(Add catchy title here)

Busy, busy, busy. Virtually no time for blogging at all, or doing anything to willingly waste my energy on something not uni-related. It's still kind of like this at the moment, although the intensity of it all has decreased a little at the moment. Most likely due to the fact that I've handed in 2/3 of my essay outlines for the professors to read through and scrutinize as much as they wish. Well, technically I've already handed in all 3, but -- as the neurotic perfectionist that I am -- I figured I'd hand in one of them a second time. To make sure the professor knows perfectly what I intend to write about. I've also started gathering research for one of my papers, but there's one I simply can't find at all at the library. It's supposed to be there, but -- it doesn't seem to be there at all. Uh...? Note to self: Must seek out help tomorrow.

I also figured I'd take a day off to escape my books and essay-writing things for a while and see my cuz and my aunt (from out of town) who are here for a short visit. A short stop at a shop for my cousin to pick up some stuff for an upcoming wedding followed by a hearty sushi dinner at my favorite sushi restaurant and a stroll on Karl Johan was just nothing short of awesome. The Christmas market beside the City Hall downtown is also the perfect place to get into that festive mood. We all just took in the atmosphere of the place: the sights, the sounds, the smell of glühwein and gingerbread cookies... Aaah. Just perfect. The lights there were gorgeous as well. I thought I'd take the opportunity to take some photos of some of the sights to try to capture the mood there -- with various degrees of success. But it was very beautiful indeed. Sitting here, after having nibbled slightly on my German lebkuchen (German near-equivalent of gingerbread), I'm starting to be filled with the Christmas spirit that I so longed for. Seeing my cousin and my aunt again no doubt contributed to that as well. It's been too long since I've seen them.

My cousin and my aunt are two of those people who possess this element of self-irony, they don't take themselves seriously at all. They also have this kind of relationship where they bicker with each other in a tongue-and-cheek fashion. I admire that in them, odd as it may sound. I need more of this stuff in my life. And the raw laugh that always accompanies goofing around or any ironic/sarcastic comments hitting below the belt is nothing short of priceless. Besides, I felt I needed that laugh attack fix right now, too. It was great to see them again. I sincerely hope we'll be able to meet up again soon.

I'm kind of in a thoughtful mood right now, though nothing of interest really comes to mind. I just think back on the gorgeous Christmas lights at the back of the City Hall and the blissful and calm atmosphere of the place. This is just one of those moments where you look back on the day that's just passed and you smile to yourself, thinking "this day was nothing short of awesome". You sort of try to conserve that feeling of serenity and contentedness as much as possible throughout the last remnants of the day before you hit the sack and another day begins with its own set of expectations and challenges. I hope some of this feeling I have inside will be carried on through tomorrow and the rest of the days of this year. At least.

Right. Off to bed now. Even though Sir Noise-A-Lot strikes again. And it's not really the Arabic crossover kind I hear like the last time I wrote about it. It's got more of a beat to it this time. Yarr.

Must. Not. Taint. Christmasy. Feeling.

Ooh, and while I remember it: The strangest thing happened last night in the corridor outside my room. I'd gone off to bed after a fruitful day of studying and strangely enough I couldn't sleep. I was still awake at around 1:30am when I suddenly hear this noise resembling someone trying to lock himself/herself into my room, but not quite. Thank God it was locked. It sure as hell made my heart race a while afterwards, but when I looked through the peephole in my door some seconds after I'd heard the sound, I couldn't see anyone. So I checked the door again to make sure it was locked and went to bed again. The next day, as I was getting myself ready to leave for uni and later on to go downtown to meet said aunt and cousin, I suddenly noticed the tag with the number of my room had been removed from my door. Hence accounting for the strange sound I heard at half 1 in the morning. Humph. I found, however, that my tag had been stuck to another door across the corridor instead. The same thing had happened to the door of one of my other neighbors. Uh... And the point of this was...? Guess this just goes to show that everything gets funny and/or "just makes sense" at 1:30 in the morning.


Signing off (*zzz*),
Elise

*groan*

Ok. Saturday is officially over. And I can't sleep. There's someone in my building who has a somewhat inconsiderate affinity to playing Arabic music loudly after midnight. This usually happens around once a week, so it is tolerable, I suppose (subtle P&P innuendo there). BUT STILL.

I need to get up early(ish) tomorrow to take a shower and head off to church, but there are so many things in my head at the moment that I have to let some of 'em out.

Looking through that previous YT vid again (adorable kid!), I found out something more I'd like to have in a future bf/partner-for-life (note that I didn't write "partner-in-crime" here -- I'm not a criminal (duh)). He has to have a great laugh. I remember I'd gotten for one of my English assignments in Senior High to describe someone in my family, so I chose to describe Dad. I remember describing his laugh like a "high-pitched machine gun laugh". I'd like to have something like that as one of the top features of a future bf/partner-for-life. He has to have a contagious and memorable kind of laugh.

In other news, while the rest of mah peeps are studying for their semester finals, I've ostracized myself from that level of stress, if you get my drift. I'm not going to have any exams before spring (!), so I'm not really feeling the kind of nerves others of my acquaintance are feeling. Nonetheless, this means that the culmination of my classes will be postponed -- which can also be a bad thing. In addition, we've been given the task of writing 3 essays in the course of the next few months, so there'll probably be a lot of IB tendencies lurking about this Christmas... :-S Vacation is going to be somewhat short for me this year, I believe/fear... The first draft of one of my essays is going to be handed in January 4, so I'd better put the pedal to the metal and get started with it. Ugh. I feel really torn between letting myself work a little this Christmas and concentrating as much as possible on these essay drafts, but I fear that I'll just have to let work take a back seat this Christmas. I must admit I do feel guilty for doing so, but considering the fact that I don't have that much time to write my drafts, I don't think there's much for me to do about it.

Ugh (#2). I feel I'm letting people down by doing this, but ultimately uni has a higher priority than work. Still... The guilt factor is sky high.

This sucks. SUCKS, I tell you. SUCKS.

Meanwhile, besides this semi-killjoy attitude of uni with respect to essay writing (bah, humbug), I'm slowly but surely getting into the Christmas mood. At the soccer stadium they've started decorating the adjacent shopping street (it's really not that long/extravagant) with lights and tiny plastic Christmas trees. Purdy. Real purdy. They've also started decorating on campus, albeit just a little. This week there was this huge crane at the southern end of campus, ready to set up Christmas lights in the trees. You should really see those trees when it's dark outside (or after dark). Nothing short of beautiful!

Bought myself a bag of Christmas marzipan today as well. Lord knows marzipan is one of the best things ever created. I didn't really like it when I was a kid, but it's sorta' grown on me over the years. Just like licorice, mustard, brown cheese and raw/unprocessed tomatoes. (I adored spaghetti sauce with tomatoes and ketchup when I was a kid, but ironically enough I couldn't stand raw tomatoes. In case you didn't know, I was weird back then. Heck, I'm still weird in many ways!)

So what's missing now to make the picture complete is SNOW. That and reading by a lit fireplace snuggled inside a blanket in your jammies and favorite slippers sipping gløgg (approx. the same as mulled wine) while huge cotton-like wads of snow quietly fall to the ground. With the sweet and spicy smell of gløgg gradually filling the air and the sporadic crackling from the fireplace in reach. Oh yeah. Bliss. ("Chestnuts roasting on an open fire...")

*snaps out of trance* Hokai. Enough for now. I'd better hit the sack and get my beauty sleep. Going to church with dark bags underneath your eyes isn't exactly ideal. Besides, Sir Play-It-Loud seems to have surrendered to the increasing levels of serotonin in his body. Finally. I should do the same.

'Till next time!



Signing off (zzz...),
Elise