I indeed survived relatives and festivities. We even got snow today! *squee*


However, drunk and/or stoned neighbour J seems to have taken this as an invitation to throw snowballs against my window. I love our street.

The crystal soil arrived today. Finally. The reason it took so long was because customs had it in their evil clutches. And that was probably because the guy I ebay-ed this from put 'Special Services Lifestyle Gadgets' as the content on the customs declaration *shakes head*

grabbed from eolivet

( I'm starting to realize that I'm not just lacking in holiday vocabulary. Seriously. )

I did a count today. I have a total of 38 unread books lying around. And one guess what I'll probably getting for Christmas? More books! I'm just not much of a reader - too short attention span, at least when I'm not on the ADD meds (all of which have so far made me feel yucky)

At the moment, I feel pretty overwhelmed. With everything. Work was a nightmare today. It wasn't so much the kids, as my own nerves that were putting me on edge. And I feel bad for noz being able to handle a part-time job better.

I'm trying to unwind by watching TV and listening to music, but it's not working too well. I won't be going to French class because there is nobody around to drive me and I don't want to take the bus given that it is both cold and raining.

In the matter of my winter boots, I've learned today that the shop actually called a day or so after I ordered from them, but my father neglected to pass on the message to me and can't remember what it said now. But they have gotten back to me via email, so with any luck this will sort itself out. I could use my winter boots around now, because my only other pair of shoes or neither warm nor water-proof. The books I got for my father arrived this morning. I was unpacking them in the living room when my mother commented that one of the books we apparently inherited as part my grandfather's extensive collection of books and the other, a biography, is about a politician he apparently doesn't like. So, I'm returning those tomorrow and will pick out something else tomorrow.

Right now, it seems all too much to do before the holidays :-/ So far, the yearly holiday depression hasn't hit me yet, I'm just stressed out. Let's hope it stays that way.

The @lantis archive has been updated.

And a random goodie

BBC One Christmas Trailer (click, save-as)

...from the performance of the school choir at the school yard christmas sale. Aside from the performance (and thank god there was no play), the whole thing was pretty well done. It was nice to see some of my students actually being good at something. Some of the hand-made items they sold weren't all that hideous and a few were acrually pretty. I normally wouldn't have been at the school on a day off, but Sis is also in search of an internship. Her high-school is making her do one. She originally wanted to do an internship at the local hospital or at a physical therapist's, but unless you know someone who works in the field, it's next to impossible to get one. So, after a lot of unanswered phone calls from local businesses, I thought she could do an internship at my school. We met with the headmaster during the school yard sale and it looks like she is going to get to trail the social worker for a week. Doesn't sound like fun, but I never wanted to go into education either and still ended up there :-)

Bro got an offer for an internship at the place he went to interview last week. He has another interview (with a different company) today.

The withdrawals at least for now have decreased in their evilness. I still feel very 'blah', but I'm not jumping out of my skin anymore. I'm in the right mood to lie in bed and start working on the pile of books that I have been saving to read since the start of the previous academic year. I read maybe five books since February, including a couple by Matthew Reilly. I think it is amazing that he ever got published since his books are rubbish, but they are the kind of amusing rubbish that people seem to buy. Maybe that's his secret ;-)

Ordered a bunch of pretty Christmas cards today as couldn't find any that didn't look like from five years ago at the local store/post office/bank. I've started to make a list of presents and tallied up a budget, which however relies on either getting back what certian family members owe me or borowing from other family members until I get paid in January. I've probably said it before, but being paid quarterly just sucks.