*Knock Knock* Who's there?.......Opportunity.

Well the last few days have had they're ups and downs. I was in TV lab all week helping the second years with they're first major project. How a bunch of people can be so disrespectful and hateful to people who are trying to help and a lot of the time doing they're work for them, is beyond me. Now not all of them, there are 5 that are fantastic and I count myself lucky to know them... The rest can choke.

I will only give one example as this topic enrages me, fellow student and friend of mine stays after class for 8 extra hours to help these people with they're lighting. 8 hours of work he did by himself, while they sat in an adjacent room and watched him. He did not complain, he was not rude, this guy lives to please, he is a fantastic person, he was behind a prop in the back when they called him a retard. What is that now. Why would you do that to someone. Do you want to know they're reasoning? They are in 2nd year, we are in 1st. I don't care if your the queen, if you act like that you are an idiot.

Needless to say, I nearly put 3 people through a cement wall that day, but I did not. I will not burn my bridges. I have not gotten my credibility up enough, in a month when it is well known that they need me.... That's when I will rip off face and spontaneously combustion them with my mind. Until now I grind my teeth.

After that day I did seriously considering if this was the job for me. If this is what the people are like that I'll be working with, I can't do it. Then I realized the truth. They are only the minority. So I went into the class the next day and I felt better.

Yvonne then came up to me (my broadcast journalism prof). Can I talk to you she says, I say of course. After searching for an empty class room she tells me about this amazing opportunity.
The Pearson Peacekeeping Center in Digby (3 hours from Halifax Airport for those that don't know) is doing a sort of "war games" scenario. They need to teach our Canadian Peace Keepers how to deal with the media. Well myself and another student (Tom) were asked to represent our school as the first group of media. Tom and I are to be the news anchors, Dale and Donna are to be camera, and Paul is to be editor. None of us have ever done anything like this. This opportunity is unbelievable and of course I could not turn it down. I will have to leave for 9 days and I will be staying at the military base. My parents offered to watch Raven.

I am so excited about this. This will be my first piece of my portfolio. I'm already researching the base and the faculty. I don't want to go in there as a "first year". I want to wow them. I want them to look at us as what we are training to do.

The future of media.

Wish me luck guys. I will be busy the next few weeks, I have to keep up with my school work as well as this project, but I do know they have computers, so I will try to update from the base.

This is Crystal Mortimer with the CCKC News, have a great weekend Kentville.

Thanksgiving and Cinefoil.

So I took a trip back to the Cape for Turkey Day. The best parts unfortunatley were the drive there and the drive back. Ok I'm being a little harsh, but let me explain. On the drive home it was me and raven and 3 classmates. Now I knew these guys were nice people, I didn't realize how great, funny, wonderful and silly they were.

Sarah we were to drop off at Truro, she lives in Amherst. She is sooo sarcastic in a hilarious way sometimes it great and she has these outbursts sometimes that she doesn't realize she says things out loud... hilarious. Tyler we were taking to Antigonish. He is a very curious person. He is the one who asks ALL the questions and most of the difficult ones that leave the professors going... huh? Alot of people have alot to say about him, mostly they think he's a know it all blah blha blah. He's such a cool guy. He sat back in that car and listened to everyone going on all crazy and laughed with us and we talked about everything. truly truly everything... quick think of something crazy to talk about.................yeah we talked about that. Jenn is from Cape Breton so we were in for the long haul and I don't think we took a breath the whole trip.. the were no gaps in our conversation, we talked about everything. It turns out that a lot of things that I have had to go through my young life and part of my adulthood, jenn is going through now, so it was so fantastic to talk to another person. When I was going through my ordeals, I always wished I had someone who understood, and I was that person for Jen, and it helped me as much as it helped her, shes all around a great person.

Raven was her usual charming little self in which the car immediatly fell in love with.
On a side note I came downstairs the other day to which I spied Raven dancing around the living room singing Wherever I may Roam by Metallica...... my baby girl kicks all your asses.

We got home, Mom was mom... at least she talked to me this trip. She was more focused on Raven as she usually is and the fact Adam was not there, needless to say I felt unnecessary as I usually do when I go home. I think the whole time home the only people that I felt actually wanted to see me was my dad, Chris' Mom, 2 of my best friends, April and Lisa, and yeah... thats it.

So I took Raven to her Nanny Joans on Saturday, she got to see Joan (scotts mom) and Rie (scotts nanny) Raven calls her Oma which is Dutch for grandmother, Rie is from Holland and it is less confusing for Raven. After that me and Raven went for a sleepover at Chris' Moms. I got to See Brenda and Chris; nieces and nephew. Raven and the kids had a blast. What a great bunch of kids. They tell people I'm they're Aunt, sometimes I wish I could steal them away and they could come and live with me and chris.

The next day I went home to mom yelling because I went to Chris' moms for the night, and to spite me she did all the preperation for the turkey dinner even though I made sure to be home at 8 am to do it beacuse I told her I would. She spent the rest fo the day in her room, and Dad was in the kitchen. So I spent all Sunday in the livingroom by myself... wo0t. I did get out for an hour to see Lisa and Joge, but them Mom called and wanted to go play the machines so I wasnt able to go see April and I had to go home.

The next day I planned on going over Aprils before I left but there was a heavy rainfall warning in Hali so we left early. I picked up Jenn in Sydney, picked up Tyler in Antigonish and we headed home. When we got back, we all went to Jungle Jims for food and when we went to leave... FLAT FUCKING TIRE. So in the spilling raven... and i mean spilling, Tyler and me got out, he changed the tire and I emptied the trunck to get the gear and I hobbled them home on my dummy tire.

I did get the tire fixed. Found out that one of my other tires on the other side had a screw in it as well, so they patched it... what the hell is wrong with this place and metal slabs and shit left on the street... FRIGGERS.

So that was my turkey day.

Rage Against The Cinefoil. That was my adventure yesterday.

We had to set up the newsdesk in our television production lab. So we got a little creative and wanted to do some things that hadn't been done in a while. So we got the elipsoid light (long light that looks like a bazooka) and put in a cinefoil... that is a little metal insert that will have a decal on it like the NSCC logo or a pumpkin for halloween that you can project onto a wall or something... we were going to put the nscc on the front of the news desk. Our prof was impressed with our enthusiesm so I was all excited, I mean this is it for me, I love being in tv production im a dork i cant help it, so the cinefoil was upsidedown in the elipsoid, so Cale passed it to me, I picked it up by the handle and for some reason... just for whatever reason didnt think it would be hot, it was only in the light for maybe 2 minutes... well I grabbed it to get the cinefoil out and I felt my 3 fingers burn and kinda melt... really weird feeling... so i dropped it and ran to the bathroom for copious amounts of cold running water. I ended up with a plastic bag filled with ice on my right hand for the rest of the lab. We finished it and it looks good, but I feel like a gimp. The first thing we are taught is to use our gloves and it didn't even cross my mind. Granted I learned the har was... but whatever I guess. I feel like I let my group down and my proff thinks I'm a moron.

Needless to say I was in alot of pain yesterday, but many hours with my hand in freezing water and I'm doing ok. I froze my hand so much that my fingers didn't blister and I'm feeling find today, my fingers are tendwer, but hey... I'm typing this with both hands so it's more than I thought I was going to be able to do yesterday.

So that has been my last few days. Chris and Adam are in Edmonton and they are hoping they will have another contract Monday, if not they may come home. I know they need to work, but I miss Chris so much.

This being an adult thing sucks sometimes... wheres my freakin blankie.

The Caper VS The Shrew.

What is a shrew you may ask... I know people have been asking me all day. The little bejeezers are like a cross between a mole and a mouse or rat. I had one in my apartment for the past 3 days... note the past tense HAD.

Yes, after 3 days of bugs bunny like pandamonium and hijinx I managed to trap the little bugger and I put him in a little cage we had laying around. Now at first I thought I had a mouse problem, but when I was looking at the thing it didnt look like a mouse at all. It had a long snout.. no ears at all it looked like and tiny tiny tiny squinty almost closed eyes and a tiny tail. So I went all over the internet looking at pictures of mice, rats, and moles till i came onto this pic here and I was like... thats it thats the little bugger. The thing about these guys are that they're vicious and they're venomous, and I have a baby.... sooo long and short after a crying game of " I want to keep the mousey he loves me!" with Raven... we drove out to New Minus and we set Mr Mousey free in a field... my good deed done... now I'm waiting for the hole to be patched by my landlord that took pity on the thing by saying to me when I told him what I found, " Ahhh the poor thing had no where to go."

The poor thing had no where to go. The poor vicious venomous thing had no where to go except MY apartment. My wall has a hole in it and there may be more of these things... but first lets feel sorry for it..... GET IN HERE AND PATCH MY WALL YOU HIPPY.

Anyway, besides that school has been going great still, I'm having a blast and learning tonnes. Chris is doing well out west, his contract is up in a week, so him and my brother are going to try to get on with another contract until November. If they can't they will be home a month early and thats fine by me. Me and raven are going home next weekend for Turkey day. A few class mates will be coming for the drive which will be great for the company and the pocket book on gas home.

Got some baking done today as well, made me some banana bread, that will be the last batch for a while... wo0t wo0t it's apple season. I will be apple pieing it up soon, hmm maybe I should make a few and take them home for turkey day..... I think i will do that.

I found out as well this week that one of my best friends is pregnant with her third, she asked me to be the god mother which I was more than thrilled to accept. Chris made the comment yesterday that he's been thinking about kids alot in the past few months and wants to sit and talk about when we're going to try. He does know though that it wont be for at least 2 years yet.

Granted Raven asked for a baby brother and a baby sister for xmas again... they have to be named Shamus.

All in all its been a great month in the valley so far. Raven is asleep on the couch, the scent of banana bread in the air, and the promis of turkey on the weekend.

.... life is good