When you found yourself finally released, you hit the ground and kept running east...

Today was a special day. I, Christielli, have been in *three* provinces on the same day. Pretty impressive, eh? However, this monumentous occasion is accompanied by some sadness: our trek from Charlottetown to Halifax (via Confederation Bridge and a corner of New Brunswick) means that we are coming to the end of our mayhem in the Maritimes. Tomorrow we are spending another day in Halifax, and then on Wednesday we fly back to Ontari-ari-ari-o.

During the past few days, I've been commenting on random things that I *love* about the East Coast. Believe me, if there is one thing I've learned on this trip, it is that I *love* the East Coast. Honestly, if someone offered me a job in a small Maritime town, I think I'd totally take it, and move out here. Although, maybe seeing what the winter is like out here would change my mind...

Anyway, here is a list of random things that I *love* about the East Coast. Upon reflecting on these ten random things, my pals and I realize that we did not take pictures of a lot of these things, so I guess most of them will remain in the realm of memory and now the blogosphere.

1) Post Offices: Every small town here has a post office in the centre of town. We've driven through at least 1349 small towns, and trust me, the post office is easy to find. (It's my job to see it and comment on it or else I get in trouble.)

2) Visitors' Centres: I tend to not go to visitors' centres back home, since even if I'm travelling elsewhere in Ontario, I don't consider myself a visitor. The visitors' centres here are very well-marked and easy to find with the brown question mark signs that we see everywhere. It's become a trip tradition to visit the visitors' centres in the towns we've visited, even if we don't need information. (That's a hilraious sentence, with three forms of the verb "to visit".) The staff are always very helpful and friendly, and you can get lots of handy information and maps from them. Christa points out that they have information in both English and French available at these centres, and Flora points out that they have well-kept washroom facilities.

3)Little Churches: There are so many cute little churches. Usually they are handily perched on a hill overlooking the town, making them very visible and making the town look very picture-pefect. Here is an a-typical East Coast church from somewhere in PEI. It's not white, and not on a hill, but cute nonetheless (and the only church picture that I could find on Christa's computer).



4) Lack of traffic: During quite a few of our drives, I've been known to ask "when was the last time we saw another car in either direction?" I love the fact that I can ask that question. We did, however, come across a nasty traffic snarl in Kensington PEI. We had finished our "Anne of Green Gables" day in Cavendish and decided to detour to Summerside. To make this detour, we ended up having to pass through yet another small community. However, once we were heading into town, traffic was stopped. After waiting a few minutes, I decided to turn around (it was my driving day) and see if we could find another way to get to Kensington. After driving in the wrong direction for awhile, Christa suggested "Let's just go back to Kensington. The traffic jam is sure to have cleared up by now." So, I turned around and headed back into the snarl. We moved up a car length every couple of minutes, but gave up after another half hour and when we saw evidence of a probable parade up ahead. We ended up just going back to Charlottetown, and making our detour to Summerside this morning. Luckily, there was not a parade to be had in Kensington today. So, in summary, East Coast traffic is pretty non-existent, except if there is a parade.

A picture showing typical East Coast traffic (this was actually in a *tourist trap* area in Moncton):



Traffic Snarl in Kensington:


5) East Coast Driving Manners: Even though traffic is pretty sparse out here, with the exception of parades, when you do come across another vehicle, they are very laid back and polite. I've yet to hear the sound of a car horn (with the exception of when Flora accidentally leaned on ours). When you make a stupid tourist driving error, no one gets mad at you. People let you in when you need to change lanes. I've yet to be hit by a car while being a pedestrian here (unlike when I was on the West Coast last summer). In fact, cars actually *stop* for pedestrians here. Love it.

6)Giant statues of things: We've visited the giant lobster in Shediac, NB and the giant blueberry in Oxford, NS. Both have made for kickass photo ops and seem to be the primary attraction in these two towns. Here's the lobster:



7) Chatting with locals about complete randomness: Today I've had two absolutely random chats with locals in, no surprise, coffee shops.

a) Tim Hortons in Amherst NS: I ordered my usual large half coffee half hot chocolate. The man beside me was absolutely fascinated by my beverage and inquired about how I discovered it, how tasty was it, and whether or not you have to add sugar to it. (You don't.)

b) Starbucks on the outskirts of Halifax - I pull out my wallet to pay for my Mint Mocha Chip Frappucino Light (it's been awhile since I've had one) and the cashier comments "Wow! Your driver's license is so much nicer than mine!" I ask her what hers looks like and she actually goes to the back to get her wallet to show me, upon which we bond on the ugliness of NS licenses and the fact that we have the same brand of wallet. I could not imagine anyone in Toronto going to grab their wallet like this.

8) Beaches and Parks - Admittedly, I don't frequent the beaches and parks in Ontario much, but the ones out here are amazing. We've been to Murray Beach Provincial Park in NB, Fundy National Park in NB, and the Greenwich Beach section of PEI National Park. We've varied from very active (hiking a level three trail at Fundy) to very inactive (lying on the Beach at Greenwich) at these parks, and maybe it's just the Atlantic saltwater, but I really loved these places.

9) Houses - The vast majority of houses on the East Coast look like cottages and are painted a rainbow of pretty shades like red, blue, yellow, and purple. My pal Flora has probably taken at least 20 shots of various purple houses on this trip. I think my favourite house was a bright red one in Peggy's Cove.

Below is a picture of Peggy's Cove. Can you find my favourite house? Can you spot the cute little church?



10) Scenic Driving Routes - All three provinces have had well marked scenic routes. I forget the names of all of these routes, but they've all been very well marked with cute signs with lighthouses, sunrises, blue herons, etc. And, they've all been very scenic. Having to drive on a boring four-lane highway to Halifax today was rather sucky after all of our scenic drives.

There are far more than ten things that I've loved about the East Coast, but since I'm getting tired, and we have our last hurrah in Halifax tomorrow, I'm going to stop at the nice lovely round number that is ten.

I took the Dartmouth ferry into the town, spent my pennies bumming around...

So, what do you do on a rainy night in a small Nova Scotian town? Thank goodness the Olympics are on and we have wifi. There has been some talk of venturing out to rent a DVD or something, but after spending the day getting severely soaked, there is little enthusiasm for leaving our quaint hotel room.

The worst thing about this rain is that there is was a really cool evening plan that may be abandoned. We are in Annapolis Royal which is Canada's oldest permanent residence. There is a really old graveyard across from our hotel, and there is a candlelight tour of the graveyard scheduled for tonight, but it might not be the most fun thing to do in a torrential downpour. Plus, I'm unsure of how the candles would stay lit. This is a huge downer because I was really looking forward to the tour since I have a well-developed inner gothiness and such.

So yeah, now that I'm finished complaining about the rain, I'll give you a quick update on Mayhem in the Maritimes. There has been mayhem: my travelling pal Christa stole a mug, and climbed on cannons at the Citadel in Halifax when the brochure clearly said not to climb on stuff. (Note: another person whose name contains the letters c, h, r, i, s, and t might have also been climbing on the above cannon.) Also, last night a certain trio of girls may have gone out for a lobster dinner in Lunenburg, drank a little bit of assorted spirits which resulted in a spirited dinner. This resulted in a certain person feeling bad for consuming a week's worth of calories in one sitting, so she decided to "hoof" around the hills of Lunenburg for a fify-two minutes. Note: the hills of Lunenburg could give the hills of San Fran a run for their money. Because of her strenuous hoofing, someone had a hard time getting out of bed this morning. And, so I'm hearing, was cranky for the second time in three days.

Now, you may have noticed this not an independent blog post, since I have a running commentary happening as I write. This post is going to get even more collaborative because I'm going to post a couple of pictures taken by my buddy/klepto Christa since her picture are on her laptop from which I am typing.

Here's a picture of the iconic lighthouse at Peggy's Cove:



Finally, a picture of a rainy day in Annapolis Royal:



Thanks guest photographer Christa!!!

Update: The rain stopped just in time for the candlelight graveyard tour! My well-developed inner goth was so pleased!

Take the heart of the travelling band, you'll never understand that all they know is the yellow line, yeah.

Well, I'm in the midst of a flurry of packing, entertaining house guests, over-analyzing something that happened yesterday, and hoping that I'll get some sleep tonight.

But, it'll all be over tomorrow when I'm off to Halifax! We have a well-planned itinerary (done by moi, naturellement) that covers the provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. At the end of this trip, I'll have visited 8/10 Canadian provinces. I'll be missing Newfoundland (trip in itself) and Saskatchewan. I have no idea what would bring me to Saskatchewan... I really wish that a particular friend would have not moved away from there, so I'd have an excuse to visit. Why don't people think of my travel needs when planning their lives??

Anyhow, I'm sure I'll blog a bit from the road, but if not, I'll catch you on the 20th!!

I just need light. I need light in the dark as I search for a resolution.

Random thoughts from a girl who can't sleep...

1) So a beloved band of yours comes out with a new single and you download it. How many times do you listen to in a span of roughy 24 hours do you think? 10? 20? Maybe 30? Well, if your name is Christielli, and the single is "The Resolution" by Jack's Mannequin, the answer is 60.

2) Early on Sunday morning, I'm leaving for major summer trip #2: Mayhem in the Maritimes, baby. What do I mean by mayhem? Well, I mean *me* driving (or at least until my travel buddies have the sense to step in), lighthouses, Canadian historical sights, a few quaint inns, some pubs (I insist on getting drunk at least once... not while driving, of course), ferries, long bridges, tides, the ocean, Anne of Green Gables corniness, a Sarah Harmer show, a ghost walk, beaches, ice cream, and lots of seafood. Perhaps mayhem is the correct term for this, but I couldn't come up with a better alliteration.

3) Album of the week: Little Jabs by Two Hours Traffic. Best song: Sure Can Start. Band is from PEI, where I will be the weekend after next (they won't though, that would have rocked).

4) CDs I will pack for the road: the above album, Navy Blues by Sloan, Wish You Were and All of Our Names by Sarah Harmer (I have some people to school before the show), Marriage by Attack in Black (driving CD from last summer), Everything in Transit by Jack's Mannequin, and whatever bitchin' mixes I have time to make before the trip. n Oh and how 2003 is it to be packing CDs?? (2004 being the year I got my iPod.)

5) If I still can't fall asleep after writing this, I could play connect the dots with the mosquito bites that cover my limbs. I went to a wedding at a cottage last weekend, and trust me, kids' bug spray that smells like watermelon does not do the trick. And, for the record, I disagree with Ned Flanders: mosquito bites are not satisfying to scratch.

6) Even though it is only the beginning of August, I realize that when I get back from my trip on August 20th, reality will be setting in. However, even though they will force me to go back to work yet again this year, I do love the fall and I suspect this will be a fall with a lot of concerts. (Yes, I say that every fall to make me feel better about the inevitable.)

7) Is that a little of bit of sleepyness I feel coming over me?? I think it is... The hot chocolate and staring at a computer screen seems to be working. I have found the resolution!!!

'Cuz you keep me coming back for more and I feel a little better than I did before.

I've been MIA for about a week since I took a trip to good ol' St. Ratford for a few days. While there, I get to enjoy the retro-ness of dial-up internet, which means my internet activities are limited to checking email. Which is actually great, because it means that I stay away from my crack (ie celebrity gossip blogs).

Anyway, I'm back in the city (yay!). I took the late train last night, and didn't fall asleep until 3 am, but for some reason I was up this morning at 7:45 am which is not typical of the summer vacay version of me at all. I'm doing laundry right now actually (where did this domestic energy come from?), and blogging. Once the stuff is in the dryer, it's off to get some caffeine for me.

Here's some randomness from the last week:

1) I got to catch up with a lot of friends while in the Rat. Is there anything I like better? I think not!

2) I finished reading Stephen King's memoir on writing, called, well "On Writing". I liked it. My dad said the parts about grammar were boring. Those were the parts I dug. Am I getting more boring than my father, who I consider the boring-est man on earth? Egads!

3) For some reason I picked up a couple of stupid magazines while in the grocery store. I generally detest magazines because my feelings are that I might as well buy a book, but well, maybe it was the lack of celebrity blogs that drew my tired brain to a different type of mindless candy. However, I think it was totally fortune that lead me to buying these magazines because one of them had a picture of the shoes of my dreams.



Red Chucks with birds!!!! Could I dream up a more perfect shoe for me? (Maybe if they were purple. Purple is my fave colour. Red is #2.) They were designed by an artist named Lena Corwin for the product(Red) campaign. I <3 birds. If I ever get a tattoo (doubtful) it will be a bird. Christielli fact: my favourite four things are birds, stars, hearts, and flowers. I always have at least one of those things on my person each day. On a really good day, I'll have all four...

I did some research, and I can order them from the Converse website, but I'll totally get screwed on shipping, taxes, and duties. However, I've decided that I'm going to give myself until school starts to search for them in Toronto and where-ever else I may go, and if I don't find them by then, I will say screw it, and buy them as a back-to-school present to me from me.

4) Did I mention that I'm officially done my stupid online course and that I passed? Well, I am and I did! I just have to wait for my results to be processed, and then I have to do some nasty paperwork, and I'll get a nice raise (to fund my dream shoes and more perhaps?). You'll be pleased to know that I got As on all of my assignments, except for the one that I wrote when I was hungover from the end-of-school pub crawl, upon which I got a B+.

5) The only time I listen to any radio is when I'm in St. Ratford. As a result, when I come back to Toronto, I have a new set of guilty pleasure pop songs. The current crop are Damaged by Danity Kane, Shake It by Metro Station, and If I Never See Your Face Agian by Maroon 5 f. Rihanna.

6) I love how a lot of pop songs are by someone featuring someone else. I want to do a blog post by me f. someone else one day. It will be done, maybe not immediately, but one day.

7) Claire warmed my heart by giving me a cool blog award, which I would so place on my awards shelf if: a) I had one; and b) it wasn't virtual. Still cool though. I think I'm supposed to do my own awards now, which will take some thought...

All right, that's the randomness. Time to chuck my laundry in the dryer and then go acquire myself some caffeine.

When you feel your tree is breaking, just bend. You've got the music in you.

Lately I've been thinking that I need a good meme to do on my blog, and I just came across a really great one on Claire's blog, so here goes...

Twenty years ago...

I was eight years old, and I would have just finished grade 3 and been making that big step from a primary kid to a junior kid in elementary school. I'm pretty sure it would have been the first summer where I persuaded my parents to send me to art camp despite the fact it was rather expensive. It rocked though, and I loved it even though I have never been artistically-talented. I would have spent the rest of the summer riding my "Blue Angel" bike around the neighbourhood. It had blue tires and made wicked blue skid marks on the pavement. I rode it to the local corner store to stock up on baseball cards and stickers to trade with all of my neighbourhood boyfriends. When they weren't around, I'd play Barbies or She-Ra with Jeni who was my best friend/worst enemy. It was a great summer.

Fifteen Years ago...

I was thirteen years old and about to make the transition from grade 8 to grade 9. I remember that my best friend, Melissa (who I'm still friends with today), and I would ride our bikes to our high school and look at it in awe and fathom how the heck we would make it in that huge place in September. This would have been the summer just before the one where we discovered the fun/evils of alcohol and older boys, so I think we spent most of it hanging out at her place, babysitting her younger sisters, watching movies, playing boardgames, and stressing about what high school would be like.

Ten Years ago...

I was eighteen years old, and was about to make the transition from high school to university. That summer, I kept with the crappy restaurant job that I'd had since I was fifteen, and was okay with it despite its crappiness because I worked with some of my friends, so at least some of the time I was socializing. I know that deep down I was really really nervous about the decision that I'd made to go to the University of Toronto. I knew that academically, it was the best decision for me, but I had no idea how a quiet small-town girl like me would make it in a school with a student population twice that of the town I grew up in.

In between worrying, preparing for, and being excited to go to university, there was a focus on spending as much time as possible with my friends from home as possible. I'm sure we made a lot of trips out to the beach in Grand Bend, and I remember our final party before we headed our separate ways at my friend Christa's house. Basically, I learned that alcohol + trampoline = broken foot for Christy. It sucked, but it is one of those things that I now laugh (really hard) about.

Five Years Ago

I was twenty-three and had just finished teachers' college and had zero job prospects. I had moved out of my beloved Toronto and back to Stratford with my 'rents while I figured out where I wanted to go with my life. My brain had always told me that Toronto was for university, and then it would be sensible to look for a job closer to home and settle there.

I spent the summer visiting my pals in Toronto as much as I could, and half-heartedly searching for jobs for September. On a lark, I applied for a job in a remote community in Northerwestern Ontario, got it, and had a week to pack up everything I'd need for 10 months and go. If I'd had more than a week to think about it, I would have come to my senses. However, I ended up taking a huge risk, surviving an incredibly challenging experience, and coming out a stronger and better person for it.

Three Years Ago

I was twenty-five. After my year up north, I listened to my heart instead of my brain and moved back to Toronto. This choice had proved insanely right; I had a job within two weeks of moving back to Toronto. I ended up loving the school a lot, and was so happy when the temporary job I had for one year turned into a permanent position.

This was also the summer when I went on my amazing trip to Australia. I had a friend who was doing teachers' college in Brisbane, so myself and another couple friends went to visit her, and then travelled around the country. It's funny; I'm going on my trip to the East Coast with the same friends this summer.

One Year Ago...

I was twenty-seven. I had just moved into this apartment, and it was the first time I had my very own place. Becca T and I went on a fabulous trip to Western Canada. It was a very busy summer, since I had to take a course and move, but a great one.

Yesterday...

I woke up early and met up with Becca T for a morning coffee. I went to the gym, and then I spent my afternoon booking hotels for my trip to the East Coast. I then spent most of the evening chatting with friends.

Today...

Today, I slept in a little bit, had breakfast and watched stupid morning TV talk shows, then met up with my friend Jane for gelato. This evening I need to clean and pack for my upcoming trip to St. Ratford. I was going to run out to get a coffee and a couple of things at the grocery store, but it just started to pour, so I'm going to maybe attack those dishes after I'm done posting.

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow, I'm meeting up with a friend from work for lunch, and then I'm taking the train to St. Ratford in the evening.

In the next five years...

Well, in five years from now, I'll be thirty-three. The rest of it, well, that's a big question mark. I notice that for a lot of my previous answers, I was in times of transition (going into high school, university, etc.), and I think that I might be in a time of transition right now. I'm really happy with my career, so I envision myself in more or less the same place in five years from now. I guess it's the rest that I need to figure out. I'm definitely happy in Toronto, that's for sure. I love travelling, and I hope that I'll have done more of that in five years too. I love my friends, and I know they'll all be around in five years' time too.

I think right now I'm feeling like I did five years' ago, ten years' ago, and fifteen years' ago. My life is going to change, and I'm not sure exactly how, and it makes me nervous. I see the future as a giant question mark, and I really wish I could see what's behind the question mark. However, I can't... or maybe I can if I go to the psychic who reads tarot cards in my neighbourhood coffee shop, ha-ha. Anyway, all the question marks in the past have always turned out exceptionally well for me, and I must believe that this next question mark will turn out well too. I should quit worrying about the future, and enjoy what the present has to offer me.

Argh, well, no matter what, in five years' time, I will be absolutely freakin' fabulous, that's for sure. :)

When you're finished struggling, are you free tonight? Did they stick you in here 'cause you weren't working right?

Usually my Sunday night posts are pieces of fluff (like 98% of my posts) about what I did on my weekend and how fabulous everything is.

However, upon reading this article in this morning's Toronto Star, I spent a good deal of time today thinking about the contents of the article and how they relate to my own experience.

The article is about the over-representation of Aboriginals in Canada's penitentiaries. According to the article, aboriginals "make up 19 per cent of inmates in federal penitentiaries but only three per cent of the Canadian population". It is even worse for young aboriginal Canadians: "they represented 33 per cent of young people in custody in 2003, but just 5 per cent of Canada's population, according to the federal justice department".

I have been teaching for five years. Four of my years of teaching have been in Toronto. However, for my first year teaching, I taught and lived on an isolated Northwestern Ontario reserve. I know I've blogged about it once; for me, it's actually one of the most memorable posts I've ever written.

My 10 months in this community changed my perspective forever, and made me very aware of problems facing Aboriginal Canadians. I don't have any answers. During my year up north, I came home a couple of times, and many friends would ask me about what it was like living in such a place, and would ask me what I thought needed to be done. I still don't know, but I do know that the cycle of poverty, crime, unemployment, family break-down, and substance abuse that plague Aboriginal communities is very real, and there needs to be more focus on these problems. Before my year up north, I knew about these problems, but I was completely unaware of the severity, and tragedy of the situation. I used to be like an average Canadian, I suppose, but now I guess I am far more troubled and concerned by articles like the one in today's Star.

The reason why this article resonated with me so much, was that it brought to mind one of my students. Looking back at my situation, I find it mind-boggling. I was 23 years old, and this "kid" that I was teaching was 19, so there wasn't a huge age difference, really. (Aside: I actually had some students who were older than I was that year.) Anyway, this student had come back to the community from jail, I believe, and he decided to enroll and take some courses. To his credit, he actually earned three credits while he attended my program.

Just being in this boy's presence, you could feel the anger and rage pent up inside him. Later, I found out what he went to jail for, and it was such a disturbing crime that I'm glad that I did not know about it while he was in my class, because it would have made me even more uneasy in his presence than I was already. We tolerated each other; he made me nervous, and it frustrated him that he had to ask me for help with his work. I remember talking about how I used to live in Toronto in class. He was quick to ask me if I'd ever seen the Don Jail or the Kingston penitentiary.

The Star article describes how prison culture can breed more violence in Aboriginal prisoners. As I was reading this article, this former of student of mine popped into my head. I'm not sure what happened to him; I would not be the least bit surprised to learn that he is currently one of the imprisoned Aboriginal youths that make up the statistics.

Was I able to make any changes during my 10 months up north? Nothing huge and notable; at the very least I was able to be a support for my students and help them earn some credits. As a teacher, you never really get a sense of how the little things you do impact your students. If you are lucky, you may have a student who lets you know how important you are to them. Often, your job is thankless, but you know that the encouragement and kindness that you show your students will make a difference in their lives. Even if I wasn't able to make change during my 10 months up north, I think the more important change is the change that was made in me. I probably never would have read a newspaper article like this in this past, let alone become positively haunted by it.

I know that in the next election, I am going to pay careful attention to candidates' stances on the issue of the plight of Aborginal Canadians. I just wish that there were more Canadians that had enough awareness of this to make it a bigger issue than it currently is, because it is indeed a national disgrace.

And we live in our actions and our reactions.

Argle-bargle. So, I'm invovled in a program that is running at my school the last week of August, which means I'll be working when I am technically still on vacation. Now, I'm actually getting paid extra for this program, which is really going to help me pay off some of this summer's travels. Anyway, I was supposed to have a meeting regarding this program at 10 am this morning (a bit early for the summer-sloth-version-of-Christielli's liking), and I just got a call reminding me that it is at 11 am... Anyway, I know that it was scheduled at 10 am, because I remember thinking "crap that's early", and I have the piece of paper to prove it. Anyway, not only did this disorganization annoy my inner-teacher, I'm up and dressed far too early and I have an hour to kill. Oh, and it's going to mess up my lunch plans with my work spouse too. Yeesh.

Anyway, so there is a point to this post besides complaining. Do I complain too much? I asked this question as I was chatting with my mother last night. Maybe I do. I find that I'm a very verbal person: the only way I can make sense of the thoughts going through my head is to talk them out, so unfortch, that means a lot of people have to hear my venting. Oh well, I guess I can tell my friends/family that's the price to pay for being lucky enough to have me in their lives.

But, yeah, as I was saying, there *is* a point to this post, besides time-killing and complaining. I just got a facebook message from a friend in regards to his personal theme song. This caused me to wonder if I had a personal theme song, and if I did, what is it?

It took me maybe 2 minutes to figure this out: my personal theme song is "When it Flows" by Great Lake Swimmers. I knew that that it had the lyrics to be my personal theme song, but was it upbeat and catchy enough? After a listen, I definitely knew it was meant to be.

I couldn't find a YouTube clip or anything of this song, because it is fairly obscure (not surprising, right?), but you can hear a snippet of it here, or it's at least on the Canadian iTunes store.

When it comes to music, I'm definitely a lyrics girl, so here are the lyrics for you:

When it Flows - Great Lake Swimmers

When it flows from the fingers
And turns to stone
It shatters with the touch
Feel the air, breathe it in
Turn the corner, take the bend
Give or take the bend
It's a spiralling cork-screw path towards you
It's a sinking, twisted path from me to you

For a second I saw you so clearly (clearly)
For a moment I knew you so dearly (dearly)
I looked into your eyes and into your mind
You were laughing like a statue come to life

The subtle piano raindrops
The creaking of the buildings and their cellos
The wind was our violin
The sky was a symphonic mural of stars
Hiding behind perfectly placed clouds
Because everything is the way it is
And everything is perfect in their imperfections
And everything is placed the best
And it is now, and it is here
And tomorrow is another now
Waiting to happen

The roar of an action silences all the words
The cry of an accomplishment
Drowns the whimper of ten thousand words
And we live in our actions and our reactions
And we live in our actions and our reactions

I love every word in this song, but I especially like the third verse. I'm drawn to the imagery of linking the environment to musical instruments in the first few lines. The line "everything is perfect in their imperfections" is a bit of a mantra for me, and it helps me deal with the imperfections that rattle the perfectionist inside of me.

Note: My personal theme song is #32 on my most listened-to tracks on my iPod. I wonder if identifying it as my theme song will improve its standing?

Just a moment of weakness, I should examine my head.

Every now and then, I seriously contemplate getting rid of this thing.

I often feel over the whole blogging thing. I started it on a total whim, because I really liked Matthew Good's blog, and thought it was so cool that I got an inside look into one of my favourite musician's minds, and thought it'd be cool to publish my own thoughts on the internet. I think deep down I assumed that this would become like any other journal that I started: I'd be very faithful in writing for maybe a month and then there would be the inevitable "so it's been a year since I've written in this thing..." entry.

However, as you can see from my archives, my blog miracualously did not succumb to this pattern. Why? A lot of it is that a few months into blogging, I actually got *readers*, and the second reason is that I have learned to appreciate the history of myself that I have created on my blog. The other evening I couldn't sleep (I honestly think I'm still on San Fran time), and I caught myself reading through my own archives, and well it totally validated the upkeep of this blog. I loved being able to relive important moments in my life, like my various travels, birthdays, friendships, getting my permanent contract, and moving into my own place (Monday was my first year anniversary living in this apartment!).

So, I guess what I'm saying is that even though I've been tempted to click the delete blog button and disappear from the blogosphere, I don't think that I ever could because I could never ever erase 3+ years of my own history. It's funny how even the most meaningless of posts can bring me back to times in my life that I would have otherwise forgotten if it wasn't for this blog, and I'm glad that they are not lost.

Funny things I've noticed as I've randomly perused my archives:
a) I've more-or-less always used song lyrics as post titles. This came from the practice that one of my high school friends and I had of titling our emails when we were in university. I've noticed that I've inadvertantly repeated some of my favourites.
b) This still works even though I drew it three years ago.
c) I used to talk about my friends by inverting their initials (ie Becca T used to be TB), but I dropped this practice.
d) My top-ten most listened to songs on my iPod on Sept. 13/05 were:

1) Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars
2) Souvenirs - Christine Fellows
3) Sleeps with Butterflies - Tori Amos
4) Natural Disaster - Joel Plaskett
5) Every Day is a Holiday - Esthero
6) Mushaboom - Feist
7) Reunion - Stars
8) Lola Stars and Stripes - The Stills
9) All That I've Got - The Used
10) Agoraphobe - Matthew Good and Ryan Dahle

Now they are:

1) Sleeps with Butterflies - Tori Amos
2) Souvenirs - Christine Fellows
3) Light Years - Sloan
4) So Long, So Long - Dashboard Confessional
5) The Con - Tegan & Sara
6) Your Braids - Colin Munroe
7) In the Cinema Alone - Memphis
8) Reconstruction Site - The Weakerthans
9) Reunion Tour - The Weakerthans
10) Your Ex-Lover is Dead - Stars

e) I've always enjoyed making lists, especially lists about music.

Anyway, sometimes blogging can be a little narcissitic, it's true, but I've been a little bit sad lately (not sure why... think a trip home will do me good), and being able to seen a concrete record of my awesomeness helps. That and Stewart Smalley affirmations, and fun nights with friends, and a bit of social butterfly-ism.

All the way from San Francisco, as I chased the end of your rope, 'cause I've still got miles to go.

So I'm back from trip #1 of the summer of fabulousity. And, well, it was a fabulous trip. It ended up costing me a fabulous amount of money, but it was worth it. I guess I'm learning that it's worth paying the price for a fabulous time.

I spent my first day back sleeping in, seeing "Kung Fu Panda" with my pal Mathew (it was really fun), catching up with friends, playing with pictures, and eventually stopping the procrastination, and settling down to do the assignment for my stupid online course that is due tomorrow (or today rather since it's now Sunday). Again, me completing this online course is going to result in a nice raise next year, which will pay off the trip I just went on, so it's worth staying in on a Saturday night to do school work, I guess.

Anyway, the purpose of this post is a trip rundown complete with photos, so here goes!

The first day, we did a lot of shopping. We took the bus to Haight-Ashbury (which passes through a sketchy area on its way... we lovingly nicknamed this area Crackton). In the Haight, there are so many funky shops, and I got some neat stuff like a Tshirt to wear next Earth Day and a sushi stapler for Becca T. I'll have to take pictures of it. Then, we returned to our posh-area (Union Square), did more shopping, and had dinner at a really good Asian-fusion restaurant.



On the second day, we went to the "literari" area near Chinatown. It was cool because there were all kinds of famous cafes where all of the beatnik writers drank and wrote at. At the end of Jack Kerouac Road is the really cool bar, Vesuvio, that he and other writers spent a lot of time at. I'd spend a lot of time there too because it was really funky inside. I would have *loved* to have a drink there, but it was still the morning at this point, so... Anyway, here is a picture of a really cool mural outside the bar.



We then walked through the North Beach area, which is San Fran's little Italy, and then walked up a huge hilly street to Coit Tower. Here's the beginning of the hill with Coit Tower in the background. Afterwards there was a bunch of stairs to climb and then another hill. A good workout for sure.



As we were climbing the hill, we saw some men brining a fridge up the stairs which made us feel, well, glad that we didn't have fridges with us. It made me think of one of my favourite books "Round Ireland With A Fridge" and I had a good laugh. It would be definitely much more difficult to get around San Fran with a fridge, with all of its crazy hills.



I also noticed that my name is all over the streets of San Fran. Here's my name with my feet.



We walked to Fisherman's Wharf for some pictures and lunch. Here are the seals.



After lunch, we went to Ghiradelli Square, where I had some *amazing* ice cream which I deserve after navigating so many hills by foot. After that, we waited in line for what seemed like 45 minutes for a cable car back to our hotel. It was worth it. Zipping up and down those hills in the open air is awesome. We also had a really funny driver who kept making quips like "sometimes when I brake I like to close my eyes". Definitely worth the wait. Here is a picture of one of the workers turning the cable car around before it was boarded. It's awesome to see something so incredibly old school.



On the third day, we headed back up to Fisherman's Wharf area, and stopped by Lombard Street (the crookedest street) on our way.



We then rented bikes to bike across the Golden Gate Bridge, which ended up being my absolute favourite part of the trip. We had to bike across town, through the Golden Gate Recreational Area, which includes Chrissy Beach (good name - my parents and family actually call me Chrissy). Thankfully there weren't too many hills. Here's a view of the bridge from the beach.



Then, it was across the Golden Gate Bridge. It was windy, but the views were spectacular.



After the bridge, we biked down a wicked hill to the little town of Sausalito. All in all our bike ride was about 15 km, which I think is good for a girl whose last bike ride was last summer in Stanley Park. I wish I had a good picture of Sausalito but I don't yet. My friend took some, so I'll have to get them from her. (She's a much better photographer than me anyway.)

We took the ferry back to the Wharf. Here's a view of Alcatraz along the way. I still think it looked extremely spooky. We didn't have time to do the tour, which made my inner goth a little bit sad.



On our last day, we rented a car, where my pal braved driving the hills of San Fran. (You didn't think I'd drive there, did you?) We drove out to Sonoma, where we did a little bit of wine tasting and winery tours in the morning, had a fabulous lunch at a restaurant called "The Girl and the Fig" (where we also had dinner because we wanted to try more of their menu). In the afternoon we went to a spa for manicures, pedicures, and much-needed massages, after the previous day's bike ride.

Here's a view of the hills behind the first winery we visited.



Here are some grapes.



Here is a picture of Sonoma City Hall.



Anyway, after dinner we headed back to San Fran, which was much chillier than Sonoma and dragged our heavy wine bottles back to our hotel from the rental place. We then decided to use our hotel gym to work off some of the calories we'd consumed during the day. Then there was the really ugly job of packing all of the stuff we bought. My friend, who'd packed heavy to begin with, had to cram a lot of her stuff into my luggage and we even ended up having to do some shuffling of objects in the airport the next day. She joked that I was her camel and bought me a bottle of water and a celebrity smut magazine to keep me happy.

So, it was a really really fabulous trip. I have to say I love San Fran. I've been to some really awesome US cities in the past year (Seattle, New York City, Austin, San Fran). So, ummm, congrats to all you Americans out there for having some really cool places. ;)

Less than a month and I'm off to explore the East Coast of my own country! :D However, there will be lots more fabulousity in the interim.

You think you're on your own just taking it slow, but something always happens whenever we're together, it shows.

I love travelling, but I hate packing. Can't a packing-elf come and do it for me?? (And while he's at it, hire me a marking-elf for the school year, and a cleaning-elf for all year too.) Anyway, hoping for elves isn't really going to get me anywhere, nor is blogging, but here I am, procrastinating away.

Oh, btw I am going to San Francisco to officially kick of the fabulous portion of the summer of fabulousity! This week was my first full week of vacay, but I laid low and did a lot of reading, and even did some work on my stupid online course. I did go to a wicked bachelorette party on Friday night, and that was pretty fabulous.

All right, while I'm psyching myself to pack my brand new suitcase (my old one got wrecked on its way home from Austin), I'll go all random.

For the past two days, I've been obsessively listening to Sloan. More specifically, I've been obsessively listening to Jay songs. (FYI - Sloan has 4 singer/songwriters. Jay's my fave.) I bought the new Sloan album when it was released in June, but have just started listening to it properly. The three Jay songs (Cheap Champaign, Witches Wand, and If I Could Change Your Mind) are the bestest, I think. Anyway, that's today's nugget of music geekdom.

What do you think the worst thing you can forget to pack is? Deodorant? Toothbrush? Nah, those are easy enough to buy. Passport would suck, obviously. Camera? I have to remember to bring the charger for my new camera's battery... that would suck to forget. The other thing I hate forgetting is the charger for my iPod. I hate having to be thrifty in my music listening. Also, it sucks if you forget a piece of clothing you really like. I'm all about the fashion.

All right, now that I've thought about what I should be careful not to forget, I suppose I should get to that packing. I'll see you post-San Fran. I'll leave with this video that I came across today that made me laugh really hard.

True Patriot Love, a la la la la...

Listening to this song/watching this video is my Canada Day tradition. I <3 Joel Plaskett.

Happy Canada Day!



ps This is my 500th blog post and it's terribly anti-climatic.

I'll knit you the nicest taxi cab to pick you up from the airport when you get in.

Welcome to real life kids! That's how I think of summer vacay: my real-life when every second is devoted to me, me, me! (Except the first day which was spend writing a paper for the stupid online course.) Oh the selfishness of it all! Oh the luxury of it all! Oh, how I kind of miss the kids who greeted me on Saturday with a loud, raucous "Miss it's YOU!" as I was crossing the street. In my carefully-chosen-far- from-school neighbourhood, where I've seen them before because they play basketball somewhere around here.

Anyway, I could write about the pub crawl (successful as usual, some new recruits, fewer stops that were farther apart this year, so it was a healthier crawl, only a slight hangover the next day), or about how I've spent my summer vacay so far (reading, social-butterflying, and a bit of shopping), but I just got the urge to write about something I love: knitting.

***

Why I Love To Knit
by: Christielli

Quite frankly, I love to knit because I find it highly pleasurable to turn a long string into something warm, fuzzy, and wearable. It's amazing to find a nifty ball of yarn in a store, and picture it and perhaps its sisters turned into a scarf, mittens, hat, or blanket. How I could turn something so useless (a long string) into something so useful. That's one reason why I love to knit. The other reason why I love to knit is because it connects me to my past.

My Nana (dad's mum) taught me to knit during a visit that I very vaguely remember. I was less than 12 I know for sure. My Nana was one of the world's greatest knitters, and one of the world's greatest women. My relationship with my Nana was one of the most special I will ever have in my life, and I am always so grateful to have had 19 years with her. I loved all of my family, of course, but my Nana was my favourite. Anyway, she was a knitter, and on that random visit before I was 12, I asked to teach to me knit, and she did. I learned the basic stitch, and ended up with a swatch that was big enough to be a scarf for my teddy bear.

Sometime when I was approximately 12, I started "The Scarf". I suppose I remembered my first knitting lesson, and wanted to embark on a larger project. My Nana cast on the required stitches, reviewed the basic stitch with me, and off I went. This scarf got longer, more holey, and for some reason, wider (scarves apparently aren't supposed to do this). It was really ugly, because I was just using my Nana's yarn leftovers, and I'd change colours when I felt like it, with no pattern whatsoever. I remember "The Scarf" starting off orange, and including some red, yellow and turquoise sections.

Around the same time I was working on "The Scarf", my Grandpa had a stroke and was in the hospital. We went up to hospital to visit him a lot, and one of the diversions I brought was "The Scarf". I remember working on it in between doing word searches and playing my old school Gameboy. My Nana, and you could imagine how she would feel at this time, used to always comment on my progress on "The Scarf" and asked me who it was for. I always said it was for my Dad.

I obviously didn't know what was going to happen then. My dad and his brother took time off work to be in the hospital and my mom and I would sometimes join them. It was November, I think, and my solace to myself was to repeat to myself "everything will be okay at Christmas". It's funny, because during times of trouble, I still repeat that mantra. I don't know why, but it calms me.

My grandfather died after two weeks in the hospital. It was the first time that I experienced death in my life. It was hard, of course, but also inevitable since loss is a part of life.

I kept sporadically working on "The Scarf" for a few years. It became a family joke, in part because it was so incredibly ugly, but also because I insisted I would finish it, and when I did, I was going to give it to my dad, and he was going to wear it with pride.

"The Scarf" is still unfinished. I didn't knit for a long time, until a few years ago (when I still lived in my old apartment), I came across a beginner's knitting kit, complete with booklet, pattern, yarn, and needles, that was on sale at Indigo. I bought it, and taught myself to cast-on (my Nana always did that part for me), relearned the basic stitch, and finished a hat. This was quick, so I ran back to Indigo for a similar kit with a pattern for a hat and baby booties, that I figured I'd save for when someone had a baby.

Since then, I've made more hats, lots of scarves, baby booties, and as you all know, I just recently managed to teach myself mittens. I'm probably at the advanced-beginner stage as a knitter, and I'm unsure if I'll progress, because, well, I like little projects because I can finish them quickly. However, I'm amazed at the fact that I no longer make mistakes, my stitches are even, and there are no holes in my work. I've gotten a lot of comments on quality of my creations.

I honestly think that somehow my Nana is at work through my hands. It's not genetic, it's something more than that. Often when I knit, I tend to think about all of the awesome people who've been in my life. I remember all of my grandparents, who I've lost. I think of my parents, and the fact that I need to dig up "The Scarf" which is somewhere in my parents' house, and finish it, and give it to my Dad for Christmas. I think of the person who I'm knitting for. I think of the people I might be knitting with, on the rare occasion that happens. I sometimes even think about myself and where I've come from, where I am, and where I'm going.

I've decided to devote some time this summer to knitting (hence this post), even though I used to consider October to April knitting season. I bought a bunch of wool for mittens (stocking up on bday/Christmas gifts). I went out a couple of weeks ago with my dear friend Eric who wants to go buy expensive alpaca wool and have me knit him a scarf. I am excited to do this, because I'm going to make it my own design, and when he hangs out with his fashionable crowd and they comment on his scarf, he'll say "oh, it's a Christielli original". I am also excited because I found out that someone is going to be getting baby booties, a hat, and maybe a baby blanket in a few months. Oh, and I'm going to make some beer cozies as jokes for some people. Beer cozies: the perfect summer knitting experience!

And what a perfect way to end a summer post about knitting. :) (An ambitious post at that...)

If there's one thing I learned in chemistry is that the gain of electrons is reduction obviously.

In the past two days, I've been told on two separate occasions that I'm really good at picking out greeting cards for people. This warms my heart.

I love the annual rhythm of the school year. Tonight is graduation, and then tomorrow is my last proper day of work for 2 months. Well, it's not proper; we just have meetings and then a luncheon, and then it's off for the 3rd annual pub crawl. Maybe I'll drunk post when I get home, or at least do a hungover post the next day.

I realized today that even though I'm looking forward very much to a break from work, I'm going to miss seeing my friends at work every day. Heck, I'm even going to slightly miss the dysfunctional people who at least give me something to gossip about/shake my head at. I'm also going to miss one teacher who is leaving our school this year. I think I've mentioned this before. I haven't cried, yet, because I think I'm still in the denial phase of the stages of loss.

In two weeks from today, I'll be halfway through my San Fran vacay. I can't believe it. I am really looking forward to it, because I really think that I just need a chance to get away from everything.

I don't like Wal-Mart, but only they carry this particular brand of wool with sparkles in it. I was there today with my work spouse, and I stocked up, because I think I'm going to use some downtime this summer to get a head start on some mitten-rific presents. I usually don't knit in the summer, because heat and wool usually don't mix, but I'm feeling a little bit agitated these days, I think some good knitting will soothe my soul.

I still need to organize my desk at work. I'll go in an hour early tomorrow morning and see what I can do.

I've got time for a 40 minute nap, then I have to get all spiffy for grad. I'm going to wear a fun skirt, and white top. Maybe I'll wear my fun new sandals to show off my red toenails. Hmmm. I think that is what I shall do.

That was a pretty random set of unconnected paragraphs, eh?

I seem to recognize your face, haunting, familiar yet, I can't seem to place it.

You can tell the school year is ending when my reading grows exponentially. I just finished a book that I ended up enjoying quite a bit called "Then We Came to the End" by Joshua Ferris. I went in hoping for the literary equivalent of The Office, and I'm not sure it delivered (but could that ever really happen anyway), but I did like it. I ended up getting attached to the characters, the dysfunction of their workplace, and I loved how the book ended.

I'm also halfway through a new book too that I just picked up at Indigo today when I was buying a gift for someone (isn't it funny how I always end up throwing in a gift for myself?). I can't believe that I haven't read this book before. It's called "Love is a Mix Tape" by Rob Sheffield. It basically tells the story of a rock journalist who unexpectedly loses his wife. It goes through his life, their relationship, etc. and links it to mix tapes he's made/had given to him throughout his life.

One of my goals this summer is to make some awesome mixes of my own for a select few friends and well-wishers. I love how in this book the author describes the different kinds of mix tapes there are. He brought up the radio tape, which is a compilations of songs from the radio. I used to be the queen of the radio tape in grades 6/7/8-ish. I remember making a mix tape where I would add Alanis' song "Too Hot" whenever it was played, and it made it at least 3 times per side. Radio tapes are fun for the unavoidable snippets of ads/chatter etc. that make it onto the tape. I actually have a bootleg copy of the Killers' "When You Were Young" that I downloaded way before the album came out. I love it because it is recorded from the radio and has the name of the station at the beginning of the song, during the song, and the DJ saying the name of the song at the end. It has always made me think of the days of the radio mix tape and thus, I've kept this version around, even though I'm sure I could get myself a "cleaner" version.

When making mix tapes for myself as a kid, I was always big into repeating songs on the tape (see Alanis example above). I remember a specific grunge tape that I made in about grade 9 that had Pearl Jam's "Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town" multiple times on the tape. I've always been one to listen to songs a lot constantly. I can download some random song from iTunes, and notice that two days later, I've listened to it 80 times. I don't know if this just means I have a simple mind, but I do love repetition.

The other thing I'm enjoying about this book, is the author's appreciation for the 90s. I loved that decade. On my to-do list, is to throw a kick-ass nineties party where plaid shirts, bad jeans, and Doc Martens are required wear, and I make the best 90s playlist ever. In fact, I should even dig out mix tapes that I made in the 90s and play those suckers. I guess the drink of choice would have to be Mike's Hard Lemonade, which was my beverage in the 90s. I'm not sure if my elderly stomach could take it, but I'd try. Anyway, I gotta throw this party. Of course, when it comes to parties, I have a long list of parties that I need to throw: my blender party to use of the rum I bought in Cuba in 2006 (still gotta get a blender for this), oh and in September it's gonna be mine and Becca T's 10th anniversary, and a cheesy, corny party is required for this. Hmmm, maybe I could merge that with my 90s party since we *did* meet in the 90s.

The last thing I'm going to say about mix tapes, is that they were so cool because so much care and time had to go into making one. You had to sit there and listen to every song, unless you had one of those cool dubbing tape decks, which I did not. Sigh, okay, enough about mix tapes.

All right, I think I'm done blogging. I'd like to do more, but I spent like three hours tonight on the phone with various people, so I might have just used up my allotment of words for the day (or week). It kind of made me feel like a teenager again, talking on the phone so much. I remember talking on the phone for hours and hours with my friends, who I most likely had chatted with all freaking day at school. And I was probably making a mix tape while chatting.

Ahh, the 90s. That was a random post, eh?

Head straight, feel my arms, I know it's you, I know you're out there, surprising me...

I really did want to make a Friday the 13th post, but that didn't happen. However, you can't have Sunday the 15th (it's past midnight) if there wasn't a Friday the 13th so I guess it all works out. Nothing bad happened to me on Friday the 13th, actually, I got some good news following a little scare on Thursday the 12th (a friend had a health scare, but is A-OK now), so really, I guess Friday the 13th kicked some ass.

In exciting Friday the 13th news, I bought a new camera for myself since I figure now's a good time since I have two summer trips (San Fran, East Coast) planned. This is the camera I went for, and you better believe I opted for the pink model. I'm going to give my old camera to my aunt, so that assuages any guilt I have for buying a new camera when I have a perfectly good, albeit out-dated, camera. Anyway, I'll post some pics from the new toy, when I get around to taking some. Maybe having a new camera will make my blog more picture happy.

So far my weekend's been quiet, but I've been spending some time with friends. Last night I went on an impromptu shopping/coffee run with my pal Mathew which resulted in me getting some $10 jeans, a $15 pink short-sleeved hoodie with birds and hearts on it, and some cheap flip-flops. I didn't need any of the items, but who was I to say no with prices like that?

Today I started by getting my haircut at my new place in Kensington Market. As I was walked down Spadina, some sort of naked bicycle parade passed me by (and me without my new camera... yeesh... there were people stopping to take pictures of the spectacle). I have to say, that some people have real balls (no pun intended) to do like that. I was reminded of a Seinfeld episode where he discussed good-naked and bad-naked, and I think naked cycling is bad-naked for most people.

After I got my stylish new cut, I met up with my friend Flora for a manicure and pedicure. I went for a pretty racy red on my fingers and toes, and I love it. I don't want to chip my nails, so I can use that as an excuse not to do any strenuous cleaning for the next few days. :)

After sushi for dinner, Flora and I hung out here where we hammered out the planning aspect of our August trip out east. Being that we are both teachers, we're pretty effective planners, and I think we kicked some ass. Maybe should quit teaching and become travel agents? Hmmm, do travel agents get the summer off? No? Oh well, forget it then.

We were supposed to go to a wine and cheese party, but it was canceled, so we went for gelato instead. Again, the delightful gelato place down the street did not have my fave flavour (amaretto), so I guess I'll just have to eat gelato every day until they do!

So tomorrow I have an exciting day of cleaning, errands, and work planned. Boo. Hence, I don't really feel like going to bed, since I'll eventually have to wake up to that scenario, so I'm staying up and blogging. I also decided to download "A Great Stage" by Will Currie and the Country French, so I had to stay up for that to complete itself. I'm on my first listen, and I'm digging the piano and the xylophone. :)

If you believe everything has a reason...

Here's a happy thought post. I'm in the middle of marking furiously right now, but I'm taking a bit of an extended break:

1) My classes rock this semester, especially my grade 10s. I'm starting to get mushy on them since I have very few days left with them. I'm sick of marking and ready for a break from that, but I'm going to miss the kids a lot.

2) It's a long story, but I've been working on gardening with some students after school for the past month. (Luckily I have help from a professional gardener at the park near our school. If there's one thing I don't do, besides cooking, it's taking care of leafy green beings.) Anyway, today I was happily out in the sun, weeding, wearing my fabulous expensive sunglasses, and listening to horns honking furiously because Portugal won a soccer game today. It was one of those rare moments where life is just weird and funny (who gardens with teenagers?), and really enjoyable. I love when the little moments just make the other annoying aspects of life irrelevant.

3) REM was fantastic. Becca T said it was the best bday present ever. Yay!

4) This weekend I'm pampering myself. I'm getting my haircut by my new hairstylist (with whom I am seriously in love), and getting a manicure and pedicure. I'm going to go broke one of these days, but at least I'm going broke in style.

5) Did I mention that I teach the most fabulous students ever?? I'm taking a break from marking projects that show that they've learned stuff from me and even remember the stuff I say! Wow!

6) My online course sucks and is boring boring boring boring but it is now half over, and I'm getting As on stuff so that's all good.

7)All right, this happy thinking has motivated me to go to back to marking. Later!

I never understood the frequency, uh-huh...

So one of my last few weekends before the summer of fabulousity is bringing in the fabulousity itself.

On Friday, I went out for drinks with some friends and then we went to see the Sex and the City movie. I would probably give it 3.5 stars out of 5. I thought it was a bit on the long side. I actually would have only given it 3 stars, but I threw in the extra 0.5 star for all of the purses, shoes, and clothing in the movie. However, during the movie I did have a couple of *deep thoughts* about my life, but now I totally forget what those are. I blame the heat of this weekend for perhaps killing a couple of brain cells.

Speaking of heat, I really need to get an air-conditioner, I think. The only downside of not owning a car that I can identify is that it takes me *forever* to make a big purchase, because I tend to think "oh, I'll ask so and so to drive me next time he/she visits me" but then I never do ask. Hence it never gets done.

Anyway, yesterday I spend the day hanging out with friends who all had air conditioning so I was good. But, boy, did I eat. I went to a friend's bday breakfast where we had waffles, champagne, fresh-squeezed juice, chocolate croissants, scrambled eggs, and bacon. Yum. It made me feel like it should have been my bday.

In the afternoon I headed out to the suburbs for my friend's annual June dinner party with a bunch of her various teacher-friends (yes, a dinner party full of teachers). It was really fun with lots of great food and a chocolate fountain. Yum.

Today, I have to drag my sorry self to the gym to try and maybe work off some of yesterday's food. Then, I plan to mark for a bit at Starbucks with a frappucino. Then, it's Becca T's not-so-much of a surprise REM concert! I'm very excited. It was supposed to thunderstorm today, which would be bad news because all I could afford was uncovered lawn seats. However, the morning was sunny and there are a few clouds now, but nothing ominous looking. Keep your fingers crossed for good weather!

Honey won't you let your red heart show?

Note: If my dear real-life friends Mathew and Becca T are reading this (which I'm pretty sure you're not because I don't think you frequent my blog much), you should probably look away because I am going to blog about your birthday presents. You have been warned. Don't ruin it for yourselves!

It's hump day of the second last proper week of school before exams start and the pace slows down and I'll have time to breathe a bit more.
Anyway, yesterday I had like the best random shopping experience at Indigo (bookstore). I wandered in there on my way home from work to get some birthday cards and stuff for people (I like buying neat cards)and I scored some other cool stuff that I actually just had to take pictures of, and post on here (I haven't done that in a long while).

They had iPod gelaskins on sale for 75% off. I got a Kandinsky for mine, and also one to add to Becca T's 30th bday gift (her fave painting: The Great Wave Off Kanagawa by Hokusai).



Then I found the best thing ever: ticket stub diaries! Albums with slots for all of your tickets and spaces to write about your concerts. I am so going to take a day this summer to dig up all my old ticket stubs and organize them. I'm excited! I got one for my pals Becca T and Mathew, who enjoy concerts *almost* as much as me.



Then, when I got home yesterday, I noticed that a band that I discovered in March, Hey Rosetta! (they played on stage with Hawksley when I saw him in March) had come out with a new album, Into Your Lungs, and it was only $6.93 on Itunes! I downloaded it and it is brilliant! I am pretty sure it will make it onto my top 10 list for 2008. I love each and every song, but my favourite is Red Heart (see post title). I love the strings, the piano, and the way most of the songs start off rather calm and then crescendo into a frenzy. Love love love.

So those are some of the the current enjoyabilities in my life. Oh, and I had the best cookie today too. That was pretty sweet.

Things to complain about:
a) I seem to have lost my favourite school-teacher-y sweater. It was a pretty boring garment, but useful, and it's totally disappeared. Last time I remember seeing it was last week when I washed it, and I'm pretty sure I did not wear it since. Hmmm... Maybe I have a sweater-eating monster living in my apartment that I wasn't aware of.
b) Vast piles of marking. I still have about 8 sets of major assignments to mark before the end. Boo.
c) Making plans that I didn't really want to make, and then keeping them because I am not a plan-breaker. Maybe they won't be as bad as I fear.
d) Assignment time for my online course has crept up again. Boo-urns.

All right, enough of the complaining. It is highly unproductive, but I do find that there is some value in venting. Although it seems like I've been doing far too much venting these days. Oh well, c'est la vie.

ps Thanks for the finger crossing on Friday. I might need more of it next week. :)

Say hey, say hey, say how you doing?

Back with fuzzy ears from Matt Good at Massey Hall (that's what two days of rock and roll will do to a girl). It was a great show. This was my first time hearing material from "Hospital Music" live, and I really enjoyed those songs. That album will forever remind me of travelling out west last summer, especially listening to it while taking the train through the Rockies, and walking along the beach in White Rock, BC. I love how memories and music are linked.

I loved hearing the older material too, especially kickass versions of Giant and Everything is Automatic. I really became a Matt Good fan during my first year of university, which was almost 10 years ago, so that's a pretty long time. It's funny to think about how much I've changed since I first listened to some songs so long ago. For me, music can be a map that can show me where I've been, where I am now, and sometimes even point me in the right direction. I think I fell into a bit of a rut post-March Break, but I'm out of it. I think rock shows and upcoming trips help that.

Speaking of upcoming trips, I had dinner tonight with my friend who I'm going on the TBA July trip with. I think we're leaning towards San Francisco. This has totally been my year of exploring North America, so I think going to California will be appropriate. Next summer, I will have to get off the continent for sure. I'm excited. And, we had dinner on a patio of a Mexican restaurant and I had a mango margarita. Then we went to the Matt Good show. Oh, it's painful to think that it's not the weekend yet, because tonight really felt like a Friday. Hence I'm up waaaaaaay past my bedtime.

Oh, and Rilo Kiley last night was great. It was my first time seeing them live and I was really impressed. Jenny Lewis has an incredible voice and they are a great live band. *Sigh* I love concerts.

Anyway, I have a few fun things planned this weekend to space out in between the mounds of work to do. I have to catch up with the stupid online course, mark, and write exams. :(

ps Keep your fingers crossed for me Friday at 8 pm EST. Top secret, but finger-crossing would be muchly appreciated.

pps I can't believe I've not made plans to see the Sex and the City movie... yet... will go soon.

Because living well is the best revenge.

As the weather gets warmer, the hours of sunlight increase, and the number of days I have left to teach decreases, my thoughts inevitably drift to summer vacation. I am blessed to have a job that I completely loved. I am even more blessed that this job affords me two straight months of living stress-free with none of the entanglements of the daily grind. Again, I love my job, but the two months of summer feel like a different kind of life. Now, if my life was always summer vacation, then I wouldn't appreciate it, so I guess I'm trying to say is that the school year is extra good for allowing me to appreciate my time off.

So anyhow, I've decided to coin this summer the summer of fabulousity. I like making up words. So far, I think it's stacking up. I do have my online course to finish in July, however, I'm hoping that I'll buckle down and do the remainder of my assignments ahead of time the very first week of July, so that all I'll have to do is maintain an online presence after that. Anyway, the online course will be the only aspect of my summer that will be un-fabulous.

Yesterday I hung out with one of my good friends from university. We've decided that we're going to fly out to PEI, then rent a car and drive around the Maritimes. We also invited one of my friends from high school to join us. These are actually the same girls with whom I went to Australia in the summer of 2005, so it will be a fun reunion. I plan on eating lobster, sunning on some beaches, and having tonnes of fun.

Today was another beautiful sunny warm-ish day, and I spent some of it brunching on a patio with a couple of friends from work. Sitting on a patio, while wearing the new sunglasses that I totally splurged on yesterday (thank you income tax return), and sipping a mimosa, was pretty fabulous, and I hope to do more of it once the summer rolls around. Anyway, one of my coworkers and I are going to travel somewhere the first full week of July. We're not sure where yet. Both of us are open to going anywhere and we're going to sort out the details. Maybe we'll just wait until the last minute and see if we can get a good deal or something. I'm still leaning towards Paris, so we'll see.

Anyway, I can't wait for summer!!! At least I've got lots of fun stuff to keep me occupied until then. I will update you on my week with two concerts in a row. :)

I should have known with a boy like you your middle name is always...

Random musings from a Wednesday that was far too cold and rainy for my likings:

1) I feel like I've been attached at the hip to this computer for far too long with the assignments for my stupid online course. I just finished my *last* assignment that is due this week. That makes me approximately 25% finished the course, which pleases me. It went fast. I'll be finished before I know it. Oh, and I got an A on my discussion contribution for the first part. Woo-hoo! I'm so like Lisa Simpson; I love being graded. And quelle surprise I got a good mark for talking online...

2) In sadder news, I learned today that one of my favourite teachers at my school has accepted a position at another school. This man is a saint, and it will be a huge loss to our school community because he does so much for the school. I'm really sad for this. I'm happy for him that he has a new opportunity, but I'll miss him.

3) In happier news, I have exactly one week until I see Rilo Kiley, then the next day it's Matt Good. At Massey Hall. With a full band. Sweet. Yay for concert-going goodness. I haven't been to a show since March Break.

4) I'm ashamed to admit that I've been sort-of-kind-of watching American Idol this season (just in the background as I do coursework and marking and the like). Anyway, it was so boring tonight that it facilitated me getting that last assignment completed. But, I was pleasantly surprised that the cliche-grunge-rocker dude that I was rooting for won.

5) I love short weeks. I can't believe that tomorrow is already Thursday. I've got a full complement of social activities planned for the weekend, during which I'll also be bouncing off summer travel ideas off of travel buddies. Fabulous.

6) If you are in Canada, go download the iTunes free song of the week: "Surprise Me" by Will Currie and the Country French. Love it.

7) I also picked up the REM tickets that I bought for Becca T for her bday. She knew the date of her bday surprise, so in a moment of weakness, she looked up what it was. However, she has not specifically said what she suspects I'm brining her to, nor have I said anything. For all she knows, I could be bringing her to the Death Angel concert which is also on that date. (I have no idea who that band is, but they sound scary, and they're playing with another band called God Forbid. Sounds like scary metal stuff to me. Which would really make a kickass gift, eh?)

8) Becca T is currently on vacay in France. Lucky. I think one of my next travel goals will be to go to France, specifically to see Versailles. I have to since I went through a big Marie Antoinette/Josephine Bonaparte phase last year.

All right, random Wednesday musings out! :)

And I been burned and I been learned in the same city.

Aren't Mondays absolutely fabulous when you don't have to go to work? I love it. And to think, in a few short weeks I'll have two months worth of Mondays with no work. Yes, I know. I'll shut up about that.

Unfortunately I've had a huge cloud hanging over my head this long weekend: all of the first batch of assignments for my stupid online course are due at various times this week and I still haven't started any of them. So needless to say, that's what I'm procrastinating right now. Thankfully it's a a cold cloudy day today. That makes staying in and working all afternoon much easier.

The rest of my long weekend was pretty good. Friday was my mom's bday so I headed down to St. Ratford and got in some quality time watching a few episodes of Flight of the Conchords with the 'rents and hanging out with some of my friends, who constantly remind me what fabulous people they are and how lucky I am to have them in my life.

On my way back to Toronto last night, I read the book "The Last Lecture" by Randy Pausch, which a friend at work lent to me. It's a quick read, and I really enjoyed it. It's based on a lecture about really living your childhood dreams given by a computer science professor who has terminal cancer. I was able to finish it on the train and it gave me a lot to think about. There's a lot of great advice for living in the book; and it also made me reflect on my childhood dreams.

So what were my childhood dreams and how am I doing with living them?

Dream #1 - Living in Toronto
As a child, I was pretty certain that staying in St. Ratford was not for me. Visiting Toronto was always so exciting to me; driving in and seeing the skyline would take my breath away. I wanted more. As I got older, I started to fall into the Toronto-is-scary mentality that many small town people have, and I came to believe that city life might not be for me. Luckily, fate intervened, and it was U of T that had the programs that I wanted, and they offered me the largest scholarship of any of the schools to which I applied. I was really nervous to come here, but after a few weeks, I knew I was where I was meant to be. Ever since then, I've known Toronto is where I belong. All of the most positive events of the last 10 years of my life have happened in this city. And, I still get that same feeling of excitement when I enter the city; however it is now happily paired with feelings of familiarity and home.

Dream #2 - Becoming a Rock Star
Unsurprisingly, I was into music from a very young age. I listened to cheesy pop in the 80s/early 90s and in 1994, I bought Pearl Jam's Vs. album, and I began my journey through 90s grunge rock to the music snob you all know and love today. Anyhow, when I was young, I always dreamed of myself becoming a music star, despite the fact that I had no discernible musical talent. I played piano for years, but I was spectacularily mediocre.

However, I am living this dream the best way that I can by having music as my primary interest, and going to as many shows as possible. I can't be a rock star, but boy, I'm a pretty good fan. :)

Dream #3 - Writing

I wrote a lot of stories as a child and even though I went through a huge span of career dreams, writing was always there. I've always loved stories and books, and I dreamed of becoming a writer. I've always had ideas for books in my head, but unfortunately, I don't have a time to actually write them. Maybe one summer I'll buckle down and just write? I don't know if this will ever happen, but at least I do have my blog, which is my little corner of the universe in which I can write whatever I want, and that's something.

Dream #4 - Having a BFF

I'm not sure if this is a result of being an only child from a small family, but I spent a lot of time as a child imagining being an adult with an awesome best friend or best friends. People with siblings, or are close to cousins etc, have built-in friends to rely on, but I guess I always realized that I'd have to find these people on my own. And, I'm glad to say I have. As any reader knows, I have my BFF, my dear Becca T. And, on top of that, I have a lot of other close circles of friends: my high school friends, my university friends, and my friends from work. Whenever I'm going through a tough time, or a good time, I am always reminded how awesome these people are. They will be there to hold me up, or just to be happy for me.

Dream #5 - Having a job I love

As I said before, I dreamed of a variety of career possiblities when I was a child: paleontologist, novelist, journalist, pharmacist, doctor, rock star, teacher, business-type person, and I could go on. However, the commonality was that I always really truly loved whatever it was that I was doing. So even though I may not have ended up with the most glamourous of my many dreams, I do love what I do.

Anyway, those were the big five that came to my mind as I was reading the book. I had lots more dreams too: travelling (I'm doing well on that front) and getting married (it'll happen if it's meant to, I'm sure) come to mind as well.

What were your childhood dreams?

All in all was a pretty nice day.

I have had quite the productive Sunday, considering I faced a day-filled with a list of doing stuff that I don't so much care for. I cleaned my whole apartment, went to the gym, ran a bunch of errands, and did so work for my online course. The only thing I have not knocked off of my to-do list is some marking, but I figured that blogging while drinking hot chocolate was more important than that.

I had a great Saturday. I met up with my friends Flora and Becca T, and we did some hardcore shopping (I didn't spend too much money either!), then went out for a yummy dinner followed by gelato. There is a gelato place near my apartment that I've passed by millions of times (ironically I pass it usually on my way to the gym), but I've never actually gone to the place. Oh, my goodness. Yum. It was excellent. I think my goal for the summer will be to try every flavour in the place. I guess that means I'll have to go to the gym more often too...

Next weekend is the May long weekend (it's early this year), and after that it means that everyone in my workplace will be thinking of one thing: summer vacay. Quite honestly, I've already been thinking about it, and determining my plans. Trips to Newfoundland and Las Vegas may be on my plate, but I'll give more info when and if they're done deals. I also have one wedding to go to, which will be a mini-roadtrip in itself.

In addition, I'll have my silly online course to finish off in July (think of the money Christielli), and I might have gotten myself into cooking lessons from a friend from work. I don't know about that. If I learn to cook, maybe I'll then have to cook, and I'll have to take down my inspirational saying "Any pot is a no-stick pot if you no-cook in it" from my fridge. I'm not sure about that.

Anyhow, it's almost the start of a new week, but on the bright side, I'm one week closer to summer than I was at this time last week. :D

Compromise, just let it go, it's okay.

Stolen from Claire:

My roommate and I once: I don't have a roommate now, but I have had many in the day, but the first person who usually comes to mind when I read the word roommate is my dear friend Becca T, since we did live together for 5 years. So, anyway, my roommate and I once took the bus to Hamilton to see the Weakerthans play in a sketch bar there on the coldest day in January. Now, the last bus returning to TO would have brought us back too early to actually catch the band, and the first bus back in the morning was at 5 am. So, our plan was to loiter at a Tim Horton's between the concert and the morning bus. Well, it turned out that the Timmy's that was closest to concert actually closed at 1 am, as did everything else in the area. We were totally afraid we were going to freeze to death on the street, but we made a right turn after the concert and found a 24-hour Timmy's and survived the night.

Never in my life have I: been able to finish a Jane Austen book.

High school was: apparently so much fun that I decided to go back. Ha-ha. Not really. I like it better now.

When I am nervous I: talk more or less, depending on the situation.

My hair is: frizzy because of today's weather. Yet stylishly cut, thanks to my new hair-stylist, whom I love.

When I was 5: I was obsessed with dinosaurs.

By this time next year: I'll be closer to thirty. Boo.

I have a hard time understanding: why some people seem to like to be difficult and unreasonable.

You know I like you if: I don't make my patented "I-don't-like-you-face" that I'm known for. I'm not so good at covering up emotions. Apparently, when someone I don't like is talking, I look really bored. My friends can always tell. I feel rude. I hope the people who I don't like don't notice, because I even though I don't like them, I don't want to make them feel bad. And usually it's not that I don't like the person, it's that I only like them in very small doses.

My ideal breakfast is: Cereal. I'm in love with cereal these days.

If you visit my hometown: you'd would say it's pretty and charming.

If you spend the night at my house: you'd be having cereal for breakfast. :)

My favorite blonde is: Becca T's kind of blonde. So I'll say her.

My favorite brunette is: me. Why not?

The animal I would like to see flying is: a pig. Because then maybe a lot of people would have to cough up some stuff. Oh, and it reminds me of the episode of the Simpsons when Mr. Burns says "Smithers, I think I'll donate one million dollars to the orphanage... when pigs fly" and then a pig goes flying by, and Smithers says "should I make the donation?" and Mr. Burns says "no, I'd still rather not." That kills me.

I shouldn’t: procrastinate because it leads to stress.

Last night I: watched a new episode of The Office and 30 Rock. :D

If I could have any car it would be: a hybrid.

I’ve been told I look like: a cousin/friend/etc. of many people. I get it all the time. Apparently I'm a popular style or something.