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 ...