Hell of a week

So, two weeks ago I was in the finals stretch of school before exams.
I was trying to get my notes straight for class, while doing three major projects, trying to make some friends and figuring out how I was going to balance last week's schedule.
I got the the projects done by staying up late two nights and pulling one all-nighter, I even presented a project I was too tired to finish while I was too tired to speak. I started talking with a group of people I'd like to be friends with. And then came exam week.

It started with supper at Boston Pizza, where my parents semi-celebrated my grandmother's and my birthdays later that week. It was more of a sit-down, eat and talk like adults thing, which might work better except that I know what my mom has to say because I hear her on the phone every day and I can't make out what anyone else is saying at the far side of the table. Luckily I found the afore mentioned friends who were out celebrating one of their birthdays. I stayed and talked to them as long as I could, and it was nice.

The Boston Pizza staff party was on Sunday, which went well. I chatted with friends and ate while the front of house (servers) on drunks had fun, I was dragged into dancing at the end, which wasn't bad, just awkward at first (I'm not against dancing, I'm just not good at it, or at least not drunk enough to be good at it).

I spent one whole day re-writing my geography notes in my most successful attempt at studying.

Then the day before exams I got distracted, and somehow the topic of my last few entries consumed me for a whole night. Luckily it wore me out and I got to be early.

The day of my geography exam, I went to school early. I spotted one of the friends I mentioned above studying for the same exam and by the time I got there she was joined by more. I sat down and talked about the different subjects, hoping I was making a positive impression but feeling like a bit of an outsider (as if I were 外人 again). Then CG* showed up, with another one of them, they passed me something shaped like a liquor bottle. With some directions from them and the instructions on the bottle, I managed to cover a small part of the cafeteria in confetti. Then the bell rang. I went to the exam, which seemed easy. I finished later than most, but that's because of my writing.

When I got home I found an acceptance letter from my backup university (DAL). I checked my messages, one letter from 肉 and a few posts on my Facebook wall. The former I've been awaiting for a while, the latter just filled my notifications. There were a few good posts, but most of them were from random people who were most likely just acting on a Facebook prompt. Throughout the day more Facebook posts came. There were also a few e-mails. Thanks to all who wrote sincerely. I'll also add that I prefer long letters and made-it-myself cards (even last minute cards) to texts, Facebook wall posts, e-cards and store bought cards. There's just a lot more sentiment in a couple of scribbles on a page than a copy-and-paste seizure inducing message.

The next two exams happened eventlessly. I would come to school early, study with my new friends**, go off to the exam, finish it, talk with people until the left and then walk home myself. I've actually gotten tired of the walking. which I will get into later.

On Friday, after finishing my math exam, I went in to Boston Pizza. I called up a few friends and started drinking. One of my friends was behind the bar working and I'm friendly with most of the staff, many of who have been waiting to see me drunk. Another friend showed up after my first drink and I spent the night getting "happy"... I mean drunk....(no similarity what-so-ever to the "happiness" I talked about in Japan). Anyways, so apparently I'm not that different drunk, just happy, vulgar (I apparently (unintentionally) offended a liquor inspector) and I use my hands more.

Thanks to a few tips from a friend I had no hangover the next day (drink lots of water and don't go to sleep until sober). This isn't good because it means that I have no bad experiences with alcohol, (aside from the liquor inspector thing) despite the fact that I know it's bad. It's hard to convince yourself not to do something that feels good with no noticeable downside.

Anyways, the next night was my friend's birthday party. She wanted to have it at Boston Pizza, but we don't make reservations form five to eight o'clock on Saturdays because we're busy. So I went in n hour early to secure enough tables. I met a guy in engineering and almost everyone had a drink, but no one got drunk. We went back to her place and played with some puppies (which she'll be giving back soon) before moving into awkward board games and ending it by tossing balloons around.

Anyways, that's all for this post.

*CG is the nickname of the sister of one of my friends. She's on of the friends I keep mentioning and she's the one I know the best.

**I'm not sure exactly how they feel about me , but I've added a few as friends on Facebook (granted, I've added people I loath as friends on Facebook).