Burrito West Blog

Last night I had dinner with some classmates from my aerospace engineering undergrad - we were all on the 4th year project satellite team (as opposed to the aircraft team). It was really cool to see them again - bit of a mini-reunion, including Peter who knew some of them too. There was an option to do a 16 month internship between 3rd and 4th year so about half the people you'd be with in 4th year weren't the people you'd gone through classes with the previous 3 years, they'd be people from the year ahead returning from internships. I didn't do the internship, but Peter did, which caused the people we knew to be mixed (Peter had been 2 years ahead of me), which turns out to be kind of nifty now.

I recall being told, when I was interviewing with professors for acceptance into the internship program, that I should be open to aircraft-related jobs because the reality was there weren't a lot of opportunities in the space-side of aerospace. He actually told me I should switch my studies too. I didn't. I even went so far as to turn down an internship at Rolls Royce because I wasn't interested in aircraft engines (and the previous intern said they had re-organized the company parking lot as one of their tasks and I figured I had better ways to spend 16 months - like finishing my degree).

Anyway - point is that despite how hard it is to work in the space industry - many of my classmates from the satellite project are doing it! So, there's a lesson in sticking to your dream, despite what people may tell you about the impracticality of it. Whether or not the dream turns out to be as awesome as you imagined it is another story entirely. Let's just say it's good to be nimble and open to new dreams. :)

Also - it's wonderful to discover that all these good people I knew from school are still good people. One of them just moved to Vancouver and that makes me happy. It's always good to increase the number of good people in your life. And in the small world category, one of my friends from undergrad is engaged to someone who grew up near Peter and was a year behind him in the same high school.

I had a funny idea the other day while walking down Granville St. Granville is the entertainment district for Vancouver - it's where most of the theatres and nightclubs and bars are. At night, when we leave the dance studio, we get to see the spectacle that is nightlife for young folks. (That'll make you feel old - when you wonder why so many women are walking around on 5" heels with no pants on. Back in my day, we wore pants to clubs.)

Anyway - it got me thinking - all these ladies look exactly the same, or they're trying VERY hard to all look the same. Tottering on shoes that are so impractical as to be comical, wearing small, tight dresses - same hair, same makeup. The sameness of it all is kind of depressing.

The funny idea was - since so many people are so influenced by the popular idea of beauty/style, what if we, as a society/species, were unable to communicate preferences on beauty/style? What if there was something in our brain structure that made us literally unable to communicate on the subject? Imagine everyone having to go out into the world wearing/styled just the way they liked, without referring to some pop culture 'norm'? Would we try to detect trends through observation and copy, without communicating, or would we just not think of it as something that mattered? Would the idea of trying to all mimic one idea of the perfect image of beauty be alien and silly to us?

Clearly I've been watching too much Fringe lately.

One of the hard parts of being a crafting nut is accommodating all the crafting supplies. It was all very manageable when all I did was beadwork, but then came sewing and crochet and then.... weaving. I blame the weaving entirely on Felicia of SweetGeorgia Yarns who blogs about her weaving adventures and who has an incredible sense of colour and style. She made me see that weaving could be bold and colorful and modern (example). So I got a small floor loom about 2 years ago.

Only problem was that I live in a 600sqft apartment with my husband-like-person and two cats. And my husband-like-person often has a mountain bike in our apartment. So we just don't have a lot of space. And with my other 48 hobbies, I wasn't spending much time weaving. So, since it took up the most space and was used the least out of all my crafting supplies, I decided that the floor loom should find a new home. The happy part is that it went to a lovely lady who is very excited about learning to weave and she loved it on first sight - so it's in a happy home and will help launch someone's weaving adventure.

I figure I'll find myself another little floor loom one day, maybe if we ever move into a 2bedroom apartment. Until then, I'll just have to distract myself with one of my 12 works-in-progress. And maybe I'll have to spend some time in SweetGeorgia's weaving studio. :)

I really wish I could post that the infrequency of my posts is due to the fact that it's summer and I'm too busy being outside to sit at the computer and write blog posts but that would be a lie. because it is clearly not summer here in Vancouver (or anywhere else it seems, based on twitter - except Minneapolis where it's 36deg apparently). I'm just busy with dance (dance events on tuesdays & wednesdays at our studio and fridays & sundays at Robson Square), getting going in my new job, reading a lot, and occasionally getting out with friends.

I had to work yesterday, which is a kind of unfortunate way to start a weekend. Especially a warm, sunny weekend. But the event went well, so that's good. Afterwards Peter and I dropped off our computer monitor to be repaired and then headed out to Ladner to the cutest berry farm ever (Emma Lea Farm). It has a little barn where you can get ice cream and milkshake and smoothies made with super fresh fruit. so good. We picked a pile of strawberries which I'm in the process of freezing for our future smoothie enjoyment. So, despite the working, it was a fabulous day! Really just wishing we could have a proper old school summer vacation - 2 solid months off - enough time to maybe even get bored!

It's been just over a year now since I got my Kobo ereader and I'm just as in love with it as ever. I carry it with me most of the time and have read more books in the past 6 months than I normally read in a year. I'm reading a lot more classics too (I love old books). See my reading list in the sidebar at right.

I'm in denial about the fact that the long weekend is over.