7 Quick Takes

- 1 -
To start with something awesome: this absolutely blew my mind. Like, totally and 100%. Apparently, specific sound frequencies create specific patterns of vibrations on flat surfaces. This particular kind of metal square is called a Chladni plate. I found this through another article that suggests that the odd stone carvings in an obscure little chapel in Roslin, Scotland are actually musical notes, with the carvings corresponding to specific Chladni patterns, despite the fact that Chladni didn't "discover" them until about 300 years later. Read the article here (it's long, but worth the read).

But even if you don't pay attention to anything else in this post, watch this video and tell me you weren't knocked off your chair by its awesomeness:



- 2 -
I've been frantically working on submitting my visa application so I can do a one-year certificate in advanced Reformation studies at the University of Geneva this fall. I got my acceptance letters, one last week and one this week, before finding out from the Swiss Consulate in Montreal that apparently I was supposed to start applying for the visa at the same time I applied to the school; that is, before I was even accepted, because the process takes four months (bringing me up to the week I'm supposed to arrive in Geneva and register for classes) and I was somehow supposed to know that I should just get the application started and send along the supporting documents as they came in, despite the fact that it clearly states on the application that school acceptance letters, among other things, are required to apply, and that incomplete applications will not be considered. Argh! But, it is still an easier and cheaper process than what I had to go through with Canada (multiple times). The two major hiccups are that, 1) I have to just cross my fingers and hope it comes through in time, and 2) I somehow have to give them "proof" that I have access to 30,000 Swiss francs to support me during my stay. This is approximately $33,500, and more than twice what I was budgeting for myself. So I've been scrounging around and trying to convince my bank that they should let me open a $35,000 line of credit even though I have no intention of touching it but I just need to print off a paper showing I have access to it. Guuuuuhhhhh I hate money.

- 3 -
On a completely unrelated note, I discovered the Bad Catholic blog this week. It is so awesome that it is making onto my weekly list of noteworthy things. So y'all should run, not walk, over to this kid's blog. Yes, "kid". Try to guess how old he is just from reading his posts.

- 4 -
Today it finally decided to be warm. Like, I was hot being outside in a tshirt and jeans. It was up to 22 degrees Celsius (about 72 degrees Fahrenheit). Finally! I don't have to wear a coat! It's supposed to go back down to about 13 tomorrow, but back up again on Sunday. Woohoo! Dare I believe that spring might actually be coming ...?

- 5 -
Mom is currently on her flight back to Boston after 2 fun-filled and rambunctious weeks in Greece. She should be somewhere along the west side of Greenland right now, I would imagine. She'll be back on the Island Tuesday. It will be nice to have her home again after a whole month of being away, since for the first half of May she was house-sitting for a friend of ours down at the shore. It will also be really nice to have the second car available again. =)

- 6 -
Speaking of which, (sorta) I'm going to learn how to milk cows and try to find work as a relief milker this summer. It pays better than any other job I've applied for on this Island except for two: a government post which I'll never get, and a secretarial position at the University which I'm very sure I won't get. But I figure, if I'm here for the summer, first of all, I really need something to keep me busy. I have an inability to sit still, or to make my brain sit still, so if I'm going to be running around doing stuff I should at least be doing learning something new and be getting paid for it. But also, I figure, if I'm going to be in PEI, specifically, for the summer, I should really do something that I could only do here. And folks, milking cows twice a day is certainly not something I could ever do in Montreal or Lowell, MA. I'm pretty excited about it, actually. More excited than the prospect of moving to Geneva for a year, in fact. Probably (hopefully!) because it's a more immediate event, and also it doesn't involve applying for visas and trying to find a not-too-expensive apartment in a country a half a whole away which I've never been to.

- 7 -
I can see leaves on the trees. I know this is very related to #4, but let me tell you, after an extraordinarily long winter and delayed spring, I can not even express how awesome it is to see leaves again. Like, legit green ones attached to tree branches. I just noticed them a day or two ago. Everything looks so different and wonderful when the trees and bushes have leaves on them. The end.

Your Optimism Update For Today

Just try and tell me you aren't smiling by the end of this. The joy coming from the dancers is just awesome. The fiddler on stage is Roy Johnstone from PEI.

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.