I read you, and God I'm good at it. I'm so spot on.

Last night I had started writing a post and then I got distracted and totally abandoned the post, only to remember it when I was falling asleep in bed. Anyway, that post has been relegated to the dimension of deleted posts, since I couldn't really figure out what I was trying to say with it anyway.

I've almost made it through the third week of the school year, which seems like quite a feat. I'm still adjusting to the new schedule, which involves me teaching grade nines during period 4 when they are high energy, and I'm low energy. However, they were really good little scientists today, so I was quite pleased.

On my way home from work, my work spouse and I came up with the idea of having an old-fashioned girlie girl sleepover like those of our youths with some of our fave female coworkers. We could crash on someone's living room floor in sleeping bags, wear fun pjs, do up our hair in pigtails, prank call boys we like, watch cheesy movies, and maybe sneak into the liquor cabinet.

Ironically, on the same eve of this sleepover talk, I'm having one of my friends from high school crash at my place for a couple nights while she's in town for a conference. And, well, it kind of feels like a sleepover, which is fun, except that I have to get up for work way too early in the morning and teach teenagers instead of being one. It'd be nice to be able to trade places with them every once in awhile.

Anyway, there is a lot of concert news in my life. I have *seven* concerts now lined up between now and December. I've never had such a schedule before, but all of these shows are absolute necessities. They are:

- Two Hours Traffic (never seen but fell in love with their album Little Jabs)
- Weezer (last saw them in 2002 and vowed that I'd see them again. Bonus fun: I'm going to the concert with my best guy friend, his best friend, and my bestest bud Becca T. Such good company.)
- Great Lake Swimmers (my fave new band find of 2007)
- Feist w Hayden (this is a new addition to the roster... I really wanted to see Feist on her current tour and see Hayden since I haven't seen him in awhile. I'm really excited for this new addition for a multiple of reasons, actually.)
- Jack's Mannequin (I will probably be the oldest person there, but they are so emolicious!)
- Hawksley with Hey Rosetta! (I was so psyched when I heard this week that one of my new fave bands is opening for my always-beloved Hawksley.)
- Stars (Just added this week. I'm in row D!)

I think 2008 has truly been the year of the concert for me. I've seen most of my favourite artists (the only one missing is Mr. Ben Folds), gone to freakin' SXSW and seen a lot of bands I'd never seen before. Also, I've had really really good company for all of the shows that I attended, and that makes the shows extra-awesome.

And tomorrow's Friday! :D Talk about extra-awesome.

Second dates and lipstick tissues, New York gets pretty heavy, girl I hope it doesn't crush you.

Since my last post I have:

- twisted my ankle as a result of *two stairs* at work that presented a challenge to me. It was all swollen and sore for a couple days, so I took it easy and it's all better.

- sheepishly called my superintendent one morning because I was pretty sure that I left my straightening iron on. Thank goodness she's really nice.

- saw a great outdoor concert on a beautiful sunny evening at Yonge-Dundas square. Emm Gryner, who is an enjoyable singer, and one of my fave bands, Great Lake Swimmers, played. Both acts were really good. However, I question if anyone would sound bad on a cool, sunny, autumn evening.

- went shopping after the concert since I was right by the mall and got a new pair of jeans and a fun new colourful stripy purse. Total retail therapy to make my ankle feel better, I think.

- spent a lovely Friday evening getting manicures and pedicures with pals from work, then going for Mexican food afterwards. I ate so much, including churos and had 2 mango margaritas which rendered me momentarily tipsy, but it was oh-so-fun.

- added another concert to my fall concert-going schedule. (There are now five). My pal Mathew agreed to see Jack's Mannequin, my second favourite emo band ever, with me even though we'll probably be the oldest people there.

- went make-up shopping at the mall with Becca T and then ran into a former student when we went out for sushi afterwards. It was slightly awkward, but thankfully, the kid was leaving (although technically he's an adult now).

- skipped out on another TIFF-sponsored concert on Saturday night because it was just too rainy.

- had a very very lazy Sunday.

Next week: busyness at work, friend from high school crashing at my place, and assorted other craziness. I really *could* use another weekend day.

And tomorrow is Teacher Appreciation Day at Starbucks! I'll let you know how many I hit up for free coffees. *sigh* The lack of a Starbucks near my school is so disheartening to me.

So I'll curate some situations, make my job a big vacation...

Two blog posts in two days? What is this? My blogging heyday circa 2005/2006? Well, no, don't expect a post tomorrow, but I had a really good Monday (of all days) and it just required a post.

Anyway, when I arrived at work this morning, I saw a very full mailbox in the staffroom and realized that it was mine. In between the usual crap, were two books. One was wrapped secretly in an opaque plastic bag with a note explaining that a friend of mine was passing along an inside joke that was given to her from a friend of hers and to not open it with people around.

The second book was a book about Haunted Ontario. This puzzled me, because there was no note attached. I thought perhaps maybe it was for the library, and accidentally placed in my mailbox, but then I remembered that I do really like ghost stories, and perhaps that someone *was* giving it to me. I thought about who at school would know about my inner gothiness, and suspected it was a gift from my pal with whom I went to San Fran. Either that, or maybe it was a gift from some ghost in the school. Hmmm, even better! Anyway, I did track down my San Fran buddy and it was indeed her who gave it to me. However, this does not mean that there are not ghosts in my school. I know that there are the ghosts of some past students that haunt me still. Ha-ha.

While I was enjoying the books in my mailbox, another coworker of mine gave me a free train ticket to go home to St. Ratford for Thanksgiving weekend. She'd be on a train that was late, and got a free ticket in turn, and couldn't use it, so thought of me. Yay! That saves me some change!

I finally made the trek up to the third floor, opened my secret inside joke book and had a good laugh with my work spouse. (Sorry, I can't divulge the contents of the book... it's a little incriminating. I know, I know. Really cruel.) Then, I remembered that there was an assembly period 1 which means I wouldn't have teach, just sit in the caf with the kids and perhaps have an eyes-open nap.

My next period was my prep, and I needed a few things from the dollar store for a lab I want to do this week, so I wandered over to the mall, got the stuff, a coffee, and picked up Season 4 of the Office on DVD.

My afternoon was really good. Both of my classes made me feel like a really good teacher.

On my way home from work I got sushi for supper.

Then, in the evening, I walked to Becca T's neighbourhood, and we went out for tea at Starbucks. I am addicted to their Zen tea. Yum. Also, Becca T spotted a notice in Starbucks that Mondays are teacher appreciation days at Starbucks, and teachers get a free coffee. Hey... there are about 3243 Starbuckses in Toronto, so ya think I could score that many free coffees in one day? Oh my, just thinking of all of that caffeine gives me the shakes.

Even though I had to walk to and from Becca T's in the rain, I found out that my new over-priced hoodie is rather water-resistant for a hoodie.

I hope all Mondays this year are this pleasant.

Keep me beside you 'cuz it's been too long now.

I like rainy Sunday mornings where there's not much to do except contemplate going for a latte and going grocery shopping.

I like the return of Pumpkin-flavoured lattes in time for fall.

I like having a steady influx of new music provided to me by friends.

I like that I realized that I needed to exchange my colourful overpriced hoodie for one in basic black with silver stitching, because I'm a basic black with silver stitching kind of girl.

I like when friends get really good news.

I like that my BFF is back in town.

I like my classes thus far this year.

I like that all of the kids, even the ones who don't have a stellar academic history, are into doing their homework and working hard at this time of year. It's adorable.

I like that I have a lot of fun things to look forward to in the fall like concerts, new albums, ghost walks, Thanksgiving, Halloween, visits from friends, and manicures and pedicures with work pals.

I like not having an online course to worry about anymore.

I like that I overheard my work spouse telling her math class that they are not there to draw or to talk about their feelings.

I like that my pal Mathew calls me Ms. Hoover when asking me about school.

I like fresh starts.

I really do like this time of year.

So we forgot to fall apart that day...

Tomorrow I have to go back to school for another year. I calculated that this is the beginning of my 24th school year. I told that to a kid last week and she felt sorry for me. I can think of worse places to spend 24 years. I'm totally not too cool for school.

This commercial used to be funny to me:



I found out via facebook from a dear old blog buddy today that Stars released a new EP today. It's called "Sad Robots EP". Am I a sad robot? Yeah, on labour day I am always a bit of a sad robot. But the EP is great.

My coworker texted me today just in case I forgot that summer I was over. I told her that my strategy was to never go to sleep and then summer would never end. Unfortch, I'm a bit sleepy right now so I guess I'll have to end summer.

But... with the end of summer comes fall and fall is my favourite season because there are crunchy leaves and cool weather and I can wear my new lulu hoodie (totally unnecessary splurge). And there are lots of fun concerts and then Halloween will come and I can think about ghosts and other gothy things. And, school's not so bad 'cuz I'll see my friends (I am such a kid), and make new friends (there's a new teacher) and my classes will be good and will make me happy.

So bring on the 24th year, I say! Hmmmm, maybe that Staples' commercial isn't so bad after all.

You don't know me at all. (What?)

This week is kicking my ass. I'm helping with an orientation program at school for newcomers to the country. It's been fun, and I like being around the kids again (they are funny), but it is exhausting me. I come home and I'm comatose, then I pass out for a little nap and then I wander around aimlessly for awhile. Good news: tomorrow is the last day of said program and then I have a four-day weekend. However, my long weekend is followed by the beginning of a new school year, which is always a slightly daunting prospect.

However, the new Ben Folds song, featuring Regina Spektor, is totally rocking my world these days, and the video is delightful.



The weather is cool and you can feel summmer giving its last hurrah and autumn rolling in. I'm fine with this. For most people, the new year starts in January, but I feel more renewal in September than I ever do in January. This school year, I'm going to focus on being more tranquil. I find that I'm having a hard time sitting still these days, and my mind is always racing, and that I spend too much trying to cram every free moment in my life with stuff. This year, I want to spend more quiet time knitting, and reading, and not running around. I'm going to be a better, happier me, dammit. ;) I'll try to embrace the East Coast pace a little more in my day-to-day existence.



p.s. I just ordered my red soaring birds Chucks. Woot!

The tricky part (oo-oo-oo) is to come back home.

Hiya blog neglecterinos! It's been awhile. I've been back since Wednesday, and I've been in a flurry of unpacking, getting pictures uploaded onto my computer and sent off to travel buddies, as well as sleeping a lot and chilling with Becca T. I also made the mistake of agreeing to help with an orientation program at my school which started on Friday and runs 'til Thursday. Going back to work sucks, but sucks worse when you do it during the last week of your vacay.

I tend to be verbose, so I plan to make this my least verbose post ever, and just post some of my *own* pics from my *own* camera now that I'm back home. Enjoy!

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?