Reading Week again

We had gorgeous weather until today, when it went back to the usual clouds with intermittent rain. That's perfectly all right, since it is after all how it's "supposed" to be this time of year.

Went home for the first three days of Reading Week, to spend time with friends and family. Also, my parents are heading out of the country for a translation consultant conference, so it was good to be able to see them off.

Tomorrow, Mackenzie and I are planning to meet up with friends and go to Vancouver, to partake in the various free activities available for Olympics tourists. It should be a lot of fun! I only hope it isn't pouring all or most of the time, because even if that is the normal weather, it's not quite as fun to walk around the city while getting drenched. And it's also harder to see the beauty of the city in those conditions, as well! Even if the weather isn't all that cooperative, though, we have at least already been to Vancouver once, on one of the lovely springish days this past weekend. This trip had a different theme, though. Some pictures can be seen starting there, if you're interested.

School is beginning to get quite intense, with various papers and projects coming due in the next couple of weeks. Thus, it would also be good if we could do some actual reading this Reading Week, too! (I've already done a fair amount, in fact - or it might become a problem.)

This final semester still seems to be passing so quickly... only two more months!

What's up with this weather?

As I write this blog entry, much of the eastern half of the US is being covered in an insanely huge amount of snow, much more than anyone is really used to dealing with. At the same time, here in the Vancouver area where people are preparing for the start of the Winter Olympics, the sun is shining, and daytime highs reach into the upper 40s to mid 50s (around 9 to 11 degrees Celsius, I think). I saw one tree nearby that is already in bloom, and there are enough birds that seem to believe it's already spring, too. Craziness! The Olympics people have said they're prepared to use snow-making machines for the events that require it, if necessary.

Meanwhile, classes are going well. I am close to on-schedule for all of my reading, which is nice, and I have so far avoided staying up past 12:30ish am to finish any assignments due the next day. I hesitate to say it, but it may be faintly possible that in my final semester of school, I have learned a little bit about not procrastinating. Maybe. (I don't want to jinx it.) The courses have continued to be quite enjoyable, too, although having three days of 8:30 class start time in a row hasn't gotten any easier.

TAing is still quite fun. Grading reading reports isn't quite as exciting the third time around, but it's still not boring. :) Also, I enjoy helping people figure out how to chart texts, as best I can. There will be quite a wide variety of languages represented for the texts they've all chosen for their final project/paper - Gullah, Spanish, French, several African languages, possibly Hebrew, etc. - so that will be fun and fascinating!

Now I suppose I should probably get back to work, on this bright sunny "winter" day.