I have one gear: go!

To quote a favourite emo band of mine, "vacation's come and gone".

I'm a little bit sad that the trip that I was looking forward to for some quite time has flown by just like that. Well, it flew by, but it's also felt like an eternity since Becca T and I arrived in Barcelona on a rainy Saturday lugging our bags all the way from the Placa Cataluyna all the way to our hotel near the Arc de Triomf.

My next post will contain all sorts of photos, I promise. I'm major jet-lagged, and plan to hit the sack by 9 pm, but I'm in a writing mood, so words will have to suffice for now.

I had an amazing time in London. Even though this trip was about experiencing place unfamiliar (BCN) and familiar (LDN), I found it really came down to being about friendship, banter, and a little bit of rest and relaxation. I needed all of that.

I loved my time in BCN with Becca T. I always like to think about how we were randomly thrown into a room together in first year uni (back in 1998!), and how I wished a little voice would have told me that almost 13 years later, we'd be meeting up in BCN to catch-up. When I first met Becca T, I didn't expect a friend for life, but I'm glad that's how the story turned out.

LDN was so much fun. I loved catching up with Claire... it seems like just yesterday that we saw each other, when it was really the summer of 2009. We had such fun chatting about life and teaching; it's so amazing to be able to find such a great friend across an ocean. I found myself today missing all of our inside jokes, old and new. (DJ Raimundo for president, hit the bin, go and get your llama, new age fun with a vintage flair.) We spent a lot of our time laughing over Youtube videos, and having lots of tea, and it was grand. And of course, it was great spending time with Claire's Matthew, who laughs over Youtube just as much as we do.

I was lucky enough to see other friends in London too. I met up with an former colleague for tea, and it was so much fun. In addition, I spent Saturday afternoon with my little cousin, who is teaching Kindergarten in London. I have to admit that I'm not very close with my extended family; however, it was really great meeting up with my cousin and discussing pedagogy and family. It made me really nostalgic for our shared grandparents and my childhood. She's thinking of moving near Toronto after this year, so it would be great for us to get to know each other more as adults.

Finally, it was great seeing Siobhan for dinner on Saturday. She's a friend via Claire and now via blogging, and it's great to see familiar faces with lovely new haircuts! Siobhan - I can't wait to hear about your trip to BCN later this year. It's such a great city!

This evening, I was feeling a little nostalgic for my weekend in London, so I watched this youtube video which got stuck in my head.

And now for sleep. Which I always like because that's where I'm a viking.

And now on to London!

i believe the last time i blogged was when it was hailing in barcelona. now, i'm comfortabley housed in claire's spare bedroom in london. note: i'm not using caps because i find that the caps lock button on uk keyboards is where the shift key is on north american keyboards so either: a) i yell at you, b) i type in no caps, or c) i stay up until 2 am blogging with perfect capitilazation. b) it is.

anyway, the rest of bcn was super fun. i would definitely put bcn on my list of recommended cities for anyone to visit. there were a few things i would have liked to do but didn't get to do because of the rain: mainly going for a bike ride, spending more time at the beach, and heading up to Montserrat.

after hiding out in a coffee shop watch the downpour on tuesday, becca and i decided to head to an indoor mall to wait out the rain. it was a good thing we did because this lead us to finding barcelona starbucks mugs! we both collect city mugs and would have been sad if we left the city without one.

after that, we headed to the picasso museum. this museum is tucked away in the old part of barcelona: the buildings are high and the streets are narrow and windy. it's really cool, but makes it tricky to find things. after a few wrong turns, we made it, and had a nice afternoon at the museum.

we tried to go for an early dinner that night: two nights of eating big meals at european times (9 pm) were we wreaking havoc on our systems. a restaurant called el quatre gats was recommended to us by becca's friend: it's where a lot of the city's artists/intelligentia used to dine. we got there too early for dinner, and the menu was a bit expensive. instead, we stayed there for xocolata calenta con xurros. (i'm using catalan... that's hot chocolate with churros!) It was sooooooo rich! It was pretty much straight melted chocolate with fried dough to dip in.

after that, we didn't really want a big dinner, obviously. we wandered around some more, and settled on a place for a little bit of tapas, salads, and sangria. then we walked to see how 'the dragon house' looked at night. i'll post pictures of that when i'm back.

yesterday was our last day together. we went to La Padrera which is an amazing apartment complex designed by Antoni Gaudi. it was amazing. then, we headed out to the beach in the rain since we had a couple moments on the waterfont during our tour, but wanted to spend more time there. it was still fun in the rain.

becca and i finished our time together by checking into my new hotel. i had decided to splurge on somewhere nice for my night alone in barcelona, and it was a nice boutique hotel right by the cathedral. it's crazy to be staying in such a modern place that's located in a gothic square.

last night, i spent some time tracking down my friend fea's fave spanish candy, wrote some postcards, had a quick dinner, took a bubble bath, then went to bed early. it was nice to spend some time lavishly sleeping on vacation: i usually just go, go, go until i'm ready to pass out.

today i awoke to sunny skies! giant d'oh! oh well, becca t and i had so much fun in rainy bcn that maybe sunny bcn would have been too much to handle! i went to see the inside of 'the dragon house', then spend some time sitting in the sun in the placa catalayuna. then it was off to the airport to travel to london.

and i made it here! i've had a great time catching up with claire who i haven't seen in almost two years. she's sleeping now (work for her in the morning) but we have lots of dinners and fun stuff planned. i'm also meeting up with a former work colleague tomorrow, my cousin on Saturday, and i must go shopping at my fave uk store: monsoon. and i'll get to see siobhan on saturday dinner too (so i've heard). so much to look fwd to!

hasta luego!

Thunderstorms, lattes, and Picasso.

Becca T and I were geniuses to get the majority of our sightseeing done on Sunday, which is ironically the only sunny day we've had in Barcelona. Cue lightning and thunderclaps. That actually happened as I was typing that sentence.

We're chilling in a coffee shop, both on coffee #2 of the day. If today wasn't rainy, or even just a little bit drizzly, we would have headed out of town to Montserrat. Might be able to do that tomorrow. Today will be a good museum day. We will start with the Picasso museum.

Since my last post, we've been having tonnes of fun, rain and all! On Sunday night, we had dinner cooked for us by a real Barcelonan: a work friend of Becca's. Then we went for a little walk to see La Sagrada Familia at night. It's worthwhile seeing that church in both the daylight and at night. It's my fave church ever. Pictures to come.

Yesterday was filled with a lot of walking in the rain, shopping, an awesome tapas dinner, and meandering about the city in the evening.

Even with the rain, I really do like Barcelona.

Barcelona so far!

So glad I brought my phone. Accessing free wifi isthe best.

I more or less slept during my entire flight here. Met Becca T in the airport. It was pouring rain all day yesterday. Lugged our bags from the train station to the hotel. Got soaked despite umbrella. Had paella for lunch/supper. Tasty. Trudged through the downpour to catch awesome flamenco dancing and singing in a really nice theatre.

Today is sunny and beautiful! We decided to do a bus tour to get oriented to the city. Saw lots of Gaudi architecture. Love it. Saw the waterfront too. So pretty. Now taking a break before we amble through the Gothic part of town.

I have also used my Spanish un poco (a little).

Airport Post

Taking advantage of Pearson's free wi-fi as I wait. Good news: there don't seem to be any school groups on my flight. I am looking fwd to a week with no groups of teenagers.

Today I bought tickets for me and Becca T to see a Flamenco Opera (or something) at a World Heritage building in Barcelona. It looks really nice.

The weather here sucks. I'm glad to be getting away from it.

Anyway, must not use up too much of my battery. It's a long flight and I like to listen to music!

La clase de español termina.

On this slushy yucky Toronto evening, I can report to you all that I have passed my level 1 Spanish class. It's not official yet, but I had perfect attendance and got a ¡Muy bien! on last week's dialogue assignment, so I'm pretty sure that I earned a pass in my pass/fail course.

I'm quite glad that I took Spanish. I obviously know more Spanish now than I did before the class, and I'm sure I'll get to practice it a bit in Barcelona and with some of the Spanish-speaking kids at school. I also learned that it's really really hard to take a course while school's on, so I don't think I'll be signing up for anything else, like more Spanish or creative writing, anytime soon. When I made the decision to take this course, I was going through a little bit of emotional turmoil, and thought it would be good to find something new to do with extra time. Now, life's back to its normal busy self, and I'm feeling that free time is at a premium. Having my Wednesday nights back will be sweet.

However, I'm still trying lots of new things... and of course the latest is another March Break trip to Europe. I can't believe that in 48 hours I will be on a plane to Munich, where I will have a layover before I hop on a flight to Barcelona. And, when it comes to new things, I have a few other things up my sleeve too, but I'll blog about those post-trip. Oh, I also got a summons in the mail for jury duty in April; I guess that's a forced new thing.

I still have lots to do before I leave. Tomorrow I have a hair appointment, and then I have to go to Shopper's to pick up some stuff for Becca T. I also need to buy an umbrella; I can't find any of mine, and the forecast according to my iPhone calls for rain in Barcelona on Saturday and Sunday. I find the best way to chase away rain is to be prepared with an umbrella. After the hair and the shopping, I will have to pack. On Friday, I will run home from school to catch my ride to the airport right away.

I've only given my guidebook on Barcelona a cursory glance. I know that I want to go to the Picasso museum, and go on a bike ride. However, from the looks of it, Barcelona seems like it will be an awesome city to explore, eat, and drink in with my BFF. I can't wait.

And then of course after that there's London with the fabulous Claire, and I'm also going to meet up with my little cousin who is a teacher there. And there is the shopping too!

Anyway, I might post again tomorrow from the packing madness, but if not, I'm sure I'll post at least once per city. I love vacation blogging. When I first started travelling, I would keep pretty good journals, but now a blog post or two is all I can muster. At least it gives me some written record of my travels.

¡Hasta luego mis amigos!

Weekend and Answers

This will be a two-part post. First, I will concisely summarize my weekend (so that it's not lost forever) and then I will answer *your* questions to my "ask me" post!

1) Weekend

On Friday, there were intentions to head down to Queen St. W. for dinner, shopping, and a movie. However, it was raining. Those intentions were thankfully abandoned. Instead, pizza was ordered and a slew of Community episodes were watched. Have you seen that show? It is HILARIOUS. Part of it takes part in a Spanish class. Me gusto!

The rain continued on Saturday, so the beginning of Saturday was lazy with more episodes of Community. However, I had to drive Miss Rilo to Stratford, so that my parents can take care of her while I'm in Europe. I leave on Friday, can you believe it? Anyway, I drove her in the rain, and spent the night at my parents'. We ended up watching Eagle vs. Shark (with Jemaine from Flight of the Concords) which is one of my Dad's fave movies. It's weird. Enough said.

I went to the gym in Stratford this morning, bought my parents coffee at Tim Horton's (I'm now 2/14 on Roll Up the Rim) and then headed back to Toronto. Here I am now.

Tonight: cleaning, blogging, schoolwork, and making a massive list/schedule of all the stuff that I must get done before I leave for Europe.

2) Answers

a) yrautca asked me "Why do you blog?" This question was seconded by Jabba.

I started blogging way back in March 2005 (6 year blogoversary soon!). I started because Matthew Good, a Canadian musician who I really like, had a blog, and would actually link to his fans' blogs. I thought it would be cool if he linked to my blog, so I decided to start one, but wouldn't send him my address until my blog was respectable enough (whatever that meant).

Anyway, he stopped that practice about a month after I started blogging, and I soldiered on. I think I *almost* stopped blogging early on in the game, but then my friend Mathew made fun of me so I re-started.

What really got me hooked on blogging was when I actually got readers... Jason was one of my first readers, and still reads. Another early reader was my friend Matt in Winnipeg, who doesn't blog anymore but is still my twitter/facebook/Los Campesinos! friend. What's cool is that I'm friends with completely random strangers I met on the internet from all over the world, and many of my blogging friendships are really solid. They are different than the other friendships I have in my life, but I feel that bloggers are almost always really supportive to each other, and great to have around. I'm going to visit Claire in London in about ten days! Yay for blog friends!

I think what keeps me blogging is the continued friendships, and also having an outlet to write. I do enjoy writing and I find my weekly blogging very therapeutic. And, at the end of it, I have a really cool archive of my life.

Friendship, therapy, and a record of life. That's why I blog. Thanks Matt Good. I benefitted so much, even though I never got my link.

b) rawbean asked "If you had to leave Ontario, where would you live?"

If I moved in Canada, I think it would be to somewhere in the East Coast like Halifax or a random small town in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or PEI. I went on a road trip of those province a few summers ago and I fell in love with that part of the country. It's so pretty, quaint, and the pace of life is the opposite of Toronto. Plus, I could see Joel Plaskett play more often too!

If I moved outside of Canada, I think I'd say Paris. I haven't been everywhere in the world yet, but I love that city so much, I wonder if I'll ever find one that I like more.

c) The Grunt asked me "what are your phobias?"

I don't have any big phobias of concrete things like spiders or heights. My phobias are of the social type: my fears revolve around rejection and being alone and stuff like that. I really worry that I will end up old and alone because I am an only child with a small family, and my parents are getting up there. I'm not married, so the whole dying alone thing scares the crap out of me. However, my friends are awesome and numerous, and I know they'll always be there for me, and they usually tell me how silly my fears are when I go on about them, so I'm really grateful for that.

d) Claire asks me: "Where is your favourite place on earth? Who was your most inspirational teacher? If you didn't do what you do, which careers would you like to try?"

My favourite place on earth is Paris. Well, I'll update you on that soon. Maybe Barcelona will take that honour?

My most inspirational teacher was/is my mother. She was the person who instilled a love of learning in me, and taught me to keep going no matter how hard life gets. Also, I find my friend Feanna one of the most inspirational teachers out there, and I'm blessed to work with her.

I seriously don't know what I'd do if I wasn't a teacher: most likely a Starbucks barista, or a clerk in a record store or a book shop. Or I'd love to write. I really would. Maybe I'll be like Frank McCourt and take it up in my 60s when I'm done my teaching career.

e) wigsf asked me "What is the worst misappropriation of school equipment that you've ever committed (e.g. using a Bunsen burner to roast marshmallows)?"

I love this question, and I realize that I really haven't misappropriated much school equipment. I've used beakers/Erlenmeyer flasks as flower vases before. I know, calm down Christielli! You are out of control!

If I ever do misappropriate something interesting, I'll blog about it ASAP.

f) Princess Pessimism asked me "what do you do when there is a massive lull in conversation?"

If you've ever met me in real life, you'll know there is rarely a massive lull in conversation when I'm around... unless I'm tired, then you're on your own. I'm described by many as "talkative" and "energetic" so I'm pretty good at keeping a conversation going. Usually it's just a narrative of whatever is in my head, or what I find amusing that particular day ("Look! That squirrel has a fuzzy tail!").

g) Jabba asked "What are some of your favourite books and why"?

One of my favourite books ever is Richard B. Wright's "Clara Callan". I love this book because it is written entirely in letters and journal entries. It also takes place in Depression-era Toronto.

I love the entire Harry Potter series. I think JK Rowling is one of the greatest writers of our time. I can't wait to see what she does next.

I also love Roald Dahl books that I grew up with like "Matilda" and "The Twits". They are hilarious, and again, the writing is really great.

Another favourite is "Rebecca" by Daphne Du Maurier. Well-written and spooky gothic are my thing.

h) Miss Ash asks "you're into books and music, but what else are you passionate about?"

I am passionate about education and learning, which is why I'm in the field that I am. Also, I do work in what you could call a "needy" school. There are many kids there who face many hardships whether it be at home or at school. I feel absolutely blessed to be there, and I work so hard every day to make a difference in their lives. I always thought I'd teach somewhere more "academic" but I'm glad I didn't. So I guess I would say making a difference in my students' lives in another passion of mine.

I am also very passionate about the people in my life. I have a small family that I love, and my extended family of friends. They are such great people, and I often am amazed that I have so many great people in my life.

And, I am passionate about travel! Speaking of which, it's time to wrap up this post and start getting ready for my trip! Hope you all have a great week and I'm sure I'll check in once more before I leave!

But if the blood pumping through my veins could freeze like a river in Toronto then I'd be pleased.

Tengo sueño. (I am sleepy.) Tonight was my second-to-last Spanish class.

I handed in my written assignment today. I worked pretty hard on it on Monday night. It took me an hour-and-a-half to write about a page of dialogue. I had two Spanish-speaking boys from my grade ten class look it over for me. They were impressed. One of them pointed to the word antipática (mean) and said "Miss, do you actually know what that word means?"

Oh no, I thought, did I mistakenly put something really offensive in my dialogue? Good thing I got it checked over... "It means mean, right?"

"Yah, you're right," the kid replied. "I just wondered because, you know, it's a big word."

I could have been offended, but then the kids were able to smooth it over by telling me that they were quite impressed with my Spanish skills and then saying "awww Miss, you told a little story here!" Basically, my dialogue was about Pedro, a university student, who suavely got a bonita chica to help him study for biology. The boys liked it and laughed at Pedro's antics.

Next week I'll find out if my Spanish teacher liked it too.

Spanish class tonight was a bit of a whirlwind. My brain wasn't working so well. We learned the Spanish words for this, these, that, and those which is way trickier than it sounds. We learned the numbers up to one thousand too. If I need to do some hard-core counting in Barcelona, I will be prepared! This week, I have one more written assignment to do, and that's it for the course. Overall, I've enjoyed the experience, but I've learned it's hard to juggle a course that involves any sort of outside work/studying in between classes. ¡Soy occupada! (I'm busy!)

Anyway, I have been feeling rather overwhelmed lately, especially since my big trip is coming up soon. This weekend I have to drive Miss Rilo Kitty to St. Ratford and I have a tonne of other things to do. I can't wait to just be away. I am really feeling the need for a break.

Now it's time for a musical aside. I've been listening the album "My Maudlin Career" by the Glaswegian band Camera Obscura a lot. This morning while on the subway I did a double-take on one of their lyrics: is that a Scottish band mentioning Toronto in a song? It was! I expect such things of Canadian bands, but it's pretty cool when a band from somewhere else mentions your city.

Here's the song below. Warning: it's a sad song about heartbreak, but it's really pretty and twangy. Luckily, I'm in a pretty good place in life, so I can listen to this song without getting overly emo. There have been times in my life where this song would have made me immensely sad, but luckily, I'm not there.

Oh! I must thank you all so much for the questions on my previous post! I will endeavour to answer them ASAP, but when my brain is not fried from Spanish class.

Hasta luego!

Ask me.

It's never fun waking up unrested on a Monday morning to the sound of cold rain. I made it out of the house early enough to stop to buy a new Metropass for March, and grab a coffee. As I made it up to the science office and unlocked the door, my key bent itself at a 90 degree angle in the door. Not a good way to start a Monday morning since there are no more extra copies of that key in the school... Luckily, I have connections so I have a loaner 'til my new comes in. (In June perhaps? That's how stuff works in education.)

However the day got better from there. Even though I did not win again at Tim Horton's Roll Up the Rim to Win. I'm now 0 for 5. Gah. Even better though, the sun came out, and my gym buddy and I took off for the gym, yet ended up stopping for cupcakes on the way. I say a pre-gym cupcake is better than a pre-couch cupcake, right?

Anyway, for a long time I've been thinking about doing an "ask me anything" post like the ones I've seen on Claire's or wigsf's blogs in the (probably distant) past.

So what are things about me that you don't know? Or may have forgotten? Ask me whatever randomness pops into your head. You know I like the random.

Looking forward to your inquisition, bloggarinos!

p.s. If you are a long-time reader, zero-time commenter, now is your time to shine! ;)

You'll be a bright light coming out of the dark.

I've been up for about an hour from a delicious eleven-hour sleep which I needed oh-so-badly. The latter part of last week was exhausting. Wednesday night was pretty busy since I went shopping after work, then went to Spanish, then stayed up late doing laundry/dishes/etc. Thursday's work day was long since we had a staff meeting (yuck) after school. Then, I came home and got ready for the Hey Rosetta! show.

We had plans to go out for dinner at a fave place of mine: The Victory Cafe. However, it seems that as of late, that whenever I try to go there, it's either closed or too full. This time, it was the latter, so we spent a good half-hour traipsing up and down Bloor Street trying to find a place to eat. Places were either completely full, or pretty much empty. Never trust an empty restaurant, right? We ended up picking a place next door to the Vic which was pretty nice. I had the strange pairing of vegan lentil soup with a BLT. Both were delicious.

We got to Lee's Palace after the openers had played. It's hard to do a full stand-up bar show on a school night. Hey Rosetta! played an awesome high energy set. I love their new album "Seeds" and they played a number of songs from that, but also did a great job of including all of my favourites from their earlier albums. Hey Rosetta! are seven-piece band from Newfoundland: they usually have two violinists playing at all times and often a cello too. This was maybe my third time seeing them, but the first time seeing them where they were the headliners. It was such a great show and I'm sure I'll try to see them every time they come to town.

Another funny thing about this show was that I ended up with two sets of tickets for it. We had originally bought tickets for the Wed. night show since the Thurs. night show was sold out. But then my friend Paul messaged me saying he had tickets for the Thurs. show that he couldn't used: could I or a friend of mine use them? I decided to keep the Thursday night tickets for me, and then gave my Wed. night tickets to my friends Mathew and Jane. Based on their Wed. night reviews, I knew that the show would be amazing and it was!

After getting home late from HR! I think I got maybe 4 hours sleep. I had to be at work pretty early to set up a massive lab for my bio class. Poor planning on my part. The lab went really well though, and the rest of the day was good. After school, I went to the gym with my work spouse/gym buddy then rushed home to get ready to meet up with an old friend from uni for dessert. He wasn't able to make my bday dinner so offered to take me out for dessert this weekend. It was fun, and I had some really good red velvet cake which my trip to the gym cancelled out, I'm sure.

Anyway, I was beat when I got home last night, hence the massive eleven-hour sleep.

Today, I don't have much planned and I love it. There's a new book that is Heather's Pick at Indigo. It's called "The Paris Wife" and it's on-sale for just this weekend. I have gift cards left over from Chirstmas and my bday, so I'm going to pick it up and spend my day reading it. I am reading another book on my Kindle right now, and should really finish it since I have *four* unfinished books now on the go, but this new book looks good and well, I can read my Kindle more easily on the plane to Barcelona, right?

I also need to do some cleaning and I think I'm going to phone a long-lost friend tonight and catch up. That will be fun. I phone friends way too infrequently.

Tomorrow is back to the gym, then I have a two year old's birthday party. I bought her an awesome book on cats, ha-ha. Then it's Oscar night, so I'll sit on my couch and watch that and do some school work at the same time. And maybe work on my Spanish homework too.

So I'd better enjoy my lazy Saturday, 'cuz it will be my one day to live at a slow place.

And it's snowing rather nicely too. I'm sick of the snow, but it's still kind of pretty.

p.s. Coutdown to Europe = less that two weeks! Warning to Claire: I've been thinking about UK shopping... I want to go to Monsoon again!

Don't look back 'cuz you don't need that.

¡Hola amigos! Can you believe that I'm 75% finished my Spanish class? We only have two classes left. You know what that means, don't you? My trip to Barcelona is approaching very quickly!

This class was pretty fun, even though a lot of our activities involved the use of vocabulary involving household chores. It's a little bit appropriate since right now yo lavo la ropa (I wash my clothes... I can't yet speak in the "I am" tense) and yo necisito lavar los platos (I need to wash the dishes). We also learned the irregular verbs tener (to have) and venir (to come). Tener is very useful to know because it's used for many adjectives such as tener hambre (literally to have hunger) and so on. Anyway, the reason why this class was so fun is that my table and I had fun times creating conversations and such. It's good to be silly while learning. It helps that Fea, a drama teacher, can speak in a really hilarious creepy Spanish voice.

We have a big written assignment due next class. It's a one-page dialogue that I will have to write based on a picture. When it comes to language learning, I'm very good at the written component. During class today, Fea exclaimed "how do you remember to spell all this stuff?" However, my pronunciation is still pretty horrific. Maybe while in Spain I'll pretend I'm a mute and just write out all of my requests.

Other than that, life's pretty great these days. Work's busy but fun; I like my classes. Even the one that drives me crazy is all right. Because they were good yesterday, we made slime today in class and they had fun. They're the types of kids who need a lot of hands-on activities, which is exhausting to plan and set-up, but they behave well during labs, and actually clean up their stations really well, so I don't mind going in early for the set-up.

Tomorrow night I'm going to see Hey Rosetta!, so that will be fun. After that I have no concert tickets for anything. Boo! This must be amended and soon. C'mon concert gods, I'm looking at you.

!Feliz jueves, mis amigos! (Happy Thursday, my friends!)

There was a parliament of owls in the dark where the night things prowl.

You should know that as I'm writing this post, Ms. Rilo Kitty is sitting on a pillow beside me because apparently the couch is not enough for her. You should also know that I'm listening to Jenn Grant's album "Honeymoon Punch", which I was able to listen to fully on train rides this weekend and it turns out it's pretty awesome. I like it almost as much as I like the person who gave it to me. My favourite song is "Parliament of Owls". I love owls, so when I saw the song title, I hoped it would meet my expectations, and it did!

Speaking of owls, I got some owl bookends as a gift from my friend Flora, who I saw at my Toronto-friends birthday dinner on Friday night.

I, after a couple of margaritas, decided that they needed to be named after scientists, since I plan on bringing them to school to keep the binders on my desk from toppling over. Then the best names popped in my head: Watson & Crick! They are the scientists who discovered the double helix structure of DNA.

My friend Jesse, who has a major in the history and philosophy of science pointed out that Watson was a racist and Crick had a taste for LSD. Oh boo! I can handle the LSD, but I don't like racism. Sigh... ignorance can be bliss, and now my owls' names aren't so awesome.

Anyway, my Toronto party was lots of fun. I had it at my favourite neighbourhood Mexican restaurant and ate taquitos and churros, and drank mango margaritas and had a whole lot of fun.

On Saturday, I took the train to Stratford and spent the day chilling with my parents. We had Swiss Chalet for dinner, ate cake, watched a random movie on TVO ("You Can Count on Me" from 2000... it was pretty good actually) and I narrowly defeated my dad at cribbage. It was very surprising that my dad played cribbage with me as I gave him his birthday present of five new books, and he's already started on four of them. My poor mom's not going to hear from him for at least a week.

Sunday was super busy. I went to the gym, then met up for coffee with my friend Ramona, her three little boys, and my friend Heather. Then Heather and I headed downtown for some shopping. I visited my aunt, then headed home where I yet again narrowly defeated my dad at cribbage.

It started to snow pretty heavily Sunday evening, and I was half expecting texts from my Go9 friends saying they wouldn't be able to make it into town for yet another birthday celebration. Since there were no texts, I headed to the bar, and sat drinking a beer on my own and tweeting while hoping the friends that I insisted to the waitress were coming, would indeed show up. I was slightly bemused when a group of meatheads moved to the table next to me, and I tried my best to not hear any of their conversation since it would probably bring down my opinion of humanity. Luckily, my friends arrived shortly thereafter; they were carpooling and Vern was late; hence they were all late. Anyway, we had a lot of fun catching up, and our conversation quickly drowned out that of the meatheads.

This morning it was back on the train and back home. I had plans to get parts of my life in order today, but usually when it comes to plans like that, I get distracted by shiny things and my life is still not in order. Oh well, there's always next weekend, right?

Happy Tuesday bloggarinos!

Waiting for somebody exciting like you.

I'm having a bit of a internet nerd moment this evening.

I noticed that Neko Case (one of my favourite musicians) tweeted that a song by the band Camera Obscura (awesome name) was making her cry while she was on the treadmill.

I looked up the song, and it is awesome! Then, I tweeted to her to thank her for introducing me to the song and she tweeted back! SIGH. You gotta love when the internet allows you to interact with your favourite musicians.

I took a screen capture of the tweet so I can remember it forever. Ha-ha. But seriously, she's one of my favourite people ever!

Here is the video of the song. It is amazing. I used an iTunes gift card (from Christmas actually) to buy the album. It'll make for good train ride listening this weekend, I'm sure. Oh, the video takes place in Paris, so j'adore. Also, I would like a swan sweater like the lead singer wears. And a purple scarf. Although I don't think I could pull off wearing a scarf like that.

I got Hey Rosetta!'s new album for my birthday. I LOVE IT. I am so excited to see them next week! The opening track on the album is incredible. Give it a listen if you are so inclined.

I also got Jenn Grant's new album. I haven't listened to it yet because I've been consumed with Hey Rosetta! but I am looking forward to getting acquainted with it on the train. The video for the lead single is super cute... I love the colourful houses in Halifax. And Jenn's pink coat and rubber boots.

Oh, one more album note, Christine Fellows' latest album, "Femmes de Chez Nous" is really great too. I've had it for awhile but neglected to blog about it. She's from Winnipeg. This song is one of my favourites from the album. I love how it tells a story.

Wow, I don't think I've music-geeked out like this for awhile on a post. Yay for music. Any great stuff that you are listening to lately?

Muchas gracias.

Spanish class tonight seemed to crawl by. We learned how to conjugate -er and -ir verbs, and also learned the words for many household chores. Yuck. I am not going to have know how to say cutting the grass when I'm in Spain, so it seemed quite silly. In addition, we learned the verb for open, abrir, but we don't know the verb for close yet, since it's irregular. Luckily, we finally learned comer so I can now eat, as well as drink, in Spanish.

Anyway, the past couple days have been full of celebration, and it's all left me very thankful. My birthday yesterday was great. My first period class sang happy birthday to me. It was the birthday of a kid in the class too which made it more fun. I brought that class treats. Last semester, one of my little grade 9s and I were talking birthdays for some reason, and she wrote on her exam that she'd visit me on my birthday, and she remembered which was sweet.

Fea, Rasa, and I went out for lunch at a little Italian restaurant down the street from our school. Can you believe this is the first time I've left work on a regular school day to have lunch? We all have our prep time after lunch, so that's why we could be a little bit more leisurely. It was so relaxing and hard to get back.

This particular birthday has left me feeling especially thankful for all of the thoughtful people that I have in my life. Last year, I turned 30, and I think I was a little bit freaked about that so I didn't really enjoy my birthday as much. This year, I was so touched by all of the the people who spent time sending me messages, phoning me, giving me super thoughtful gifts, cooking dinner for me, and who have made time to have dinner with me this weekend. It's so nice to know that there are so many people out there who remembered the day, and thought happy thoughts about me.

Muchas gracias mis amigos!

Someone I can be true with.

It's a lazy Sunday morning. Last night I was so tired that I fell asleep in bed reading a book, with the lights on. I woke up at 3 am, confused, thinking that I might have to get ready for school soon. After I remembered that it was indeed Sunday, I made a list of all the stuff I need to get done today and fell back asleep. Now that I'm awake properly, I'm having problems getting started, so I've decided to blog.

Brazilian dinner on Thursday night was good. It's a restaurant in my neighbourhood that I've been wanting to try, and I've discovered that it's the kind of place that's neat to try once, but I doubt I'll go again. It is a buffet, where there were some dishes that you could get up to get, and then they have people walking around offering you different types of grilled meats. The best was the filet mignon wrapped in bacon (yum). I also enjoyed the roasted pineapple, and the bananas coated in cinnamon and sugar. It was a bit expensive, so that's why I doubt I'd go back again, unless there was someone who really wanted me to take them.

Friday night was a lovely night in with pizza, wine, and a movie. I needed that after a tiring week of work. The movie was Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, which was all right. The best part was seeing Toronto actually playing itself in a movie. There are so many movie where I recognize my city playing other places. When Becca T and I lived on campus, we were on our way to the library, and when we got there it has a sign on it saying "Philadelphia Police Station". It was funny, and we joked about perhaps we had taken a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in Philly.

Yesterday included a lazy morning watching 30 Rock followed by a shopping trip to spend my birthday money. I should be saving it for Barcelona, but you know, I felt like buying some shiny stuff. It felt like it had been forever since I'd gone shopping, so it was a nice afternoon. In the evening, I watched the movie "Winter's Bone" and then fell asleep while reading.

That brings me today and my to-do list. I should really get a start on that, no?

This coming week is going to be busy. Monday is Valentine's Day, and then Tuesday is my birthday. I have quiet nights planned with someone special on those days (awwww), and then I have a Toronto-friends birthday dinner planned on Friday. On Saturday, I head to St. Ratford for the long weekend, and I'll do some celebrating there.

I was totally planning on letting this birthday go by with nothing, because I couldn't see any significance in turning 31, other than it's the last prime number I'll be until I'm 37, ha-ha. I told Fea I wasn't go to do anything much, and she got me in trouble saying "you don't celebrate birthdays because they are significant... you have to give your friends an opportunity to celebrate you!" Then I felt bad for being grinchy, so I made sure to plan something. It made me happy how quickly all of my friends responded. I have so many great friends, awww.

Hope you all have great weeks, and happy Valentine's Day! I have to say that I have warm fuzzy feelings for all of my blog buddies. Awwww. You guys are nice friends to have.

Sing Me Spanish Techno

What an exhausting Wednesday. I almost thought that I wouldn't be able to write my traditional post-Spanish post, however, I have to keep myself awake for another half an hour until my laundry is done, so the no-post has been averted!

I am exhausted mainly for one reason today: workplace politics. Need I say more? This morning was full of it, and then my evening was full of it too. Sigh. I love my job, I do, and I do love my school. And it's never the kids that I complain about, even if I do have one class that's gonna drive me up the wall this semester. I miss the old days; the staff used to be more cohesive and I really didn't know how good I had it. Time machine please. My other two classes cheered me up today. As did messages from people who noticed my sad and beat-down tweets.

However, other than the politics, today was a pretty good day. I left work early, took myself out for dinner, and did some marking in the library before Spanish. Spanish class itself was good. We're actually half-way through the course now! We learned the numbers from forty to two hundred, more grammar, how to tell time in Spanish, months, and days. I can now tell people that mi cumpleaños es el quince de febrero. That means that my birthday is pretty soon.

Speaking of which, I got home to a valentine and birthday card from my parents! They like to save money so they send them together in one envelope. The valentine has a cat on the front and a joke written by my dad inside. I'm sure he spent most of January thinking of it. Inventing bad jokes is just one of my dad's many eccentric pastimes. This one's actually one of his better ones:

Q: What do cats call mice on skateboards?

A: Meals on Wheels.

The birthday card just had plain old balloons on the front, but inside it said "gift to follow" which means great things I'm sure... especially considering it will be a gift from the man who wrote the above joke.

Tomorrow night some work pals and I are finally going out for dinner at a Brazillian restaurant. We originally planned to do this in septiembre. Ridiculous, I know, but I'm happy it's finally happening. I'm looking forward to having some vino, that's for sure.

Hasta luego!

Why would you ever grow leaves just to watch them fall off again?

Hola amigos! Here I am yet again on Sunday night wondering where my weekend went. Apparently there is some sort of sporting even going on tonight on the television, but my plans revolve around blogging, books, and baths.

I had a really great weekend. I feel like writing a list of the stuff that I did, so that's what I'm going to do.

1) I had a wonderful Friday night. I got to spend it with a group of super fun friends having sushi, and then going to see Jim Bryson and the Weakerthans band at Lee's Palace. My first concert of 2011 was great. Both of the openers, Daniel Ledwell and the Sunparlour Players, were great. I was so happy to get to see my beloved Weakerthans be the band for Jim Bryson, who is a really great songwriter and performer. He is also really good at getting rid of hecklers from the front of the audience. There were a couple of obnoxious morons in front of us, and Jim called them out in a fairly polite way so they left. (I wish I remembered what he said.) We got really close to the stage as a result.

I was a bit sad that Johnny K (the lead singer of the Weakerthans) wasn't there. However, I forget about that by the second song. And, the big bonus of the night was that Kathleen Edwards came out to sing during the encore. She is one of my favourites.

We hung out at Lee's after the show to have another drink, pick up some albums, and wait for the coat-check line to thin out. As a result, I was home by about 2 am and passed out pretty quickly. Late nights are so much more challenging these days.

2) I hung out with Mathew for the first time in 2011 this Saturday. We had pho, went shopping at Wal-Mart (yuck) and then watched SNL. It was good times. We had fun times chatting and reminiscing. We also have planned a tentative trip to the US to do some shopping at the end of the month. Fun!

3) I went to the gym a couple of times this weekend. Going to the gym is the new year's resolution that I'm doing a great job of right now. On Friday I went with my work spouse. It's nice having a gym buddy.

4) Today I chatted with my dearest Becca T as we figured out our accommodations in Barcelona. We have an option A that I hope we get. It's a smaller hotel, so Becca is going to get her roommate who speaks Spanish to call the place tomorrow and make our reservations. If not, our option B looks good too. Really, all I ask is that the ceiling does not start leaking mysterious water onto my suitcase, as happened to us last year in Paris.

I booked a nicer hotel for my one night on my own in Barcelona as a splurge. Then in London, I'm staying at Claire's, so no booking is needed! (I hope. Claire, you know I'm coming, right? Ha-ha.)

5) On Friday, Fea, Rasa and I had a conversation about feeling in a funk. We all agree that we are happy, but are we as happy as we should be? After thinking about this conversation for a long time this weekend, I know that I'm in a great place in life. My life has lots of friendship, fun, music, art, literature, romance, travel, excitement and challenges. I'm definitely not lacking in anything. I think that perhaps the weather is making me feel a little bit down; maybe it's just sunshine I need. However, after a really great weekend, I feel better than I did after that conversation.

Rasa insisted that we each make a goal to help us with our respective funks. I think my will centre around making plans to see a "long-lost" friend at least twice a month. For instance, this weekend I saw my friends Jane and Mathew (who I haven't seen since December), Eric (who I hadn't seen since the summer), and Paul (who I hadn't seen since October). Why don't I see people so often? Life gets in the way! However, I know that I'm tonnes happy when I'm socializing a lot, so I'm going to work being better at making plans.

Anyway, with that, I think I'm going to start reading a new book. Oh, I also have some Spanish homework that I should tackle before I forget how to conjugate my -ar verbs.

Hope you all have great weeks!

p.s. Miss Ash - te helado is iced tea!

I can only drink in Spanish.

Today was the perfect storm: my teaching school was closed, but my learning school was open! Woot!

Once I heard the good news of the snow day, and got a plethora of texts from happy teachers, I went back to bed. Then I lazed around reading a book, and actually ventured out to put my new winter boots to the test (they passed with flying colours) and get a white hot chocolate (chocolate caliente blanco) at the Second Cup. I spent the rest of the afternoon marking. I'm down to one set of stuff to mark! Yay! And, with the snow day and new semester, I won't give the kids anything markable, so I'll have a weekend free of marking. FINALLY.

Anyway, in this week's Spanish class, we learned how to conjugate -ar verbs and a bunch of new vocabulary. At the end of class, were were working on an exercise where you ask someone what they'd like to drink. To ask someone what they'd like to drink, you say ?Que deseas tomar? which translates literally in English to What do you want to take? Our teacher assured us that if we said this, everyone would understand that we were talking about drinks.

Fea asked him what we would say if we were to ask about food.

"Oh, don't worry there's a word for that. However, it's not an -ar verb so you can't learn it yet. You can only drink right now."

At least I have many options: cafe, te, chocolate caliente, cafe con leche, agua, leche, cerveza, te helado, jugo, y vino.

We also completed an exercise where we were had to state what class we would have to take according to some situations. One of the situations was "you need to get in shape." The only subject we have learned that would fit this situation is la danza aerobica.

So, right now all I can do is drink in Spanish, and the only thing I can do to work off the calories from those beverages is aerobic dance. I'm finding this language quite limiting, ha-ha!

Well, back to work tomorrow. Since Toronto hadn't had a snow day since 1999, there is really no point in hoping for a second one. Happy shovelling, amigos!

In the wintertime, keep your feet warm.

I had quite a bit of Spanish homework this week. Of course, I left it 'til the last two days... Not smart, because I found out that I'd forgotten so much which made it way harder.

Hmmm, I do believe there's a line that I often tell my students: "You must review your notes every night. If you review concepts within twenty-four hours, you will retain more information!"

Or the old: "Homework isn't there to torture you! You can't learn by doing nothing! Would you just go and play a basketball game without doing anything? Of course not!!! You'd practice!!! That's what homework is! Practice for your brain!"

Anyway, I was feeling a little bit sheepish and hypocritical as I was working on my Spanish homework, aka practice for my brain, since I wasn't following most of my own advice. I should have been reviewing my notes every day!!!

However, will there even be a Spanish class tomorrow? Environment Canada is calling for an epic snowstorm tomorrow, and that's all anyone here is talking about. The kids are excited for it, the teachers are hoping for it, and it was the only topic of conversation tonight at my dentist's office. I was told not to except my cursory "how are you feeling after your filling?" call until Thursday because of the storm.

I think I'd like a snow day, but I'd be really sad to miss Spanish. I'll forget even more! Plus, will I get reimbursed for a lesson? One lesson works out to a chunk of change...

If I get to stay home, I'll be working. I still have four sets of term marking from last semester haunting me and marks are due on Friday. I am totally procrastinating on this. I can hear my own teacher voice calling me out with disgust at my poor work ethic, but meh, why work hard today when I can push myself tomorrow to meet Friday's deadline?

Anyway, happy potential snow day to you all. I'll keep you updated.

p.s. In my career as a teacher, I've never had a snow day. We had 'em all the time in St. Ratford, since that place gets dumped on. When I worked in northwestern Ontario, my classroom was always open despite any weather because I just had to walk there. The usual two or three dedicated kids would come no matter what. If no one showed, I'd go home.

Once since I've been working in Toronto has school been canceled. There was a power outage in the area of my school. It was awesome.

Of course, there was the time that Toronto called in the army because of a big snowstorm. That was back in my first year of university. That's when young Christielli and young Becca T probably used the extra time to study because they were both terrified of failing first year. We were such nerds back then.

UPDATE: It's a snow day. Yay!!!! I can't wait to go back to bed! U of T hasn't cancelled anything yet, so I might still have Spanish. We'll see!

I'm an owl on the sill in the evening.

It is my weekly tradition to sit in front of my computer on a Sunday night and wonder where the weekend went, and why, oh why, do weekends have to fly by so quickly.

Friday was nice because since exams were finished, we had a day to finish up marking, etc., and get ready for the new semester. I cleaned off my disastrous desk and I can actually see the desktop again. I forgot what an ugly colour of fake wood it was, ha-ha. That's my excuse for keeping it in a state of disaster.

I had a sushi/movie date on Friday night. It's always nice bringing someone new to my favourite neighbourhood sushi place. It's so reliable and serviceable. And it has awesome green tea.

It's always nice to go to a movie in a theatre near a bookstore if you have extra time to kill. I checked out the print version of the Patti Smith book I had read. The e-book version was super cheap ($6) but did not include pictures. After seeing the book in print, I was sad that I missed out on the pictures. I expected a chunk of pictures in the middle, as is common with many non-fiction books, but the pictures were interspersed throughout the text, which would have made an even more enjoyable reading experience, since a lot of the paintings, photos, etc. that she mentioned in the book were included.

We saw the movie "The Fighter" and it was really great. I highly recommend it. Christian Bale does an awesome job of playing a junkie, and the entire cast is really good. The seven sisters are really funny. Also, Marky-Mark's abs deserve a shout-out. If there was an Oscar for that, he would have gotten a nomination, and it would have been a lock.

So yah, Friday night involved good sushi, awesome company, and a great movie. Yay!

I had a very enjoyable lazy Saturday morning eating toast, having tea, and watching 30 Rock on DVD. Then I ventured out to Scarborough to meet up with my friend Flora. We met up at a mall, and since Flora was running late, I got a new outfit for work at Smart Set. New semester, right? That's my justification for buying yet another long cardigan sweater... in dark gray, which I don't have. It would have been ridiculous not to buy it.

Once Flora showed up we trekked to a different mall, where I bought new winter boots (they are the black fabric ones) at Brown's! I've been eyeing so many people wearing these boots on the subway and they look so warm and waterproof. One of the intersections near my house becomes a lake when it gets slushy, so they are a good investment, I figured. Plus I like the plaid!

After the shopping we went out for sushi. I know, two days in a row, but it was at a different place and I got different stuff so it's not that redundant, right? Also, this place served corn tea, which isn't as good as green tea, I think. We headed on a Starbucks run after sushi, where I oddly ran into my good friend Fea at a coffee shop far from our neighbourhood. She said "I seriously thought I heard your voice, which was so strange." Poor girl, she probably was thinking, "Oh dear, I spend too much time with that Christy, now I'm hearing her voice in Scarborough!"

Today was a bit of a write-off. I got to the gym, did some grocery shopping, and that's about it. I still have a bit of semester 1 term marking to finish off, but I can't bring myself to it. Blech.

Musically, I'm feeling the need for a new album in my life. Hey Rosetta! are coming out with an album soon, as is Memphis (side-project of Torq from Stars). I've been listening to a lot of Neko Case today, and would like her to come out with a new album soon. Perhaps writing that statement on my blog will help.

Hope that you all have excellent weeks!

Mi colore favorito es violeta.

My brain hurts. Two and a half hours of dense Spanish instruction will do that to you.

This week we learned all about gender in the Spanish language, the definite and indefinite articles, a bunch of adjectives, how to make those adjectives agree properly, and the numbers once through treinta y nueve. Don't ask me ?Cual es viente mas viente? (What is twenty plus twenty?) because I don't know the number forty yet in Spanish. I also don't know how to make the upside down question marks in a blog entry either.

We started this week by having to present our homework. We had to present a picture of a person that we admire to the class using our limited Spanish vocabulary. I was foolish enough to quickly whip out my picture of David Suzuki, so I got to present first. I was told it was muy bien, phew.

We had to ask and answer a lot of questions in today's class. At one point, it felt like our teacher was a Spanish machine gun hurling out really fast questions at us. It was terrifying. I'm sure that I often looked like a deer caught in the headlights.

I'm so glad that I have a friend in that class. We are absolutely clownish when we work on partnered exercises together, however, we get the job done. Fea corrects my pronunciation, and I catch her when her adjectives don't agree with her nouns.

It was fun learning some adjectives. I like the Spanish word for fat: gordo/gorda. It makes me giggle. Our new adjectives came in handy when some tonto (dumb) driver wouldn't let Fea in on our way home. Unfortunately, Fea's name is the feminine word for ugly, but she's good-humoured about it. When she pointed it out to our teacher, he said "Remember, you cannot translate names!"

So that's my summary of Spanish class #2. I might just blog every Spanish class because reflecting upon your learning is a great tool in the learning process. If there's one thing I know, it's effective learning strategies. Occupational hazard.

Aluminum, tastes like fear. Adrenaline, it pulls us near.

I woke up in the middle of the night. I was sleeping on one pillow, and to my right was Princess Rilo sleeping on a stack of three pillows. I always think whoever pays the bills should get more pillows, but clearly, it doesn't work that way. However, I was comfy enough, so I didn't disturb her highness.

The Toronto Star recently published an article about how sleeping with your pets could make you sick. When I first got Rilo, I naively decided there would be no cat in my bedroom, let alone my bed. I didn't want cat hair on my clothes, nor in my sheets thank you very much. However, within a week I forgot to shut my door properly while I slept, and I woke up to you-know-who in my bed. I lost the war.

I don't really worry about getting sick though, despite the article. My childhood cats always slept in my bed, and I turned out fine, so I'm not concerned.

In the morning, Rilo will get up with me to have breakfast, then she goes back to bed and watches me get ready. She always looks so comfortable relaxing as I'm getting ready. At that time of day, I envy her life. If I get reincarnated as another being, I hope I have enough good karma to be a well-tended housecat in my next life.

Anyway, enough about the cat. I'm not a cat lady, I swear. I just find it hilarious that my roommate gets three pillows and gets to go back to bed when I have to go to work.

I've been tweeting a lot about how much I love the book I'm currently reading: Just Kids by Patti Smith.

It is written by *the* Patti Smith who was highly influential in the 1970s NYC punk scene. I first heard of her when I was in high school, and she worked on an REM record (she sings on the song "Ebow the Letter") and I remember reading magazine articles where Michael Stipe* was so excited to have worked with her. The second time I heard of her was in my "World of Popular Music" course that I took at U of T. (Yes, 1/40th of my degree comes from that course. It makes me happy. I loved that course). We were studying punk rock and I remember thinking "oh yeah, so that's why Michael Stipe was excited."

I saw this book when I was in a record store this weekend, and then decided to download it on my Kindle. I really do wish I'd bought the hard copy so I could lend it to people, but it was a bargain ($6) on the Kindle. It's so good. It won the National Book Award for Nonfiction in 2010.

The book centres around Patti's relationship with another artist, Robert Mapplethorpe, who was her soulmate of sorts. What I love so much about this book is how sweet of a person she is. I didn't expect that from a punk-rock pioneer I must admit. This book makes me really like and admire her a lot. When she was about 20, she moved to NYC without having any money, and lived on the street for awhile, but was determined to devote her life to art, and I give her so much credit for being brave enough to do that, and I'm happy to know it worked out very well for her.

I've also started listening to some stuff from her album "Horses" and I think I'll probably end up getting it sooner or later. (I bet wigsf just spit out coffee reading that I'm interested in some music from pre-1990s.)

Other than reading and being amused by my cat, my life is centred around marking exams and prepping for the new semester this week. Spanish class numero dos is tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to that. We have to talk about someone we admire in class using vocab we learned in class last week. I'm going to talk about David Suzuki. We were told if we spoke about someone famous, we didn't have to bring in a picture, so ding-ding-ding, less work.

*AlieMalie - remember when we saw Michael Stipe at that restaurant in Austin as soon as I'd arrived in Austin? What was the name of that place?

Favourite Things

It's so nice and sunny out. However, as most of us who are lucky enough to live in Canada know, a sunny day in January can only mean one thing: bitter cold. I should be going out to meet up with Fea for a typical Sunday afternoon marking session, but I'd rather procrastinate.

I've had a pretty good weekend thus far. I crashed out on my couch on Friday night, and ended up just making the move from there to bed. I've been better at going to bed at decent times on weeknights than I used to be, but I found this week to be exhausting, so I blame it for the Friday night crash.

On Saturday, I stayed in and cleaned my house in the afternoon. The evening involved hitting up a record store to get tickets for Hey Rosetta! in February, and going out for dinner. It was nice, but since it was cold out, it was good to go home early and watch a movie. That movie was "Dinner for Schmucks". Rawbean had pre-warned me that it was pretty bad, and she was right. However, it was lying around my place, and that's why it was watched.

This morning I watched a couple of episodes of 30 Rock. I forgot how much I like that show. I think I should start watching it again. Anyway, one of the episodes I saw was the one where Liz Lemon thinks she encounters Oprah on a plane. This made me remember I've been meaning to a "favourite things" post for awhile, so here goes.

1) My bird necklace from Etsy.

I bought this necklace before Christmas. I'm pretty sure that I came across this seller's shop from Jabba's favourites page as I was procrastinating some night. I had wanted to buy a different bird necklace, but the seller had run out, so she offered me $10 off a different item. I had been originally debated getting this necklace, and was happy to get it instead. I even got to pick the colour of the stone! Fun!

2) My Kindle

I've been writing a lot about my Kindle, but haven't posted a picture yet! Here's a picture of my pretty green case, and what the actual device looks like for those of you who have been wondering.

3) My Coach Bangle

I bought a couple of these as Christmas gifts, at a healthy discount thanks to a coupon, and threw one in for myself. I like pretty shiny things.

4) School Supplies

Here's my Spanish textbook, my notebook, my bad-ass kitty cat pencil case, my favourite pen, and my water bottle.

The pencil case I got at Borders when I was in Boston. That's where I keep my "good" pens and pencils that I do not lend to students. So many people comment on it, and my standard joke is: "The pink kitty cat pencil case shows the students that I'm a badass teacher that you don't mess with."

The pen is one of my favourites because it's a pen/highlighter and has post-it note flags in the cap. It's nerd heaven in one writing instrument.

5) My flower hat.

I bought this hat at a craft sale five years ago and I still love it. It makes winter a little bit more bearable. It has a side effect though: more crazy people talk to me on the subway when I'm wearing this hat than when I'm not. (Sorry that the picture is so dark... the flower is turquoise.)

That's it! Hope you all are staying warm and have a great week ahead of you!

Buenas noches.

La clase de español es muy bien.

I learned how to conjugate my first verb (ser - to be). I learned the Spanish alphabet, the numbers (which I remembered very well from Sesame Street, muchas gracias), colours, and some pretty basic vocabulary and expressions. I learned a lot about pronunciation, and have to remember to pronounce everything, unlike the how you do in French. For example I always have to focus on pronouncing "es" with an "s" sound at the end. I lapse into French pronunciation so easily.

I will also have to work hard on pronouncing certain letters properly. For example, I learned that "v" and "b" are pronounced the same way in Spanish - like a very soft "b" where you don't put your lips together. As a result beber (to drink) and vivir (to live) sound very similar in Spanish. That's a sign of a good language, eh?

In addition, I need to remember that "ll" is pronounced like a "y", "ge" is like "hey", and gi "is hee" and the "h" is always silent. Also "h" is "hache" which is really fun to say.

Anyway, I learned a lot in my first class. I was also very happy to have my pal Fea with me. She has traveled a lot in various Spanish-speaking countries, so she has a better handle on pronunciation and can correct me. In addition, it's fun having someone to joke around with.

Well, that's my week #1 Spanish class update. Buenas noches. Hasta luego.

Fire eye'd boy give 'em all the slip.

My friend S posted this on twitter. It sums up my life in a two-item to-do list.

But I can't get off the fucking internet! I'm watching a live Broken Social Scene show from NYC streaming on Youtube. Hmmm, maybe I'll be able to check getting off the fucking internet off the list tomorrow?

After all, tomorrow night, instead of coming home from the gym (at least I did that, right?), changing straight into my PJs and watching episodes of Intervention and rock shows on the internet, I have my first Spanish class! Yes, after tomorrow, this blog will be peppered with some Spanish words here and there. You will learn with me, amigos!

Last night, Fea and I hit up the U of T bookstore to get our outrageously-priced Spanish textbooks. I hadn't been in that store in probably eight years. It brought back a lot of memories, however I didn't really remember its labyrinth of a layout, and I accidentally lead us straight into the medical textbook section. Luckily, after some walking around, we found the languages section. We also bought notebooks. Oh, can buying school supplies ever get old?

Okay, so I've got my school supply related shit together, what about the rest of it? My apartment is in a bit of disarray, and laundry needs to be done. I might have a houseguest on Thursday, so you think that'd be motivating me to do something about the situation, but I don't know for sure, so I guess I like living on the edge. If I get the "so I am crashing at your place" text in the next 24 hours, I'll be doing some heavy duty late night cleaning tomorrow. Spanish class is until 9 pm....

How about work shit? Well, I'm down to one set of marking left for two of my classes; my focus for tomorrow is to get caught up on the third. We have three days of class left, so I'm done lesson-planning... it's exam review for the rest of the time. However, I still have two sets of major assignments coming in Friday, plus exams next week. So, the marking will never end and you know where I'll be this Sunday afternoon.

So yah, one day I'll get off the fucking internet and get my shit together, but apparently not today. ;)

But it was you I was thinking of.

This weekend was pretty lame. I've been fighting off some sort of cold/flu/whatever, and it took its toll on me. All I could think about all Friday afternoon was going home and sleeping.

On my way home, I had the bright idea of renting some movies. The store had a 3 for $15 sale, so I rented three movies. After coming home and passing out on the couch for a few hours, I managed to get through "The Social Network" which was pretty good. It probably deserves a re-watch for when I'm less out of it.

Saturday was another complete write-off. I slept a lot but managed to get out of the house to pick up some sushi for dinner, wander around Indigo for a bit, and treat myself to a Second Cup white hot chocolate. After that, I considered watching one of my other movies, but felt more like reading. I got a bunch of books for Christmas, and I'm halfway through a couple of them, but I was missing reading on my Kindle. I spent some time looking for something new to read and settled on Jeffrey Eugenides' "The Virgin Suicides". I really enjoyed his book "Middlesex". Anyway, this book is rather macabre, but really well written so I'm hooked on it.

Today I lazed in bed, read, and then packed up my marking to meet up with Fea at our usual marking spot for the third Sunday in a row. The pile never shrinks, I tell you. As we were marking, and older gentleman came up to me and said "that was the part of the job I hated the most." It turned out that he was a retired science teacher from the high school down the street from my place. Man, I can't wait for the day where I can spend my wintery Sunday afternoons in a coffee shop doing Sudoku puzzles instead of marking optics tests. That will be the life.

Anyway, now I'm half-heartedly watching the Golden Globes while doing dishes and laundry. I should being doing some more schoolwork too, but I can't bring myself to.

This is going to be a very busy week. It's the last week of the semester, and my Spanish course starts on Wednesday. Also, my pal Jolene might be crashing at my place one night since she's in town for work. I'm glad that I'm feeling better for it, but I wish I could have gotten more accomplished this weekend other than out-sleeping Rilo. But I guess it's better to get better as opposed to getting more run-down, right? Oh, and I still have two movies to watch!

Well, this is a pretty dull post. I've been thinking that this blog needs more photographs. Maybe that's a little project I can work on in the near future. Hope you all have a great week!

Booked.

I think it was last week that I was playing around and looking at flights to Barcelona and home from London... Anyway, I was looking at prices again today, and the prices have already gone up. This is one of the problems of being a teacher: you have loads of vacay time, but it's always during peak travel periods. No last minute steals for us.

I played around with Expedia, and found a similar price as to what I saw before, except no direct flight home. It's just a short stop-over in Montreal. I think I can handle it. Better than forking out another $200.

After calling my friend Fea, my travel expert, for advice, I booked it!

I still have to figure out my flight from Spain to London, but that's easy. And where to stay in Spain. And what's fun to do in Barcelona. And how much sangria I should drink. Maybe I need to start training here, ha-ha.

That's my exciting news. This weekend seems like it will be pretty low-key since fun people are sick, and I might be getting sick (but my immune system is fighting it off), and I have tonnes of cleaning, marking, and exam reviews to write. However, I'm hoping I'll have some time to browse through that Barcelona travel guide.

Happy weekend! Is it March Break yet? Ha-ha.

New Year's Resolution Motivation

If there is one thing I'm good at, especially at work, it's making friends.

One of my newer friends is the music teacher who is "new" to our school (relative to myself who is becoming a fixture like the cinderblocks, or the always-broken heating system). She's super cool and into the environment, and she is now my friend for life because I gave her my secret library key at Christmastime. Her room is across from the library, and she needs access to the library to use the phone. I used to teach in the library, and never gave back my key because keys are power. Anyway, she mentioned how she'd sometimes come into work on weekends and hated that she had to walk across the school to access a phone. Upon hearing this, I felt guilty and full of Christmas spirit, so I gave her my key.

That's how you make a friend for life.

Anyway, you might be wondering what this preamble has to do with my new year's resolutions, which all revolve around being more healthy and perhaps being able to fit into an old pair of jeans that I really like.

Today, my friend for life passed me in the stairway and said "Hey - I was cleaning out my closet and came across my Periodic Table of the Elements skirt and thought of you. Would you like it? I rarely wear it and I knew you'd love it." I once saw her wear this skirt and I, of course, freaked the hell out.

"Yes!" I exclaimed right away. "Oh, but it probably won't fit me..." I added sheepishly. She's thinner than me, but taller, so maybe it's just an illusion. Yah, that's it.

"Let's see! I'll bring it in for you to try on one day!"

All I could think of as I continued on my way is that I want to wear that skirt. It's got the freaking Periodic Table of the Elements on it. That's my favourite table right there!

Anyway, I think with a lot of exercise, and perhaps a talented seamstress, I could wear that skirt. It's a good motivation, no?

I made it to the gym tonight and burned many calories as I envisioned myself in that skirt. Great motivation, eh? It's sort of like when my old roommate lost weight to fit into the wedding dress of her dreams.... but the more eccentric and nerdy version.

p.s. Fact for Vancouverites who read this blog - she got the skirt in Vancouver! Cool!

I can't help but feel like this is good.

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but this Sunday is going to be a day of work. Right now I'm relaxing a little bit after sleeping in (one can't work without enough sleep, right?) and eating a couple of clementines and drinking some green tea as per new year's resolutions. Then it's off to the gym, also as per new year's resolutions.

After that, I am meeting up with Fea yet again to mark, mark, mark. As per new year's resolutions, I am not going indulge in a pastry at the coffee shop (this is one of the dangers of marking at a coffee shop) but I will stick some fruit and healthy crackers and cheese in my bag for a snack. And drink more green tea and water. When I get home, I get to write exams until I crash and need sleep.

Oh man, my life sounds really dull if you read those first two paragraphs. However, the rest of my weekend has been a lot of fun. I went out for dinner on Friday night which was really fun and saw the movie The King's Speech on Saturday with a long lost friend. The movie was excellent. It had so many excellent actors playing some rather important people in it. Colin Firth was George VI, Helena Bonham Carter was the Queen Mum, Geoffrey Rush was George VI's speech therapist, and Timothy Spall, who is great at playing villains in movies like Harry Potter and Sweeny Todd, was a really good Winston Churchill. It was one of those movies that was so good that everyone just claps at the end of it. I've only ever experienced the clapping at the end of a regular everyday screening of a movie in Toronto, but it felt so necessary at the end of this movie. See it if you haven't.

My movie companion was a friend who I hadn't seen since the summer. I've been re-connecting with many "long lost" friends over the holidays. Life just got so busy from September on that there are so many people I hadn't seen in forever. Making an effort to see everyone has been so rewarding and I realize how insanely lucky I am to have so many good friends. I really should add another new year's resolution which should be to be more conscientious about not letting long periods of time go by without seeing friends. I guess real life makes that hard, but Facebook and a little bit of planning help, so I know I can be better.

After dinner on Friday, we stopped by Indigo and I bought a Barcelona travel guide. This makes the trip official in that I can't change my mind now and waste $20 on a travel guide. Not to mention the Spanish course too (which starts in 1.5 weeks). I've also started browsing flights. I just have to figure out a few things before booking: a) how long Becca T can vacation for; b) whether or not my friend Jane will be coming; and c) whether to go to London first, or Barcelona first. I'm really leaning toward Barcelona first, because then I will have a direct London to Toronto flight home, as opposed to having to stop over in Germany if I did it the other way. After last year's five-airport-marathon on the way home from Nice, I want a direct flight.

So yah, even though I have to buckle down and be a good worker today (what I'd really like to do is curl up with a book), I have had a fun weekend, and I have so much to look forward to. Really, the trip is only scratching the surface. I have to say that life is pretty good these days, and I'm starting 2011 pretty happy. Yay!

Random.

1) My brain is a little bit mushy. Yesterday, I realized I'd left a credit card at a restaurant and had to cancel it post-haste. Then, I misplaced my phone, inside a shoe (yes you read that correctlyt) and spent 30 minutes searching for it. Dear brain, please sharpen up. Thanks.

2) I'm feeling a bit nostalgic today as Roberto Alomar was inducted into the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame. My nostalgia stems from two reasons: I was a HUGE Blue Jays fan in the late 80s/early 90s especially in 92/93 when they won back-to-back World Series. I remember actually hiding in my room during some of the games because I couldn't watch them; they were too stressful for me. Anyway, Alomar was one of my favourite players during his career as Blue Jay, so it's nice to see him inducted. (Yes, yes, he spit in an ump's face, but that was when he wasn't a Blue Jay, so I can let that incident not taint my happy childhood memories.)

The second reason why this is nostalgic for me is that I've actually been to the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was my dad's dream vacation, and we went when I was in grade six or so. I was bored, but it was nice seeing my dad so happy to go some place, as he tends to be an extreme homebody.

Today when my dad and I were talking about Alomar's induction, he said "Visiting the Hall of Fame was the highlight of my life.... well, after you being born...."

I replied "Yah, I know, I know... you had to drive mom to the hospital for that." There's a moment from the Simpsons where Lisa asks Homer to do something and he says "First, I had to drive your mother to the hospital to give birth to you, and NOW this..." My dad says that all the time. I think it's his favourite Simpsons reference.

3) Continuing on the sports randomness, I was discussing sports with my lovely grade 9s during the last five minutes of class. We talked basketball, hockey, and soccer mainly. Did you know that if Mick Jagger cheers for a team in World Cup soccer they are bound to lose? That's a random fact I didn't expect to hear from a grade nine. Also, one of my favourite kids, who is smart, quiet, and cute, called LeBron James a "coward" with such vehemence in his voice it warmed my heart.

Anyway, I told them that I'd probably watch the gold medal juniors' game tonight, but then I realized I don't get TSN. But I'm streaming it. It's Canada 3, Russia 0. I like it.

4) I am tired. I should be doing a number of things of the schoolwork and housework varieties, but blogging is oddly more compelling at the moment. I'm going to have to work my ass off working this weekend. Which is basically just Sunday since I have social plans for Friday and Saturday.

5) Anyway, that's that for my tired/random post. Seriously. I'm brain dead. Getting out of vacation mode is hard work, yo.

Edit: Wow, the Russians scored 5 goals in the last period. What the what?

Also, yes Rawbean, I will keep the typo. It further proves how mushy my brain is.

So get up. Get out. What are you down about?

Welcome to my first post of 2011!

I have to say that I'm feeling a little bit overwhelmed at the prospect of real life right now. I've got laundry to do, Christmas presents to put away, a tree to take down (well, not until Jan. 6th; I believe in leaving it up until Epiphany), and loads of schoolwork to do. I believe that I need to teach some kids some stuff tomorrow, and I'm not entirely sure what that's going to be.

I'm sure I'll adjust to the pace of real life again soon enough. I have to say that it's been an absolutely wonderful holiday break for me. I've been able to spend time with so many of my wonderful friends, spend some time with the 'rents, and even go to three concerts. I have to say that I feel much better coming out of these holidays than I felt going in. I was getting pretty burned out by the end of the working part of December. I'm feeling much more refreshed now as a result of a fun holiday break.

Elliott Brood at Lee's Palace for New Year's Eve was totally fun. The openers were a band called CATL. They were very entertaining to watch; in fact, the crowd on the dance floor was maybe even more entertaining. Elliott Brood were very fun to watch; apparently this was their fourth year playing new year's eve and they've got it all figured out, right down to their flip chart countdown 'til midnight. It was a really fun way to spend NYE, and I totally think I should attempt to do a concert for NYE more often.

New Year's Day was a complete write-off for me. I don't think I made it out of my PJs until after 2:30 pm, and at that point I fell asleep again. In the evening, I went for a walk in my fall jacket since the weather was so nice. At least I got out before it got cold again today.

I met up with my friend Flora for lunch today, and then picked up my marking and met up with my pal Fea at our usual marking spot. I got through three sets of quizzes and one set of lab reports. That's just scratching the surface of the marking pile. I am going to have to buckle down in the coming week with regards to school: I must get this marking done, plan lessons for the rest of the semester, and write exams. Ugh. I meant to do more over the break, but having fun is more important for my mental health, right?

I'll also have to buckle down on my resolutions for 2011. I have been able to keep resolutions in the past (2007 was a banner year for resolution keeping), and I can do it again, I swear. As Fea pointed out while we were marking today, the new year for us doesn't really start until tomorrow. This weekend is a little bit traumatic since we have to face the inevitable, so who could expect us to start good habits?

Anyway, starting tomorrow I'm going to focus on the following as my resolutions for the upcoming year.

1) Go to the gym at least 3 times a week. Oh, that reminds me, I need to renew my gym membership before the end of the month. Oh good, I get to spend more money!

2) Eat healthy at home, and at work. Splurging is only for when I go out with friends (once per week). I will keep a food journal to keep myself accountable.

3) Drink more water.

4) Drink more green tea.

5) Take a daily multi-vitamin.

Seriously, I used to do all of this stuff in the past, except for the green tea thing. So I can easily do it again. And I always feel so much better when I'm not eating crap and when I'm exercising. Doesn't it supposedly take 21 days to form a habit? I'll be there in no time, right?

If you are making resolutions for 2011, I wish you luck with them. And, if you have tomorrow off of work, I envy you. Enjoy it.