Friday, May 20, 2011

7 Quick Takes



Welcome to the weekly 7 Quick Takes. I was all ready to do this post this morning, but Blogger was down. So I'm doing it now.

- 1 -


I've been hearing complaints that I don't blog enough. This is true. In fact, I pretty much haven't blogged since I got home from Ireland. I don't plan to blog regularly. In fact, I find blogging weird, unless it's for something specific like keeping the folks at home abreast of your adventures when you spend 3 months abroad in Ireland. I find the whole concept of internet-only-relationships completely repulsive and abnormal; Facebook and online dating sites are included in this. But at least Facebook allows for short bursts of interesting information which you can read or ignore as you wish, and not have to enter into any sort of false "relationship" with the person, necessarily, in order to access it. (I have a plethora of other problems with Facebook, however.) Blogging weirds me out because people take it so seriously, and for some, it is their only access to a social life.

But, this rant aside, I will try to humor my friends and possibly people I don't know by participating in the weekly 7 Quick Takes hosted each Friday at Conversion Diary. Unlike proper blog posts, and more like Facebook, this format allows for short snippets of interesting information without the obligation of commitment on the part of the reader. Let's see if I can make this a regular thing.

- 2 -


I've been job hunting. Looking for work either in PEI or the States. PEI is tough because the wages here are so low, unless you're a computer programmer or you work for the government (in which case they're still lower than anywhere else in North America, but at least it's enough money to live on). I'm in that weird place of being too educated to take on any entry level jobs, yet not educated enough to work in high-education fields like teaching university, or I don't have the right high-education degree, like an MBA or a Master's in Administration or Counseling. Really the only thing I'm qualified to do is be a campus minister, which I would absolutely love if I could be somewhere that actually valued Catholic teaching, but the trick is to find someplace that will pay a living wage. And so we're back to square one. DOn't even get me started on how places need and want energetic, young, single people to do these jobs, yet they pay us as if we have a spouse upon whose income we can rely while we settle for our fun jobs that involve full-time work for part-time pay and sometimes even only part-time recognition.

- 3 -


In other news, I've been conditionally accepted to a program in Geneva that I had applied for. Conditionally meaning I still have to actually have my M.A. in hand (defense has been pushed all the way back to August) and the central administration has to accept my application as well. On my end, it involves thinking seriously about my current and future state of finances, and well as whether I really want to get my PhD and try to become a professor. It's a major lifestyle decision that I have yet to feel at peace about. But I'll have to decide pretty soon because a Swiss study visa takes about 12 weeks to come through, plus whatever extra time (anywhere from two weeks to several months) it takes for the Canadian mail system to get it to me.

- 4 -


My dad and sister are in the next room watching some old British TV show that reminds me very much of The Flight of the Conchords. i love those guys.

- 5 -


i've been doing a lot of cooking since I've been home. Today I made a chicken soup from scratch, if you allow for using Bovril chicken stock because I never properly learned how to make my own stock. And it was the first successful chicken soup I have ever made. I think it was because I put in too much stock, and then the Basil container opened up and dumped an ungodly amount of the stuff in the pot, and then in an attempt to have more than just chicken, onions, and carrots, I also added barley and lima beans. Nummmm.

- 6 -


The acceptance to Geneva has had one excellent benefit, in that I now no longer feel pressured to spend my days searching for jobs. The suddenly nice weather has helped in that too; it's hard to be stuck inside all by your lonesome for hours on end every day with nothing to do when it's 5 degrees and raining outside. Yesterday and today I was able to sit out on the porch and read in the sunshine. It was glorious.

- 7 -


Today I went to the Bulk Barn, which reasserts itself as my favorite store ever ever ever each time I walk into it. And I bought 3 different kinds of granola. Then I went to the grocery store and bought plain Balkan-style yogurt. Then I went home and melted my crystalized crap-Metro-store-honey-from-Montreal in the microwave to it became runny again. ANd I went to my freezer and pulled out a big bag of frozen blueberries that we buy from the fish man. And I took a bowl, put in a layer of blueberries, added a layer of yogurt, drizzled some honey on the yogurt, and tossed in several handfuls of mixed granola and nuts. And I proceeded to have the single best snack I think I have ever eaten in my life. It was the sweet and healthy counterpart to the gloriously fattening and savory Beurre Blanc. And it was so wonderful that I am excited to wake up tomorrow morning so I can have it for breakfast.

That's my lame attempt at the 7 Quick Takes for this week. Head on over to Jen's place at the Conversion Diary to read stuff by actual bloggers.

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