had thought the punishment course would be on that I’d drop… but now that I re-read the description it might actually be good, certainly a nice break from all the environment stuff. Anyway, classes start in a week and I’m super excited.

The past week has been really great. Work has been going just as well as I expected, if not better. I do go to bed at around 10 pm every night… but I guess there is nothing horribly wrong with that except that my social life has been completely narrowed down to my work friends. That’s not a problem or anything, but I have other people around I want to hang out with. Today, however, I had the day off… And my dearest love The Lenster called me up to let me know she was coming over…

She also said she was bringing something to drop off…

Now, she just spent the past couple of weeks over in Europe… France, Brussels and Dublin to be exact, so I thought maybe she had brought me a croissant or something. Much to my surprise, she brought me something even more delicious…My dearest friend Cearuil Swords who I lived with in first year. (He was an exchange student…) We spend the afternoon talking, catching up and eating good foods. I have missed him dearly, and am glad he is here for a visit.

I was so happy to see him, and will be happy to spend more time with him this Thursday. I hope to spend more and more time with my eco-kids whom I have grown further and further from as the years have passed. However, I am in Guelph, and the majority of them have all moved in together in a house that is super close not only to school, but also to my work. So I plan on visiting often, and doing lots of fun things.

Other fantastic news is that Allen is back from California so I’ll be going to Toronto soooon to visit him! I have missed him very much.

I spent today trying to figure out how to work my new phone (its okay, you can be jealous of it…) only to find out that before I can really do anything i need to pick up a micro SD card, so that’s on the plate for tomorrow as I am working 9 - 5:30. Then I am getting new sheets for my new apartment… for which we will be closing the deal on tomorrow. SO excited. Things are coming up Katie Kish.

I do plan on getting onto a more regular schedule for posting since the summer is now over, and my life is going to have some order to it. As of right now I’m going to be working Monday and Tuesdays 9 - 5:30 have Wednesday and Thursdays off and working 9 - 6 Friday, 10 - 7 Saturday and 10 - 5:30 Sunday. That accompanied with 4 classes, 3 of which are distance ed will leave about an hour a day of free time which I’ll probably spend on the computer and thus getting at least one decent post a day in! Woo! My life is about to get hectic, but at least it’s a good hectic. All summer it’s been really super unstable schedule wise, but now everything should work out to be grand.

Love!