What do you want me to do to make it happen now?

Right now I'm watching the Juno awards, and I'm actually enjoying them... I think. It could be the low expectations that I had going in that is leading to the enjoyment. I wasn't overly impressed with the Nickelback/Our Lady Peace/Canadian Idol stacked nominations this year, but the show's been all right. I like Buck 65's role as MC and I enjoyed Broken Social Scene's performance despite the fact they didn't play 7/4 Shoreline, which is my fave BSS song. But it was cool seeing Amy from Stars singing during their performance.

Blech. Now they have Michale Buble up there. They really should have my dear Joel Plaskett performing since he's a native Haligonian for land's sakes. And, they should have given him the Songwriter of the Year award since he is there and The Arcade Fire is not. And I'll be controversial and say that I much preferred La De Da to Funeral.

Does anyone else find it suspicious that the Black Eyed Peas and Coldplay "tied" for International Record of the Year and they both decided to show up and play? Hmmmm...

Well, I had an all right weekend. I can't remember what I did on Friday night. On Saturday, I got my hair cut and then went to see a movie with an extended group of friends. We saw a sneak preview of the Antonio Banderas movie "Take the Lead". It was the type of movie with is enjoyable if you a) turn off your brain and b) don't mind dancing movies.

I discovered a new song that I love love love and I think you should all download. It's called "See You On the Moon!" by Great Lake Swimmers and it's from a kids' CD made by indie bands. It makes me soooooooo happy. Go get this song.

Today I went for a walk and did a little bit of window shopping. I had to take a detour as I was walking down Yonge St. because a section north of Bloor was closed off. It turns out there was an explosion from a suspicious package at a Tim Horton's. Kind of scary... Read about it here.

Oh-oh. Broken Social Scene just won Best Alternative Album. How the heck they gonna all fit up there? Hahaha. The show could go on forever and ever if they let them all speak.

On that note, hope y'all have a great week!

ps Michael Buble is winning far too many awards. Oh, and Jann Arden is funny. They should have had her host the show. Oh gawd. Now Hedley is closing the show. You know, I think I'm enjoying the Junos just because it's all about Canadian music, even though they have a tendancy to focus on the, shall we say, inferior examples of Canadian music.

Update: Holy - the explosion at the Tim Horton's made cnn.com. Look here.

A melody softly soaring through my atmosphere.

I'm suffering from a terrible malady: spring fever. I'm sooooooooo not impressed with having to be cooped up inside all day when it's lovely out. I think I'm getting more restless then the kids.

It doesn't help that the the third floor of our school, on which I teach, is hot hot hot right now. Plus, the caretakers have an ongoing battle with overheated science teachers on the issue of having open windows. The windows in my classroom need a handle in order to be opened. Now, I am not in possession of one such handle. Luckily, I am able to get the windows opened by using two students: one to turn the knob while one stands on a chair and pushes the window open.

This semester I have been teaching in the room next door to mine for one period. In this room, my two student solution does not work to open the windows. It's been fine so far, but today the classroom was like an oven on account of the warmer weather, plus I'm sure they still have the heater cranked, and hot air rises to the third floor you know. Anyway, the teacher who is normally in that classroom is in possession of one of the coveted window opening handles, but I wasn't sure of her hiding place. Today, the kids were boiling and so was I. I sent a student to look for her, but no luck.

I found her after school to ask her where she hides the handle. Turns out, she always carries it with her in her briefcase because if she hides in a drawer, the caretaker tends to find it and takes it away. (He doesn't seem to understand that insufferable heat does not a good learning environment make. Apparently this issue's been going on for years.) So we have a new handle plan. The handle is hidden in a locked drawer in the science office, with the appropriate key hidden in another drawer. Will it be found? I hope not, or my next post will be that I'm taking a week off of work on account of heat exhaustion.

Last night I found a shirt in my closet that I haven't worn in probably two years (most likely due to the fact that it needed ironing). Anyway, I ironed last night and wore it today and loved it. Don't you love it when you can go shopping in your own closet?

Survivor is back on tonight. Stupid NCAA basketball messing up my tv plans for like three weeks. Ridiculous.

I don't have much planned this weekend, although I really need to do some spring cleaning. My bedroom looks like some sort of clothing bomb went off in it. Plus, I think that the dust bunnies under the bed are on the verge of forming some sort of unholy army and staging a coup. In other words, the real question is will I be able to come up with plans quick enough to avoid my spring cleaning?

Okay, I'm running out to run an errand get myself a coffee (half real, half decaf - that should let me sleep) before Survivor. I'm ashamed to admit that I've become addicted to Starbucks coffee. It's now the coffee that I crave. The unfornuate thing, besides the fact I feel a little cliche and rather like a corporate schill, is that my neighbourhood Starbucks is under renovation for the next week. So I'll have to settle for the Second Cup. There is a Tim Hortons near me too, but that's my least favourite coffee. Well, except for Coffee Time coffee, which tastes like warm dish water to me.

Be kind to me or treat mean, I'll make most of it, I'm an extraordinary machine.

What a busy Tuesday.

I got to school early to help out with the breakfast club. I cooked scrambled eggs. Yes, I cooked. Me, who received a birthday card with the greeting "Every pot is a no-stick pot if you no cook in it."

I had a science department workshop this afternoon, so I didn't have to teach my period 4 class. We took a break where I ran down to the caf to grab a coffee and I ran into about 3 of my period 4 students in the halls. They were like "Miss! You're skipping class!" to which I replied "I'm skipping class? Hello, where are you supposed to be right now?"

After school I helped the set crew paint the school for the musical. Yes, I painted. My painting skills are only about a smidgen above my cooking skills. Anyway, it was pretty fun.

I got off one subway stop early on the way home to run a couple of errands. I stopped by Roots and looked at their leather purses. I love those purses but they're ridiculously priced. *sigh* You'll be pleased to know that I averted a frivolous impulse buy.

I walked home taking a detour through the cemetary. It's was so lovely outside today. Dare I say spring is here?

Tomorrow is the dreaded grade 10 literacy test. Ontario requires students to pass this test to graduate high school. It's a huge pressure for schools to maintain decent pass rates, especially schools with less academically-oriented students (like mine). Anyway, any positive energy you could send my students' way would be appreciated. ;)

Since everyone loves Ikea, I'll leave you with a cartoon I got today via email.

We'll all fight like cowboys and pray like nuns.

Sigh. Another weekend done and over with and I'm experiencing the typical Sunday night gloom. At least there are new Simpsons and Desperate Housewive episodes on tonight to ease my pain.

Well, I had a pretty uneventful weekend. I was sooooooooo tired on Friday night that I just stuck around at home and went to bed early. Exciting.

On Saturday I spent sometime shopping. I am incapable of entertaining myself without spending money, I tell you. I finally brought in the paintings that I bought in Australia and Cuba to get framed. It's going to cost me a bit, but thankfully I saved some birthday cash for that purpose. I also decided to buy myself a decent pair headphones for my iPod after receiving an "evils of earbuds" lecture from my roommate earlier in the week (she'd seen a report on tv).

Saturday night was supposed to be my Hawklsey Workman concert, but it was cancelled becuase he's sick. It's postponed 'til June 10th which is a lifetime away. Becca T and I rented a movie instead. We watched "A Date With Drew" which is a documentary about a guy who wins $1100 on a gameshow and decides to spend it trying to get a date with Drew Barrymore, who he's had a crush on all his life, while making a movie about it. He's only got 30 days to do it because he can't afford the camera he bought at Circuit City, so he's taking advantage of their 30 day return policy. It was a pretty cute documentary. Perfectly fluffy and funny.

Of course, after watching it you have to discuss which celebrity you'd pursue if you were in the filmmaker's shoes. For Becca T, Chris Murphy of the band Sloan would be the obvious choice since she used to have the HUGEST crush on him (she spent a whole summer sketching his portrait -- I hope she doesn't kick my ass for divulging this on my blog... meh, she doesn't check it very often so I think I'm safe... oh, but the sketch is amazing). However, we both agreed that it should be a date with someone of Drew's status. Maybe me on a date with Johnny Depp would make a good movie. I can't really think of anyone else... Most of my celebrity crushes are on musicians who are too obscure to make a documentary that would appeal to a wide audience. Who would you pick?

Happy Monday!

ps My post title is a line from "Don't Look in Their Eyes" which is a Stabilo song that is the free tune of the week from iTunes. I'm really digging it. Stabilo remind me so much of a 90s band, but I just can't put my finger on which band...

Happy birthday dear blog, happy birthday to you!

It's my blog's first birthday today! I honestly can't believe that I kept it up this long. I almost let it go after about a month but then my friend Mathew made fun of my lack of updating.... then I kind of got back into the habit and started to get comments and go more addicted to posting and reading other blogs.

So yeah, it's my blog's first birthday and I'm grasping at straws trying to think of something to blog about. Yeesh. You'd think it'd get easier after a year of it.

Oh, here's something interesting... One of my colleagues passed me some info on teaching ESL at a camp in South Korea for 2 weeks in the summer. All expenses are paid, plus you get a small salary for the two weeks. It looks rather tempting but it overlaps with the course that I was planning on taking (which I'm required to take in my first two years of my permanent contract with my board). Now, I could procrastinate and take the course next year, but I'd rather get it done in three weeks in the summer as opposed to having to take it one night a week from September to March (that seems so long). Plus, I was looking forward to planning my trip to Wales with my pal FF after our courses are finished. I think my course of action will be to stay the original course, and keep the info and see if the thing is running next summer.

Right now I'm totally into the song "Hold On, Hold On" by Neko Case.

Boy, my brain is really mushy tonight. That's all I can come up with. Just had to make sure I made a birthday post.

ps The picture I posted makes me want to watch that episode of the Simpsons (the one with Mr Burns' teddy bear). Luckily I own it on DVD.

Soooooooo tired...

Long, long day at school. Got there early to help with the breakfast club, which is doing well. Then, stayed late to supervise the painting of the set for the school musical. Inhaled too many paint fumes I think. Gotta stay late again tomorrow because the grade 8s are coming to register for next year (here's hoping for a good crop) and then on Thursday we have a staff meeting. Le sigh.

Well, I think some of the kids have come back from March Break lazier than they were when they left. Yeesh. Some days I feel like I'm in need of a good cattle prod.

I was all excited for my Hawksley Workman concert on Saturday. I got an email today saying the concert's been postponed until June 10th because he's sick. I was realllllly looking forward to going on Saturday. I want immediate gratification, dammit! (My I'm-an-only-child-I-want-my-way-now sometimes comes through. But I'm not a spoiled brat, really.)

Well, here's to romorrow being hump day and this week being almost over. I hope we get some actual spring weather sometime. I'm tired of being cold.

ps Today some kids in my period 4 class asked me if I was in highschool in the 1980s or in the 1990s. I said "puh-lease... figure it out." Then one said "80s... right?" and the other said "maybe some 80s, some 90s". I said "apparently you don't want to pass this course." Argh. I try to keep my age on the down-low but then they over-estimate my age and I get mad. Oh well, they're still better than the kid who mumbled "they've been using the same book for thirty years" when I'd told him that I'd read To Kill A Mockingbird in high school. I told the class that story and they laughed and said "at least we're not that bad!"

I was backstage in Toronto and that’s the way I like it.

Ben Lee was extremely enjoyable last night. I love seeing a quality artist in a small venue. The only disappointment was that he didn't play "Apple Candy", which is Becca T's favourite Ben Lee song, but she took it well. He played "Bruised", which is a song that he did with Ben Folds and Ben Kweller (as the Bens), which made me happy. I've decided that "Bruised" is my second favourite song of all-time; my first being "Reconstruction Site" by the Weakerthans. After that I'm stumped. I only have the top two settled on.

I had a super lazy Sunday. I read a book called "Something Blue" by Emily Giffin. It's a sequel to her first book "Something Borrowed" which I did not much care for, but I was intrigued to see what happened to the characters. I much preferred the sequel, even though there were some things that bothered me. One of them being that the main character is supposed to be not the smartest person, yet uses words like bucolic and sybarite. Puh-lease. I think the author was trying to show off her vocabulary there... Anyhow, despite my grumblings, the damned thing made me cry a bit. Yeesh.

I had an interesting question posed to me today: if you could attend any three concerts in history, what would they be?

My answers:
1) Ben Folds playing with the Western Australian Symphony Orchestra in Perth. Luckily I've got that one on DVD.
2) I would have liked to see the Beatles. I'm not picky on the show.
3) Beethoven - I'd preferably see him conduct a symphony like in the movie Immortal Beloved (not sure of the historical accuracy of that).

So, dearest reader, what would your three concerts be?

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

Oh man am I glad to be home. Home being Toronto. I call Stratford "home" too, since that's where I grew up and even years down the road when I've not lived there longer than I actually did live there, I will still call it home. When I'm in Stratford, I call Toronto "home", since that's where I live but when I'm in Toronto, I call Stratford "home". This pattern has lead me to coin the phrase "home is where I'm not" to clarify what I mean by the word.

So yeah, it was a pretty fun week. I spent a couple days being slothful and watching movies with the 'rents. I visited my friend Ramona and her 10 month old son. She lives way out in the middle of nowhere so I was so proud of getting there and back without getting lost.

I went out for dinner one night with some friends from high school. My friend Teresa's son, who is doing really well at living up to the terrible twos image, decided that it would be fun to hit my fun red strawberry mango splash beverage with his teddy bear, spilling it all over my pants and my new white sweater. Aren't kids fun?

I made a trip into London to visit my pal Heather from high school and two of my university friends who are now living in London. My parents' car had broken down on the day I had planned to steal it to go to London. This frequently happens when I go home - the car breaks when it's been totally fine when I'm not around. Guess it doesn't like me or something. Anyway, we got a loaner and I got to drive it for the day which was kind of fun. It was way newer than our car and pretty nice.

I decided to join some other high school friends for St. Patty's day in Waterloo. We wandered around until we finally found a bar that did not have a crazy line up. I drank green martinis called Freaky Irishmen. Lots of fun.

I stayed over at my friend's place in Waterloo and she drove me to the bus station this morning. I'm so glad to be back in the city. I love looking out my window and seeing the cityscape and the lake and the subway and the CN tower.

Before "March Break is over" depression hits me, I still get to go see Ben Lee tonight, beginning my 3 concerts in 4 weeks marathon to make up for the fact I haven't even been to one this year.

Anyhow, I have errands to run, books to read, blogs to catch up on, and it's a really nice day. Lata!

A lyric, a time, a crusade, a line. One minute, a friend, a road without end.

On Friday night, I took time to put a bunch of CDs that I hadn't listened to in eons on my iPod. I've been listening to stuff like Pearl Jam, REM, the Wallflowers and Zwan all weekend and it's making me happy.

Anyhow I figured since I'm procrastinating cleaning my apartment and packing that I might as well post the second half of the list of 100 things about me that I came up with during a bout of insomnia.

51) I lived with my pal Becca T for 5 years. We never had a fight.
52) The only people I really argue with are my parents.
53) Oh, and my students. We argue all the time over school rules like no hats, no cell phones, etc. Teenagers... sigh.
54) I really like the school where I teach.
55) It’s very multicultural.
56) I wish I had learned to speak Polish when I was a child.
57) I was close to all of my grandparents. I miss them.
58) I’m still very close to my friends from high school.
59) I see most of them at least twice a year.
60) I wish that I saw them more often.
61) I’ve been to 4 Canadian provinces – Ontario, New Brunswick, Quebec and Manitoba.
62) I’ve been to 3 Australian States – Queensland, Southern Australia and New South Wales.
63) I’ve been to 9 US States.
64) My favourite television show is the Simpsons.
65) I can relate most things in life to an episode of the Simpsons.
66) Actually, I’m pretty sure that I can relate all things in life to an episode of the Simpsons.
67) My favourite episode of the Simpsons is where Bart shoplifts. It makes me cry.
68) I own seasons 1-7 of the Simpsons on DVD.
69) I plan to own all seasons as soon as they are released. Even the newer seasons, which I don’t like as much as the old ones.
70) There is no other television show that I’d bother collecting.
71) I used to really love some reality TV shows; I’m over them though.
72) I still watch Survivor though.
73) My favourite Survivor was the series in Africa.
74) My goal is to visit every continent, including Antarctica.
75) So far I’ve been to two.
76) I’m not ready to get married and have kids yet.
77) I’m not sure that I’ll ever be.
78) I’d like to write a novel.
79) I’ve started a few, but I never have time to get past chapter one.
80) I have plans for them in my head.
81) I suspect my writing is horrible.
82) I wish that I was musically talented.
83) I can play the piano badly.
84) I love Ben Folds because he can play it brilliantly.
85) I have Ben Folds’ autograph and got my picture taken with him.
86) That was back in the days of cameras with film. I had to waste a whole roll of film of my friends and I running around the Eaton Centre so that I could get it developed right away.
87) I miss the excitement of getting a roll of film back when you’re not sure how your pictures have turned out.
88) My Nana taught the basics of knitting when I was 10.
89) I wish that she was still around to teach me advanced knitting.
90) I want to take a knitting class sometime. My goal is to be able to knit mittens (not just scarves and hats which is all I can do now).
91) I don’t think I’ll ever knit a sweater
92) I like knitting because I can turn a ball of yarn into something. Plus it gives me something to do while watching TV.
93) I like to think of myself as pretty creative for a left-brain math and science girl.
94) I think I was initially interested in math and science because it was traditionally not the domain of women. Oh, and I was good at it.
95) Also, I always liked those subjects because they were supposedly “black and white”. Later on I learned that they are not.
96) I prefer to teaching science to math. You don’t get to do fun experiments in math.
97) I find politics quite interesting. I wish that I was more knowledgeable about them.
98) I always vote in federal and provincial elections. My voting record in municipal elections has been shaky because I’ve always been moving around when they happen. I plan to remedy this.
99) I listened to Christine Fellows as I wrote this list.
100) It actually wasn’t that hard to write a list of 100 random things about myself while suffering from insomnia. You all should try it sometime. ;)

First Day of March Break = Busy but Enjoyable

Oh man... I think I crammed a whole week's worth of March Break into the first day.

First off - I wore my spring jacket today for the first time this year! Woot! It was a lovely day outside!

Had brunch with Becca T and my pal FF (who'd gone to Austrlia with me). Mentioned to FF that I wanted to go to Wales. We're going to look into going in August. I really hope I can get the trip together. I need something to look forward to this summer since I'm going to be spending July taking a course.

After brunch we hightailed it to the Eaton Centre and did some shopping. I got a spring scarf from H&M, some of my fave Body Wash from Sephora and an Olympic sweatshirt and pants from the Bay (they're on sale now).

FF had to go back to Whitby. I returned home so that I could pick up a package at the post office and drop off my shopping. Then Becca T and I went and took the subway and the complimentary shuttle bus to Ikea. The shuttle bus kills me. It's so rickety - I call it the refugee bus.

Anyhow, Becca T bought a bunch of stuff at Ikea but I'm proud to say that I only spent $6. I've never had an Ikea trip so cheap. Saving up for Wales, uh-huh.

Went back home. Grabbed a bite to eat and then got ready for my friend J's 30th bday party. It was a lot of fun. Oh man, I miss my friends who I neglect even though I live in the same city. Argh. I MUST make a point of hanging out with people more often. It's pathetic. I moved back to Toronto a year and a half ago because: a) I love this city; and b) I missed my friends after I taught up north for a year. Well, I see the darned city every day but I average getting together with most of my friends once every six months; usually when it's someone's birthday.

Becca T and I spend sometime looking through old pictures with J's roommate. There was a group of us who hung out a lot in the summer of 2001 and it was too fun going through those old pics. Gosh, we look young! Since the 5 year anniversary of that summer is coming up, we've decided we're going to have a "reunion" summer.

Also saw my friend L, who I also hadn't seen in forever. We also decided that our track record of seeing each other is abyssmal and we must make an appointment to get together and play Simpsons Road Rage and Harry Potter cards like we did in the old days. (Yes, I truly had a wild and crazy youth.)

Soooo, long story short, I am going to make sure that all of my promises to do this and go there and do that with this person and that person are not empty promises and that we actually follow through. Good Lord, it's not like we live in different countries; we're only a few subway stops away.

Becca T and I started the night off by drinking some whiskey with J's roommate. Then, Becca wanted to move on to wine. I hesitated, not being very sure about the rule about having whiskey before wine. But then I made up a rhyme: "whiskey before wine and you'll be fine." So, if I can figure out a rhyme about mixing alcohol, then I'm allowed to do it. And I'm fine. Really I am.

Tomorrow I have about a billion errands to run and then I'm taking a train to Stratford. I'm thinking I'm not going to lug my laptop home, so posting will be non-existant to minimal unless I make a trip to the library. Which could happen depending on how many social appointments I make while I'm home. So I'll probably catch you all later, when we're on the unhappy side of March Break when it's almost over. Have a great week.

March Break Baby!

In one more day, that is. However, I'm actually pleasantly surprised that this week has been relatively fast and painless. I was expecting it to be long and the kids to be a little more wound up.

Anyhow, I'm pretty psyched for the week off. My tentative March Break plans are:

Saturday - Brunch with Becca T and FF. Party for my pal J's 30th (!) birthday. I'll have to watch him close to see if he explodes or anything upon turning the big 3-0.

Sunday - In the evening, I'm taking the train to Stratford. I should be home just in time to watch Desperate Housewives.

Monday through Friday - Hanging out in Stratford. I plan on stealing the 'rents car to visit London and Waterloo to visit some friends. I also plan to catch up on watching movies and reading.

Friday (St Patty's Day) - Hmmm, not sure what I could do. I could hang around Startford and see what's up or I can come back here. We'll see.

Saturday - Ben Lee at the ElMo!! Woot!

Sunday - Get ready to go back to the old grind.

Sooo... just gotta get through that one last day.

ps I'm thristy. I've been drinking my roommate's pop while she's been in the Bahamas. Tomorrow I gotta go replace it. Anyhow, might as well have another.
pps I've been a total couch potato tonight. I watched Survivor, My Name is Earl, The Office and now I'm watching Without A Trace. I really love My Name is Earl. That's a great show.

Newsflash: Insomnia leads to long lists

I fell asleep while watching the movie Rent tonight and now I can't sleep. I've seen other bloggers write a list of 100 things about themselves. I decided I'd try that, figuring that I'd nod off after item #20. Apparently not. I was able to get all the way to 100.

Here are the first fifty things about me. I'll post the other fifty sometime when I can't think of anything decent to blog about.

1) I was born in 1980.
2) I lived on a farm until I was almost 3.
3) I’m an only child.
4) I’m a cat person.
5) I like dogs too.
6) I had a rabbit named Flopsy when I was in fourth grade.
7) I skipped the first grade.
8) I was always obsessed with my grades in school.
9) I have two degrees – An honours bachelor of science and a bachelor of education.
10) I read about a book a week.
11) I love Harry Potter.
12) I also love Lemony Snicket.
13) I like books that take place in Canada, especially Toronto.
14) I’ve lived in Toronto for about 7 years (on and off).
15) I love the city; but I always look forward to returning home to the small town where I grew up for a break now and then.
16) I think cemeteries are cool.
17) I can see Mount Pleasant cemetery from my window.
18) I used to hold my breath when driving by cemeteries so that I wouldn’t inhale any spirits.
19) I don’t really believe in ghosts but I like the idea of them.
20) I really once think that I heard a ghost, but deep down I’m sure there’s a logical explanation for the occurrence.
21) I went on a walking ghost tour of Stratford one summer and it was very fun.
22) I want to travel more.
23) I sometimes order travel information for places that I’d like to go on the internet just for fun, even though I’m not planning an immediate trip.
24) I received some information on Wales in the mail the other day.
25) My paternal grandfather was from Wales.
26) His family moved to Canada when he was about twelve.
27) He had 14 brothers and sisters. None of them had more than 3 children themselves.
28) My mother was born in Poland during World War II.
29) She and her family were captured by the Germans and were forced to work on a farm in Germany.
30) After the War they immigrated to Timmins, Ontario.
31) Both of my parents attended the University of Toronto. My mom graduated, my dad dropped out.
32) I also attended U of T.
33) My guidance counselor in high school told me that it would be a mistake to go to U of T. It was the best decision of my life. Ha!
34) I took a course in the World of Popular Music. I got a really good mark in that class.
35) My best mark in university was in my Evolution class.
36) I think Darwin would be a great name for a cat.
37) As soon as I have a roommate who is not allergic to cats, or when I live by myself, I am going to get a cat.
38) I love the song by the Weakerthans that is written from the point of view of a cat.
39) My favourite song of all time is “Reconstruction Site” by the Weakerthans.
40) The first non-children’s album I owned was by Whitney Houston.
41) The first CD I owned was a compilation called 2 Awesome. It had great stuff like TLC, Sir Mix-A-Lott and Sophie B. Hawkins on it.
42) The first “alternative” CD I owned was Vs. by Pearl Jam.
43) I own lots of CDs. I’ve lost track of how many.
44) The artist who has the most songs on my iPod is Tori Amos.
45) I didn’t like Tori Amos until I worked in an art gallery where that was the only CD that was around for me to listen to. Then she really grew on me.
46) The first concert that I went to was a Melissa Etheridge concert.
47) I can’t count the number of concerts that I’ve been to since then.
48) I try to go to at least one concert a month.
49) I used to have a rule that I was only allowed to buy one CD a month. I don’t follow that rule anymore.
50) I’ve been lucky – I’ve really gotten along with all of the roommates that I’ve ever had.

Ba-ba... this is the sound of settling...

Boo!!! I lost my Oscar pool at school. Although the winner got 15 right so I wasn't far off the mark. I'm going to study up next year on all of the "odd" categories like short documentary and shot live action and the like to give me a competitive edge!

Well, I was able to easily survive Monday with my Oscar hangover. One of my students was humming "It's Hard Out There for a Pimp" this morning, so I was all "Did you watch the Oscars last night?" and we chatted about the show and the various movies.

So last night, as Becca T was eating cheese and crackers, she commented to me "ummm, two of my crackers are stuck together" and I replied "So break 'em apart!" "Umm, I can't. They're stuck together by a string..." Below is a picture of the stringy crackers. And yes, by string I do mean a non-edible string that you would use to tie something together. Hmmm... I suppose I should go back to the store demanding a refund or threatening to sue... but you know, that smacks of way too much effort.

Anyhow, thank goodness Monday is ov-a! 4 more days until another weekend! ;)

13/24 ain't bad....

My posted Oscar picks were 4 for 7. Not too shabby. And, although I'm probably just as bummed as Tim Burton is over the Corpse Bride loss (okay, maybe slightly less bummed), I think I'll survive.

Overall, I predicted 13 out of the total 24 categories. That's over 50%, so at least I passed. Becca T got 13 too. Rematch next year.

Very surprised at the Crash best pic win. I thought that it'd either go Brokeback for both best pic and director or Crash for best pic and director. I wasn't expecting a split.

Jon Stewart made me happy. I thought he did a great job. Of course, I'm totally biased so I don't really count myself as an objective opinion. I killed myself laughing when he referred to himself as the "fourth male lead" in Death to Smoochy and therefore, not a Hollywood outsider.

And the Oscar to cutest actor at the Oscars goes to... oh look, a tie between George Clooney and Jake Gyllenhaal. Both cute. Becca T and I had the ever important "Would you date George Clooney despite his advanced age?" discussion. She said yes, although her parents would be concerned. I said yes, even though my mother would try to steal him away from me. Mom proved me right when I called her after the Oscars to see how she'd enjoyed the show and the second thing she said was "George Clooney is very good looking. I'm glad he won." (Btw, the first thing she was that Jon Stewart did an excellent job... like mother, like daughter I guess.)

Becca T made me almost die with laughter at one point. George Clooney had come onto stage and I said "Oh look, it's George Clooney" and she replied "What's he doing?" in a tone that implied we were watching, oh, a football game and George Clooney walked out onto the field. Thankfully, we'd run out of wine at that point because I suspected she didn't need any more.

Becca T was disappointed that Capote didn't pick up more Oscars. She realllllllly like the movie, mostly because she thought Truman Capote was an interesting character and she would have liked to have been friends with him. Methinks someone is getting a Truman Capote-themed birthday present this year.

What was Charlize thinking with that bow on her dress?

I think my favourite gown of the night was Michelle Williams'. I liked the colour. However, I withold my final verdict until I see more pictures of it in magazines. I only saw a few brief glimpses of it on the red carpet, so I may be wrong. I also thought it was cool that Sandra Bullock had a dress with pockets. Neat-o.

Allright, so I must be off to bed. Tomorrow's just another Manic Monday. I'll let you know if I win the staff Oscar pool. I figure that I should at least place.

ps I sincerely doubt I will ever mention George Clooney this much in a post again.

Go on and save your scissors...

Oscar night is here.

Snack food (chicken fingers, carrots, grapes, cheese 'n crackers, ju-jubes) - check
Wine - check
Ballots printed out - check
Becca T invited over to watch show with me - check
Aparment cleaned - not yet
Blogging to procrastinate cleaning apartment - check

Ahhh... I swear, Oscar night is one of my fave nights of the freakin' year. Plus this year Jon Stewart is hosting, which makes the night even more special for me. I love Jon Stewart. There is no way he will bomb in my eyes, no matter what eveyone else says.

On Friday night Becca T and I went to see Capote. I was a little nervous that Becca T wasn't going to like it, and then I'd feel guilty for having dragged her there. I believe she liked it even more than I did... Our consensus was that it's a good film and that Philip Seymour Hoffman deserves the Oscar that he'll probably get tonight.

Hmmm, I'm going to post my picks for some of the bigger awards so that tomorrow you can all be amazed by the seeming telepathy that I share with the Academy - or you can laugh at me.

So, after looking into my crystal ball, I predict that:

Best Pic - Brokeback Mountain
Best Actress - Reese Witherspoon
Best Actor - Philip Seymour Hoffman
Best Supporting Actress - Michelle Williams
Best Supporting Actor - George Clooney (who could deny Clooney? - he's dreamy)
Best Director - Ang Lee
and... Best Animated Picture has better be Corpse Bride or else I'll weep. I love that movie.

Okay, well, I'd better go spiff up this mess of an apartment. Again, whenever I have to clean, I spend most the time lamenting that I do not live in Harry Potter's world and cannot enchant my dishes to clean themselves. Oh, the unfairness of it all.

It kinda makes you want to cry that a moth is not a butterfly.

Another week almost down and it's getting so close to March Break that I can almost taste it. I am so ready for a break right now. Speaking of breaks, my roommate is off to the Bahamas tomorrow. Lucky girl. She and her fiance are going to visit friends there. Why don't I have friends in tropical locations?

Anyhow, but I had an overall fabulous day. I'm quite pleased because I managed to score Matthew Good tickets. He's playing at the Mod Club (a fab venue) in April and tickets just went on sale today.

I'm excited for the weekend. On Friday, Becca T and I are going to go see Capote which I'm looking forward to. I read In Cold Blood not too long ago and I'm very interested in the subject matter of the film not to mention that there's Oscar buzz around it. There's another reason to be excited for the weekend; Sunday is Oscar night. Oscar night is my Superbowl. I love it. I'm a geek who sits there with my scorecard and checks out how accurate my predictions are. I've also got my ballots for my staff Oscar pool. I won last year, so I'm feeling quite pressured to pull it off again.

Right now I'm reading Assasination Vacation by Sarah Vowell and enjoying it muchly. It's a non-fiction book about Vowell's travels to sites associated with the presidential assissinations of Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. It's super funny. I saw Vowell a couple of times on my beloved Daily Show and I'm glad that I picked up the book.

I'm also enjoying the new Hawksley Workman CD. Only 23 more days 'til that concert! I'm loving the song "When These Mountains Were the Seashore". It's got a great country twang to it, which is a new sound for Hawksley. I say he should stick with it. I'm so amused that I detested country music so much when I was younger but now I'm into so many artists with a country sound (new Sarah Harmer CD, the Joel Plaskett solo disk, etc.). But, I've learned it's "nu-country" that I hate. Blech.

Tonight is Survivor. I'm in third place in my Survivor pool. Gotta pull up my socks. I was in first at one time.

After Survivor, I gotta mark lab reports. My first period class has been nagging me to get them back and I promised them back on Friday. I can't let them down. I once had an instructor in teachers' college who had promised to get a project back to us on a certain day, and she didn't, so she baked our class an almond torte instead. Since my culninary skills are lacking (read do not exist), I'd better mark those reports. Also, it beats having to mark 'em on the weekend.

On that note, happy Friday and happy weekend!

February always finds you folding local papers open to the faces...

Last day of February! I'd forgotten to use my favourite Weakerthans' February-related song line for a title but thankfully I remembered on the last possible day. Phew.

So now that March is almost here, it only means, what, about 2 more months of winter? Hahaha. Lame Canadian joke.

Anyhow, I am freaking exhausted tonight. I was bad and had a really long nap this evening which means I'll probably fall asleep far too late tonight. I had to be up early this morning to get to school to cook pancakes for the breakfast club. Yes, you read correctly - I actually cooked something. So I figure I can avoid the practice for the next month and a half.

8 more school days until March Break. My plans revolve around sleeping in every freaking day.
My Cuba trip was my March Break trip, so I'll only be heading to the tropical shores of the muddy Avon in Stratford.

Today Hawksley Workman's new CD "Treeful of Starling" came out and I purchased it. One of my favourite things in life is looking forward to a new CD from one of my favourite artists and then going and buying it on the day of release.

As I was walking home today, I thought of a billion things to blog about and now I forget. Guess that what a pre-blogging nap does. Oh well. Happy March to you!

Like those guys with guitars who I've been watching in bars...

All right, so tonight Becca T and I decided that we'd go catch Danny Michel play at the Rivoli. We have gone to many non-sold out concerts at the Rivoli in the past, so we figured if we got there at 9:30-ish we wouldn't have to worry. Anyhow, we got there, and it was sold out. Grr. I was so excited to go to my first concert of 2006 and take lots of pictures for my picture starved blog. I guess I could have taken a picture of the sign outside the bar saying that the concert was sold out, but that would be too sad.

Instead, I took a picture of the Bell ad on the subway with the beaver with a curling rock in his mouth that makes me laugh. (Yay! We got a gold medal in men's curling today. At least one team of Canadian men can do something right.)

We had to come up with alternate plans for entertainment, so we figured alcohol would be a good choice. We decided to go to a bar on Queen St that we used to go to in university every once in awhile but it was closed down! Argh! We headed back to our area of town and went to a pub there. Anyway, we drowned our sorrows and had a good time chatting. It was no Danny Michel concert, but still fun.

When we stumbled outside, it was snowing which inspired me to get out my camera. I took a picture of this beer ad for some reason, but I like the effect of the snow...



I decided to walk home from Becca's because it was such a nice evening. It wasn't very cold and there were nice big flakes of snow falling and staying on the ground. Who doesn't love walking in fresh snow? I took a picture of the gates of the cemetery as I walked by. Looks kinda spooky, eh?

Toronto's got this "Live with Culture" ad campaign going on right now. I was bitter as I walked by the following sign. I tried to live with music tonight dammit, but it's hard to do when the best shows get sold out! I love the city, but I know if I lived in a smaller town like London or Kitchener, I wouldn't have to worry 'bout Danny Michel tickets selling out because, well let's face it, there is a smaller population of music snobs in those places.


On the bright side, I did buy Ben Lee tickets today. Last night I found out (Scott gave me the scoop) that he's coming back to Toronto on March 18th. Anyhow, I have tickets for that. Also, I have Hawksley tickets for March 25th and I might be going to Oasis on March 20th. I guess in March I'll be living with music much better than I have in January and February.

When I got home, I got a last minute email from my dear friend Sandee, who was in Toronto tonight hanging out in the area where we were for the attempted concert. *sigh* That sucks because we totally almost crossed paths!!!! Oh well...

Okay, so it's totally time for bed now. Good night!

You're the crescendo in that melody, that melody I love...

Yay! It's Wednesday evening. Only two more days 'til the weekend. Fabulous!

Well, the Canadian men's hockey team has lost to Russia and is out of the running for a medal. Let the national sobbing, gnashing of teeth, and soul searching begin. On the bright side, we picked up two golds and a silver today. All won by women, of course, who have been kicking some major ass in these games. I must admit that I enjoy the Olympics. Pretty soon I'll be going through Olympic withdrawl.

Right now, at this moment, I'm watching last night's tape of the Colbert show. He is commemorating the discovery of DNA by Watson and Crick and lamenting that it has been used by the "evolutionistas to promote their pro-monkey agenda". Yeah baby! I love that. I shall henceforth refer to myself as an evolutionista.

By no means am I a fashionista. However, I bought myself a new pink beaded top this weekend and got muchos compliments on it today. A couple of my students were like "Miss, you're so bright today!"

Last night I finished reading "The Undomestic Goddess" by Sophie Kinsella. It was pretty good overall, but I thought that the ending was a bit convoluted and drawn out.

Hmmm, since this post is turning out to be random, let's check in with iTunes to see what the last ten random songs on my iPod were:

1) In State - Kathleen Edwards
2) Nothing Left to Make me Want to Stay - Sloan
3) Hoopes I Did It Again - Relient K
4) Leash - The Weakerthans
5) Bruised - The Bens
6) Vindicated - Dashboard Confessional
7) Bloody Mother F*****g A*****e - Martha Wainwright
8) Hey Girl - Dashboard Confessional
9) Don't Forget About Us - Mariah Carey
10) Dance, Dance - Fallout Boy

Whoa... right now I'm watching the women's 3000 m speed skating relay medal round. It's making me dizzy... Canada's in third... oh, oh Italy's on their heels... Oh, the Canadians are now in silver medal position... Woo! Canadians get the silver! Yay! (Korea was first, China third.) Oh wait now, they disqualified the Chinese and now the Italians have bronze. The Italians are quite happy about this.

On that note, I'm pleased that Canada has its 18th medal. And with that, this totally random post and I are outta here!

Thousands faces look the same every one a thousand different names...

Woo-hoo for the Canadian women's hockey team winning gold! As usual, men can learn a lot from women. What's with this whole losing hockey games business? Honestly now.

Anyhow, I had a pretty relaxing time in Stratford this weekend. Friday night's train was pretty busy with university students coming home for reading week, which made me pretty nostalgic. Oh, those were the days.

I did a lot of watching Olympics with the 'rents, a bit of shopping in the ever-shrinking mall (I couldn't believe how many empty stores there are) and some visiting. On Saturday night, I went to a friend's place to hang out and play some board games. We played a round of Cranium, which I lost since I was paired with my friend Christa. I love the girl to death, but we tend to make a lousy team when it comes to games. We were euchre partners for a semester of spare in high school, and I think we won about two games the entire time. Spare was spent playing euchre, with the exception of the odd tour to the mall (which had more stores back in the day). So only winning two games means that a lot of games were lost.

We also played a game called "Loaded Questions" was pretty good. It's got a bunch of random questions which you answer and then someone has to match the answers to the correct person. We did very well in this game, which indicates that we know each other very very well. No surprises there.

Anyway, Sunday night I took the bus back to Toronto and here we are at Monday again. I had a pretty good day at work. After work, I stopped off a grocery store on my way home to grab a few things. I decided that I was going to have my favourite childhood dinner tonight - macaroni and cheese with hotdogs (I know, I know... not a super nutricious meal, but heck, it's Monday!). As the checkout girl was bagging my groceries, one of the bags broke and a bunch of my stuff fell on her side of the checkout. She rebagged my groceries for me. When I got home, my hotdogs were missing. Grrr! I was so disappointed. I could not have my favourite childhood meal. Plus, I paid $4 for missing hotdogs. Another store on my list of places I have to complain to.

Anyhow, I have to be up super early to be at work at 7-ish tomorrow morning. I've been helping set up our breakfast club on Tuesday morning, plus I have to set up a lab for my first period class. Hope you all have a pleasant tomorrow!

Hope dangles on a string like slow spinning redemption...

Well, I must admit that I had a very happy birthday, despite the fact that I'm ever closer to the big 3-0... Thanks to all of you for your bday wishes.

Anyhow, I had a pretty good day at work. During my period 1 class, as I was writing the date on the board, I threw out the question "Does anyone know what day it is today?" One girl said "Your birthday!" to which I replied "Incidentally, it is... but it's also flag day, you know... the birthday of the flag. They should make it a holiday." A couple of kids preceded to ask "Why did you come into work today Miss? You could have phoned in for a supply you know!" I told them that I preferred to spend my birthday in their company.

I was so busy during my other classes that I kind of forgot it was my birthday. At the end of the day, one of my students from last semester came by my classroom and said "Miss, is it your birthday today?" I told her that it was and she wished me happy birthday. I asked her how she knew and she said "You mentioned that your birthday was the day after Valentine's Day in our class one day and I remembered." How fabulous is that? What kind of kid remembers her science teacher's birthday? How awesome. It totally made my day. Ther twin sister dropped by (who I also taught last semester but in a different class) and they both told me they missed my class. How nice. It's good to be appreciated.

Anyhow, I left school as soon as I could and went shoe shopping. Not because I'm one of those shoe-crazed girls, but because my boots that I bought in December are falling apart. I intend to get them repaired, but I need a new pair of shoes to wear while they're in the shop. Anyhow, I got a nice pair of black Steve Madden runners that I love.

A bunch of my friends and I went out to dinner to celebrate my advancement in age. It was great. I find that, in general, it takes a birthday/wedding shower/baby shower/graduation party/housewarming or some such event for my friends to organize ourselves and get together. It was awesome to catch up. I also made a good choice in restaurant because it was cheap martini night. I know where I'm spending my Wednesday nights in the summer!

Then it was back to my apartment where we had cake and ice cream. I took a picture of the cake because it made me laugh that we didn't have birthday candles so my roommate stuck a tealight on the cake.

Anyhow, everyone stuck around pretty late and we got caught up and had lots of fun. I was pretty tired today at school.

Yeah, so I don't feel my bday's done yet. I'm going home this weekend, so I'll still get to celebrate some more with the 'rents and my pals there. I'll be away from the ol' blog for a bit, since I'm too lazy to lug my laptop home (it's too heavy). So I hope you all have a super weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

Why should I follow that beat being that I'm better than fine?

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Happy 200th post to me! I can't believe I've kept with blogging for so long... I totally expected to lose interest after a month when I started, but what can I say? I loves it. Oh, and congrats to my dear friend Sandee who's made it to post #10!

All right, so instead of being bitter and cynical about Valentine's Day (which generally I am), I'll just quote a line from a fabulous song, Waltz (Better Than Fine), on the new Fiona Apple CD (that I treated myself to on Sunday):

"If you don't have a date,
Celebrate
Go out and sit on the lawn
And do nothing
-Cause it's just what you must do and
Nobody does it anymore."

Last night my roomie asked me if it was OK for her fiance to borrow the kitchen here to cook her dinner. To which I gave my usual reply of "What? No, of course not! Tonight I was planning on cooking a six-course meal and baking a souffle. Nope. Totally unacceptable." Oh man, the idea of me making a souffle kills me. Last night my roommate joked that I ate a lot of stuff out of boxes. I figure if I can get it from a box, why bother making it myself?

Today was a pretty good day at school. My first period class was vastly entertained because they did an experiment where they blew up balloons using chemistry. Ahhh... the wonders of vinegar and baking soda. Why use toxic chemicals when they're wowed by vinegar and baking soda?

The Daily show last night was freakin' hilarious. Of course, it's not hard to make the story of Dick Cheney shooting a hunting buddy in the face funny. You pretty much just have to tell it.

So, I really should tear myself away from the computer and enjoy the last few hours of my youth. As I've mentioned before, tomorrow I turn the big 2-6. Oh dear, I've hit my late-mid-twenties. Before you know it, I'll be in my early-late-twenties. Egad. Anyhow, tomorrow night, I've assembled a rag-tag bunch of my friends to go out for dinner then come over here and chill until 11 pm when I kick them out since it's a school night.

Anyhow, hope you all have a great Valentine's night, and out I go to sit on the lawn. Well, it's probably cold and wet. Maybe I'll sit on that three-headed bench. Hmmm... cold too. Meh. I'll just go sit in Starbucks.

And all this wandering has got me nothing...

Well it seems like long time no post for me. I've had a pretty good weekend; lots of relaxing and shopping and actually some productive cleaning/organizing of my room. Plus I finished In Cold Blood (now I can see Capote) and watched Corpse Bride again. I love that movie.

In my last post, I promised to take some pictures this weekend. I was mad at myself on Saturday, because I'd gone down to the Eaton Centre for some shopping and could have taken some fun pictures but I'd forgotten my camera. D'oh!

Anyhow, when I was out running errands today, I made sure to bring my camera.

Here is a picture of the "sculpture park" by my apt. building. Apparently, pointy sculptures are cool.

I like this bench. Too bad someone added graffiti to it.

Ummm, I don't know what to say about this sculpture.

I took a picture of some subway trains relaxing and enjoying their weekend off.

I walked by my old apartment that I lived in during my last two years of university. Look what they're building across the street from it:

So I know they're not terribly great pictures, but I feel that I deserve an A for effort. Next weekend, I'm going to Stratford to visit my parents to celebrate my (ack!) 26th birthday, which is on Wednesday. I plan to go for a walk and take some interesting pictures of my hometown. This is what I say every freakin' time I go home and it never happens... But maybe this time it will. ;)

Well, I'm off to do some stuff 'til Desperate Housewives. Hope everyone has a good start to their week!

You look like the perfect fit for a girl in need of a tourniquet.

Right now I'm watching the Grammys and feelin' pretty darned bored. Too much yapping between songs and awards and too many commercials. I'm thinking I could be doing something far more productive with my time but, meh, that would require much more effort than watching a boring, bloated awards show.

So, after making me take a shuttle bus yesterday due to technical difficulties with carbon monoxide, the TTC is raising fares. A metropass will now cost $99.75. $100 will now buy you a metropass and a gumball here in Toronto.

Last night my blog buddy Scott introduced me to a song by William Shatner (featuring Ben Folds and Aimee Mann). After complaining about my dislike for William Shatner, I had to admit that I like the song. Actually, I've been listening to it a lot today. It's called "That's Me Trying" and it's got a pretty cool story within it. Plus, Ben Folds' piano is amazing as always (what makes the song) and I love his and Aimee Mann's background vocals. Anyway, it makes me grumpy that I actually like something by William Shatner.

I had forgotten how much I like Aimee Mann, so I had to go dust out my old Magnolia Soundtrack and put it on my iPod. I love her songs on that album. They are very haunting.

(Aside: For some strange reason, I really like will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas, even though he's responsible for the existence of "My Humps". Right now he's dancing really super cool in a tribute to Sly and the Family Stone.)

(Another aside: I just saw a commercial for XM Satellite radio with David Bowie and Snoop Dogg. Man, Bowie is soooooooo hot for an aging rock star. I love Bowie. As long as his hair is not on the long side. He and his hair look good in this commercial. Hmmm, perhaps I should subscribe to satellite radio. Damn them and their clever ads! Hee-hee.)

Oh - the answers to my brainteasers from last point:

a) Some of you guessed that he took the stairs, but were not able to correctly identify how he got to the stairs... He was washing the insides of the windows, so it was fairly easy to get to the stairs. I never said he was using the life. ;) (If you don't like this one, neither did my grade 10s. They complained.)

b) Yup, as most of you guessed, it's a towel. Again, some of my grade 10s weren't fans of this brainteaser, arguing that towels get wetter as they dry things, not as they dry.

Well, I'm gonna go iron a shirt and see if I can handle the rest of this show. Happy Thursday!

p.s. This weekend I'm going to take some pictures of some stuff and put them on my blog. I haven't posted any pics in for-freakin'-ever. I blame blogger. It always screws up when I want to post pictures so I've lost my mojo to post pictures.

All I really want to say is you're the reason I wanna stay...

Countdown: 3 more post until #200; 1 week and 1 day until birthday #26.

Our school has started up a breakfast program and today was the first day. I volunteered to help set up this morning, so I went to bed early last night so that I could be out the door by 6:30 and at the school by 7.

Anyhow, I get to the subway and there are "electrical problems" or some such calamity at the station north of mine, so I have to catch a shuttle bus for four stops. Luckily I was there so early in the morning and I could actually get a spot on a bus. Yeesh. Anyway, I ended up being a little bit late for set-up after all the effort I'd put into making sure I was there on time.

Today was the first day of the second semester and my new classes and I are enjoying a honeymoon period where the kids work quietly and contentedly listen to me ramble on about marking schemes and classroom expectations and science safety. My new period 4 class seems to be better than the old one (same course, different kids). Keeping my fingers crossed about that. Although, I have to admit, I did have some good laughs with that old class, even though I'm positive they gave me gray hairs that I yet cannot see.

I was entertaining the new period four class with some brainteasers at the end of my class today. They couldn't them so they insisted that they were horrible. Here are a couple for your puzzling pleasure:

a) A man is washing windows on the 18th floor of a building. The power goes out, so the platform outside the building wasn't able to move. He was able to get to the ground floor easily without hurting himself. How?

b) What gets wetter as it dries?

Right now I'm reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. I'm enjoying it. I told my dad that I was reading it and he said "isn't that a really bloody book?" and I pointed out that my generation is very desensitized to violence so it doesn't seem that bad to me.

Have a good night and happy hump day tomorrow!

Note: Right now my dad is telling me that the subway calamity had nothing to do with electrical problems but carbon monoxide. All I know is they had said "electrical problems" over the PA in the morning. All I care is that I was had to take a shuttle bus in the cold...

Let's get friendship right, get life day-to-day...

What is it about weekends that turns me into the laziest person? I need to clean and do laundry and get groceries and I cannot bring myself to do it. I end up putting off all of those things until either Sunday night or for a week night... Yeesh.

Here's the weekend rundown thus far:

Friday night - Becca T came over and we played 90s Trivial Pursuit. We each won a game. We left it at a happy tie and I burned her some CDs.

Saturday - Could not bring myself to go out in the crappy rainy weather. I live on the 27th floor and the weather always sounds about a million times worse up here than it actually is. As a result, there are days where I forget about the 27th-floor-weather-amplification-effect and I hide up here with a book and some hot chocolate. Yesterday was one of those days.

I did eventually brave the weather to go see "Brokeback Mountain" with Becca T. It was very well done. It's such a sad, sad story and I think both actors were amazing. (Oh yeah, and Jake G's got pretty nice blue eyes.) If it wins Best Picture, I think it's deserving. I still gotta see 3 more Best Pic nominees (Munich, Capote, and Good Night and Good Luck) but so far Brokeback is the leader in my books.

Sunday - Has been my day of rest so far. I actually bought a paper copy of the newspaper and spent quite awhile reading it (except for the sports section, of course). There was an article by one of the paper's music critics describing how he went to a fundraiser where Queen's "Bohemium Rhapsody" was played over and over again for 6 hours (a sort of CN Tower climb for the out-of-shape rock snob). Anyhow, it made me think about what song I could endure for 6 hours straight. I'm thinking I'd put my money on "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" by Stars, since it's got the highest play count on the ol' iPod of 215 "spins". Hmmm, so if I get out my trusty calculator, 215 plays of a 4 minute and 16 second song is equivalent to 15.3 hours. So, since I've already spent 15 hours and 20 minutes of my life listening to that song, chances are that I could handle 6 hours straight. Maybe... So... what song do you think you could listen to for 6 hours straight (if any)?

I was just out running some errands and it's pleasantly chilly and snowy. I think the fact that I'm finding snow in February pleasant is a sign that we have had a verrrrrrrry warm winter. Usually at this time of year, if I see one flake fall from the sky, I curse the snow gods vehemently.

Well, if you're inclined to watch the Superbowl, I hope that you enjoy it. I think I'm going to go be responsible and do some cleaning and such. Have a good week!

Shoreline.... it passed me... it's cool....it's time...

Okay, I'm going to start this post by wishing happy bday to the three people I know who celebrate Groundhog Day birthdays. One is Scott, the other is a high school pal of mine, and the third is my old university roommate/residence muskateer. Only one of these people will probably read this wish. I leave it up to you, dear readers, to figure it out.

Last I night I brought wine, cheese, crackers, grapes and Corpse Bride over to Becca T's place. A fun time was had by all. I frickin' love that movie.

Today I got finished marking exams early so I took off from work and got my hair coiffed. I totally think the hairdresser styled it a la Raina. That is, I'm pretty sure that I have porno hair for the day and I gotta admit that it's pretty fun. Tomorrow, it'll be pretty flat and straight as I don't have the energy in the morning to devote to my hair.

Tonight the new Survivor starts and I'm watching because me friend Wendy invited me to join an online Surivivor pool. I didn't watch the last Survivor, so maybe I'll be psyched for this one. I have to pay attention to it so that I don't let my tribe down. It's on shortly, so I'm off! Lata!

ps The title to the post is supposed to be a line from "7/4 Shoreline" by Broken Social Scene. As I really have no idea what they're saying in the song, that's my best guesstimate. I totally dig that song though. Does anyone know any other BSS songs that are in the same vein? Some of their stuff is a little out there for me, but I loooooooove this one!

If there's no one beside you when your soul embarks then I'll follow you into the dark.

There's been a lot of bitching about the TTC in the Toronto Star lately. Things like what are the worst routes, inconsiderate passengers and other general malcontentedness.

Well, here's my TTC rant. Why the hell does my station sell out of Metropasses?? I understand that my station is one of the few that accepts debit and credit cards, so you'd think it make sense to have more passes there. Apparently not. I got there quite early this afternoon to get my pass, and no luck. Gah. This probably means that I'll have to head up to Eglinton, get some cash, and buy my pass there. Grrrr. And they want more people to take transit.... Yeesh.

I tell you, my job is a heck of a lot easier when the kids are studying at home. We're on day 2 of exam week, and I've been able to organize my desk, my binders, my classroom - including all of the beakers and flasks I've been meaning to wash, and hang up a bunch of projects that I had the kids do. This morning one of my classes wrote an exam, so now I've gotta mark those.

I bought Corpse Bride after school. I love that movie. I think I'm gonna watch it tonight and then watch it tomorrow with Becca T. She refused to see it in theatres with me because it had too many corpses in it, but I made her promise to see it when it came out on DVD.

Oscar nominations came out today. It's my annual tradition to go see as many nominated movies as I can. The only best picture nominee that I've seen is Crash, which was good but I didn't get overly excited by it.

I just got finished watching last night's Daily Show on tape. I love that Jon Stewart pointed out that Oprah was far harsher on James Frey than most "serious" journalists are on the current adminstration. Don't you love it when it's the comedian on the fake news that asks the best questions?

Well I think I may have a mini-nap and then go hunt down a Metropass.

Rise Up with Fists!!

The title above is the name of the Jenny Lewis song that was my free download of the week from iTunes. Make sure that all of you iTunes users download it, as it is awesome (and free too).

So the weekend's been great so far. Last night my book club met where we discussed "Pope Joan" by Donna Woolfolk Cross, which I had finally finished Thursday night. Overall, 4 of the 5 of us liked it (it didn't grip my roommate). We spent a lot of time criticizing all of the convienient coincidences that helped moved the plot along but overall it was a well-written piece of historical fiction. After consuming quite a bit of wine and tasty food, our conversation drifted from the book to other deep philospical issues to which we posed the question "What would Pope Joan do?" This has now become a bit of an inside joke.

Today I slept in and then spent the afternoon watching my tape of Daily Shows and Colbert Reports from the past week. I met up a friend from home who was in Toronto doing some shopping with friends. We went out for dinner. When they'd headed home I met up with my dear friend TB for coffee. Oh! Big news. Last night, TB gave me permission to use her real name in my blog. So from now on, I can call her Becca T here! Woo!

I walked home from coffee with Becca T. The weather has been very warm for January in Toronto. As I walked home, it was drizzling and the stretch of Yonge St. I was on reminded me of Adelaide Australia. I got rather nostalgic for my trip last summer...

Hmm, on that note, I might watch my Ben Folds DVD for a bit before going to bed. So make sure you all download that song and have a good night!

Questions of science, science and progress, did not speak as loud as my heart.

I come home from worked all psyched to read my blogs and blog about my day. I log onto MSN and notice that my dear friend Sandee has finally posted her first blog entry ever. I’m even more psyched to read that and then… BLOGGER IS DOWN! I can’t get to anyone’s blog!!! Grrrr!!! So mad.

Anyway, I complain to Sandee online about my quandary and she points out that I can blog in Word and then paste it when Blogger’s up. Brilliant girl. Anyway, so that’s what I’m doing right now, but it just doesn’t feel the same. Sigh.

Anyhow, you should all go read Sandee’s blog. She’s one of my friends from high school and was very pivotal in corrupting me and is freaking hilarious. Plus, she’s my only real life friend who has expressed any interest in blogging, so bonus marks for her. I find it so funny how the “strangers” (who don’t feel like strangers anymore) who read my blog know more about my day-to-day existence than a lot of my old friends. Isn’t blogging a great thing? Yay blogs!

Back to day-to-day existence. Tomorrow is my last day of classes with my first semester classes. I’m going to miss them. They were all really great classes – even my period 4 class. To think, I probably gave some of them their last detention today. Hmmm, I’d better not speak too soon since I do still have them tomorrow… Maybe I'll keep the whole class past the bell just for old time's sake.

I just got off the phone with my mom. Did anyone see James Frey (the author of “A Million Little Pieces” who is embroiled in a controversy over fictionalizing parts of his memoir) on Oprah? I did not but my mother told me about it. I guess Oprah really questioned his authenticity. When the scandal first broke out, I decided to give Frey the benefit of the doubt since I really liked the book but after talking to my mom about the Oprah show, I’ve changed my mind. I wonder now about how much of his story is actually true – if he exaggerated about his time in prison, I wonder what else his exaggerated about? The root canal? The age at which he began using? Obviously his struggles with addiction were real; I don’t think you could fake his stream of conscientious style. But it seems he took too much license for the book to be published at a memoir. Have you read it? What do you think? I had the sequel “My Friend Leonard” on hold at the library and it’s just come in. I will definitely be going into this book with a different attitude.

Speaking of books, I still have about 100 pages of Pope Joan to read for tomorrow’s book club. Later!

ps Oh good. Blogger's up now!

Hey! Give me space so I can breathe, give me space so I can sleep...

Okay, it's been about 20 hours since the Conservatives "won" the election with a very slim minority and I seem to be surviving okay. I cling to those words "slim minority" very tightly. Interestingly enough, they weren't able to capture a single seat in any of Canada's three biggest cities. Wonder what that says?

Okay, here's my favourite line that I heard last night while watching election coverage. My pal TB dropped by for awhile. She was just about to leave when a commentator on one channel (no idea which one, I flipped around a lot) said "The Liberals are running wild east of Yonge Street!" Now I live slightly east of Yonge street so I said "TB, you'd better crash here tonight. It's too dangerous for you to go out with all of those Liberals running wild!"

Oh and speaking of Liberals, the persistant Liberal in my riding won with slightly over 50% of the vote. I can honestly say that I've never personally seen a candidate so many times.

All right, 'nuf about the election. I'm sure we'll have another in about a year's time.

My book club is meeting again on Friday night. I need to do a lot of reading, I've only read about a third of the book. We're reading a novel called "Pope Joan" which is based on the legend (or truth?) that a woman was Pope for 2 years in the ninth century. I'm really enjoying it so far.

Exam time is creeping up on me. Next week, my classes will be writing their final exams and I'll be saying goodbye to them. I came across this cartoon as I was looking to find one to put on their exam reviews. Makes me laugh.

On that note, I'd bet going get cracking on that book!

In this time of introspection, on the eve of my election, I say to my reflection "God spare me more rejection!"

I almost forgot to exercise my civic duty today. I was packing up to leave work and thinking about what I would have for supper, and what I needed to do for homework, and what I'd watch on TV when I got home, and maybe there may be some fun mail for me today, and oh boy I'm tired. Then it occured to me that I needed to go vote.

Anyhow, I did vote. I did what any good Canadian has to do come election time and held my nose and picked the least of the 4 evils on my ballot.

I was going to totally boycot watching any election coverage and try to live in ignorance for awhile. Then I read on Matt Good's blog that he was gonna do election coverage with George Strombolopolous on CBC Newsworld's The Hour, so I figured that perhaps that was where the party's at. We'll see how that is. I invited TB to drop by and watch and perhaps celebrate/drown my sorrows with some Peach Schnapps 'n Coke.

Oh and by the way, the kids at my school voted for the Liberals on Friday in the student vote. Hmmm, so I guess I was wrong to figure them for a bunch of NDPers.

However, I was right about there being something fun in the mail today. I got 2 Something Corporate CDs from April. Yay new music!

On another note, I'd asked my dad (no link - my dad can barely operate a mouse, let alone have a blog) to compile his ideal 7 Jeopardy Categories (since he loves Jeopardy).

1) Canadian provincial capitals (like father, like daughter... that was one of mine)
2) Bug or Snake? (eg they give you a name of something like a cricket or a cobra and you identifty it as either a bug or a snake)
3) Whale or rodent? (very similar to above but with whales and rodents)
4) Baseball before expansion (that was before 1968 in case ya didn't know)
5) Hockey or baseball player? (see numbers 2 and 3)
6) British Monarchs
7) Ancient Greeks

Yeah, that's my dad. Totally not normal. Neither is my mother on that note. There was really no hope for me.

Well, I think I'm gonna relax for a bit and listen to some music before the polls close and I dare look at my TV screen. I'm gonna get that Peach Schnapps ready.

Edit: So I hear a knock on my door a couple minutes ago. I figure "oh, the coast must be clear it won't be any of the political parties now". Wrong. It was a guy for my Liberal candidate asking if I'd voted yet. I might have been kind of grumpy about this, but he was rather cute, plus, as teacher I have to appreciate the persistance/almost nagging of my Liberal candidate. She was at my door the evening the election was called, then she's been at the subway a few time including this morning. Now this. Kind of reminds me of me when I nag the kids constantly to get their work in so that they don't fail.

My office glows all night long, it's a nuclear show and the stars are gone.

I had a super lazy Saturday. I slept in, and I just couldn't get myself motivated to do much except listen to some music, watch some Simpsons on DVD and just generally be lazy.

Anyhow, last night I watched the "Ben Folds and the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra Live in Perth" DVD that I'd gotten for Christmas. Oh. My. God. It was amazing. I tell you, Ben Fold and WASO will be the musical entertainment in my heaven. If you like Ben Folds, you must see this. I'm such a dork, I was trying hard not to sing along and clap after each song and not wake up my poor roommate (nor make her afraid she was living with a crazy) but it was hard. So good.

This evening, TB dropped by and we watched "Wedding Crashers" which I hadn't seen before but enjoyed muchly. My roomie and her fiancee and their friend watched with us which was fun.

My favourite part of the movie was when the closing credits came on and a Weakerthans song was playing (Aside). Cool! I hope the band got some good money from that.

Oh, also I've been reading some fun playlists on some people's blogs (Scott, Lea, Guggenflurgen and jc). Warms my heart. I love reading about music almost as much as I like listening to it.

Good night and have a pleasant tomorrow.

My 7 Ideal Jeopardy Categories

All right, I've been tagged by Scott to list my 7 ideal Jeopardy categories. Really, I can run pretty much any jeopardy category they throw at me, so this is a bit of an exercise in futility. *lol* Just kidding.

Okay so here are the 7 categories that would turn me into the next Ken Jennings:

1) I'll take "The Simpsonian Institute" for $1000 Alex. (My clever title for a Simpsons category that I'd run in a heartbeat.)

2) Maybe I'll find the Daily Double in "90s One Hit Wonders"...

3) Hmmm, it's not there. Let's move to "The Periodic Table of the Elements" for $1000.

4) That was too easy. Okay, let's get down and dirty with "Celebrity Gossip".

5) Hmmm... am I allowed to put in a second Simpsons category? Okay fine. How about "Canadian Provincial Capitals"? I did well on that test in grade 4.

6) Okay, let's get literary with "Contemporary Novels" for $1000.

And final jeopardy would be....

7) Biology. That pricy degree had better be good for something. ;)

Okay, I'll tag jc, m@, Guggenflurgen and Lea to keep the ball rolling. I was going to say "this is an easy tag" but I got a little stuck after the periodic table.

Now if there was a category about "Elections that are annoying the hell out of Christielli" one of the correct responses would be "What is the 2006 Canadian federal election?" However, I did get a bit of amusement out of the thing today when my crazy period 4 class asked me who I was going to vote for. Naturally, I gave them the "I'm not going to tell you that" schpiel and then made the following bad joke - "I'll tell you who I'm not voting for - The Bloc Quebecois!" Anyhow, they decided that since I was a science teacher, I'd probably vote Green... or maybe NDP. They all seemed to be pro-NDP. Really, if the NDP ever wants to win, perhaps they need to get the voting age lowered to 15.

Non-celebrity Playlist

I love browsing through The iTunes Music Store for fun. One feature I especially enjoy are the celebrity playlists. Why do I care about what kind of music various famous people enjoy? I don't know but today I found it very validating to learn that members of Death Cab for Cutie enjoy Sloan's False Alarm and Stars' One More Night (Your Ex-Lover is Still Dead) just I like do. I also enjoy reading their mini-explanation of why they enjoy each song.

I was thinking that it's a travesty that I have not been contacted by iTunes to make my celebrity playlist. I suppose this may be because I'm not a celebrity.

Then I realized that, heck, what do I have a blog for if not to post my very own non-celebrity playlist?

So I give you, Christielli's Non-Celebrity Playlist.

1) Your Beauty Must Be Rubbing Off by Hawksley Workman - This song is lyrically bizarre song but extremely enjoyable. C'mon all you girls out there, wouldn't you love it if a guy said "Your beauty must be rubbing off on me"?

2) Wonderwall by Ryan Adams - I'm not sure how long this song's been around but a friend of mine just sent it to me. It's such a sparse bleak take on the song. And using the piano for the hook at the end creates a haunting effect. Feeling melancholy? Listen to this.

3) Reconstruction Site by The Weakerthans - Years ago I decided this is my all-time favourite song. The first time I ever heard this song was live, and it's just got such vivid imagery in it. My favourite line: "where a little boy under a table with cake in his hair stared at the grown-up feet as they danced and swayed".

4) I'm a Loner Dottie, A Rebel by The Get Up Kids - Heck, I just love the title becasue I am a loner Dottie, a rebel. Or so I'd like to think.

5) Annie Waits by Ben Folds - Somehow Ben Folds knows exactly what it's like to be a girl waiting for a stupid boy to call her. And there is a twist at the end of the song that makes my heart break.

6) So Unsexy by Alanis Morissette - Feel like crap? This song might make you feel better, or at least it expresses the way you feel. I have several friends, as well as myself, who use it as therapy.

7) Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson - Even I like this song. C'mon is there anyone who doesn't like to dance around in the privacy of their own house to this song?

8) Wait by Death Cab for Cutie - I'm hoping that I can redeem myself slightly by adding an obscure Death Cab for Cutie song. The only thing I know about the OC is that Seth likes DCFC, so at least I've redeemed myself in the eyes of a fictional TV character, I'm sure.

9) Elevator Love Letter by Stars - I love the part where this song goes "I get too tired after midday[wait time] lately".

10) I'm A Mountain by Sarah Harmer - A blue-grassy, toe-tappin' song that makes fun of Wal-mart by my favourite female singer-songwriter. Good times.

11) MFEO by Jack's Mannequin - A two songs for the price of one ditty on from a CD I've been listening to a lot for the past few weeks (thanks again for the introduction, April).

Okay, so there you have it. I've created my very own non-celebrity playlist. That makes me happy. Now I'm going to listen to it while I clean the living room so that my fabulous roommate won't hate me for being a horrible procrastinator when it comes to matters of domesticity. Cleaning makes me unhappy.

Howeveer, it would make me super happy if other bloggers made their own non-celebrity playlists. One rule - you must include one potentially embarrassing song. ;)

Wow look at you now, flowers in the window, it's such a lovely day and I'm glad you feel the same.

All right, so here's the latest tag that's been making the rounds. Now, I haven't been directly tagged, since everyone who's done this assumes they're the last person in the world to do it and don't tag anyone (i.e. me). So I'll take it upon myself to tag myself, since I don't really have anything specific that I want to blog about today anyway.

Four jobs you've had in your life:

1) Cashier at an un-named fast food restaurant in Stratford;
2) Art gallery assistant (that was my title - I took people's admissions and dusted the gift shop)
3) Information Access Officer for a provincial government office (I answered the phone and sold people maps/aerial photos/hunting and fishing licences)
4) Teacher

Four movies you can watch over and over:
1) The Wedding Singer
2) 50 First Dates
3) Edward Scissorhands
4) The Nightmare Before Christmas

Four places you have lived:
1) Farm outside of Mitchell, Ontario
2) Stratford Ontario
3) North Spirit Lake, Ontario (find that on a map... I taught up there for a year)
4) Toronto!!

Four TV Shows You Love to Watch
1) The Simpons (over and over and over again)
2) The Daily Show
3) The Colbert Report
4) Desperate Housewives, I guess... really that's the only other show I currently watch besides #s 1-3

Four Places You Have Been On Vacation

1) New Brunswick
2) Cooperstown, NY (It was my dad's dream to visit the baseball Hall of Fame)
3) Australia!!! (Brisbane, Cairns, Adelaide and Sydney)
4) Cuba

Four Websites You Visit Daily

1) Blogs, blogs, blogs
2) Hotmail (to read my blog comments and other emails)
3) The Toronto Star
4) Chartattack.com (for my music news)

Four of Your Favourite Foods

1) Pad Thai
2) Peanut Chicken from the Green Mango
3) Mint Smoothies from Rheo Thompsons in Stratford (delicious chocolates)
4) Caesar Salad

Four Places You Would Rather Be Right Now

1) At a Weakerthans' concert (at a Sloan concert, at a Stars' concert... I could go on of course.)
2) Cairns, Australia
3) Back on the beach in Cuba
4) Toronto Ontario - Oh wait! That's where I am! Ha! Cool.

So feel free to tag yourself if you haven't done this yet. ;)

Tonight I'm off to have a beer with TB and my friend Mat. Perhaps other people will show up, who knows. Have a lovely Saturday night!

This night's a perfect shade of dark blue dark blue...

Happy Friday the 13th!

Happy Birthday to Raina!

Well, I've officially survived the first week back after two blissful weeks of vacation. Woo!

So, apparently I'm making a difference in my chosen profession. Today I overheard one of my little grade 9s muttering "I used to hate science but now it's not so bad." Hah. High praise coming from a 14 year old, I tell you.

This morning the local Conservative candidate was standing in front of my subway station and one of his "helpers" side-swiped me with their gigantic, ugly sign. Oh well, I should have assured the poor misguided girl that she had not assaulted a potential voter. I will never ever vote Conservative because I am not a conservative girl. (Big C or little c.)

Anyway, this is blog entry interrupted because my friend Ali just called and asked if I wanted to go to Ikea with her and her husband and little son. Of course! And we're gonna do the "Ikea Experience" where we have dinner too.

What a good start to the weekend!

Baby can you hear it? Don't it make you want to wake up and open eyes?

So it's unseasonably warm in Toronto. My weather pixie's wearing her light jacket. I tell you I'm convinced that climate change is rearing its ugly head. Our weather's been unnaturally weird for years. My poor students get my climate change/global warming/it's up to you to be good environmental citizens lectures all the time.

Anyway, today was a pretty good day. The semester is winding down. Today I got the news of a change in my timetable for next semester. Instead of having all science, they've given me a grade 9 math. It's going to be a class with a lot students who are just arriving to Canada, plus some others who have failed the course multiple times. The principal assured me that they'd be careful to keep my class size low, since it sounds like it'll be challenging. I hope it'll work out okay, although it will probably be a bit easier than the class they took away from me. I'd had some of the kids in that class last year, and they tended to be high maintenance.

2 more days 'til the weekend. I'm wiped today.

Sigh. I'm getting very discouraged with the whole election right now. I dislike them all. Humbug.

Okay, I really don't have too much to say but I felt like blogging so this is all you get.

Can't Get You Out of My Head: In A World Called Catastrophe by Matthew Good

Speak slow tell me love where do we go ah-ah.

Well I survived today! I feel like a climbed Mount Everest! I always get a little anxious on those "first days" (First day in Septemeber, first day back after Christmas, first day of new semester, etc.)... On the way out of the school today I was chattin' with another teacher and she was saying how she felt all overwhelmed today and I said "me too!" and she said "we should have run into each other in the morning!" Anyway, I feel like now I can deal with the bajillion and one work related I tasks I have to get done this week.

Gah! I'm itchy! Freakin' Cuban bugs ate my legs and I've been scratching like an I-dunno-what! Jeepers!

So aren't all of you Canucks soooooooooooo excited about the last English language debate tonight? Hahahaha. I should keep that on while I'm making up exams tonight. It'll keep me focussed on my task.

The last time I saw a movie in the theatre there was a commercial for CPAC, ya know the rivetting Parliamentary channel (Canada's equivalent to CSPAN I believe), that starred Tom Green. I was so confused. Tom Green? CPAC? Did someone put some sort of hallucinogen in my popcorn?

Oh, if any of you enjoy wasting time playing pointless computer games, try this.

Okay, really, I need to go do some work now. Maybe have a mini-nap first. TGMO (thank God Monday's over)!!

Can't Get You Out of My Head: Speak Slow by Tegan & Sara

Why must vacations come to an end?

*sob* I can't believe that I gotta go back to work tomorrow. I'm so not ready. My mother, who's a teacher too, assures me they'll be quieter now that they've got the holidays out of their systems, but I'm less optimistic.

I like my job but I like being on holiday better.

Anyway, I'll stop whining since I really have no right since my 2 weeks off were much longer than what most people get. I apologize.

This afternoon I went for a walk and bought a new CD to console myself. I got Martha Wainwright's self-titled disc and it's good so far (I'm on my first listen). She's Rufus' sister. Last night I downloaded her song "Bloody Mother f****** A*****" and I love it. I'm in the mood for music with a lot of cursing lately.

I've been plowing through "Planet Simpson" which is a great book. If you're a Simpsons devotee and have not read it, you must. I think I didn't pick it up earlier because I figure I know everything about the Simpsons anyway, so why shoul I bother reading some hack's analysis of it? As Lisa would say, I stand corrected. It's a perfectly cromulent book.

Okay, I figure if I go do laundry right now, I can justify sitting around reading as opposed to working on the mounds of schoolwork I have. Yeah, that's it.

I'll leave you with some more Cuba pics, just 'cuz.

Here's a view from our hotel. I'm not sure what the structure to the left is. We were totally gonna take a walk to it one day and check it out but never did. I think it's an old military post or something.

If you leave tips for your housekeeper, she'll fold your towels into fun things like swans and hearts.

If you left it up to me, every day would be a holiday from real.

Happy New Year! I've made it back safe 'n sound from Cuba. After chatting with my family and my roommate (who got engaged while she was away in BC over the holidays), reading my fave blogs and transferred my 200 odd Cuba pics to my computer, I battled blogger to upload some for your viewing pleasure. By the way, the weather was heavenly. I miss the sun already. Anyway, without any more delay, here are pictures from sunny Cuba.

Here are a couple views of the resort outside of Varadero that we stayed at:


Here's the beach:

Some Cocotaxis on the streets of Valadero. We were warned not to take these since they're quite dangerous. Passengers are sitting over fuel tanks. Not the place I'd want to be in a crash.

Al Capone used to have a house in Varadero. Here it is. Hmmm, the life of a 1920s mobster could be the life for me.

Now here are some pictures from our day trip to Havana (which was yesterday believe it or not!).

Here's a view of Havana's crumbling architecture. These bulidings are across from the Capitol.

I'm not sure what this building was, but it was beautiful.

The Cathedral:

A view of the market in Havana:

A painting that I bought there:

Havana's cemetery. It was huge and one of the most incredible sights that I saw.

Sunset over Havana.

Last night's show at the Tropicana Nightclub. It was amazing. They also give each table of 4 a huge bottle of rum and one can of coke apiece. Had some mighty stong drinks while watching the show.

This morning's sunrise as seen from the balcony of our room:

Anyway, it was a great trip. I really needed that sunshine. I think I'm kind of sort of energized to get back to the old grind. Yeah right. Thank goodness I have three days until I have to do that again.

Later!

Edit: There should be text in between pictures. Sometimes the text disappears on my computer, but will appear if I highlight it. I don't understand why. Grr at Blogger. Anyway, highlight if you can't see it.