Flaming lamborghini...

...was the last shot. The alcohol containin beverage kind of shot. And then She went home.

I gave the manuscript draft to the other prof yesterday. I have a feeling though that there will be many comments, but nevertheless it was a big step. Yesterday was also the last night of TAing. Lisa and I were the last ones to finish:) And then me, her and one of my student went to the Cafe Nostalgica for a drink/drinks. First we had one pitcher of beer (Blanche de Chambly - my favorite) for three. Then we decided to have one more. And then we had the third one. One pitcher contains 1.4 litres of beer. Then Lisa had to leave. She had to meet her supervisor this morning.
The rest of us continued. We had one more pitcher. And then we had shots. First one, and then Ela brought us another round. It was tasty!
And then she brought us the flaming lamborghini (she was testing it, so it was the treat). It consists of two shots in whiskey glasses. One of them is in flames. Using the straw I consumed the flaming on first, and just before the end Ela topped it with the other shot. Very interesting. Tasty too:)

So this is how I celebrated Kaidi's ja Monika's birthdays:) Palju onne:)

...and the snow has made it to Ottawa

I just wanted to quench my thirst and happened to peek out - and - it's all white!!!!!!!!! There's about 5-10 cm of snow. This nice, soft, REAL snow. And it seems so peaceful and quiet out there... I feel like going for a walk... But I HAVE to get some sleep in...

As the note- there has been lots of snow (and storm) in Estonia and Europe since Friday. And apparently Sudbury got the "permanent' snow two weeks ago.
And now - us. How smart I was, taking out my winterboots on Saturday:)

becoming nocturnal?

So, my schedule today (or should I say yesterday? Since I mean Monday) was as follows:
7.30 am - going to bed
9 am - phone call (wake up, talk, go back to sleep)
11.30 - wake up and get up
12-1.30 - work on the paper
2 pm - arrive at the lab
2-3 pm - wait for the Supervisor, chat, fire alarm
3-7 pm - work on the paper with the Supervisor
7.40 - home (dinner, e-mails, open the paper file)
9 - midnight - nap
midnight - 4 am - work on the paper...
4.05 - hopefully bed and sleep

...
9.30 am TA meeting for the next semester

... I want to get out!!

***
It's Kadripaev (St. Catherine day).
Ja on Reelika synnipaev. Palju, palju onne, Reelika:)
Ja on Katrini nimepaev. Ilusat ja head nimepaeva, Katrin:)

even the gmail dude sleeps already

Gmail has these backgrounds that I like. I chose the Opossumionu (perhaps it's the squirrel instead, I'm not sure). And - I just noticed - he actually sleeps....

It's 6.27.... am.
No, I'm not up yet. I'm up still.
Since 7 pm or before last night I have been working on my paper - just to make two figures (but beutiful figures) and fix references. I'm more less done now:)
Hopefully I can give it to my co-authors today and so soon I could get rid of it.

I also learned that "hein" means "eh" in French. In Estonian it means "hay" (for horses, you know).

Yesterday was Jan-Erik's birthday! HUGE 1 year. Soooooo COOL! And I still haven't seen him:( But I feel that 2009 will be the lucky year:) I so wanna see this little cool dude:) But until then - I can just think of him and his parents and send them imaginary hugs and play imaginary games with them...

I also went to yoga yesterday. It was good. I didn't feel even slightly tired afterwards. But I feel sore now... But it could from the sitting syndrome.

On Saturday Paul paid a surprise visit. He was visiting Ottawa, cos Davids moving away party. It was such a nice suprise. So we chatted and caught up a bit:) He's just such a happy and relaxed character... and so active... He's sitting on gazillion student committees, and keeps travelling with them. Exactly what I would do. Oh, oops, this IS what I'm doing. Just my committees don't make me travel that much.

Ohh, and the opossumionu has waken up... gotta get to bed.
Happy Monday, everyone!

moving on

It has been a good week.
Monday: we won our first set in volleyball! There are only two games left, so it was about time. We almost would have won the first set too, but I think we got nervous, when the numbers were 24:24. At least I did. And we could get the ball over. But we were so close!

After we went to the Honest Lawyer to celebrate Elias' birthday. He got 23. First there were all his accounting colleagues. And then they all left early (working people, you know), and then it started to pour in guys. Alex among them, which was really odd, because he was working at the chem lab counter last year, and we chatted all the time. He's a really nice guy. And then it turned out they all belong to the fraternity. I found it SO interesting! First I was trying to find out some stuff about sororities from one girl next to me. But she was slightly too drunk to make sense. And the boys too, weren't in their soberest state. But I found one dude, Kyle, who was not drinking. And we ended up chatting until 2.30 am. Their fraternity (Omega Theta Alpha) was just founded in 2002. Talking about young, eh. And they also have pledge period and rush period (nagu siis testimise periood ja rebaseaeg). The pledge period is just a few weeks though, and ends with the crazy party when they are accepted as full members. And this is one of the nights. Apparently the sorority and fraternity did it the same night, and then they had common after drinking. And so on. Very interesting.

Tuesday: one before last TAing. It was the galvanic cells and electroplating lab. I'm not a fan of this lab. First I don't understand these electrons going everywhere idea, and second part is flammable. They take a penny (1 cent), which is made of copper, and then they stick it to the boiling Zn-NaCl mixture. And the Zn covers the penny, so it is silver and looks like a nickel (10 cents). Cool, yes. But it gets messed up often. One year one dude melted their penny on the hot plate. And also Zn is flammable. So if the students are not careful and get Zn somewhere, then it can start a fire later on. The first time I TAed, we had a fire between my section and Jennys section after the lab. The flames started at 2 am, and there was lots of damage... Crazy.
Anyway - we have survived this week.

Wednesday: we made the BMI Christmas party tickets. That is - Mike designed, printed and cut them, and I wrote the numbers and distributed to sellers. Exciting times!
Then I got home and felt tired and bored... I had a nap.
At 9 I decided to get something done. So I started on the promoter study thingy and ... next thing it was 7.30 am. Where did they night go, I don't know. But - I finished the figure! And made a table.

Thursday: I had 2 hours of nap and then we had the Faculty grad studies council meeting. It was great, because after I presented BMI Chrismtas party idea, they were jealous. That wow, what does BMI have, and why isn't there one big faculty party. They wanted to extend the invite to everyone, but thankfully I got out of this. It would have been too much money spent and too much organizing. And then I presented our up-coming Career Day idea, and they were also impressed. It all felt GOOD!

At 9 I went to the movies with Adam. To see Taarka (Estonian movie within the European film festival). It was a great movie. I was especially impressed with the technical part of it. The angles, the details, the sets... Often it looks very "home-knitted" with Estonian movies. But this one was awesome. But the topic - it was very heavy. I didn't know it's that heavy. It's a story about one woman in Estonian Setu community/kin. The story happened 100 years ago. It's about woman-run society, where women do everything (take care of homes, food, kids, field work, plus singing) and where men mostly drink and use women (and rape them). And how it's always the woman who is guilty when a guy should be the one to judge. Once you are fallen, it's hard to stay yourself, but you have to. Taarkas life starts from the rough point, because her dad uses up her dowry (special silver jewellary) for drinking. So she is not marryable. Then she gets pregnant. And the village does not take her as one of them. But Taarka finds her ways. She is a strong woman. She sings, so she can bring up her kids. Her singing will get her the silver eventually. And all she wants, is one guy. The guy she has been wanting since young age. And he did want her. And then, he says no. Why, I'm not sure... I didn't understand this part of the story...
Eventually she gets a real house (as opposed to living in the smoke sauna), but also the lifes cruelness doesn't leave her, and gets her through her daughter.

So it's not a happy movie... But life is not happy always either...

Friday: I worked on my paper and got lots done... And we had a symposia at work, with some real nice sandwiches. And Corona:)
And I think I found the new "victim" to take over my presidency role.

I also had a very successful chat with my supervisor - we covered the new figure and table and the discussion. So I hope on Monday I can pass it on to my co-authors. And then I can move on to the Chapter nr 3.

do I know you?

Akeeb, He says.
And this is Adeeb, He introduces His brother.
I'm Evelin, She says.
Nice to meet you!
She thinks: Akeeb, Akeeb.... funny, I have a guy in MSN list with this name...
But She can't recall how She knows this MSN-Akeeb, so She doesn't say anything.
He does look familiar, but not too alarmingly. And She doesn't know the people at this party, so She doesn't want to embarass herself with dumb questions. Besides, all these people are from accounting and when has She ever had a chance to meet any accountant.

A bit later.
He asks, where are you from.
She says, "Guess":)
He says "Estonia?"
She is impressed! Yes! How did you know?
He says: I met one Estonian girl once, and She had the same accent. She also asked 'guess" the same way. That's how.
She thinks: wow... I wonder who that girl was... But I always ask, I'm like collecting Estonians, so I shouldn't ask now. Otherwise He thinks I'm crazy. I'm sure this girl is long gone from here anyway.
Soon Akeeb and Adeeb leave.
She stays for a bit more.

Next day:
She's working and suddenly MSN-Akeeb logs in. She decides to open the chat window and refresh her memory about this dude. She sees the picture and gasps: NO WAY!!! It's the same guy!
And then She remembers. Way back when Germany was still around, She had a party. And this is where She met Akeeb. And they talked on MSN a lot, and then He went back home to Bangladesh for a while, and the chats never picked up.

So She messaged Him, and said that they did already know each other. He hadn't recognized Her either. Even though, to think back, the same accent, the same way of speaking, and how many Estonians are there in Ottawa anyway.

World is small and has its interesting ways...

Buffalooooo....

... , He said, and looked at Her. She looked at him, and ignored him. That was after they cheered with beer. She took a sip and put down the glass. He was still saying Buffaloooo...oooo.... and kept staring at Her. Weird, She thought. But Buffalo was playing with Cleverland or someone, so She sort of ignored it. But... they all kept looking at Her... Awkward, She thought.
Well, it was His birthday party. He is from Her volleyball team. And He got 23 years old. So overall - lots of "young" people around. Then they (the people in the table) made Her to chug Her beer, using the left hand.

So - turns out - that there is this rule - Buffalo rule - that you can only use the left hand to handle alcohol and if you use the right one, and someone sees you doing it, then they call "buffalo" and you need to chug your beer (using the "correct" hand).
Different. So, better be ready for it :)
It could be a fraternity rule though, since all the boys in the crowd were from the fraternity. Who knows. But the night was interesting.