allo.

so *the hills* are back!
yes indeed.

are you in?

news.

the good news is...I've been spending less time on the internet, more time interacting face-to-face with the world.

the bad news is...this has meant significantly less blogging for you readers. SO, if you are still here...well done.

My graduation rectial is this Saturday, March 15, @ 4.30pm!! How exciting, I know.

Other than that....I haven't been focussed on much. But, plans are moving forward for living in Lethbridge next year, working a bit with bridges of hope, and just generally embracing the incredible, revolutionary life I've found here.


and now...some pictures of reading week in Vancouver. It should quickly be obvious why I love the colour blue...

* drive star *

HOLLERRR!

I just got home from work, and I need to relate to you the story of my shift this morning.

OK, so not a full story, just a few fun facts.

I started @ 7am, and deanna graciously lent me her car so I could drive to work -- woohooo!!! That was great.

I arrived 5 mins early, signed in, was good to go, set up my tills...and then the GONG SHOW set in.

I ended up on drive-thru, and I took my first few orders just fine, working off of the 5 minute drive-thru training I had the other day.

Suddenly, it was out of control. I had 8 orders in a row, wasn't sure how many I could ring in and have stored on the computer at once, and I just thought that I was falling apart.

!!!!

FORTUNATELY, I was working with Brittany and Abby, who are fabulously cool-headed, and they helped me to remain calm and work through our drink orders. UNFORTUNATELY, the cafe was also hella busy, so....there was no relief.

Jen came in too, as the gong show was slowing down (ONLY slightly), and she and I pro-star'd the drive-thru together.

Phew.

It was.................a test of stamina, but I passed! Hooorah!

it's not minus 40 anymore!!!

it's been minus forty (degrees centigrade) all week...and today it is minus 5!!!!

WOOHOO!!!

I am delighted, I must say, because this cold and I are not meant to be together.

oh, and welcome to the blog of 2008. the absense has been good, but it's time to return.

hello world!

housewives...

oh my! lynnette, bree, susan, and gabrielle! It is great to be reunited!

:)

I must say, the drama on desparate housewives is so fabulou s-- not quite as out of control as your average soap opera, but still scandalous enough to be a guilty pleasure.

Fabulous-o.

again, unrelated pictures:

THIS IS my beautiful sister and her friend Taushif.


Jonathon. Beautiful man.


Bentalls. Best faces ever.


"Oh...I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair..."


I like to dance, and I like to sing! Do-do-do-do-do!

hollerrrrrrrrrr.

Sooooooo today in computer science there were a handful of people who DIDN'T SHUT UP for the entire 50 minute class. 50 minutes of lecture + dumbass classmates. GAH!!!!

Ew.

Top 3 reasons why I didn't like high school:
1. people talking in class.
2. I used to sweat a lot.
3. cafeterias.

In other news, I need 5 programs, 1 masterclass, and 6 songs to complete the studio component of my semester. AH!

Also, my hair looked pretty fabulous tonight. And also, I've been re-rocking the red Old Navy jacket I bought in fall 2002. It's pretty hot.

Here are some unrelated photos:


me in my garage fridge.



my fabulous friend ife.




this is anna. isn't she gorgeous?




my sister elizabeth. all grown up AND she plays violin.




my blue room in the land below sea.

sur le weekend...

Friday

I brought my camera to our opera concert (Girls' Night Out) and the batteries died. The only picture I got was this:



Dee and Tyson also left me this little love note (they had their own batteries):


(We Heart Melinda)


(MUMPS!! [U of L is in the midst of an outbreak]).



Saturday

Shannon, Lynnae, and I drove up to Calgary to see 'Across the Universe' and Verdi's 'Rigoletto'.









Sunday

I drove myself to church in Crystal's car.
Mary-ann and I had lunch at her house, then we headed to the mall where I bought some awesome new jeans.

thinking about the world...

Nobel prizewinner, Gabriella Mistral, put it this way:

“We are guilty of many errors and many faults but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many of the things we need can wait. The child cannot. Right now is the time his bones are being formed, his blood is being made, and his senses are being developed. To him we cannot answer 'Tomorrow.' His name is 'Today.' It's time to respond to the millions of helpless children who are homeless, exploited, and abandoned.”

I made a website!

As a computer science 1000 student, I've been required to make a website with a program called dreamweaver.

It's pretty amazing.

Prepared to be changed.

new radiohead -- in rainbows.

AH!

I'm not sure how to express this...just that I'm so glad I stuck with Thom and the boys through Amnesiac and Kid A (both of which I enjoyed, btw), because now...OH THE GLORY OF 'IN RAINBOWS'!!!!



and downloaded for free!? = even better.

what is pumpkin honey?

I came home from BC with my red rain coat and my plaid lulu hoodie (thanks to Ben for surrendering it), and a new scarf -- ivory with black stars.

On Friday, me, my family, and zoe went to Tadia's Birthday Hootenanny -- dancing and eating good cookies ensued.



On Saturday, Ben and I ventured out to H & M in Coquitlam Center, then we headed to the Binghams' for some awesome times. Then, we captured Mikael and brought her home for dinner. Then, Mikael and I rented some movies, and Zoe came over, so all the kids watched "RIZE" (a movie about cool kids in LA who krump instead of doing drugs).

Phew.

On Sunday, I was late for church, then we all went out for dinner (hello, white spot). Then, the kids went downtown, where I spent $56 at Kiehl's, and bought Lizzy some lulu's with my gift card. Then, the Abby Appy clan joined us for turkey dinner.

Phew.

ON MONDAY, I had breakfast with Katrina B. @ Cafe Deux Soleil on Commercial. Awesome. I had the breakfast Sundae. Next time, I'll remember that they make it with plain yogourt, and get an awesome omlette instead. Then, I went home and me and the family and zoe went to a pumpkin farm. Well, it's more than that, but pumpkins dominate the pictures because it's fall. I bought 3 kinds of honey, and 2 organic artichokes.















Phew.

Then, I flew back to Calgary, where Mariah picked me up @ the airport. Then, we went and got dee from IKEA, and drove home to Lethbridge.

YOWZAAA!



Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll.

the profundity is unwitting...

"doing is not the same as releasing. you cannot make 'let go' happen."

-- laurell anderson, Alexander Technique instructor.



The things this woman said about the voice and the body and the whole kinesthetic system absolutely blew me away.

For me, it was using more energy and resistance to create, define and engage each phrase -- such a simple answer to a seemingly impossible question.

For another, it was letting go of active tension to find true opposition and balance -- the voice which flew, spun and danced its way to freedom was breathtaking.

These teachers, Alexander and Reid, must be geniuses. They've discovered methods that work for everyone -- methods of movement and song that call out a response to the body's natural rhthyms.

It's so much easier than we've made it out to be!

The resounding answer must be, "yes! I've found it! I'm home, at last!"

you'd think I was talking about Jesus or something...

let's think about this for a minute...

I was sitting in masterclass on monday afternoon, and I zoned out and started thinking about 'the voice'.
As an instrument, there isn't really a true model of how it works. Every other instrument involves some kind of mechanics, maneuvered by one's hands, or feet (via pedals), etc.
The voice is created by the movement of 2 delicate membranes in the larynx, moved by air...the body is the resonator.

It's a very natural action or movement, but as a musician, it's kind of tricky when you try and compare your learning the voice to a brass player's learning the trumpet or trombone...

Hmmm.

Singers unite...eeeeeeeeeee...

icy bikes and white tea.

friends.
deanna and i had planned to drive to school together today, but alas, we both awoke to shower at 8am, and she beat me to it. i had breakfast and made lunch while she steamed herself awake, and by the time i was squeaky clean and wrapped in a towel, she was ready to go.

so.

i rode my bike to school.

'but melinda', you ask, ' wasn't it minus something icky overnight?'

why yes it was. which is why i scraped the ice off my seat before i hopped on and pedalled my way to academic glory.

thinking ahead, i packed my travel mug and a bag of white tea in with my lunch. and so i sit, enjoying the warmth of slightly over-steeped white tea, as i laugh at my often ridiculous albertan existence.

here's to icy bike seats and white tea mornings.

love,
m.

adventures in canoes and trespassing skills.

first, tyson and i had to buy the food to feed the leaders on our canoe trip.

this is tyson, asking luc what we should buy -- he didn't know, and neither did dave (aka "boss man"), so we didn't buy any -- me and deanna went later.




oh, did i mention that this is about our canoe trip? well, now i did.
off we went on Saturday morning to canoe our little hearts out, down the Oldman Riv-- oh, down a creek....

canoes in the creek.



then, we portaged our canoes up a hill, over a gate, across the highway, down a hill, over a barbed wire fence, and FINALLY -- to the river.

portage part 1.

i am not happy about this 'adventure'.

trespass...moi?

over the gate (beside the big, blue, trespassing sign...)

portaging on the highway!

FINALLY! the river.


stay tuned for part 2!

1 deer, 2 deer, 3 deer...girls?

Tonight, I went for a walk with Super Skakes and Mariah. We walked to a park just a few blocks across University Drive, where there is a ... truly Southern Alberta style sign posted.

(The Sign reads: A Kiwanis Club Park. A place for handicapped kids to be healthy, and healthy kids to be happy. gah).

Anyway, we took a little star-gazing break, enjoying the early fall sky. We heard a couple walking through the park, the man of whom was saying, "Look, they're lying down -- there's 3 of them."
Sunddenly, we realized they were talking about us!
As they walked closer to us, the man again said, "Look, there they are, 1, 2 -- "
And I said, "3!"

He laughed, and said, "oh, it's 3 youth!" and the woman said, "oh, we thought you were deer!"

!!!!



They thought we were deer!?

Wow.

Best! walk! ever!

what up homeez. [as i type the 'save now' button gets bigger - - how strange is that!?]

friends!
I am in my chaplaincy office during my first office hours as a student chaplain for ECM. I've had 2 visitors so far, one of whom was my friend Natalie, and the other of whom was a music prof. Weird.

I'm not always a huge fan of these 'update on my life' posts, but I thought I'd do one just for fun. Also, I've got a few fun posts on the way, and if I tell you about them now, it's more likely that I'll actually post them.

...

I just had my 3rd and 4th visitors! A girl named Lisa needs me to bring some music to school for her, so she and a friend stopped in to remind me.

Phew.

What a crazy day it's been.

summer randoms.

this is kevin and evie's wedding. or rather, me at it.



i bought new shoes! so i decided to go for a walk and test them out.



me and andrew snyder. aren't we cute?



this is me and justin nichols. also cute.



wait'll you see the whole neon outfit!