Last night I was feeling like I tend to neglect my roommate. We don't really hang out much or anything... It seems like when she goes away, I stick around here and vice versa.
Also, my roommate works a lot. And by a lot I mean it's 10:45 pm right now and she's still not home. Anyhow, last night I was thinking that I should do something nice for her... I considered making dinner for her, but her home time is quite unpredictable... Anyhow, I got the bright idea that I'd bake cookies for her today.
So this afternoon I walked to the grocery store (in the rain - got to finally use the umbrella that I bought especially for my UK trip that I actually only used there for about a minute... which is a very good thing) to buy baking supplies. I thought the gesture would be nicer if I used my (nonexistant) baking supplies instead of hers. Although I did borrow her baking soda and baking powder since it's ridiculous for the girl who bakes once a year to buy those things.
Anyhow, I ended up making a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies and a batch of banana muffins. I feel quite proud of myself for this momentary flair of domesticity. Huh. I guess I'm all warmed up for the next time I will bake which is traditionally for the staff Christmas potluck lunch...
Still waiting for my dear roommate to cast off the shackles of work and come home to her baked goodies. Yeesh. Good thing I'm on vacay. I can stay up as late as need be.
Anyhow, I spent some time today uploading some UK photos on flickr. I've actually had the account for quite some time, but never really bothered to do much with it. Now I've uploaded my max for the month and made the badge and everything. So feel free to visit.
Hope you all have happy Tuesdays!
ps This post's title is a line from the super cool catchy song "Ton plat favori" by the francophone band Malajube. Love it.
Update: Roomie came home at about 11:40 pm. Had cookies 'n milk bonding session. Mission of roommate non-neglect accomplished.
Monday, August 14, 2006
Sunday, August 13, 2006
The time is getting closer; the time to be a ghost.
I'm in the mood to regale you with one of the ghost stories from my ghost walk in London. So, sit, back, and dim the lights to make your environment a little bit more spooky...
This story is set at the Old Doctor Butler's Head Pub which is located down some alley in the financial district in London. This story happened years and years ago, when the streets of London were filled with horses and carriages.
One night a priest was enjoying a pint at the Old Doctor Butler's Head. A cab pulled up in front of the pub, and a lady dressed in black hurried into the pub. She came up to the priest and said "Father, you must come quickly. I know of a man who desparately needs to talk with a priest. He has a grave sin to confess."
The priest could tell that it was a serious situation from the look in her eyes. It was most irregular for someone to approach him in a pub to ask for his services. He quicky finished his pint and followed the lady to the cab. She gave the cab the address and instructed the priest to ask for the master of the house upon arrival.
The priest arrived at the house and knocked on the door. The butler answered. "I've been summoned by the master of the house. He has a desparate need to speak with a priest."
"That's strange," replied the butler. "I'm pretty sure that no such summons has been made. However, I will bring you to speak with the master."
The master was an elderly man; perhaps in his sixities. The priest explained that a woman had directed him to speak to the master of this house because a man was in desperate need to speak with a priest. The master looked somewhat perplexed "Well, I certainly did not send for a priest. I live alone. I can't think of anyone else who may have asked for a priest... unless it was the butler."
The priest shook his head. "Your butler seemed quite unaware of the situation. It could not have been your butler who was in need of me. I travelled quite a long way to be here. Are you sure that you have nothing that you'd like to discuss with me."
"No, I'm sure I do not. I am a very pious man; I have led a godly and just life. I go to church every Sunday and give a generous tithe. My priest knows me well and knows that I try to please God..." The master trailed off. "Well, actually, since you are here... There is one incident that has troubled me for twenty years. I have never dared speak of it to my own priest, because I am so ashamed. But since you are a total stranger, I feel that perhaps I should tell you." The master's face became slightly pale and ashen at the thought of this secret.
"Please tell me this secret my son. I can see from your face that it deeply troubles you. Telling a man of the cloth will help you find redemption in the eyes of God."
"I am a widower," divulged the master. "My wife sadly perished twently years ago. One night we got into a heated argument during which I pushed her away from me. In the heat of my anger, I applied too much force to me and she fell back, hitting her head on the mantle. Her injury proved to be fatal. Her death was recorded as an accident, but... it was my fault. I killed her. I've never told a soul the truth about her death."
The priest took the master's hands in his own. "This is a very grave secret to have kept all of this years. I would like you to come to my church tomorrow. The service is at 10 o'clock. After the service, we can talk more about this and I will pray for you in a house of God. This is a matter of much importance. Please come."
"Oh, I will Father. I will. I've been troubled by this secret for twenty years. I will see you at your church Father." The master thanked the priest profusly for his visit and got directions to his church.
The next day, the priest scanned the congregation for the master. He was not in the church, nor did he come to speak with the priest after the services. The priest felt troubled by the master's absence. He was quite sure that the man was sincere in his desire to talk with him again. He decided that he must return to the house to make sure that the master was well.
He knocked on the door. The butler answered. "Hello sir, I have come again to speak with the master," the priest explained.
"I'm sorry Father. The master passed away in his sleep last night," the butler replied.
The priest was stunned. "May I come in? Perhaps I could give the body a blessing."
"Certainly." The butler lead the priest up the stairs to the master's bedroom, where he was lying in bed. The priest began to pray over the master's body. He noticed that the man looked at peace; during his many years as a priest, he had prayed over many bodies and it was rare to see one that had quite the look of peace as did the master.
While he was finishing his blessing, the priest noticed a framed photograph on the table by the master's bed. He recognized it at once. It was a photograph of the lady who had summoned him to this house the previous evening! He picked it up and brought it to the Butler. "Who is this woman, sir? She was the one who found me in the pub last night and sent me to this house to speak with the master!"
"That is very strange, Father." said the Butler slowly. "This is a photograph of the late mistress of the house who passed away twenty years ago. An accident took her. "
The priest looked at the Butler with wide eyes. "She must have known somehow... she must have known that the Lord was going to summon her husband last night. She knew that he had a grave sin on his soul that he needed to confess... That must be why she summoned me."
********
This was probably my favourite ghost story of the "Haunted London" walk I went on. It reminds me a lot of the ghost stories that I read as a kid; they always had some sort of twist ending.
Many summers ago I worked as a summer student in the art gallery in Stratford. Since it was a popular site for tourists, we got a lot of pamphlets about upcoming tourist-y type events in town. I noticed that there was a weekly ghost walk offered for $5. Since I'm a sucker for a ghost story, I thought that it'd be a good alternative to going out for coffee or a movie one night and convinced a couple of friends to go along with me. It was quite well done, I'd wager to say it was slightly better than the one I went on in London only because it probably contained more ghost stories. (The one in London had a lot of historical information too... which was highly enjoyable... but if I was a local looking for spooky stories, I'd be slightly disppointed.) Anyhow, now when I'm in Stratford, I always pass by certain places thinking "There's the poltergeist house" and "Oh look, it's the old haunted orphanage".
Of course, all of this talking of ghosts begs the questions, do I believe in ghosts? As I've mentioned, I've loved a spooky ghost story since I was a kid, and I've always been attracted to things like Tim Burtons movies (I think deep down, I'm a bit of a goth kid).
But, being the math/science girl that I am, the left side of my brain kicks into action and demands a rational explanation for supernatural phenomena such as ghosts, ghouls and hauntings. One of the most interesting scientific explanations for supposed hauntings that I've heard about it is low frequency standing waves. These are sounds that can be produced by something in an environment that humans are unaware of since they cannot hear them. However, they affect the human body by messing with some of our senses, such as causing our eyes to vibrate; this would explain any weird apparitions that someone could see. Infrasound can also lead to hyperventilation which can cause people to panic and can confuse the senses further. (Here's a neat article on ghosts and infrasound if you're so inclined.)
Once in my life have I sort of, maybe, thought that I could have encountered a ghost myself. This incident occured a couple years ago when I worked in an isolated community in Northwestern Ontario. The building in which my classroom was located used to be the local nurses' station. It was now divided in two; half was my classroom and the other half was the local computer centre. One afternoon, I had stayed after school to do some work. I thought I was by myself but I could distinctly hear a baby crying. I figured that the director of the computer centre must be next door with her little grandson so I walked through the connecting door to say hello. No one was there. I looked out the window to see if anyone was around but there was no one. Weird. Could it have been the ghost of a baby who may well have died in that building years ago? Or was a low frequency standing wave messing with my perception? Or, maybe I was just working too much...
Soooooo, do you believe in ghosts?
This story is set at the Old Doctor Butler's Head Pub which is located down some alley in the financial district in London. This story happened years and years ago, when the streets of London were filled with horses and carriages.One night a priest was enjoying a pint at the Old Doctor Butler's Head. A cab pulled up in front of the pub, and a lady dressed in black hurried into the pub. She came up to the priest and said "Father, you must come quickly. I know of a man who desparately needs to talk with a priest. He has a grave sin to confess."
The priest could tell that it was a serious situation from the look in her eyes. It was most irregular for someone to approach him in a pub to ask for his services. He quicky finished his pint and followed the lady to the cab. She gave the cab the address and instructed the priest to ask for the master of the house upon arrival.The priest arrived at the house and knocked on the door. The butler answered. "I've been summoned by the master of the house. He has a desparate need to speak with a priest."
"That's strange," replied the butler. "I'm pretty sure that no such summons has been made. However, I will bring you to speak with the master."
The master was an elderly man; perhaps in his sixities. The priest explained that a woman had directed him to speak to the master of this house because a man was in desperate need to speak with a priest. The master looked somewhat perplexed "Well, I certainly did not send for a priest. I live alone. I can't think of anyone else who may have asked for a priest... unless it was the butler."
The priest shook his head. "Your butler seemed quite unaware of the situation. It could not have been your butler who was in need of me. I travelled quite a long way to be here. Are you sure that you have nothing that you'd like to discuss with me."
"No, I'm sure I do not. I am a very pious man; I have led a godly and just life. I go to church every Sunday and give a generous tithe. My priest knows me well and knows that I try to please God..." The master trailed off. "Well, actually, since you are here... There is one incident that has troubled me for twenty years. I have never dared speak of it to my own priest, because I am so ashamed. But since you are a total stranger, I feel that perhaps I should tell you." The master's face became slightly pale and ashen at the thought of this secret.
"Please tell me this secret my son. I can see from your face that it deeply troubles you. Telling a man of the cloth will help you find redemption in the eyes of God."
"I am a widower," divulged the master. "My wife sadly perished twently years ago. One night we got into a heated argument during which I pushed her away from me. In the heat of my anger, I applied too much force to me and she fell back, hitting her head on the mantle. Her injury proved to be fatal. Her death was recorded as an accident, but... it was my fault. I killed her. I've never told a soul the truth about her death."
The priest took the master's hands in his own. "This is a very grave secret to have kept all of this years. I would like you to come to my church tomorrow. The service is at 10 o'clock. After the service, we can talk more about this and I will pray for you in a house of God. This is a matter of much importance. Please come."
"Oh, I will Father. I will. I've been troubled by this secret for twenty years. I will see you at your church Father." The master thanked the priest profusly for his visit and got directions to his church.
The next day, the priest scanned the congregation for the master. He was not in the church, nor did he come to speak with the priest after the services. The priest felt troubled by the master's absence. He was quite sure that the man was sincere in his desire to talk with him again. He decided that he must return to the house to make sure that the master was well.
He knocked on the door. The butler answered. "Hello sir, I have come again to speak with the master," the priest explained.
"I'm sorry Father. The master passed away in his sleep last night," the butler replied.
The priest was stunned. "May I come in? Perhaps I could give the body a blessing."
"Certainly." The butler lead the priest up the stairs to the master's bedroom, where he was lying in bed. The priest began to pray over the master's body. He noticed that the man looked at peace; during his many years as a priest, he had prayed over many bodies and it was rare to see one that had quite the look of peace as did the master.
While he was finishing his blessing, the priest noticed a framed photograph on the table by the master's bed. He recognized it at once. It was a photograph of the lady who had summoned him to this house the previous evening! He picked it up and brought it to the Butler. "Who is this woman, sir? She was the one who found me in the pub last night and sent me to this house to speak with the master!"
"That is very strange, Father." said the Butler slowly. "This is a photograph of the late mistress of the house who passed away twenty years ago. An accident took her. "
The priest looked at the Butler with wide eyes. "She must have known somehow... she must have known that the Lord was going to summon her husband last night. She knew that he had a grave sin on his soul that he needed to confess... That must be why she summoned me."
********
This was probably my favourite ghost story of the "Haunted London" walk I went on. It reminds me a lot of the ghost stories that I read as a kid; they always had some sort of twist ending.
Many summers ago I worked as a summer student in the art gallery in Stratford. Since it was a popular site for tourists, we got a lot of pamphlets about upcoming tourist-y type events in town. I noticed that there was a weekly ghost walk offered for $5. Since I'm a sucker for a ghost story, I thought that it'd be a good alternative to going out for coffee or a movie one night and convinced a couple of friends to go along with me. It was quite well done, I'd wager to say it was slightly better than the one I went on in London only because it probably contained more ghost stories. (The one in London had a lot of historical information too... which was highly enjoyable... but if I was a local looking for spooky stories, I'd be slightly disppointed.) Anyhow, now when I'm in Stratford, I always pass by certain places thinking "There's the poltergeist house" and "Oh look, it's the old haunted orphanage".
Of course, all of this talking of ghosts begs the questions, do I believe in ghosts? As I've mentioned, I've loved a spooky ghost story since I was a kid, and I've always been attracted to things like Tim Burtons movies (I think deep down, I'm a bit of a goth kid).
But, being the math/science girl that I am, the left side of my brain kicks into action and demands a rational explanation for supernatural phenomena such as ghosts, ghouls and hauntings. One of the most interesting scientific explanations for supposed hauntings that I've heard about it is low frequency standing waves. These are sounds that can be produced by something in an environment that humans are unaware of since they cannot hear them. However, they affect the human body by messing with some of our senses, such as causing our eyes to vibrate; this would explain any weird apparitions that someone could see. Infrasound can also lead to hyperventilation which can cause people to panic and can confuse the senses further. (Here's a neat article on ghosts and infrasound if you're so inclined.)
Once in my life have I sort of, maybe, thought that I could have encountered a ghost myself. This incident occured a couple years ago when I worked in an isolated community in Northwestern Ontario. The building in which my classroom was located used to be the local nurses' station. It was now divided in two; half was my classroom and the other half was the local computer centre. One afternoon, I had stayed after school to do some work. I thought I was by myself but I could distinctly hear a baby crying. I figured that the director of the computer centre must be next door with her little grandson so I walked through the connecting door to say hello. No one was there. I looked out the window to see if anyone was around but there was no one. Weird. Could it have been the ghost of a baby who may well have died in that building years ago? Or was a low frequency standing wave messing with my perception? Or, maybe I was just working too much...
Soooooo, do you believe in ghosts?
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Travelling. I. Only stop at exits.
I've been pondering as to how I'm going to present my vacay pictures in my blog. I'm going to assume that I'm probably going to do nothing much else photo worthy over the summer, so I figure I'll spread them out over a few posts organized by country or city. Today's pictures will be from my actual old country: Wales. (I'm 25% Welsh. My dad's dad came over when he was 12. I learned from a magnet that I purchased in Wales that my hardy Welsh surname means "mighty army". So don't mess with me. Also, my surname's motto is apparently "My God, My Wales".)
Before the pictures some random meandering from my brain:
- This cold that I brought over from the UK is kicking my ass. I'm very tired.
- As a result of said cold, I spent the morning reclining on the couch watching CBC Newsworld being very thankful that I was safe at home and not flying out of London today on account of today's heightened airport security due to the foiled terror plot.
- I'm loving my new laptop. It's still got the new computer smell and it's got a really nice widescreen monitor. Last night, my fabulous pal Mathew came over to help me transfer all of my files from my old hard drive to my new one. Nothing was lost. All of my music and pictures were safe. Oh, I guess I should be glad that my work stuff is safe too. But we all know what's really important - the music.
Okay, so without further adieu, here are some snapshots from my time in Wales:
Below is the castle keep at Cardiff Castle. The first set of treacherous castle steps that we climbed. Thankfully we didn't have to wear chain mail.
Before the pictures some random meandering from my brain:
- This cold that I brought over from the UK is kicking my ass. I'm very tired.
- As a result of said cold, I spent the morning reclining on the couch watching CBC Newsworld being very thankful that I was safe at home and not flying out of London today on account of today's heightened airport security due to the foiled terror plot.
- I'm loving my new laptop. It's still got the new computer smell and it's got a really nice widescreen monitor. Last night, my fabulous pal Mathew came over to help me transfer all of my files from my old hard drive to my new one. Nothing was lost. All of my music and pictures were safe. Oh, I guess I should be glad that my work stuff is safe too. But we all know what's really important - the music.
Okay, so without further adieu, here are some snapshots from my time in Wales:
Below is the castle keep at Cardiff Castle. The first set of treacherous castle steps that we climbed. Thankfully we didn't have to wear chain mail.
View of Cardiff City from the Castle. In the left hand side, you can see Millenium stadium where Madonna incidentally played the evening before.
I took this picture of a Welsh beer truck because I found it amusing that the beer was called "Brains".
A traffic jam in the Welsh countryside.
The longest town name, spelled phoenetically here.
The Snowdonia mountians in Northern Wales.
I saw lots and lots of sheep during my trip.
This is Llangollen, a picturesque town in Northern Wales.
Stay tuned for more pictures of Ireland, or England, or London, or whatever I feel like depending on my mood...
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
New Laptop!
Yay! I made up my always indecisive mind and bought myself a new laptop. It's so fun blogging and checking my email without having to sneak into my roommate's room.
Now comes the long process of installing all of the programs etc. that I require.
Old country pics to come soon!
Now comes the long process of installing all of the programs etc. that I require.
Old country pics to come soon!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
And we all will sleep well.
I made it back safe and sound. I was home in my humble apartment at about 4 pm last night (which felt like 9 pm London time). I managed to stay awake until 8:45 at which point I crashed. I woke up this morning at 9 am, had breakfast and fell asleep reading until noon. I think I may be over my jetlag.
My last day in London was fabulous. We wanted to do as much as possible and I think that we did a good job of it. Here's a rundown of our last day in London break-neck sightseeing schedule:
Toronto seems so quiet and sleepy compared to London.
I went to look at laptops today but decided not to buy one because I'm still a bit jetlagged and have the sniffles. However, I have vowed to get one tomorrow so I can start uploading my favourite pictures.
Now I've got blogs to catch up on. I've missed you all!
My last day in London was fabulous. We wanted to do as much as possible and I think that we did a good job of it. Here's a rundown of our last day in London break-neck sightseeing schedule:
- Went to the closest tube station (High Street Kensington) and bought a day pass.
- Took the tube to Westminster Abbey for a photo-op.
- Walked by the Parliament buildings and took a photo.
- Passed by Downing Street.
- Saw the Queen's Guards at St. James' Palace.
- Walked to Trafalgar Square. Admired the Canadian embassy.
- Saw the majority of the highlight paintings at the National Gallery. These included two more Vermeers (!), Rembrandts, Van Goghs, Monets, a Michaelangelo, and some Da Vincis. Supported the Gallery by spending lots at the gift shop.
- Had lunch at Covent Garden.
- Took the tube to Buckingham Palace. The Queen was in residence. Took lots of pictures. Admired the Canadian gates.
- Took the tube to the Tower of London. I made lots of corny jokes about being beheaded.
- Took the tube to Oxford Street. All of the shops were crazy busy and we were crazy tired by this point so we took the tube back to our hotel for a brief nap.
- Had dinner at Giraffe again so we could try a different flavour of smoothie.
- Went on a Haunted London walk in the evening. It was very very good. I would recommend looking into the "London Walks" company if you are ever in London. When I get my pictures up, I'll share some of the ghost stories that I remember. The highlight of this walk for me was we walked through the place where they filmed the Diagon Alley scenes from the Harry Potter movies.
- Went home to pack and go to bed since we had to leave for Gatwick at 7:30.
Toronto seems so quiet and sleepy compared to London.
I went to look at laptops today but decided not to buy one because I'm still a bit jetlagged and have the sniffles. However, I have vowed to get one tomorrow so I can start uploading my favourite pictures.
Now I've got blogs to catch up on. I've missed you all!
Saturday, August 05, 2006
La-la-la-la-London!
All right. So the vacay posting hasn't been very frequent, but here I am again, coming to you directly from London on the second last night of my trip. We just finished our grand tour of England/Wales/Ireland this afternoon, and I've got tomorrow left to run around London like a madwoman, trying to see and do as much as possible.
Being as I'm not sure how much internet time I have left on this thing, plus my mind is a bit fuzzy and not overly coherent at the momenet because I'm pretty tired, I'm just going to randomly list things from my trip...
Being as I'm not sure how much internet time I have left on this thing, plus my mind is a bit fuzzy and not overly coherent at the momenet because I'm pretty tired, I'm just going to randomly list things from my trip...
- I love the red dragon symbol of Wales. I got a Starbucks mug with the dragon on it, thus fulfilling my quota of one Starbucks mug per trip (when possible - no Starbucks mug was to be had in Cuba). (Sorry for my love of Starbucks Wes.)
- I felt a little bit seasick on the ferry from Wales to Ireland. And I *never* feel seasick. Sitting on the top deck of the ferry in the fresh air made me feel a bit better.
- I really really really loved Ireland and plan to go back someday. It's a crazy-delicious country.
- I kissed the Blarney stone! Can you not just tell how this blog entry is far more eloquent than any that I've written before.
- After climbing up a couple castles, I learned that castle steps are pretty precarious. I can't imagine having to run up (or down) them in chain mail.
- I discoverd that I like Guinness. I've never tried it in Canada because I assumed I probably wouldn't like it since I'm not a big beer drinker... But, I loved it on first sip!!! Now, I've heard that Guinness tastes better in Ireland, because the bartenders are trained in the correct manner. I watched, and the only trick to me seemed to be was that they half poured it, let it sit, and then finished it off.
- Oh yeah, my first sip of Guinness was is this crazy country Irish pub called the Shanty.
- We drove along a scenic 100 mile loop in Ireland called The Ring of Kerry. It is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. Everyone should go around the Ring of Kerry before they die. It starts in Killarney.
- The second time I had Guinness was in Limerick at South's Pub. If you've ever read Frank McCourt's book Angela's Ashes, you'll recognize South's as the pub where Frank's dad drank all of his wages. I imagine South's is a bit cleaner since back then.
- The washrooms (or loos, I should say) at South's were labelled "Frank" and "Angela".
- The Guinness at South's was fabulous. They imprinted a shamrock on the top of the beer. Neat-o.
- Dublin is a crazy busy city. We didn't spend that long in the city centre but I plan to go back. I spent most of my time at the National Gallery, where I saw a lot of awesome paintings, my favourite being a Vermeer (a Dutch painter). I've always been intrested in Vermeer since I read Girl with a Pearl Earring... Anyway, it was awesome seeing one in real life.
- I know all of the words to the song Molly Malone. (In Dublin's fair cit-y... where the girls are so pret-ty...)
- The ferry ride from Dublin to North Wales was much much much calmer. I'd even wager to say it was enjoyable.
- In North Wales, I visited a town called Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch. Say that five times fast. It translates to "the church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio's of the red cave".
- If you like rock-climbing, go to Snowdonia National Park in North Wales. Not that I did it myself, but I did see the wicked rocks in this park.
- If you ever have time, visit Chester Enlgand. It's very pretty.
- Today I visited Iron Bridge, and Stratford-Upon-Avon before arriving back to London. If I ever hear another Stratford, Ontario tourist bitch about how busy that city is, I will tell them to go to England.
- I'm pretty sure the English swans could beat our Canadian swans up.
- I went to Harrod's this evening and almost went into shopping meltdown. The store has 300 departments. I think my favourite was the candy department.
- Had an enjoyable dinner at a restaurant called Giraffe. If you're ever there, try one of their smoothies. They're delish.
- Watch your wallet in London. On our way from Harrod's to dinner, we ran into some ppl from our tour. As they were walking into Harrod's, a pickpocket stole one guy's wallet but his wife was able to chase the scoundrel down.
- Things are soooooooooo expensive over here. I don't understand how people can make ends meet. Everything will seem so cheap when I'm back home.
Okay, so that's a rundown. I've taken lots of pictures, which will be uploaded as soon as I fix my computer woes back in the new country.
Catch you when I'm back home! I'm not ready to go back home, but my wallet is...
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Greetings From the Old Country (my actual old country even)
Welcome to vacay post number 1 coming to you from Cardiff Wales! I would have used the number sign there, but I can't find it anywhere on this weird British keyboard... Also, the shift key is in a weird place, so I am apologizing in advance for weird capitialization.
So far the trip's been great! We had a bit of a delay in leaving Pearson (power failure), and almost slept in this morning (the wake up call we ordered did not arrive), but if that's the worst that can happen, whatever, right?
Yesterday was spent in London. I LOVE LONDON!!! I have never fallen in love with a city so fast. It's so great. We walked around in the afternoon and then took a cruise of the River Thames in the evening. It was so beautiful.
Today we went to Henry the VIII's palace, Stonehenge, Salisbury and Bath. Loved all of those places. Tonight we're staying in Cardiff Wales (I'm officially in my old country now) and then spending the morning in the city. We then proceed to the coast, where we will take a ferry across to Ireland. The trip will take four hours, but I'm kind of looking fwd to just chilling and reading (I've got Dave Gorman's Googlewhack on the go).
I've been taking tonnes of pictures which I will post when I get back and once I have a new computer.
I'd better be off before my quid's worth of internet time is over. Cheerio!
So far the trip's been great! We had a bit of a delay in leaving Pearson (power failure), and almost slept in this morning (the wake up call we ordered did not arrive), but if that's the worst that can happen, whatever, right?
Yesterday was spent in London. I LOVE LONDON!!! I have never fallen in love with a city so fast. It's so great. We walked around in the afternoon and then took a cruise of the River Thames in the evening. It was so beautiful.
Today we went to Henry the VIII's palace, Stonehenge, Salisbury and Bath. Loved all of those places. Tonight we're staying in Cardiff Wales (I'm officially in my old country now) and then spending the morning in the city. We then proceed to the coast, where we will take a ferry across to Ireland. The trip will take four hours, but I'm kind of looking fwd to just chilling and reading (I've got Dave Gorman's Googlewhack on the go).
I've been taking tonnes of pictures which I will post when I get back and once I have a new computer.
I'd better be off before my quid's worth of internet time is over. Cheerio!
Friday, July 28, 2006
Just a flip of the wrist and I am waving you goodbye.
Last night I went to see Sarah Harmer. Fabulous show. She's totally in my top five of all time favourite bands/artists. My favourite moment was when she went and played the drums while singing the end of the song Lodestar. I love that song. She also played Weakened State which is probably my favourite Sarah Harmer song of all time. The concert was at the Harbourfront Centre, which is a small outdoors venue by the lake and parfait for a summer's evening.
(The only negative was that they had an electronic billboard advertising what was upcoming at the Harbourfront. Everytime I looked up I was reminded that the Weakerthans, my fave band in the whole wide world, is playing for free on Saturday, while I'm in the old country. I know, I know, quit whining. But see, I'm an only child I expect my favourite band to play on a weekend when I am in the country. Argh. I don't like not getting my way...)
Soooooo.... I'm all packed and ready to go!! I'm just waiting for my ride. My plane doesn't leave 'til 10 pm tonight, but I'm going to my friend's house until her 'rents give us a ride to the plane station. (I once accidentally called the airport the plane station and I kind of like my made up term).
I hope that maybe possibly I'll be able to blog once or twice from the old country, but we'll see if I have time/oppurtunity to blog.
Cheerio!!
(The only negative was that they had an electronic billboard advertising what was upcoming at the Harbourfront. Everytime I looked up I was reminded that the Weakerthans, my fave band in the whole wide world, is playing for free on Saturday, while I'm in the old country. I know, I know, quit whining. But see, I'm an only child I expect my favourite band to play on a weekend when I am in the country. Argh. I don't like not getting my way...)
Soooooo.... I'm all packed and ready to go!! I'm just waiting for my ride. My plane doesn't leave 'til 10 pm tonight, but I'm going to my friend's house until her 'rents give us a ride to the plane station. (I once accidentally called the airport the plane station and I kind of like my made up term).
I hope that maybe possibly I'll be able to blog once or twice from the old country, but we'll see if I have time/oppurtunity to blog.
Cheerio!!
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Rooftops and Invitations
All right, there's a huge pile of dishes to be washed, laundry to be done, packing to start and errands to run. Sooooo, blogging time it is. I've decided to steal stuff from other blogs.
A) Cute Animal Quiz from Guggenflurgen:
The cutest of the cute, these baby ducks are often spotted in the spring following closely behind their mother. As a duckling you will grow up quickly, becoming one of the adult ducks seen commonly in ponds and streams. Playful and timid, charming and vulnerable, ducklings are nature's very definition of innocence.
You were almost a: Lamb or a Bear Cub
You are least like a: Groundhog or a SquirrelWhat Cute Animal Are You?
B) 5 Things from Scott:
5 Things always in my purse/briefcase/backpack:
1. Ipod
2. Cell phone
3. Juicy Tube
4. Book
5. Gum
5 Things always in my wallet: (Remember, it's a Nightmare Before Christmas wallet)
1. My student card (for good luck)
2. Tonnes of cards (credit, debit, store points cards etc)
3. Concert ticket stubs
4. Lots of freakin' receipts that need to be removed and organized
5. A little bit of cash
5 Things always in my refrigerator:
1. Many bottles of salad dressing
2. An open bottle of wine (oh gosh, makes me sound like a wino -- in my defence, it's not necessarily my bottle, okay)
3. Yogurt
4. Something that needs to be thrown out
5. Ketchup
5 Things always in my closet:
1. That load of laundry that never gets done.
2. My Care Bear (shhhhhh)
3. Clothes that I keep meaning to donate to Salvation Army
4. A box full of old purses
5. Dust (one of my summer projects is to fix this)
5 Things always in my car: (Or things that end up in the 'rents' car when I borrow it)
1. Air Freshener thingy
2. Pennies
3. A pack of gum
4. An empy water bottle
5. Directions to someone's house
5 (or more) Things always on my desk: (at work - if I can still remember what it looks like)
1. Stickers, stickers, stickers
2. Stapler with coloured staples
3. My Oscar
4. Pile of marking
5. My collection of bottles that need to be brought downstairs to be recycled
Okay, now that I've procrastinated, I feel ready to be productive. Then I will reward myself with a trip to Starbucks. Woot.
A) Cute Animal Quiz from Guggenflurgen:
You Are A: Duckling!
The cutest of the cute, these baby ducks are often spotted in the spring following closely behind their mother. As a duckling you will grow up quickly, becoming one of the adult ducks seen commonly in ponds and streams. Playful and timid, charming and vulnerable, ducklings are nature's very definition of innocence.You were almost a: Lamb or a Bear Cub
You are least like a: Groundhog or a SquirrelWhat Cute Animal Are You?
B) 5 Things from Scott:
5 Things always in my purse/briefcase/backpack:
1. Ipod
2. Cell phone
3. Juicy Tube
4. Book
5. Gum
5 Things always in my wallet: (Remember, it's a Nightmare Before Christmas wallet)
1. My student card (for good luck)
2. Tonnes of cards (credit, debit, store points cards etc)
3. Concert ticket stubs
4. Lots of freakin' receipts that need to be removed and organized
5. A little bit of cash
5 Things always in my refrigerator:
1. Many bottles of salad dressing
2. An open bottle of wine (oh gosh, makes me sound like a wino -- in my defence, it's not necessarily my bottle, okay)
3. Yogurt
4. Something that needs to be thrown out
5. Ketchup
5 Things always in my closet:
1. That load of laundry that never gets done.
2. My Care Bear (shhhhhh)
3. Clothes that I keep meaning to donate to Salvation Army
4. A box full of old purses
5. Dust (one of my summer projects is to fix this)
5 Things always in my car: (Or things that end up in the 'rents' car when I borrow it)
1. Air Freshener thingy
2. Pennies
3. A pack of gum
4. An empy water bottle
5. Directions to someone's house
5 (or more) Things always on my desk: (at work - if I can still remember what it looks like)
1. Stickers, stickers, stickers
2. Stapler with coloured staples
3. My Oscar
4. Pile of marking
5. My collection of bottles that need to be brought downstairs to be recycled
Okay, now that I've procrastinated, I feel ready to be productive. Then I will reward myself with a trip to Starbucks. Woot.
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Go put your records on, tell me your favourite song...
So I've decided to put off the computer purchase until after my trip to the old country. Much more logical, I think. Plus, sneaking into my roommate's room and using hers while she's at work is working quite well for me at the moment. (In my defence, she did say I could use it any time... To which I replied "What if I feel the need to blog at 3 am? Is that okay?") Anyway, I can feel slightly less stressed for awhile.
I'm feeling kind of sleepy from my lunch of chicken fajitas and mango margaritas.
Bought a new umbrella for my trip. Bring on your worst rain I say.
As I was walking down Bloor Street this aft, I saw a movie being filmed. They had all kinds of yellow cabs parked out front a store that were labelled "NYC Cabs". I wished I had my camera to take a picture, but of course I didn't. Then I remembered that I temporarily don't even have a computer to put my pics on anyway, so whatever.
I hadn't seen a movie being filmed in quite awhile. When I was in university, there were constantly movies being filmed on campus. Sometimes I'd be walking across campus and there'd be all kinds of horses and buggies and people dressed in clothes from the 1800s, and I felt like I'd travelled back through time (except for all of the cameras and whatnots). My favourite scene was when Becca T and I made a trip to a library whose sign was altered to say "Philadelphia Police Headquarters". We both started to fake-panic and wonder how the hell we ended up in Philly on our way to check email.
When my pal Becca T finished school and was in between jobs, she worked as an extra a couple of times. She had a stint as an extra at a lesbian party on Queer As Folk so I love to tease her about how she's not a lesbian in real life, but she's played one on TV.
Of course, all of this thinking about movies being filmed is reminding me of the episode of the Simpsons where the Radioactive Man movie is being filmed in Springfield. (The googles! They do nothing! <-- That line always goes through my head when I have to tell my students to wear goggles during chemistry experiments.) Perhaps I'll go watch that now. I love TV on DVD.
I'm feeling kind of sleepy from my lunch of chicken fajitas and mango margaritas.
Bought a new umbrella for my trip. Bring on your worst rain I say.
As I was walking down Bloor Street this aft, I saw a movie being filmed. They had all kinds of yellow cabs parked out front a store that were labelled "NYC Cabs". I wished I had my camera to take a picture, but of course I didn't. Then I remembered that I temporarily don't even have a computer to put my pics on anyway, so whatever.
I hadn't seen a movie being filmed in quite awhile. When I was in university, there were constantly movies being filmed on campus. Sometimes I'd be walking across campus and there'd be all kinds of horses and buggies and people dressed in clothes from the 1800s, and I felt like I'd travelled back through time (except for all of the cameras and whatnots). My favourite scene was when Becca T and I made a trip to a library whose sign was altered to say "Philadelphia Police Headquarters". We both started to fake-panic and wonder how the hell we ended up in Philly on our way to check email.
When my pal Becca T finished school and was in between jobs, she worked as an extra a couple of times. She had a stint as an extra at a lesbian party on Queer As Folk so I love to tease her about how she's not a lesbian in real life, but she's played one on TV.
Of course, all of this thinking about movies being filmed is reminding me of the episode of the Simpsons where the Radioactive Man movie is being filmed in Springfield. (The googles! They do nothing! <-- That line always goes through my head when I have to tell my students to wear goggles during chemistry experiments.) Perhaps I'll go watch that now. I love TV on DVD.
Monday, July 24, 2006
You can breathe but the air is running out on you.
I'm pretty sure that I know what my hell will look like. There will be an infinite array of computers and I will be given the task to determine which one to buy. Argh. I hate computer shopping so much. It's a horrible, horrible thing for an indecisive person like me to have to cope with.
Other than being haunted by the ghost of my dead laptop (I just had a fleeting temptation to say screw getting a new one and go demand my old old old old clunky desktop back from my aunt), life's grand. I had a good mini-vacay-from-summer-vacay-in-Toronto by crashing at my 'rents place in Stratford for a few days. I spent some time catching up with old friends and chilling and making a to-do list to complete before I head off on my trip.
As my dad was dropping me off at the train station this morning, he asked me when I was leaving for the old country. This made me laugh for a couple of reasons: a) it brings back fond memories of when my grandfather referred to Wales as the old country; and b) it made me think of the episode of the Simpsons where Grampa is reminiscing about the old country, but he forgets which one. I've decided to henceforth refer to my trip as my trip to the old country. (Did I mention my plane leaves THIS Friday night?)
I'm reading a hilarious book about the old country (albeit not my old country) - Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks (Hawks - not Tony Hawk the skateboarder). I've had it kicking around for years, and never actually read it. I decided that since I am going to be in Ireland in about a week, perhaps now would be the time to read it. It's feckin' funny. The author was bet 100 quid that he couldn't hitchhike the circumference of Ireland in one month with a fridge. I just finished the part where the fridge goes surfing. I totally recommened this book.
Tomorrow is lunch with my pal Flora who is making the trip to the old country with me. We will plan what we will do with our free time in London. All I know is she wants to shop. I am fine with this.
I think that after lunch, I may just bite the bullet and go buy the computer that I almost bought today before my indecisive nature took over and brought me home to do more research. The only way to end this madness is to buy a computer. Or maybe I'll convince myself to hold off until after I'm back from the old country. I'll keep you updated on my adventures from computer hell. (Thank God this happened during the summer, I suppose.)
Other than being haunted by the ghost of my dead laptop (I just had a fleeting temptation to say screw getting a new one and go demand my old old old old clunky desktop back from my aunt), life's grand. I had a good mini-vacay-from-summer-vacay-in-Toronto by crashing at my 'rents place in Stratford for a few days. I spent some time catching up with old friends and chilling and making a to-do list to complete before I head off on my trip.
As my dad was dropping me off at the train station this morning, he asked me when I was leaving for the old country. This made me laugh for a couple of reasons: a) it brings back fond memories of when my grandfather referred to Wales as the old country; and b) it made me think of the episode of the Simpsons where Grampa is reminiscing about the old country, but he forgets which one. I've decided to henceforth refer to my trip as my trip to the old country. (Did I mention my plane leaves THIS Friday night?)
I'm reading a hilarious book about the old country (albeit not my old country) - Round Ireland with a Fridge by Tony Hawks (Hawks - not Tony Hawk the skateboarder). I've had it kicking around for years, and never actually read it. I decided that since I am going to be in Ireland in about a week, perhaps now would be the time to read it. It's feckin' funny. The author was bet 100 quid that he couldn't hitchhike the circumference of Ireland in one month with a fridge. I just finished the part where the fridge goes surfing. I totally recommened this book.
Tomorrow is lunch with my pal Flora who is making the trip to the old country with me. We will plan what we will do with our free time in London. All I know is she wants to shop. I am fine with this.
I think that after lunch, I may just bite the bullet and go buy the computer that I almost bought today before my indecisive nature took over and brought me home to do more research. The only way to end this madness is to buy a computer. Or maybe I'll convince myself to hold off until after I'm back from the old country. I'll keep you updated on my adventures from computer hell. (Thank God this happened during the summer, I suppose.)
Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Boo-urns.
On Monday at about 4:00 pm, my trusty laptop decided that it had had enough of this world. The last thing I typed on it was a message to Sandee - "sorry, having computer problems".
After what seemed like 2 hours on the phone with computer support people, it seems like the problem is with the motherboard, and doesn't seem to be worth fixing. At least the hard drive should be fine, and I shouldn't lose anything that I've neglected to backup. Sigh.
Soooo... looks like someone will be going laptop shopping. I guess it's fun, but I don't really feel like worrying about that right now. I think I'm going to wait until I'm back from Britain to deal with my computer difficulties.
Tonight I'm going to take the train to Stratford for a mini vacation there. I haven't been home yet this summer because I keep procrastinating... Blogging will be sporadic and done entirely from the quaintness of the local library.
Ciao.
After what seemed like 2 hours on the phone with computer support people, it seems like the problem is with the motherboard, and doesn't seem to be worth fixing. At least the hard drive should be fine, and I shouldn't lose anything that I've neglected to backup. Sigh.
Soooo... looks like someone will be going laptop shopping. I guess it's fun, but I don't really feel like worrying about that right now. I think I'm going to wait until I'm back from Britain to deal with my computer difficulties.
Tonight I'm going to take the train to Stratford for a mini vacation there. I haven't been home yet this summer because I keep procrastinating... Blogging will be sporadic and done entirely from the quaintness of the local library.
Ciao.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Sleeping all day, staying up all night...
I had a fantabulous day despite the hot hot heat.
I woke up pretty early and had a leirsurely breakfast. And by leisurely, I mean it took me about two hours from start to finish. And no, I did not cook myself some gourmet meal, I'm talking an English muffin, an egg, strawberries, juice and coffee. As I dawdled, I questioned myself to how the hell was I able to wake up at 6:30 am and be out the door at 7:30 (at the absolute latest) a few short weeks earlier...
Today I caught a matinee of the excellent documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, thus continuing my weekend of eco-documentaries. It's a great comapanion piece to An Inconvinient Truth. It was very well done, and pretty fun. The movie starts with some background info about the electric cars that were developed and actually available to consumers in California in the late 1990s. Yeah, I didn't know about that either. We're talking zero emissions here. After the background, the movie goes through the evidence for all the different suspects in the style of a murder mystery. Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson (with a crazy beard) make appearances, not as suspects but as lovers of the car. Anyhow, I left the movie with a disdain for oil companies, car companies, and George W Bush. Well, I guess always had disdain for those things, but now more so. Go see this movie, or remember to rent it when its out on DVD. It's only playing in one theatre in Toronto, so I suppose if you're in a small town, you will be out of luck. Perhaps its release will expand.
On my way home from the movie, the freakin' subway had some sort of malfunction and stopped, so I had a bit of a hike home. Normally, I wouldn't care, but don't you love when these things happen on the hottest day of the year? At least I was carrying a bunch of groceries or something. That would have sucked.
When I got home, I turned on my trusty computer and saw my friend Mathew on MSN. He'd gotten free tickets to Edgefest II from work, but I had intially planned to go to Stratford this weekend so I'd declined. I've decided to postpone my visit until later in the week because I don't feel like leaving my air conditioner (there isn't one in my room back home), plus my dad is all grumpy because his shovel-foot is acting up. Anyhow, it turned out that Mat hadn't found a taker for the tickets, so I got to go to a spontaneous concert! We arrived in time for Hawthorne Heights (kind of screamy), The All-American Rejects (pretty good) and Yellowcard (quite entertaining as well). It was a great concert for a summer night, and being by the lake made it bit cooler. So yay for spontaneous free concerts!
Well, I should be off to bed soon. Tomorrow's task is to get some pounds and euros for my trip.
Happy Monday!
I woke up pretty early and had a leirsurely breakfast. And by leisurely, I mean it took me about two hours from start to finish. And no, I did not cook myself some gourmet meal, I'm talking an English muffin, an egg, strawberries, juice and coffee. As I dawdled, I questioned myself to how the hell was I able to wake up at 6:30 am and be out the door at 7:30 (at the absolute latest) a few short weeks earlier...
Today I caught a matinee of the excellent documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?, thus continuing my weekend of eco-documentaries. It's a great comapanion piece to An Inconvinient Truth. It was very well done, and pretty fun. The movie starts with some background info about the electric cars that were developed and actually available to consumers in California in the late 1990s. Yeah, I didn't know about that either. We're talking zero emissions here. After the background, the movie goes through the evidence for all the different suspects in the style of a murder mystery. Tom Hanks and Mel Gibson (with a crazy beard) make appearances, not as suspects but as lovers of the car. Anyhow, I left the movie with a disdain for oil companies, car companies, and George W Bush. Well, I guess always had disdain for those things, but now more so. Go see this movie, or remember to rent it when its out on DVD. It's only playing in one theatre in Toronto, so I suppose if you're in a small town, you will be out of luck. Perhaps its release will expand.On my way home from the movie, the freakin' subway had some sort of malfunction and stopped, so I had a bit of a hike home. Normally, I wouldn't care, but don't you love when these things happen on the hottest day of the year? At least I was carrying a bunch of groceries or something. That would have sucked.
When I got home, I turned on my trusty computer and saw my friend Mathew on MSN. He'd gotten free tickets to Edgefest II from work, but I had intially planned to go to Stratford this weekend so I'd declined. I've decided to postpone my visit until later in the week because I don't feel like leaving my air conditioner (there isn't one in my room back home), plus my dad is all grumpy because his shovel-foot is acting up. Anyhow, it turned out that Mat hadn't found a taker for the tickets, so I got to go to a spontaneous concert! We arrived in time for Hawthorne Heights (kind of screamy), The All-American Rejects (pretty good) and Yellowcard (quite entertaining as well). It was a great concert for a summer night, and being by the lake made it bit cooler. So yay for spontaneous free concerts!
Well, I should be off to bed soon. Tomorrow's task is to get some pounds and euros for my trip.
Happy Monday!
Saturday, July 15, 2006
Can I Go Nowhere With You?
I've been hit with an insane thirst for knowledge. Thank goodness it came during summer vacay, when I actually have time to explore outside interests, as opposed to marking another project or planning a lesson on isotopes or linear equations or whatnot.
(Aside, I ran into a friend from teachers' college today. Teachers are frustrating people. We are the worst for talking about our jobs. Even on summer vacay.)
Back to my thrist for knowledge. I guess I developed it while I read Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky, which takes place during WWII. When it comes to history, I feel pretty un-learned. I did not take a history course past grade 9 (pile on the maths and sciences, I said). In university, I took a history of science course, Darwinism to be precise, but that doesn't count. I'm pretty much like Grampa Simpson, whose knowledge of history consists of what he's pieced together from sugar packets. My sugar packets are novels, memoirs, and movies. I've found that the best way for me to learn history is to trick myself into learning it through reading fiction/memoirs or watching a movie.
Of course this can be dangerous - what if the book isn't accurate? I read a novel about Anne Boleyn that was terribly inaccurate; however at least it sparked me to do the research to find out that it was indeed inaccurate...
So anyway, back to my summer quest for knowledge. Since I can't learn everything there is to know in a summer (or can I?) I've decided that this summer's topic will be WWII. (Anyone know any good books about WWII?? One that's a little more substantial than "WWII for Dummies" but not the tome of Weinburg's "A World At Arms"... I picked up that thing in a bookstore and could barely lift the freaking thing.)
I read Elie Wiesel's memoir "Night" a couple nights ago. It's been on my to-be-read pile for a bit. It was chilling.
I bought a memoir by a woman who was a Polish schoolgirl during WWII and helped rescue Jews. I can't remember the title and it's all the way in the other room right now...
I also plan to alternate informative reading with my typical taste for contemporary fiction. And memoirs I guess. I've been reading a bunch of those. I just finished "A Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls which is a great read. Pick it up. Now I'm starting on a Canadian novel, "The Birth House" by Ami McKay.
On a different note, I saw the movie An Inconvinient Truth today. It was very well done. Go see it. Make sure that you're in the mood for something a little university-lecture style. That's basically what it is. But it's very coherently put together. I commend Al Gore for taking the initiative to: a) educate himself and b) make it his mission to educate others. I always admire a person who has done the research and presents it to me with some snazzy graphs (he had me at the first line graph).
Of course, documentaries like this make me angry. You can't help but watch it and think "Why is this man not President? He was elected after all, and he can speak well and he's very informed." (Did anyone see when he hosted SNL and they showed the parallel universe where he was president? That was hilarious!) And, of course it makes me angry that global warming is a problem being ignored by the US government. And, I'm almost even angrier that Canada has not been exactly stellar in its efforts. Although, in An Inconvienent Truth, Gore makes us look better as pointing out that we're better than the US... Personally, I would say that we're "less worse" than the US. I coined the term "less worse" back in high school when I felt that the term "better" didn't work for something since it implies some sort of good. My mother hates when I say less worse because of the inherent bad grammar but it sums up how I feel about many things in this world.
And... things are getting far more worse now that we have our new PM Stephen W. Harper who can really rival GWB for bad environmental policy.
Okay, enough of rambling... although it does make me feel better. Go see "An Inconvinient Truth" though. It's great.
And now, off to bed I go.
ps I leave in less than 2 weeks for Britain! Woot! I picked up my travel documents today!
(Aside, I ran into a friend from teachers' college today. Teachers are frustrating people. We are the worst for talking about our jobs. Even on summer vacay.)
Back to my thrist for knowledge. I guess I developed it while I read Suite Francaise by Irène Némirovsky, which takes place during WWII. When it comes to history, I feel pretty un-learned. I did not take a history course past grade 9 (pile on the maths and sciences, I said). In university, I took a history of science course, Darwinism to be precise, but that doesn't count. I'm pretty much like Grampa Simpson, whose knowledge of history consists of what he's pieced together from sugar packets. My sugar packets are novels, memoirs, and movies. I've found that the best way for me to learn history is to trick myself into learning it through reading fiction/memoirs or watching a movie.
Of course this can be dangerous - what if the book isn't accurate? I read a novel about Anne Boleyn that was terribly inaccurate; however at least it sparked me to do the research to find out that it was indeed inaccurate...
So anyway, back to my summer quest for knowledge. Since I can't learn everything there is to know in a summer (or can I?) I've decided that this summer's topic will be WWII. (Anyone know any good books about WWII?? One that's a little more substantial than "WWII for Dummies" but not the tome of Weinburg's "A World At Arms"... I picked up that thing in a bookstore and could barely lift the freaking thing.)
I read Elie Wiesel's memoir "Night" a couple nights ago. It's been on my to-be-read pile for a bit. It was chilling.
I bought a memoir by a woman who was a Polish schoolgirl during WWII and helped rescue Jews. I can't remember the title and it's all the way in the other room right now...
I also plan to alternate informative reading with my typical taste for contemporary fiction. And memoirs I guess. I've been reading a bunch of those. I just finished "A Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls which is a great read. Pick it up. Now I'm starting on a Canadian novel, "The Birth House" by Ami McKay.
On a different note, I saw the movie An Inconvinient Truth today. It was very well done. Go see it. Make sure that you're in the mood for something a little university-lecture style. That's basically what it is. But it's very coherently put together. I commend Al Gore for taking the initiative to: a) educate himself and b) make it his mission to educate others. I always admire a person who has done the research and presents it to me with some snazzy graphs (he had me at the first line graph).Of course, documentaries like this make me angry. You can't help but watch it and think "Why is this man not President? He was elected after all, and he can speak well and he's very informed." (Did anyone see when he hosted SNL and they showed the parallel universe where he was president? That was hilarious!) And, of course it makes me angry that global warming is a problem being ignored by the US government. And, I'm almost even angrier that Canada has not been exactly stellar in its efforts. Although, in An Inconvienent Truth, Gore makes us look better as pointing out that we're better than the US... Personally, I would say that we're "less worse" than the US. I coined the term "less worse" back in high school when I felt that the term "better" didn't work for something since it implies some sort of good. My mother hates when I say less worse because of the inherent bad grammar but it sums up how I feel about many things in this world.
And... things are getting far more worse now that we have our new PM Stephen W. Harper who can really rival GWB for bad environmental policy.
Okay, enough of rambling... although it does make me feel better. Go see "An Inconvinient Truth" though. It's great.
And now, off to bed I go.
ps I leave in less than 2 weeks for Britain! Woot! I picked up my travel documents today!
Tuesday, July 11, 2006
I said I'm Luke, I'm 5 and my dad's Bruce Lee. Drives me around in his JCB.
Random List of Thoughts for today:
1) Today's title is from the song "JCB" by Nizlopi. Watch the awesome video here. It makes me so happy. I know that I'm such a kid deep down inside 'cuz I love anything that's rather childish. Anyway, I love, love, love this song. I actually discovered it from MuchMusic. I believe the last thing I discovered on Much was Green Day back in '94.
2) One year ago today I was snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef.
3) Today is my parents' 36th wedding anniversary. They went out for Chinese food for lunch.
4) Today I went on a long walk to run errands. One place I had to go was Sunrise records to pick up my Sarah Harmer tickets. I walked into the store and noticed a coworker there. He had his back turned so I sneaked out of the store to avoid him. Real mature on my part, eh? This guy is always kind of cold to me and is the only person that I run into quite a bit outside of work. Anyway, I didn't much feel like a chilly how's-your-summer-going conversation, so I figured I could pick up my tickets later and ducked out.
5) I watched my favourite summer tv show, Rockstar, tonight. Lukas, who is from Toronto and looks like Hawksley, is my favourite followed by Dilana, who I like despite the fact she kind of scares me. The other Canadian was better this week. Anyway, as I post, I'm casting my votes and chatting with Raina, fellow Rockstar devotee.
6) I finished the book Suite Francaise last night. It is a fabulous, fabulous book. It's really too bad that the author was killed before she could finish it. I think that if she had lived and the book had been published after the war (as opposed to in 2004), it would have been considered a classic by now.
7) I started another book on my summer reading list: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. So far very good.
8) And... thanks for all of the great comments on my blog's new look. I'm loving it too.
1) Today's title is from the song "JCB" by Nizlopi. Watch the awesome video here. It makes me so happy. I know that I'm such a kid deep down inside 'cuz I love anything that's rather childish. Anyway, I love, love, love this song. I actually discovered it from MuchMusic. I believe the last thing I discovered on Much was Green Day back in '94.
2) One year ago today I was snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef.
3) Today is my parents' 36th wedding anniversary. They went out for Chinese food for lunch.
4) Today I went on a long walk to run errands. One place I had to go was Sunrise records to pick up my Sarah Harmer tickets. I walked into the store and noticed a coworker there. He had his back turned so I sneaked out of the store to avoid him. Real mature on my part, eh? This guy is always kind of cold to me and is the only person that I run into quite a bit outside of work. Anyway, I didn't much feel like a chilly how's-your-summer-going conversation, so I figured I could pick up my tickets later and ducked out.
5) I watched my favourite summer tv show, Rockstar, tonight. Lukas, who is from Toronto and looks like Hawksley, is my favourite followed by Dilana, who I like despite the fact she kind of scares me. The other Canadian was better this week. Anyway, as I post, I'm casting my votes and chatting with Raina, fellow Rockstar devotee.
6) I finished the book Suite Francaise last night. It is a fabulous, fabulous book. It's really too bad that the author was killed before she could finish it. I think that if she had lived and the book had been published after the war (as opposed to in 2004), it would have been considered a classic by now.
7) I started another book on my summer reading list: The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. So far very good.
8) And... thanks for all of the great comments on my blog's new look. I'm loving it too.
Monday, July 10, 2006
A Change Will Do You Good.
After 1 year, 3 months, 18 days and 269 posts, I decided that it was time to give my blog a new look. Well, Voila! I was attracted by this pretty pink template for two reasons: 1) its name is "Rawk"; and 2) its colour scheme matches my iPod case.
Now, as for the lame title of my blog, I'm going to stick with that. I only typed that in when I started my blog since I couldn't think of a title and figured that I'd come up with one sooner or later. Never happened. Now I'm attached to the wordy awkwardness of the title.
I think I'm happy with this new look. There are a few tweaks that I think I will do (I don't like the order of stuff on the sidebar) but I've done enough playing for today.
Okay, enough of the computer geekery. Let's rehash the weekend:
Now, as for the lame title of my blog, I'm going to stick with that. I only typed that in when I started my blog since I couldn't think of a title and figured that I'd come up with one sooner or later. Never happened. Now I'm attached to the wordy awkwardness of the title.
I think I'm happy with this new look. There are a few tweaks that I think I will do (I don't like the order of stuff on the sidebar) but I've done enough playing for today.
Okay, enough of the computer geekery. Let's rehash the weekend:
- My pal Wendy visited and we had a good time. Went out for dinner, went the bead store, the cheap bookstore and saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2. My assessment of the movie is 1.5 stars for the movie + 0.5 stars for the cliffhanger ending + 1 star for Johnny Depp = 3 stars out of 5.
- Watched the World Cup at my friends' place. This was the first time I've ever watched a (professional) soccer game in its entirety. I was amazed and amused by the whole dramatization of injuries in soccer (diving or whatever it's called). My friend told me she saw footage of a team (Portugal) practising looking really hurt... Anyway, the whole headbutting incident made the game rather interesting and I'm happy that Italy won since I was cheering for them.
- Last night, at 1:45 am, I realized I had not yet watered my roommate's flowers as I had said I would. I did not remember that they had forecasted thunderstorms for today. Hauled myself out of bed and made several trips onto the balcony to water the flowers. Got the bottoms of my pjs muddy in the process. You bet I was thrilled to see the rain this morning. Decided to spend another couple of hours in bed because of this weather that seemed to be mocking me.
Anyhow, now that the rain has stopped and the sun is peaking out, I think I will go for walk. I'm pretty sure that this walk will end at a Starbucks, so I'll bring a book with me just in case. I'm almost done Suite Francaise, and I'm anxious to start a new book from my summer reading pile.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Help Matthew Stay
I read a story this morning on the Toronto Star that really affected me. In a nutshell, there is a Vietenmese orphan living in Toronto who has struggled to get an education and now he facing deportation. It really saddened me, and also made me think that with Canada Day having just passed, we should be honoured to have a person like this in Canada, as opposed to deporting him.
If you feel similarly, follow the directions here to send an email to the Minister of Immigration.
If you feel similarly, follow the directions here to send an email to the Minister of Immigration.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Solutions
All right, so here they are - my answers to my "Two Truths and a Lie" from the previous post. Thank you all for playing. I left your scores in the comments section. Congrats to my dear friend Jo who was able to identify the highest number of my lies: 6/10. Again, to all of you, thanks for taking the time to play ;)
Trio #1 - Encounters with the Law
a) When I was a teenager, my friends and I drank vodka in front of the police station. Truth - we drank it mixed in cups Tim Horton's hot chocolate.
b) I was once escorted back into Canada by the US immigration police. Truth - long story. Let's just say kid in grade 9 goes to visit her grandma in Sarnia, falls asleep on the train, misses stop, gets woken up by a cutoms agent, gets taken back to her country by the immigration police. At least the kid can laugh about it years later.
c) I've gotten 3 tickets for speeding in my life. - Lie! I've never gotten a ticket for speeding. Knock on wood.
Trio #2 - Embarassing Concerts
a) I went to a New Kids on the Block concert when I was in grade 6. - Lie! Never seen 'em.
b) I went to a Clay Aiken concert. - Truth - This happened last summer (my roommate got free tickets, okay), check out my review. It doesn't comprosmise my musical coolness in the least, okay...
c) I went to a concert where the top 3 Canadian Idol contestants at the time (Kalan Porter, Teresa Sokyrka, and Jacob Hoggerd) all performed. Truth - they played at Beachfest at Sunnyside park a few years ago. I was there for other bands (namely Hawksley).
Trio #3 - Flying High (on planes, of course)
a) I flew on 18 different flights within the span of 10 months. Truth - I flew a lot when I worked in Northern Ontario.
b) I was once on a flight where I was the only passenger. Truth - They were tiny planes. I scored a Saturday flight with just me, the pilot and the co-pilot.
c) The longest flight I was ever on was 16 hours long. Lie! - LA to Australia was only 14 hours.
Trio #4 - Crappy Books I wasted precious moments of my life reading
a) I read Pamela Anderson's novel "Star". Truth - it was bad and didn't even have an ending.
b) I read Paris Hilton's book "Confessions of an Heiress". Lie! - I only read "fiction" by starlets.
c) I read Nicole Richie's novel "The Truth About Diamonds". - Truth - it was bad. I don't know why I read it. I suppose I'm the kind of person who's attracted to trainwrecks.
Trio #5 - Interesting(?) University Courses
a) In university, I took a course that was all about fungi. Truth - it was actually quite good.
b) In university, I took a course in the evolution of sexual behaviour in primates. Lie! - I took lots of evolution of behaviour courses, but never one specifically on this.
c) In university, I took a course in Greek & Roman mythology. Truth - fulfilled my humanities requirement. I liked it at the beginning but then got sick about hearing about silly gods.
Trio #6 - Encounters with Musicians
a) I attended the wedding reception for the bass player of a band that I really love. Truth - Let's just say I know someone who knows someone who invited me. If you really know me, you can figure out what band it is. Here's the story.
b) I gave Hawksley Workman a chocolate bar. Truth - Some friends and I went to his book signing, saw a lady give him flowers, wished that we had something for him, ran to the corner store and got him a big Hershey bar 'cuz we knew he liked chocolate.
c) I kissed Ben Folds on the cheek when I met him. Lie! I did meet Ben Folds but I was too nervous to even really say anything. But I did get my picture taken with him.
Trio #7 - I used to be really obsessed with the band Sloan...
a) I spent hours drawing a portrait of Chris Murphy of Sloan. Lie! My pal Becca T did this during the height of our mutual Sloan obsession. I can't draw to save my life. It's a really good portrait though.
b) I painted and designed a paper mache box with pictures of Sloan for my pal Becca T. Truth - I can do collage-y type crafts.
c) I wrote a choose-your-own-adventure story about Sloan. Truth - It was a present for Becca T... She had given me one the previous year, so I wrote the sequel. The idea is horrendously nerdy, I know. But they're really funny.
Trio #8 - Tasty (?) Australian Cuisine
a) I've eaten kangaroo. Truth - It's really good. I actually had it twice. It's like a really tender red meat. I'd recommend it.
b) I've eaten emu. Lie! I could have had it there, but it didn't seem exotic enough to be worth my while.
c) I've eaten crocodile. Truth - It's rubbery.
Trio #9 - Encounters with the Law Part 2
a) I trespassed in the backyard of a policeman's house. Truth - we had to sneak through it to get to this really crappy pit party back in high school.
b) I had a friend who was a police officer who used to take me out "fighting crime" in her police van at 1 am. Truth - This is the type of thing that would only happen up north. We really had nothing to do so we'd drive up and down the one road in town and gossip.
c) I've been in a police helicopter. Lie! I totally made that up. Not even a shred of truth.
Trio #10 - Encounters with Celebrities
a) I met John Travolta. Truth - It was when he was promoting that crappy movie, Battlefied Earth. I got his autogrpah.
b) Tom Cruise waved at me. Lie! No shred of truth there. No encounters with the "cruiseazy" one. Thank God.
c) Ellen Degeneres gave me a really dirty look. Truth - Becca T and I were shopping in Indigo years ago (this was back when she was dating Anne Heche) and I noticed her and I said (far too loudly) "Look it's Ellen Degeneres!" She wasn't supposed to hear... I'm just loud when I'm surprised. Sorry Becka, she would do that.
So with that out of the way, it's almost the weekend! My friend Wendy's coming to visit me today and we're going to perhaps shop and go out for dinner. On Sunday, I'm going to a World Cup party at my friends' place. Forza Italia! (I think that means "Go Italy"... That's what the Roots Tshirt says, at least...)
Hope you all have super weekends!
Thursday, July 06, 2006
The Secret's in the Telling.
K wrote a neat post about secrets on her blog inspired by the book/blog Post Secret. As I was spilling my deep, dark secrets in her comments (really not so deep or dark), I started to think of that game "Two Truths and a Lie". You know, the one where you list two truths and a lie and then your friends/acquaintences/well-wishers/etc. have to figure out which one is the lie.
So, I'm going to post ten trios of statements, each of which contains a lie. Try and spot the lies! I'll post the answers later...
(Oh yeah, and if what I come up with is lame and sucks, forgive me, it's late.)
Trio #1 - Encounters with the Law
a) When I was a teenager, my friends and I drank vodka in front of the police station.
b) I was once escorted back into Canada by the US immigration police.
c) I've gotten 3 tickets for speeding in my life.
Trio #2 - Embarassing Concerts
a) I went to a New Kids on the Block concert when I was in grade 6.
b) I went to a Clay Aiken concert.
c) I went to a concert where the top 3 Canadian Idol contestants at the time (Kalan Porter, Teresa Sokyrka, and Jacob Hoggerd) all performed.
Trio #3 - Flying High (on planes, of course)
a) I flew on 18 different flights within the span of 10 months.
b) I was once on a flight where I was the only passenger.
c) The longest flight I was ever on was 16 hours long.
Trio #4 - Crappy Books I wasted precious moments of my life reading
a) I read Pamela Anderson's novel "Star".
b) I read Paris Hilton's book "Confessions of an Heiress".
c) I read Nicole Richie's novel "The Truth About Diamonds".
Trio #5 - Interesting(?) University Courses
a) In university, I took a course that was all about fungi.
b) In university, I took a course in the evolution of sexual behaviour in primates.
c) In university, I took a course in Greek & Roman mythology.
Trio #6 - Encounters with Musicians
a) I attended the wedding reception for the bass player of a band that I really love.
b) I gave Hawksley Workman a chocolate bar.
c) I kissed Ben Folds on the cheek when I met him.
Trio #7 - I used to be really obsessed with the band Sloan...
a) I spent hours drawing a portrait of Chris Murphy of Sloan.
b) I painted and designed a paper mache box with pictures of Sloan for my pal Becca T.
c) I wrote a choose-your-own-adventure story about Sloan.
Trio #8 - Tasty (?) Australian Cuisine
a) I've eaten kangaroo.
b) I've eaten emu.
c) I've eaten crocodile.
Trio #9 - Encounters with the Law Part 2
a) I trespassed in the backyard of a policeman's house.
b) I had a friend who was a police officer who used to take me out "fighting crime" in her police van at 1 am.
c) I've been in a police helicopter.
Trio #10 - Encounters with Celebrities
a) I met John Travolta.
b) Tom Cruise waved at me.
c) Ellen Degeneres gave me a really dirty look.
All right, will anyone get ten out of ten????? Good Luck!
So, I'm going to post ten trios of statements, each of which contains a lie. Try and spot the lies! I'll post the answers later...
(Oh yeah, and if what I come up with is lame and sucks, forgive me, it's late.)
Trio #1 - Encounters with the Law
a) When I was a teenager, my friends and I drank vodka in front of the police station.
b) I was once escorted back into Canada by the US immigration police.
c) I've gotten 3 tickets for speeding in my life.
Trio #2 - Embarassing Concerts
a) I went to a New Kids on the Block concert when I was in grade 6.
b) I went to a Clay Aiken concert.
c) I went to a concert where the top 3 Canadian Idol contestants at the time (Kalan Porter, Teresa Sokyrka, and Jacob Hoggerd) all performed.
Trio #3 - Flying High (on planes, of course)
a) I flew on 18 different flights within the span of 10 months.
b) I was once on a flight where I was the only passenger.
c) The longest flight I was ever on was 16 hours long.
Trio #4 - Crappy Books I wasted precious moments of my life reading
a) I read Pamela Anderson's novel "Star".
b) I read Paris Hilton's book "Confessions of an Heiress".
c) I read Nicole Richie's novel "The Truth About Diamonds".
Trio #5 - Interesting(?) University Courses
a) In university, I took a course that was all about fungi.
b) In university, I took a course in the evolution of sexual behaviour in primates.
c) In university, I took a course in Greek & Roman mythology.
Trio #6 - Encounters with Musicians
a) I attended the wedding reception for the bass player of a band that I really love.
b) I gave Hawksley Workman a chocolate bar.
c) I kissed Ben Folds on the cheek when I met him.
Trio #7 - I used to be really obsessed with the band Sloan...
a) I spent hours drawing a portrait of Chris Murphy of Sloan.
b) I painted and designed a paper mache box with pictures of Sloan for my pal Becca T.
c) I wrote a choose-your-own-adventure story about Sloan.
Trio #8 - Tasty (?) Australian Cuisine
a) I've eaten kangaroo.
b) I've eaten emu.
c) I've eaten crocodile.
Trio #9 - Encounters with the Law Part 2
a) I trespassed in the backyard of a policeman's house.
b) I had a friend who was a police officer who used to take me out "fighting crime" in her police van at 1 am.
c) I've been in a police helicopter.
Trio #10 - Encounters with Celebrities
a) I met John Travolta.
b) Tom Cruise waved at me.
c) Ellen Degeneres gave me a really dirty look.
All right, will anyone get ten out of ten????? Good Luck!
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
So you could always meander and forever be able to run away...
Last night my roomie and I went to see "The Devil Wears Prada". My verdict = fun.
Summer vacay rolls on, and as such, I really have nothing to blog about except how I'm procrastinating doing my spring cleaning (which I saved for the summer). In lieu of having anything interesting in my life to blog about, I'm just going to listen to ten songs randomly on my iPod and blog about them. Here goes:
1) Without Mythologies - The Weakerthans > Probably one of my least fave Weakerthans songs, although I always enjoy it live. Who am I kidding? If they sung Frere Jacques live, I'd enjoy that too. I kinda always giggle at the word "hoar frost" in the song. I wasn't really sure of what that is, so I looked it up. Here's a picture of hoar frost.
2) Lost Together - Blue Rodeo > Whenever I hear any Blue Rodeo song, I think about how much I like Jim Cuddy's voice. I've seen Blue Rodeo twice; both times for free. Maybe I should pay to go to one of their concerts sometime...
3) Somthing Pretty - Patrick Park > My blog buddy m@ kept telling me to get this song and I finally listened and I'm glad that I did 'cuz I really like it. It makes me think of all of the farmland surrounding Stratford for some reason, even though the land there isn't filled with tobacco fields. Oh, thinking about farms has just made me remember that last night I had a dream that my friend Joanna's horse stepped on my iPod and broke it. I guess I should more accurately file that under the nightmare category.
4) Love & Death - The Stills > I'm bad. I bought the Stills' first album "Logic Will Break Your Heart" eons ago and I never really listen to it. I think that is because I bought it at the same time as I bought Damien Rice's "O" and that CD won the battle of competing interests. I have to admit that this song isn't bad but it's no "Lola Stars and Stripes". I love that freakin' song. Guess The Stills peaked for me with Lola. (Deep dark secret - Lola would be on my list of potential baby names. Not 'cuz of the song, I've always thought it's a neat name. However, too many celebrities have been stealing that name. Boo.)
5) Care of Cell #44 - Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs > This is a cover of some sixties song from the aforementioned duo's 60s cover album. It's okay but it's too sugary sweet for my mood right now. Next please.
6) All You Need Is Love - The Beatles > Apparently I'm stuck in the 60s at the moment. But if I am gonna be stuck in the 60s, I might as well be stuck with the Beatles. My fave all time Beatles song is "A Day in the Life" which we studied in the World of Popular Music course I took in university. Best. Course. Ever. Love that my degree included studying musical movements from disco to punk to the Beatles and everything in between.
7) Don't Forget - Martha Wainwright > I like Martha a lot but I probably don't listen to her enough. With the exception of the song Bloody Motherfucking Asshole, which is in my top 20 of most-listened-to songs. I like its passion. I like its swearing. The song I'm listening to is pleasant, but maybe not one of my faves. Next.
8) Indefinitely - Travis > While I was watching Keane at Edgefest on Saturday, I thought that they reminded me a bit of Travis at time. Then I thought about how a lot of British bands are interchangeable to me. Still, they're good when you're in one of those, you know, mournful moods. I like this song but it's too slow for my mood at the present moment. Next.
9) Just Pretend - The Bens > Ahh, my favourite two Bens (Folds and Lee) with another enjoyable Ben (Kweller) thrown in for good measure. Oh, I totally think that they should call up Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie and ask him to be on the next EP. If there is going to be another...
10) 405 - Death Cab for Cutie > Oh wow, and speak of the devil! This is from the DCFC's live EP "The John Byrd EP". I love the line in this song "Misguided by the 405 and it lead me to an alcoholic summer..." Also I love the use of the word "askew" in this song. Not used nearly enough in song.
Okay, so my iPod just generated a total stream-of-conciousness post. Neat. Now I'm off to check the mail and maybe meander over to Starbucks. Ciao! (In honour of Italy, who's going to the World Cup finals...)
Summer vacay rolls on, and as such, I really have nothing to blog about except how I'm procrastinating doing my spring cleaning (which I saved for the summer). In lieu of having anything interesting in my life to blog about, I'm just going to listen to ten songs randomly on my iPod and blog about them. Here goes:
1) Without Mythologies - The Weakerthans > Probably one of my least fave Weakerthans songs, although I always enjoy it live. Who am I kidding? If they sung Frere Jacques live, I'd enjoy that too. I kinda always giggle at the word "hoar frost" in the song. I wasn't really sure of what that is, so I looked it up. Here's a picture of hoar frost.
2) Lost Together - Blue Rodeo > Whenever I hear any Blue Rodeo song, I think about how much I like Jim Cuddy's voice. I've seen Blue Rodeo twice; both times for free. Maybe I should pay to go to one of their concerts sometime...
3) Somthing Pretty - Patrick Park > My blog buddy m@ kept telling me to get this song and I finally listened and I'm glad that I did 'cuz I really like it. It makes me think of all of the farmland surrounding Stratford for some reason, even though the land there isn't filled with tobacco fields. Oh, thinking about farms has just made me remember that last night I had a dream that my friend Joanna's horse stepped on my iPod and broke it. I guess I should more accurately file that under the nightmare category.
4) Love & Death - The Stills > I'm bad. I bought the Stills' first album "Logic Will Break Your Heart" eons ago and I never really listen to it. I think that is because I bought it at the same time as I bought Damien Rice's "O" and that CD won the battle of competing interests. I have to admit that this song isn't bad but it's no "Lola Stars and Stripes". I love that freakin' song. Guess The Stills peaked for me with Lola. (Deep dark secret - Lola would be on my list of potential baby names. Not 'cuz of the song, I've always thought it's a neat name. However, too many celebrities have been stealing that name. Boo.)
5) Care of Cell #44 - Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs > This is a cover of some sixties song from the aforementioned duo's 60s cover album. It's okay but it's too sugary sweet for my mood right now. Next please.
6) All You Need Is Love - The Beatles > Apparently I'm stuck in the 60s at the moment. But if I am gonna be stuck in the 60s, I might as well be stuck with the Beatles. My fave all time Beatles song is "A Day in the Life" which we studied in the World of Popular Music course I took in university. Best. Course. Ever. Love that my degree included studying musical movements from disco to punk to the Beatles and everything in between.
7) Don't Forget - Martha Wainwright > I like Martha a lot but I probably don't listen to her enough. With the exception of the song Bloody Motherfucking Asshole, which is in my top 20 of most-listened-to songs. I like its passion. I like its swearing. The song I'm listening to is pleasant, but maybe not one of my faves. Next.
8) Indefinitely - Travis > While I was watching Keane at Edgefest on Saturday, I thought that they reminded me a bit of Travis at time. Then I thought about how a lot of British bands are interchangeable to me. Still, they're good when you're in one of those, you know, mournful moods. I like this song but it's too slow for my mood at the present moment. Next.
9) Just Pretend - The Bens > Ahh, my favourite two Bens (Folds and Lee) with another enjoyable Ben (Kweller) thrown in for good measure. Oh, I totally think that they should call up Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie and ask him to be on the next EP. If there is going to be another...
10) 405 - Death Cab for Cutie > Oh wow, and speak of the devil! This is from the DCFC's live EP "The John Byrd EP". I love the line in this song "Misguided by the 405 and it lead me to an alcoholic summer..." Also I love the use of the word "askew" in this song. Not used nearly enough in song.
Okay, so my iPod just generated a total stream-of-conciousness post. Neat. Now I'm off to check the mail and maybe meander over to Starbucks. Ciao! (In honour of Italy, who's going to the World Cup finals...)
Sunday, July 02, 2006
My God, she said.
Here's a rundown of my summer vacation so far...
Thursday Evening: Pub-Crawl with Colleagues
We drank from Yorkville to Little Italy and over to Chinatown. 'Nuf said. It was great; I haven't really done the drink with my colleagues thing before and I think my reputation of being quiet might be over and done with.
Friday Evening: Dashboard Confessional w City & Colour at the Molson Amphitheatre
Awesome, awesome show. Took my roommate with me; this was our first concert together after almost two years living together. Hmmm, how has she managed to live with me for that long without getting taken to a show? Anyway, she really likes City & Colour and enjoyed her intro Dashboard.
I was very impressed with Dashboard's show. I think he's grown as a performer since I saw him back in 2002. My only criticism is that the average age of the audience was far too young for my tastes. Blech. I hate feeling old.
Anyway, here's a picture from the show. A pretty far away shot, but you can see the cool lattern type things that were onstage.
Saturday Evening: Edgest at the Molson Amphitheatre
Two concerts in two days at the Amp. We only made it for the last three bands: Hot Hot Heat, Keane and Our Lady Peace. Hot Hot Heat were super fun, Keane were great (despite the fact it rained during their set and I got pretty wet) and seeing Our Lady Peace satisified my inner 17 year old. Fave song that OLP played was Hope - I'd totally forgotten that song existed.
Anyhow, today I relaxed and read for a bit. I need to start cleaning and organizing a bunch of stuff in my room (my first summer project) but why do today what I can comfortably put off until tomorrow.
Oh yeah, and happy belated Canada Day, y'all.
Thursday Evening: Pub-Crawl with Colleagues
We drank from Yorkville to Little Italy and over to Chinatown. 'Nuf said. It was great; I haven't really done the drink with my colleagues thing before and I think my reputation of being quiet might be over and done with.
Friday Evening: Dashboard Confessional w City & Colour at the Molson Amphitheatre
Awesome, awesome show. Took my roommate with me; this was our first concert together after almost two years living together. Hmmm, how has she managed to live with me for that long without getting taken to a show? Anyway, she really likes City & Colour and enjoyed her intro Dashboard.
I was very impressed with Dashboard's show. I think he's grown as a performer since I saw him back in 2002. My only criticism is that the average age of the audience was far too young for my tastes. Blech. I hate feeling old.
Anyway, here's a picture from the show. A pretty far away shot, but you can see the cool lattern type things that were onstage.
Saturday Evening: Edgest at the Molson Amphitheatre
Two concerts in two days at the Amp. We only made it for the last three bands: Hot Hot Heat, Keane and Our Lady Peace. Hot Hot Heat were super fun, Keane were great (despite the fact it rained during their set and I got pretty wet) and seeing Our Lady Peace satisified my inner 17 year old. Fave song that OLP played was Hope - I'd totally forgotten that song existed.
Anyhow, today I relaxed and read for a bit. I need to start cleaning and organizing a bunch of stuff in my room (my first summer project) but why do today what I can comfortably put off until tomorrow.
Oh yeah, and happy belated Canada Day, y'all.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
It's over, it's over, it's over...
Well that's it! I'm officially done, and have been for about 2.5 hours. I'm just chilling at home on the couch, waiting for some colleagues to call, and then we are going on a pub crawl. Oh man, I haven't been on one of those in eons. I am looking forward to this.
You know, I've been looking forward to summer vacation forever now, but now that it's here, I have a bit of a sense of melancholy. I don't know why. It could be that the end of an old year signifies the eventual beginning of a new year which means change. I'm the type of person who is always resistant to change... Today I had to say goodbye to coworkers who are retiring, switching schools, etc. etc. and I guess that has me feelin' a bit sad. Plus, I got my schedule for next year and I'm not so sure about it. I actually get to teach a senior course, and I'm a bit excited about that, but I'm not sure about a couple of others. I also think that deep down I'm gonna miss a lot of the kids that I taught this year, especially my grade 9s, and I won't have them next year.
Anyway, as I ramble, I guess I'm feeling that typical feeling when you end something and it's just done. There's no fanfare, not anything really and you feel a bit let down because you were so excited for whatever to be done. Plus, I think I just have to get into the swing of vacation. My life is tyically ruled by bells, and I gotta get used to no bells for two months.
Last summer I didn't feel this way so much because the day after the last day of school, I hopped on a plane to Australia. Moral of this story: go on big trip at the beginning of summer to avoid end-of-school-year ironic melancholy. Had to throw the word ironic in there because I think it's so ironic that I'm feeling down at the beginning of the vacation I was counting down for.
On that note, I'd better get out the door for my pub crawl. To quote Homer (Simpson), "To alcohol the answer to, and cause of, all of life's problems!"
Oh yeah, and happy summer ya'll.
You know, I've been looking forward to summer vacation forever now, but now that it's here, I have a bit of a sense of melancholy. I don't know why. It could be that the end of an old year signifies the eventual beginning of a new year which means change. I'm the type of person who is always resistant to change... Today I had to say goodbye to coworkers who are retiring, switching schools, etc. etc. and I guess that has me feelin' a bit sad. Plus, I got my schedule for next year and I'm not so sure about it. I actually get to teach a senior course, and I'm a bit excited about that, but I'm not sure about a couple of others. I also think that deep down I'm gonna miss a lot of the kids that I taught this year, especially my grade 9s, and I won't have them next year.
Anyway, as I ramble, I guess I'm feeling that typical feeling when you end something and it's just done. There's no fanfare, not anything really and you feel a bit let down because you were so excited for whatever to be done. Plus, I think I just have to get into the swing of vacation. My life is tyically ruled by bells, and I gotta get used to no bells for two months.
Last summer I didn't feel this way so much because the day after the last day of school, I hopped on a plane to Australia. Moral of this story: go on big trip at the beginning of summer to avoid end-of-school-year ironic melancholy. Had to throw the word ironic in there because I think it's so ironic that I'm feeling down at the beginning of the vacation I was counting down for.
On that note, I'd better get out the door for my pub crawl. To quote Homer (Simpson), "To alcohol the answer to, and cause of, all of life's problems!"
Oh yeah, and happy summer ya'll.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
My capillaries scream.
Happy new Dashboard Confessional CD day! I'm such a geek, I know... But I've really been looking forward to this album for some reason. I think it's because I decided that it was going to be the soundtrack of my summer (with a name like Dusk & Summer how could it not?). I'm on my first listen as I blog, and so far I'm thinking it's going to be really really good. Oh, and I'll be able to cap it off with the concert on Friday. I'm so excited.
So I "worked" from "home" today. This means that I slept in, watched TV, made some necessary phone calls and filled out some necessary forms, walked to get my new CD, detoured to Indigo and bought a new book and chilled at Starbucks for a bit.
The book I got is "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky. Nemirovsky was a writer of Russian descent who lived in France during WWII. Her family fled to the French countryside to hide from the Nazis and she started to work on an epic novel. She was taken to a concentration camp in 1942 and killed. Her daughters spent the rest of the war fleeing and hiding from the Nazis, but they were able to carry a suitcase containing their mother's work. They assumed that what was inside the suitcase was a journal, and decided it would be too painful to read. 65 years later, one of the daughters started to read her mother's work and found out it was a novel. It was published in 2004 and just recently translated into English. Reviews say that it's amazing and even better than the backstory. Unfortunately, Nemirovsky never finished it and only two of the five parts were completed. Anyhow, I decided it may be a good start to my summer reading.
I chilled in Starbucks for a bit and enjoyed another banana creme frap (my drink of the summer). Starbucks for me is like the preppy cool boy (or girl, for male readers) that you may be skeptical and wary of at first, but then you get to know him and find out he's not that bad at all. He's even pretty darned good. Today as I was chilling with my frosty beverage in a comfy leather chair reading my new book, I was offered a sample of their new tangerine chilled beverage and then given a free coupon for a banana creme frap. Oh, how Mr. Preppy Cool Boy is totally winning me over right now. I've almost forgotten about The Second Cup, my old reliable boyfriend. He never gave me freebies and his chilled beverages have changed and are not as good as they used to be.
(Aside: Oh my gosh I am dying over the song So Long So Long on my new CD! It's got Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows singing along. It's great. Oh my.)
Here's something for all of you Coldplay fans that frequent my blog - I came across this download of a Nelly Furtado song featuring Chris Martin song that didn't make the album because of label nonsense. I like it a lot.
This article about the new Harry Potter book concerned me. I hope I hope I hope I hope she doesn't kill him. Not because I want him alive for sequels, but poor Harry has had so much happen to him - can't he live happily ever after??
Happy hump day to you tomorrow. I'm going to have to make an appearance tomorrow to hand in some stuff and then it's grad. Thursday's our year-end staff meeting/lunch and then I'm dunzo. Woot! (Yes, I think my daily reading of pinkisthenewblog has rubbed off on me. I now think like Trent writes.)
So I "worked" from "home" today. This means that I slept in, watched TV, made some necessary phone calls and filled out some necessary forms, walked to get my new CD, detoured to Indigo and bought a new book and chilled at Starbucks for a bit.
The book I got is "Suite Francaise" by Irene Nemirovsky. Nemirovsky was a writer of Russian descent who lived in France during WWII. Her family fled to the French countryside to hide from the Nazis and she started to work on an epic novel. She was taken to a concentration camp in 1942 and killed. Her daughters spent the rest of the war fleeing and hiding from the Nazis, but they were able to carry a suitcase containing their mother's work. They assumed that what was inside the suitcase was a journal, and decided it would be too painful to read. 65 years later, one of the daughters started to read her mother's work and found out it was a novel. It was published in 2004 and just recently translated into English. Reviews say that it's amazing and even better than the backstory. Unfortunately, Nemirovsky never finished it and only two of the five parts were completed. Anyhow, I decided it may be a good start to my summer reading.
I chilled in Starbucks for a bit and enjoyed another banana creme frap (my drink of the summer). Starbucks for me is like the preppy cool boy (or girl, for male readers) that you may be skeptical and wary of at first, but then you get to know him and find out he's not that bad at all. He's even pretty darned good. Today as I was chilling with my frosty beverage in a comfy leather chair reading my new book, I was offered a sample of their new tangerine chilled beverage and then given a free coupon for a banana creme frap. Oh, how Mr. Preppy Cool Boy is totally winning me over right now. I've almost forgotten about The Second Cup, my old reliable boyfriend. He never gave me freebies and his chilled beverages have changed and are not as good as they used to be.
(Aside: Oh my gosh I am dying over the song So Long So Long on my new CD! It's got Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows singing along. It's great. Oh my.)
Here's something for all of you Coldplay fans that frequent my blog - I came across this download of a Nelly Furtado song featuring Chris Martin song that didn't make the album because of label nonsense. I like it a lot.
This article about the new Harry Potter book concerned me. I hope I hope I hope I hope she doesn't kill him. Not because I want him alive for sequels, but poor Harry has had so much happen to him - can't he live happily ever after??
Happy hump day to you tomorrow. I'm going to have to make an appearance tomorrow to hand in some stuff and then it's grad. Thursday's our year-end staff meeting/lunch and then I'm dunzo. Woot! (Yes, I think my daily reading of pinkisthenewblog has rubbed off on me. I now think like Trent writes.)
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Today I'm sinkin' lower than the Sun does on a Sunday...
Whoa, long time no blog. I've been sort of MIA from the universe of the Internt for the past few days. Just haven't felt like staring at a computer screen for a bit, I suppose.
Well, school's pretty much done with. We have some grad activities and such to finish off - Thursday is officially my last day but really all I have to do this week is clean my desk and organize my binders for next year. Long live vacation!
The weekend's been pretty good. My friend Mathew had a bday get-together on Friday night. After going for dinner at Marche (or Richtree as it's now called) we went to someone's place to chill. The apt was right by the university which made me feel *almost* like the clock had turned back.
Last night Becca T and I hung out and watched the movie North Country. We drank some South African wine; perhaps starting a new trend of having our wine match the nationality of the star of whatever movie we're watching. It was a pretty powerful movie; I cried a few times but I blame the alcohol which sometimes makes me hyper-emotional.
I bought a CD on impulse this weekend - "Puzzles Like You" by Mojave 3. I was at HMV and they were playing it and I thought whoa, this is super fun summer music - I must have it! But they were selling the disc for $22.99 which is ridiculous, so I crossed the street to another store and got it much cheaper.
Hmmm, yeah, so right now I'm spending my Sunday afternoon doing laundry. The laundry night in my building is typically super busy on a Sunday night, so I was wary of attempting it on a Sunday afternoon, but it looks like everyone procrastinates with their laundry 'til Sunday night, thus leaving it really empty on Sunday afternoons.
In concert news, I'm going to see Dashboard Confessional/City & Colour next Friday. Then, on Canada Day, I'm going to Edgefest which is sure to please my inner 17-year old because Our Lady Peace is headlining. Keane, Hot Hot Heat, Mobile and Neverening White Lights are playing too. Should be fun. Oh, and I also scored Sarah Harmer tickets for July 27th which is the day before I leave for Britain.
So, I guess my summer's shapin' up to be OK.
Well, school's pretty much done with. We have some grad activities and such to finish off - Thursday is officially my last day but really all I have to do this week is clean my desk and organize my binders for next year. Long live vacation!
The weekend's been pretty good. My friend Mathew had a bday get-together on Friday night. After going for dinner at Marche (or Richtree as it's now called) we went to someone's place to chill. The apt was right by the university which made me feel *almost* like the clock had turned back.
Last night Becca T and I hung out and watched the movie North Country. We drank some South African wine; perhaps starting a new trend of having our wine match the nationality of the star of whatever movie we're watching. It was a pretty powerful movie; I cried a few times but I blame the alcohol which sometimes makes me hyper-emotional.
I bought a CD on impulse this weekend - "Puzzles Like You" by Mojave 3. I was at HMV and they were playing it and I thought whoa, this is super fun summer music - I must have it! But they were selling the disc for $22.99 which is ridiculous, so I crossed the street to another store and got it much cheaper.
Hmmm, yeah, so right now I'm spending my Sunday afternoon doing laundry. The laundry night in my building is typically super busy on a Sunday night, so I was wary of attempting it on a Sunday afternoon, but it looks like everyone procrastinates with their laundry 'til Sunday night, thus leaving it really empty on Sunday afternoons.
In concert news, I'm going to see Dashboard Confessional/City & Colour next Friday. Then, on Canada Day, I'm going to Edgefest which is sure to please my inner 17-year old because Our Lady Peace is headlining. Keane, Hot Hot Heat, Mobile and Neverening White Lights are playing too. Should be fun. Oh, and I also scored Sarah Harmer tickets for July 27th which is the day before I leave for Britain.
So, I guess my summer's shapin' up to be OK.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
I'm not feeling strong so save it for someone else.
Last summer I went to Australia. Bought an aboriginal painting on canvas at a market in Kuranda (a town in the rainforest). Intended to get it framed.
During Christmas break, I went to Cuba. Bought an oil painting on canvas in the market in Havana. Intended to get it framed.
At the end of March, finally dragged my ass to get my paintings framed.
Of course, out of all of the different frames, I pick one that turns out to be on backorder. The back order kept dragging on and on and on. The store kept calling me back and saying "We're so sorry, it's never taken this long before... It will be two more weeks." I say "Well, it took me months to bring them in for framing, what's another 2 weeks?"
Anyway, they were finally done on Friday. I picked them up today. I got a discount for the insanity. Woot. Pictures of my nicely framed paintings are below. (The pics are crooked... they're actually quite straight on my wall thanks to the sharp eye of my roomie.)
During Christmas break, I went to Cuba. Bought an oil painting on canvas in the market in Havana. Intended to get it framed.
At the end of March, finally dragged my ass to get my paintings framed.
Of course, out of all of the different frames, I pick one that turns out to be on backorder. The back order kept dragging on and on and on. The store kept calling me back and saying "We're so sorry, it's never taken this long before... It will be two more weeks." I say "Well, it took me months to bring them in for framing, what's another 2 weeks?"
Anyway, they were finally done on Friday. I picked them up today. I got a discount for the insanity. Woot. Pictures of my nicely framed paintings are below. (The pics are crooked... they're actually quite straight on my wall thanks to the sharp eye of my roomie.)
Anyhow, my P1 class wrote their exam today. I took them (the exams, not the class) to Starbucks and marked them while enjoying a banana creme frappucino (highly recommended).
While marking, I realized that I am probably Starbucks' target customer because their music was totally suited to my tastes (Damien Rice, Rufus Wainwright, Dashboard Confessional). Felt like I was listening to my iPod. (Actually, I was... but I kept hearing lots of songs in between the songs on my iPod.)
Anyhow, 2 more sets of exams to be written and marked and I'm ever so close to summer!
Monday, June 19, 2006
True dat, double true.
I've entered the sweet time of the school year called exam week. Today was tutorial day. I had 5 kids come to see me. I joked with another teacher that since we had so few kids come see us for extra help, it must mean that we are fabulous teachers and that they understand everything. Yup. That must be it. Has nothing to do with the nice weather and the World Cup...
So, it was a break-neck trip home. My pal Teresa was dropping her son off in TO so I scored a free ride to the wedding. Thank you Mapquest for the fabulous directions. The ceremony was quick, and I remained tear-free until I hugged my friend afterwards. Right now I'm rocking lots of mosquito bites, because my friends and I hiked over to the police training field to play on the equipment in our dresses and heels. (The wedding was at a police rec centre.) Then I drank enough to tear up the dance floor for a bit (read - I actually danced). Oh, and I was contantly mauled, dragged, and spun until I felt sick by the 18-year old sister of the newly-wedded Mel. Good times.
The next day the girls and I went for brunch (slow service) and then did a super-secret, super-quick scrapbooking session to make a book for my friend's fifth wedding anniversary. After this, I had 3 hours to celebrate Fathers' Day with dear old dad, who was grumpy because his "shovel foot" has been acting up. My dad, aka Psycho Gardener, has dug so much with his foot that he's developed arthritis in his digging foot. (I have come up with a scientific term for this malady.) Anyhow, heat 'n humidity aggravates the shovel foot.
After that, I hopped aboard the train back to TO.
Right now I actually have the hockey game on in the background as I blog. The Oilers are behind. Boo.
So, it was a break-neck trip home. My pal Teresa was dropping her son off in TO so I scored a free ride to the wedding. Thank you Mapquest for the fabulous directions. The ceremony was quick, and I remained tear-free until I hugged my friend afterwards. Right now I'm rocking lots of mosquito bites, because my friends and I hiked over to the police training field to play on the equipment in our dresses and heels. (The wedding was at a police rec centre.) Then I drank enough to tear up the dance floor for a bit (read - I actually danced). Oh, and I was contantly mauled, dragged, and spun until I felt sick by the 18-year old sister of the newly-wedded Mel. Good times.
The next day the girls and I went for brunch (slow service) and then did a super-secret, super-quick scrapbooking session to make a book for my friend's fifth wedding anniversary. After this, I had 3 hours to celebrate Fathers' Day with dear old dad, who was grumpy because his "shovel foot" has been acting up. My dad, aka Psycho Gardener, has dug so much with his foot that he's developed arthritis in his digging foot. (I have come up with a scientific term for this malady.) Anyhow, heat 'n humidity aggravates the shovel foot.
After that, I hopped aboard the train back to TO.
Right now I actually have the hockey game on in the background as I blog. The Oilers are behind. Boo.
Friday, June 16, 2006
All the best DJs are saving the slowest song for last...
Well I made it!!! The last day turned out to be rather anti-climatic. My P1 class was crazy (grade 9s), P2 was subdued and P4 were really no different than usual (a little bit crazy). Anyhow, they still have their exams to worry about but I've got a weekend free of work. Woo!
World Cup Story of the Day:
The Mexicans in my period 2 class were begging me to start their exam on Wednesday an hour earlier so they could catch the beginning of the game. They couldn't seem to get the fact that I don't set exam times and that they are set in stone. It made me laugh that they though if they begged long enough I'd agree.
This weekend is my friend Mel's wedding. I have about a thousand things to do before I leave tomorrow. Hope that you all have fantabulous weekends!!
World Cup Story of the Day:
The Mexicans in my period 2 class were begging me to start their exam on Wednesday an hour earlier so they could catch the beginning of the game. They couldn't seem to get the fact that I don't set exam times and that they are set in stone. It made me laugh that they though if they begged long enough I'd agree.
This weekend is my friend Mel's wedding. I have about a thousand things to do before I leave tomorrow. Hope that you all have fantabulous weekends!!
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Cannonballs and kettle drums, catapults and pellet guns, kiser blades and minor chords...
I think I've totally got my summer blog groove on. I'm posting every day. Last time I did that was in the summer. Guess I'm prepping myself for my vacation.
Today's lyric title is from the lead song from Danny Michel's new album Valhalla. I'm a-liking it lots. Danny's a nifty singer-songwriter based somewhere in Southern Ontario and he's worked with a lot of other cool Canadian musicians (he played guitar on Sarah Harmer's last tour). He's great to see live, so if he's in your neck of the woods, I suggest that you go. Or, go buy his new CD. It's even got a No Doubt cover song on it...
Anyhow, today was a rather crazy day at work. I'd have to say I'd file under a bad day, even though it really wasn't all that bad... However, it caused me to become so lost deep in thought on my way home that I actually missed my stop. I've never really missed my stop in my entire communiting career - which is impressive since I often fall asleep on the subway. Today, I wasn't sleeping, I was just thinking. Then I noticed that the train is above ground at the Bloor Viaduct, which is not part of my route home.
So, after I'm too stunned to hop off at Broadview, I get off at Chester station to turn around. I decided that since I'd gone all the way there, I might as well walk around Greektown for a bit. So, after my brief walk, I turned around and made my way home without missing any more stops.
So here's hoping that tomorrow is a better day and that I don't miss any more stops!
Countdown Update: 2 more days of classes
ps Maybe my current blogging mojo is a result of the fact that I enjoy updating my countdown to the end of classes.
Today's lyric title is from the lead song from Danny Michel's new album Valhalla. I'm a-liking it lots. Danny's a nifty singer-songwriter based somewhere in Southern Ontario and he's worked with a lot of other cool Canadian musicians (he played guitar on Sarah Harmer's last tour). He's great to see live, so if he's in your neck of the woods, I suggest that you go. Or, go buy his new CD. It's even got a No Doubt cover song on it...
Anyhow, today was a rather crazy day at work. I'd have to say I'd file under a bad day, even though it really wasn't all that bad... However, it caused me to become so lost deep in thought on my way home that I actually missed my stop. I've never really missed my stop in my entire communiting career - which is impressive since I often fall asleep on the subway. Today, I wasn't sleeping, I was just thinking. Then I noticed that the train is above ground at the Bloor Viaduct, which is not part of my route home.
So, after I'm too stunned to hop off at Broadview, I get off at Chester station to turn around. I decided that since I'd gone all the way there, I might as well walk around Greektown for a bit. So, after my brief walk, I turned around and made my way home without missing any more stops.
So here's hoping that tomorrow is a better day and that I don't miss any more stops!
Countdown Update: 2 more days of classes
ps Maybe my current blogging mojo is a result of the fact that I enjoy updating my countdown to the end of classes.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Addendum to World Cup Post
Oh, the World Cup madness does not end in my world.
Today, my period 4 classes started murmuring about soccer during exam review. "Let's get through this section and then you can talk about soccer as much as you want," I suggest. This works and we finish the review and then they enjoy 20 minutes of soccer-talking bliss.
Things I learn:
- Most of them think Brazil will win.
- One kid in my class can list the winner of every single World Cup ever. I tested him. I looked up past winners on the internet and he knew them all - all the way back to Uruguay winning in 1930. I was very impressed with him which lead him to say "I should get bonus marks for that. Bonus marks Senorita!"
(Aside, I cannot hear about Uruguay without thinking of the classic Homer Simpson line. Makes me giggle.)
Anyhow, I intend to stop World Cup related posts as soon as I can. The problem is that when in Rome you do as the Romans do. For me, Rome is my school, and the Romans talk about soccer all the damned time.
Countdown Update: 3 more days of classes
Today, my period 4 classes started murmuring about soccer during exam review. "Let's get through this section and then you can talk about soccer as much as you want," I suggest. This works and we finish the review and then they enjoy 20 minutes of soccer-talking bliss.
Things I learn:
- Most of them think Brazil will win.
- One kid in my class can list the winner of every single World Cup ever. I tested him. I looked up past winners on the internet and he knew them all - all the way back to Uruguay winning in 1930. I was very impressed with him which lead him to say "I should get bonus marks for that. Bonus marks Senorita!"
(Aside, I cannot hear about Uruguay without thinking of the classic Homer Simpson line. Makes me giggle.)
Anyhow, I intend to stop World Cup related posts as soon as I can. The problem is that when in Rome you do as the Romans do. For me, Rome is my school, and the Romans talk about soccer all the damned time.
Countdown Update: 3 more days of classes
Monday, June 12, 2006
It is the soundtrack of your ever flowing life...
Ahhh... World Cup time in Toronto. Fun times. Now, I'm not a soccer fan; not really a fan of any sport per se (although I grew up watching baseball with my dad and can hold my own in a baseball conversation...) but I do like observing the pandemonium that goes with the World Cup. So many cars on the streets have flags attached to them. It just makes walking around kind of fun because you can test your flag knowledge. I think it reminds me of how multicultural Toronto is.
Something like 90% of the student population at my school are huge soccer fans. The madness started on Friday when kids in my period four class started to talk soccer. Then they asked me the "Miss, what are you?" question.
I get this question a lot from my students. A lot of them are either immigrants or children of immigrants, so they are keenly interested in cultural background. I gave them the standard "Half Polish, quarter English, quarter Welsh" answer.
"Oh Miss, poor you. Poland's gonna lose to Ecuador today." By gosh, they were right. The kids don't know science, but they do know soccer.
Today I had one student approach me and tell me that a really bad thing happened to her country. I was concerned, but it turned out that her country, Angola, lost to Portugal. Oh, the humanity. At least the Portuguese kids were in really good spirits today. Two of them were wearing their soccer jerseys in class (not part of the uniform) but I decided that I wouldn't fight that battle and let it go.
After school, a colleague and I wondered whether second semester marks were lower in World Cup years were lower. Wouldn't surprise me.
Anyhow, umm, maybe Poland will recover somehow. Guess I could always root for England... Or Australia.
Hmmm, so it's taken me 250+ blog posts to get to a sports-related post. It'll be a long time 'til the next one my friends. Maybe I'll save it up for if the Leafs ever make the playoffs... Ha-ha.
Countdown update: 4 more days of classes.
ps Actually, I may have done something sports related when the Olympics were on. Perhaps I save it for big sports thingys that are every four years.
Something like 90% of the student population at my school are huge soccer fans. The madness started on Friday when kids in my period four class started to talk soccer. Then they asked me the "Miss, what are you?" question.
I get this question a lot from my students. A lot of them are either immigrants or children of immigrants, so they are keenly interested in cultural background. I gave them the standard "Half Polish, quarter English, quarter Welsh" answer.
"Oh Miss, poor you. Poland's gonna lose to Ecuador today." By gosh, they were right. The kids don't know science, but they do know soccer.
Today I had one student approach me and tell me that a really bad thing happened to her country. I was concerned, but it turned out that her country, Angola, lost to Portugal. Oh, the humanity. At least the Portuguese kids were in really good spirits today. Two of them were wearing their soccer jerseys in class (not part of the uniform) but I decided that I wouldn't fight that battle and let it go.
After school, a colleague and I wondered whether second semester marks were lower in World Cup years were lower. Wouldn't surprise me.
Anyhow, umm, maybe Poland will recover somehow. Guess I could always root for England... Or Australia.
Hmmm, so it's taken me 250+ blog posts to get to a sports-related post. It'll be a long time 'til the next one my friends. Maybe I'll save it up for if the Leafs ever make the playoffs... Ha-ha.
Countdown update: 4 more days of classes.
ps Actually, I may have done something sports related when the Olympics were on. Perhaps I save it for big sports thingys that are every four years.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
We will still need a song to carry us away...
And another weekend has almost bitten the dust. However, this is the last weekend where I'll feel the typical Sunday night blues (and they're not so bad tonight). Next week is the last week of classes and then bam! It's exam week. Exam week is a breeze when you're on the teaching side of the desk. The kids write 'em, they leave, I mark 'em, the end. Easy days for me.
Anyhow, this was a pretty fabulous weekend. The highlight was yesterday, which culminated in my looooooooooong awaited Hawksley Workman concert at Massey Hall. This thing was announced like last August and it was supposed to be on March 25th, but poor Hawksley got sick and it was postponed.
One of my oldest friends in the world introduced me to Hawksely, hence I started to refer to her as Becksley some years back. Becksley lives in London (Ontario, that is) and she and her bf came up for the concert. We met up and went for supper before the show. It turns out that Becksley reads my blog all the time. Every time I started telling her a story, I would remember that she probably knew all about it and read about it on my blog. It took me awhile to think of things to talk about. Soooo, I guess I should avoid actually promoting my blog to my friends so that I'm not completely repetitive in person...
After dinner, we met up with Becca T and the four of us made our way to Massey Hall. Becca T and I were sitting apart from Becksley and bf, but we were in waving distance.
Hawksley was AMAZING. I tabulated that this was my seventh time seeing him live and he never fails to rock my socks off. He started out with some stuff from the new CD but spent most of his time playing his older stuff. It was great. I have to admit, since I hadn't seen him in almost 2 years, I forgot how good he is live and how great his songs are.
I think it was an extra-awesome show because he was psyched to be playing Massey Hall. He played 4 encores. My highlight was during encore #1 (I think) when he came out with his banjo and sat at the front of the stage, away from the microphones, and led the crowd in a sing along of "We will still need a song".
So, the show was definitely the highlight of my weekend. Today was spent procrastinating and doing a bit of work. I think this will be pretty a pretty busy week for me because I have to finish any stray marking, get the rest of my term marks in, go to staff meeting and retirement parties and do a bunch of errands to get ready for my friend’s wedding next weekend.
Hope you all have a super week!
Anyhow, this was a pretty fabulous weekend. The highlight was yesterday, which culminated in my looooooooooong awaited Hawksley Workman concert at Massey Hall. This thing was announced like last August and it was supposed to be on March 25th, but poor Hawksley got sick and it was postponed.
One of my oldest friends in the world introduced me to Hawksely, hence I started to refer to her as Becksley some years back. Becksley lives in London (Ontario, that is) and she and her bf came up for the concert. We met up and went for supper before the show. It turns out that Becksley reads my blog all the time. Every time I started telling her a story, I would remember that she probably knew all about it and read about it on my blog. It took me awhile to think of things to talk about. Soooo, I guess I should avoid actually promoting my blog to my friends so that I'm not completely repetitive in person...
After dinner, we met up with Becca T and the four of us made our way to Massey Hall. Becca T and I were sitting apart from Becksley and bf, but we were in waving distance.
Hawksley was AMAZING. I tabulated that this was my seventh time seeing him live and he never fails to rock my socks off. He started out with some stuff from the new CD but spent most of his time playing his older stuff. It was great. I have to admit, since I hadn't seen him in almost 2 years, I forgot how good he is live and how great his songs are.
I think it was an extra-awesome show because he was psyched to be playing Massey Hall. He played 4 encores. My highlight was during encore #1 (I think) when he came out with his banjo and sat at the front of the stage, away from the microphones, and led the crowd in a sing along of "We will still need a song".
So, the show was definitely the highlight of my weekend. Today was spent procrastinating and doing a bit of work. I think this will be pretty a pretty busy week for me because I have to finish any stray marking, get the rest of my term marks in, go to staff meeting and retirement parties and do a bunch of errands to get ready for my friend’s wedding next weekend.
Hope you all have a super week!
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Is it any wonder I'm tired?
Two things made me laugh today. Well, probably more than two, but these are the ones that I deemed blog-worthy.
Funny Item #1 - I got my hair cut exactly 2 weeks ago. Today I got 4 compliments from coworkers on my hair. Comments in the vein of "Did you just get your hair cut? It looks good." I attribute the lateness of the comments to one of three things:
a) Teachers tend to rush around too much and notice things late.
b) It's a really solitary profession -- you really don't spend much time with your coworkers.
or: c) The hair looked horrible when it was first cut. It was too short. It's grown a bit and looks much cuter now.
Funny Item #2 - I was card shopping for a birthday card, a wedding card and a fathers' day card. (Note: I am not usually this early with buying fathers' day cards but there was a buy 3 cards get 3 free sale so I figured it was a good time to get myself prepared). One fathers' day card caught my eye. It went along the lines of:
"Hey Dad! Some guy told me that you have a drinking problem and an anger management problem..."
Open card.
"So I hit him over the head with one of your empty whiskey bottles. Happy Fathers' Day!"
This made me laugh out loud. I was soooooo going to get it for my dad, being that he has a pretty sick and twisted sense of humour. Then I thought of my mother. Who would surely find the card distasteful. A few years ago my dad bought me a birthday card that went along the lines of "I didn't know what to get you for you birthday, so I stole you this card." She deemed this as a highly inappropriate card and got my dad in trouble. The card was confiscated and my father was sent to get a new card. She saved me the card so I could see the impropriety for myself. I was unaware of her rules for greeting cards before this incident.
Visions of this scene played through my head as I pictured myself giving my dad this card. He'd find this funny but I'd have to endure the wrath of my mother. The card was put back and exchanged for an inoffensive card with a joke about killing spiders. Gotta love the quirks of your family members, I suppose...
I'd say some more, but I'm very tired of typing because I just had a long MSN conversation with some friends and had to send out a bunch of emails regarding wedding presents, post-wedding brunches and more secret scrapbook projects. Plus, I'm gonna do a bit more typing 'cuz I have to catch up on my blog reading and commenting... I'll leave you with one last very important tidbit of info:
Countdown Update: 6 more days of classes!
Funny Item #1 - I got my hair cut exactly 2 weeks ago. Today I got 4 compliments from coworkers on my hair. Comments in the vein of "Did you just get your hair cut? It looks good." I attribute the lateness of the comments to one of three things:
a) Teachers tend to rush around too much and notice things late.
b) It's a really solitary profession -- you really don't spend much time with your coworkers.
or: c) The hair looked horrible when it was first cut. It was too short. It's grown a bit and looks much cuter now.
Funny Item #2 - I was card shopping for a birthday card, a wedding card and a fathers' day card. (Note: I am not usually this early with buying fathers' day cards but there was a buy 3 cards get 3 free sale so I figured it was a good time to get myself prepared). One fathers' day card caught my eye. It went along the lines of:
"Hey Dad! Some guy told me that you have a drinking problem and an anger management problem..."
Open card.
"So I hit him over the head with one of your empty whiskey bottles. Happy Fathers' Day!"
This made me laugh out loud. I was soooooo going to get it for my dad, being that he has a pretty sick and twisted sense of humour. Then I thought of my mother. Who would surely find the card distasteful. A few years ago my dad bought me a birthday card that went along the lines of "I didn't know what to get you for you birthday, so I stole you this card." She deemed this as a highly inappropriate card and got my dad in trouble. The card was confiscated and my father was sent to get a new card. She saved me the card so I could see the impropriety for myself. I was unaware of her rules for greeting cards before this incident.
Visions of this scene played through my head as I pictured myself giving my dad this card. He'd find this funny but I'd have to endure the wrath of my mother. The card was put back and exchanged for an inoffensive card with a joke about killing spiders. Gotta love the quirks of your family members, I suppose...
I'd say some more, but I'm very tired of typing because I just had a long MSN conversation with some friends and had to send out a bunch of emails regarding wedding presents, post-wedding brunches and more secret scrapbook projects. Plus, I'm gonna do a bit more typing 'cuz I have to catch up on my blog reading and commenting... I'll leave you with one last very important tidbit of info:
Countdown Update: 6 more days of classes!
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
I'm standing up there in a weakened state and it's not great.
Random assortment of today's thoughts and observations:
1) There are eight more days of classes left. Plus 9 days of exams and other assorted chores. But it's really those classes that I want to be done with. The kids are getting beyond restless. My period 4 class can't even focus on a movie for gosh's sakes! (Well, until I threaten them with the alternative of an assignment... then they shut up... luckily they were unaware that this assignment did not exist...)
2) There was an amusing subway conductor working on my way home from work. As the car was loading he announced "Don't hold the doors open please. People want to get home. Don't crowd the cars... I'm talking to you people in the first car. Don't be afraid to walk 20 feet." People on my car were cracking up.
3) All this coverage of terrorist plots in Toronto/Canada is rather unnerving.
4) Now that the heat wave is over, the air conditioner is working in my classroom and it's freezing. Oh well, I'd rather be too cold than hot.
5) I like lists.
6) Whoa. Apparently Brangelina got $20 million for baby pics. That's a lot of cash. They say they're giving it to charity.
7) Favourite line from the Colbert Report last night: "Stephen Colbert did not sell out. The world bought in to Stephen Colbert." And I also liked his gravitas contest with Stone Phillips. Not to mention that he yet again credited himself for Canada's shift to a right-leaning PM.
8) Today is day 2 of me procrastinating laundry. I find living in an apartment building really make laundry a chore that I put off.
9) I subscribe to one magazine: Chart. It's Canada's finest music magazine and I'd highly recommend it for its reviews, articles and snide remarks. I got my issue today with such illuminating articles such as "The 16 Commandments of Rock 'N Roll Fandom" and "16 Essential Hoser Records".
10) Gosh, it was hard to come up with 10 things to say today.
ps Looks like 06/06/06 went by without incident... I had a friend in high school who was nervous when 1998 started because 1998/3 = 666...
pps I get visitors to my blog through yahoo using the search "drunk chris ficus train". This amuses me.
1) There are eight more days of classes left. Plus 9 days of exams and other assorted chores. But it's really those classes that I want to be done with. The kids are getting beyond restless. My period 4 class can't even focus on a movie for gosh's sakes! (Well, until I threaten them with the alternative of an assignment... then they shut up... luckily they were unaware that this assignment did not exist...)
2) There was an amusing subway conductor working on my way home from work. As the car was loading he announced "Don't hold the doors open please. People want to get home. Don't crowd the cars... I'm talking to you people in the first car. Don't be afraid to walk 20 feet." People on my car were cracking up.
3) All this coverage of terrorist plots in Toronto/Canada is rather unnerving.
4) Now that the heat wave is over, the air conditioner is working in my classroom and it's freezing. Oh well, I'd rather be too cold than hot.
5) I like lists.
6) Whoa. Apparently Brangelina got $20 million for baby pics. That's a lot of cash. They say they're giving it to charity.
7) Favourite line from the Colbert Report last night: "Stephen Colbert did not sell out. The world bought in to Stephen Colbert." And I also liked his gravitas contest with Stone Phillips. Not to mention that he yet again credited himself for Canada's shift to a right-leaning PM.
8) Today is day 2 of me procrastinating laundry. I find living in an apartment building really make laundry a chore that I put off.
9) I subscribe to one magazine: Chart. It's Canada's finest music magazine and I'd highly recommend it for its reviews, articles and snide remarks. I got my issue today with such illuminating articles such as "The 16 Commandments of Rock 'N Roll Fandom" and "16 Essential Hoser Records".
10) Gosh, it was hard to come up with 10 things to say today.
ps Looks like 06/06/06 went by without incident... I had a friend in high school who was nervous when 1998 started because 1998/3 = 666...
pps I get visitors to my blog through yahoo using the search "drunk chris ficus train". This amuses me.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
These souvenirs betray you; absent warnings nailed to hydro poles.
Tomorrow I will be spending my day writing exams. So, having summarized the way my Sunday will be, I will do my weekend post in reverse chronological order.
I just got home from a Christine Fellows concert that I went to with Becca T and a couple of her friends. It was great. Not only does she have a quality first name, she's a fabulous artist. If you're into alterna-folk type music, you would really like her.
It was a really small show at the Rivoli and I really wish I'd remembered to bring my camera so I could post some pictures but unfortunatley, I am that forgetful. The show was unique because it had a multi-media portion; there was an artist who used an overhead projector and put up transparencies of work that illustrated the songs. It was a great show, and I think she's playing in Winnipeg on June 8th (hint hint to my Winnipeg reader).
(Insert sadness here - there's going to be a whole "From the 'Peg" festival at the Harbourfont in July. This will include The Weakerthans and Christine Fellows and a whole host of other cool artists, I'm sure. Guess who will be in England then? Gah. Could they not have scheduled this just a couple of days earlier so I could go? *sob*)
Back to the weekend... I managed to make the show after having dinner with my friend Flora in Whitby. She has her old English/History friends from teachers' college over each June for dinner and I get invited even though I'm a science girl. It was pretty fun, and I was rather sad I had to leave early, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to make her shows.
Friday night Becca T and I went to see The Break Up with Vaughniston or Vinnifer if you will. There were a few laughs, but I'd say it's a renter.
I saw a preview for the movie Snakes On A Plane and I kind of want to see it. It just makes me laugh too hard that they decided to make a movie about snakes on a plane and then decided to call it Snakes On A Plane. Bonus laugh: I guess there's a line from the movie that goes "There are mother-f-ing snakes on this mother-f-ing plane!" This kills me.
Well, that's my weekend in review. I don't really want to go to bed right now because it just means morning will come and I'll have to work all day. Hope the rest of you have much more relaxing Sundays that I will have.
I just got home from a Christine Fellows concert that I went to with Becca T and a couple of her friends. It was great. Not only does she have a quality first name, she's a fabulous artist. If you're into alterna-folk type music, you would really like her.
It was a really small show at the Rivoli and I really wish I'd remembered to bring my camera so I could post some pictures but unfortunatley, I am that forgetful. The show was unique because it had a multi-media portion; there was an artist who used an overhead projector and put up transparencies of work that illustrated the songs. It was a great show, and I think she's playing in Winnipeg on June 8th (hint hint to my Winnipeg reader).
(Insert sadness here - there's going to be a whole "From the 'Peg" festival at the Harbourfont in July. This will include The Weakerthans and Christine Fellows and a whole host of other cool artists, I'm sure. Guess who will be in England then? Gah. Could they not have scheduled this just a couple of days earlier so I could go? *sob*)
Back to the weekend... I managed to make the show after having dinner with my friend Flora in Whitby. She has her old English/History friends from teachers' college over each June for dinner and I get invited even though I'm a science girl. It was pretty fun, and I was rather sad I had to leave early, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to make her shows.
Friday night Becca T and I went to see The Break Up with Vaughniston or Vinnifer if you will. There were a few laughs, but I'd say it's a renter.
I saw a preview for the movie Snakes On A Plane and I kind of want to see it. It just makes me laugh too hard that they decided to make a movie about snakes on a plane and then decided to call it Snakes On A Plane. Bonus laugh: I guess there's a line from the movie that goes "There are mother-f-ing snakes on this mother-f-ing plane!" This kills me.
Well, that's my weekend in review. I don't really want to go to bed right now because it just means morning will come and I'll have to work all day. Hope the rest of you have much more relaxing Sundays that I will have.
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Skinny boy, all bones no lies.
Wow... I just noticed that this is my 250th post. Neat.
Well, the heat is supposed to break tonight and that's all I care about right now. My school's been sweltering for the past three days. Can any crazy heat just hold off until the end of June?
Yesterday I bought the new Amy Millan solo CD. I like it.
Gosh TV is crap. My roommate is looking for something to watch and there's nothing.
This site amused me for a good half hour this evening.
I've been spending way too much time on celebrity gossip blogs. The madness must end. My fave is Pink Is The New Blog which is the first thing that I check when I get home. Even before my email and my own blog. Yeesh.
Well this has turned out to be quite the random post, hasn't it?
This weekend will be nice but there's a big of suckiness attached - exams are due on Monday. Have I started? No. Am I in a rush to start? No. I'm thinking that Sunday is going to be an exam-writing marathon.
I made the mistake of double-booking myself on Saturday night. I said I'd go to a dinner at my friend Flora's in Whitby plus to a Christine Fellows concert with Becca T. I think I'll be able to swing both. I really want to go the concert, but my friend scares me too much to cancel... (Plus, the guilt... oh, the guilt...)
Well, I think I'm just going to do some dishes and perhaps read for a bit and then hit the proverbial hay. Hope you all have a good rest of the week.
Well, the heat is supposed to break tonight and that's all I care about right now. My school's been sweltering for the past three days. Can any crazy heat just hold off until the end of June?
Yesterday I bought the new Amy Millan solo CD. I like it.
Gosh TV is crap. My roommate is looking for something to watch and there's nothing.
This site amused me for a good half hour this evening.
I've been spending way too much time on celebrity gossip blogs. The madness must end. My fave is Pink Is The New Blog which is the first thing that I check when I get home. Even before my email and my own blog. Yeesh.
Well this has turned out to be quite the random post, hasn't it?
This weekend will be nice but there's a big of suckiness attached - exams are due on Monday. Have I started? No. Am I in a rush to start? No. I'm thinking that Sunday is going to be an exam-writing marathon.
I made the mistake of double-booking myself on Saturday night. I said I'd go to a dinner at my friend Flora's in Whitby plus to a Christine Fellows concert with Becca T. I think I'll be able to swing both. I really want to go the concert, but my friend scares me too much to cancel... (Plus, the guilt... oh, the guilt...)
Well, I think I'm just going to do some dishes and perhaps read for a bit and then hit the proverbial hay. Hope you all have a good rest of the week.
Monday, May 29, 2006
'Cuz big city life is fun.
What a day in Toronto. We had:
- a heat advisory (temperature of 33 right, humidex in the 40s -- look at my nearly naked weather pixie!)
- a smog advisory
- air quality is moderate to poor (they expect it to be poor tonight)
- a ''wildcat'' transit strike
What a fun day.
There were grumblings last night about the possibility of a strike but I think most people didn't think it would happen and were really unprepared. I made sure to line up my ride to work from a colleague last night just in case. We left super early (6:45 am) to beat the eventual mad rush.
My classes were really empty. Which was good because no additional body heat was needed in my classroom. It was soooooo hot. Plus, I'm on the third floor and we all know that hot air rises... I'm not looking forward to tomorrow and Wednesday when this heat wave continues.
Story of the day: one of my colleagues overheard a student signing in at the office during first period. He'd arrived late and the attendence secretary asked him "why are you late?" He told her he was late because the bus was running late. She looked at him and started to laugh and proceded to inform him of the TTC strike. Hmmm... guess whose "I'm late 'cuz of the bus" excuses aren't going to fly any more.
I got home really early. My colleagues and I decided to beat the rush home and left school right away. A weird feeling. Glad to be out of the oven. When I walked into my super cool air conditioned apartment I felt like singing the hallelujah chorus.
Tonight I plan on going to the Second Cup or Starbucks and getting a super cool chilled coffee beverage and finishing the marking I've been avoiding. Good times.
Oh yeah, and the strike's been declared over. Back to normal tomorrow. Except for the crazy hot weather that is.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Memory will rust and erode into lists.
Awhile ago I blogged about how my best friend in high school is getting married in June, and how it was a total surreal experience just mailing out the reply.
While, the surrealness continues. Today was her wedding shower.
This meant I took the good old train home to Stratford for the event.
A bit of history: I was part of a group of nine girls in high school and we still keep in touch. It's now been almost 10 years since we've graduated. Anyway, we've spent the last couple of weeks trying to organize stuff together to make a scrapbook for Mel who is the girl getting married in June.
Four of us showed up at my friend Teresa's place on Saturday night and we had a super scrapping time. Oh, how my scrapper blog friends would be proud of me, I thought. I'd never really done the scrapbook thing before. Anyhow, we got a book of 19 pages called "Memories of Mel" finished in 4 hours. And, dare I say, it rocked. It was hard to give it up today.
However, I did take a picture of each page (mostly for Sandee, since she was stuck in North Bay). I'll show you all my favourite page that I did. It tells the story of this really really bad party Mel once dragged us too. We didn't have any pictures, but the story is hilarious.
So the scrapping was really fun. I think I may have to take up this hobby for the summer.
Today was the shower. And boy, it was soooooooooo weird to be back at my friend's parents' house. I practically lived there in high school. I haven't been there in probably 8 years. I also saw her little sister, who was probably 10-ish the last time I saw her and is now 18. She still greeted me in the same way: "Do you remember when you babysat us and you showed us that Frog Prince video from the 70s? That was so fun!"
Mel's stepmom was a riot too. I'd forgotten about how she used to call us "fridge raiders" (in all honesty, we raided the liquor cabinet way more than the fridge) and the little ratbags and all sorts of other terms of endearment.
Eight of the nine of us showed up. It was so nice being together again and catching up and laughing about old memories. The nicest thing was when one of Mel's stepmom's friends turned around to us and said "I just love watching you girls. You give me such a good feeling."
I get such a good feeling from just being with my old pals.
Anyhow, enough with the sap. Mel's stepmom makes a mighty strong drink and I got well, a little tipsy. After the shower, I had to drop by my parents' to grab my stuff. Yeesh, I haven't come home drunk from Mel's in a long time like that. I faked sober for old time's sake.
Lucky for me, I had a car ride back to Kitchener with my pal Jo and then a bus ride back to Toronto.
Hope you all have super weeks!
While, the surrealness continues. Today was her wedding shower.
This meant I took the good old train home to Stratford for the event.
A bit of history: I was part of a group of nine girls in high school and we still keep in touch. It's now been almost 10 years since we've graduated. Anyway, we've spent the last couple of weeks trying to organize stuff together to make a scrapbook for Mel who is the girl getting married in June.
Four of us showed up at my friend Teresa's place on Saturday night and we had a super scrapping time. Oh, how my scrapper blog friends would be proud of me, I thought. I'd never really done the scrapbook thing before. Anyhow, we got a book of 19 pages called "Memories of Mel" finished in 4 hours. And, dare I say, it rocked. It was hard to give it up today.
However, I did take a picture of each page (mostly for Sandee, since she was stuck in North Bay). I'll show you all my favourite page that I did. It tells the story of this really really bad party Mel once dragged us too. We didn't have any pictures, but the story is hilarious.
So the scrapping was really fun. I think I may have to take up this hobby for the summer.
Today was the shower. And boy, it was soooooooooo weird to be back at my friend's parents' house. I practically lived there in high school. I haven't been there in probably 8 years. I also saw her little sister, who was probably 10-ish the last time I saw her and is now 18. She still greeted me in the same way: "Do you remember when you babysat us and you showed us that Frog Prince video from the 70s? That was so fun!"
Mel's stepmom was a riot too. I'd forgotten about how she used to call us "fridge raiders" (in all honesty, we raided the liquor cabinet way more than the fridge) and the little ratbags and all sorts of other terms of endearment.
Eight of the nine of us showed up. It was so nice being together again and catching up and laughing about old memories. The nicest thing was when one of Mel's stepmom's friends turned around to us and said "I just love watching you girls. You give me such a good feeling."
I get such a good feeling from just being with my old pals.
Anyhow, enough with the sap. Mel's stepmom makes a mighty strong drink and I got well, a little tipsy. After the shower, I had to drop by my parents' to grab my stuff. Yeesh, I haven't come home drunk from Mel's in a long time like that. I faked sober for old time's sake.
Lucky for me, I had a car ride back to Kitchener with my pal Jo and then a bus ride back to Toronto.
Hope you all have super weeks!
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