The Pseudo-Graduation...

my name in the program. and next to my name? you read for yourself. ohhh yeah.

Proffesor Pearson....such a character.

the family.

guess who showed up at grad? miss kiki tegs.

sarah and christie - my dear on campus friends that took me in and bought me food.

........

So here I sit, on Sunday night, posting graduation photos, only to wake up and drive to TWU tomorrows for a summer class. Not too pleased about that. But yes, this was grad weekend, and yes it was great times. On Friday, I went for pedicures with my mom and Lindsay. Then my mom and I went to the English Department Tea. This was probably one my favourite parts. My mom was standing around and talking to my proffessors. Picture yourself in that situation. It's crazy. My family took me out to dinner on Friday night, and then we went to the Baccalaureate service at TWU.

On Saturday, there was commencements. I absolutely loved watching the professors parade in their academic regalia. I was kind of sad, because I wasn't able to participate in the Humanities ceremony because of my current degree. So there weren't too many of my proffessors there. However - the speaker was Dr. Barbara Pell, whom I respect and admire beyond words. I felt truly honored to partipate in the ceremony. The joy of my academic life was manifest on the stage and all around me. That and I got the blue cord! That means something special (refer to 1st picture). All in all, a wonderful time. I felt truly celebrated and honored.

Confessions of a Trin-Keen....

It's official. I'm over the Top -

Lavonne is never going to speak to me again.

.........

I am lamenting graduation. Who laments graduation? Who is this sad to leave their school? Absolutely no one – except me. Oh how ridiculous I am. But truly, I feel a deep sadness. I just love it here. It’s so rare to find a place in your life like that. When you do, you just want to hold onto it. Not only will I love the memories, but I love it now, in the moment. That is truly a gift.

The more I think about it, I know I will be back. Actually, I will be backer sooner than I think. I am further considering Grad work which means I will need to update my degree to an English Major. I have sadly sacrificed my English Major in order to do PDP. I am going to graduate with General Studies, so I can get my Bachelor of Education (ugh..so complicating). All this to say -essentially this is a “Pseudo-Graduation” of sorts. We will celebrate the BA, but it’s certainly not the end. Don’t be shocked if you ask me what I am doing in fall and I say “Back at TWU”. I just can’t get enough…

I thought of a good metaphor. It’s like a relationship. If you really love something or someone, it is harder to let go. But wait! It goes further – the world around you tells you to move on, that you are “better” than this relationship. “Just let go” they say. But you are sitting there going “no, this is it, this is what I love, for better or for worse”. In this case, for worse may mean unfortunate student debt. Hehe.

........

There you go, I have truly gone off the deep end, using analogies to describe my ridiculous state. Perhaps one person reading this will understand me. The rest of you, please just refrain from making fun of me, and maybe come to a “Grad BBQ” if I organize one. We need to celebrate graduation and the end of the semester. Heck – maybe next year we can have another one when I graduate again! More reasons to party….

"A-Drewlo"

I wish I knew how to get cell-phone pictures onto my computer because I have the best picture EVER of today. I go over to the ol' TWUSA BBQ to get my yearbook, and I am looking for the right line to stand in, and then I see it:

A sign that says "A-Drewlo" in big letters.

Thats right, my name was the cut-off so it was written on the big signs for people to line up. Okay, so they weren't that big, and its only TWU, but c'mon! You would be excited if your name was on a sign! I was pretty excited and took a keener photo with the sign. The yearbook people thought I was ridicolous. Sad thing was- I didn't take a grad photo, so I wasn't really represented. My baby picture did make it though. Leave it to my mom to get me in the yearbook somehow....

Good Things...

Today was an expectedly wonderful day. I am currently housesitting for my brother which meant that waking up 20 minutes late today did not matter. I got to school in 8 minutes. Wonderful. Then, came the joys:

....Golf Carts....

Today I drove around a golf cart on Redwoods Golf Course, for a class! I know hard to believe right? This is one of my few solaces in my 7 class crazy busy semester. I "have" to take a human kinetics course - golf. Oh Trinity Western and the Liberal Arts Education. We got to class today and he told us we were taking carts out on the course. Have you driven one of these things? Its' fun times. We definitely "lost our way" at one point and ended up back at the clubhouse. Good times in golf class.

...Mars Hill...
I have always, always wanted to be published in the school newspaper. I promise, unlike other school papers, it is not lame at all. Its very hip, and usually the people writing it have witty comments and hipster things to say. Then I found out one of my English friends was going to be the Editor next year and she suggested I get an article in before graduation. She liked it, and I got published. It's certainly not my best work, but the paper also publishes online if you want to read it. Sneaked it in for the last issue of my graduation year. Hurrah!

....Dr. John Klassen...
Just to top the day off, I finished my history class today with one of my favourite proffessors Dr. John Klassen. This man is wonderful, and I always just want him to like me, because he is sooo brilliant, and also witty. He likes to talk about things as they are. I basically just think he is great. After class, he walked over to me and said "Sharelle, I loved your article in the Mars Hill, well done". True story! That seriously happened. This is beggining to sound like I think I am awesome, which I don't, I promise you, but this was a sincere moment of sheer joy. That was my greatest fear with the article, that profs would read it and laugh. But Klassen liked it, and that made my day.

"Hello My Name is Sharelle"

I got April Fool's pranked by Gmail! Pranked by an email service! I feel so ridiculous. Now I am posting about it, because it truly was a "Hello my name is Sharelle" moment.

On Sunday, I went to check my Gmail and there was a link that said: "New! Gmail Paper". So, I was a little curious and clicked on it. It said that Gmail had a new service where they would print any emails you wanted and send them to you free of charge. There was little pictures and testimonials and what not. I actually told Matt about it, thinking that it was pretty crazy that the service was free.

The service isn't free, because it doesn't exist! I actually looked for the "Paper" button in my account and couldn't find it. I wanted to click it and get one sent to me. Seriously.

Today, I signed in and it said "Missed our April Fool's Day Joke? - Click Here". So I did, only to see that I had been scammed, and fully did not know it. Now you might be wondering why I am spending time clicking Google links. Great question, I would like to know myself actually. It's the fine art of procrastination. Did anyone else get sucked in? Please tell me if you did. Oh wait, you probably aren't spending your time clicking on google links...right.

Stranger than Fiction....

" Like anything worth writing, it came inexplicably and without method."

What do I even begin to say about this film? I was actually going to write up a little "review" about immediately after I saw in theatres, but probably at the time I had more exciting things in my life than six research papers. Now, a Friday night movie is the best thing I have got...

Considering the content, it isn't too surprising that this movie won me over in the first ten minutes. The basic plot is that Will Ferrell actually hears a writer narrating his life but “accurately and with a better vocabulary". Literary humor abounded at every turn. Dustin Hoffman is a literary theory professor - can it get better than this? His rant just killed me: "I have written papers on 'little did he know', I used to teach a class based on 'little did he know', I once gave an entire seminar on 'little did he know'". The first time I saw this I just about died laughing. This is my life. Entire papers are written about four words. Oh just thinking about it right now makes me laugh at how ridiculous we English people are.

Okay, at this point you are thinking “Sharelle is an English geek”. And you are right, but you still need to see this movie. The writing is so well done. It may be a comedy, but the characters actually are characters. You feel like you meet them and know them better once the movie is done. Hypothetically, if I had watched the featurettes (which of course I didn’t do…ummm right) I may have seen an interview in which the wonderful Emma Thompson said: “I would love to serve this writing”. I found that inspiring. Thinking that actors are actually looking for good writing and they are willing to give themselves up for it. Okay, sorry for the digression once again, but the point is, every single actor in this film fulfills their role, and that is rare my friends.

So, do a service to yourself and rent this movie. It may not be Oscar-worthy, but it is clever, and honestly sometimes I think that is a greater feat. I loved it more the second time I watched it, seeing how all the pieces come together. And if none of this persuades you, it has Will Ferrell, Mr. SNL comedy himself and it turns out he can act. Go watch it, you won’t regret it. How’s that for a passionate movie review?

What's going on?

I didn't want to do it. I really didn't. I wanted to leave the comments open to anyone. But this is ridicolous. My curiosity is too great, I need to know who the anon. people are.

That and its a little creepy. (refer to last post)

So, I changed the settings. From now on, no more anonymous posters. You have to have either a blogger account, or a google account. I assume most people have one or the other. If not, please get one and post. If I know you, I really want you to post! Even if I don't know you, but you are fine with being identified, then please post! I -like every other blogger- love comments, so please keep commenting!

This post is strange. Even as I write it, I am debating whether or not to post it. Its like policing, of my own blog. Something I normally don't approve of.

I suppose if the anon is reading this...I'm pretty sure you are someone I know, some white rocker just trying to get me. So you win. I'm fine with that...

This is getting out of hand....

I am changing my facebook profile
I am looking at my friend's facebook profiles
I am talking to two different people on msn about facebook.

I wish I was kidding, but I am not. I don't know about you, but it seems like in the last three days, everyone I know has joined facebook. Here is the thing. I don't even like facebook. There is that stupid "mini-feed" which tells you 8,000 things you didn't need to know about your friends. "Cheryl took the bible off of her favourite books"*. Then you are sitting there for a minute, pondering why Cheryl is no longer reading the bible. "Katie is no longer single"*. As if this one wasn't bad enough, if you break up, there is a cracked heart, telling the facebook world.

Granted, looking at the stupid pictures people post of you is fun. But why are we sitting around tagging photos anyway? I mean, how about I don't know CALLING the person we are tagging in the photo. I cannot talk, because I was inspired by Lavonne to create an album today, and tag people in it. So there you go, I am as guilty as the next guy. This rant is directed at myself.

If you don't have facebook, don't get it. I am telling you right now. If you do, oh boy, what have we gotten ourselves into. And hey - add me....

*The names have been changed to protect their facebook identities. You know who you are...hehe.

Keener Spirit #4

I am a Keener, yes I am
I say what? Oh! Yes Ma’am!
I ALWAYS do my poetry form
In fact I go way beyond the norm!
I love Keats, Byron, Wordsworth too
And in fact I am way smarter than you!

-by Katie Haworth

This poem is about me, and it was written on my computer by the girl that sits next to me in English class. I was calling her a keener, and she responded by saying that I was the biggest keener ever. Which...is pretty true. I went up (okay I volunteered) to read Byron's poem "Manfred", and while I was gone Katie wrote this poem.

Am I Keener? - As much as I would like to deny it, yes. Do I always do my poetry worksheet? - Again guilty as charged. Did I reformat the sheet and post it on ecourses for my class? - sadly yes. Do I love Keats, Wordsworth and Byron - yes. Am I smarter than you? - no!

There you go Katie - you are famous....

Surprises...

Hey! Bonnie Dowling! What the Heck!?!?

I get a call today in the afternoon from Miss Kristina Janzen. She asks if we can go for coffee. I tell her that today was Matt and Sharelle date day, so it wouldnt really work. And she was like "are you sure you can't meet just for a few minutes". I am wondering what the urgency is all about when she says "hold on..." and passes the phone off to none other than Bonnie...in freakin Abbotsford, surprise visiting from good ol' Winnipeg. Only Bonnie.

It is really true. Some things are just bettert as a suprise. We sat and drank coffee for a couple of hours at Ethical Addictions mid Saturday afternoon. Now, under normal circumstances, this little event would not have qualified as exciting times. In fact, if it was pre-planned it would have been borderline lame (I mean Ethical in Langley c'mon) But spur of the moment, friend showing up from out of town just for kicks - now THAT is a good coffee date. And as usual, with Bonnie and Kristina it was a pleasure. It was nice to be able to talk in person, without that pesky phone in the way. We all noticed how normal it seemed, to be sitting around and talking, as if we all lived in the same city. I liked that.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::

If this wasn't enough for random events in the day! I went downtown for date day with Matt, and we are walking along in Gastown when I full on slip on the pavement. This in itself - not too shocking, I am sure all that know me have witnessed at least one good trip/fall of mine. But the crazy part was:

I slipped on a Banana Peel!

True Story. I am not lying. Matt looked down and was literally shocked - "It was a banana peel! I didn't think that actually happened!" Anyway - you may not be surprised by these events, but I sure was. Then we stumbled upon a wonderful restaurant called "Joe Forte's Seafood and Chop House" which is apparently a Vancouver legend. They sat us up on the rooftop, which may sound strange in the winter, but was truly delightful. There were tiny lights and heat lamps around the table. It was preettty nice I have to say. So how is that for a day huh? I wouldn't call myself a lover of surprises but today, they sure treated me good

go.listen.now.

I am going to have to agree with Rachel on this one. You should be listening to Regina Spektor. Don't be thrown off by the funny spelling and the name (Bec). Just go out and listen to it.


This is good stuff. Great stuff in fact.

Can you tell its my reading break?

I am posting about albums!

I love Seattle....

Just when we thought the "I love revolution" was over. I can't help myself. I went to Seattle this weekend and I got this. Joanna Beaver and Christy Childers. How can you beat that? It is such an amazing gift to be able to drive two short hours and be in the presence of people you love so much. There is something great about enduring friendship. You don't need to see them every weekend (although you want to) But when you do, its like you never left.

I have been given a wonderful gift with my Capernwray friends. I love that I can drive down to Seattle and its like a whole other world of good times. Took care of a few Northwest Traditions this time around (Dick's Burgers Drive In, Tully's) and I hit up Mars Hill Church. Thats basically a whole other blog post. The emergent church - what do you guys think?

Anyway, another wonderful weekend in Seattle. This weekend I had: friends that bring light to my soul, laughter, coffee and Target. Hard to beat...

Can it be true?

Now that I have shamelessly admitted how much of a Grey's Anatomy fan I am, its time for me to ask this important question:

Were the last scenes of tonight's episode what they seemed to be? Can it be?Was it real?

Now, this is NOT intended to be a give-away post, and I absolutely do not want to be accused of that by the "we are waiting for DVD" types. So - if you watched it, and I know you do, simple answer: "It's true" or "It can't be true". Variations on the theme are acceptable, but absolutely no explanations.

And for the record, I definitly cried again tonight. Its getting ridcolous actually...

I love my friends....

Now you might be thinking "who writes a cliche post titled 'I love my friends'?!?" or you might be thinking "does Sharelle think that the girls in this beloved show are her friends?"

And the answers are me and yes. No not really, but sort of. There is some incredible friendship in that show, and this post is to commemorate a wonderful week I had with my good friend Lavonne. Since the parents took off on yet another vacation, I brought in the good times - Lavonne Neville, S&C, and McCain Cake. This my friends in a winning combo. It's such a gift to have a friend at the end of the day to "recap" with. I absolutely love the weeks when Lavonne stays with me. It's magical. It reminds me why I love good friends so much. We don't need to be with each other all the time. Yet when we do need them, we need them. For the sillyness, the reflection, the laughter, the security and heck even the cyncism.

It might sound cheesy, or perhaps even ridicolous but....I will always be a being orientated towards friends. I live for these moments.

I love London....

I am so in love with this city....

Where do I begin. Its the metropolis meeting the old world. Its Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Chaucer's grave in Westminster Abbey, the Tube, the Theatre, the books, the history, the people. And the thing is, its not only these things. You can walk around all day taking in the 100's of years of history and literature. Yet in the evening, you can go to a show, or H &M, or Ben and Jerrys. Thats pretty good.

The thing is - I got so comfortable with London. I walked around the tube and the city and I always felt safe. I don't know why. I know it isn't really. But I just love it...so much.

I love Grey's Anatomy...

Look at them....I just love them.

Here's the thing. I don't watch too much t.v...but I am hooked on this show. All it took was a couple of episodes with Lavonne and Kira and I was sucked in. Now I just can't get enough. I download the music (which by the way, you should check out because it is great). There is some wisdom on this show too. Unconventional wisdom, but wisdom nonetheless. This past week, I learned not to be "judgy" with my friends, because it ruins people.

For two weeks in a row, I just saw there crying my eyes out. If you watch the show, you know why. Later I was trying to explain it to Matt and I just about cried again. This is me at my most ridicolous, and it is because of this show. But it's good crying, because the writers know how to draw you in, how to make you feel.

You didn't think I could write that much about a t.v. show, but I just did. That is why I love Grey's Anatomy...

I love Antique Books...

My limited collection.

When I was in England there was this bookstore near Capernwray where you could buy Jane Austen and Charles Dickens 1912 editions for 3 pounds. That translates to about 7 dollars. I only bought 3 books. I feel like there is something incredibly wrong with me. When I go back (I can say that now!), I am going to buy books, and send them home. Its an obsession really. I look at classics in ordinary bookstores now, and they make me sad. Who wants a paperback when you can have this?

I wasn't going to post an "I love" today, but then I read a comment from my dear friend Christy, who has joined the "I love" revolution. So I thought I better not let Wednesday go by without a post. I snuck in right under the clock. The post time says 11.56 pm. Whew, that was close. And I am the biggest geek ever..

I love Superman Kitsch...

Exhibit A: Superman Kitsch

That's my keychain. It's a spotlight. I absolutely love ridicolous things with Superman on them. This is particularly problematic at the minute considering the movie and all. There is Superman everywhere!

I sort of love it and hate it at the same time. Matt called me the other day from Costco telling me I could buy a Big Screen TV and DVD player with Superman on them. The worst part? I just about drove over there.

So there you go - day two of things I love. What random things do you love? Post it. You know you want to...

I love Ben and Jerry's...

My good friend Angela Haugo has decided to have Ten Days of Valentines, sharing the things that she loves. I thought this was a good way to turn this conusmer holiday into something better. So I thought I would spread the joy.

I love Ben and Jerry's Half Baked.

With a love so deep that none can fathom. No but seriously, you must eat this ice cream. It's expensive but oh is it good. It's one of those spoon in cup scenarios, which you just have to do sometimes.

I love it so much that I bought it in Britain, hid it in a staff freezer, and then ate in all in one sitting with Bonnie Dowling. Mmmmm boy....

Welcome to WR...

My favourite restaurant meal is now only six minutes from my house.

Welcome Catcus Club.

Welcome Jack Daniels Ribs.

We went last night and mmmm boy....

(Blogworthy?....You betcha)