Shout out!

Did you know that Blogger has this feature where you can track your stats!? Me neither, until recently. Since then, I have become a stat addict, seeing how many people have accessed my blog from PC's, Macintosh's, iPods, etc.. But the neatest feature is the fact that you can track your traffic audience by country. That's right. I know how many people from all over the world have viewed my blog. If I knew names and addresses, that would be creepy, but it's just simple stats, so instead it's interesting.

So, now to the point of this blog: my shout out. I would like to shout out to the source(s) of the 5 blog views I have had from Malaysia!! All I know about your culture is what I decided to read on Wikipedia and this map I got off of Google Images. Perhaps Malaysian culture will now become a side interest of mine ... did you know the currency in Malaysia is the Ringgit? And one of their major exports is rubber!?

(Sidenote, apparently my blog from last year's contest had viewers from even more countries! Like Saudi Arabia! Hellooooo fellow earth dwellers!)

Organized Chaos

Yep, exams are officially over. How do I know? The most obvious indication is the state of orderliness of my bedroom. During exam season, my room essentially becomes organized chaos. I feel as though many of you can relate, so I am going to describe my room to you for an "it's funny because it's true" moment.

Ultimately, every surface in my room becomes covered in piles of ... stuff (to use an extremely nondescript noun).

The floor = dirty clothes.

The foot of the bed = clean clothes (which stay on the bed day and night ... they just add to the warmth for sleeping - of which there is very little anyway).

The head of the bed = books in use for essays.

The middle of the bed = open snacks.

The nightstand = 10 coffee cups in various levels of consumption.

The alarm clock = the television series on DVD you watch for breaks during studying and writing.

The desk = piles of papers from classes.

Beside the bed = piles of papers for essays.

The chair = books for research/textbooks for quick reference that can be reached from the bed.

The bookshelf = Gatorade to avoid dehydration from the coffee, cough candies and Kleenex to help with the cold acquired through minimal sleep, cell phone in case of stress or studying emergencies.

The wardrobe (Does anyone else instantly think of Narnia every time they hear this word?) = basically empty because the clothes are all over your floor and/or bed.

I am happy to report my wardrobe is now fairly empty for another reason - packing for home :) Christmas break (which is really an illusion, as we all know it is actually full of readings and assignments, but allow me to live in ignorant bliss for a few days), here I come!

Merry Christmas Nipissingites! Bonne fin de semestre!

Everyone Deserves a Chance to ... fly!

Dear All,

As I am sure most of you are also doing as of late, I just spent all weekend watching a television series on DVD (I'm watching Smallville, if anyone is interested) while preparing for midterms and reading notes for final papers. As a break, I decided to share a little anecdote, showing how much of a nerd I truly am, or about 30 first year English students perceive it anyway. It's okay though, I know I am a nerd. I've accepted it. It's the first step.

It all began (and ended -- I've taken awhile to write the story) 2 Fridays ago, when I was going to the third floor F wing to run an ENGL 1106 Exam Strategies Cram (reason #1 I seemed like the nerdiest person of life). I went to use the staircase by the theatre and there was a small group congregating on the stairwell. One girl was singing "Defying Gravity" in

the stairwell at the top of her lungs (reason #2 I am a nerd: I knew the song just by hearing it, and reason #3 that it is from Wicked, the musical - which, reason #4, I knew BEFORE it was featured in Glee, I might add). So I ascended the stairs and waited for some delightful first year students to come to the room, and once it was beginning we each went around and said our favourite book. I kind of forgot that that would mean I had to say my own. So on the spot I

decided my favourite novel is Pillars of the Earth, a basically 2000 page novel (Reason #5). Then, I stood up to close the door since the music was so loud and said "As much as I love Wicked, Idina Menzel does this better in the original anyway" (Reason #6). When they looked at me funny I said "Kristen Chenoweth? No?" (Reason # 7). Then, reason #8, before all of them had left, some volunteers came to an information meeting that I was hosting in the same room about NU Reads, a literacy program I co-created with a friend 3 years ago.

I like to think it made them feel in safe hands for talking about exams; considering I am a nerd, they hopefully trusted me to tell them how to be one for a day to write a successful exam. I have to say, most of them laughed at my nerdy comments, so at least it relieved some tension ...

Dracula: Dead and Loving It

Unfortunately, I have to report the same for actor Leslie Nielsen, who passed away yesterday. I think most of us recognize the name, but for those of you who cannot put a movie title to that name, in my mind he will be most remembered as the lead of the Naked Gun movies. He has more recently been in children's movies, playing the beloved Santa Claus and other humorous children's characters, but to me he is always the man who says things like "You're excited? You should feel my nipples!" He is one of my favourite things.

What some people do not know is that Mr. Leslie Nielsen, comédien extraordinaire, is actually Canadian-born! That's right, he was born in the prairies!

Which brings me to my chosen clip. I don't know how to embed Youtube videos on here, so I'm sorry but the best I can do is provide a link. Watch Leslie Nielsen try to sing the American national anthem in a movie and fail. It's extra funny since he's Canadian!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Zar2J1iaE&feature=player_embedded#!

Dear Eddies,

I say "dear" on purpose. I can say this, because I have Eddie friends. Despite the fact that we like to complain about how much space you take when you move in hoards as sections through the hallways; that you fill the entire small caf or library for hours at a time; make the line in the small caf an unprecedented 30 minute wait to buy a simple bottle of apple juice (true story, happened to me yesterday); fill the Owl's Nest (when it isn't already taken over by random offices); make loud noises during your transitions from class to class during our honours seminars; get confused for the Concurrent Education students (do not make the mistake of confusing the two. It could prove socially fatal in a friendship); and talk excessively loudly about the student in your kindergarten class who eats his own snot, we do still have some form of affection for you.

Sometimes the stories you tell about your placements can be quite humorous to hear at random in the hallways; the bright bulletin boards you get to make as part of your assignment are incredibly creative and brighten our days; you're always laughing and happy when you travel in your packs; you get REALLY enthusiastic about things you are interested in; and, finally, you've been known to give me free baked goods at random.

Just know that you are an outlet for us to vent our frustrations and stress.

Sincerely,

Me.

It's getting hot in here ...

Where you ask? The library. But please don't take off all your clothes. I just wanted to point out the rapidly changing temperatures in the library the past few days. Being the big nerd that I am, I have been in the library every day this week, and the temperature has been radically different each time. In order to adapt to these changing temperatures, I have become entirely reliant on layers. It works for outside as well, as it can change from cold with snow to warm with sun, or warm and friendly to cold and slushy within minutes lately. Tank tops, tshirts, jersey shirts, sweaters, vests, jackets, coats, scarves and mittens can all be crucial to this survival process. So even if it is cold outside and ridiculously hot in the library, it's all a matter of natural selection -- and wearing 11 layers means you will survive the next stage "of the evolutionary rung" (Mohindar, Heroes, Season 1, Episode 1), or your next day spent in the library at least ... I thought I would share this tip with my fellow Nipissingites, so we can all be the fittest for survival, and Nipissing graduates can slowly take over the world!

Next step: adapting to the smelly lake during shad fly season ...

"North Bay, Home of the Shad Fly" - yes, it is a legit slogan for the city. I saw it on tshirts the other day, no joke.

[title of blog]

Hello there!

I am assuming that since you are reading this you are trying to decide whether or not you would like to follow my blog, so you're wondering what in the gosh darn world it is about. I mean, the title is slightly vague, indescript, ambiguous (if you are an English student or an avid literarian [I have coined that term -- the noun version of the adjective literary. Feel free to use it at your disposal]). In part, the fact that the title is open to interpretation is part of it's appeal! Hopefully there will be something for everyone. Follow. Participate. Hooray for active involvement!

I must admit, however, that there is a more direct allusion in both the title and subtitle of this blog: [title of show], an unfortunately slightly obscure musical. If you don't mind a bit of crass language, I suggest you Youtube it; I find it highly entertaining. The entire premise is that it is a simple, yet original, musical. "And who says four chairs and a keyboard can't make a musical?" as the performers sing. Well, who says we need all that flare and pizzazz to be entertained by a blog? That is my hope - to provide random entertainment through what I am experiencing or finding entertaining and sharing it with my fellow Nipissing University students and/or colleagues (including the part-timers!). The songs from [title of show] are linked simply because they resolve around the lives of the characters (who actually play themselves, so they aren't 'characters' at all), which the writers make entertaining through their wit and humour. It is my hope that something similar can happen here. Only time will tell.