Got nowhere but home to go; got Ben Folds on my radio right now.

So far it's been one of those weeks where it seems like work rules, and everything else is just a small side dish.

On the upside, I enjoy my job and most of the busyness has been fun, but it's been pretty tiring. Yesterday at about 7:30 pm, I lay down on my bed thinking "I'll close my eyes for a minute" and slept for three hours. I woke up at 10:30, shuffled into the kitchen to make my lunch for the next day and then went back to bed.

Today was a beautiful day - sunny, but chilly - so I decided to walk home from work. I've never done this before and I've always been curious as to how long it would actually take me to make the trek. The answer is about 85 minutes. It was a good walk though since I got to spend quite a bit of quality time with my iPod.

Ummm, I don't really have much else to say, so I'll leave you with a cartoon that I used to have hanging on my fridge. It makes me laugh hard. The look on the cow's face is priceless.

Floating over your rocky spine.

Some bits and bites from this weekend:

* I decided that I wanted the new Great Lake Swimmers album Ongiara and went on a search for said CD. Turns out I couldn't find it because it's not in stores (well, except one store had it as a pre-release on vinyl) until March 27th. However, it is available digitally on iTunes and Zunior. In my need of immediate gratification, I bought it from the latter. And oh. My. God. It's beautiful. (If you're into folk/alt.country/indie rock stuff. Which I totally and decidely am.) My girl Sarah Harmer adds vocals to the track I Became Awake which is my favourite on the CD. Oh, I suppose I should say album instead of CD since I actually do not own the CD.

*I went to a birthday party on Friday night at a lounge/club place. I had a great time, got a little tipsy, and took part in many shenanigans including getting into a heated but friendly debate about Kraft Dinner on the street with a random stranger. He started it. I was looking for a pizza place by saying "I know it's over by where my friend used to live. He used to cook for me becasue he was appalled by how much Kraft Dinner was in my diet." (This was in university. I can't remember the last time I had KD. I think I killed it.) I stayed out much later than I have in a long time, so I feel young and cool again.

*The aftermath of the party was that I think I'm even with my roommate now. She confessed to me that she forgot to tell me that there was a message from the library saying that a book that I'd put on hold had come in. I'd put the book on hold not so much that I wanted to read it, but because it had 1000+ holds on it, and I wanted to see how long I'd have to wait to get it (only two months - they must have tonnes of copies). Now I have no book, just a fine.

Now, I didn't really care about the forgotten message thing. The only thing I've gotten mad at a roommate about was leaving something of mine on the balcony during a rainstorm; but even that was probably due to the fact that I was in teachers' college and grumpy about everything since I hated the coursework. But I did a bad thing too now and we're even for the whole message thing.

After stumbling in quite late after a few too many vodkas and sprites, I fell asleep really quickly and did not realize that my alarm clock was still set for 6:30 am from the week. Well, I got up at about 11:30 am and go get a drink since I was a bit dehydrated (quelle suprise). As I'm drinking my glass of water my alarm starts to go off which puzzled me. I go and check my clock and see that it was set to 6:30 am and that would mean it had most likely been going off every 9 minutes for the past five hours, totally unbeknownest to me. Apparently, I must have been hitting the snooze button, but again, totally unaware of it.

I wander into the living room, where my roommate and her fiance were having breakfast. After commenting that it smelled good (I thought it smelled like banana bread, but it was actually western omellette, but I really wished someone would make banana bread for me in my hungover state), I was told all about my alarm clock. It went off at 6:30 am, went off for 15 minutes straight, after which point it stopped. They had thought at first, perhaps I didn't come home last night, but checked to see that the light was turned off in the entry way which would have meant that I had returned home. They figured that I was probably in a very deep sleep and perhaps it wouldn't be wise to wake me up since I might get confused or panicked. Quite thoughtful. I would have been banging on my door yelling "turn off your freaking clock!!" Apparently, they were able to fall back asleep and ignore the clock going off every nine minutes for the rest of the morning. And that's why I love my roommate, even though she forgets to tell me about my library messages. :)

*I love the Toronto Star's Sunday columne My Name Is URL. This week's column has a lot of good stuff in it (hipster karaoke and "She's Condilicious" among others), but this is my favourite. Watch it if you're an Office fan.

Allright, I'm off. I hear a latte calling my name.

Your science is breaking my heart.

Thursday nights with no new Office episodes really suck. Boo NBC! Boo!

Tomorrow is my blog's second birthday. Oh no - it's entering the terrible twos. Run! Anyhow, since the party I thought that I was going to on Saturday night is actually on Friday night (thank goodness I ran into the host today at work; I would have showed up at her place on Saturday looking like a fool), I doubt I'll get around to posting tomorrow, so this is the blogoversary post.

Before I started this post, I went back and read my first month of posting. One of the many things I love about blogging is the fact that I actually have kept a journal for two years of my life. In the past, I'd journal for one, maybe two, months of my life and then stop for a couple years. It's fun reading the little snippets I have going back to when I was much younger, but I love that I have a full two years of life on record. I wish I had that kind of record of other times of my life, especially my university years and my crazy year of teaching in Northern Ontario, but having the past two years is pretty great.

What I noticed from my March 2005 posts is that at that time I was:

• digging the CD "Back to Me" by Kathleen Edwards
• really looking forward to my summer 2005 Australia trip
• watching the very first episode of the American Office.
• figuring out how to add links and pictures to my blog
• excited to get Weezer tickets and then whining about the fact they sold out very fast and I lost out
• looking forward to a Weakerthans concert (which was the last time I saw them!!! Sob!!! Oh the pain of it all. )

The thing that strikes me is that my life isn't much different from then. I'm living in the same place, working at the same school (although I'm permanent now - yay!), and more or less into the same stuff. However, I feel like the phase of my life that started a few months before I started blogging will be ending this summer when I move to a new apartment somewhere. I will be living on my own for the first time in my life, and I'm nervous in some ways and excited in others. It will be nice to have a place that's all my own, and have everything thing in it be a reflection of me. Also, I'm going to get a cat, and I've missed having a pet (my roommate's allergic to furry things). But, I'm really going to miss this apartment and my roommate and my time here. And... I do NOT look forward to packing and moving the stuff. Yuck.

Anyhow, it's been a great two years and it will be interesting to see what I say next blogoversary and where my life will be.

Oh, and the other part of blogging I've enjoyed is keeping up with all the other people that I've come to know through blogging. :)

ps My post title comes from the song "Science" on David Usher's great new CD "Strange Birds".

I've grown accustomed to rose-coloured glasses.

Alright, I've been in a majorly random mood today, so here goes a super-rambling random post.

1) The song "Tears Dry on Their Own" by Amy Winehouse is groove-tastic.

2) I've rediscovered an artist that just the other day I wondered "what ever happened to". Waaaaaay back in 2001 (good God I'm old), I went to see my dear Hawksley play in London Ontario and his opener was Martina Sorbara. My friends and I all really liked her, and I caught her at the Rivoli in Toronto a couple of times after that and picked up her CD "The Cure for Bad Deeds". I hadn't heard anything about her in a long long time and yesterday I ended up reading an article about her new band Dragonette. I'd actually come across their name in a celebrity gossip band of all things because apparently they're the next big thing in Britain. I love their song "I Get Around". It's not normally the kind of thing I'd go for, but it's really fun. I think it's cool that an artist I used to watch in tiny Toronto bars may be the next big thing (although very different from what I used to love - but still fantastic).

3) Today I realized that I'm getting very old because it is 2007 and I graduated from university (the first time) in June 2002, which is almost 5 years ago and 5 years is a long time.

4) Oh yeah, March Break is over: boo. I've returned to slightly calmer kids and a well-rested me. And a pile of work, so you might not see me much in blogland for the next few days.

5) I finished my March Break project of reading a 1177 page historical fiction trilogy on Josephine Bonaparte. It was really good. Does anyone else end up with a bittersweet feeling after you've finished a really good book and you end up missing the characters?

6) Last night, I attended a book club meeting. The selection was a graphic -i.e. comic book style- memoir called Persepolis. I highly recommend it. Anyhow, my friend ended up showing me a book about birth order and it was pretty interesting and explains a lot about my issues with perfectionism since I'm a "Lonely Only". Anyhow, I think I'm going to look for it next time I'm in the library because it was pretty entertaining.

7) I thought of more random things to say today while I was running around on some annoying errands and now I forget what those were. I hate that.

Boo-urns!

I was expecting a brand-spanking-new episode of The Office tonight (that's what they advertised after last week's episode, right? Or am I going senile??) and what do I get? Two back-to-back "newpeats"... Two old episodes, with about 45 seconds of deleted scenes thrown in.

Ides of March indeed. Stabbed in the back by my favourite show.

And our families can't agree; I'm your brother's sworn enemy.

Well, mission cheap-kids'-movie was aborted today. I set on my merry way driving from St. Ratford to Kitchener down ol' highway 7/8 and realized that I could barely see 2 metres in front of me due to the incredibly thick fog. Realizing that it probably wasn't the best idea to risk life in limb to see a $2 movie, I decided to turn around, but actually had to drive to the nearest town (named Shakespeare, I kid you not) in order to turn around because I could not see across the road to safely turn into a driveway.

After making a safe return home, I spent the afternoon napping, and playing cribbage with my dad. He won 2 games out of 3, the fiend!

I had dinner with some friends tonight, hung out, chatted, watched part of a movie and made a late night trip to Shoppers' for nail polish and such. Good times.

I went for another of my late night walks and ended up passing by the St. Ratford jail, which has a sign reading "Perth County Gaol" which makes me happy because I find gaol a pleasing alternative.

On tap for tomorrow: ONE HOUR episode of the Office baby!!!!

Oh on that note, I drove by a road crew today, and one of the workers looked so much like Roy, I kid you not. I decided against looking like a crazy woman and screaming "You'd better not harm a head on Jim Halpert's head!!" out the window.

A brief American Office vs. British Office comparion: Roy is not detestable like Lee, his British counterpart. Even with his breakdown on last episode, I can't really hate him. He just seems rather simple, and not adorably cute and witty like Jim, whom we all love. Poor Roy. He's not bad - he's just not Jim.

You're supposed to have the answer, you're supposed to have living proof.

Why does time go so much faster when you're on vacation?

I've been laying low for my first couple of days in St. Ratford. Just hanging out with my family and doing a lot of reading. I'm almost halfway through my massive trilogy on Josephine Bonaparte. Between this book and my Marie Antoinette phase of late 2006, I've learned more about the French Revolution than I ever thought I would.

I've spent a bit of time going for long walks too. This warm weather is great for it, except for the massive puddles that I end up stepping in since I'm too busy daydreaming and listening to music to watch for them.

I've also been holding my breath when driving or walking across train tracks. It makes me nervous.

I downloaded a new Feist song that I came across on iTunes - "My Moon My Man". It's pretty good. I also bought the Amy Winehouse CD "Back In Black" today since I like the song Rehab and the thing was only $9.99.

Tomorrow I'm driving to Kitchener to catch a $2 kids' movie matinee with a friend, then having dinner with some friends here. I guess I'll be ending my anti-social couple of days, which is good. I get way too emo-y if I spend too much time alone.

Long Afternoon

Last night, I attended a friend's bday party, chatted and visited with people, had a couple drinks and played a murder mystery game.

This morning I woke up a bit earlier than I like to on March Break so that I could catch the morning train home to visit the parents.

Outside of Guelph, I was somewhere in between a state of sleep and wakefulness and staring out the window into the sunny, snow-covered countryside.

I was startled out of my reverie by the passengers ahead of me shouting "Oh my God. Did you see that?" and standing up in their seats, and turning their bodies so they could get a better view of what we were passing by. I shifted my gaze onto the crossroad that the train had just passed over and saw a mid-sized silver car, crumpled at one end, spinning into the ditch.

The train kept running for what seemed like an eternity. I thought that we had just witnessed an accident on the road that we had just passed, for I didn't feel a thing. The passengers ahead of me were saying "We just hit that car." Another passenger, a girl in her late teens, said "What? We just hit a cat?" and then learned that it was actually a car that was hit, and not a cat, although hittting a cat would almost make more sense since we did not feel a thing. Surely something as substantial as a car, carrying human lives, would have been noticeable.

The train finally came to a stop. After a bit of confusion, the conductor came over the PA and announced that we had hit a car and would likely be stopped for 2 hours.

After about 2 hours, passengers going on to Kitchener were taken to the train station by taxi. At some point, people from other cars walked onto my car and explained that they had heard that the car was trying to beat the train, it got nicked at the end, one passenger died and two others were taken to the hopsital. And, oh yes, hold onto your receipt because you'd get a discount next trip.

After about 3 hours, the conductor explained the OPP got permission to back the train up to the road so that we would not have to trudge through snowy countryside. Buses were on scene for passengers on their way to London and Sarnia; taxis were there for Stratford-bound passengers.

After piling into a taxi with some strangers, the driver explained that he'd already heard a lot of details about what had happened from the passengers he'd driven to Kitchener, and they were not pretty so he wouldn't be repeating them. There was a bit of silence, then some of the other passengers started talking again. I remember one woman saying at one point "We've been inconvenienced for a few hours, but in that same time some lives have been changed."

I thought about even though the three hours that I was delayed were insignificant to me, shorter amounts of time can be extremely significant. We had been delayed for about 2 minutes in Toronto because of track maintenance. I wondered about how if we hadn't been held back that two minutes, we would not have crossed paths with that mid-sized silver car that brilliantly reflected the sun's rays as it spun out of control.

(Read here for a report of the accident.)

Spring forward, fall back down.

Got my Ben Folds tickets! Woo-hoo!

And.... it's March Break!!!

That is all.

I might just get up and dance or buy some acid-wash pants...

I checked my email at lunch today, and look at what was there!!!!!!!

I was actually alone in science office, which was a good thing, because I got really really really excited and then accidentally hit my foot on the table and then swore. Rather embarrassing actually...

Anyhow, tickets are onsale tomorrow, and they actually do go on sale when I am on my prep period (5 mins before I have to go teach), so I will so be getting them ASAP. Ya gotta hate ticketmaster for their "convenience" charges (yeah, it's convenient for them to charge me $10 per ticket, sure) but I did enjoy their informative email today. Oh, yeah, not an attractive picture of Ben, but whatever.

As I've been grumbling, I have NOT been to a concert yet in 2007, and if I don't get to one before this one, seeing Ben Folds is quite a way to kick off a good season of concert going. Ben is one of my favourite musicians of all time and he doesn't play Toronto very often. In fact, he played here 4 times since I started university, and I've made a point of seeing him each of those times. Ahhh... number 5 will be fabulous I'm sure. If you ever get the chance to see him live, go, go, go! I think he is one of the most underrated musicians around and does not get nearly enough acclaim.

In other news, I had a colleague comment that she heard from other people that I was funny at the party I went to on Saturday night. Uh-oh. Well, good thing I've always been comfortable with the fact that I *am* an amusing drunk and I rarely do embarrass myself. (Quiet some of you. I hear snickers.) And, I did fork over the $120 today for the dragonboat racing team that I pledged to join as well as followed up on my offer to paint sets for the play.

Finally, in the most important news of all, 1 more school day 'til March Break. I've planned quizzes for a couple of my classes. I gotta keep them from tearing down the walls, and nothing's better for that than a quiz. Although I tell them "it's better than me giving you lots of homework during March Break" and there's no arguing with that.

Happy Friday to you all!

I've made it my dear face it.

I think the bloody cold is on its way out! Woo-hoo!

While on my subway ride home tonight, I finished reading Vincent Lam's "Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures" which won the Giller Prize this year. (Some other woman on the same car was reading it too. Kind of weird to be reading the same book as someone on the train.) The book was pretty interesting overall. I have to say that I liked his style of writing, but it made me glad to not be a doctor. The book is a series of short stories about some doctors, set in Toronto, but none of them seem to enjoy their profession very much. The author is a doctor, and it makes me wonder if he cares for his profession. I hope not all doctors are that unhappy.

I've started my March Break reading project. It's a trilogy of historical novels about Josephine Bonapart all together in one volume. The thing is huge: 1155 pages in total. I started it this evening and it's pretty good so far. The only problem is that its not very portable, so I think I'm going to have to carry a bigger bag as long as I'm reading this thing. However, it could make for a good weapon if someone tries to accost me on the street.

Today the song Lost Cause by Beck came up on my iPod. I love that song. Does anyone have the album Sea Change? I think I might like it. Feedback please!

Nothing unusual, nothing's changed...

I totally jinxed myself. On Friday night, I bragged to my roommate: "I haven't been sick at all this school year. Nothing. Not even a cold or a scratchy throat since September."

I should have kept my bloody mouth shut.

On Saturday, I woke up and the left side of my throat was scratchy. Of course, I didn't help matters with my truly heroic intake of alcohol on Saturday night. I've heard that it weakens the immune system. Anyhow, I woke up on Sunday morning somehow not all that much hungover, but very stuffed up. And stuffed up I've been for the past couple of days.

Anyhow, I think I'm going to have a warm bath, curl up with a book and go to bed early. More excitement later I hope.

ps 3 more school days 'til March Break!

Update: This makes me feel better:

Rely a bit too heavily on alcohol and irony...

Tonight I consumed:

2 pints of beer
2 shots of tequila
1 Sicillian Kiss shot
1 Bazooka Joe shot
2 Amaretto & Cranberry juice
Celery and Carrots
1 Mozzarella Stick
1 piece Vanilla Birthday Cake
1 glass Port (I walk into apartment after above debauchery and announce details of debauchery. Roommate and friend are drinking port. Before I know it, I have a glass of port in front of me. I love my roommate.)

Tonight I volunteered to:

1) Join a dragonboat racing team
2) Help paint sets for the school play
3) Take part in staff karaoke night

Tonight I pledged to:

Throw myself a kickass 30th birthday party in 2 years and 347 days from now. You're all invited. I will throw it in some sort of pub that has a floor I can take over. In Toronto, of course. I expect no excuses from my dear friends from high school for not attending. You've been warned. Blog buddies are welcome. Past roommates will be there, as will colleagues and friends from university. Oh, and maybe dragonboat racing friends too.

There are some grapes on my desk near my computer. They are quite tasty.

Last year's wishes are this year's apologies.

Things that made me happy today (as opposed to very annoyed which was yesterday's mood du jour):

1) A latte purchased with a gift card.

2) Books. Not one specifically, but I really do enjoy books as objects. They give me warm fuzzy feelings.

3) Going for an evening walk and finding out that it's not cold outside.

4) No snow on the sidewalks. I figured out today that I am not opposed to snow. As long as it is contained to areas that I do not have to walk on.

5) The song "I'm like a lawyer with the way I'm always trying to get you off" by Fall Out Boy. Bad titles and teeny bopper status aside, the damned thing is catchy. (Please don't mock me for liking it. It's a guilty pleasure, okay? Hee-hee. That's what I say about all the bad music that I listen too. I'm actually finding it rather unnerving that my list of guilty pleasures is growing quite quickly.)

6) A friend calling me just to let me know that John K Samson of the Weakerthans was on CBC Radio for Canada reads. Which lead me to talk on the phone instead of actually listening to the show...

7) The fact that there are 8 more school days until March Break.

Go, or go ahead, and surprise me.

Despite having to wake up at 6:30 am to buy my dad bday breakfast (it's his bday today - he shares it with George Harrison), and catch an early train, I've had quite the relaxing weekend. It was nice taking the train in the daylight; light does make scenery much more interesting that's for sure.

Now, to the important matters at hand: it's Oscar night! That's right, this is my superbowl! I love it. It's total escapism, and we all need to escape from time to time. And it's a perfect night to watch an awards show from sunny LA; the weather here is super raunch and perfect for hunkering down with the TV.

I'm hoping to score another win in my Oscar pool this year, or place at the very least. Last year I tanked. I'm not sure how I'll fare being that I haven't seen most of the movies yet, but I used the Golden Globes, and my gut, as my predictors. Below is a list of some of my predictions, with who I'd actually like to win in brackets, or parentheses, if you prefer.

Best Picture - Babel (I'd like Little Miss Sunshine to win since, well, it's the only best pic nom that I've seen.)

Best Actor - Forest Whitaker (I'd like Ryan Gosling to win since he's Canadian. And not only Canadian, from London ON which is very close to where I grew up.)

Best Actress- Helen Mirren (Although, I thought Meryl Streep was great. Howevs, it's time for Kate Winslet to win something...)

Best Supporting Actor - Eddie Murphy (I think I may have gone wrong in my prediction, I think there's now buzz over Alan Arkin, who would incidentally get my vote.)

Best Supporting Actress - Jennifer Hudson (I'd like her to win too. Firstly becasue she was really good, and secondly because I think that it's kind of a nyah nyah to American Idol that a cast-off who was put off by Simon has triumphed over any of their manufactured acts.)

Best Director- Martin Scorsese (He'd get my vote too because it's bloody well time to give the man a statuette.)

Best Documentary- An Inconvenient Truth (I'm totally cheering for Gore! Forget the presidency! An Oscar is 1 000 times better than that! Take that Republicans!)

Best Original Song- Listen from Dreamgirls (I just put in this category because I think it's TRAGIC that Ben Folds was not nominated for his songs from Over the Hedge! Boo! Boo! Boo! Talk about unappreciated genius is all I say. But... of the songs nominated, I'd like Melissa Etheridge to win.)

I'll include a post-show update to let you know how I did.

Post-Show Update - I got 12/24 correct for the entire show, including 5/7 of the awards I posted here. I wonder how I'll stack up according to the rest of my Oscar pool. Overall, I thought the show was OK. I liked the Dreamgirls number, the bit with Will Ferrell, Jack Black and John C. Reilly, the interpretive dancers, and I thought Ellen did a pretty good job. And, there were a few surprises so I was happy.

Sometimes I think this cycle never ends.

Do you ever feel that the pace of life is sometimes way too fast? Today as I was walking to the subway after going out for drinks with some colleagues, I was overcome by how fast everything moves and how, well, sometimes I wish the world would stop turning for a bit so I could catch my breath.

The weeks just keep on clicking by at a breakneck pace. How is it already the end of another week? How is it almost the end of another month? How did I get to be 27 already? Was I actually present when all this time rushed by?

I'm coming upon another weekend where I rush home after work, pack my bags, and run to Union station so that I have a little bit of time to grab some dinner before I board my train. I spend my weekend running around completing errands, catching up with friends and trying to maybe sleep in a little bit. Then before I know it, I've got another train to catch, and I'm rushing to get back home so I can get to sleep at a half decent time so that I can wake up early to run to school to get ready for another week.

I remember when I was a kid, and weekends seemed endless, and time went by much more slowly. Could I sign up for that plan again?

In other news, I am actually catching an earlier train back to Toronto this weekend so that I'll be home in time to watch the Oscars. The Oscars are my Superbowl, World Series, and Stanley Cup all in one. I suck this year since I haven't really had time to do my annual try-to-see-as-many-nomiated-pics-a-thon, but it's fun no less. I've gotta fill out my ballot for my work's Oscar pool and hope that I can pull I win just like I did in 2005 (Thank you Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby).

In movies-that-I-have-seen news, I went to see Music & Lyrics last night. I liked it. I laughed. I have the Hugh Grant Pop song in my head now. It's the cinematic equivalent of orange pop, so if you want something sweet and bubbly, go for it.

Anyhow, I should be off to bed, so that I can finish another week.

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.