You gotta roll with the punches to get to what is real.

Remember how I said that the cancellation of rowing practice was going to allot me a bit of extra time before I caught my train? Well, I decided that perhaps a little nap was in order. I didn't worry about setting an alarm clock or anything since it was only 5 pm, and my train didn't leave until 10. Well, apparently a busy week with performance appraisals, accompanying 92 kids to the science centre and very warm temperatures takes its toll on a person. I didn't wake up from my little nap until 9:37, thereby missing my train.

However, it might be a blessing in disguise... I was able to cancel my ticket (however, I incurred $25 worth of cancellation charges 'cuz I'd gotten the discounted tickets... boo!) and I'm sticking in Toronto for the weekend. I have a tonne of work to get done, not to mention the usual chores and errands. Staying here will facilitate everything much better. I was able to get a lot of the chore and errand type things done yesterday, so here I am on Sunday procrastinating the inevitable schoolwork.

And what better way to do that then to fill in the latest survey that's been making the Facebook rounds? (For the record, I prefer doing surveys the old-fashioned way still: on my blog.)

1. Initials: CAW

2. Name someone with the same birthday as you: Matt Groening!! I think that says a lot.

3. Favorite fruit? Bananas and strawberries.

4. For or against same sex marriage? Very much so.

5. Are you allergic to anything? Not that I know of.

6. Are you bisexual? I don't think so.

7. Have you ever slept in someone else’s clothes? Yup.

8. How many U.S states have you been to? 10. Might add another one this summer.

9. How many of the U.S states have you lived in? Zer0.

10. Have you ever lived outside the U.S? Always.

11. Name something physical you like about yourself? I like my hands.

12. Something non-physical you like about yourself? I've always been a fan of my brain.

13. Do you have any pets? Not at the moment, but I plan to get a cat when I've moved into the new apartment and have returned from my summer travels.

14. What is your dream car? Mint Green hybrid VW Beetle. I don't think VW does hybrids yet, but one can dream. Actually, if I've dreaming, maybe it'll be a Mint Green VW Beetle that gets 100 Ks to a thimble-ful of corn oil.

15. If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? I'd love to go back to the UK. Also, I really want to visit France and Greece and Italy and ....

16. Are you bipolar? I don't think so.

17. What dream car do you want your husband/wife to drive? An environmentally friendly one. That's all I ask.

18. Where would you want to go on a first date? Depends on whether it's a good first date or a bad first date... A good first date could be anywhere, quite frankly. But if it's bad, I just ask for lots of escape exits.

19. Would you date the person who posted this before you? Hmmm... it would give me a good excuse for going back to the UK. ;)

20. Has anyone ever sang or played for you personally? Yup.

21. Ever been kissed under fireworks? No... I tend to lead a life void of anything that resembles romance.

22. What was the last text message you received? Becca T saying that she got my message.

23. Have you ever bungee jumped? Nope.

24. Have you ever white water rafted? Nope.

25. Has anyone ten years older than you ever hit on you? I'm sure, but I don't keep a tally of these things.

26. Are you racist? I don't think so.

27. What song are you listening to right now? Just Friends by Amy Winehouse

28. What's your favorite song at the moment? Hmmm... maybe either Lazy Eye by the Silversun Pickups or 1234 by Feist

29. What was the last movie you watched? Pirates of the Carribean 3. Boo.

30. Where was the last place you went besides your house? The mall.

31. Have you ever seriously vandalized someone else's property? No.

32. Have you ever hit someone of the opposite sex? Of course.

33. What's the first thing you notice about the opposite sex? I'd have to say how they are dressed.

34. What's your fav. body part on the opposite sex? Forearms and eyes.

35. What do you usually order from Starbucks? Right now a Grande Light Orange Mocha Frappucino is my heaven in a cup.

36. Say something totally random about yourself: I'm a klutz.

37. Do you have an iPod? Yes!!!

38. Has anyone ever said you looked like a celebrity? My friend Becca T told me that I have the same eyes as Mike Myers (the comedian - not the psycho from the Halloween movies.)

39. Do you have freckles? Nope.

40. Are you comfortable with your height? Yeah. It's average.

41. Do you love something right now? See questions #35 and #37.

42. How tall are you? 5’6"

43. Do you speak any other language other than english? A little tiny insignficant amount of French, but it's very rusty.

44. Have you ever ridden in a limo? It was the only good thing about my high school prom.

45. Has anyone you were really close to passed away? Yes.

46. Do you watch MTV? Never.

48. What's something that really annoys you? People who are nasty and disagreeable and petty.

50. Do you like Michael Jackson? I will quote Bart Simpson - "It's just something that's made up to frighten kids like the boogeyman or Michael Jackson."

51. Have you ever surfed? No.

52. Do you know how to pump gas? Yes, but I prefer if someone else does it.

53. Do you drive? Only when in St. Ratford. Although, I will be overcoming my fear of driving in Toronto in a few weeks.

54. What's the latest you have ever stayed out? All night.

55. Have you ever thought that you were honestly going to die? Not in the immediate future though, but I am aware of the inevitable.

56. Were you ever rushed by an ambulance into the emergency room? No.

57. Have you ever been dared to do something you didn't want to do? Probably. Nothing stands out though.

58. What's your favorite state to live in? A perpetual state of happiness and dogoodery works for me. -> I'll go with Claire's answer.

59. What color is your hair? Brown with blonde highlights for summer.

60.What color are your eyes?Brown.

61. Do you have any special talents? Lots.

62. Favorite non-alcoholic drink? Chocolate Milk.

63. Favorite city? I love London England and Syndney Australia but deep down it's always gonna be Toronto.

64. Have you ever ridden a mechanical bull? Good Lord no.

65. If you were working on a pirate ship, what would you most likely be? I'd probably get stuck mopping the poopdeck... But, if one Captain Jack Sparrow was on said ship I'd like to be his romantic lead, even if the last movie did suck.

66. Who do you live with? With my roommate. Only for 6 more weeks though. :(

67. Last thing you watched on TV? The news.

68. Do you wear glasses or contacts? Neither.

69. Have you ever taken a roadtrip? Tonnes of times. My favourites involve bands (such as the Sloan roadtrip and the upcoming Weakerthans roadtrip.)

Don't be a stranger to the danger that is kissing you.

Ahhh!! I am hyper and overstimulated!! I just found out that Hawksley Workman is playing *for free* on Monday evening at the Harbourfront. Was that not the most pleasant surprise that I've ever come across in my life?? Perhaps.

Other things that are overstimulating me:

a) The fact that it's only 21 more days 'til my Weakerthans roadtrip to Hamilton.
b) Trip-planning. This summer's trip will be a Western Canada extravaganza (isn't everything more fun when you call it an extravaganza?). I'm just fleshing out the details now, but I believe that some booking will commence very shortly. I'm excited. I must say that I do like planning a trip.
c) Only 12 more teaching days. Well, really only 11. The last one doesn't count.
d) I can't believe June is starting soon. That reminds me, I gotta write my roommate the last rent cheque ever for this apartment. That's crazy. I'm going to miss this living arrangement.

Obstacles that are standing in my way:
a) Massive pile of marking.
b) Exams to be written.
c) Tests/quizzes/etc. still to give.

All right, I really should go to bed. Happy weekend everyone!

ps Rowing is cancelled for tomorrow. :( Although, that buys me a few hours of time to write exams, clean my apt, or more likely procrastinate before my train leaves.

Don't get down, don't waste time on things that you can't ever change...

Man, this time of yearing is busy. I wish that there was some sort of gradual wind-down during the last three weeks of classes, but no luck. I have a work to-do list a mile long, not to mention my to-do list in my personal life here. What's that? Yes, yes, you are on the top my of list piles of clothing on the floor. I hear that you want to picked up and I'll get to it soon, I swear.

Anyhow, the beginning of this week was made even more busy by the fact that I was due for a teaching appraisal at work. Basically, the principal comes in and sits in on one of your classes and watches you teach. The good thing is that they let you pick the class and the lesson, so you can take out your best tricks. Being a science teacher, I of course planned a lab for my appraisal. So, really, it made my life easy and the whole thing went really well. Anyway, I'm just glad that it's over.

Nothing much more exciting is happening this week. On Friday, I have rowing practice and then I'm taking the late train to St. Ratford. I also have exams due next week, and it doesn't look like I'll get to them this week, so I'll be working on those this weekend. Woo-hoo (insert sarcastic look here).

In stupidity news, the TTC or the city or someone without much going on upstairs has decided to erect 5 yellow poles for bicycles outside the entrance to the subway station near my house. Normally, I used to exit the station and turn left towards the intersection, but now there are these dumb poles in the way. These poles slow people down because they have to walk around them, and it is really annoying. Why would anyone decide to put up these poles in a high traffic area? I really should take a picture of the ridiculousness... Anyway, that makes me glad that I'm moving one station north.

Next on tap is me going to bed early. That never happens, but I am exhausted.

Paid the cover, saw the show...

My emo-shoes went to their first concert tonight and had a blast.

The concert was the Joel Plaskett Emergency. The venue was the Opera House. I've actually never been to the Opera House before. It's a great venue, albeit in a slightly sketchy neighbourhood. I had a friend who lived pretty close to there in university. I'm sure she'll be pleased to know that the skeevy strip joint is still around... Anyhow, the Opera House is great. The stage is really cool because it has this ornate moulding around it. I definitely would like to go to another concert there again.

The opener was Peter Elkas. Becca T and I had seen him open for Joel during a solo show at a littl place called Hugh's Room a couple of years ago. This was an amazing show that I think both of us might place in our top 10 favourite shows of all-time. It was little and intimate and made you feel like you were one of Joel's friends that he invited over to entertain. I've never had that feeling from a concert before.

Anyhow, Peter Elkas was a great opener. I'd describe his music as straight-up rock. I'd compare him to Sam Roberts, but perhaps more because he really looks like him, as opposed to sounding like him. Peter Elkas also had a really great backing band, which is always helpful. During his performance, we remembered that we'd also seen him open for Sloan once, so this was our third Peter Elkas experience and by far the best. He also played with the Joel Plaskett Emergency, so I have to award him bonus marks for being up on stage so long.

Joel Plaskett and his Emergency band were fabulous. I love when one of your favourite artists comes out on stage and you feel like you're seeing an old friend. He started by playing a few songs from his enjoyable new album Ashtray Rock. Then, he mellowed a bit by playing some stuff from his solo-acoustic album La De Da. He played the song Natural Disaster, which *may* just be my favourite Joel Plaskett song, and that started the sing alongs. After that the band came back and they really started playing a lot of the older stuff and everyone was singing along. It was so much fun. Joel Plaskett is such an amazing performer and songwriter.

Becca T and I commented after the show how we'd forgotten how many truly fabulous Joel Plaskett songs there are. I definitely think he's one of Canada's most underrated performers. He's gotten some radio play, and his song Nowhere With You was in a beer commercial, but he should be a household name. But, then again, I like my performers underrated so that I can go see them in small-ish venues.

Anyhow, the concert was obviously the high point of my weekend. Becca T and I went to see Pirates of the Carribean 3 today. It was way too long and had too much action in it. I would have preferred more Johnny Depp and more funny moments. The people responsible for this movie should have re-watched the first and made notes about why that one was really good and applied this to the third.

Friday night I didn't do much except for my dragonboat practice. It's so fun. The hardest part is getting in and out of the darned boat. I scraped my knee getting out... Only 2 more practices 'til the races though.

Tomorrow I have errands to run and a massive pile of marking to deal with. I miss the length of last weekend.

Update

I went to see the apartment again and put in an application. I just have to be approved and then I will have it.

I am relieved to have made a decision and to not have to look anymore. I am going to miss this place though.

I count to three and grin...

I love short weeks; tomorrow is Wednesday already!

Okay, I have lots of exciting pieces of news to relay:

1) Weakerthans Road Trip!! On June 21st, the Weakerthans are playing a one-off show in Hamilton. My dear friend Becca T and I are going to go. We got our tickets yesterday! Back in university, the Weakerthans played in Hamilton, and we made the trip by GO Bus. It resulted in us getting lost in the sketchy part of town, almost freezing to death and spending the hours betwee 2 and 5 am in a Tim Hortons, but it was good times and a great concert. We're going to re-live the experience, but this time going by rental car, which will not only get us to the concert, but help us deal with our collective fears of driving in Toronto. Anyhow, I'm very excited. My two-year drought of not seeing the Weakerthans is almost over!

2) As you know, my roommate is getting married, which is why I have to move. The wedding is in Vancouver. I've been planning on making the trip, but part of me had not confirmed because I hadn't secured a travel buddy. Well, my dear friend Becca T has decided to not only join me on the above Weakerthans road trip, but also to Vancouver! And, she apparently knows someone with a farmhouse who will let us stay there for free. Yay!

3) I have a second date with the apartment that I saw on Saturday. I kept thinking about how much I liked it, and after talking to a bunch of people, I might just go for it and be done with the hunting process. I'm going to go see it again tomorrow after work, and if it lives up to what I remember, I will probably go for it. I'll keep you posted.

Other random tidbits from the weekend:
a) a coworker lent me season 1 of Arrested Development. I'd never really watched it and I have to say that I am enjoying it muchly.
b) I am sooooooooo going to miss the view from this apartment. Last night Becca T and I were able to watch all sorts of fireworks from my window. We could see all of the big shows across the city.
c) Only four more weeks of classes for me to teach. Then, exams and it's summer!

You are surely special; I like you, I like you, a-la-la.

Long weekend rundown thus far:

1) I think my arms have finally become un-sore from dragonboat practice last night. It was another beautiful afternoon and it was a good practice. I believe we're getting slightly better. Afterwards, we had drinks and dinner at a cafe down by the water where we practice. A fun night in all.

2) Today I looked at two apartments. I really liked the first one. It only had two cons on my list: 1) no balcony and 2) not a great view. Now, quite honestly, I have lived in two apartments with balconies, and I don't use them enough so I don't think I'd really notice if I didn't have one. Also, I'm a spolied brat with my awesome south-facing (ie the lake and the city skyline) view. The second apartment had a really small balcony, which made me think that maybe it's better to have no balcony than a crappy balcony. It also had a pretty great north-facing view. But, it was so tiny compared to the first, more expensive, and the bathroom was super crappy. So that one's a definite no.

I have an appointment to see an apartment that may be similar to the first but with a balcony on Tuesday. Then, next Saturday I have a appointment to see another apartment that is a little more expensive than what I've been looking at, but in neighbourhood where I'd love to move. I'll prolly make a few more appointments on that Saturday too, and maybe hopefully, I'll just make up my mind and pick a place.

3) This afternoon I met a friend at Yorkdale mall (inferior to the Eaton Centre in my rankings of big Toronto malls) for some shopping and dinner. I picked up the new Rufus Wainwright CD, a couple pairs of shorts for summer (woo!) and a new lipstick. Now, this lipstick is totally blog worthy for the following reasons:

a) its tube is made from corn and is compeletly biodegradable;
b) its box contains wildflower seeds so you can plant it;
c) the name of the shade is "Killarney" because it is inspired by Killarney National Park in Ireland, which I visited last summer. I won't be able to go there again this summer, but I can wear a lipstick inspired by it, dammit!

4) Tonight I plan to lay low and watch SNL and eat popcorn.

5) Tomorrow's plan is to run errands and such, and then go see Shrek with a couple of friends. And, I will also enjoy the absence of the usual Sunday night blues because Monday's Victoria Day!

You won't forget a beautiful brunnette with eyes of chocolate...

I stole this from a friend's Facebook note. I couldn't resist this survey, and I have some work that I need to do before going to bed, and what's a better way to procrastinate than a long survey?

Tired of all of those surveys made up by high school kids?'Have you ever kissed someone?''Missed someone?''Told someone you loved them?''Drank alcohol?'Here are 50 questions for the people who are a little more "mature"...

1. What bill do you hate paying the most?
Visa. All other bills lead to the Visa, so it's the mother of all bills. Why, why, why do I never win what I buy?

2. Where was the last place you had a romantic dinner?
Oh gosh, I don't remember. I don't have romantic dinners enough in my life. :(

3. Last time you puked from drinking?
After my friend Joanna's wedding (not anywhere near the actual wedding... I'm not that bad of a guest...) in 2001. Thank goodness that my friend Sandra's boyfriend was nice enough to hold my hair for me. My date was useless. And, he was the reason that I got drunk, because we placed bets on the music during the reception and I lost a lot, hence the reason I ended up in my sorry state.

4. When is the last time you got drunk and danced on a bar?
I've never danced on a bar. On tables, yes. Last time would be during a shed party in high school. (Remember, St. Ratford is surrounded by farmland.)

5. Name of your first grade teacher?
I skipped first grade.

6. What do you really want to be doing right now?
I'd love to be at a Weakerthans concert.

7. What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A writer.

8. How many colleges did you attend?
U of T for both of my degrees.

9. Why did you choose the shirt that you have on right now?
I'm wearing a pink tshirt for two reasons: 1) it's comfy; 2) it matches my stiped pj pants.

10. GAS PRICES?
Don't drive, don't care. (Sorry to those of you who drive, I hear they're high.)

11. If you could move anywhere and take someone with you?
I'm honestly really happy where I am now. I love Toronto. Okay, if I had to go, I'd move to London England and take my friend Becca T. Or maybe Ireland. Or maybe Wales. Or maybe...

12. First thought when the alarm went off this morning?
Thank goodness it's a late-start day so I don't have to rush off.

13. Last thought before going to sleep last night?
I don't remember.

14. Favorite style of underwear?
I don't care as long as they're comfy and not granny panties, of course.

15. Favorite style of underwear for the opposite sex?
Boxers.

16. What errand/chore do you despise?
All of them. Probably cleaning floors is the highest. Or bringing down the mountain of recycling that piles up way too fast.

17. If you didn't have to work, would you volunteer?
I hope that I would.

18. Get up early or sleep in?
Sleep in all of the way!!

19. What is your favorite cartoon character?
Mr. Burns.

20. Favorite NON sexual thing to do at night with a girl/guy?
Go to a concert.

21. Have you found real love yet?
Nope.

22. When did you first start feeling old?
I'm not sure. Maybe when I hit 26.

23. Favorite 80's movie?
Say Anything. Love the young John Cusack.

24. Your favorite lunch meat?
Turkey.

25. What do you get every time you go into Sam's Club? Or Walmart?
I don't go to those places.

26. Beach or lake?
Ummm, here you can easily get both at the same time. This questions confuses me.

27. Do you think marriage is an outdated ritual?
No.

28. How many people do you stalk on Facebook?
I wish I had the time to stalk on Facebook.

29. Favorite guilty pleasure?
Oh my. I am the queen of guilty pleasures. Let's just say there are some songs on my iPod that are soooooooooooo uncool, but I love sooooooo much.

30. Favorite movie you wouldn't want anyone to find out about?
Ummmm... I'm not sure. I am totally comfortable that I love and own a cinematic classic such as "Win A Date with Tad Hamilton!"

31. What's your drink?
Alcoholic = amaretto and cranberry juice. Non-alcoholic = chocolate milk. Starbucks = grande non-fat, sugar-free cinnamon dolce latte with sprinkles.

32. Cowboys or Indians?
Indians.

33. Cops or Robbers?
Cops.

34. Who from high school would you like to run into?
I keep in contact with everyone that I like. So, there's no one I particularly miss. Oh actually, I wouldn't mind running into some of my teachers, especially my science teachers. I'd like to borrow some of their resources.

35. What radio station is your car radio tuned to right now?
No car.

36. Norm or Cliff?
Definitely Norm.

37. The Cosby Show or the Simpsons?
LOL. Do I even have to say???

38. Worst relationship mistake that you wish you could take back?
Ummm, I never make mistakes. I'm perfect. ;) Yup, that's it. That's why I'm single...

39. Do you like the person who sits directly across from you at work?
No one really sits across from me. Except for my students. And I like them. Well, most of them.

40. If you could get away with it, who would you kill?
No one.

41. What famous person(s) would you like to have dinner with?
George Strombolopolous. Actually, that would be a mess. I can't focus even on his TV show because he's too attractive to me. So... I'm going to go with David Suzuki. That would be safe and enlightening.

42. What famous person would you like to sleep with?
LOL There are a lot. But, I think that this would be a better George Strombolopolous option than #41. And Jim from The Office. Not the actor, but the actual character.

43. Have you ever had to use a fire extinguisher for its intended purpose?
No

44. Last book you read for real?
I haven't finished a book since March Break. That was the Josephine B Trilogy. I've started about 4 books since then, but I haven't had luck getting through them. I think it's attributed to that I'm going through a crappy book-picking period and a short attention span.

45. Do you have a teddy bear?
Yes. I just bought one in January from Starbucks because it was on sale and oh-so-fashionably attired in a red parka.

46. Strangest place you have ever brushed your teeth?
No where that stands out.

47. Somewhere in California you've never been and would like to go?
The Winchester Mystery House! I've wanted to go there since I was a kid and I saw it on a TV show about haunted houses. I'd really love to go at Halloween, but that'll have to wait until I'm retired. (Oct. 31st 2035 will be the first Halloween of my retirement. Yes, I know it's scary that I know when I'll retire, but they send you stuff in the mail with that date printed on it, so how can you not remember that?)

48. Do you go to church?
Yup.

49. At this point in your life would you rather start a new career or a new relationship?
New relationship for sure. I like my career.

50. Just how OLD are you?
27

Why'd ya have to break all my heart?

Internet poll: Should I buy the new Rufus Wainwright album?

(Currently I'm reacquainting myself with Want One and thinking, yes, a new Rufus album would be a worthwhile investment.)

We've been having wicked thunderstorms this evening. I love thunderstorms.

Moving pictures, silent films.

I haven’t posted in awhile. I wish that I could say it was because my life has been super exciting and busy with many social activities and romantic dalliances, but alas it hasn’t. I’ve been spending the nice weather outside lots just walking aimlessly accompanied by my trusty iPod. On Tuesday, I did get together for beer and greasy food with a long-lost friend who I recently found on Facebook, so I guess I can’t say I’ve been a complete social recluse. Also, I did have dragonboat practice on Friday night. I am enjoying this endeavour thus far; who says that drunk people don’t make good decisions? This is something I never would have signed up while sober. I guess the moral of the story is that I would have been involved more in athletic activities in my life if I was a heavy drinker. Yup, I’m pretty sure that’s the moral.

I spent the weekend in St. Ratford for Mothers’ Day and my mom’s birthday which is in a couple days. I didn’t even phone any friends; I figured it’d be good to stick around home and watch movies with the ‘rents. I saw The Queen (v. good) and The Pursuit of Happyness (not bad). Also, I got my hair coiffed and highlighted for summer. I haven’t touched my hair colour in three years after a very traumatic highlighting experience, but I decided it was time to jump back on that horse, and I’m glad I did since I’m pleased with the results. I also indulged in the purchase of some new summer clothing. It’s getting hot inside my school, so I need some lighter stuff.

Right now I’m on the train and I can’t focus on a book or even a sudoku puzzle. A lot of the time when I take the train, I’m content sitting, listening to music, staring out the window and letting my mind drift (often into sleep), but for some reason that’s not working tonight, so I decided to pull out my laptop and write. I might actually write some posts that have been kicking around my old brain and post them next time I’m blocked.

Note: The writing of posts did not go well. I started, then got distracted by a game of spider solitaire, then got of a bit of a headache from staring at a computer screen on a bumpy train. I suppose those posts will have to kick around my brain awhile longer

Also, the train actually got me home on time for once. *Gasp!* That rarely happens. Anyhow, when I got to my apartment, there were three police cars outside. Weird. There were a couple of officers in the lobby, but no commotion, thankfully. Wonder what was up...

I thought I heard the sweetest guitar...

Another Monday closer to summer. It's a bit early, but yearnings for summer are rattling in my bones. The weather's getting warmer, the sun's a bit brighter, and flowers are in bloom. Where else can my mind wander but to the inevitable fact that this nice weather will conclude in a couple months of my life not being ruled by bells.

Okay, I swear I won't bring up the fact I'm looking forward to summer again until after the long weekend.

Speaking of long weekends, I've decided that I will officially start the apartment hunt that weekend. I actually got my room somewhat clean last night; now I'm thinking about how I'm really going to miss this apartment and perhaps this area.

Tonight my friend Becca T dropped by and we had fun watching last week's office episode (hilarious), playing cards, listening to music and watching vintage SNL on YouTube. It kind of felt like university again, in that more or less we talked about the same stuff and made the same corny jokes. I love the comfort of the familiarity of old friendships.

Speaking of old friendships, I am soooooooooo addicted to my new Tori Amos CD. It's a huge album (23 songs), and I've pared it down to 15 favourites that I've put on their own playlist. Right now I'm addicted to two specific songs: Programmable Soda and Roosterspur Bridge. The first is just a super fun song, the second makes me feel wistful for the past, specifically for what I'm not sure, but it just evokes this bittersweet melancholy in me. I suppose I'm attracted to that feeling right now since I'm on the cusp of change in my life, and I'm not a fan of change. So, bittersweet melachonly suits my mood.

I think any Toriphile will dig her new album. There was a bit of hype of this album being a throwback to her earlier stuff. It seems more of a natural progression from the last album as opposed to going back to earlier stuff. I'm really connecting with the songs to the point where I can feel them just becoming part of my cells.

I wasn't a Tori fan until I worked at the art gallery in St. Ratford for a summer while I was in university. Another summer student left her Tori CD (Under the Pink) at the front desk, and I started to listen to it during the last hour of my shift when there would be no visitors in the gallery and I was more or less killing time. Even though I wasn't a fan of the music at first, it somehow became part of me and I missed it when my summer job was over, so I bought it. After that, I started listening to other Tori songs here and there, and I grew into a fan. It helped that one of my good university friends was a huge Tori fan and we bonded over her.

Speaking of my Tori-friend, I haven't seen him since my 26th bday but we reconnected over Facebook and are going for drinks tomorrow after work. So, Facebook does have practical applications uses, ie reconnecting with old friends that you actually like, in addition to wasting lots of time.

Anyhow, tonight while Becca T and I played cards, I put on my new Feist. It's actually the first time I listened to the whole album through, and I liked it a lot. Woo-hoo for great albums.

But baby I don't need your cash, Mama got it all in hand now.

I went for a really long walk in the cemetary today, and made all kinds of amusing observations that I thought would make a great blog post, but alas, I forget most of them (other than the fact that magnolia trees in bloom are very pretty). I came across this survey on Claire's blog, so I figured I'd steal it.

1. Does anyone know your password to your MySpace besides yourself?
I refused to join MySpace so the answer is no. But no one knows any of my other passwords either.

2. What was the last thing you ordered at McDonalds?
Probably fries and a strawberry sundae.

3. Are you an emotional person?
In public, no; I think I have a calm, easy-going demeanor. I can get very emo in private though.

4. Do you like your middle name?
Yes I do. Alexandra is a fabulous name, as other bloggers will attest.

5. Do you believe in love at first sight?
For shoes, yes. For people, I'm not sure. If I ever experience it, I'll let you know.

6. Does the person you like, know that you like them?
No.

7. What was the last thing you did?
I checked all of my fave blogs and commented. But before that, I went grocery shopping.

9. Who was the last person you ate with?
Probably my roommate. I think we had dinner together at some point this week. I've been too busy at lunch this week to actually eat lunch, so I don't think I haven't even eaten with any colleagues lately.

10. What song are you listening to right now?
Bouncing Off Clouds by Tori Amos. Love it.

11. How's the weather right now?
It was sunny today, but right now the sun is setting. A nice day; temperature of about 17 degrees Celsius.

12. Last person who called you?
My pal Becca T.

13. Last lie you told?
Hmmmm.... I don't remember. I rarely actually tell lies, although I think up a lot of lies.

14. Last song you sang?
1234 by Feist.

15. Do you love anyone?
Family and friends of course.

16. Lost a friendship over something stupid?
Not since elementary school.

17. Last thing you drank?
Diet Coke.

18. Last thing you ate?
A Frosty from Wendy's. Mmm.

19. Where do you wish you were?
I'd love to be back in the UK.

20. Faked being sick to miss school?
I try to do that once per semester for my mental health. :)

21. What time did you wake up today?
About 10 am.

22. Last person you talked to in person?
My roommate.

23. last person who made you laugh?
My roommate.

24. What are you wearing right now?
My fave jeans, a green t-shirt, and a corduroy jacket. And a Christie subway station button on my jacket.

25. What’s the first thing you notice about the opposite sex?
Eyes.

27. Where are you right now?
My bedroom in my apartment. Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Planet Earth.

28. What day and date is it?
Saturday May 5th.

29. Did you go anywhere today?
Walked around the cemetary and to the grocery store.

30. What did you do there?
I think it's self evident.

31. What else are you doing today?
I'm not sure. Perhaps going for a latte.

32. Are you watching TV?
No.

33. Are you mature or immature?
A bit of both, I think.

34. Who are you closer to, your mum or your dad?
I'm pretty close to both, but in different ways. I talk to mom about emotional stuff, whereas I joke around with Dad more.

36. What school(s) did you go to?
St. Al's elem school, St. Mike's high school, U of T (SMC) and U of T (OISE).

37. What's the most annoying thing people say to you?
Coming from students "I'm not late" when they walk into class late. I'm trying to train them to say "Sorry Miss, I am late because..."

38. Do you like music?
I love it. I don't know what I'd do without it.

39. Do you want to get married?
Yes, if I come across the right person. And hopefully that won't happen 'til I 30, because I'd enjoy a few more years of being single.

41. Where did you go on vacation last summer?
England, Wales, Ireland.

42. Would you bungee jump?
Good Lord no.

43. Do you like rollercoasters?
Not anymore.

44. Is there anything you wish for every summer?
That summer would not end. :)

45. Do you use chopsticks?
Yup. Took me awhile to master them though.

46. What's your favorite meal of the day?
Dinner - I can take my time eating and I get dessert.

47. Thinking of someone right now?
Nope.

48. Concerned about life right now?
No more than usual.

49. Have you ever tripped going up the stairs?
Oh yeah.

50. What are you looking forward to this spring?
The end of spring because it means summer.

Gonna turn that whiskey into rain.

Happy May Day! I was looking forward to this day because firstly, I think May is going to be less busy work-wise than April (or so I hope) and secondly, it's two-CD Tuesday! I love looking foward to a Tuesday when one highly-anticipated CD comes out, but when there are two, what more can I say than fantabulous. Today was the release day for the new Tori Amos CD American Doll Posse and Feist's The Reminder. Of course, the first thing that I did when I was done work was to head straight to a music store to pick up both CDs, including the deluxe limited-edition version where applicable (Tori).

I also took a bit of a detour on my way home after that. On Sunday, I browsed around the shoe department at the Bay. I came across a pair of Converse All-Stars that could only be described using one word: emo-licious. They had little pink broken hearts on them for crying out loud. But, on Sunday, I was well-behaved. I said "No Christielli, you do not need new shoes. Why, just yesterday, you purchased yourself a nice pair of grown-up shoes with pretty understated gold-flowers on them, fun straps, and heels that make you sound like a grown-up as you walk down the halls in them. " However, the running shoes have been in the back of my mind since Sunday, and especially today at school when it was dress down day and they would have looked oh-so-cool with my jeans. Since the Bay was just by where I picked up my new CDs, I had to give in.

Here's a picture of them, in all of their emo-liciousness.


I look forward to wearing them to many rock concerts. Their first show will be Joel Plaskett. I also picked up those tickets today while getting my CDs, and had an enjoyable Joel Plaskett conversation with the record store clerk who was sort-of-kind-of-cute in a geeky way, but probably too young. (He said he'll be at the Plaskett show.)

Now that I'm done with my shoe babbling, I'll move onto other new topics.

In I-don't-know-what-I've-got-'til-it's-gone news, the beginning of May is a bit sad despite new CDs. I own an Office calendar, and April was Jim Halpert month. I don't feel that I took enough advantage of enjoying Jim's picture during April. May is The Temp month. I have nothing against the Temp, but he's no Jim. Not even close. Maybe I should just leave the calendar at April forever.

In I'm-really-not-completely-vapid-despite-this-post-being-mostly-about-shoes news, I bought a great book recently: Ecoholic by Adria Vasil. Vasil writes a column of the same name in Now magazine. She dispenses advice for greener-living for those of us who are addicted to the planet. (Hi, my name is Christielli and I'm a total Ecoholic.) Anyhow, I'm going to try and green myself up one step at a time. I recently got a grocery bag made from old water bottles so that I can end my dependence on evil one-time plastic bags. Note: remembering to bring the bag with me is the hard part. My second step is to try and buy more locally-grown food. There's a farmer's market every Thursday in the community centre by my school. This Thursday, I'm going to go for the first time ever and see what I can score. And I'll remember my grocery bag.

Anyhow, I must go listen to my new CDs. So far Tori's 6 for 6 of the songs I've listened to. Happy humpday tomorrow.

Take by the hand and tell me you would take my anywhere.

Another weekend done. Another Monday on the horizon. I find that I'm always a tad nervous before another week starts. I feel like there is so much I have to do over the course of the upcoming week, and I honestly don't know if I'll get it done. However, by the time Monday finishes, I always feel so much better. If Mondays could somehow be eliminated, I'd feel so much better.

I feel like I had an overall productive weekend. After getting my taxes done on Friday, I spent Saturday sleeping in, shopping (new shoes!), and doing laundry. Today, I got some more shopping in, including food shopping and some organizing done.

I feel like my belongings are such a mess. I have so much useless crap that I have to go through. While doing laundry, I was able to go through my closet and get rid of a huge garbage bag full of clothes that I don't want any more. The scary thing is that I know there is probably more clothing in there that I could get rid of. How is it possible that something I liked enough to buy two years ago now looks so ugly to me?

I also bought the paper shredder that I've been meaning to buy for, well, forever. I have a bad habit of shoving papers into a shopping bag under my desk, or a couple of shoes boxes on my desk, as opposed to dealing with them. Most of them are just bank statements and those stupid cheques that come with your credit card. Anyway, tonight I spent about half an hour shredding, so I'm feeling likeI fought the paper war, and I'm winning right now.

Anyway, I feel that I'm on my way to organizing my life so that I'll be able to uproot it easily come the end of July when I'll be moving.

Happy Monday everyone.

ps This may be the most boring blog post in the history of blogging, so I'd better liven it up with by revealing some secrets:

a) I cannot focus on The Hour with George Strombolopolous because he's too attractive. He could be talking about a very important issue that I'm interested in but I don't hear the words he speaks. It's a problem because I think it's a good show.
b) I like P!nk. Total guilty pleasure.

You cannot fight me, you don't have to like me...

I just noticed that this is my 400th post. I'm always amazed at how long I've kept this thing up.

Anyhow, woo-hoo for weekends. Especially weekends that feel just a tad longer. Yesterday was a PD day, and it was one that was held away from school - actually, at a beautiful botannical garden.

Yesterday was dragonboat practice #2. It was quite a bit colder out than the first time we practiced. However, I felt that it was a much better practice because the coach made us do more drills this time. We had a different coach, a 22 year old guy who was even't a coach, and he was much better than last week's "I've been coaching for 10 years" guy. I actually felt like I'd had a good workout by the end of practice and really enjoyed myself this week.

Last night I also did my taxes, which I'd put off for a while. This year I owe money for the first time ever in my life ($29!). Aren't I supposed to pay fewer taxes when there's a Conservative government??? Stupid Stephen Harper... Although, at least my transit passes saved me from paying more. I know, I can't really complain about $29, but it's the first time in my life I've had to send them money.

After paddling and doing taxes, I was too tired to do something fun, so I went to bed early. I could have watched a movie with my roommate and her friend but I didn't feel that I even had the capacity to focus on a movie.

Today, once I get out of my pajamas, I plan to do a little bit of shopping, then start doing some cleaning, organizing, and laundry. Oh, and I also plan to take some time to read. I haven't been able to get into a book since March Break. I've started a few, but gotten nowhere. I don't know if that's indicative of the books, or my mental state. Whichever, maybe a latte will help me read. Lattes fix everything.

The only thing on my mind was the light years between our own kind.

Tonight was parent-teacher interview night. It was a good night overall. I was busy, but not so busy that I didn't have time to chat with some of the teachers around me.

I am a girl of routine. One of my coworkers knows this very well. She makes fun of me because whenever we walk to the subway together, I insist upon crossing the street to use the west entrance of the subway station, as opposed to directly using the east entrance. I do this because it allows me to be outside as long as possible, even though I have to wait for an extra set of traffic lights. I hate not following my routine.

Anyhow, at lunch today she suggested that we should go to a restaurant a couple blocks away for dinnner before interviews. I looked at her with a strained looked and said "Yeah, that would be nice, but I always go to the mall for dinner before interviews." She could tell that not going to the mall before interviews would be the equivalent of using the wrong subway station entrance, so she agreed to keep with my routine. Plus, I pointed out to her that we could look at shoes at the mall - an advantage that the other restaurant clearly didn't have.

After interviews, a few of us went out for drinks. I had a great time which made me realize how lucky I am to have made some great friends within my staff. We pledged that we must always do the post-interview drink thing, which makes me happy, since I love having a routine to follow. :)

ps Tomorrow is a PD day - no planning! It's so nice waking up without thinking "what am I going to do with those kids today?" every once and awhile.

Well don't fear, it's just the bullets bouncing off my helmet.

I actually went searching for post ideas today, because I really have nothing going on to post about. I can across a suggestion to list your favourite bands/artists from A to Z. Who knew that some letters would be so hard to fill??

A - Alanis Morrisette
B - Ben Folds (Five)
C - Christine Fellows
D - Death Cab for Cutie
E - Esthero
F - Feist
G - Great Lake Swimmers
H - Hawksley Workman
I - I don't have any special letter I bands.
J - Joel Plaskett Emergency
K - Kathleen Edwards
L - Lowest of the Low
M - Matthew Good (Band)
N - Neko Case
O - Oasis
P - Postal Service
Q - Quite frankly, I have no Q artists on my iPod
R - R.E.M
S - Such a hard decision - Sloan? Stars? Sarah Harmer? I cannot choose between those three.
T - Tori Amos
U - U2 (I guess... I'm not a big U2 fan, but they're better than The Used, who have one song I like)
V - Veruca Salt
W - Weakerthans!!!
X - I have X-actly zero X artists.
Y - Yellowcard is my only Y band. Eep.
Z - Zwan

Tomorrow we can drive around this town...

*Sigh* Here I sit at the unhappy end of a weekend once again. I really should be trying to sleep right now, but falling asleep on a Sunday night is such a hard chore, don't you find? Especially when you're facing another very busy week at work.

I had my first dragonboat practice on Friday night. The weather was fabulous. Honestly, I think being on the lake was the perfect place to be that evening. We spent most of our practice going slow and practicing our technique (which I suspect I suck at), so the hour wasn't as strenuous as I feared it would be. I thought we were doing okay, despite some older woman heckling us from ashore. "Are you rowing or are you paddling?" she yelled. -10 karma points for her, I say. At least -10.

I raced home, changed out of my fashionable rowing clothes (now wet and smelly with Lake Ontario water), had some dinner, then packed up to catch the late train to St. Ratford. Thank goodness, I was travelling west and not east, as the VIA tracks east of Toronto were blocked due to a Mohawk protest.

On Saturday, I ran a bunch of errands and then headed off for the karaoke party. All I have to say, is that if I've been indulging in spirits, and I'm around people I'm comfortable with, keep microphones the heck away from me. Especially if I have my iPod handy and can bust out 90s classics like Basket Case, Hey Jealousy, and Ironic. I apologize to people in the room who were sober. And those who were not. Although, I'm thinking that I should maybe invest in a karaoke device to have at home, because there's something therapudic about singing into a microphone. Sure beats a hairbrush.

Sunday was a sleepy day spent relaxing with the 'rents and having a coffee with a friend. Gotta love those lazy Sundays.

Have a happy week!

I think she said "it's like a kiss from God"...

Do you ever have those times when weepy rock songs make you really weepy?

I do. It kind of sucks.

The city or the country we just want to make some noise.

It's nice to be getting ever closer to the end of the week. This week has been crazy-busy at work, and so will be next week, but I think once those weeks are finished, things will calm down a bit. That's what I say now, but I'm sure when the first week of May does roll around, I'll be singing a different story.

Today I picked up the new album "Ashtray Rock" by the Joel Plaskett Emergency. I've listened to it all the way through, and it's definitely one of those albums that you can listen to all of the way through and love the whole thing. It's a concept album that revolves around a love triangle that breaks up a young band, and it totally works. It's got a lot of super-fun, fist-pumping songs that make me feel long for summer. Plus, I think it will be great to hear live, which I'll be doing on May 26th; I just bought my tickets today. Woo! All is well in life, as long as I have a concert to look forward to.

Speaking of summer, I think we're finally getting some spring weather. Thank goodness.

I'm especially glad that it is warming up, because I have my first practice for the rowing team that I signed up for while, ummm, a little under the influence. I've never done any sort of rowing in my life, but it should be fun. I might be sore on Saturday (or should I say I will most definitely be sore), but whatever doesn't kill you will make you stronger, right?? This weekend, I had to buy some non-cotton type pants to wear, and I ended up getting a matching tank top and jacket, so at least I'll be fashionable, right? The only sad thing is that my new clothes will get Lake Ontario water on them, ew.

Well, I think that's it. Hope that Friday gets here fast. :)

I will never see the sun. Spadina, St. George, Bay, and Yonge.

Tonight was the Great Lake Swimmers concert. My verdict: fabulously beautiful. First of all, the concert was in a church, and I now am of the belief that more concerts should be in churches because of the great acoustics. The music was absolutely gorgeous. All of the musical arrangements were stunning. All kinds of interesting instruments were used: banjo, pedal steel, xylophone, upright bass, violin, mandolin, and yes, even a harmonium. Wonderful.

Now, I am quite new to the band. I'd heard of them before, but never listened to anything until I read glowing reviews of their new album Ongiara. I love that album. Tonight I heard some of their older stuff, which is gorgeous too. The title of this post is from a song from their first album, which is self-titled, that is about taking the TTC to work every day and going past the same stops. Of course, I had to make sure that I owned that song, so I picked up the album. Something to listen to on the way home from work, since every day I also pass through those stops. And, even in that order (on the way home).

Also, Owen Pallet, aka Final Fantasy, played violin at the show. I'm not sure if Final Fantasy stuff is for me, since it's classified as electronic, but he's a great violin player.

Well, that makes for two fabulous concerts too weekends in a row. Next weekend is a girls' karaoke night in St. Ratford area. Girls - you have a lot to live up to. I expect Ben Folds/Great Lake Swimmers calibre performances. If not, I will bust out my worst Simon Cowell on you. No pressure. ;)

I've also been watching a lot of that new Feist video that I posted last night. It's my new addiction, I suppose. I soooooo wish I could do that song for karaoke. And, I've watched the video so much that I could probably accompany it with a lot of dance moves. It's probably best for all involved that my friend's karaoke device will surely not have that song.

Well, tomorrow, or I guess it's now today, involves me doing report cards. Oh what fun. I hope the rest of you have enjoyable Sundays that are not work-related. :)

1-2-3-4 tell me that you love me more.

When all else is sucking in your life, at least there's always great music out there.
(Note: not all else is sucking in my life right now, but work politics are making me say "grrr".)

Here's a list of musical happenings that are subsiding the inner growl inside of me today.

1) Great Lake Swimmers. As I've mentioned a couple of times (redundancy is a fault of my, I'll admit), I'm seeing them tomorrow. Less than 24 hrs 'til show time!

2) Feist - I came across this video today and realized that I'm super-excited for her new CD (out May 1st).



3) Tori Amos - Oh, will I be one over-stimulated girl on May 1st, when two great CDs are released. I've been getting all of the teaser emails for this new album, and I gotta hand it to Tori for being such a creative person. She's taking over the personae of 5 women for the CD (hence the title American Doll Posse), complete with blogs for each of them. Anyhow, I'd read the lyrics to the first song, "Yo George" online and I fell in love with it just from the lyrics. I got to listen to the song this week, and I love it. Listen to it here!

4) Even though I've not heard anything from it yet, I'm sure the new Joel Plaskett Emergency CD will very awesome. And it's out on Tuesday!!

Hope you all have fantabulous weekends!

Just a ying and a yang or a couple of pints, please.

My four-day weekend totally mellowed me out, so it was pretty hard getting back into the groove today. I did it, but every cell in my body, espeically those in my brain, protested.

I had a pleasant trip home to St. Ratford. I haven't posted much about my parents' health lately, but both of them are doing much better. They're not perfect by any means, but improving a lot so I have been able to cut back on my trips home. I look forward to spending many more lazy weekends in Toronto.

Oh my, I'm experiencing huge blogger's block right now. I'm having a hard time even thinking of anything else to say.

Ummm, here's a list of some things I'm looking forward to:
- Great Lake Swimmers concert on Saturday
- New Joel Plasket Emergency CD next Tuesday
- New Tori Amos CD on May 1st

Here's a list of things that I'm not looking forward to:
- The huge pile of stuff I have to get done at work this month. I feel that April is a freight train that could run me down.
- The eventuality that in a couple of months I have to go apartment hunting, pack, and then move.

C'est la vie, I suppose. Hmmm, I promise a more creative post next time.

Number one song after number one song.

First concert of 2007 has finally happened, and boy, has it set the bar high for the rest of the concerts of 2007.

If I lived in some sort of state where I could only go to one concert a year, I might very well pick Ben Folds as that concert. He puts on an incredible show. No one rocks a piano like that man.

The highlights of the show was his Canadian version of "Rock this Bitch" (it's a huge inside-joke song for Ben Folds fans), his cover of Dr. Dre/Snoop Dogg's "Bitches Ain't Shit" (go to iTunes and buy that cover now if you want a good laugh, albeit it with a lot of swearing), and his cover of The Postal Service's "Such Great Heights". On top of all this, he played 22 other Ben Folds classics. (I'm a nerd who writes down the set list when she gets home from a show and then makes it into a playlist on her iPod. That's how I know the exact number.) I think the two unexpected songs that I was very excited to hear were "Emaline" and "Evaporated".

That was the fifth time I've seen Ben. I hope number six isn't too far away.

All right, time for bed. Early train to catch tomorrow morning.

Update: Posting setlist as requested by Megan. (Not in order by any means. I have a good memory, but not that good.)

Miserlou, Trusted, All You Can Eat, Jesusland, Annie Waits, Rock This Bitch, Bastard, Still Fighting It, There's Always Someone Cooler Than You, Bitches Ain't Shit, Losing Lisa, Gone, Lullabye, Emaline, Evaporated, Narcolepsy, Kate, Such Great Heights, Gracie, Landed, Army, You to Thank, Underground, Zak and Sara, Not the Same.

I think I got all 25 songs there. :D

Update #2: I just booked concert #2 for '07: Great Lake Swimmers!!! Woo! It's next Saturday...

Clever disguise but it won't work this time.

I had one of those days where I thought about how some people bring out the best in me, and others the worst in me. Thankfully, my life is full of 99% of the former and 1% of the latter. But, gee, that 1% can be trying. Anyhow, even though I did have to put up with some of the 1% today, I had enough of the 99% to make my day pretty swell.

Ach. There is a huge pile of dishes by my sink. Anyone wanna come over and wash them for me? Don't all run now.

A cold snap started today. It's pretty darned chilly out there right now. I went for a walk in the cemetary today after school, and it started to snow on me. Snow. Apparently the forecast for tomorrow is below zero, as is the forecast for Friday. Which sucks, because I was planning on wearing a light jacket to my Ben Folds concert on Friday, and now I'm going to have to dress more warmly and rethink my whole outfit. Boo.

Yes! Ben Folds is on Friday! Finally, my first concert of 2007. The concert offerings in Toronto had better pick up so I can improve this.

In other-things-to-be-excited-about news, there is finally a new episode of the Office tomorrow night. I am way more excited about the new episode than I am about the fact that it's a four-day weekend coming up. Don't get me wrong: I am excited for the long weekend, but I would work two extra days for a new Office episode.

Saturday morning I'm taking the train to St. Ratford for Easter. I predict a relaxing weekend. Which I will need because when I'm back, report card insanity starts. Not to mention about a dozen other types of insanity. Oh summer, where are you??

These are the days when you wish your bed was already made.

Or, how not to start a Monday.

After hitting the snooze button thrice, I drag myself out of bed and head to the bathroom to hop in the shower. As I'm just about to step in the shower, I hear a big crash. "Not my laptop!" is the first thing that comes to mind and then I realize it sounded like the noise came from the kitchen, and my beloved computer is probably safe.

I throw my pjs back on and head into the kitchen which now looks like a grisly crime scene. The shelf above the chopping block in the kitchen had decided it was no longer happy be securely adhered to the wall and gave way. On said shelf was, among other things, a jar of (expensive) fire-roasted pepper tomato sauce that I'd given my roommate for Christmas. It had hit the floor, and its contents were now on the floor, on the door of the fridge, all over the cupboards, and yes, even on the table, chairs and wall in the dining room. My roomate's cookbooks were scattered amongst the tomato-y mess, along with the contents of a jar of grape jelly that a friend had made for me. Sadly, I will never eat said jelly. (Note: jelly doesn't splatter spectacularly like tomato sauce. So, if at one point in your life, you get really really angry at a person and decide to hurl a jar of condiment inside of their kitchen, go for the tomato sauce, not the jelly.)

I look at the mess, and decide that I'd deal with it after my shower. After the shower, I surveyed the mess, which I really really really just wanted to leave for later and realized that it would be 100 times worse to clean once it had dried, and decided to go wake up my roommate. I knock on her door explaining that there was an unfortunate situation in the kitchen. She had totally slept through the loud crash.

Anyhow, it was the most quality time I'd ever spent with my roommate at that hour of the morning.

I am never, ever, putting a jar of foodstuff or anything breakable on a wall-mounted shelf again. In fact, I may just steer away from this type of shelf if at all possible. A grisly scene like that scars you for life.

Pay attention to me, I don't talk for my health.

I make a point of watching two awards shows every year (even though I end up watching more, these are my two must-sees). The first is the Oscars which I watch for the glamour and glitz, and the second is the Junos (The Canadian music awards) which I watch for the Canadian music.

Well, tonight is Juno night, and after a big kerfuffle (CTV originally wasn't going to air them until like 11 pm here in Ontario as to not interfere with the Amazing Race. Thankfully, enough people got angry about that), I'm sitting here watching them. And like any good science-minded person, I like to make observations about what ever is happening around me, so here are my 2007 Juno Awards observations.

- Most things Canadian do have some sort of aspect of hokeyness to them. Could it be because hokey is one letter away from hockey? Maybe…
- Honestly, get Jann Arden to host these things every year. Then, we could do away with the hokey skits that are supposed to be funny, because that woman actually is very funny. But maybe that will never happen (see above).
-There is something strangely sexy about Gord Downie. Especially when he is performing or reading poetry.
- A string section makes Three Days Grace a little bit less worse. A little bit. Note: I did not use the word better, because I feel that implies that they have some sort of goodness.
- I figured out what awaits me if I am faced with eternal damnation. I will be locked away in a room with Ben Mulroney and Nickelback, hearing him ask inane questions like “Have you guys thought about running for office?”
- I hope Wes isn’t watching this, not because he hates awards shows, but because all of these commercials for Saskatchewan might make him homesick.
- I honestly do like Nelly Furtado. Even though her previous Folklore incarnation was more up my alley, her new stuff’s fun. And, I have nothing against her hosting, but really just get Jann Arden every year, please. Or even the Barenaked Ladies. They’re naturally funny too. Hosts with natural funniness will eliminate the need for hokey skits featuring Michael Buble.
- Sloan sooooo should have won Rock Album of the Year. Not only was Never Hear the End of It brilliant, it had the most tracks. If not Sloan, I would have liked to see The Hip win, but they don't give the old bands the awards.
- Awwww shucks, but Ben of Billy Talent (who won the above award) just shouted out Sloan and the Hip in their thank-you speech, so it's okay that they won the above award.
- The City & Colour/Alexisonfire performance was too short. Especially the City & Colour part.

Overall, this year's Junos were okay. I can't be too critical, because no matter what, it is a celebration of Canadian music, and there are always excellent performances in there with the bands I may not love so much.

I hope that next year there will be performances by two of my favourite bands, Stars and the Weakerthans, since their new albums are supposed to be released this fall.

Fight off the lethargy. Don't go quietly.

Dirty Little Secrets – swiped from MyUtopia.

1. The phone rings; who do you want it to be? Hmmmm, maybe that doctor/brilliant scientist that Sandee is convinced I’m going to meet someday… or, some rock star. If not those, I’d take any friend. I like talking to all my friends.

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart? Yes. I follow the rules in most situations.

3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener? How much have I had to drink? But honestly, I’m chatty as long as I’m comfortable with the people.

4. Do you take compliments well? I think so.

5. Do you play Sudoku? Yes… always good when I’m bored or on the train.

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive? I would be so dead.

7. Do you like to ride horses? Never been on a horse. (Joanna, have this fixed.)

8. Did you ever go to camp as a kid? Just day-camps. Oh, and then once I decided that I wasn’t a wilderness girl, I went to art camp… despite my lack of artistic skills.

9. What was your favorite game as a kid? Monopoly.

10. If a person was pursuing you, but you knew he/she was married, would you go for it? Probably not, since I follow the rules in most situations.

11. Have you lied to get out of a date? I'm more of a creative half-truth teller. Or I try really hard to remember something else I have to do.

12. Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you? Probably as long as they were tolerant of my beliefs.

13. Do you like to pursue or be pursued? I don’t pursue.

14. Use three words to describe yourself? Funny, personable, and loyal.

15. Do any songs make you cry? Yeah, different songs at different times. I would say “Magic” by Ben Folds Five is the winner though.

16. Are you continuing your education? There are a bunch of teaching courses that I need to take. I always say some day I might get my Master’s, but I don’t know if I could actually go through with it.

17. Do you know how to shoot a gun? Goodness no.

18. If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing you grabbed? My iPod, my laptop, and artwork from my trips.

19. How often do you read books? I’ve always got a book or two on the go.

20. Do you think more about the past, present or future? I think about past and future more than I do present. I need to learn to live in the present.

21. What is your favorite children's book? From my childhood: Matilda by Roald Dahl. But, as you know, I love Harry Potter.

22. What color are your eyes? Brown

23. How tall are you? 5 feet 6 inches

24. Where is your dream house located? The Annex neighbourhood in Toronto.

25. Have you tried sushi? Yes..

26. Have you ever taken pictures in a photo booth? Yes… many times when I was a teenager.

27. When was the last time you were at Olive Garden? Not since I was probably like 11, and that was with my parents.

28. When was the last time you were at Church? Sunday

29. Where was the furthest place you traveled today?
Work – 25 minute Subway ride each way.

30. What was your favorite job? Teaching.

31. Do you look like your mom or dad? I think I look like both.

32. How long does it take you in the shower? 10 minutes.

33. Can you do the splits? No.

34. If you could fast forward your life, would you? Can I rewind back? If I could rewind, I’d fast forward out of curiosity. But I would like to live each moment.

35. What did you do for New Year's? Saw a movie with Christa and Heather, and then celebrated “Texas New Year” (we were late) with a drink.

36. Do you think The Grudge was scary? Didn’t see it.

37. Could you relate to a character in Mean Girls? Saw it, but don’t remember it clearly enough.

38. Do you own a camera phone? Yeah, but it’s pretty crappy.

39. What do you buy at the movies? Mmmm, normally I smuggle in a drink. I might buy an ice cream bar though.

40. Do you wear your seatbelt? Always. I follow the rules.

41. What do you wear to sleep? PJs.

42. Anything big ever happen in your hometown? Well, the Festival, I suppose… Oh and then there was the time that a swan cheated on his mate and then tried to kill his cygnets. That saga made the paper for weeks. Then there was that time a swan was killed. They thought it might have been a person, but it turned out an owl did it. Another hot story in the paper.

43. Ever been to L.A.? Only the airport.

44. Do you steal or pay for your music downloads? I typically pay, but I have stolen a few.

45. Are you a gullible person? Maybe once and awhile, but usually not.

46. If you could have any job what would it be? Hmmm, music journalist?

47. Are you easy to get along with? I think I’m very easy to get along with.

48. What is your favorite time of day? Whenever I have time to chill.

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.