Exams are OVER!

And now I don't know what to do. Well, that's not quite true... but I always get this feeling at the end of term. I end up pretty directionless for the week or so I generally take off from school between terms. And, yes, I am taking a course this spring. Only one, and only in spring term, not summer, but I just can't go a whole four months without school! Besides, I'm really looking forward to actually getting AHEAD of the game for once.

In other news, the Detroit/Edmonton series is tied up, at two apiece. I know, intellectually, that it's more than just improbable for us to carry on another round... but sweet Jebus, that would be AMAZING.

At any rate, in the absence of anything interesting to talk about (really, all I've been doing for the last week is studying my tail off), I'll leave this till something actually DOES happen. Possibly till after the game.

Procrastination 'r' Us

Well, me anyways. I'm currently very deliberately NOT doing the monster project that is due *gack* TOMORROW, mostly because it's very, very frustrating. Note: Anyone who knows more than I do about the intricacies of WebCT, feel free to post helful hints in the comments!) But, also, something kind of neat happened last night (while I was also not working on this project).

I've moved around rather a great deal in my life, although thankfully the last few moves have all been at least within the same city. As often happens with such moves, though, I've frequently lost touch with people I care about. So, imagine my surprise when yesterday I got an email from a friend of mine from fifteen years ago. We were completely inseparable as little kids until I moved south (and yes, Edmonton really is south for some of us). Now, we've already got plans to get together sometime over the summer. The intarwub is such a wonderful thing, n'est-ce pas?

In other news, the 'holiday' which we have all supposedly just experienced appears to have hardly been restful for most of us. I found myself entertaining 25 of my closest family members all weekend, most everybody I know is studying like mad for finals (whose bright idea was it to have finals during a family-type holiday anyways?) and Ninja has been pulling Gods-awful shifts at work. Oh well, May Long Weekend is just around the corner, and for anybody who didn't already know it, yes, I am a geek. This is what I'm planning to do, because one of my favourite authors will be there.

Hmm. Well, I suppose I should get back to work *grumbles*. Oh well.

See you all after exam madness has passed!

Happy Easter, Grandpa Bus

In other news, this weekend is one of three annual clan gatherings for my family. Every Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving, at least thirty or so of us get together to celebrate the season and get really drunk (hey, we're Irish Catholic. It's part of our doctrine). This weekend, though, will be bittersweet - the first large gathering since the passing of my grandfather. In his honour, we'll be continuing a tradition that he started, a huge Good Friday family dinner at The Old Spaghetti Factory downtown. Every year for as long as I can remember, he treated us all to the first feast after Lent's fasting. Now, I am far from devout, but still it's always been one of my favourite days of the year. Even though family politicking doesn't cease for the holidays, still I've always loved getting together in a huge group. There's really nothing like hanging out with anywhere from twenty-five to fifty of your closest relatives, sharing stories that come from as far away as Hay River, Watson Lake, Victoria, and Montreal, and just absolutely immersing yourself in a group of people who, flaws and foibles aside, will always love you no matter what else is going on in your life. I was glad that my dad and his nine siblings (Irish Catholic, remember) decided to go on with this tradition this year; although it will be sad without my grandfather, and I'm sure more than a few tears will be shed and toasts made in his memory, still I can think of no better tribute to him.

WE MADE THE PLAYOFFS!!

So, I'm a little bit of a hockey fan. Well, maybe fan is too strong a word. I follow the sport from time to time, when I've nothing else to do. But far be it from me to let something like a professional sports team schedule dominate my life.

Seriously, though, I love hockey. When I was growing up so far north that we only got three television channels - the CBC, French CBC, and ITV if the wind was right - the whole world stopped for Hockey Night in Canada and the grocery store would actually close for the peewee hockey tournaments. When we would all pile into the family minivan for the ten hour drive to Edmonton, my brothers and I would quiz each other on team rosters and stats. So last night, the Ninja came to terms with being a hockey widower as I blatantly ignored him for the first half of our weekly Thursday night date to watch the end of the game against Anaheim. And oh, what an ending! As my brother said when he picked up the phone in answering my celebratory call, "Ales-in-Wonderland Fanclub, how may I be of service?"

I've been a little distraught with Hemsky's performance over the past few months. The kid has talent in unspeakable quantity; he's just been absolutely plagued by bad luck. I firmly believe that this is why he's had trouble with actually committing to shots on net, or rather, why he HAD been having troubles. In the last five or six games, he's really stepped it up and last night he had what I'm inclined to think of as one of the most important single goals in the Oilers' season. By securing the win for us last night, and then with a lot of luck and a little help from Cheechoo of San Jose, we finally clinched our berth in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

I'm a little excited.

The All-in-One Update

Having neglected this for a little while, I find that I actually have stuff to write about, and not nearly enough time in which to do it. So I'll temporize: I'll sum up everything that's been going on the past little while, but not in any great detail. Quantity over quality? Maybe, but time is precious at the end of March and beginning of April, as any full time student can tell you.

On the 25th of March, I attended the annual UAMC Spring Concert. It's the first one that I've ever attended as an alumnus; when I made the decision to leave the choir, I didn't let myself look back. Now, having heard them sing for the first time in over two years, I find myself toying with the idea of returning, just for fall term next year. Why? Because I miss it so incredibly much; the people, the music, and oh yeah the people. I'm still trying to readjust to having people in my life; after all, I only gave up my quasi-isolation a scant two months ago. But Ninja Stan convinced me to go to the after party with him for a little while, and it was entirely overwhelming, to be back in the midst of that many people. There was more than one awkward moment, as I stumbled for words and repartee, but still. I loved every minute of it. It was wonderful. Will I go back? Not sure yet. We'll have to wait and see.

On the 26th of March, my niece turned thirteen years old. She was eight hundred km north of us for her birthday, so we had our party for her a couple of weeks ago (funnily enough, actually, on St. Paddy's day). The fact that she is now thirteen is in and of itself miraculous; I remember, very clearly, when she was two years old and dying of organ failure in the U of A hospital. Now, she's thirteen, thinking about boys and clothes and music and school, dying her hair, getting facial piercings, and considering a tattoo (my older sister is a liberal kind of parent). Part of me wonders where the time went, but mostly I'm just grateful that she's getting to do all this stuff.

March 30th (yes, I'm skipping a couple of days but I don't really feel the need to write the details of my academic pursuits; I live them every day, after all) I went to see The Skin of Our Teeth at the Walterdale Playhouse. It was lots of fun; alot of silly, and some thoughtful too. I haven't made nearly enough time for theatre the last couple of years; I've only been to a smattering of plays, and there are always so many going on around town. I think that's going on the list.

Finally, last night, I watched as my beloved Oilers absolutely choked in the final chapter of the Battle of Alberta for the season. I say final; there is still the off chance that we'll meet again in the playoffs, but I'm not especially hopeful of that, since there's almost NO chance it would be in the first round and therefor extremely unlikely. What happened last night? I'm not going to make any comments about the coaching, or the skating, the passing, stickhandling, defense, offense, or goaltending. I'll leave that to people far, far more qualified. I did, however, have a particular beef with last night's game, which I will share.

At the opening of the third period, the Oil were down 3-1 - not a great situation, but not hopeless, as long as we could score early in the third. Which we did. But how can that be, you ask? I thought the final score was 4-1, you say. And indeed, it was. Because we scored on a delayed penalty call. But, you say, I thought that was ok? Aren't we ALLOWED to score on a delayed penalty call? And indeed, we are. So long as the call is against the other team. And therein lay the problem. You see, the eternally brilliant referee was actually calling a delayed penalty against the Edmonton Oilers. The problem was that the Oil were still in possession of the puck, so they, along with the 20,000 fans in the stands, and countless more at TV sets around the country, assumed that the call was going against Calgary. So Roli flew to the bench, we got a sixth attacker out on the ice, set up the play, and scored on Kipper (who, despite playing for Calgary, still has my unabashed respect for being a freaking awesome goaltender). However, the ref (having FINALLY realized his mistake) waved off the goal - despite the fact that HE HAD NOT ACTUALLY WHISTLED DOWN THE PLAY. Calgary scored about 20 seconds later, on the power play that Edmonton thought would be theirs, and we were never able to put together a single solid play after that.

Man, I wish the refs would play for MY team once in a while.