All I know is I gotta be where my heart says I oughta be.

I am always quite relieved when Monday is over. Once I survive Monday, the rest of the week is a breeze.

Anyhow, I had quite an enjoyable weekend in St. Ratford. I had enough time to hang out with my parents, catch up on a bit of sleep and have an enjoyable evening of drinks with my friends from home. There was a lot of laughter; I laughed harder than I have in a long time when my pal Sandee described how she was kidnapped, tied up, and had small pumpkins fall on her head for her seventeenth birthday.

My dad hasn't started driving yet since his surgery. He figures he'll get used to driving with his "new" foot once the roads are better. This means that I've been taking cabs to and from the train station in St. Ratford, which means I've had far too many converstations like the following:

Cab Driver: "So, where are you coming from/going to?"
Me: "Toronto."
Cab Driver: "Oh... so were/are you visiting the big city or do you live there?"
Me: "I grew up here but now I live and work in Toronto."
Cab Driver: "Whoa... That city is crazy. Once I visited someone there and I looked out their window and their were cop cars everywhere and then was bad traffic on the way home and the parking was so expensive and people on the street are rude/smell funny/look funny/talk funny and everything is so expensive there. Why I know someone who has a condo there that is the size of my living room and cost half a million dollars and they don't even have a parking spot. But you need a car there since the subway is dangerous since all of the teenagers are gang members and you must see crime every day. What the heck are you doing living there?"
Me (after trying not to fall asleep during previous rant): "I enjoy the vibrance and excitement of city life."
Cab Driver: "Well, to each his own, I suppose... So what do you do for a living there?"
Me (anticipating reaction): "I teach high school."
Cab Driver: "What??? High School? In Toronto? That's crazy. Those kids must be so tough."
Me (thankful that the town is small, and I've arrived at my destination): "They're great... Oh gee, here we are. Gotta run. "

Confession: I used to be a small town girl afraid to death of the big city. I had a lot of the misconceptions about Toronto that the average non-Torontonian has. Deep down, I was fascinated by the fast-pace, rather glamourous appeal of big city living. I had many dreams that centred around me living in Toronto, but I never figured that I could actually do it. When looking at universities, U of T seemed to be the best fit for me academically, but I never dreamed that I'd make the leap to go there. I figured that I'd go to school in a nice little city like London or Waterloo. Well, thank heavens the scholarship gods at U of T made me an offer that I couldn't refuse and I chose U of T despite my small-town fears of the city.

My mom likes to tell the story about how when my 'rents were driving me to residence and we got there a bit early, so we drove around downtown for a bit and I started to more or less freak out in the back seat. Then I remember my first time walking downtown all by myself, surrounded by huge buildings and thinking that it was unbelievably cool that this was now home. Now I think it's so cool that I look out my bedroom window and see this:



Anyhow, I'm so thankful that I fell in love with this city and that it is now my home. Sure, I pay a lot in rent, and maybe I'll eventually tire of the pace of the so-called rat-race, but I love the fact that I live in the place that I would choose to above any other place in the world. Well, okay, London England would be cool too, but I don't know anyone there, so Toronto wins.

I remember you in Polaroid.

Okay, does my blog look totally plain now? Does my template not work anymore? All I see is blah whiteness and no more pink and black. Well, if it's broken, I'll have to fix it next week. I'll be on dial-up for the weekend since I'm at my parents' house. Boo. Dial-up. Don't laugh.

Firstly, I sparked nerd warz on Jono's Vision because I suggested that AlieMalie write haiku poetry next time she was looking for post material. I love it.

Anyhow, I'll point out that I was all over haiku poetry before any of this happened.

So, I had a fabulous birthday. It made me think about how blessed and lucky I am to have so many people, such as friends, family, colleauges, students, and blog buddies, sending me their wishes. Thanks to everyone.

Okay, I'm off to catch the train to St. Ratford to participate in some more celebration over the weekend. Hope you all have fabulous weekends too!

Woo-hoo when I feel heavy metal, woo-hoo and I'm pins and I'm needles...

I went through the archives to review what I was doing at this time last year. I read my post from last V-Day and I commented how my first period class was quite amused by using chemistry to blow up balloons.

Guess what I did today? (Except it was my period 2 class...)

Yeesh.

Anyhow, I've already gotten some really cool early bday presents. Including the postponement of a staff meeting we were supposed to have. Yee-ha!

Typically, I like to go out with a bunch of my TO friends on my bday evening. This year, however, I decided I just wanted to stay in with my roommate and my pal Becca T, order take out, drink wine, and enjoy the wonders of Thursday night TV. Simple is good.

On Friday, I'm making the trip to St. Ratford. I'll be hanging out with that set of friends on Saturday night, and I intend to indulge with a few beverages.

For VDay night, Becca T and I went out for a pint of Strongbow and discussed important issues such as music, iPods, how she should start blogging, and what the title of her blog should be.

As we parted, she said to me "Hope you have a nice walk home. Enjoy what's left of your youth."

Have happy weekends! I might not get to post... unless it's a drunk post-Office post. Hmmm, that could be interesting reading, eh?

Does anybody know how the story really goes? Or should we all just hum along?

I have a few topics of discussion for today.

1) Valentine's Day: is tomorrow. Meh. Like I did last year, I'll just listen to the song Waltz (Better than Fine) by Fiona Apple and reflect on the line "If you don't have a date, celebrate."

It's also my last day of being in my late-mid twenties.

2) The latest in ringtones: Apparently they've developed a ringtone that people over thirty aren't supposed to be able to hear. Today in one of my classes, I hear a high pitched buzz. I look around, probably with an annoyed look on my face since high pitched buzzes are never a good sign.

Kid: "Miss, can you hear that?"
Me: "Yes. What is that? It's annoying!"
Kid: "Are you over thirty?"
Hmmm... the classic do I admit to my youth quandry. I decide that I will, since they really should be aware that I am young and I am cool.
Kid: "It's a ringtone that people over thirty aren't supposed to be able to hear."
Me: "Huh. Well, I can hear it so make it stop."

Inside, I was actually pleased that my hearing is not damaged as much as much as I fear. I'm paranoid that frequent headphone use, loud concerts and loud teenagers has done a number on my auditory capabilities. I was telling older colleagues about it, and they have been appraised of the people-over-thirty-can't-hear-it ringtone by their students, and they actually cannot hear it.

Also, it kills me that the kids at my school can't keep quiet about a potential teacher-fooling device. They just have to test it on us.

3) Cover Songs - My music moods change so quickly. Yesterday it was all about those tens songs I blogged about. Today, I've been into Emm Gryner. She's fantabulous by the way. Anyhow, a couple of years ago she put out an album called "Girl Versions" where she does a bunch of covers. I downloaded a few today: STP's Big Bang Baby, Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar On Me, DCFC's For What Reason (cough cough Wes), and Blur's Song 2. They're all super fun.

I have to say I enjoy a good cover song. My definition of a good cover is a song that I'm familiar with (I don't necessarily have to be a fan of it) done by an artist I enjoy. I especially love it when it's the double whammy: a song I already loved done by a different artist I enjoy. The combo of song that I'm unfamiliar with by artist I love works too. I find covers enjoyable because sometimes I feel that I learn something new about a song when some else sings it. Or, someone else puts an interesting spin on it. Anyhow, here are some of my other fave covers:

- Smells like Teen Spirit - Tori Amos
- Fast Car - David Usher
- Rattlesnakes - Tori Amos (she actually does lots of awesome covers, so I'll quit with the Tori)
- Landslide - The Dixie Chicks
- In Between Days - Ben Folds
- Hallelujah - Rufus Wainwright
- Will He Be Waiting for Me? - Sarah Harmer
- Handle with Care - Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins

I'm sure there are more that I can't think of at the moment. I'm also all over it when an artist sings a really cheesy song live. R Kelly's Ignition has a place in my heart because I once saw Joel Plaskett sing it.

What are your favourite covers?

Okay, I'm off to have supper. And a glass of red wine 'cuz it's good for my heart. ;)

ps Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

Lost in the music, in the music...

Music that is making me happy right now:

1) The Music - David Usher: Oh the superior Usher had done it again. A great song.

2) We R in Need of A Musical Revolution - Esthero: "I'm so sick and tired of the shit on the radio. On MTV they only play the same video. No matter where I go I see Ashanti in the video. I want something more." I love this song. It's lain dormant for awhile on my iPod but it's been speaking to me a lot lately.

3) Grace Kelly - Mika: I really like this song. I can't sing the falsetto parts though.

4) You Wouln't Like Me - Tegan & Sara: Actually, the whole album, So Jealous, is pretty catchy.

5) A Million Dollars - The Joel Plaskett Emergency: I <3 Joel.

6) Blacking Out The Friction/Brand New Love - Death Cab for Cutie: This is a live version from "The John Byrd EP". Love it. Such a great wintery song.

7) Dog and Thunder - Weeping Tile: I was unaware of Weeping Tile when they were a band. I just know that they are Sarah Harmer's old band. This song is great. It's one of those songs that makes you feel rather wistful and melancholy. But in a good way, if you know what I mean.

8) Decatur, Or A Round Of Applause For Your Stepmother! - Sufjan Stevens: I got the Illinois CD for Christmas and this is my favourite song from said CD>

9) Sleeps with Butterflies - Tori Amos: This is a beautiful song. I can't wait for her new CD to come out this year.

10) The Needle Has Landed - Neko Case: My favourite song from my favourite CD of last year.

When I wake up in my makeup...

If you looked in my clothes closet, you would notice that there are very few skirts or dresses. If you looked in the hall closet at my shoe rack, you'd notice that there are mostly funky running type shoes, wedges and platform-y type shoes. There isn't much in the way of high heels. If you dug around my jewelry, you'd notice that most pieces are chunky and funky, not delicate and pretty.

If you looked around my room, you could not find an issue of Glamour, In Style, Elle, Cosmo, or any of that sort of women's magazine. You'd see some music magazines (I subscribe to Chart) and the odd celebrity-smut magazine (evidence of a cheap remedy for a bad day). If you were to look at my bookshelf you'd see a few chick lit books (The Devil Wears Prada, The Undomestic Goddess, Angry Housewives Eating Bonbons) but they're far outnumbered by contemporary fiction and an assortment of non-fiction from literary travel to memoirs to comedy to science.

If you poked around the living room, you'd notice that there's a Playstation (okay, it hasn't been used for video games since I started working... damned job). My DVD collection primarly consists of seasons of the Simpsons, comedies, and Tim Burton movies. Sure, there are a few romantic comedies - but they all star a former SNLer and Drew Barrymore.

Anyhow, from the evidence presented to you, you'd probably safely come to the conclusion that I am not much of a girlie girl, right?

Well, you haven't checked out the clutter counter and shelves in my bathroom.

Look around there and you'll find enough beauty products to last a normal person a decade.

I have shocked many a friend, including ones who have known me for years, with my affinity for all things cosmetic. As I said, I do not act like a girlie girl in any aspect of my life except for the purchasing of beauty products. Lip glosses, eyeshadows, lotions, perfumes, and shower gels are my favourite poisons. Why I need another body butter when I know I have probably 4 others at home is beyond me. Yes, I am well aware that I have 5 other sparkly pink eyeshadows, but this one has a gold tone to it and it's on sale. I don't really need new makeup, but if I spend $28 at Clinique, I get a bonus bag of goodies. How could I pass that up?

I started a tradition once I moved from the realm of student to working person with a bit of disposable income. Every year around my birthday, I go to the Eaton Centre and go on a beauty spree. I had to do that this weekend, before my birthday, since I'm going to St. Ratford next weekend and they don't have my favourite stores. Although, the Shopper's Drugmart there has been renovated and has a great cosmetics section. Did I mention that I have the freakin' Shopper's Visa so I can get extra Optimum points wherever I shop? I've gotten a lot of free shite outta that sucker.

So today's activities included a fun stop at Lush (my bath store), the Body Shop (I have the card where I get $10 of free stuff for my birthday there), Sephora (somehow I managed not to buy anything there), and the makeup counters at the Bay.

Okay, I'm off to have a yummy bath and then try out my new body butter, exfoliating scrub and mosturizer. And I'll finish off the crappy chick lit book that I am reading just to end my girlie girl day off on a particularly girlie girl note.

Got more faults than the state of California and the heart is a badly built bridge.

Today is cleaning/errands/laundry day so naturally I slept in and now I'm in the process fo procratinating. I stole this quiz from the blog of Wes.

YOU CAN'T LIE IN THIS QUIZ.BE 100% TRUTHFUL ABOUT EVERY QUESTION.
LAST PERSON.

1. You hung out with? My roommate.
2. You texted?I honestly can't remember. I don't text much.
3. You were in a car with? A colleague who gave me a ride home from school.
4. Went to the movies with?My roommate and Becca T
5. Went to the mall with?Maybe my friend Mel? I really can't remember becauseI normally go to the mall by myself. Tomorrow I am going to the mal with my friends Becca T and Flora.
6. You talked on the phone to?My roommate's mom.
7. Made you laugh? My dad.

WOULD YOU RATHER...?
1. Pierce your nose or tongue? Nose
2. Be serious or be funny? Funny. I avoid seriousness as much as possible.
3. Drink whole or skimmed milk? Skim for sure. Whole is yucky.
4. Die in a fire or get shot? Shooting is much faster, right?
5. Have sex with one person very well or four people at the same time poorly? I'd take quality over quantity for sure.

ANSWER TRUTHFULLY...
1. Sun or moon? Moon since I'm a night owl.
2. Winter or Fall? Fall is my fave out of all the seasons.
3. Left or right? If we're talking politcally, I'm such a lefty. I like to say that only turkeys have right wings. ;)
4. Sunny or rainy? Rain has a certain je ne sais quoi to it. I like it in small doses if it's a warm rain.
6. Where do you live? Toronto, Ontario.
7. How many kids do you want? I do not know the definitive answer to that questions. Somedays I lean on zero, but then other days I'll see a cute well-behaved child and I think "I wouldn't mind one of those." Probably if I did have kids, I'd have two, because I wouldn't want to make someone an only child since I'm not a fan of being one.
8. Do you want to get married?If I can find the right person, for sure. But... I am not settling for a jerk just for the sake of it.
9. Do you twirl your spaghetti or cut it? Twirl it. I've never cut it in my life.
10. Have you ever eaten S.P.A.M? Never
12. How many kinds of cereal are in your cabinet? Currently two that are mine.
13. Do you cook? I try to avoid that activity as much as possible. I have a card posted on my fridge that says "All pots are no-stick if you no-cook in them."
14. Current mood? As one of my students likes to say a lot "I'm having a lazy day today."

IN THE LAST 48 HOURS HAVE YOU...
1. Kissed someone? No :(
2. Sang? Yeah, but not so that any poor soul would hear.
3. Been hugged? No :(
4. Missed someone? Yes
5. Danced Crazy? Yes. But not too crazy.
6. Cried? No.
7. Lied? I don't think so.
8. Loved someone you can't have? No.

All right that's done. Now I'm going to find other things to do to put off chores. Have a good weekend!

No matter which way you go, no mater which way you stay, you're out of my mind.

Global Warming Gripe #1 - Newspapers that have headlines such as "More like Global Cooling!" to accompany stories on cold snaps. That joke is so 1994. Global warming refers to the trend in global average surface temperature, not the temperature in Southern Ontario on a given day. Hence the word global, you eejits. Yeesh.

Global Warming Gripe #2 - Companies that use an environmental crisis to sell skank-ass clothes. On my way home from Union Station Sunday night, the subway station was all decked out in a Diesel advertising campaign. Picture many models dressed in barely anything with the slogan "Global Warming Ready". Boo. Boo. Boo. I miss my grade 11 science and society class from last semester, because they would have gotten all worked up over the ads for the grossness of the content and the unhealthy body image being portrayed.

I could continue with more global warming gripes aimed at George W Bush and Stephen W Harper, but I'll save that for another time. Actually, John Stewart did a good job taking on GWB last night on the Daily Show, as did Colbert. Bless them. Funny as hell and poignant.

I have another gripe. On Feb 18th, Jack's Mannequin, who I listen to a lot, are playing here in Toronto. As soon as I read this last month, I thought that would be an ab fab bday present from me to me. Anyhow, I went looking for tickets and it said that there weren't any available, but I scanned the side bar and it said that tickets went on sale on 02/12 which I took to mean Feb. 12th. Kind of close to the date but, whatever, thought I. Well, upon second look, it turns out that tickets went on sale December 12th, and are apparently sold out. Boo. Boo. Boo. I don't understand how that could be, because they are playing at a fairly large venue, and I don't think that Jack's Mannequin is very popular at all in Canada. Anyhow, that throws a nasty wrench in my plans to kickstart my concert-going in 2007. Boo.

Okay, maybe I'll go listen to some Jack's Mannequin now to ease the pain. Also, I have some early birthday money that I'll go blow with online shopping now. I plan to buy a season of 3rd Rock from the Sun (I loved that show back in the day) and the new Decemberists' CD. Ahhh... shopping... definitely eases the pain.

I wish we could open our eyes to see in all directions at the same time.

My weekend was cold, super windy, dreary, and uneventful. Blah. I didn't really do much except watch the Office with my Dad, play cribbage with my Dad and read a pretty crappy book (Everyone Worth Knowing by Lauren Weisberger). My dad's pretty funny - he makes fun of the Office when I watch it with him (comments like "This is what passes for comedy these days?" and "This what you find funny?") but then when I don't have the DVDs at home with me he asks me why I didn't bring it home. Yup, when my dad likes something he tends to insult it.

Today was the start of a new semester. I'm not a fan of change. Right now I miss my old classes, but I'm sure in a couple of weeks, I'll have grown to enjoy the current crop. At then beginning, I have to be a little bit strict and un-jokey, and well, I miss the jokiness. Oh well, once I teach the grade 9s some chemistry, I can start torturing them with bad chemistry jokes.

Well, I really don't have much else to say. Gosh, I'm never this quiet. See what happens when I have to deal with a slight bit of change? How am I going to handle having to move this summer?

All I know is I gotta be where my heart says I oughta be...

Okay, first of all, let me say that I was very excited to hear that there is finally a release date for the seventh Harry Potter book. Don't expect much posting in these parts on July 21st. Yes, I am a huge nerd who will pre-order her book so that I can pick it up at midnight. Yes, I will probably read the whole thing straight through, forsaking some sleep. Yes, I am thankful that it is coming out during summer vacay, so I don't have to worry about being in any condition to show up for work.

(Note: if you have not read the Harry Potter books, honestly, you should. They're great! I never expected that I would like them as much as I do when I picked up the first one.)

Okay, in other news, The Office was super funny tonight. Thank goodness it was new this week. Last week totally sucked due to the lack on new episode. (Note: My bday falls on a Thursday. If there is a new episode on that day, my plans are going to revolve around watching it and having drinks here. If there is no new episode, I think it will a good evening to go out for cheap Martinis... Or perhaps I could do both. Hmmmm....)

Speaking of bdays, I have two blog buddies who have birthdays tomorrow (Groundhog Day). So happy bday to Scott, and to Joanna, who is not only a blog buddy, but a long time pal from the GSA (Greater St. Ratford Area).

Well, it's almost the weekend. I'm going to visit the 'rents this weekend, and I don't have tonnes of plans, so I'm hoping to get some rest. Monday is the start of the new semester, which means that I have to get used to a new routine and new classes.

Happy weekend!

And no one is watching me slide... below street level, barely alive.

My birthday is fast approaching (16 days to be precise). This birthday is proving to be a lot of work for me, because both my driver's license and health card are set to expire this year. It's kind of weird, because I remember getting them 5 or so years ago and thinking "Man, I'll be so freakin' old when I have to get these things renewed. I wonder what my life will be like? What will I be doing?" It's always weird to think that you are in the process of living your past's future.

Anyhow, I decided to get my license renewed today. The office I went to was in the same government building where I had a summer job for two summers during university. I loved this particular job. Well, maybe not so much the job but it was the people I worked with that I loved (note: most of them don't work there anymore so I didn't do any visiting). Walking back into that building brought back a lot of memories.

I passed by a lot of other buildings with memories on my walk back to the subway from that office. I walked by my old univeristy residence, the apartment I lived in for two years, and the cheap photocopy shop, and assorted coffee places.

Ahh, nostalgia. I really enjoyed my days as a university student. I wonder if in five years, when I have to do the old identifcation renewal dance yet again, I'll think back to now, and how I lived on good old ________________ Ave and worked at good old _______________.

ps Typing blanks just made me feel like I wasn't writing a post, but making up a test/assignment...

The songs you wrote got me through a lot.

I read an interesting article in the Toronto Star today about how Canada is a nation of songwriters.

Now, no song can I write, but I have to say that songwriting is probably my most appreciated art form, and the article got me to thinking about *who* are my favourite songwriters. Here are my personal top 5 in no particular order. Three of them are Canadian and two of them are American.

1) Ben Folds - I don't know what I like better about Ben Folds: his piano skills or his songs. Put them together, and you've got some of my favourite music of all time. Ben Folds' songs have many different sides: clever tongue-in-cheek (Rockin' the Suburbs, There's Always Someone Cooler Than You), amazing storytelling (Annie Waits, Boxing, Fred Jones Pt. 2), reflections on personal life (Gracie, Brick, Late) and wonderful ballads.

I have to mention that the Ben Folds Five song that means the most to me is not even written by Ben Folds; it's written by Darren Jessee, BFF's drummer. The song is Magic and it helped me cope with the death of my Nana, with whom I had a very close relationship. She died of cancer when I was 19 and I spent a lot of time listening to that song the last summer when she was alive. It's about coping with the death of a loved one, and it's a happy song for me now, because I smile and think about her whenever I hear it.

2) John K Samson/The Weakerthans - The lyrics of Weakerthans' songs, written by John K Samson, are quite simply poetic. I could write a dissertation on my favourite lines from Weakerthans' songs. I love the song Pamphleteer; it paints such a vivid picture in my mind; and then at the end of the song I can actually hear pamphlets fluttering to the ground. One line that always sticks in my mind is from Elegy For Elsabet: "As the sky tries on its uniform of turned-off tv grey". Turned-off TV grey! Brilliance!

3) Hawksley Workman - I love eccentricity. I love when every single song by an artist is very different from the rest. I love how Hawksley is able to make everyday things seem magical in his songs. And, I totally agree with him that "modern music could be the healing sound."

4) Sarah Harmer - All of Our Names is just such a wintery album for me. It makes me want to move out to a deserted farmhouse and walk through the snow. The song Lodestar makes me want to go canoeing at night. Her songs are so descriptive and paint such vivid pictures in my head. Each of them is like looking at a painting.

5) Tori Amos - Tori Amos was such an aquired taste for me. I had a summer job at an art gallery and "Under the Pink" was left in a drawer by a coworker. I would listen to it for the last hour of my shift when there was no one in the gallery. I didn't like it at first, but then one day I realized that I loved it and I had to get it. I love how a lot of her songs are like puzzles that I have to listen to a lot to figure out. And I'm pretty sure that what I take from the song is probably different than what others take from the song.

So who are your favourite songwriters?

When disappointment is a slow burning fire...

Right now I'm feeling a bit crappy, and I wrote a post to explain why, but I felt like I came off like a whinging little brat, so I deleted it.

I just feel like I've had to put my life on hold since October to deal with stuff, and I'm getting a little tired of it.

I miss being carefree is all.

Once I wanted to be the greatest...

This is the best news article I've read in a long time. It makes me oddly happy.

Sloth wins 3-year battle with German scientists

At long last,
zoologists give up trying to bribe animal to move
January 24, 2007
Associated Press

JENA, Germany – To thine own sloth, be
true.

For three years, scientists at the University of Jena tried to
persuade Mats the sloth to co-operate in an experiment on animal
movement.

But nothing they tried, not even the promise of cucumbers and
spaghetti, could persuade the lethargic Mats to get up off the floor of his
cage, climb a pole and climb back down.

So today, scientists at the university's Institute of Systematic Zoology and Evolutionary Biology said they had finally given up. It was, perhaps, a triumph of nature over nudging researchers.

"Mats obviously wanted absolutely nothing to do with furthering science," said Axel Burchardt, a university spokesman.

Mats' new home is the zoo in the northwestern city of Duisburg where, according to
reports, he is very comfortable.

I have to catch up on my CD listening. A couple of weeks ago, I came across Cat Power's "The Greatest" and Jenny Lewis & The Watson Twins' "Rabbit Fur Coat" on sale, and I bought them both. I feel that I've only had time to skim the surface of these albums. I love love love the title track of Cat Power, and there's a super cool cover of the Travelling Wilburys' "Handle with Care" on the Jenny Lewis album. Ben Gibbard of DCFC adds some vocals to that track. All the reviews of that CD that I read said that that track was corny, but I say screw 'em, I love it.

Two days until Friday.

Big Boo-urns to no new Office tomorrow night.

Think of me any way you want.

Sometimes I feel that the rate at which time moves is much greater than I'd like it to be.

Well these dead petals, honey, brought me here.

Ahhh, here I sit in my typical Thursday night post-Office bliss. Another great episode. There were a few lines that made me say "I am totally going to start using that line!" However, I forget what they are now... That's okay, that's why I tape the show. I will rewatch and relearn.

I also tape the show because my roommate and I have the tradition to watch Ugly Betty first and then The Office. Ugly Betty was pretty good tonight too. Yay for good TV. I'm a total appointment TV viewer. I'm actually happiest when I have a show to watch every night, but I really don't watch much anymore. My regular TV diet consists of The Office, Ugly Betty and The Daily Show/Colbert Report. That's it.

My pal Becca T always joins us for Office night. She wasn't able to make it for Ugly Betty tonight, so as we were waiting for her to start watching The Office, we had to find something to have on in the background. I noticed that the Quebecois version of The Office, La Job, was on. My roommate's finace and I were quite happy sitting there watching it, even though neither of us have good French. The episode was very very faithful to the British original, so our language deficit was irrelevant. My roommate proclaimed us nuts.

Have you seen the All-Bran commercial with the guy in the grocery store? Today one of my colleagues told me that whenever she sees that commercial, she laughs because she thinks of me. Apparently I talk like the way the guy does at the end of the commercial... Hmmm, I need to see that commercial again so I can see who is the weird one - my colleauge (maybe she's seeing things) or me (maybe I really do talk that way).

Have you ever had one of those times when you end up watching something and you're not sure how? Maybe you were watching the show before or something and didn't get around to changing the channel or perhaps you just ended up sitting on the couch for a minute and the TV was on and you started watching. Anyhow, somehow, I ended up watching American Idol last night. Can I just say that I found their auditions particularly disgusting?? They spend so much time focussing on people who are horrible singers so that everyone can laugh at these people. Now, if you want to go on TV and make a fool of yourself, whatever, but I questioned whether some of the people there were fully aware of what they were doing. The few minutes I saw reeked of exploitation and meanness to me. I usually stay away from American Idol, but I have seen some of the auditions in the past, and this year they seemed especially mean. Yuck.

Anyhow, I think I've babbled on about television enough. I guess that's what happens in January. It's too cold to go outside, plus you don't have much money after Christmas.

So the weekend is very close to being upon us. I'm heading down to St. Ratford to check up on the 'rents. I was slightly besmirched when I booked my train ticket. It went up by $4!! Gah!! That's one less latte for me. Boo-urns!

Happy weekend!

It's a shoreline, and it's half speed

It's soooooooooo cold here today. I can't complain, because we have had such a crazy nice weather so far this winter, whereas other people in Canada have had it pretty bad, but still, it's freaking cold out there.

To warm myself up, I'm listening to summer sounding music. A song that sounds super summery to me is Broken Social Scene's 7/4 (Shoreline). As I was listening to this song, I realized that I always meant to look up the lyrics, because I have no clue what they're saying in the song. There's one part where *I* sing "It's cooler, it's cooler than hell" and it turns out the real lyrics are "It's coming, it's coming in hard" and I'm slightly disappointed. I liked my lyrics better. But, I suppose I could respond to the real lyrics by saying "That's what she said" a la Michael Scott.

Don't you love it when in life you make a goal for yourself and you attain the goal? I did that last night. I decided that I was going to watch the *entire* Golden Globe awards ceremony, and I did it. Oh, it was tough going at points - especially when they were giving Warren Beatty his lifetime award. But I did it.

(Note: I honestly believe the trick to being happy in life is to let the little things make your day. For example, I'm a pretty cheery person, and I think that's becasue things like new CDs, a compliment from a coworker/student, a funny TV show etc do really make my day. I don't hold out for big things.)

(Note: I don't really consider watching the Golden Globes an accomplishment. I was just being silly. However, my silliness lead me to philosophize a bit in my previous comment.)

My roommate made it through an hour of the show and declared boredom (boredom is for the weak I say). But, during the ceremony we did decide that we would go see Dreamgirls tonight so that we can take in Jennifer Hudson's performance for ourselves. Now, I have not seen the movie yet, but I'm pretty damned sure it did not deserve to win Best Musical/Comedy over Little Miss Sunshine. And... wtf with Alec Baldwin beating Steve Carrell for Best Actor in a TV Comedy? Robbery I say!

All right, I should be off to go to the movie. I have decided I'm going to walk to the theatre, even though it's cold. There is something wrong with my head apparently. Oh well, at least I have a funky hat to cover it with.

Update: I came to my senses and did not walk to the theatre. Listening to summery tunes did make me forget the wrath of the cold outside. Dreamgirls was quite good, especially the music and the singing. I enjoyed it and agree that Jennifer Hudson totally deserved the Golden Globe, although there wasn't anything particulary "supporting" about her performance (it was more of a lead). Still, the movie was no Little Miss Sunshine.

A box of candy, smoke in your hair.

Took this from Raina.

A= Available~ yes.
B= Best Friend~ Becca T
C= Cake or pie~ I'm take a cake of the chocolate variety.
D= Drink of choice~ Non-Alcoholic: Chocolate milk or a Latte from Starbucks. Alcoholic: Amaretto and Cranberry juice.
E= Essential item you use everyday~ Okay, beside the obvious essentials like toothpaste, deodorant etc, I'd say mascara. I have really wimpy lashes.
F= Favorite color~ Green
G= Gummy bears or worms~ Worms.
H= Hometown~ Stratford ON Canada
I= Indulgences~ Lush bath products, lattes from Starbucks, books and CDs.
J= January or February~ February 'cuz that's when my bday is.
K= Kids and Names~ None. And I'm not one of those ppl who have names already picked out.
L= Life is incomplete without?~ Music.
M= Marriage date~ I took a quiz online once to predict my marriage date and it said June 2003. Liars.
N= Number of siblings~ Zip, zero, nada. (And no, I'm not a spoiled brat... okay, maybe a little. But I'm pleasant as long as I get my own way.)
O= Oranges or apples~ Oranges. I've been eating a lot of them lately.
P= Phobias or Fears~ Failure and rejection.
Q= Favorite Quote~ I wish I quoted brilliant philosophers and thinkers, but I'll be honest and admit the only thing I quote ever is the Simpsons. A lot. Right now, the quote going through my head is "Marge it takes two to lie: one to lie and one to listen."
R= Reason to smile~ My students.
S= Season~ I love the fall.
T= Tag 3 or 4 people~ You want it, you take it.
U= Unknown fact about me~ I like the new Justin Timberlake song "What goes around... comes around." I'm more than a bit uncomfortable about this.
V= Vegetable you don't like~ Onions.
W= Worst habit~ Worrying about really stupid stuff.
X= X-rays~ Teeth and right foot. (Broke it on a trampoline.)
Y= Your favorite food~ Pad Thai
Z= Zodiac Sign~ Aquarius

There are no right angles in my life.

Funny moment of the day: About 8:35 am. A student from my period 2 class comes by period 1 to visit with me.

"Miss, you're a math teacher too, right?" he says in a very serious tone with a puzzled look on his face.
"Yes, I teach math as well as science," I say, bracing myself for some complex mathematical question. His tone suggested something of differential calculus or perhaps numbers of the imaginary sort.
"Okay... so if David Beckham makes $710 000 per week, how much is that a month?"

I honestly think I will eventually develop some sort of disorder that is related to holding in laughter, because I have to do it so often. Apparently you must have your math teaching qualifications to multiply a big number by four. Just so you know. So, if any of you ever have a difficult question like that, feel free to send it along to me. I like to share my expertise.

On the subject of Beckham, I wish I was paid $250 000 000 for 5 years. Okay, if that wasn't the most pointlessly obvious thing I've ever said, I don't know what is. But, eff it, that's a quarter of a billion for kicking a ball around!! Really, there is something just a little wrong with the world when some people get insanly high salaries and others are starving.

Sigh, anyway, I won't bother pondering the problems with our world because that is not the way to start a weekend. Hmm, I think I may take a little nap, before I figure out what I'd like to do with evening 1 of my weekend with no plans.

Happy weekend!

Held like water in your shaking hands are all the small defeats the day demands.

Yay for Thursday nights and The Office! Is the character of Dwight Schrute not one of the best characters ever? Is it not shocking what happened at the end of tonight's episode? Can it puh-lease be next Thursday now so I can watch the next epidsode??

There's really not much else to report from my world. I think I have a fairly quiet weekend coming up. That's good. I can sleep in and catch up on some other stuff and maybe take some time to read. Definitely take a long bath. Hopefully, the weather will be agreeable enough to go on a long walk. There is so much joy in the little things in life.

I'm falling in love my walkman and me with David Bowie. Yeah. You betcha.

First of all, Happy David Bowie's 60th birthday to each and every one of you! I decided to use the occasion to quote from my favourite Veruca Salt song (With David Bowie). I've been on a bit of a Veruca Salt kick lately. I think that's because I bought the new Nina Gordon album with Christmas money, and I'm enjoying it a lot and it's caused me to listen a lot to Eight Arms to Hold You. (Side note: I bought that album to celebrate the 25 cent raise I got from a promotion at my crappy high school job. I have a scarily accurate memory when it comes to where/when/why I bought every CD I own.)

Anyhow, so I the fact that I'm sitting here writing this post proves that I survived the first day back after vacay! Woo! I have to say, I missed the little rapscallions just a bit. Life is soooooooo boring when you don't have to argue with surly teenagers about cell phones, hats, and the like...

Right now I should be working on making up exams but... oh man, procrastinating is better. I've also kind of decided that I don't have to start them 'til tomorrow because the first day back is stressful/traumatic/busy enough without having to add to it. My deadline isn't until Thursday anyhow and I work better under pressure.

Apparently a little bit of winter decided to come along. I went for a walk and it was a little bit chilly and a few flakes of snow were coming down. I hope that's the worst we get.

I bought myself a new winter hat that I adore at a craft fair in December. I haven't gotten to wear it much with the unseasonably warm weather we've been having. I wore it tonight for my walk. Now, I love that hat, but it doesn't work well with the over-the-ear headphones I have because in order for the hat to look cute, it must go over my ears. If there are headphones on my ears, it doesn't work. So, I had to resort to using my earbuds while wearing the hat. So it looks like if the weather gets home, I'm going to be spending a lot of time changing my indoor headphones with outdoor headphones. I know - my life is sooooooo extremely complicated.

Doesn't it scare the lot of you about how Stephen Harper and his ilk are becoming all "concerned" about the environment and trying to clean up their acts because a poll showed it's the #1 issue for something like 70% of Canadians. Puh-lease. I hope that when the election is eventually called that people don't fall for these old wolves trying to masquarade as sheep. Because then we could be in for a Conservative majority. Scary.

I really like oranges.

I also like rambling and then switching to an unrelated topic just like that. It's fun.

Okay, I do have a little bit of work to get done before I go to sleep. I'm trying to get in the habit of sleeping enough in 2007.

How many days 'til Friday?

It's just as easy as 1-2-3 but the only ones who know, babe, are you and me.

I'm back in Toronto and the wonderment of high speed internet. Not that they don't have high speed back in the sticks, but my parents don't, so I was treated the slowness of dial-up for almost 2 weeks.

This caused a need for me to stay up late last night catching up on my CBC Radio 3 podcasts. I listened to the best of 2006 last night and there was some really good songs that were included. There were some that I really should have added to my best of 2006 list such as:
Skinny Boy - Amy Millan
See You on the Moon! - Great Lake Swimmers
Cereal for Dinner - McEnroe
We Say No - Great Aunt Ida
A Million Dollars - Joel Plaskett Emergency

However, I had one of those special musical moments while listening to this podcast. A song started, there was some piano, then some soft lyrics. I was engorssed in one of those rare times where you absolutely adore a song on first listen. The song was "Time Breaks Down" by Bend Sinister, a Vancouver band who is yet unsigned to a label. Go listen to the song on their myspace page. As Grant Lawrence says, you have to listen to the whole song because you never know where it's going to go. Amazing. I've been listening to it all freaking day.

Also, I was totally unaware there was a new episode of the Office this week. I missed it! My fabulous roommate taped it for me, but I couldn't find it. Thank God for Youtube. I honestly think it was one of the best Office episodes ever. Perhaps my fave of season three? I had a few of those moments that one experiences only during the Office where Michael does something so stupid, and so embarassing, that it's painful. Yet so funny. I also laughed so hard when Dwight was comforting Pam and he was being so sweet (very un-Dwightly) and then said "I guess you're PMS-ing pretty bad, huh?" (Very Dwightly comment.)

The children were eventually rescued by, oh, let’s say Moe.

Above is my favourite ending ever to a Simpsons’ episode. Can you tell how I’ve been spending my lingering moments of my holidays? (I haven’t been that bad… I just had a mini season 9 DVD marathon with my Dad.)

Tomorrow I’m taking the train back to Toronto so I can relax for one last weekend before going back to work. Since the weather’s been so incredibly mild, I’ve been feeling more like I’m on March Break as opposed to Christmas holidays. On Wednesday, I drove to Kitchener-Waterloo to spend some time with friends. As I was driving, I had to take off my wool coat and toss it in the back. I wished I had my sunglasses with me. I also had to shout “Yay Spring Break!” (a la Millhouse Van Houten) a couple of times to amuse myself.

I’ve read a lot this past week. I’ve almost read all of my Christmas books that I got as gifts. First was “The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette” by Carolly Erickson. It was okay. My dad seemed to like it more than I did (he always reads my books before giving them to me. He claims he’s “testing” them). I was hoping for more detail on her life when she moved to France; Sophia Coppolla’s movie has a lot about that period, and for some reason, I find it more fascinating than her later life during times of political strife.

My second book was “The Last Days of Dogtown” by Anita Diamant. I really recommend it. It’s about a dying village inhabited by spinsters, whores, and other castoffs, in Massachusetts in the early 1800s. It’s very well done and made me cry in parts. (Books always get points for making me cry – unless I feel that I’ve been manipulated. Then they lose points.)

Third on my list was “Lullabies for Little Criminals” by Heather O’Neill. This book was chosen by John K Samson (of my favourite band on earth – The Weakerthans) for CBC Radio’s 2007 Canada Reads. I really enjoyed it overall, although it was definitely disturbing in parts. The book deals with a 12/13 year old girl who has been raised by her very young heroin-addicted negligent father. She ends up spiraling into drugs and prostitution; it was the prostitution part that was really hard to read about. However, the book was definitely a gripping read. I want to read the rest of the Canada Reads selections so that perhaps I can download the podcasts and be really into the whole thing.

Right now I’m reading my last book, “Teacher Man” by Frank McCourt. It’s his memoirs about his years teaching high school English in New York City. There are some parts I really relate to, and it’s probably good that I left it for last, in that it’s getting me back into the teaching mindframe. When he describes his teaching, he mentions how the students would get him off-track quite a bit by asking him to tell stories about his childhood in Ireland. This reminds me so much of a high school geography teacher that I had (right now all of my high school friends who are reading this are chuckling and remembering about how we called his class “colouring class”). He used to tell these stories about this “crazy” high school in Scarborough that he used to teach at. It turned out that my first practice teaching assignment was at that school, and either he exaggerated a lot, or the school had turned over a new leaf by the time I got there.

Hmmm, when I sat down to write this post, I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about, but it looks like it’s become a book review post. I love when my brain seems to pick a blogging topic on its own, and I feel like I’ve done very little thinking in the process.

Oh, and happy weekend to all!

So this is the new year and I don't feel any different...

It's not the new year yet, but I figured that a line from "The New Year" by Death Cab for Cutie, which just happens to be one of my favourite New Year's songs (suck on that Auld Lang Syne), would be fitting for my 2006 year end post.

So, here are the things that rocked in the world of Christielli in 2006.

Rocking Trips
Cuba --> Why the eff did I not take a tropical vacay for my 2006/2007 holiday? Oh yeah, someone spent too much money on the following...
Trip to the "Old Country" --> I find it cool that a few ppl that I know are planning trips to England in 2007. Makes me wistful for my England/Wales/Ireland trip this summer. I will go back, maybe not in 2007, but definitely at some point.

Rocking Albums
Neko Case: Fox Confessor Brings the Flood - officially my fave CD of 2006
Also in the top:
Damien Rice: 9
Sloan: Never Hear the End of It
Memphis: A Little Place in The Wildnerness
Hawksley Workman: Treeful of Starling
Amy Milan: Honey from the Tombs
Dashboard Confessional: Dusk and Summer

Rocking Concerts
I did not go to nearly enough concerts in '06 (what I say every year - but it was particularly true of '06 when I think I only went to like 10). I plan to remedy this in '07. But, of the far too few I went to, the most noteworthy were:
Hawksley Workman at Massey Hall - OMG such a good show. It was supposed to be in March, but got postponed 'til Becca T's birthday (June 10th) and was well worth the wait.
Sarah Harmer at Harbourfront - Love her.
Dashboard Confessional/City & Colour at the Molson Amp - I was like the oldest person there, but man, Dashboard's good.
Christine Fellows at the Rivoli - Becca T was disappointed because she felt the overhead projector art took away from the performance, but I still had a great time.

Rocking Songs
According to my iPod, I listened a lot to:
My Braids - Colin Munroe
In the Cinema Alone - Memphis
Incredibly Drunk on Whiskey - Memphis
The Lights and Buzz - Jack's Mannequin
Headspin - Lukas Rossi
Rootless Tree - Damien Rice
I Dreamed We Fell Apart - Memphis
All That I Want - The Weepies
So Long, So Long - Dashboard Confessional
Light Years - Sloan

Rocking TV
Rockstar Supernova - Anyone who read my blog, or talked to me this summer/early fall, was well aware of my obsession with the show. And yay to my boy winning!
The Office - Again, I think we're all well aware that Office time on Thursday nights is the high point of my week, and the $40 I spent on the season two DVDs was some of the best spent money of my life. I LOVE JIM!!!
Ugly Betty - I watch this too. It's the TV equivalent of a good chick lit book.
Daily Show/Colbert Report - Still love these two.

Rocking Books
The Girls by Lori Lansens was published in 2005, but I read it this year, and loved it a lot.
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky - Such an amazing story behind the book, and the book is wonderful.
Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventrue and Tony Hawk's Around Ireland With A Fridge - older books that I discovered this year that made me laugh very very very hard.
The Birth House by Ami McKay - Like The Girls, another great book by a Canadian woman.

Rocking Movies
Marie Antoinette - I'm in the love it camp for this movie.
An Inconvienient Truth, Who Killed The Electric Car? and Shut Up and Sing - great documentaries
I loved Will Ferrell in Ricky Bobby and Stranger Than Fiction
Little Miss Sunshine - saw it twice in theatres, loved it twice

Rocking People
The last four months of 2006 have been very difficult ones with both of my parents having health problems. I am such a blessed person to have the most supportive friends, blog buddies, and colleauges. There are so many people in my life that I appreciate deeply. Thanks guys.

Rocking Job
I still really do love my job. Yay for that.

Rocking Miscellaneous
Starbucks put out some quality beverages this year that I spent too much money on.
I got addicted to Lush bath products this year.

Okay, so that's it for my list of 2006 enjoyabilities. I was going to wish you all a rocking new year, but then I realized that's very Dick Clark, which is not cool, so I'll just say have a fantabulous new year.

A word that rhymes with hopeful, for the new year.

"Do one thing at a time and who the eff cares?"

This is the rather poorly worded sentence that officially became my new year's resolution as I was sitting in a cold car, talking on the phone, trying to consolidate new year's plans with my pal Christa.

Now, for those of you who have had the oppurtunity to have a phone conversation with me (I was going to use the word joy, but I'm not so sure that's it), you will know that I tend to go off on tangents a lot while speaking on the phone. I tend to think of something else in the middle of a sentence and then start talking about it. Hmmm, I could get distressed and worry that it means I'm a horrible converstationalist, but I'll take the glass as half empty, and interpret it as a sign that I have a very fast brain.

Anyhow, during my converstaion, I lamented about how I really hate New Year's. It comes too quickly after Christmas, and I'm not really in the mood for a big party, and I can never find a party that meets my specifications. I think it's because when I was younger, New Year's meant I'd probably get super drunk and get involved in some shenanigans that would somehow become legendary among me and my friends. Even though I think New Year's plans become more sedated as one gets older, I still feel this nagging feeling of loserdom if I don't have really cool plans. I've got my default plans set up for this year, but I'm still investigating my options.

Talks of New Year's made me lament my problems with new year's resolutions. Usually I use new year's as a time to examine every single thing that I consider wrong with my life and come up with a series of resolutions to fix them. This means I end up resolving absolutely nothing and end up getting frustrated.

So, I have decided to do one thing at a time and not over-complicate things. I think I'll start with an easy resolution like eating out far less or going to the library instead of buying books. Then, after feeling a bit of success, I'll move onto harder things. Yeah, that'll work.

I also lamented to my pal that I tend to worry over really stupid things that really I should not care about. I declared that my 2007 philosophy will be "Do one thing at a time and who the eff cares?" So I'm feeling like I can handle this new year thing now. Yay for my pal Christa! Honestly, I don't know what I'd do without her.

ps I will prolly post some sort of best of 2006 to end the year with. I just like to list the things I enjoyed in the past year. So, that'll be soon and I hope you all have a good ending to 2006.

Andrew Jackson all I'm asking show us the wheel and give us the wine.

I have to admit, I always feel a bit of post Christmas let-down. You spend so much time and energy getting ready for the day and then *poof* it's gone.

The days leading up to Christmas were super fun. My last-day-of-work lunch party was pretty fun. And, since I was smart and took a late night train to St. Ratford, I avoided a lot of stress.

On Saturday, I had a very fun Christmas get together with my ol' friends from high school. Tacky presents were exchanged (some more dirty than tacky) and much alcohol was consumed. Yay for that!

I find I'm perhpas not as cheery as usual this year. I partially blame the weather. It feels more like early November than December.

Hoping to spend the next few days reading the stack of books I got for Christmas, enjoying the music that I purchased on Zunior's boxing day sale, and catching up some more with friends. I dig this no work thing.

I made it!

The countdown has diminished to one write-off day! Woot!

If I don't post until after the holiday craziness has diminished, Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!

Christmastime has come. There will be toys for everyone.

I am very tired. After school, a colleague and I went to the mall across from the school to get a couple of plastic sets of drawers with wheels to wheel our crap around in. We've been complaining about the piles of crap (ie paper, scissors, books, marked work, extra copies of assignments for those who lose them, pencils, markers, binders, you get the picture) that we have to lug around. Anyhow, we came up with this solution and figured that if there were 2 of us with drawers to push around, kids could not make fun of us. I could say "Well, Ms so-and-so has one." If there's one thing teenagers understand, it's doing something because your peers are.

Anyway, after the operation-plastic-drawer was completed I decided to go do some more shopping. I ended up at the Eaton Centre, mostly because I've been meaning to take a picture of the breathtaking Swarovski crystal tree that they have up. It's way prettier in real-life, but here's a picture.

2 more full days + 1 write-off to go!

ps It's not Christmas if I don't have a new CD. My mom gave me carte blanche to go buy one for myself on her, but I can't think of any that I want. Any suggestions?

I'm fine with all my memories, still I could use vacation...

3 more teaching days (+ one write -off day) 'til Christmas vacay! Yes, this blog will be all-countdown, all the time until the big moment: Friday at 2 pm, when we're allowed to leave.

Anyhow, I didn't really do the whole weekend rundown thing yet, so I will.

To the best of my recollection, I was exhausted on Friday, so I came home, did some cleaning, and went to bed early. Woo. My teenage self would be *mortified* at the idea that I would do such a thing.

Saturday was super Christmas shopping day! I'm pretty much done; except for a few little things that I'd like to get when I'm in St. Ratford (as opposed to lugging them home on the train.) I went to this really cool craft fair that I read about in the paper on Friday. I got a few little gifts, plus the super-cute hat (below) for myself. After the craft fair, I went to various other shopping locales and got some other random gifts. One of my favourite finds was some Giant Microbes. They're stuffed toys that resemble various microbes at 1000x magnification. I got them for a couple of colleagues in my department (a red blood cell and white blood cell) and couldn't resist getting a bookworm for myself.


Sunday was my 9th annual gift exchange extravanganza with my pals Becca T and Flora. We usually try to go to Swiss Chalet for a Festive Special. I got some really nice gifts from each of them. Plus, I was quite pleased with the stuff that I found for them. I got Becca T a Dwight Schrute bobblehead that I had to order from NBC. She was quite pleased.

Below is a picture of our little Christmas tree. Note the large ornament in the front. That was made and sent to me by Raina. See, Raina, it's on my tree!!! It was the first decoration on the sucka... I've gotten some other gifts and cards from bloggers too for Christmas. Yay for blogging! Thanks guys!


We also have lights on our balcony this year. Long story short - since both my parents are sick, they haven't decorated for Christmas. Anyhow, last weekend when I was home, I decided that I'd pick up a new string of lights at Canadian Tire, and put them up over the garage. However, I was deterred by the melting snow that kept dripping onto my face from the roof as I tried to carry out that plan. So, I decided to put them on a shrub outside our door instead. They looked really stupid there to me, so I got all frustrated and took them down. Anyhow, I ended up bringing them back to TO and putting them on our balcony where they actually look good. I hadn't seen them from the outside until tonight. I never walk on the side of the building where my apartment faces. I made a special trip tonight and they looked nice- although very very far away since we're 27 floors up.

Well, time for me to get my sleep so I can knock another day off my countdown.

Where have all the good people gone?

'Tis the season of disappearing blogs! I had a favourite disappear a few weeks ago, and now I check today and one more is gone and another is not going, but going through cutbacks.

I'm going to miss the deleted blogs. I'm totally surprised by the connections that I've made through blogging. I started blogging as an avenue for me to write my thoughts, never thinking that I'd ever have anyone read them (and I didn't for the first few months). Then, by browsing others' blogs, I ended up having people whose blogs I read and commented upon faithfully, and who did the same for mine. I have valued each and every one of those people and their comments, and I love reading about your thoughts/feelings/frustrations/fun times/more. So, know that you are all appreciated.

I don't think that I could ever hit the delete button on this thing. I think my posting wanes from time to time, but I have a record here of 1.75 years of my life, and even though most of the time I feel that it's not the deepest nor most innovative material, I must admit I like reading my archives and laughing at myself in the past...

Yay!

Yay for 1 hour Christmas episodes of the Office! Becca T came over for the event, and then we watched The Muppets' Christmas Carol, as is our annual tradition.

Yay for 5 more teaching days of school left until vacay (the last one doesn't count) .

Yay for a successful shopping trip last night that brought me ever so closer to being done my Christmas shopping.

Yay for the Lush bath bomb that I treated myself to. It turned the water in my tub purple and released sparkly stars into the water.

Yay for me putting up Christmas lights on my balcony.

Yay for ice cream.

Yay for a Christmas gift exchange on Sunday with a couple of my friends for whom I've got kickass gifts.

Yay for tomorrow being Friday.

Six Weird Things

Just a little while ago, The Grunt tagged me with the “6 Weird Things” tag, where you simply state six weird things about yourself. I’ve been having a really really tough time thinking of these six weird things let me tell you, not because I’m not weird, but I think since I’m used to my weirdness, my weirdness does not seem weird at all to me. Here is what I’ve come up with:

1) Trigonometry/Calculus Therapy – If I’m feeling nervous, or anxious, or upset and I want to calm myself down, I will do a bit of trig or calc in my head. (Sine = opposite over hypotenuse; the derivative of 3x2 is 6x et cetra.) It’s weirdly calming – at least for me it is. I’m sure some people would find quite the opposite. I read a book (The Memory Keeper’s Daughter) where the main character would recite the periodic table in his head to calm down. Quite frankly, I’d like to try that sometime.

2) Elevator Games – I live on the 27th floor. Hence, I spend a lot of time in the elevator. To pass the time, I will play little games in my head (like closing my eyes for awhile and guessing what floor I’m on when I open my eyes). Once I was in the elevator with my roommate and I asked her what elevator games she played in her head to pass the time (perhaps hoping that I’d learn some new ones). She gave me a weird look, and then I had to explain the whole elevator game thing to her. She declared me weird. Apparently she likes to think of useful things while in the elevator.

3) Christmas Tree Soap Opera – I don’t do this anymore, but the holiday season reminded me of this weird tradition that I had as a kid. As soon as our Christmas tree was up, I’d sit beside it in the evening and make up stories about the ornaments in my head. Quite involved ones, where the tree was more or less their town and they were characters living in the town. That seems even weirder as I type it.

4) Rubbing my Hands Together – Most people do this when they are cold. I do it when I’m excited or hatching an evil plot. My friends have noticed it and make fun of me for it (especially in high school). I don’t think I do this as much any more, which I see as a sign as I’m not concocting enough trouble these days.

5) Play List Queen – Maybe this isn’t so weird; I just have no idea whether other people do this as much as I do. I’m not a fan of putting my iPod on shuffle, because it ends up that I keep rejecting every song that comes up. I’m constantly making “On the Go” playlists. I have a hard time erasing these lists, so my iPod is chock full of lists with titles such as “End of September List” “Last Week of School List” and so on. Do other people do this?

6) Rarely Writing Things Down – I rely on my memory for most things. When I first started emailing my friends a lot (in my first year of university), I didn’t bother using an address book: I had all of their emails in my head and I’d just type them in. I don’t do this anymore but I don’t bother with a daytimer or anything like that – I just remember everything. That’s why if I have a little memory lapse (like forgetting that I lent a kid a pen), I really freak out because if my memory goes, so will my whole memorization system. (Side note: I do pride myself on my memory – if you’re ever going to do something embarrassing, don’t do it my presence, it will not be forgotten.)

If I remember correctly (and I always do, hee-hee) I am supposed to tag six people. So I will tag Jolene, Joanna, Sandee, Becksley, Wes, and AlieMalie.

But if you hit the bottom floor, you'll see the light above my door.

I am in such a better mood today thankfully.

Reason #1 that I'm such a good mood is that I started reading the book I bought last night to cheer myself up. I only read about 30 pages, but they were amazing. The book is "The Girls" by Lori Lansens. It's a book written from the point of view of conjoined twins, and it is set in southwestern Ontario. The beginning has been amazingly interesting; I haven't been rivetted like this by a book in awhile. I hope it keeps up the momentum.

Reason #2 that I'm in a good mood is that I enjoyed my day at work besides an incident that caused me to *panic* for a good 5 minutes (I thought I lost something;I didn't), and another that made me want to bash my head into a wall (more or less a kid who is really really really out to lunch - how can I help someone when they lose *everything* and can't even remember to bring a pencil to class?). Despite all of this, I still enjoyed my day.

Anyhow, I still have to say boo-urns to the fact that there is not a new episode of The Office tonight. However, next week will be an hour.

I'm taking the train to St. Ratford this weekend. I think it's going to be a busy weekend. Hope that you all have awesome weekends and thanks for all of the happy messages on my melancholy day yesterday.

ps I just downloaded the song "The Sweet Escape" from the new Gwen Stefani album. Candy. The song is like sweet delicious candy. Too fun. Get it if you need a fix of sugar.

I'd take the seasick crocodile.

I'm having one of those days where for some reason, I was in a great mood and then blam!, I crashed into a funky weird melancholy mood. I know exactly where I was when I crashed. I had for some reason gotten off at the wrong subway stop (I wasn't paying attention or something). So, oops, whatever, I'd walk to the next stop. Didn't bother me one bit. Since I had to walk a couple of blocks through prime shopping territory, I decided to do some browsing. I wasn't in a shopping mood but I decided to look around the Bay at Christmas decorations. As I was looking at some weird funky decoration my mood totally turned.

Anyhow, I've been trying to do everything to zap this mood. I've watched a couple of episodes of the Office. (Boo to no new episode tomorrow) (Btw, If you wanna watch full episodes of the Office, go here.) I even went for a walk and bought myself a book to read since I finished my book club book last night. I haven't even gotten around to opening it because I've been wasting my time sampling stupid ass songs on iTunes. I hate when I waste time doing something dumb like that because my brain is in some sort of weird state.

I'm also annoyed because when I was talking to my dad tonight he made some comment about me being just an average student. Okay, here I am, YEARS out of school (obviously) and that royally pissed me off. Gah. I HATE when something silly gets under my skin. It's so weird - one of the only things I've ever been confident about in my life is my scholastic ability and if anyone dares to question my ability, I get really mad, which perhaps might mean I'm not even confident in that. Grr. Oh, and one thing I can't stand is if anyone treats me like I'm dumb or talks down to me. Talking down to me is one way to quickly get on my bad side.

Okay, on the bright side, I did show one of my classes An Inconvenient Truth and it got them all riled up in a good way. They wanted to go out and plant trees and write letters to their MPs and the like.

Sorry for the incoherent rant. I think I feel a bit better. Maybe sleep is necessary. I have a bad habit of being tired and needing sleep and fighting it off for some odd reason. Weird.

Oh, on the bright side part 2 - we have another PD day on Friday. That means a day off planning for me. I can stay up late tomorow night and watch the Daily Show. Woo! Maybe life isn't quite the irritant that it seems to be at the moment.

Unplayed pianos are oftern by a window...

Not having to spend about 5 hours in transit this weekend has made the weekend seem super long and relaxing.

To add to the relaxation, I also treated myself to long sleeps and long baths. I feel more relaxed than I have since the summer.

I did some Christmas shopping this weekend. I braved the Eaton's Centre (going between 7 and 9 on Friday and 6-7 on Sunday meant the crowds weren't bad at all). I've been remiss in bringing my camera places with me so my picture-a-day project is at a standstill right now. (However, I pledged to try it for a week, and I did make it a week.) I really wish I'd remembered my camera when I was at the mall; there is a stunning huge tree covered in Swarovski crystals. I swear I'll get a picture next time I go.

Today I went for a movie and dinner with Becca T and a couple of university friends who I haven't seen for a very long time. It was fun. The movie was Deja Vu with Denzel Washington. I'd perhaps give it 3 stars out of 5. I generally don't go for action-y movies. If a movie is too exciting, I get bored and fall asleep. Since I didn't fall asleep during this one, I'll say it wasn't half bad. (I had wanted to see Happy Feet in 3D but I was voted down. Boo-urns.) Dinner was the festive special at Swiss Chalet. Yum!!

That's it for now. I have to get back to reading. It's staff book club meeting on Wednesday and I've got a couple hundred pages to read. I was the one who suggested the book so my face would be a little red if I don't have it finished.

Ciao.

It's not like I don't love you but you wear your braids...

This was tonight:

(Okay the picture is a bit crappy... I would have zoomed out, but there were these people making out on the street behind the sign, and I didn't need a picture of that to commemorate my evening.)

I had a super fun time. First of all, I feel a certain giddiness when I'm out on a school night. Especially when I have a drink or two (I had a couple beers at the show - beer, even in small quantities, hits me hard). I remember having a similar feeling sneaking out as a teenager and "fooling" the adults. Now I have a similar feeling as an adult from sort of shirking my responsibilities and having fun.

Secondly, It was sooooooooooo fun being at a small concert! Espeically since there was no cover... My 2006 concert going has been very disappointing. I need to improve in 2007. New year's resolution made already, I tell you.

The first band who played was called Howl and apparently it was their first show ever. They were fairly enjoyable. As I said to Becca T, I've seen a lot of worse bands in my day.

Colin Munroe (check out his myspace to listen to some songs), aka Becca T's musician friend, was quite good. His songs are really catchy. I'm looking forward to his CD coming out (apparently spring 2007).

Also, check out my friend Becksley's post from today. She's having a Christmas charity/scam dilemma. Feel free to advise her, oh you wise readers of my blog. ;)

We can wish on the pop of a light bulb or those photos lying yellow and curled.

Today's picture: the long line of newspaper boxes at a sample Toronto intersection.

Today was pretty good. I think I left my brand new lunch bag (that I got free with something else) on the subway. Oh well, easy come, easy go. Hopefully a hungry person finds it, since there were a couple of clementines and a banana in it. Unfortunately, so was my pretty and new-ish umbrella, so it's back to the old red one that I have that won't break or get lost for love nor money. A coworker of mine used to marvel about how I'd had the same umbrella for a really long time...

It looks like tomorrow night, Becca T and I will be seeing her friend Colin Munroe at the Rivoli. Yay! A concert! He's opening for someone or other, and since we're old and need to get to sleep at a decent time on a worknight, we'll leave after him. I mentioned his song "Your Braids" a couple of weeks ago. That song has actually sneaked up to become my most-listened-to song on my iPod.

So..... hopefully tomorrow's pic (which may be posted late) will be concert related. Woo!

Even though she is clear and true, she's very talented too, she isn't wearing the right boots.

The shoes on the right are my copper coloured, shiny Mary Jane Skechers that won't quite frankly cut it once the weather worsens.

The shoes on the left are the new shoes I bought today to wean myself off my Skechers. A couple staff members at work have similar ones, and I really like chunky shoes, and it's hard to find a good pair of them now days. They were kind of pricy, but my mom talked me into buying them with a "why do you have a job if you don't splurge once in awhile?" speech.

Pretty ones are hanging on the wings...

These weekends go too fast I tell you.

Friday - PD (professional development for AliMalie... this means there are no kids for a day) day was relaxing.

Caught train home from Union Station. Here's a picture of the busyness of Union Station for you:


Arrived in Ratford in good time. Met up with some friends. Attempted to go out for coffee. Turns out, all decent coffee places in Ratford close at 8 pm. Ended up wandering into a higher end bar for drinks. We ended up feeling a bit underdressed. Also, I accidentally ordered a $9 Irish coffee. Moral of story - never order something that isn't on the menu where you can safely see the price.

Saturday - Visited my mom in the hospital. Here is a picture of where I park. I use the lot near a nature area that we used to call the Old Grave. It has a different name now.

I used to ride my bike here as a kid with friends, and we'd plan tree forts and play in the river and the like. Anyhow, I always think I should go for a walk around the place since I'm always using its parking lot, but I'm always wearing the wrong shoes (Mary Jane Skechers that would result in me having muddy feet.)

I then drove to Waterloo to visit my friend Jo and have dinner. Good times.

Sunday - Ran errands, spent time with my dad. Took picture of train tracks at the end of the day so that I could continue my blog project. I figured that train tracks are quite representative of my life these past few months because I've spent a lot of time on trains.


Thankfully, the train was only 10 minutes late and I'm home safe and sound relatively on time.

ps My dear friend Becksley has started a blog. She is my friend from high school who got me into Hawksley Workman. Bless her soul and read her blog!

I don't know what it is that makes me feel alive.

Today's picture displays how I'm indulging after tonight's round of parent-teacher intereviews.

Yes, I am aware that I'm eating cheap ice cream. I don't believe in paying $7 for ice cream. Anyhow, this stuff is left over from something or other, so I figure eating some of it will help empty out the freezer.

Bonus fun game = my penguin ice cream scoop needs a name. Any suggestions?

Interviews went well tonight. I'm lucky, because the 'rents at my school tend to be supportive so I don't have any horror stories. I tend to more or less enjoy inteviews, even though it makes for a long night. I wasn't overly busy this year; I have two senior classes and only a small class of grade 9s. I spent a lot of time chatting with other un-busy teachers who were wandering around, and various students who were around. I won comment of the evening award when I interrupted someone to say "The big coffee I had just wore off." (Maybe we were over-tired and worn out from a long day, but it killed the people who I said it to.)

Tomorrow is a PD day. Can you all cross your fingers for me that it isn't overly boring?

Then I'm off on the train for another weekend in Ratford. Check ya tomorrow with another picture.

Takin' the long way around

I enjoyed "Shut Up and Sing" and of course went out and bought the Dixie Chicks' new CD today. Oh gosh. My first country CD. My friends from Ratford are going to be shocked. I hated country music with a passion back in high school. I have to admit, living in the city has made me a bit more "countrified" in my muscial tastes. I'm not a fan of anything that's new country, of course, but I'm totally into so-called alt country. A lot of my fave artists like Neko Case, Kathleen Edwards, and yes, even the Weakerthans have a bit of a country feel to their music. It was a matter of time before I got into something like the Dixie Chicks. Of course, the fact that they are ashamed of George Bush and their new song stuff is a bit more rock-ish and political would be the final hook for me.

Anyhow, since I was busy seeing movies and stuff last night, I didn't start my picture-a-day-for-a-week blog project. But I've started today. The picture below is the view of an intersection that I cross daily. I like being able to seeing the CN Tower in between other buildings.


After taking this picture, I thought about how living in Toronto was a dream of mine when I was a kid, but I never really acknowledged it. However, whenever I thought about what and who I wanted to be when I grew up, I always pictured myself in a city, usually that city would be Toronto.

Whenever I visited Toronto, I would be extremely excited, especially at the point where you are nearing the city and you can see the skyline in the far distance. I think that deep down excitement remains with me when I look down Yonge St. and see the CN Tower. It's pretty exciting to think that I'm living where I dreamed to live when I was younger.

And that's why I think I instinctively like my daily view of the CN Tower down Yonge St. as I come home from work.

Time is contagious, and everybody's getting old.

I am a girl who is surviving on three hours' sleep last night plus an after-work nap.

Why only two hours of sleep? Well, my Ratford to Toronto train was over 2 hours last night, getting me home at 1:45 am. And, of course the agitation of sittting around the Ratford train station, on very very uncomfy benches, for two hours made sleep evade me until about 3:45. Yuck.

Surprisingly, I was somehow less tired today than I am on a typical Monday. Go figure.

Here are all of the relevant updates after a 3 day break from blogging.

1) My roommate loved the Office themed gift. Mission accomplished.

2) Weekend was okay. Went home to visit the 'rents. Mom's still in the hospital getting lots of physiotherapy and Dad's back home sleeping a lot and hopefully slowly regaining his strength.

3) My iPod now is playing a mix Damien Rice and Sloan peppered with a healthy mix of Christmas music and other enjoyabilities.

4) New blog project = I want to go a week where I take a picture everyday and post it here. I am so going to start tomorrow.

5) Going to see the Dixie Chicks movie tomorrow night with the student teacher I ended up kind of adopting this past month. Should be fun.

6) Today I received a bottle of wine and some chocolates from various co-workers as a thank-you for my overall fabulousity.

Hmmm, is that the sound of lab reports I hear asking to be marked?

And it leans on me like a rootless tree..

Today's topics of discussion are:

1) Damien Rice's new CD: "9"

LOVE IT. Get it now. It's soooooooooo good.

Only one problem: my favourite song on the CD, Rootless Trees, has a chorus that starts off with a bit of swearing. The problem with this is that I'm constantly singing it and I'm terrified that I will absent-mindedly start singing it in class. Oops. So much for being a role-model.

2) Present for Roommate

...is finishsed. Thank you all for your fabulous ideas for a Michael gift, however I didn't have time to obtain a Chili's gift certificate, nor enough money to buy a Forman grill as a joke, nor the time/inclination/stomach to go to Hooter's. Soooo... I did my best and got her an Office Voodoo Kit that I came across at Indigo. Seemed like the type of thing Michael would give. On the tag, I wrote "Since you don't have an awesome boss like me, this will be useful. I have one myself. I use it on Toby. It doesn't seem to be very effective because he's still coming to work."

I managed to obtain all of the other gifts. I also made a "Schrute Farms: Scranton's best beets" label for the jar of beets. I was laughing maniacally while I was making it. It's too funny. I put a picture of Dwight on it.

3) Mission in the Rain

I ordered Becca T's Christmas present online. It arrived very quickly because it was Fed-Exed. Problem was this is that of course I'm not home when they come around so I have to make other arrangements to pick it up. Now, you think that Fed Ex would have a depot close to central Toronto to pick up packages. Nope. I had to take the subway north and then a freaking bus to pick up the package. I'm so not impressed. I've had things sent to me via Purolator, and I just have to walk a block up the street to pick it up. Anyhow, it took me over an hour to go pick it up.

However, it was totally worth it because it is an awesome gift. I'd tell you all what it is, but I suspect the girl reads my blog from time to time, unlike my roommate (so I hope), so I can't say what it is, nor give any hints.

4) My dislike of Suburbia

My mission in the rain took me into the north part of the city which is so suburban and blah. As I was walking, I realized that where I was looked like pretty much ANYWHERE and had no personality and was just extremely blah. I will never move away from the downtown/midtown areas of the city if I can help it. I cannot take suburban blahness.

That's it for today. Must go to bed. But seriously go buy Damien Rice's new CD. And buy his old one, "O", if you don't have it.

How'd it get this late so early?

I tried to post today. First blogger was out and then my internet went wonky. Gah.

Anyhow, the weekend was good. I enjoyed not having to catch a train, hanging with friends, seeing Becca T speak, being in the city, procrastinating and seeing the Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D. Good times.

Today was a relatively painless Monday. I think the kids got out their bad behavoiur last Monday. I really hope that's it for the semester.

I voted today in the municipal election. The polling station was in the lobby of my building. Talk about convienience. Everyone I voted for won. Wish that always happened (cough cough federal election).

Tomorrow I have to finish assembling my roommie's Office themed birthday gift. If I have time, I'm going to make a "Happy Birdday" card and sign it from "your Thursday night pals". I am going to label each gift from a character. Here's what I am going to get:
a) jello from Jim
b) jelly beans from Pam
c) M&Ms from Kevin
d) a tacky cat thing from the dollar store from Angela
e) a bottle of alcohol from Meredith
f) a crossword puzzle book from Stanley
g) a jar of beets from Dwight
h) the fabulous Office calendar from me

Okay, one thing: I want to give something from Michael. But what? I wish I lived in the States and could get a Chili's gift certificate. Yeesh. Huh. Any ideas?? I did see a voodoo kit for Offices... I could see Michael buying that for someone, but I want something from the show. (Oh, I could get her an iPod... but... she has one already and I haven't won the lottery yet.)

Anyhow, as you can tell, I do like to put effort into gifts. Nothing makes me happier than giving a good theme gift.

Right now I'm listening to a song I really like called "Your Braids" by Colin Munroe. It's available on iTunes. Anyway, he's a friend of Becca T's (I think they went to camp or something) and he's releasing a CD in the spring. This song will be the single and was apparently mixed by someone who worked with the Killers. It is a good song, hence I supported the cause by buying it from iTunes. I recommend it, if you're into happy indie pop.

Tomorrow night = Borat. Hmmmm, could I count it as professional development do you think? Perhaps seeing it will help my classroom management because I will be able to recognize off-task-Borat-related conversations much faster.

I think I will find some wood and build a house or maybe a boat, I don't know.

What a busy busy week. My lack of blog postage this week reflects said business. I had plenty of inspiration, just no time to write it all down. So here are some of my feeble recollections of this week:

a) I gasped in happiness when I found that the Hasty Market by my place had some Schwepps Raspberry Gingerale. That was my fave drink when I was perhaps 12. Yum. I'm drinking some right now.
(By the way, the Hasty Market is appropriately named. The prices there are quite inflated, so you'd only shop there when you're feeling hasty.)

b) Monday was a rough day at school but the rest of the days have been great. Last night, I stayed at school very late helping with the school open house and it was very successful and made me quite proud of some of my students. Oh, plus said students made me laugh a tonne of times with comments like "Miss, you have an iPod? I thought all teachers were against iPods!" Of course, I explained that I was anti-iPod in the classroom because I was not allowed to have mine with me, hence they were not allowed to have theirs.

c) The Democrats took the House and the Senate. Woot. Last night's Colbert Report made me cry with laughter at his reaction to the whole thing. And, in other earth-shattering news, Britney left K-Fed.

d) The Office was kickass yet again. And... Oh. My. God. Next week there will be a Jim and Pam reunion.

e) Don't you love how when you are exhausted from work, and you need to get home so you can make some chocolate macaroons for the staff potluck the following day, there are problems with the subway and you end up walking half the way home? I know I do.

f) May the pimping out of places for Christmas begin. It seems like today is the official start for a bajillion Christmas commercials on TV (admittedly, I haven't really watched TV in a week, so they could have been on early). Plus when I walked into Starbucks today, their menu was all holiday-ized.

Now.... one could be cynical and grumpy about the commercialization of Christmas and how it starts faaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrr too early. But... This means I can start listening to my favourite Christmas music!!! I love my Christmas music. My favourites albums/songs are:
1) Almost a Full Moon by Hawksley Workman - I cheat and listen to a lot of the song all year long. This is such an awesome original Christmas album.
2) Maybe This Christmas Tree - An amazing compiliation with Death Cab for Cutie, The Raveonettes, The Polyphonic Spree, Pilate and lots of other cool stuff. Get this. Seriously.
3) Lonely Christmas Eve - Ben Folds - This song is from the Jim Carrey Grinch soundtrack, but it's essentially the Grinch's speech about how he hates the whos summed up in a Ben Folds song.

I usually try to get one new Christmas CD each year. So far I'm tempted by the Sarah McLachlan one, but we'll see what else there is out there before I make my purchase.

g) I am staying in Toronto this weekend. I'm so enjoying the fact I will not be rushing to catch a 5:40 train tomorrow night. So far my plans for the weekend are to go to an event at which my pal Becca T is speaking, go see The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3D, catch up on cleaning and laundry, and get report card done. Apparently I'm quite wicked, becasue I get no rest.

h) There are a tonne of movies that I want to go see. Of course, I'm prioritizing and seeing the special 3D version of Nightmare, but I also want to see Borat, The Dixie Chicks movie and Stranger than Fiction. Hmmm... I'm going to do my best to see all of them.

Anyhow, hope you all have great weekends.

I open my mouth and I scream.

Oh gosh. Monday + full moon + kids spending the entire weekend eating Halloween candy (or such is my hypothesis) = frustrating day at work. Gah besmirch. It really sucks having a frustrating day at work, and then getting home only with the distasteful fact that I have a pile of work to get done. I'd much rather crawl into bed and go to sleep.

I really could rant on and on about my crappy day but I won't. I just hope my theory that bad days are usually followed by good ones (at least it seems to be the case in my profession) holds true.

At least Monday is over. I don't like Mondays.

The weekend was okay. I made another trip home, and hung out with my grumpy father. His grumpiness is a sign he's getting better. When he was sick, he was rather mild-tempered and wanted company. Very unlike himself.

I also did a bit of socializing on Saturday night. I feel like I have not been socializing enough in the past five weeks.

Incredibly, I went the WHOLE weekend without taking out my computer once. It sat in my bag the whole time I was home. The nice thing about neglecting the internet world for awhile, is that when you get back, you have a tonne of emails and feel quite popular.

All right, I think I'm gonna have a mini-nap and then attack my pile of work.

How great I am. Gotta tell myself, yeah, I'm the man.

Yay for the Office yet again! Oh, did I laugh. Oh, did Becca T, my roommie and I cry "Jim check your phone!!" I cannot wait 'til next week... He'll have to have seen the text message then, right?

Awhile ago, I was hanging out with my friend Sandee and I told her a story to which she replied "I can't believe you didn't put that on your blog!" So I will put it on my blog.

I was in the big Winners on Bay/Bloor street with my book club pals. (We took a break from discussing literature for a movie/shopping girls day.) Anyhow, we're in the shoe section and on the floor I see the shoes that I've been coveting on the floor and I say "Ohmigosh! They have the shoes I want here!" I go to pick one up to see the price and a lady is like "Oh, um those are my shoes."

I was sooooooooo embarassed. What kind of moron picks up another person's shoe when they're trying on other shoes?? I'm too cool.

Anyhow, that's my embarrassing story.

So the song line in today's title comes from Ben Folds' song Family of Me from the Over the Hedge soundtrack. I'm in love with his songs from that soundtrack.

Well, I'm going to off to the 'rents place again this weekend. Hope your weekends are super fun.

Let's waste time chasing cars around our heads.

Good news! My dad was released from the hospital today!

Now, just my mom has to get better. She admitted herself to the hospital last week because she's been having complications due to her MS. I didn't write about it because I was just tired of thinking and talking and writing about sickness related issues. It's actually good that she's there and getting care. Hopefully she will be home soon.

Halloween was non-eventful. Becca T came over and we watched a movie (Friends with Money - both of us enjoyed it) and had some beverages of the alcoholic type and some candy and popcorn.

Today I did what any good North American robot consumer would do the day after Halloween: I started my Christmas shopping.

In my defense, it was because I saw the perfect gift for the hardest person on my list. What a relief to not have that to worry about.

Okay, here's a call for help from all of you fellow Office fans out there. My roommate, who I am 99% sure does not read my blog, is having a birthday on November 18th and I'm getting her an Office-themed bday gift. It started with a kickass Office 2007 calendar that I found in Zellers in Stratford. Here are the other things I'm thinking of throwing in:
- jello
- M & Ms (Kevin's favourite candy)
- Cups of Noodles (Kevin's favourite lunch)
- a green teapot (if I can find it)
- a jar of beets?
So.... any other suggestions of Office related stuff that I can throw in??