committee meeting
i had to send off a proposal of my project and work to-date to my committee board early this week, and give a powerpoint presentation yesterday. it was a fair amount of work, but i wasn't particularly worried about it. following the meeting joe asked how i thought it went. i'd given a good presentation, i'd answered all their questions, and i'd only received intrigue, not criticism- so i said i thought it went pretty well. he shook his head. "leah, i don't think you understand. a committee meeting cannot go any better than that."
:)
this is great for him, as he's in the process of making a name for himself- if his students succeed, he succeeds. i've also been impressing him with my stats knowledge, which is important as he’s big on stats. it makes me happy to make that man happy.
also, although i'd been told when i was accepted that i'd have to take additional courses to make up for gaps in my background, the committee said i don't need any more than the standard three. guess i've done all right, eh?

endings
i had my last stats lab this past week, i'll have my last weekly stats quiz this monday, and i ran my last upcycling workshop for the year yesterday. new priorities have already slid under the door, but i don't mind. i really enjoy challenges, as long as they change from time to time.
and after a stats final on the 16th it's off to good 'ol virginny to celebrate the end of this lovely year.

cardboard furniture
i think i'll do this as one of my 2010 upcycling workshops:
http://www.foldschool.com/
kevin, how do you feel about some xmas cardboard construction?!

favela rising
i borrowed this documentary from OPIRG. if you can find it somewhere, do watch it. it's the story of anderson sa, a former child drug-trafficer who became a social revolutionary in rio de janiero's slums through music, rallying community to counteract violence. there's an insane twist that i won't give away with the hopes that you get to see it. i really need to snag myself an anderson. phenomenal.

saturday newspapers
i’m in a coffee shop this morning trying to get work done. across from me is an older couple drinking their coffees and reading the paper. loss of this is what would make me the saddest about newspapers closing down. i haven’t had the pleasure of a languorous sat paper for awhile, but i have the fondest memories of, for example, cape cod sat mornings spent reading the paper and doing crosswords at a coffee shop with josh.

owl necklace: resolution
after a couple weeks of waiting around for the girl who lost her dear grandmother's necklace to pick up a school paper and read about us finding it or know someone who read about it and let her know, i finally took the bus to her stop and taped a big message to the bench saying "if you're the girl who lost her grandmother's owl necklace, please call ____". another week and a half went by so that when i picked up the phone to answer a random peterborough number this week, i was not expecting the resolution of this whole ordeal. and yet there was sweet kirsten (kristin? christine? i didn't really get it) whose boyfriend -and apparently the only observant person she knows- spotted the giant message.
anyway, thank god i can stop dealing with it...and of course YAHOO for finding her!

VISITORS!
dad and barbara are zipping up for the weekend, and i get to bask in their divinity. thankfully i've had a fairly light work load this week, so i was able to kick it up a notch in order to open up my weekend. terrificsuperfunhappy times!

sock gloves

for last week's do-it-yourself workshop i made up some easy hand-stitching designs for wrist warmers, leg warmers, and mittens using holey and lonely socks. here's a pic of my new favourite mitts! :)

(they're lined with a second pair of socks, and i might actually even add in a third. super warm!)

UPDATE:

max's cabaret video:

for those of you non-facebookers, here's the direct link to the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q60_6ChVJw0

conservation work
i'm heading off to one of the last remaining tallgrass prairies in ontario today. southern ontario used to full of tallgrass prairies, but after people had spent a couple hours basking in the beauty of native grasses, flowers, and wildlife, they got to feeling peckish and decided to plant food crops there instead. i'll be collecting seeds for species preservation (in the event that something happens to this patch, or for future conservation projects, etc) and then get a special edition guided tour through the grasslands and facilities that haven't been opened to the public yet.

plane tickets
i'm very much looking forward to a three week virginia hiatus. if you haven't received the frequent, abundantly clear memos, i love the pants off my family. well, maybe i should avoid using that expression with reference to relatives...
anyhow, my happy heart is just swelling like a well-fed parasitic worm.
also, can you believe my first semester is almost over?

lemon balm
i went to an herbal medicine workshop a couple weeks ago. this week it was as if fate heard me begging to apply some of herbal medicine knowledge, because i was blessed with a viral something-or-other (doesn't look to have been swine flu, as nice as it would've been to get that guy done). traditionally there's not much of a viral attack plan other than sleeping, drinking fluids, and wishing imminent death. however, one of the herbs featured in my workshop was lemon balm which, among other great things, is reportedly effective at not only improving viral conditions but actually erradicating viruses. so i made multiple cups of tasty lemon balm tea and coincidence or not, my fevered illness only lasted for 3 1/2 days.

max's cabaret
alex and i had our tango performance last night at max's cabaret (an annual fundraiser for the market hall theatre in downtown peterborough). for those of you desperate to see it, don't worry- i expect videos will be showing up on facebook or youtube shortly. the whole show was tremendous- lots of uber-talented, attractive women wearing lingerie.

interAction
i've found that the people in peterborough, more than any other place i've lived, are like characters in an interactive advent calendar- each day there's at least one unexpected exchange with someone. maybe it's me, and my gravitational force has shifted in a way that makes others more prone to stop (or run me down, in some instances) and chat me up. on the bus, in the store, on the street, at an event- it doesn't matter, but i find myself frequently caught up in 20+ min conversations with strangers. even brief exchanges involve more meaningful banter than i'm used to, leaving my grinning and re-running the dialogue in my mind.

earthlings
i ran 'earthlings' as the OPIRG documentary this week, and ended up with tear-stained faces rearing for change. all but one of the people present expressed interest in getting involved with a vegan group, and although i really don't have the time to start one- who else is going to do it?
contrary to the cynics, i believe people want to be compassionate and thoughtful. no one wants to be contributing to unnecessary suffering and planetary destruction, and few recognize our modern traditions are founded on cruelty and self-indulgence. the hard part is encouraging people to step out of their comfort zones and acknowledge the repercussions of their/our behaviour.