Happy Birthday to Me!!!
(I know, I know. It's shameless.)

Cold...
I've got a cold. Yup, I always get one near the end of the semester. It started as a sore throat, and just got worse from there. Hopefully I'll be over it in less than a week, as I need to start studying for finals!
I hate being sick.

Graduating...
I handed in my "Application to Graduate", and paid my graduating fee ($25) this morning, so I can graduate in early June. It's quite scary, knowing that I've got two weeks of classes left, and I'm not exactly sure what I'll be doing in a month. Or in three months, or a year. But, at least I know I'll have that expensive piece of paper in my hands in just over two months.
Now I just have to pass my finals, which start in three weeks!

Ciamar a tha thu?
This past weekend we had a Scottish themed birthday for my dad, with about 45 guests! For the occasion, my dad even rented a kilt, and wore the full highland regalia (sporan, knee-high socks, etc.). We convinced my dad's cousin to pipe in the haggis (it was pretty good), which was followed by a short version of Ode to a Haggis by Robbie Burns. There were all sorts of food and desserts, and we've got lunches for the next week at least.
*'Ciamar a tha thu' means 'How are you?' in Scottish Gaelic.

Un Dimanche...
I've almost finished reading "Un Dimanche à  la piscine à Kigali", by Gil Courtemanche. As the name implies, a lot of the book takes place beside a hotel pool in Kigali, just before and during the Rwandan genocides. It's an incredible book as it not only talks about the genocides, but also about the staggering AIDS epidemic in Rwanda. The author is a Quebecois journalist who has covered the Ethiopian famine and the war in Lebanon. Most of the characters are people that he actually met while in Rwanda, although he clearly states that it's a novel. Even so, parts of it are still blood-curdling.
After reading "Shake Hands with the Devil", it gives a more human account of what happened, by following a few average Tutsis and Hutus who were caught up in the folly. Courtemanche takes an interesting stance on Romeo Dallaire too, and not one that's all too friendly. He seems to criticize him for not having done enough, and for having followed UN orders too literally, although he never gives a name and only says "the Canadian general".
It won the CBC Combat des livres in 2004, and was nominated for a Governor Generals award. From what I understand, there are plans for a French feature film based on the book.
Here's an English review, if you don't want to read the French one above.

Snow? In March?
It snowed quite a bit yesterday actually, although it all melted in the afternoon. It caused a few problems in the morning, mainly inexperienced people driving really slowly. It snowed again overnight, although it didn't stick to the roads, only to the grass and cars. The poor plants that just started to flower (daffodils, crocuses, etc.).

Crazy Lady...
I read an article today about a lady in France who's been driving for 51 years without a driver's license (since she was 18 when she started to drive). She only got pulled over because she was "slightly" drunk (between 0.25 and 0.40g alcohol) according to French police.
Crazy...

I'm in the Newspaper...
My uni wrote an aricle about me a while back, and finally got around to posting it a few weeks ago. I knew that it had been printed in a neighbouring cities local newspaper about two weeks ago, but I hadn't heard about it being printed here. I was flipping through the local paper, and found a photo of me sitting in the Prime Minister's desk and the article that the university had done up with the title "Language study opens Parliament doors". I'll have to get an extra copy to send to my grandparents.
If you're interested in seeing a copy of the article, let me know and I can send you the link.

Carnival Québécois!
Tonight I hosted a Quebec winter carnival at my university, which turned out pretty well. We had about 35 people show up, similar to last semester (the French party). We had crepes (made by a lady from Montreal), poutine, and tourtiere (faite a la maison, bien sur). I had up blue and white balloons, a Quebec flag, and posters of Carnival from my high school French teacher. I also played Quebecois music (La Bottine Souriante). I hope everyone had a good time -I know that I did despite running around and spilling gravy on myself!

Vancouver 2010...
Today was the closing ceremonies of the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics. I watched part of the ceremony, which was pretty cool until it came to Vancouver's 10 minute bit. Since the next winter Olympics will be in Vancouver in 2010, they handed off the Olympic flag to the current Vancouver mayor. I must say that I was a bit disappointed by what they did during the 10 minute spotlight. Seriously, what's with the guy in snowshoes standing on his head on his snowmobile??? Hopefully the opening ceremonies in four years will be more interesting.

Last Bio Midterm Ever...
I had my last ever bio midterm today. It was both exciting (I'm almost done...), and scary (worth 40% of our mark, and it only had 3 questions). I think it went OK, except for one question about Neurospera asci. I shouldn't have included the parentals when figuring out the MI's to determine how far the gene was from the centromere. Oh well. If we don't do well, we can make the final worth 100% of the course.
Now I can get down to all those essays, and a Chinese midterm and presentation.