beboots | Entries tagged with lady luck

So I had a lovely day today! ... Until I finished up my day's activities to learn that I'd gotten a $50 parking ticket for parking in front of a friend's house downtown. :P I didn't want to pay the $10 for three hours it would cost to park in the official parking lots on campus, and assumed that it was fine because I knew the person (and her parents!)... but no. :P The cops patrol the area frequently, apparently.

But otherwise I had a decent day! I had to drive downtown for a meeting with Edmonton Immigration Services Association (EISA) with whom I volunteer, and a friend of mine who also volunteers for them came with me back to campus so we could go to this super-awesome peachy keen anthropology lecture on excavating vampire graves in Greece. You know, how rural folk would "desecrate" bodies of suspected vampires by doing things like driving metal stakes through the skull, chest and pelvis? Anyway, it was a fascinating lecture to attend... and also included free Hallowe'en candy! :D The room was packed.

I then took the Metro downtown to meet with Maria, the Peruvian woman who needs help improving her oral English (my EISA client). We had tea on Churchill Square at a café called the Three Bananas, and had loads of fun talking. She also gave me some chocolate as a thank-you gift. :) I left with a warm fuzzy feeling

...And then I when back to my car near campus and it all went crashing down when I saw that parking ticket under my windshield wiper. :/ Thanks, City of Edmonton!

I mean, I realize that I was in the wrong, and I gambled, but... I'm unemployed, man! And I had been having a wonderful day until this really brought my down. :( I loved that lecture, but it wasn't worth $50, you know? And now I feel angry with EISA of all things for insisting upon a meeting every three weeks to discuss problems that I don't actually have (it's an awesome program), forcing me to drive there and then to campus when I would normally take the bus for free with my student transit pass. :P One bit of negativity begets more negativity.

Meh. I'm going to head off in 15 minutes to twitch, groan and be creepy. Maybe that will help me feel better.

Hey guys guys guys:

I found my keys! \o/ I am SUPER pleased and relieved to get them back. :D

You see, for the past two days, since Tuesday evening, when I lost them, I've felt super-stressed out about not having these keys. Yesterday, I actually ran back and forth around campus to all of the possible lost & found bins on the route between the Tory building and the Van Vliet Centre (the gym), where I HAD to have lost them. And each time I visited the like six or seven different lost & found places, I got nothing. I have since learned a lot about the university system of lost & found, and it's actually a bit more complicated than it has to be: there's Campus Security, the libraries, and the Info Link (information booths), and they all have separate systems for lost items. If I didn't find it today, I would have called in tomorrow morning (I got business cards with phone numbers for inquiries) as a last ditch resort, because ALL of the like dozen Info Link booths accumulate all of the week's lost & found items in the one giant office in the Student's Union Building on Thursday evening, so it would all be in one place on Friday morning.

No dice this morning, when I went running around (I'm getting exercise, at least, running across campus?), and after class, I met a friend who treated me to tea for helping her edit a paper. And as we stood in the long lineup for Starbucks in CAB, I looked to my right at Cameron Library. I never go in there, you see, it being a science-oriented library, and I'd already checked the CAB Info Link booth three times for my keys in the last few days... But I thought, what the heck, I may as well try.

AND THEY WERE THERE. \o/ I was SO relieved. These keys are quite important, and hold significant emotional meaning to me. As a child, I always wanted a nice chain of keys (it made me feel important - and still does), and I would actually put those cheap little diary keys on a keychain just to look cool. :) I actually have some pretty neat stuff on here.

That big black key is my car key - the first car that I really consider "mine", although it's in my parents' names. The two keys that look the same are keys to two separate rooms in the university (the Honour's room, where my desk is, and the office of the professor I worked for this summer... which I have to return next week, hence PART of my desperation to find this keychain again). The red one is my house key - luckily enough, my father DIDN'T go to England with mum and Ian last week, or I would have been locked out of the house for the evening and would have had to crash at a friend's place until the next day when I could get a key off my sister.

I'm very attached to the three keychains, too. Coin themes! The one on the left is the newest: a reproduction of a Victorian-era one penny piece I bought while in Britain this past summer. Then is a fake Las Vegas $100 chip, bought by my best friend when she went down there a few years ago. Then I have a reproduction roman coin (with a very similar figure as on the reverse side of the one penny piece!) from Bath, in England. I actually lost the first one I got, and this one was bought by ANOTHER friend who visited England a few years later. I love it. And the last one... you probably know. PIRATES of the Caribbean! :D They're hard to find, so I'm extra-glad I didn't lose this one.

So there you have my keychain! ... Now that you know all about it, you have no excuse not to help me look for it the next time I lose it. >_>

But seriously, guys, finding my keys is a huge load of stress off of my back. Also, I finished a midterm today in an area not my specialty, and I don't think that it went all that bad! So things are looking up. :)

Current Mood: relieved

I can't decide if today was a good day or a bad day. Let's see, what happened?

To begin with, I have an 8am class to which I have to commute from another city. That means that I get up at 6:15, to catch a bus at 6:54 from my house... only I missed it. So I had to leap in my car to drive frantically to the transit station to catch the right bus. But I did end up catching it! So: not late for the last class before the midterm. Also, I didn't forget my lunch. Bonus?

Anyway, I then I had a three hour break. :/ I got some reading done, but never enough. A Temeraire/Harry Potter fanfic that I've been following was updated, so I got to read that on my little iPod, so it wasn't all boring. Also, lunch! And snacks! (Salted nuts, cheese slices, homemade yogurt parfait, etc.) So that was fine. I then had my class from 12:30 until 2:00, and the lecture was almost directly relevant to my thesis and thus topic of interest. Sounds fine, right?

I was pretty tired, though, and I was debating if I wanted to stick around for the three extra hours I'd told myself I was going to so that I could attend a little talk at 5:00 on what one can do with a history degree. I hesitated, really, REALLY tempted to just get on the bus and head home, but I thought, "nah, this is my career! I'd better go". So I stuck around for three hours, getting some reading done, but nowhere near what I would have had I gone home and made some tea and worked on it in a comfy chair with lots of light.

And then I went to the room, and it turned out that the meeting was cancelled. I didn't get the e-mail because I hadn't RSVPed. >_<; I felt like an idiot, and like I'd wasted my day. I was tired, had a headache, and wanted to go home.

But I still had a meeting at Fort Edmonton - a dress rehearsal for Spooktacular (more on that in a week or two), and a friend of mine that I carpool with was going to pick me up at university at 6:30. There was no sense in me going home - during rush hour - only to turn around and drive back into Edmonton.

SO I went to go swimming! (I'd brought exercise stuff just in case, as I had that six hour break.) It was the first time I'd actually used the fitness centre at the university - you know, the one I pay like $160/year to keep running? And I felt really refreshed and energized and healthy after swimming laps for half an hour.

And then I went back to the Honour's room, where I'd dumped my stuff (my phone, my purse, my study notes)... and I couldn't find my key. Correction: keys. My housekey, my car keys, my two university keys (one of which I need to give back sometime next week). Also, I have several keychains from around the world, bought my myself and by friends, that I'm kind of emotionally attached to. I ran back to the gym (no-one answered my frantic knocks on the honour's room door - surprise surprise, it was past 6pm), and they weren't in the Lost & Found there. I ran back to the room, and this time someone was there to let me in... but no dice, my keys weren't there either.

I still haven't found them. I'll ask again at the lost & found tomorrow, and I hope for the best. I really, really don't want to have to replace these... :(

On the plus side, I still have my bus pass and I had a ride home? And I got to pretend to be a zombie (and got to "devour" someone) at the rehearsal?

Verdict? Good day or bad day?

Current Mood: tired

Day 34

Okay, so my luck seems to be flip-flopping all over the place. First of all, I got a really good deal on the train tickets to take Yan and I to Paris from Lille, online, for like half the price of what it is to buy them right there, on the day. And they were first class, not second class.

...Then, Yan lost hers. And we only found out like fifteen minutes before our train left. D: She bought another one (she couldn't do much else), but I had to leave her to catch the train by myself, because it was a close thing. So there I sat, in the first class, wondering for the entire hour whether or not Yan had made it onto the train and what I would do if she hadn't.

Luckily, she made it. :3 We had an almost tearful reunion on the platform. Then, we got a little bit lost looking for the place we had booked to stay the night.

First sign that the hostel may not be as conveniently close as you thought it was: when the first taxi driver you approach to take you there refused because it was "trop loin" (too far). D: Well, he actually relented and took us when Yan and I began looking lost and tearful. Also? It's not a good sign when the experienced Parisian taxi driver has to dust off his GPS to find us our hostel. D:

Still, we made it. A bit late: I had planned to arrive at 10:30 or so, dump our stuff, then head over to the Japan Expo for 11:00 or so. Instead, we didn't arrive at the hostel until past noon, and then getting our train tickets and taking the train down to the Parc Des Expositions took like over an hour as well. D: It was really bad. Apparently, what looks to me (with my inexperienced eye) on the map like a distance of about 10 to 15 minutes (driving) translates into over an hour (and four transfers) of train. We have to do a loop to get there from our hostel, because there isn't a direct train heading in that direction. D:

Anyway, other than the really stupid location, things are actually rather nice here. This hostel isn't technically a hostel: it's actually an apartment that you can rent out for however long you want. It's quite nice inside the rooms. They even have a mini-kitchen (including a stove, fridge, kettle, toaster, mircowave...), a TV (and DVD player), free wireless internet (hence, this post), etc.,etc. Except that it doesn't have a bed. Well, it has a fold-out couch, which is acceptable for three days. Plus, when I get the deposit back, this place is like 1/5th of what a hotel would cost per night. And there's a really nice chinese restaurant next door. I just ate there. It was delicious. OMNOMNOM.

Now why don't I talk about the Japan Expo? :D I went the first day with Yan (I was alone today because she flew back to Canada this morning), which was uber awesome funtime. Since we were so late (we arrived at nearly 2 o'clock), there were no lines whatsoever to buy our tickets (I got a three day pass). Then, I just had to pop into the vestiary to change into my outfit, and whabam! Instant awesomeness! :D

The place is massive, by the way. The whole thing is one dealers room, with food stalls and speaker areas all around. This room is probably about fifteen times the size of the dealer's room at the Animethon at Grant MacEwan. No joke. And everything there is so awesome! :D They have a lot more original artists (they have like five artists alleys) than we do in Canada (I took advantage of this and bought some locally-made French doujinshi.)

Also, they have lots of hardcore cosplayers. And a lot of gothic lolitas hanging around. And a lot of lolital clothing stalls. I haven't given into temptation and looked at them in detail yet, because I honestly don't have enough space in my suitcase to fit anything that I buy there. But I still have one day, so I may yet succum to temptation... D:

Also, famous people. Apparently, Miyavi (a j-rocker) is hanging about the lolita stalls, but I haven't been able to get close. I did catch the last half of Takeshi Obata's lecture/ Question & Answer session today, though, but no autographs for me. ;_; (remember, he's the artist who drew Hikaru no Go, from which the character I dress up as comes from) I only caught the second half because it was right at 11 am and the entry crowds are crazy, even for people who already have passes. Seriously. I should have caught on yesterday when I saw all of the fencing arranged in loops in the front...

But I did catch the lecture that the author of Hellsing gave! (That was for you, Ashley). I also got some good photos of the mangaka, and a video of him sketching a picture of Alucard. Badass.

I've also met many awesome people! Most of them were French, although I did run into a group of German cosplayers who were awesome, and a group of people from Britain (we've exchanged facebooks). :3 I hope to see them again tomorrow. I haven't run into Ashley's Alexandre yet, but it's a big festival, and again, there is tomorrow.

Also, people like my costume! :D I acquired a fan that actually fits with the character design (before, I was using a bright purple one, not the white one like Sai has in canon). I have a nice pose, which involves the fan, and I have gotten many compliments and people asking me for photographs. On the first day, Yan and I kept count (31 photo requests between when we arrived at 2:15 or so until we left at 6:15). Today, I lost count at 15 or so, but there was at least thrice that ammount. A couple of times, a single person asks to take a photo, then when I pose, everyone in the area takes out their camera as well. D: I'm not swarmed as much as the epic Sakura (with feathers) or that angel guy (with the epic wings) or that blue elf-chick (with the overall epic-ness) (the photographs of these people shall be uploaded next week, probably, for your viewing pleasure), but I still feel awesome. :3 It's interesting to walk around, then hear someone poke their friend and go "hein, t'as vu Sai? Vite, regardes, Sai!" ("hey, did you see Sai? Quick, look, Sai!") One guy thought I was from Onmyouji, which is a believable mistake, since Sai and Abe no Seimei are from the same era and social class, and wear similar outfits. Most people recognize me, though (or, at least, the people who ask for photographs). It helps that there's a lot of Hikago merchandise around because of Takeshi Obata's attendence of the festival. :3

I've stopped by the go tables (where people are being taught how to play go) a few times, and smiled at people there. (For the uninitiated, my character, Sai, is a ghost that "lives" for go, and is the most awesome go player EVAR). Tomorrow, I'll ask to be taught how to play. :3 I wonder if I shall get many photographs taken of me playing go...

So I suppose that this post is enough for now! I shall add more details (and pictures) later on. See you guys soon!

Current Mood: creative
Current Location: Paris (well, Epinay-sur-Seine)
Current Music: Les Choristes Soundtrack