It's Update Time!

lol, no really... actually, it was probably update time a few months ago... but slacking's always just so much more fun :P.

So, what has happened in the wonderfully wacky life of Ally? hmmm... good question
*insert moments pause while previous postings are rifled through*
Started off last term travelling 'round Ireland (both South and North - the Antrim Coast was definitely my favourite :D - though Blarney, County Claire and the Burren are up there - oooh! and bog jumping, how could I have forgotten bog jumping???) with Andy. Saw lots of cool stuff, met lots of grat people and overall just had an awesome, awesome trip (thanks for letting me drag you everywhere around Belfast on a wirlwind non-stop morning-long tour btw Andy - you definitely made it more fun :D!) ... Oh! And while in Dublin I got to see Josh!!! YAY! also, had guiness at the storehouse :). Next was term with many essays and readings (though not nearly as many as last term), beginning with a fun tantrum-and-song-filled collection *grins* (I beleive I wrote a page long rant about feeling as though I was talking to myself despite writing about stuff I didn't care about (and neither did the examiner most likely) before moving on to writing poem about viking raiders-turned traders *sheepish smile*) ... *coughs* moving right along, I ended up deciding (with Tabby's blessing *shakes head* I can't believe you became our coach :P, it was undeniably fun and you were undeniably good tho) to quit rowing so that I could actually have time to breath (inhale, exhale). It was actually probably a very wise descision given that I everntually wound up dancing about four hours a day on top of everything else, but that's for later ;P. Em's visit was fun, took her punting (YAY! Punting :D!!!), had formal hall, attended Hertford Ball, dragged her everywhere around Ox, went to Blenheim on a holiday weekend and watched jousting, had pims on the lawn and acted like kids, went in to London (where we saw the aforesaid-ly awesome Avenue Q) and took a lovely 5 day trip up to Scotland *grins*. Edinburgh's AMAZING :D. I loved it. Just as I loved loch ness and the highlands - especially the part where our bus broke down for a few hours and Em and I discovered the 'Loch of the Legend of the Lost Sword' (no joke!) as we hiked along the West Highland Way :D.
OOOH! Before Em's visit came Alan with his friends involving another good fun-filled punting adventure and D&G's sorbet in ChristChurch College! Oh! And later in the term was Nal's visit with Hertford Sports-day (Go Bouncy Castles!!!), formal hall, frisbee in the parks, (no punting sadly due to river overflowage), tree Climbing with Chris Black and many other food and fun filled adventures ;).
Nal's visit came just after the performances of our Ballet show (we did Elite Syncopations, a bunch of russian pieces including parts from La Bayadere and Cygnets - both of which I was in :D). The shows were just sooo much fun and sooo worth it - I loved every minute of it, both onstage and off, rehearsals were too much fun, you guys were awesome and I so wish I had the time and energy to do it again next year! As if that wasn't enough dancing for one term, Ollie and I decided - a week before they were set to happen - that we were gonna do our Ballroom and latin gold exams :S - How we passed them I'll never know, but pass them we did (with a commended in Ballroom :D!!!), thanks in no small part to Bruce and all of his last minute teaching :D.
With that, five-a-side football games and fun times at the pub with the boys, term was coming to an end... oh! and I also saw Alan Rickman somewhere in there! and crahsed many MCR BBQ's with the american visiting students *grins*... but yes, aside from that... hung around for a bit after term ended and had wayyy too much fun just hanging about, baking up all of the left over food ingredients (those chocolate things we made were yummy! *grins*), playing mafia until 5 am... the highlight of the term though definitely has to go to our crazy double punting trip up the cherwell which we spent reading shakespeare in otrageously funny accents (Much Ado About Nothing :D) drinking pims and laughing at the boys when they decided to jump off the punts :D!!!!!!

Yup, so that about covers my term, *grins* it was a fun one... trinities are definitely turning out to be my favourite - hopefully I'll be able to say the same about next year! Oh! and congratulations to all the Hertford Arch&Anth grads, you guys did amazing!!!

I guess that brings us up to summer then... hmmm... well let's see, I've pretty much just spent it doing the reading for my dissertation and splitting my time between hanging out with all my friends and family and chilling out at home - Basically just enjoying being home for a decent length of time for my first time in a long time :D... Canada day was muchos fun, as was seeing everyone again at Winnie's and hosting our party at Jess's :D. Cottaging and Wonderland with the cousins were definitely also high points! (the New Behemath with Trina was Awesome!!!)... what else??? Much reading and catching up on movies with friends was also fun - wanted rocks!!! as did Get Smart, WallE, 21 and Penelope! (Oooh! I still need to see Ironman and Highschool musical!) I also managed to go see a play and go to dinner with Mrs B., spent a few long but fun nights in Jess's hot tub, got to see Marc :D! who we dragged to the science centre, found awesome drop in Ballet Classes and got to have lessons for a bit with Kimberly Glasco (former NBC principal) while she was filling in *grins very, very excitedly* and got back into Flying :D!!!!!!! (very excited about that one, can you tell???... I also did a silks class (finally!) which was fun, but which we wont talk about as it took me an hour to figure out how to climb all of four feet :P)... also finally gave into peer pressure and read the Twilight series - definitely wasn't as bad as I'd feared, and each book definitely gets better than the last... if pressed, I might even admit to driving Ju and I out to the midnight madness sale of the fourth book last weekend *looks innocent* What?! it was 11:30 at night and we'd already watched 2 movies ;D... actually, I just saw a sneak peek of the Twilight movie on the penelope trailers (honestly, I can't escape!!, it's everywhere)... it actually looks like it might be decent despite how it's trailers have made it look! (don't tell Ju I just admitted to that!). What else - oooh! Football with the boys on Saturday!!! It was soo great to get to run around and see everyone again - even if they have all grown into oversize monsters :P, honestly, you'd think a bunch of gifted asian boys would be properly nerdy and scrawny! Nope, you guys are like tanks! *wrinkles nose* ;)...

So yeah... I guess that brings us up to now... hmmm... and I should probaly go to bed! Off in two days to Morocco, Turkey, Jordan and Egypt before term starts and I am once again in Oxford - I'll keep you posted! (or at least I will after the fact ;) )
Lot's o' Love!

PS.

Avenue Q is ridiculously, hysterically and pretty freakin' awesome!!! :D.

Wait! Hold it up! HALT!!!

*somehow imagined to the sound of screeching tires*
heehee... sorry... right, (back to serious mode) so, what was that all about you ask?
I think I've decided to institute a strict policy of agnosticism in regards to the future: I can't possibly know, I don't really need to know and, trufully, there's no point in worrying about it 'til I get there, I can't do anything before then :P. I mean, knowing just takes all the fun out of life! where's the surprise in things? The shock in finding out about something about to occur and the adrenaline in making it just in time? The horrifying realisation that you've just remembered you forgot about your last tutorial, have an essay due in 3 hours and haven't started yet? Now that's living (well... maybe the last one not-so-much :P)
I just feel like I've been rushing my life the past two terms (possibly due to the fact that I've been doing ridiculous amounts of stuff *wrinkles nose*) and there's really been no need to. It's not as though I actually have a plan or any solid incling of what I want to do with my life when I graduate - why should I???
Gah! I should just focus on learning as much as I can while I'm here and enjoying it to the fullest!
Worrying about what comes next and how this pertains to it is exactly what I swore I would never do! (am I just letting other's questions get to me? Why am I felling so insecure about it..?) Even thinking about it makes me feel as though this is just a step on the way to something else - and I've never wanted that. I've always maintained that university should be for learning's sake the way it was orriginally intended and not just some step on the ladder to a career or job.
Only I seem to have forgotten that at some point... When did I lose track of that thought and begin to think of this as something I just had to 'do' in order to get on with my life??? I don't want that. It needs to stop. Not that I haven't been taking advantage of all the oportunities and all the enormous libraries and craziness to learn... I've just sort of being doing it because I'd programed myself to, rather than conciously doing it. It was like part of me was working on autopilot while the rest worried away and planned what it would do in the future...
It's not right, I haven't taken enough advantage - must rework strategy from now on :P.
At any rate, agnosticism worked in highschool :P. I just sort of enjoyed life as I lived it, did what I wanted to do or felt was right, and overall just didn't worry about the future - and look where I ended up :D. See, it all ended happily *grins*. That said, in large part I suppose that was more because I had faith that I could do anything with my life based on the marks I was getting and the range of courses I was doing... faith I just don't seem to have now (look! The wellspring of insecurity has been found :P). I mean I know that's ridiculus given that I'll have an Oxford degree... but it's only in Arch&Anth and it will only be a 2:1 at best... is that good enough to give me complete freedom of choice?... not really...
Ah well, nothing to be done about it now (look! *grins* I'm putting my preaching into practice!) 'cept of course to enjoy myself and take advantge of the rest of this term and all of next year without worrying at all where it will lead. Just having faith that life will turn out all right in the end. It always does anyway, because it will be lived in whichever direction it goes, and that's all that really matters. It's never too late to change course and it's never too late to begin accepting what's been learnt in the interim as acceptible and enjoyable.
Yup. so that's it. Agnosticism regarding the future is the way forward ;).

Flibbertygibbet!

(I donno, it just seemd like a good word to start with :D!!!)
just an update before I head off to the land of the little green men (otherwise known to most sane people as Ireland ;) ). Rent was fun - as was Dinner with Ju and Kimmy and Stefan! OOH! Easter was hillarious! Em flew in from BC to surprise Marc and Jess for their b-days (and me - although she had to tell me beforehand to help with the surprise :D!!)! So that was awesome. The looks on their faces were Priceless *grins*!!!!!! heehee. The rest of Easter was good too, spending time with family and being run around (and over) by my cousins. Overall a good break, fairly relaxing - got to hang out with most of my friends - more than once too! (which is always shocking)! Visited Woburn - also more than once *nods* - and the chiropractor's two!!! (yes, :P, that was intentional... yeah, I know. I realise that it officially makes me a nerd *wrinkles nose at anyone who's ever doubted it before*). heehee. so, yup, fairly good break over all - and now, it is time to take on the world Muah-muahahahahahaha... *coughs* uh, yeah, not entirely sure where that one came from... sorry about that... not a really feminine sound, was that?... anyhow! It's off to Ireland with Andy for me (and I get to see Josh, YAY!!!) for a week before heading back to Ox for the most wonderfullest term that is Trinity :D.
Enjoy your Springs (and darn you to all my friends who get off just as I'm going back :P).
Lot's of love!
Me ;)

Post Scripts

PS. On a side note. that was my 100th post... so, yeah, Congratulations to me I suppose ;)!

PPS. heehee... was just re-reading some of my old posts *shakes head* there was definitely one of the earlier ones where I was absolutely disgusted and unconvinced of the prospect of me ever being in mud *laughs uncontrollably* who wouldda thought I'd go into archaeology??? *grins*

*shakes head again* and I couldn't've been more right when I said I that woburn was never gonna be rid of me *laughs* I definitely only intended to visit for a few minutes yesterday after going to Dr. Gammie's - instead I ended up going on a field trip to see "Stuff Happens" (it's by studio 180 at CanStage and it's amazing, if a bit wordy) with Mrs B and the lit classes!!! It was fun ;P! And now I'm going back next week to watch the play projects!

Wow.

 It's been a while!
hmmm... lesse, not too much to report I guess. Term was good and I'm now 20 - AH!!!!! Ally as an adult is quite the terrifying thought :P.

Christmas and New Years were fun (if not overly exciting in the case of the latter - silly boys and preferring to watch ratatouille over going to Nathan-phillips :P - it is a good movie though :D!) OOh! Saw Dirty Dancing with Papa and that was really good too!!!
Term was fun, a bit overfilled with Dance and Rowing - but still good *grins*. Managed to work in some baking (and the subsequent eating of the cookies *wrinkles nose*;) ). A good walk into the Countryside with Lisa and an awesome bump right in front of the boathouse! on the last day of torpids - which was AWESOME :D!!!! OOOh! Pancake cooking for MardiGras and Charlotte's birthday were also tons of fun - as was my, Charlotte and Chris's excursion to the skating rink in 8th week :D. YupYup. Celebrating my bday after term with those who were left over was also good and hanging around to enjoy the serenity of reading for pleasure and exploring (heehee, namely claire and my expedition to 'map' out how the colleges fit together ;P) in a much quieter out-of-term Oxford was also really really nice :).

Home in time for my birthday (and Zia's, and Nonno's 80th!) where there were 152 candles on the cake, and then spending time hanging out with friends - And toboganning with Ju :D!!!!!!!!!! were also awesome... *Nods* Yup, so now it's off to see the Darwin exhibit at the ROM with Evan, Em, Ben and Alan and then to see Rent (YAYAY!!!) with Ju today!!! Then Easter with the Family - And Marc and Jess :D! and yeah.. then I have no clue what my plans are before term - hmm.... ;)

HAppy Easter & lot's of love everybody!

Merry Christmas Everybody!!!!! (& Ally's Back :D)

heehee... wow... lot's has happened since I last posted (not all that surprising I s'pose seeing as how I haven't posted since September ;P)... lesse... Flew in to Paris to spend some time with Nal and had fun running around to the Chateau de Vincennes and climbing Notre Dame (finally!) and just generally wreaking havoc on the city with her and Yves *evil grin* before I took off to go a-s'ploring on an epicly wirlwind (6 days :D!) train journey through Germany ;)! Met up with Claire and Zuzanna in Munich (where Zuzana hosted us :D!) - it was amazing!!!I love Munich!!! Bavarian culture is crazily-awesomely-the-best-thing-on-the-planet!!!! Heehee, everyone wears dirndle and leiderhosen!!! It's great :D! It was even especially greater as we were there for Oktoberfest *grins*!!!! People there are Crazy!!!! They start drinking at like 7 in the morning!!!! It was amazing though and the Beer Tents are sooo cool!! The beer even tastes good!!!!! (not that I can finish a Mass on my own though :P) heeheee... we even managed to get a place in one of the tents with Zuzana and her friends! - and Claire and I made loads of new friends on our roamings around town. awww Munich really is a gorgeous city! After that it was off home for Claire and up to Berlin for a couple of days for me. Berlin is a really nice city too... too young and ... new?... for me though... I just don't feel the history to it in the same way I do Rome and Paris. It is really nice though... wouldda been nice to have more time to wander through museums - even so, I miraculously managed to see everything in the day and a half I had there :D! OOOH! and I did this really amazing fre-bikie-tour of the city! It rocked! I highly reccomend it! Next I was off to Heidleberg to visit the fabled town and its pictoresque castle - and to see the jaw bone of Homo heidlebergensis :D!!!!!! It was cool!!!! and the town and castle definitely lived up to their reputation :D!!! Next was back home (or Nals home at any rate :D) to Paris for a night before I headed back off (to my home) in Ox :D!!!. Awww man, I love traveling by train! It just, being able to see all the scenery with not other cars and dirty roads blocking the window makes you feel as though you properly are covering ground and travelling. All in all it was a really beautiful trip.

School was really good this term too :D! Possibly one of my favourite terms yet. It was filled with work, but loads of other stuff too *grins*. I'm now international student rep for Hertford. OOOH!!! And I took up rowing! It's actually really really fun, I was on the Novices C's due to my crazy schedule - but I think that we were arguably the best crew *grins madly* We had the most fun at any rate ;)! Christchurch, the big novice regatta was unfortunately cancelled (again) this year due to massive ammounts of rain and high water levels - but we still managed to race and do well earlier in the week ;)!!!! After all our training in the rain too :P! lol!!! We would get soooo wet! One day was amazing though as there was a sun shower (the rain was still pelting down though!) and there was a double rainbow over christchurch meadow as we were rowing past :). heehee. lesse, what else? Still dancing as much as ever - only ballet and jazz though now, no time for ballroom. OOOH! And I just bought new point shoes (I'm back on point :D) - they're all pretty and Grishko 2007s :D!!! Still playing (european-soccer) football - OOOOHHH!!! ANd I went Kayaking in South Wales one weekend, so that was fun!!!!!! heehee, being me, I managed to fall in on a flat bit :P. What else?... OH! Watching the rugby world cup and the reactions of the english was amazingly fun ;)! As was Hallowe'en baking :D!!!! oooh!!!! And pumpkin Carving!! heehee... I got some weird looks when I had to buy the pumpkin early and bring it into the library with me before bringing it down to South Oxford for carving *grins* It was fun carving though! Especially as it was Qu's first!!!!! *shakes head laughing* I also got the sign of the cross made at me for wearing my devil horns around town on hallowe'en day *shakes head again*. OOOH!!! And X-mas baking :D!!! (not at home, though I did that with Kat at Nonna's all day on Wednesday :D!) But in Ox!!! I got a bunch of us together and we made and decorated X-mas choc-chip and rasin cookies :D!!! They were amazing!!! And they disapeared really really fast ;)!

hmm... yup, so, all in all, a very very good term :D!. Afterward Charlotte and I hung around Oxford with all those who were helping with interviews for a few days before we headed to her place so I could see her family for the night before heading off to Paris to stay with Nal again (and pack the extra suitcase of pressies she gave me to bring home for people ;P!) before heading off skiing :D!!! heehee. Paris was, once again, awesome, as I tagged along with her to some of her classes - one of which, on french comparative literature, was downright amazing! - and just hung out. OOh! We also went to a special x-mas party for Quebec-ers in Paris with her cousin and her boyfriend and friend on the last night which was loads of fun (even if I did finally develop the ear infection that had been threatening - luckily I also had anti-biotics on me ;)!) OOOH!!! and I Also got to go See Tante Janine in Louveciennes again!!! Aww I love her sooo much! So we got to share and enjoyable afternoon of Fooding anf chatting (no walk unfortunately as it was raining.)! Yupyup *nods*

Heehee Next was Skiing in Val Thorens in the French Alps :D! the largest and highest ski area in the alps! It was amazing!!!!! one of the best ski trips I have ever been on :D!!! I totally wish I had taken more pictures!!! There was just incredible amounts of powder, it was AMAZING :D!!!!!!!!! It was over my waist in places!!!! heehee, there was no visibility for the first three days, but the last three were perfectly clear - oooh! and they opened up the passes into the other 3 valleys so we got to explore there and I got to ski GLADES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yippeeeeeee :D:D:D:D!!!! heehee... awww.. a bunch of us did advanced lessons and our instructor was Great! heehee he was fun, basically got a kick out of burying us in the deepest powder he could find off piste *shakes head* It was awesome! And I now know how to ski powder as well as packed snow :D!

Heehee after that snow filled adventure I headed back to Nal's for the night so we could have X-mas dinner and exchange gifts and, then, it was off home to land in the biggest snow storm of december 'since '45 :D!!! heehee it was great to arrive in (even if ma refused to come to the airport to pick me up *wrinkles nose*), everything was all White! *grins* yupyup.

So now it's the day before Christmas (for me... eve for everyone else *wrinkles nose*) and I've finally managed an update! Heehee... decorated the house as soon as I arrived and got to see a bunch of the gifties on friday when we all turned up to see Woburn's x-mas assembly (and Mr. Rooney who was subbing for the day :D!!!) so that was all good and fun *grins* and I got to play football in the snow on the back field which was even mpore fun :D (even if I did end up in the splits at one point :P). But yeah, it's great to finially see everyone again!!! I missed you all sooo much *hugs* *plus more hugs just 'cause I've missed you all*

Went up to Burlington yesterday to have an early x-mas with Papa's side so that the Uncle Peter's could be there. It was fun *grins* aww man, Vanessa and Keith have grown sooo much, they're still adorable though ;D! And it was really good to see everyone after not getting to go cottaging this summer *pouts*

So, yeah... that's about it! Update completed I guess ;)!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! Hope you all have Happy Holidays!
~Ally

Back!

Wow, It feels like it's been forever since I last posted!!!! (Prolly 'cause I've done so much since, considering the length of most of my posting breaks, it really hasn't been all that long :P)!!

hmm.. lesse... Peru was awesome;y amazingly fun! - although digging in the desert at the same site for seven weeks straight did get a little boring/tiring after a while!! as did not having a really shower for the great majority of the time!!! we went in to town a couple of times just to be able to get clean! We were sooooo dirty - I have pictures of me where it looks like I have a mustache!!!!! lol! Needless to say, when a bunch of us stopped in Trujillo the night brfore our flight most of us took about 3 showers in a row... and I woke up early the next morning to have another one!!!!! heehee... We were digging 6 days/week so we didn't have all that much free time, but I did make it up to Casma to see the ruins over there (which are really really cool and awesome btw and involved a crazy moto-taxi ride into the wilds of the northern peruvian desert :D!!!) with a couple of the others!!! and one weekend a bunch climbd this mountain named huasiquito (without any equipment :S and, although it wasn't overly high, it was high enough and rediculously steep/sheer/crumbling that we prolly shouldda died a number of times(eeek!)), so that was amazingly fun *grins like an idiot*!!!!! ... yupyup.. what else... we fund some cool stuff like a stone necklace, 9 baby camelid skeletons (9! -do you know how long those things take to get out of the ground?!?!), a number of pottery shards, a human tooth, caches of spondylus (v. cool!), some scorpions (;D!)... it was pretty cool!!! and, although our site wasn't this magnificent temple or anything that tourists would love, it was really cool archaeologically 'cause it was really strategically placed and had evidence of occupation by nearly all of the cultures in the area from the ealy pre-ceramic on down!!!! and it was HUGE!!!! it covered an entire floodplain! heehee... every day was an adventure too, 'cause we'd have to take a 45min combi (broken down - non shock absorpbant van) ride up valley (before a 30 mins treck into the desert) to get to the site everyday and, not only did you never know what would be riding along with you (live turkeys...), the thing often broke down in exterly entertaining ways (seriously!!! once, not only did the wheel fall off, the entire axel went with it!!!!! I have pictures!!!!) leaving us to push it!!!!! *shakes head* it was great!!!! :D! OOOH!!! and I got to practice my Spanish!!! awww, I'll miss Francisco!!! He was the Peruvian archaeologist (who reminds me of a 46yr old version of my grandfather) that I was digging with in one part of the site for a large part of the trip ... he was awesome!!!!

lol! So yeah, that was Peru... after that, I came home for a week (- and hosted the gifty reunion party the night after getting home :P) *shakes head and grins* It was awesome!!! I'm sooo glad I got to see (almost *glares at Linna especially*) everyone again :D!!!!! I miss all you guys soooo much *sniffsniff* and then spent the majority of the week hanging out in Scarborough (SCAR-BRO!!!) so that I could see everyone and spend time with Em before she left me and headed out to UBC *sniffsniff* and so I could help (or try to) with Megan's wedding. It was great!!! Megan's dress was absolutely beautiful and the wedding was really nice!!! (omg, on another note, I can't beleive Megan is married!!!!!!!!!!)...

After that, it was off to Hawaii!!!!! (oooh! wait, with a night at home to go see the new cirque show KOOZA! which is really good... different from most cirque shows in that the characters often spoke English, but still very, very good. OOOH! And while I was home I went with Nal to see Medeival Times 'cause she worked there and I had never been... so, yeah, that was fun too :D!!! .. oh! and that was the night I found out that Ma and John had changed the keys to the front door and forgotten to tell me... honestly, sometimes I think that they don't love me ;P! And they did it to Nal too!!! *shakes head*)

Yupyup! Hawai'i was AWESOME!!!! We were on Kuai'i, 'the garden island' and we managed to travel all over it and see things from all angles!!! We took a Helicopter ride all around the island and into Mt Wai'ale ale, the collapsed in crater of the old volcano and the wettest spot in the northern hemisphere!!!!, we went to the Waimea (little grand canyon of the pacific) Canyon and Akala'i swamp (the highest swamp in the world) :D, went kayaking on the Wilua River, horseback riding on the North Coast, swiming everywhere... heehee, it was sooooo much fun!!!! I checked out the lava pools and reefs... ooh!!! and we took a Catamaran tour of the Na Pali coast and I went snorkelling and saw a reef shark!!! Oh! And at the cliffs near where we stayed the sea turtles would come right up during hightide to feed!!!! It was sooo great!!!! OOOH!!!! And we went to a luau!!! and made Leis!!! OH!!!! And I learnt how to surf!!!! And got addicted (and burnt my bum, so now it's peeling *pouts*) It was amazing!!! And I learnt how to Hula!!!!I love it so much! I wanna go back and live there for a summer and work in a hotel and learn more Hula (and surfing)!!!! And maybe go see the big island of Hawai'i so I can see an active volcano!!!! :D!!!!

On our way back we stopped in San Francisco for a few days, so that was pretty cool too :)! Nal and I had loads (wayyy too much :D!) fun riding on the cable cars - they're sooooo cool, especially with a of the hugely steep hills in San Fran - it's like a roller coaster!!! And you don't even have to go inside!!! you can just hang on the outside!!!!! So, yeah, we saw all the sites there like the golden gate bridge, lombard street, postcard row, etc... AND we got to go to Alcatraz (at night too :D!!!!) before heading home last week!!!

So yeah... now I'm at home and working at Canadian Tire doing data entry to make some money before I go back to school in a couple of weeks :D! That said, life's not all boring *grins* I just got back from spending the weekend in Northern Quebec for the 10th aniversary celebration of the engineering company where my dad works (translating for the ontario contingent :P). It was great!!!! *shakes head while grinning* I'd forgotten how crazy engineers could be and how much les quebecois like to party!!!! Heehee... we got split into teams and there were a bunch of crazy challenges and games - one of which was to build a boat in 2 hours out of 8 8' planks of wood, 5 40lbs buckets and some nails!!!! We then had to test them on the (very, very cold :P ) lake and see how many ppl the would carry and have races. It was GREAT!!!! :D!!! Even if I did get completely soaked!!! It was beautiful up there too (bloody freezing though!)! It was far enough North that the leaves had already begun to change... and the water was just soo blue!!! and the rolling hills *shakes head* living in Toronto, it's just so easy to forget how beautiful northen Ontario and Quebec can be...

Yupyup! So now it's back to school in a couple of weeks - well... not quite *grins*. Nal's heading over to Paris to study, so I'm gonna go over and join her for a bit next week before heading up to Germany ('cause I've never been - I also don't speek the language, eeeek!) for a couple of days... and then, it's back to school :D! heehee...
*nods* so.. yeah... I guess that's it!
Lot's o' love!

Awwww....

It's so weird... I can't beleive first year is done already!!! In some ways its just flown by... and in others it... I donno... I guess it really was just about the right length.

It was kinda weird staying long for exams and having sooo many people leave... college just seemed soooo much quieter without them - despite the fact that all the medics, PPE-ists, mathmaticians, E&M-ers, biologist, linguists, historians and Arch & Anthers were still around... I donno... It's actually been kinda fun. More relaxed almost - even with Exams :D! *grins* exams were pretty fun... I had two days of six hours solid writing 12 essays total. Yeas, Oxford is insane. The the last one wasn't exactly my favourite and I ended up leaving early (though I did that for most of them... or finished early and then got trapped in the exam room unable to leave due to the fact that I had finished one minute after the half-hour-remaining mark *wrinkles nose* Gah! I swear I was more distracting to have around with all of my squirming than my departure would have been :P)! It was still fun though since I came back to college and deposited my stuff before heading back to the exam schools to join the crowd waiting to attack and congratulate all those wearing red carnations :D!!!! OOOH! and our flutes of champagne - particularly the chocolate bottle - on the lawn afterward were also fun! *grins*

*shakes head* still feels weird to think I'm leaving Oxford in an hour... (AHHH!!! I'm leaving in an hour!!! EEEEKKK!!!) I had soooooo much stuff packed to leave in storage that it was insane!!!! I have no idea how I've managed to pack it for all of the other breaks!!!! Awww... soo strange to think that this is the last time we'll properly be living in Hertford *pouts* I'll miss it! - Just Like I miss Amanda *grins* Amanda was back last weekend and it was awesome!!!!! Punting with her, her friend Lee, Henry and Ewen was especially entertaining *grins* heehee... drunken Amanda and Henry (who totally deserved it for getting a destinction in his exams :D) are faaarrr too much fun - insane, but fun too!!!!

Anyhow, I should probably head off... I'm at Charlotte's for the night so that I can say bye for the summer and then off home for two days before I leave for Peru (ahhhh! - which means I am unfortunately going to miss Janet Evanovich doing a book signing at Indigo *cries* soooo unfair!!! I'm missing it by like 8 or 9 hours... and I keep getting emails about it *dies*)

So yeah, that's pretty much it! Hope everyone has and awesome and Amazing summer. I'll miss you all greatly!!!!
Lot's of love!
~Ally

AHHHH!!!! *runs for cover*

... ... ... what? it's only safe to run and hide. It's quite obvious that the world must be ending... I mean, come on, I'm posting twice within the same month *grins*

anyhow... lesse... what've I been up to lately? Went in to London after ballet 2 weeks ago to meet up with Ma and John so that we could go see Stonehenge, Salisbury Cathedral and Bath... It was really neat!! I really wish that you could still go right up to stonehenge... being roped off from it just doesn't give you the same feeling as you would get being up close. It would be awesome if you could still climb on ... *looks sheepishly toward her fellow archaeologists*... uh.. I mean carefully investigate without any climbing what-so-ever it *nods*... it was still pretty cool though and Salisbury was really pretty. Bath was amazingly incredible. It just doesn't feel like you're in England at all! You can almost feel the Roman-ness oozing out of the very stones *sigh* it felt like home almost in the same way that Rome does... I so just didn't want to leave... *grins* ah, well... I'll get 'round to heading back there one of these days... Ooooh! And despite the fact that it rained for the majority of the time that Ma and John were here, it was nice and sunny on all of our touristy days *grins* must just be a reflection of my wonderful-ness - unfortunately it was also sunny for the entirety of their trip up to the scottish highland without me *grumbles*

what else is new??? hmm... this is sad... I'm not entirely sure what I've been up to... finnished all my essays a while ago, had my last tut this morning... now all that's left is to study... hmmm... all of the physicists have been slowly dying from their exams this week.., I'm not entirely sure whether it's funny or depressing... *chuckles*... ah well... oooh! I know what I totally forgot to mention! The fact that I did a little miny Jazz show in the park for Oxford (the city's) 1000 year aniversary. It was fun! I think I may kind of actually miss performing *shakes head* ... s'weird, I totally never thought I'd say that... awww... and I missed recital for the first time ever!!! It feels sooooo weird! especially since I've seen every show that Jess and Sophie have ever done except this one!

*giggles* On another note, I appear to be doing a lot of new and exciting(?) things this term. Punting... um... other stuff-ing... Playing Rounders (a bizare form of baseball)... breaking my nose while playing rounders.... yup... I think that's about it *grins* heehee - what? I wasn't wearing my glasses so I couldn't see the ball when Sam threw it ... and it kinda hit me in the face... yup. Not to worry though! *grins* being me, I accidentally-on-purpose managed to re-align it while trying to stop the bleeding before going to the hospital (which is a good thing since I then had to wait 2 and a half hours... at which point my nose would've settled in the wrong place - ick.). So it's still all pretty and straight and the only way you can tell is by the slightly black left eye. *nods*... ah well... *shakes head* Honnestly... I don't know what to do if these things didn't happen in my life... it would just be so boring :P!

Heehee... anyhow... I should prolly head off.. to ... uh... do something I s'pose...
lot's of love!
~Ally

BOO!

*little kiddish innocent voice* Guess what, Guess what?!?!... okay, fine... I'll tell... I should be writing an essay right now :D! (so what else is new :P).

hmmm... I don't actually know what to say... the urge to blog just suddenly came upon me - as it so very often does when I'm supposed to be writing an essay... although that really doesn't explain my lack of postage... what with the 12 essays I've had per term :P.

Where to start?? It's so strage how everyone else back home is done already and getting to meet up without me *sobs* awww, man you guys are soooo great and I totally miss you so much... Mr Dick was totally right when he said we would/were all go/going through gifted withdrawal *shakes head*... I've never known a crazier group of people.

This term has been awesomely fun so far... might not have been the start I hoped for, but I know that Tsz would be pleased to know that we were enjoying ourselves and eating well! Thank you Tsz, by the way, for being such an awesome friend to all and for just demonstrating the way that life is supposed to be lived - to it's fullest, with every moment enjoyed and taken advantage of - you were an incredible person and I know that I will, and do, miss you... dance was just so much more fun with you around to run into people :P... and to drag me all over town in search of food during competitions (and then have me drag you to the beach in blackpool at 9 at night 'cuase I'd never seen it)!!! Wherever you are, I hope that you are having as much fun as you always did dancing, mahjong-ing, eating and doing everything else that you were so fond of doing and that made us all love you so dearly...

In spite of that (or possibly because of Tsz's influence) term's been awesome since first week!!! Filled with playing frisbee and basking in the sun in the university parks, five-a-side football with the hertford womens team, taking looong fun walks around Oxford (and getting locked into Christ Church meadows after hours and have to climb the (very high) gates (three times!) late at night to get out), Late night BBQs, fooding and fun with the girls and training the hertford dancesport cuppers team - which btw came in 5th!!!!! Yay!!!! GO US :D! The competition was actually loads of fun... especially since I had just gone with the intention of captaining and, instead, ended up making it to 6th place on a Jive routine made and learnt 10mins before the start with one of the other hertfordians who had danced last year and turned up to cheer :D!!!!!! It was good fun! (AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! English-ism *runs screaming*)... *calms doan a bit* anyhow... WAIT!!! Punting!!! How could I have forgotten punting on my list of fun things I've done this term?!?!?! OMG! Punting is amazing!! It's like gondoleiring except in shallow English rivers with a long pole rather than a paddle... and it only took me two crashes into the trees/bank to learn to do it *grins widely*!!!! The bank crash was mildly scary though... there were cows standing right at the edge with no fencing to hold them back... cows are scary I tell you! Never mind all that mumbo-jumbo written about their warm intelligent eyes... I saw those eyes, they were clearly judging my punting (in)ability :P.

So yeah... this term's been pretty awesome so far... and then Ma and John were visiting this week so I got Yummy food bought for me (which is always important) *grins*. and I took them 'round to the uni parks and taught them to punt and sent them 'round a visiting things ('cause y'know they wouldn't've done that on their own :P)... ooooh!!!! and we went to Warwick castle and it was all pretty and medieval and they had a trebuchet that they actually shot off... and lots of pretty historical information and if I had lived in Victorian times I totally would have been Daisy, Countess of Warwick 'cause she was awesome and pretty and smart and broke convention ... and yeah... so that was fun too... and now they're visiting Charlotte's parents (eeek!) and have been for the past *checks clock* 7? hours... wow!... yup... OOOH! And frisbee cuppers was this morning!!! We managed to loose every single game with the exception of the one that we won by default 'cause the other team failed to show up... it was pretty impresive ;P!!!! Oooh! and we saw Guys and Dolls... it was really good... I quite like the whole fun simplicity of the story... it's very... refreshing almost.. and the music and dancing were really good too!

And... well... yeah... I should prolly head off to bed to get some sleep so that I can actually write my essay tomorrow morning before my tutorial, 2 football games, ballet class and late night trip into London so that I can go to Stonehenge, Bath and Salisbury Cathedral with Ma and John on Tuesday... hmmm... I hafta remember to bring my camera for that one...

See you all soon (and by that I mean... uh soon-ish...)...
Lot's of Luv,
~Ally

Wow... can't say that last post was my most articulate, well-ordered or coherent ever, but then *shakes head* when was I ever coherent, well-ordered or articulate *grins*?

Anyhow, thought I'd do a short update-y post-like thing before I headed off to England *nods*.

Lesse - the gifty thing was a fun success... man, I love Woburn, it was awesome... Em, Jess, Marc and I all had fun on Friday, despite the fact that we stood outside in the freezing cold for an hour before deciding we were lazy (and frozen solid :P) and returning home for yummy warm tea :D! Which, of course meant that people got in as soon as we left *shakes head in amusement*... I swear my life is constructed on the premise of a sit com... heehee, Jess's on thurs was also fun, as was the hot tub time in the snow before we went to meet marc at the train station:D! - which, I might add, I missed due to the fact that I had developed a drysocket and had to stop at the dentist's on the way *sigh* - see, sit com!!! Even more entertainingly however, as soon as I took my departure and headed toward the dentist, Em chipped her tooth *giggles*...

Then, it was off to the great white north - literally! it snowed the entire week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Still very fun though! Our group of 15 was an awesomely amazing mix of diverse people and our instructor, Robb, was incredible!!! I am also very proud to say that we are now all regestered Woofers *grins madly* ... that is, of course, that we are all Wilderness First Responders (WFR- pronounced Woofer) and can do crazy first aid stuff (like clear spines, fix certain dislocation and give injections *pause for evil smile*) so long as we are in the back country 2 hours away from diffinitive care (at which point you are all at my mercy *evil cackle*) *clears throat* right... so, yeah... that brings us up to now... hmmm... I suppose I should really go pack...

See you!
the ever-insane, Ally

Right...

*sighs and shakes head* I sooooo do not have time to be blogging right now but *shrug* blogging I am 'cause I really really really do need to do an update before I forget all that has happened in my life - sad ain't it? You know you're getting old when you can't remember your own life!!! (on a complete and utter side note: OMG! I can't believe I'm nineteen!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AHHHHAHHHHAHHHHAHHHHAHHHAHHHAHHHAHHHAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! okay, now I feel better *grins*)

hmmm... I suppose I should prolly start of with what's new... hmm... what is new????
lesse, I found out on wednesday that I would have to get my wisdom tooth (yes, tooth. I for some reason only had one *shrug* who knows, no one ever said I was wise :P.) taken out on thursday... I just got it back today (my dentist said I could keep it as a souvenir :D) The thing was huge!!!!! I have no idea how there isn't a masive gapping hole in the back of my mouth!!!!!! The strange thing is that I didn't swell up at all - so, of course, I took this as permission to run around visiting ppl, write essays and run errands in the days imediately following its removal in typical me fashion *grins (with a gapping hole)* *shakes head again* that thing was bloody gigantic!!!!
- speaking of bloody, I do not have an English accent :P!!!!!!!! *looks innocent* It's not my fault that I now occaisionally speak with a slight English lilt.... and that I say Bah-naah-nah.. and trousers rather than pants ... and toilet or loo rather than... okay, fine :P.

hmmm what else is new... I've been home for what? Almost three weeks now (6wk long breaks between terms are nice :D) so I've been visiting the Uof T-ers nearly everyday ('cause however much you deny it Ting, I know you miss me terribly *grins*). And I visited the York-ers on monday which was tons and tons of fun.. never made it to waterloo or western (I'm sorry you guys, I really do love you too!!!! Look, It even took me nearly 3 wks to visit york!!!!!). Visited Woburn, and Miller and yeah... man.. I can't believe I'm in Uni - or that the York ppl are almost done first year! That's just crazy!!!! OOOH!!!! I went up to Queens with Em and her mum to see Megan's recital which was AMAZING!!! and got jumped by Kav and Raza which was equally as Awesome and Cool and I'm sooooo glad they ran (quite litterally :P) in to me :D!!!!!!!!! And MIT came home for a visit too :D!!!!! lesse... what else... got run over by a little chinese man in a car last monday(???) which was incredibly funny (and painful) as he insisted on stopping and apologizing profusely WHILE HIS CAR WAS STILL PARTIALLY ON MY FOOT!!!!! *shakes head* it was quite the funny scene...

OOOOH!!!! And Em and Gillian and I went down to see Al's band and they were AMAZING!!!! Omg! I had no clue Al could sing!!!! I'm totally looking forward to hearing them again!!!! I also saw the Taming of The Shrew In ballet form which I love for my birthday and we saw the Canadian production of We Will Rock You for Nal's which was also incredibly good... OOOH! and ma and I saw Blood Brothers when she droped me off in England... And yeah... now I should totally be preparing a speach-ey thing to give at woburn before I head off to Jess's for the night... but yeah... when have I ever been known to write something when I was supposed to...

Heehee... I suppose that since I am (finally) doing the update I promised I should start off where my last update ended.... hmmmm... for that, we must travel back in time *erie time-travelly music comes on* to the beggining of the school year *dundundun*

it was a bright and early morning with all of the birds chirping and the - what?! I'm not allowed to get creative with my life??? :P lol. Nah. while my first couple of weeks in oxford were bright n' sunny (despite the prevailing view point, it does not always rain in England :P), it prolly makes more sense to discuss the nights - and no, don't go yelling at me - I didn't do anything naughty :P (just ignore all of those pictures of me with poles up on facebook* wide-eyed innocent look*). Freshers (that's frosh for most normal people :D) week was incredibly insanely fun - and the endless nightly clubbing and packed days were a great prelude to the lack of sleep that is the 8 weeks of term time in Oxford *grins* But yeah, Hetford is a great college and boy do we know how to party *shakes head* Anyhow, loads of experiences and many friends later (and all in one week too), term started... and My God! There are just too may experiences to recount *sigh* I knew I shouldda updated sooner :P!!!! lol! Suffice it to say that Oxford during term time is loads of fun. My Tutors (profs - oxford speaks its own language) are great. I love my Ballet teacher despite the fact that I think she's insane. Ballroom is... fun? interesting to learn though I don't know how much longer I can cope with having to work with a partner :P (I'm far too independant aren't I... *shakes head* ppl should really start picking up on that one... hmmm) . OOOH!!! my team (I'm on the oxford ballroom team) won the F team competition at Sheffield (yes, I know, it was F team... *shrug* It was still a pleasant surprise *grins*) this past term. OH! And Odin (a fellow dancer and exchange student from Germany) and I came in the top 10 out of 40 in Rock and Roll at Nationals after only 3.5 hours of practice (which included teaching me the style and choreographing the routine) - so that was pretty cool :D!

Hmmm... what else? I really do need to try rowing next term and I can't wait to go punting on the river!!!!! OOOH! and I'm now playing on the college women's football (aka soccer) team - which should be really interesting due to how much I suck *shakes head and grins* Who knows... hmmm.... what else... on top of getting everyone addicted to Timmy's, I've gotten them addicted to peanut butter cookies made with canadian peanut butter - which of course means that I am relegated to the kitchen at least 3 times a term to bake :P.

OOOH!!!! Speaking of baking! I flew home for the weekend back in october for my comencement (graduation) - (yes. I am insane. but, then, we already knew that didn't we :P! *grins*) Which was loads of fun 'cause I got to see everyone again :D!!! And I got to bake pumpkin pie!!!!! Fall just isn't fall without pumpkin pie :D! Or the smell of fall... england doesn't know what it's missing!!!!!!! I also came home and baked again at christmas. But, not before staying at Charlotte's just outside of london for a week and seeing The Producers before going skiing in the Alps :D!!!! It was pretty interesting. It's really weirdly different from the rockies 'cause there are virtually no trees!!!! (which meant no glades *pouts*) It was pretty cool though 'cause we were at Les Deux Alpes and there is a glacier at the top!!!! Not the hardest thing to ski (it's blues and greens) but fun anyhow. The fact that there are no trees makes it really interesting though 'cause the equivalent of double blacks are "off piste" which is steep and rocky and involves many cliffs (one of which I watched a friend go over - all the while having no idea who he was and thinking him an idiot :P - he survived perfectly fine... his skis and poles didn't though :P). So, of course, being me and having skied with Tash and Beck all my life, I spent the first two days skiing off piste :D! ... luckily, I also spent those days skiing the other open blacks and blues on the mountain since, on the last run of the second day I was skiing the flat part of a blue run at virtually no speed when I fell over and sliced my knee open to the bone *wrinkles nose* ... all in all, it was a pretty fun experience... the french rescue ppl thought I was nuts and teased me mercilessly for how excited I was about the gurney ride down (what?! It was fun!!!!) and by my attempts to describe a roller coaster (I forgot that it was a montagne rousse *pouts*) and the doctor and nurse were equally as entertaned by my watching them stitch my knee closed... the trip also wasn't a complete loss as the doctor let me ski again 2 days later for the last two days of the trip :D! Although he did bind my knee so that I couldn't bend it and made me promise to stay on easy hills *pouts again* Skiing with a straight knee is hard!!!! *shrug* it was still fun, and an experience :D! And it meant that I had an excuse to explore the glacier and ski with my not-so-adept-friends :D!!!!!! It also made the plane flight home interesting.. if somewhat uncomfortable...

I stayed at Charlotte's again for a couple of days after this term ended, I love Charlotte's family! They are totally awesome :D!!! and we went in to London for my bday and spent the day playing on a Heath!!!! It was soo coool!!!! I'd never been to a heath before!!!!!!!! afterward we left Hampstead Heath and headed into London central where we met up with a couple of the guys (after being hit on by a random british-canadian *weird look* and charlotte being propositioned by an old man at the market :P) and went to see Blood Diamond (which was really really good) and had yummy frozen yogurt :D.

Home at x-mas was also fun! The gifted family dinner at frankie tomatoes that we planned the night before (as per usual :P) and Baldwin's New Years Party and living at everyone's house but my own for 2 weeks :D!!! and... yeah... *nods* I'd say that was a pretty good summary... especially 'cause I really, really, truly do need to be going to pack now... oh, yes! and write that speach (eeeeekkk!!!!) we're running a gifted intervention since all of the younger gifties are apparently thinking of dropping out *shakes head* they have no idea what they'd be giving up.

OMG!!!! How could I have forgotten!!!! I'm a member of the Oxford Union, which is a debating and speaking society and, among others, I have seen Emma Watson (Hermione) speak (she's surprisingly intelligent and articulate, a lot like her character actually) and met Natalie Portman!!!!! She was amazing!!!!She's extremely intelligent and down to earth (she was giving a talk on micro-economics). OOOH!!!! And through the Canadian Society, I got to meet Paul Martin. Paul Martin!!!!!!He is an incredible man. the reason he always seems so slow is because when he is asked a question is because he actually Thinks about his answer! And he is willing to take criticim afterward in order to improve. He also doesn't balk at admitting to not kowing something and has no problem asking the advice or opinions of those who know more!!!! He was just amazing and I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to shake his hand.

Anyhow, I suppose I must be off... My luguage is calling me (eek). I'm out clubbing with Jess and Em and Marc (YAY!!!! Marc!!) tomorrow night before heading up north to burks falls for 9 days in a wilderness first aid course (and it's supposed to snow this weekend!!!!!!!!) before I head straight back to England for trinity term (I told you that Oxford had it's own language :P)... and then, after exams and Amanda's visit (and our suggested vagrancy), I fly to Peru where I am digging for 6wks :D! .. after that it's home for a week or so for Megan's wedding before I fly off to Hawaii... *shakes head* sometimes I love my life - other times I think I'm insane *grins*

See you all in August!

Heehee.

*Does a little dance* It's snowing! It's snowing!!! Snowsnowsnowsnowsnowsnow!!!
*giggles* I always know I'm home when it's -10 C and snowing :D!!! Especially when it starts the day I come home and celebrate my birthday. After all, it has to. It always snows on my birthday. I think it's some sort of commemorative thing for the ice storm that proclaimed the calamity that would follow my birth ;)!

wow... it's been a while (not the longest I haven't blogged in... I don't think...) but I really truly must do an update! Now, unfortunately, will not be the time (I know *sniffsniff* heartbreaking isn't it???) I have however, updated my bio to proclaim that I have succeeded in surviving the evil machinations of my friends (*cough*Evan*cough* ;P) and am now a whole year older *Grins* - And all of this despite the fact that I still act like I'm about six :D!!!! Pretty impressive, eh???

Anyhow, I really must be off but, if anyone is still bored enough to want more reading (and even if they aren't!!!) I recommend Tempozine. An amazing, student run, professional looking, online magazine about world affairs. The link to which is conveniently placed on the sidebar beside this post :D! (Wow!!! I should totally get Jen and Linna to let me do their advertisements from now on ;)!!!) Ok, Ok, I do have some vested interest in telling ppl to read it (beyond the fact that it is just plain amazing) - but you'll have to read the next issue to find out why *mischievous smile*

kk, I really am going now. Really, I am! And I do promise to post an update sometime soon (in the relatively near future at any rate *wrinkles nose*).

OOh!!! But before I go! You know what's funny?... The whole Timmy's thing!!! Any Canadians who meet while abroad seem to inevitably end up discussing Tim Horton's, what they love about it, how much they miss it, the first things they're gonna eat when they get home, etc. While I was myself, engaging in one of these conversations the other day at Uni, I was asked if That was the only topic we Canadians were capable of discussing abroad (to which I, of course, answered "NO!" since, as we all know, Canadians are also quite capable of discussing things such as Hockey and the many and varying types of different Snow and Ice :P). However, I was also asked if this constant discussion of Timmy's was an "abroad thing" to make us feel at home... and I realised (to feelings of mixed horror and delight) that, no, it wasn't! I'm pretty sure that Canadians discuss Timmy's equally as much at home with about 5 of them in a mile radius from us as we do when we are outside of the country and are missing them terribly...
... I'm not entirely sure what that says about us as a country... but it can't be bad... after all, I (along with El and Stephen) have managed to get the majority of Hertford addicted to Timbits!!!!!!!!! *Grins*

Lot's of love,
from the ever Timmy's loving,
~Ally

And We're Off!!!

... or, at least I am! *grins*

So, yeah, I leave tomorrow... how weird is that??? I totally don't feel like I'm going anywhere... well, maybe on vacation... I'm kinda excited about rez shopping and being all touristy in London :D

Heehee... lesse what have I done to update on..? Ummm... went to visit Woburn... and Miller... and uh... well ran around alot getting ready... OOOOH!!! I finally saw Miss Kim and her new baby!!! He's sooooo cute!!! and uh... yeah, basically ran around alot and saw people *grins*

And then, on Friday night I had an "Ally's Leaving Party" which was awesome 'cause Jess came in from Windsor and Ceilidh was down from Queens and Alan from Waterloo... and all the people from T.O. were there!!! It was really great to see people again before I left... OMG! it was so funny I only made reservations for 20ppl.. and at first only 5 of us were there, so the wait staff were looking kinda nervous... but then people slowly started to trickle in... until there were 30 of us!!! *shakes head* It was awesome 'cause more ppl showed up than originally thought they could make it... it was actually quite a nice surprise!!!

*shakes head* You guys are sooo crazy, I'm gonna miss you all over there in England... the trip back to my place was wayyy too funny! Taking over the subway and me being 'teacher Ally' on the Woburn field trip... and then taking over the bus with the boys kareoke-ing (horribly out of tune I might add :P) at the back... *sigh* It's times like this I realise that we all really are insane and that we sooo belong together *big watery grin*

I love you all and I'll miss you all muchly (even if I'm having fun :P).
Much love,
From the fittingly insane
Ally

...Summer... (is now over *sniffsniff*)

*Jumps up and down excitedly* Look!!Look!!! Not only did I actually keep my word and post again today (no, I still haven't finished the ironing - I've gone grocery shopping tho!!! *grins proudly*)... but I titled my post with a word!!! well... sort of...

In any case, I did have a rather wonderful summer... Not as exciting as many of my other ones - in fact, it was downright dull in comparison - something that caused me to despair at times that I was becoming one of these boring people :P. But, yes, I would have to say that, in spite of the fact that this summer was rather less filled with crazy adventures than the previous ones, it was still loads of fun.

I did end up relaxing after the conference - which is, in itself, a miracle... although what I call relaxing most people would call... well... not stressful... just, not exactly relaxing... I read a ton of books, hosted the family when they came up from Italy (yes, I hosted them, when my mother told me we were hosting, she neglected to mention the fact that she wouldn't be home at all during those two weeks :P *shakes head*) ... lets see, what else did I do...? hmmm... yes... played Em's campaign... tho I didn't get to finish 'cause I wasn't around at the end... neither was my character tho so it all worked out *grins*... awww... I miss Rheys... she played such a wonderful grimey little boy ... but I don't know where the character sheet is *pouts*...

Circus also went rather well... I wanna do a couple more classes before I leave... OOOH!!!! and I can do walkovers and handstands again now!!! Haven't done them in about two weeks since classes ended... but I could do them then!!!!!!!!! What else did I do... hmmmm... went up to the cottage to see the family and had fun tubing in the roughest water I have ever seen... went to wonderland with my little twin cousins and my not-so-little-anymore other cousin for thier first time and got the most adorable picture ever of us on the Ghoster Coaster :D... I went for my G test... and didn't get my liscence (not because I failed. Oh, no) because I ended up going to the hospital instead *wrinkles nose* Yup... my sciatic nerve went out of alignment in the middle of the test.. not a big deal in itself.... happens often enough... but..yeah... It was a pretty entertaining scene... especially 'cause doctors can't do a thing about it *grins*
... OOOH!!! and how could I forget (especially since it's what put both my sciatic nerves out in the first place :P) We moved!!!! into my stepdad's place... so, yeah... that was pretty interesting... I actually like my new room... and the location is convenient 'cause it puts me closer to my friends at UofT... AKKK!!! Just to give some perspective on how much of a bookworm I am.... excepting the 7 or 8 boxes of books I sent to our place up north, 7 out of the 10 boxes filled with my bedroom stuff were full of books!!! and I have at least 3 more boxes worth of books lent out!!! My room is a library!!!!

Heehee... the last couple of weeks of summer were undoubtedly the best spent at home... there was the day I played football with the guys... and climbed the goal posts *shifty eyes*... there was Baldwin's party (where I had circus the next morning)... and the party at Hinkle's (which occurred while the family was still in town :S)... Bike riding with Langan... camping out in my empty house for a bit... then the weekend where I camped out at people's houses in scarborough for 5 nights *giggles* the first day of which was the party at Ju's where all us Traf (or ex-Traffie) girls had a sleep over and before we headed off to rule the world :D... and the last day of which was sauce making!!! I was at my grandmothers from 7:30 am until 5:30 pm!!! OMG! I never wanted to see a tomato again after that!!!... and ooops... that wasn't the last day!!! I spent the night after that at Em's *grin*...

And, oooh!!! before that was MONTREAL!!! where I got to see MARC!!! *jumps up and down excitedly* Jessiann and I took the train out to Montreal to meet marc and had an awesome time!!!! we traipsed all over town to find a club that was open on a Wednesday night... but find one we did *grins* We really need to go over a weekend when schools on :D... awww!!! We stayed in the cutest little B&B right next to McGill campus!!! It was amazing!!! Especially 'cause we got to see Marc again!!! heehee!! It was nice too (even though we missed our train home and had to wait an extra 5 hrs) 'cause I got to spend more time with Jess before she ditched me to head off to windsor :P!!!

But yeah... There were a lot of goodbyes... other Jess headed off to Dal after the girls night... we moved Nick into rez at York that weekend (OMG!!! Peter and "do you supply the toilet paper or will I have to mail him some?" *cracks up*)... and Ju headed out to Alberta (Alberta!!! Now we'll be even further away from each other when I go *pouts*) 2 fridays ago (was it really that long ago) After we spent all day playing in the park and decided that we were never ever going to grow up :P!!! We even played in the wading pool just to prove it *grins*... and then Em headed off to JAPAN (!!!) on last Wednesday... *shakes head* everyone's leaving me!!! Zheng's at UPenn, Heymien's at MIT... a bunch of people are at Queens and Mac and Waterloo and Western and... ahh!!!

Heehee... when I went up the the cottage (again, for more tubing :P) on the long weekend, I took the train out to meet my dad near Baldwin's house and I made him come meet me at the station before he left for uni *giggles* and he actually came!!! *shakes head* waddya know, maybe he will miss me after all :P

... anyhow, I spent all of last week froshing with the UofT people which was loads and loads of fun!!! Awww, man, Innis has the most amazing residences ever!!! I told Langan and Ting and Milani and Ben that I was moving in with them!!! Anyhow... the girls somehow managed to convince Langan to come out clubbing with us on the engineering clubbing night which was great!!! Even if he did leave at midnight! (from a club!! Honestly... I don't care if he had class at 8 the next morning :P *giggles*) ... but yeah... overall it was fun... I met everyone's roomates and made loads of new friends... and gave everyone the wrong impression that I went to UofT (whoops :P) ... anyhow, I headed up to York yesterday to visit with the people up there... which was also loads of fun 'cause I got to see people...

Wow... I actually did a lot more that I thought this summer!!! I even got to see Spammalot with Em H and Evan!!! It was absolutely hysterical, I loved it!!! And I got the best (late) b-day present from Em B ever while out shopping for books with Em H (confusing ain't it???) She bought me Gone with the Wind and Last Chance to See... *sigh* I love those books... they're sooo amazing....

OOOH!!! And I even made it to the Ex this summer!!! I went with Nal and Alan and we met up with one of Nal's friends from Quebec who was in the skating show - which was soooo cool btw 'cause it was a combined circus and skating show!!!! Anyhow, it was also fun 'cause I got in some french practice :S... my french has gone pathetically down hill from disuse...

Lesse... what else is there... Oh, yes, I finally got to see Arms and the Man... Ma and I went to the Shaw festival... It was Incredibly funny... and well done... though I prefer the humour to be slightly more muted to allow for the message to come across *sigh* I swear GB Shaw was a satirical genius even if he didn't want to be.

After spending saturday at Niagra on the Lake, it was off to Ottawa to get my Visa... which was shockingly easy to do compared to a simple change of address on my health card *shakes head* Ottawa was pretty neat, We got to go inside the parliament buildings and up the peace tower, which was actually pretty cool...

And, so yeah... that pretty much brings us up to now (even if I did dispense with my story out of chronological order :P)... all I have left to do now is bake Nal some peanut butter cookies before she heads off to Oxford for work tomorrow... funny how we're just missing each other... she comes back the day I leave!!! Then, I suppose I should really get started on packing my things up and deciding what I am going to take with me... and on massaging my wrists ... Ouch! I never realised before just how painful it is to type long, pointless blogs on a laptop :P

Hope everyone's having fun!!
~Ally

AHHHHH!!!!!

*grins* nothing's actually wrong, I just like using expressions as titles :P... What?!?! *looks innocent* It's more attention grabbing... or will be until I overuse them...

Anyhow... I promised that I would blog sometime before I headed off to Merry-Old-England... *crinkles forehead in consternation (Oooh, big word! Big word!)* why is it that you always hear it referred to as either Merry-old-England or Dreary-old-England??? I mean, really, isn't that a little confusing??? Which is it??? Merry or dreary??? It has to be one or the other, it can't exactly be both... unless... the merry one is really meant sarcastically *nods intelligently*... but I don't think so... can you really see what was once the largest colonial power in the world allowing people to treat it saucily???

But I digress. I figured that with everyone else gallivanting off to uni (or, in Em's case, gallivanting in Japan :P) now would be as good a time as ever to update. Especially since my brain seems to tend even more toward insanity during periods of excessive inactivity (one needs only to look to the paragraph above this one for proof!) ... hmmm, perhaps it's because my inactivity prevents the insanity from flowing out of outlets it would normally otherwise flow out of and, so, it is forced to remain inside my head like a stagnant pool of water (except, of course, it is not entirely stagnant since the insanity never stops coming inward) in which my brain is slowly marinated until it becomes complete and utter mush! And do you know what the worst part is???? I have only actually been inactive for a week!!!! Not even!!! and I'm already at this stage!!!!!! *takes a deep and gasping breath and looks as though she is about to continue on until...* ... ewwww... could you imagine a marinate made of stagnant insanity??? or stagnant water for that matter??? Yuck!!!

*Shakes head in disgust* Getting right back on track, As I had nothing particularly important to do today, my dearest mother decided to take advantage of my availability and give me some ironing to do. Now, normally this wouldn't be so bad... I would also have normally refused - especially since this wasn't just a little bit of ironing, Oh no, it was two whole basket-loads of it!!! Unfortunately, my mother, being somewhat desperate to get that laundry ironed without having to do it herself, decided to bribe me... she didn't even bribe me with that much!!! I am very sorry to say, that I was bought for the extraordinarily cheap price of 25 dollars - and as strong as the Canadian dollar is at the moment, $25 still ain't all that much!!!... but I was poor and desparate, and I owed her about that much... So what could I do but take the offer?!?!

And that's how it came to be that I spent all of this morning (and some of this afternoon) ironing old tea-towels... and I'm only done one basket!!! Which may beg the question: If I do, in fact, have something else I should be doing, why on earth am I on here blogging??? and just what did I mean when I suggested that now would be as good a time as ever to update???

Well, you see, as stubborn as some wrinkles are, even the toughest can only force you to bend your will -and not the rest of your brain - toward making them flat. This of course leaves the rest of your brain to wander free and unfettered by your will - which we all know is extremely dangerous in my case. During one such episode, my thoughts actually (willingly) wandered to my will (I know, shocking isn't it? Never fear though, my will was sufficiently distracted that it didn't even notice) and watched curiously as my will imposed itself on flattening a scrap of cloth.

Have you ever noticed how human an activity ironing is??? I don't mean in the obvious sense - yes, of course it's a human activity Ally, humans are the only creatures (with the exception of those poor pets that have been domesticated by slightly twisted owners) that wear clothes!!! They're also the only ones technologically advanced enough to have created an iron! Not to mention the only ones with the proper appendages for using one (possibly because we made them :P)!!!
What I mean, is the that the fact that forcing the cloth be straight simply 'cause we wish it so, is such a human thing to do. Just as creating the fabric for that cloth was. It's remarkable how human beings always seem to insist on imposing their will on the world around them. That is not to say that other creatures don't do it, they just don't do it to the same degree. Just look at the world! If we want more hamburgers, we cut down the rain forest. We want to cross country? We blow up a mountain to create a railway line. We don't like the marsh in our backyard? We drain it, fill it with dirt, and then build a mall on it - 'cause you know, the bloodsucking brands are so much better than the mosquitoes :P.
*sigh* Truly though, it's disgusting... it's times likes these that I realise just how much contempt I have for the Human race - myself included. I'm really no better than the rest... worse in someways *grimace*...

Funny, ain't it? The fact that I'm not exactly a fan of humanity, but I plan on studying it for the rest of my life... I am going into archaeology and anthropology after all... *shrug* that's okay, I suppose I like the dead ones since they are already dead and can't do any worse *wrinkles nose*...

Anyhow, on to more exciting topics!!!! Like... uhh... how my summer was!!! Great actually!!! *Grins!* Can you tell I'm trying to avoid the second laundry basket???

Uhoh! there goes the phone! Gotta run, this post is too long anyway! I'll write more later (I promise, seriously, I will!!! and I don't even mean three months from now!!! :P)

With Love,
~Ally

p.s.

... since I'm already on and have absolutely nothing else to do... I should probably do that update I had planned... especially since we all know how often I get on here *grins*

Well, let's see... The recital was amazing... I had loads of fun and managed not to screw up too badly in anything... it was pretty crazy though since we had two shows again and I had six numbers in each... Evan, Emily, Gillian, Kaitlyn, Alan, Nick and Julianne as well as all of the family came to watch since it was my last show, and they all seemed to enjoy themselves... so yeah... I still haven't seen the video but I'm told it was pretty good. Em's slideshow for the 10th anniversary was AMAZING and everyone loved it... it was kinda scary though to see pictures of us together when we were that small... oooh!!! and it was really funny, 'cause everyone was mad 'cause they wanted me to go to music banquet... but I couldn't 'cause I had rehersal that night... and then we were talking about who they had gotten to DJ and they were saying that they couldn't get Alex 'cause he was busy... at which point I cracked up... 'cause, you see... Alex does the sound for our dance shows *grins*... I told them it served them right for putting Music banquet on a night I couldn't attend :P...

Then came formal... well.. actually... no... first came football playoffs which nearly all of us missed... (mainly 'cause we were all at my house setting up for the after party *looks sweet and innocent*.... well... at my grandmother's first and then at my place... 'cause the inspector was checking out our house for the people who are buying it... and we couldn't exactly let on that there was gonna be a huge party!!!) ...whoops... that's okay, we still came in fourth... yup... then came formal... which was soooo amazing!!! we all met up at Kav's first and had crazy amounts of fun taking pictures around the pool before 4 stretch limmo's full of us... that's right FOUR!.... took us over to fantasy farm where we proceded to have the time of our lives. ... it was sooo great and sooo much fun!!! everybody looked gorgeous - yes, that's right, even the guys :P - and we all had an insanely awesome time dancing and hanging around... even the teachers!... After that, the four limmo's full of people plus more who drove headed over to my house for what shall from now on be known as the never-ending party!!!!

... From what people tell me, it was an insanely-awesomely-crazily-amazing party... mostly I remeber not sleeping and cleaning up endless amounts of cups... and dancing and eating and just having a pretty damn good time!!! It was actually pretty amazing... and I warned the neighbours beforehand so we didn't have any problems there... although the police did show up around five in the morning for a noise complaint... because the sobber people were outside playing frisbee on the street!!! - honnestly, I'm not even kidding!!! I swear the cops must of thought we were nuts.... they were like "uh... could you wait to play frisbee until a more decent hour"... I can't lie, it was pretty funny :D!!!

OMG!! it was insane!!! not only did the party last alll night, but we went all the next day too!!! Basically we had a never ending BBQ/Buffet of food, talked, hung out, drank more, played football and frisbee at the park(- and, oddly enough, as soon as we started playing, some cops pulled in the parking lot *shifty eyes*) ...climbed monkey bars, swang on swings and generally acted like the little kids we still are *grins*. It was great!!! and then after all of that, and on almost 48hours of no sleep, pretty much everyone helped clean up!!! which was pretty much a party in itself!!! By the time we finished it was 10 on friday night (yeah, my school's weird, prom was on a thursday *shrug*) and the only eveidence that there had been a party was the 12 garbage bags in my garage!.

... so yeah... it was pretty crazy... and OMG!!! my prom dress was sooo gorgeous! I had actually picked it up in oxford last summer for 65 pounds! it's like this purpley-pinkish-blue colour that shifts depending on the light like raw silk! and my hair was sooo amazing!! I made Langan help me take it out after the party and there were 122 pins. 1-2-2!!!!! ...

... *sigh* it was amazing though and I totally wish we could do it again!!! Even if it did mean I was dead tired when I showed up at the studio for work on Saturday morning *grins* ... OOOOHH!!! SIDE NOTE: Miss Kim had a baby boy two weeks ago!!! I still haven't seen him but *jumps up and down excitedly*!!!

... after that... things pretty much went back to normal... school resumed for a week before exams... we had athletic banquet where the gifties definately swept the awards ... CONGRATULATIONS ZHENG, ADRIAN AND HEYMIAN!!!! and Angel and everyone else who won!!! but yeah... I swear our year's insane, you'd think that being gifted would mean being bad at sports... *shakes head* that's probably the biggest misconception ever... not only are they all bloody brilliant, they're all insanely good at sports as well!!!

Exams were fun - as always... yes, I know, I'm weird :P... and I did fairly well on all of them... could've done better on bio but *shrug*... I still say that that one question was impossible to answer since logically once you said that one of the statements was incorrect the other was as well :P!!!! *wrinkles nose*... anyhow... I got my 90's... well, all but one... although algeo and calc were definately thanks to Mr Chan and Mr Mo's help... but yeah... calc was still an 88... which meant I had to wait until 2 days ago to find out - that I GOT IN!!! WOOOHOOO!!! Oxford, here I come!!! *jumps up and down excitedly*.... the only bad part is that now I wont get to ski in the rockies next winter *pouts*!!!! Ah, well, I guess you can't have it all...

anyhow... so school ended and summer began... with me showing up to school everday for a week... *shakes head*... it was funny really... it's like I'm never going to be able to leave Woburn... but no, I had an SAC luncheon one day, and I had to go check all my marks and collect them for Oxford... which resulted in some pretty funny scenes... like me playing stones with Mr. Breadner in his office on one of the days... *shakes head* ...only me...

... Then, my summer started in earnest... and in typical me fashion, I headed out of the country! - this time, to the Global Yound Leader's Conference in Washington DC and NYC for two weeks... and it was INCREDIBLE!!! there were 364 of us from over 40 different countries!!! it was sooo amazing, I met sooo many great people from all over the world!!! It's insane what some people have done - sat in on autopsies and surgery, hiked mount kilimunjaro, done safaris, gone camping in the wilds of who-knows where, really been to and lived in crazily exotic places and seen things I've never seen... and I am thoroughly jelous!!! We all just clicked so well and so fast!!! I'm going to miss my fellow GYLC-ers sooo much!! and we KNOW we have to have reunions right!!! and alternate hosting them!!! I can't even begin to describe the experience... it's truly the people you meet that make the conference worth while!!! and now, I know that whenever I travel, I'll always have a place to stay :)!

... so yeah... that pretty much brings us to the present... and to the never-before-seen circumstances of Ally having absolutely nothing to do!!!... well, okay... that's not entirely true... I still need to get my full G... and we've started up a senoir dance class at the studio every wednesday night - which is awesome 'cause almost everyone has come back for it!!! and I mean everyone, some of the girls left 3-5 yrs ago!!! It's soooo much fun and I can't wait to start up again!!! - even if I did get fat again from eaing so much food these past two weeks :P... and I'm gonna start doing circus lesson again on Saturdays... only now I'm doing arial and acro - which is really exciting 'cause I haven't done them before... but yeah... other than that... and reading... and joining Em's D&D campaign (what?!?!?! I haven't played in years... 'sides, I'm gifted, I'm entitled to a little nerdiness every once in a while ;P!)... I have absolutely nothing to do.... part of me wants to get a job... but maybe... just maybe... I should relax for once in my life ;)...

As always, with love from the ever-insane,
Ally

EEEK!

Oh my gosh!!! I can't believe I'm actually done!!! I'm officially no longer a High School student *blinks rapidly*... I can still totally remember walking into the main doors at Woburn for the first time... and how it felt to be in grade nine... and just everything... it all just went by soo fast... and it's funny how everything just sort of blurs together... I can't even begin to imagine not be there... not having to wake up digustingly early for 7:45 Student Council meetings on mondays... or staying rediculously late for Stage Crew like I used to... or ... well... not being stuck there repeatedly day after day!!! I'm going to miss it sooooo soooo sooo very much. Woburn is a huge part of what made me who I am today... and for everyone who was there through it, even just the littlest bit, I thank you!

As for my friends, especially the gifties and the teachers I have no idea what I'll do without you guys next year!!! I'm at a complete loss for words (wow, that's shocking, that almost never happens :P) ... I'm not sure whether to be excited about all of these new doors opening up for me, or sad that I'm leaving so much behind...

... I'm sorry for the rambling-ness... but I'm still really just trying to digest it... I'm not even quite sure what I want to say... or what the point of this post was... I was originally just gonna catch up on everything I've been doing since the last blog... but well... yeah... I was suddenly just overwhelmed with... everything! There are just so many good memories that I doubt I'll ever forget... or if I do, I'm sure that one day, hopefully in the not so distant future, I'll encounter something or someone that'll dredge them all up... and I'll definately have a good laugh :P... Aww man... all that 90's music in the STEP office... We NEED to go Kareoke!!! ...Kav falling of her chair at Tommy's on saturday :P... the guys climbing in the windows when they were late for english... me climbing out of the window onto the roof in algeo... the guys "fishing" for Ben's waterbottle with rulers in calc... all of our crazy complaints about physics... Jesse's endlessly amusing physics tests: "Mrs Enright, what's this" "Mrs Enright, HELP!" "Mrs Enright, I wrote you a song, wanna hear it?" or the "grasshopper" :D... aww man... and those never ending Chem classes where Mrs Russell always managed to cram in an entire new CHAPTER in the last five to ten minutes of class... *shakes head*... I didn't think it was possible to cram that much information into my skull... I'm soo gonna miss all of our crazy bio classes... and our insane english trips... and just hanging out with the teachers during spares... and driving them crazy during class... our gifty end of year picnic was amazing and I'm sooo glad we did it!!! It just brought everything together in the end!!!

*sigh* All of those crazy times together during the years... whether in class or out... and when we were suposed to be in class but were out... the football games.. the basketball games... that soccer game against those random gino guys at meadowvale park... Early morning Timmy's Trips during bio... and all the other crazy stuff we managed to do... not the least of which was the girls dissecting (AKA playing with) a cow's eyeball while the guys hid in the library :P...

*shakes head* it's been an amazingly fun ride and I'm gonna miss you all more than I can truly say! Never fear though, (or maybe you should *evil grin*) I'll definately come back and visit every chance I get... and never doubt that that will be often! and I know everyone is gonna be coming over to visit me in Oxford next year right?!?! :P

With Love,
Ally

Oops..!

*laughs*... I woke up in the middle of the night after yesterday's blog and realised that I had forgotten to mention *dumdumdum* FOOTBALL!!! How could I have?!?! *laughs* ... but no, I'm on the team again, and it's been sooo much fun!!!... and this year I'm playing Safety instead of Tight End which is actually more fun *shrugs* who knew? We've actually had a pretty good season so far... or up until Agincourt beat us as soundly as they did last week *winces* that was not pretty... So far Mr. Rooney's forced me to sit out 3 games due to ear infections/fluid in my ears *wrinkles nose* I don't know why, It's not as though having no balance and falling while walking and twisting your ankle and pulling all the muscles in your foot... twice *blushes*... impairs your ability to play football in anyway :P... but yeah... the whole fluid in ear thing really doesn't help my natural clumsiness... I actually fell off my chair in chem... and I was just sitting there!!! *sighs*... ah well, it was funny...

And AHH!!! Omg!!! how could I have forgotten to mention my courses this year... I think I'm nuts for taking them btw... even if they are fun... and I do have two lovely spares *grins*... and up until last week there was a late start every tuesday which was even nicer :)... but yeah... I went alll gifted 'cause I'm apparently crazy :P. I did: Algeo w/Mr. Mo, Calculus W/Mr. Chan, Bio w/Rooney, Physics w/Mrs Enright, Chem w/Mrs. Russell and English w/Mrs Billinghurst... tho I also crash Ms. Mo's Eng class a lot *evil grin*... but yeah... it's been fun... though I'm sure you can see why 90+% in each course is killing me *dies again*... ...*groans and lies still for a bit, then glance around to make sure that no one's watching *... ... ...*jumps back up a moment later*... *dusts herself off* anyhow... I think I'm gonna go stretch... (you know that rigger mortis really tightens the muscles :P... *blushes*... sorry, I had to... it was just... right there *points up to part in the last sentence*...) okay, really, really, I am going now! *ducks the rotten tomatoes, vegetables and other random gourd-like things being thrown in her general direction*

Ttfn,
Ally