UBC Dorm

Well, it's official! I am moved in! It was quick, easy, painless, and mom hardly even cried! The UBC volunteers really knew what they were doing and were a super big help!! They are AWESOME.
We first parked at Fraser Cascade then went to check-in at the Vanier Commonblock and went through a two minute orientation, super painless. Afterwards, dad and I went to grab the car with all of my stuff in it to bring to a very close parking lot near the dorm. We then unloaded all of my stuff, I didn't realize how much work going up four sets of stairs would be, but it is and I got my workout for today.
My family left about two hours after arriving, I will miss them lots but I'm also very excited about what's to come. I love them entirely.
My room... it's small but it's seriously perfect. I am so happy with it. It has everything I could possibly want and need. Not to mention, it looks super swaggie. When I moved into Hamber, my room included:

• a desk
• lamps
• super huge closet
• drawers
• a bed with mattress cover
• shelves
• three double-outlets
• an ethernet and phone hook-up 
• a few hangers
• wall hooks

There's lots of room in here too once you have everything tucked away! I am so excited! Here's a picture of my super sweet dorm:

I have dinner tonight with my dorm and an orientation to dorm living afterwards. Looking forward to meeting people and exploring UBC. 

The Start

Admittedly, I've been MIA for the last two weeks and I apologize for that. There are two reasons why I disappeared, one being a trip to Los Angeles to visit my aunt and uncle and the second being because I've been so ridiculously busy packing up to move into dorms.
My trip to Los Angeles was perfect. We even had the chance to visit Malibu and go to the most lovely beach, we even saw a mermaid. I ate good food, have good adventures, scooped up some sweet deals and most importantly, spent some really quality time with my uncle before embarking onto the next phase of my life. I wish I could go into more depth but I don't have the time right now.
Also, today I start my journey into the great unknown. I'm almost packed up, I think I might have brought too much but we'll see. Right now I have two big boxes, a hockey back, a smaller box and a suitcase filled with clothes, shoes, food, utensil, etc,. I'll post a list within the next few days detailing exactly what I've brought.
Tonight my family and I are going to Vancouver to stay over night and to have a bit of bonding time before I move into dorms. Tomorrow morning I'll move into Vanier, unpack, all that jazz and we'll see how it goes.
Until then, wish me luck!

Today

Today was a day of storm troopers being eaten by a whale, animals playing instruments and childhood bullies. It is so strange when we look inside our minds and our subconscious shows us what's below the iceberg, the strange anger that lies there, the brutal sadness, even the happiest of memories that seemed to have been taken away from you. Our brains are such a miracle, such an outrageously brilliant feature that we seem to take for granted. For the first time in what feels like an eternity I feel at peace, and okay with who I am. I genuinely feel lucky to be alive. 

UBC Bookstore & Chapters

Well, the time has come that I am required to buy my reading materials and textbooks for my upcoming courses. I've decided to get four of my books off of the Chapters website, paid generously by christmas gift cards and the rest I'll order online at the UBC Bookstore.
I had expected getting my books would be fairly easy and it kind of has been. The biggest trouble has been figuring out WHAT books to get. I've looked at the UBC SSC under required books but no luck, under all of my courses it just said, "information for the books required in this section is unavailable."So, I went onto the UBC Bookstore website and clicked shop, Vancouver campus and it said to enter my student number which I did, but for some reason my books still didn't come up and now I assume they are just over-loaded. So, alternatively, I had to look my courses up one by one and voila! four out of five of my first term courses have required reading material. My ARTH100 course however, isn't listed and neither are any of my second term courses. Four out of five isn't bad but you may wonder how much these books cost and I am quite surprised...
To start I'd like to say that I expected my books to cost thousands upon thousands of dollars and it actually isn't too bad but I think that's only because I'm taking mostly faculty of arts courses. The total cost between using the UBC Bookstore and Chapters, which had cheaper deals on a few books, is about $390. My FREN111 book is the most expensive at $132.
I will be interested to know what the process is like once I go to pick up my books at UBC, whether I'll have any problems or anything... hopefully not!
All in all, I am impressed that at the bookstore you have the option to get used books at a discount however, I would like to point out I only had that option for one of my novels for ENGL100.
In general, it's been smooth sailing this far for all of my books. I guess I will just have to wait and see what delivering/pick-up and all that jazz is like and I definitely recommend checking out Chapters for discounted and used books online!

Watch Love

Can we just talk about how on point my hand accessories are today. I got my ring from the Richmond Night Market and my watch was a birthday gift from my lover and I am so excited about how nice they look together.

If you squint a little bit you can see a  scar on my hand that's about an inch long. I used to be kind of ashamed of it for some reason, I don't know why. It was the product of a dog bite from our old dog, Honeybear. Anyway, I love the way it looks and I love the way that all of my scars look, not that I have a lot. They're just near memories, accidental tattoos. 

Apple Love

Two of my graduation gifts came today!
My Papa gifted me a MacBook Air! Hooray! It is so pretty and wonderful and it's been love at first sight. The second, is a gift my uncle and his excellent partner got me, a G-Drive external USB drive! I am very happy about both of these items and will be updating our time spent together.
I'd like to mention though how easy the setup was for my computer and how sleek it is. I can't wait to get more usage out of this baby and to see how it performs.

Richmond Night Market

Last night Kevin and I made our way to the cities in the west. We fit in Kevin's tattoo consultation and a stop at Ikea, who's workers are actually on strike in Richmond due to decreased wages, all before paying our $2 admission fee into the Richmond Night Market.

I must admit, I had some pretty high hopes for the night market, thinking that there would be cool little vintage tents, or neat jewelry or something along those lines. There wasn't really. It's mostly cheap stuff made in asia, things like phone cases, socks, tights, knock off pandora and so on. HOWEVER, the food was rockin' and if you do decide to attend this event, please go on an empty stomach. 

One of the first things you see when you go to the market's food section is this giant sign that says Noisy Boy Squid, the name I might add suited the stand quite nicely. There is a small man there yelling every 3-5 seconds, GET YOUR DEEP FRIED SQUID HERE. ORDER HERE. ORDER NOW. DEEP FRIED SQUID. This is okay if you're just walking by, but as you're waiting for your food it gets a little repetitive. Anyway, Kevin and I ordered the small order of the deep fried squid. I might add that Kevin nor I have ever had deep fried squid so, you could say we were taking a risk. Anyway, it was DELICIOUS. They put something on it so it's a little bit spicy but not too much. I would definitely have it again. 

Kevin also had Butter Chicken Poutine from the stand called Red's, it was also pretty good but I think the fries could have been better and possibly the curry a little spicier. I had some Korean Noodles from a stand, and they were mediocre, definitely have had better. 

We also indulged in the sweet side around 9, this was about the time where everything really picks up and some areas were pretty much a stand still. The first dessert we had was the Deep Fried Mars Bar and let me tell you, I have never had such sweet, chocolatey goodness. On the way home, we even googled the recipe. Apparently, it's a Scottish delicatessen that fish n' chip shops make for dessert. 

The market also has a section of carnival games, which were really fun even though we didn't win anything. They were mildly over-priced, as is every game at any carnival/fair but that is the fun of it. We played ring toss, which I had never ever played in my life before and now I understand why I haven't, and Quarter Pitch, which was really really difficult. I still love carnival games though, I think that's because of my competitive side, which comes out quite often when I'm around Kevin. 

The best part of all, of course, was the ROTATO!!!!! Kevin and I gleefully shared a Pizza-flavoured Rotato and it was EUPHORIA ON A STICK. The line up was super long but seriously worth it. The low down on a Rotato is that it's a potato that's been cut into a spiral and then put on a stick and then deep fried and then they put flavor on it and then you die when you eat it. 

Me being very excited about my Rotato.

Also, we had some deep fried ice cream which was yummy too! Not exceptional but yummy. So, all in all the market was fun if you're a foodie and interesting to see. I was impressed by the prices of the food too, all of them were reasonable. It was a nice night and watching the sun set over that giant duck was very cheesy and beautiful at the same time. Thank you Kevvy for the wonderful time and sharing this experience with me! 

Eighteen.

Well I was MIA on the blog, I turned eighteen. This specific birthday is meant to be a milestone in a young person's life, their "entrance into adulthood." That is all fine and everything but quite honestly, I don't understand why. Sure, I get to vote but the next election isn't for another two years! Of course, I can now by porn, drink in Alberta and gamble in some states but other than that, I have to pay an extra few dollars at the local movie theatre, more taxes are taken off my paychecks and I'm only getting older. 

I'd rather not get any older. 

Another thing that has been on my mind lately has been how short life is and how we only have one. Since I'll be attending university in the fall I've had to consider "life options" and such, and you know what? There is way too much stuff I want to do to be able to fit it all in in one life span. For instance, I want to open a cute cafe, be a journalist, become prime minister, get into marketing, photograph for Vogue, have cute children, go to Paris, live in New York, Toronto and London, speak fluent French, have Quebecois friends, grow my own vegetables, open an Etsy account, have pretty friends that go shopping with me, run marathons, and a ton of other things. How am I supposed to fit all of this in? If God is real, then I despise him for making me a mere mortal. 

My Love Letter

Dear Blog,

it's been a while... I know. I know you haven't heard from me and I know you've probably been wondering where I've been. Maybe that's the way you've like it though, Blog. Is it? I hope not. I've really missed you, you and your page view counter that validates my existence, your precious domain name, the way you look with fresh posts. I hope you've missed me too. 

What have I been up to? I graduated, Blog. I did, I did it for you and I did it for me and I did it so that we could have a future together, a future filled with excitement and adventure, something I hope you'll be apart of. I'm going to UBC in the Fall you know. I am. Come with me, I'll show you off and I'll brag about you, I'll get you page views. I promise... isn't that what you wanted Blog? Don't you want me back?

I also got a job, Blog. I made some money so we can start our life together. It was just a job giving tours of this old church here at home. I'm doing some other stuff now though, stuff that will be better... for both of us. 

I hope you can forgive me for all of the things I've done while we've been apart that I didn't tell you about. It got pretty busy. I'm sorry that I left you but I want you back. Take me back? I'll treat you better now, Blog. I will. 

Love always, 

kr