p a s s e d.

i passed the national OT certification exam!
now all i need is a job...

news!

as of today, we are officially home owners!
how did this happen? o_O

i'm done!

2 years of assignments, classes, practicums, late nights and stress up the wazoo has finally come to an end! my reward? a piece of paper that gives me the ability to add more letters behind my name.

now all that's standing in my way of actually being an OT is passing the national exam. oh, and getting a job. :P

when autumn leaves start to fall

fall is back.
i love this time of year. :)

cameron mitchell | b l a c k b i r d

i love this song and could listen to this cover forever. amazing.

book nook: the glass castle

the glass castle
jeannette walls

i finished the academic portion of my program back in june and one of the first things i did (after celebrating, of course) was to visit my local library now that i actually had time to read.

anyway, this one had been on my list of books to read for quite some time now, so i was pretty excited to see that a copy was available and it definitely did not disappoint (unlike the other book i borrowed which i started over 2 weeks ago and still haven't finished...and can't remember the name of).

the glass castle is an autobiography documenting walls' childhood and her experience of growing up in her family. i liked her style of writing: descriptive, but not overly descriptive to the point where you get lost. overall it's a good and interesting read. at times i forgot that this book wasn't fictional - the fact that it's a non-fiction is just crazy.

i ended up finishing this book in about 2 days, which is a good indication of how much i liked it. yah, i definitely recommend this one.

rainy days

this never-ending gloomy rainy weather is getting a little tiring, but i'm looking forward in anticipation of what's to come afterwards because after rain (and soggy worms) comes life in the form of bright green grass, flowers, and a new appreciation for sunshine and blue skies (can't wait!).

until then, i'll just keep listening to the sound of falling rain drops, put on my rainboots and maybe play in a puddle or two. not a bad idea at all. :)

term 6, last term.

heading back to the classroom for our final academic term tomorrow.
term 5 was by far the worst and most stressful term ever,
but thankfully it's over, i made it through,
and i'm finally starting to see the light at the end of this tunnel.

let's end on a strong note, shall we?

cooking corner: giant chewy chocolate chip cookies

i decided to try out a new cookie recipe for "giant chewy chocolate chip cookies" in order to take a break from school work. that was two weeks ago now, but i haven't had time to post anything until now. why? because school picked up again, but nevermind that for now...here's how my cookies turned out:

the original recipe yielded 12 cookies, but i thought no one in their right mind would make cookies that giant so i stretched it out to 24 cookies instead. even so, i had a little extra dough so i made one ridiculously huge cookie just because i could.

i wasn't sure how they would turn out since i made a few adjustments to the recipe (mainly because that's all i had), but the cookies ended up being great if not better than i expected! they were just the right size, had just the right amount of sweetness and "chew", and were gone in a few days - yum!

book nook: the bell jar

the bell jar
sylvia plath

after living a mere 5 minute walk away from our local library in "the sogs" (for more than half a year), i finally went and signed up for a library card. after searching the catalogue, i found that all my 'books on tap' were unavailable. boo. luckily not all was lost as, after poking through bookshelves, i found a few that seemed interesting enough. "the bell jar" was the first i tackled of the three.

this book is a semi-autobiography written by sylvia plath which follows esther greenwood. it basically chronicles her depression, breakdown, suicide attempts, and subsequent institutionalization. the book is well-written and really liked how it highlighted the experience of living with a mental illness rather than the mental illness itself (if that makes any sense). i also really liked how things were described - everything was so poetic. i found it a little confusing to follow at times as esther's thought process seemed to jump here, there, and everywhere, but this was probably intentional to give the reader a sense of esther's experience, so i guess this was actually a good thing.

generally, i thought this book was good and finished it pretty quickly. it's explores some pretty dark (but real) topics so in this sense it may not be for everyone, but overall it's a good read.