Bird Post

Hello again from the wonderful world of summer vacation. I used last week as my decompression week, and I'm feeling very relaxed these days.

While I was in Stratford on Thursday/Friday of last week, I spent a lot of time chilling by the river. On Thursday, I had dinner with my friend Heather, and then we went for a walk around the river and took a bunch of pictures of various waterfowl that we saw. Since I'm always saying that I'd like to post more pictures on my blog, I figured that I'd share them here.

Here's a young cygnet. So cute!

Here are two cygnets swimming with their mom.

I don't know what kind of bird this is. Is there an app where I can take a picture of a bird and then the app will identify the type of bird? If not, there should be! Anyway, he didn't seem to like paparazzi as he kept quacking at us as we tried to get a good shot of him.

Here's a black swan. Stratford has two of them to my knowledge. I like to refer to them as the ever-elusive black swans just because it's fun to say.

On Friday, I spent some of my afternoon reading by the river. I brought a blanket and sat on the grass which was super relaxing. However, I ended up with a few mosquito bites, including one on a finger-tip, and one on the knuckle of my thumb. Anyway, here's a shot of the view I had while I was reading. I'm reading the book Wicked by Gregory Maguire in preparation to see the musical on Broadway when I'm in NYC this August.

I took the train back to Toronto on Saturday morning, and I've been busy since I've returned. I met up with Jason and some of his friends on Sat. afternoon, and we went to this very cute but rather pretentious French cafe/dessert place in Yorkville where I ended up having a $20 mimosa. It was tasty but so over-priced. We ordered food, but then they said they were done making food so no food for us. Afterwards, Jason and I went to a cute backyard patio pub near Rosedale station because I was starving. We ordered food, then they somehow forgot to make our food, so it was another hour until I ate. Bonus: we got a free round of beer. After we ate, we decided to walk all the way home (5.5 km in total) to work off the food/beer/etc. Luckily it was a lovely evening.

On Sunday, I went to Fea's daughter's 2nd birthday party. It was pretty amazing. She hand-made capes for all the kids, made the birthday cake herself, made Sesame Street cookies as favours, and had TONNES of food. Seriously, this kid's bday parties are always the event of the year.

Becca T got in late last night, and it was great to catch up with her. I dragged her to a Body Pump class at my gym today, and then we went for Starbucks for frappucinos. We couldn't stay very long at Starbucks 'cuz Becca said "we'd better leave before I can't move ever again". She's now off meeting up with another friend for dinner, but hopefully she'll be back in time to join me and my bottle of wine for the Bachelorette.

I gotta run off and call my parents now. Today's their 41st wedding anniversary. Hope everyone is enjoying whatever day of the week it is! Just kidding, I know it's Monday. But seriously, at this time of year sometimes I have no idea of the date! Love it.

When I wake up in my makeup...

I think I'm transitioning into a summer life of leisure quite well. I started summer vacay with a super fun concert, then went on a hilarious cross-border shopping expedition with some friends from work, and now I've been pretty much chilling for three days. I've gone to the gym, met up with Fea for a Yorkdale expedition, ran some errands, and read/napped a lot. I think I'm decompressing from a crazy hectic school year.

I'm heading off to Stratford for a couple of days tomorrow for a belated Father's Day visit. It'll be fun, and then I head back here and before I know it, Becca T will be visiting me!

So before I go, I'm actually going to write a post about a specific topic: makeup. I'm a real girlie-girl on the inside: I love beauty products of all kinds. I think it's surprising, because on the outside, I'm more of a jeans/hoodie/chucks kind of girl. I'll dress up sometimes, but there has to be a reason.

However, I very rarely leave the house without makeup on. I usually wear pretty subtle products, and these are my favourites:

1) Foundation: Even Better Makeup by Clinique

This is actually a new product for me. I used to use Clinique's Perfectly Real Makeup, but made the switch to this product because it has SPF. This foundation is very light, so it's perfect for the summer and doesn't cake on. It's a great way to cover up imperfections without wearing something too heavy on your face.

2) Powder: Almost Powder Makeup by Clinique

I have combination dry-oily skin, and it gets shiny fast, so that's why a powder is essential for me. This product is also very light and weightless, and is great to carry in your purse to get rid of shine throughout the day. The added SPF is a nice bonus too.

3) Eyes: Big Beautiful Eyes by Benefit

I recently purchased this eye makeup kit by Benefit and I'm in love with it. It comes with under-eye concealer, a base shadow, an accent shadow, and a liner. Even better, it comes with handy instructions explaining how to apply everything! I've never felt like I'm an eyeshadow whiz, but this kit makes it so easy. The first time I wore this makeup to school, all the girls on student council noticed and complimented me on my eye makeup. I did wear subtle purple shadows before, but I guess this kit delivers what it promises. I highly recommend this!

4) Mascara: Buxom Lash by Bare Escentuals

I got this mascara in a trial size a few years ago, and it's been my staple mascara ever since. It's not clumpy, doesn't smudge very much, and gives wimpy lashes like mine quite a bit of volume.

5) Lips: Black Honey Almost Lipstick by Clinique

When you look at the colour of this product it's literally black in colour and you think "WTF? How is this one of Clinique's best sellers?" However, when applied it goes on in a dark berry pink colour that is pretty flattering on everyone apparently. Even my mom likes it! (I once gave her a sample tube.) I love the colour on me since I have very light skin tones, and I look best in cool colours. It's also fairly subtle, and is a great everyday lip colour.

These five products make up my everyday makeup routine! They are all pretty subtle, but they definitely make me look/feel better.

So, what are your favourite makeup products? I just spent a fortune at Sephora restocking mine, but I will keep your suggestions in mind next time I feel like trying something new. And for non-makeup wearers, thanks for sticking with me. My next post will be less girlie-girl, I swear.

That night in Toronto, with its checkerboard floors.

Happy belated Canada Day! I had one of my best Canada Days in memory. It was a start of what I think of as my looooooooong weekend because I won't be working 'til after Labour Day. And holy fuck, I feel free and relaxed. Insert contented sigh.

I went to a big Canada Day show at Downsview Park here in Toronto with my "co-parent". We used to co-teach a course for students-at-risk a couple years ago and formed a lasting friendship. We called our class the dysfunctional family, and that's why we refer to each other as co-parents. I was pleased to find out that my co-parent like shows as much as I do; in fact, this came in handy when I had an extra Broken Social Scene ticket back in December and I introduced her to that band.

We met up for a leisurely lunch before the show. Going to a big outdoor concert reminds me so much of the festivals of my teenage years in the 1990s. My first large outdoor show was at Molson Park in Barrie to see Alanis Morrissette on her 1996 "Jagged Little Pill" tour. The Go9 once was involved in a 3-car convoy to see the Tragically Hip's 1997 "Another Roadside Attraction" festival. After that I attended Our Lady Peace's Summersaults of 1998 and 2000, and so did my co-parent! (Obvs we didn't know each other then.) I haven't been to a big outdoor show since then, so it was really fitting that my return to big shows featured some bands from my teenage years.

When we got to the show, Buck 65 was onstage, and we enjoyed his eccentric show. Then one of my currents favourites, Hey Rosetta!, took the stage and played a great set in the sun. It made me really want to see them in a smaller venue, like Lee's Palace, yet again.

Next up was my beloved Broken Social Scene. They played a really great set, albeit shorter that I would have liked. Highlights were "7/4 Shoreline", "Fire Ey'd Boy" and a great closing instrumental "Meet Me in the Basement". A lowlight was that a couple of ghosts from summers past showed up during the BSS set, and set up camp about 20 feet in front of me. Seriously Toronto! Sometimes you feel smaller than St. Ratford! Luckily, an even bigger ghost, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man shall we say, was not with them. It's all about the glass being half-full.

After BSS was Weezer and their always delightful giant W lights. I've always loved Weezer, even though I haven't kept up on their past couple albums. They opened with the very fun "Troublemaker" from the Red Album, and kept to the classics. My favourite was the "Buddy Holly" closer where Rivers ran over to the sound stage in the middle, and greeted the fans, like us, who were sitting near the back of the park. Weezer are such a fun live band, and I appreciate that they always fill their set lists with a lot of fan favourites.

Last on stage was the quintessential Canadian band: The Tragically Hip. Seeing them live brought me back to being 17 in 1997, which incidentally was the last time that I saw them. They played so many classics like "Grace, Too", "Courage", and a great melange of "New Orleans is Sinking" with "Nautical Disaster". Anyone who was a Canadian teenager in the 1990s would have freaked to watch that live. Songs from post 1997, like "It's a Good Life if You Don't Weaken" (one of my favourite song titles ever), and "Bobcaygeon" were awesome. The crowd went absolutely nuts when Toronto was name-checked in the latter.

After the Hip's last song, "Music at Work", we were treated to some very nice fireworks. What a perfect way to celebrate Canada, and awesome music, and SUMMER!

We are lost together.

I had a good last working-day at work. I finished off some planning and departmental tasks, and finished getting my desk in order for another school year (i.e. massive purging). I also found out my teaching schedule for next year and I'm quite happy with it. I have what will hopefully be some good classes, and preps in the afternoon both semesters. I am optimistic.

After school, I ran some errands and then went to the gym. I had a really great work-out: I ran for a longer distance and time than I had ever before. While I leaving the change room, I had my water bottle in one hand, towels draped over my arm, and my phone and keys in another. I have my Metropass attached to my keys, and I like to have it out as soon as I leave the gym because the subway entrance is right by the entrance to the gym. I'm all about efficiency.

Anyway, my phone rang while I was leaving the change room. It was my friend Eric, with whom I had dinner plans this evening. I stopped, and turned around to take the call. After the call I realized my keys were no longer in my hand. I had no memory of putting them down and searched around the change room. I dug through my purse and gym bag in case I had placed them in there. No luck. I even dug through the laundry basket of used towels to see if I'd accidentally dropped them in there. Nope. I looked everywhere, and then checked at the front desk to see if anyone had returned them. No luck.

After searching everywhere again, I gave up and left my number at the front desk. They seem confident that they'll turn up, since people are good about returning keys. I don't think anyone would steal them... The only thing of value on them was a June Metropass and there are only two days left in June.

I was lucky that I got a ride home from Eric and that my super was in to let me in and lend me an extra key to the main door (I only ever had one). I'm also out a mail key for now, which sucks that I can't check my mail now that it's being delivered again after the Canada Post strike.

I'll be sad if my key chains are lost. There were three with my keys. There was the one that Claire gave me when she visited Toronto, one that I got at the chateau Chenonceau that I visited during my first time in France, and a lovely purple owl keychain from Coach. Keep your fingers crossed that me and my key chains (and my keys) will be reunited.

Anyway, after the key debacle, Eric and I had a lovely dinner at my favourite neighbourhood Mexican restaurant. I take everyone there, but it was Eric's first time and he loved it. It makes you feel like you've been transported to Mexico, the food is great, the drinks are awesome, and my favourite waitress, the one who once told me she'd had too much tequila one night, was working. Eric and I had a great time catching up after not seeing each other since February.

Tomorrow night is grad, so we don't have to check in at school. I'd already made plans with my work spouse to do a weight-lifting class in the afternoon at the gym, so maybe my keys will be waiting for me. I am also really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow. Bliss.

It's all the same if the fizzy drinks are nice.

Thanks everyone for being very nice and supportive in comments on my last post. :D And Claire, that iPhone auto-correct was pretty funny. I say we have to make "see the fluoride" happen.

Anyway, other than an awkward party, my weekend was pretty great. I spent a lot of it cleaning (my apt was a certifiable disaster.... it's not perfect now, but I could have company), running, and reading. On Sunday night, a night with no marking or no thought to lesson planning, Jason and I went for sushi and to see the very good movie "Midnight in Paris". I love the history embedded in the movie, and all of the delicious footage of my favourite city in the world.** Also, Adrien Brody as Salvador Dali was absolutely hilarious. I highly recommend this movie.

Right now I'm reading book that my friend Sandee (Go9) told me about. It's called "The One That I Want" by Alison Winn Scotch. I think she may have recommended to me because the main character is a guidance counsellor in a high school. It looked like a quick mindless read so I downloaded it on my Kindle. I was right about it being quick and mindless, but I was not expecting the worst simile I've ever read to pop up in its prose. Prepare yourself for it.

"But that's just it," he answers, and two real tears roll down from each eye, like sperm swimming free.

Yah. Let's move on.

Today was a pretty fun day. I still have to report for work for meetings, cleaning, and other such fun. Today was a series of meetings on assessment and evaluation, and we powered through lunch, so a group of us left work early to make up for not having lunch and had a lovely lunch on a patio in Little Italy. (I guess that's no match for bloggers who are actually in Italy right now.) Anyway, it was a lovely sunny day, and we even got free shots of amaretto on the house. I'm not even technically done work yet, and summer's shaping up to be grand.

After lunch, a few of us headed to catch the movie "Bad Teacher". It had a few laughs in it, and it was fun seeing it with other teachers because we probably laughed a little harder than the average person. It was hilarious seeing Cameron Diaz's character sleeping off a hangover in class while showing movie. Real kids wouldn't let you get away with that. They'd have a field day playing pranks on you.

I've just gotten back from drinking wine and watching The Bachelorette at my work spouse's house. Seriously, I think I may have just had one of the funnest Mondays on record.

The rest of this week will probably follow suit. Tomorrow, I have a dinner plans with my dear friend Eric. Wednesday night is graduation, which is at a fancy hotel/spa this year. It will be very nice. Thursday is the end of year staff gathering and the official end to the school year. On Friday, I'm going to the big Canada Day concert at Downsview Park, and then on Saturday I'm going on a shopping trip to Buffalo with work friends.

And yes, I know I still owe a post on eye makeup. It will come. I hope the rest of you have fun weeks too.

**Paris is my favourite city to date, but who knows, that could change. I am travelling to Utah this summer, ha-ha.

Rewind, rewind, rewind.

I should be careful of what I say.

Tonight I was at my good pal Mathew's birthday party. Interesting fact: Mathew and I are awesome friends, but we don't really have that many friends in common. We have Becca T, some other assorted people from university, and I've gotten to know some of his long-time friends quite well. Anyway, but often at some of his "events" I really only know a few faces, since often only very few of our mutual friends attend.

His party was at a downtown restaurant, and I arrived just in time to be the first person to start a new table. Awkward. I was lucky 'cuz Mathew sat at this new table with me, and my pal Luke (one of the long-time friends mentioned above) moved to sit with me.

As I was chatting with Luke, I mentioned that it looked like my dear Becca T will be in France for another three years. He asked me how I felt about it, and I said "well, it's weird... I've gotten used to not having her around now."

As the party moved on, people shifted seats, and I got to the awkward point where I had no one to talk to, unless I decided to inject myself into conversations, which is not really my style, even though I'd had a couple drinks. At that point, I felt myself really missing Becca T... I think at other Mathew birthday parties, if we were left with no one to talk to, we'd just sit there and entertain each other. Shit, I was completely without my right-hand woman. I want to revoke my earlier comment about being used to not having her around!

Oh, man do I miss the old days. I've had to attend quite a few events where I acutely miss Becca T. I also miss her after a hard day at work, when I would usually text her before I would leave, and then we'd meet up for a frappucino in the park (weather-permitting). There have been quite a few times in the past two years where I could have really used some emergency chit-chat with my BFF.

The point of this post is just to vent that I'm feeling those "phantom pains" for what feels like a lost arm in my life a lot this evening. Good news: Becca T will be visiting me for a week this summer. Bad news: it's only a week! Gah!

Anyway, I guess the fates were just getting me back for that "I've gotten used to it" comment. I should never be that flippant about the old days 'cuz really, there were some good times. Of course, if things hadn't changed I couldn't visit Becca T in Europe, so even though things are different, they are still okay. And goodness gracious, how lucky am I to have had those really fun old days.

p.s. I feel that this post is emo. My next post will be about eye makeup!

Coax me, cajole me.

The Sloan show was amazing last night. I have lost count of how many times I've seen Sloan (just like I have with other artists such as Hawksley and The Weakerthans), but I would guess it's about fifteen times. I don't know how to rank my multitude of Sloan shows, but this was a great one.

They opened with the first three songs from their latest album, The Double Cross. I believe that those first three songs make up one of the strongest first three songs to an album in recent memory: they flow into each other well and are all super catchy. I'm glad they played them together at the show.

They played the vast majority of the new album, through in a few more obscure songs from previous albums for the hardcore Sloan fan (The Marquee & The Moon!!!), and a good selection of hits (The Good in Everyone, Everything You've Done wrong, Money City Maniacs) for the casual Sloan fan. Who could not walk away happy??

If you're not into Sloan (and you should really look into that), one thing you have to understand is that the band is made up of four songwriters, so there are Patrick songs, Chris songs, Jay songs, and Andrew songs. I'm a huge fan of the first three and try my best to like as many Andrew songs as possible. However, if I was on a desert island and left with only one type of Sloan song, it would be Jay songs. What was especially great about last night's show is that Jay got to sing a lot of great Jay songs. The Lines You Amend? Check. Who Taught You to Live Like That? Check. Snowsuit Sound? Check. All three great Jay songs from the new album? Check.

Whenever I hear old Sloan hits, I reminisce about how I misheard some of the lyrics when I was in high school, and I still sometimes sing the wrong lyric. Some examples:

1) From "Coax Me"

Real lyric: Coax me, cajole me.

Christy sings: Coax me if you're mean.

2) From "The Good in Everyone"

Real lyric: It's not much, but it's the best I got. And I thought you saw the good in everyone.

Christy sings: It's not much, but it's best I got. So I wrote the song the good in everyone.

Mainly life these days has consisted of going to lots of concerts, and a lot of eating celebrations. Wednesday was the eco-club year-end "eating". Today was the school play BBQ that Fea invited me to 'cuz, well, I'm awesome. Tomorrow is the year-end student council lunch, and the kids have picked the Mandarin as our eating location. It's an all-you-can-eat "Chinese" buffet. Many love it (Miss Ash), many mock it, and I've never been. Apparently they have sushi now, so I'll stick to that. Seriously though, I'm tired of all this eating. I think I'm going to go into food detox next week, and live on oatgurt, chicken, fruits, and veggies.

Anyway, tomorrow is Friday, and I'm so happy that I will have no school work to do this weekend. I hope you all have great weekends too!

All the other kids with the pumped up kicks, you'd better run, better run, out run my gun..

This week's been sweet so far. I can get so much work done during the day without classes to teach! We're on exams, so the morning consists of a two hour supervision duty, and then you can mark all afternoon. I've marked everything save tomorrow's exam. Report card comments are done. I'm a machine.

We've been having lots of fun going out for lunch and then heading to the coffee shop to mark. Today a retired teacher saw us, expressed her pity, and told us that we were going to love every minute of retirement.

Last night I went over to my work spouse's house to drink wine. She invited me, and then I said "oh no! It's the Bachelorette! I must watch that. Watch it with me! It's a drinking show!" She was kind enough to oblige me, and I think I now have the Bachelorette buddy that I've been wanting. We're going to watch next week, because the villainous Bentley is set to return.

This week's show was fairly amusing. They were in Thailand, and on the group date the bachelors had to learn Muay Thai and then fight each other. It was bizarre and traumatic, for more reasons than just the obvious. One guy ended up with a mild concussion. Ironically, I was marking projects today on various disorders of organ systems, and a couple of the projects were on head injuries/concussions. I kept laughing whilst marking and reminding my work spouse of last evening's head injury in the name of love.

(Note: I don't approve of nor like this program. However, I do enjoy the opportunity to get riled up, yell at the TV, and make jokes. That's why I watch.)

Right now I'm making my patented veggie chili for tomorrow's year-end Eco-Club "eating" (instead of meeting... ha-ha, I'm hilarious). I've never cooked for students before, so I hope it goes over well. I picked an environmentally friendly dish (less energy is needed to grow plants vs. animals) and it's something that is always a hit when I make it for friends.

On Thursday night, when Jason and I were driving home from NXNE, we passed by Yonge-Dundas Square and this song came on the Edge radio station. I haven't listened to the Edge in years, but it was playing decent stuff so we didn't turn away. Anyway, it's like a number one hit or something on that station, and it's a really catchy summer jam. I've been listening to it a lot whilst wandering around my neighbourhood the past couple of days. I don't know anything at all about the band, but the song's catchy. I picture driving by a busy, illuminated YD Square, and all of the excitement of the city in the summer, as I listen to the song.

Tomorrow, we are going to see Slooooooo-ooooooooan play at the Mod Club for their 20th Anniversary Double Cross (XX) tour. I'm really excited. Talk about lots of shows lately. I've been to four in less than a week. Woot!

riot personal midnight

Those were the three words that got me into the secret Stars show. All are words found in the title of songs from their wonderful album "In Our Bedroom After the War".

Mathew wanted to give the words to a friend of his. I told him he wasn't allowed to. "It's not fair!" I protested. "You should have to put in the work to go to this show. A lot of people were running around town like me. It wouldn't be fair if your friend got one of their places." It's hard to silence one's internal teacher. Especially since I all I could picture in my head was the sweet couple who I ran into the first night of the scavenger hunt. I had problems getting my qr-scan app to work, and they gave me the first word. I wanted them to get into the show before Mathew's friend who is unknown to me.

Anyway, on Friday I saw Stars put on a very good show at a very packed Yonge-Dundas Square. Thankfully, they had big TV monitors beside the stage. I was so far away that I wouldn't have been able to see anything if it wasn't for those screens. The show was really great though. The band played many songs from their latest "The Five Ghosts" and a bunch of oldies/goodies, included "Elevator Love Letter" and "Set Yourself on Fire". I loved the YD Square show, but I have to admit that throughout the show I kept thinking "tomorrow is going to be wicked!"

Saturday was a bright sunny day and perfect for waiting in line for a bit. We to got the secret location (an art gallery on west Queen West) early just to be safe. The organizers were kind enough to hand out water since it was pretty hot with the sunshine beating down upon us. I'd just run up the street to buy some, but the gesture was appreciated.

I had a mini-heartattack when we were being let in. I had forgotten my wallet on my kitchen counter because I'd taken it out to get a penny to uncover a code on a calling card to call Claire that morning. Anyway, I wasn't worried when I first noticed: Mathew could spot me cash for whatever I needed to buy that day. However, they were checking IDs to let people in and all I could think was "fuck, what if they don't let me in without my ID?"

Anyway, when I got to the security dude, I told my sad story and I was like "I'm 31, that's pretty old." He went on about the event being strictly IDed or something. I think I looked crestfallen until he said "you can still come in... just means you can't drink!" I laughed so hard. Drink? That was the least of my interests. I just wanted to see my band. Phew.

We walked into a big white gallery with some contemporary art on the walls. The stage had bird cut-outs overhead and there was a triptych of birdcages painted on fabric as the stage background. How appropriate that I, a bird lover, was in attendance! There were maybe about two hundred people in attendance; so it's definitely the most intimate Stars show I've ever been to.

I felt like the two-hundred super fans in attendance had just as much energy of the crowd of thousands the previous night at YD Square. The band opened with "Bitches In Tokyo" which is another favourite of mine (I'll admit, all Stars songs are kind of my favourites). After Torq thanked us for coming out, he went into a mini anti-Mayor Rob Ford tirade (one of my favourite tirades) and played another great song.

I can't describe how awesome it was to see such a great band in such an intimate venue. They put on an awesome show with tonnes of energy considering they had played the night before. For the encore, they played a fabulous version of "Take Me to the Riot" and finished with a very pretty "The Aspidistra Flies".

Here are some pictures that I took. They're not the greatest, but they definitely give you an idea of how intimate the show was.

My pal Matt from Winnipeg couldn't come to the show because he's in Winnipeg, but he unlocked the live stream of the show and got a screen capture of it with me in it. I think it's from when the show was over and Mathew was getting a shot of the drumkit on the stage.

Here's the last song they played. It's so pretty. Give it a listen.

Torq closed the show by saying "we are stars and so are you." Awww, what a nice sentiment. It was nice to feel lots of love from a band like we did during this show. It's so great when a band tells you that they appreciate you for listening to their songs.

Hope you all have a nice week, my fellow stars.

Stay young, go dancing.

Today was the last full day of classes. Exams start tomorrow. Somehow, the bulk of another school year has gone by with a lot of sweat, tears, and laughs. There's still work to be done (marking exams, report cards, graduation, and clean-up), but in two weeks from tonight I'll have the prospect of two months of freedom in front of me.

These bright June mornings make me nostalgic for years past; both recent and long ago. When you're living in the moment, life often seems static, but things change a lot over the course of one school year. Multiply that by the twenty-six years I've spent in school, and each June is very unique.

This evening I met up with Jason and we went to the Music Gallery to see two bands as a part of NXNE. The Music Gallery is a cute little venue in a hidden downtown church. I know I've written about it before. The bands were Evening Hymns and Forest City Lovers. Both had beautiful instrumentation and pretty vocals. It was a nice show on a summer night.

Tonight was a perfect summer night. Toronto is gorgeous in the summer; somehow lush greenery and bright sunshine drown out the gray of the city streets. It was the perfect temperature today. Warm enough for short sleeves, sandals, and bare legs, but cool enough to stay comfortable. The church was warm inside with all of the people inside, but I didn't mind it because I could feel a bit of a breeze. The heat was a reminder that we've been lucky not to have had any major heat waves (yet... knock on wood).

I enjoyed both bands. Evening Hymns were super good. Here's a live film of them playing some songs in their apartment if you are so inclined to check them out. (Claire - they are Great Lake Swimmers-esque, so you might really enjoy them.)

Tomorrow night I'm meeting up with my friends Jon & Ali for dinner and to check out Stars at Yonge and Dundas Square (and hopefully get my third word for the free show on Saturday). They are a couple of my good friends from university, and I feel I haven't seen them very much in the past couple of years because of life's craziness, but hopefully I'll see them a lot this summer.

No matter what, I think it's going to be a very nice weekend, and I hope it's great for all of you too.

Summer Trip Announcement

Now that I've booked some flights and one hotel, I think it's time to announce my big trip for this summer.

Now, my heart was set on going to somewhere in Europe that I've never been, or even somewhere exotic that I've never thought of going, but sometimes things don't work out that way. And that's cool, 'cuz I know I'm going to have tonnes of fun on my more domestic trip. I guess I've always let "fate" determine where I travel. Many of my trips have been to visit various friends (Australia, Nice, Scotland, London, Texas, etc.) and I like it that way. Why not let friendship be your travel agent?

My friend Sandra (Go9) and her husband Jason (who is honourary Go9 because he's been around a long time), moved out to a small town in Utah last summer. You may recall that two summers ago, I was the emcee at their wedding. Anyway, there was a partial meeting of the Go9 last time they were in town (sometime this spring, I think). I was not at said meeting, but a trip out to Utah was discussed, and my name was offered as a participant. I have a reputation as a traveller, and it's assumed that I will go anywhere. And it's true.

After a few conversations, my pal Veronica (Go9) and I have decided we'll make the trip together. We travelled to Cape Cod and Boston together last summer, so at least we know we'll get along. :)

A direct flight from Toronto to Salt Lake City is a little bit pricey. However, this is where my travel-planning skills come in. I figured out that if we flew in and out of other major American cities, and put Utah in the middle of our trip, we could visit three places for only about $120 more than solely going to Utah.

So, we are flying into Chicago, staying a few nights, then proceeding to Salt Lake City, where we will rent a car and drive out to Sandra's little town. We'll hang out there for a few nights, then head back to Salt Lake City and spend two nights there. From Salt Lake City, we will fly to New York City and spend a few nights there. The cool thing is that Sandra and her Jason are also going to be heading to NYC at that time (his family lives there). So, we'll also meet up with our friends in NYC for a day.

And, Vern found a 5K run over the Brooklyn Bridge that we'll be doing. I guess my second 5K run will come sooner than I expected.

Also, I scored us a room in a four-star hotel in Chicago for a really reasonable price! We have a couple possibilities for NYC hotels, but we're going to think about it for awhile. Since we're saving $$ in Chicago (and in Utah by crashing with a friend), I am totally for splurging a bit on our NYC lodgings. There's a pretty-looking hotel by Central Park that I have my eye on.

Anyway, there is still some planning to be done, but since I've got our flights, the trip is set in stone.

You know, it's not Europe, but I was just there, and I'll probably be there again next March Break. I think this trip will be so much fun. I haven't been to Chicago since grade 6, and even though I've been to NYC two times, it was only for long weekend trips, and both times were in the winter, so I get to see it in the summer. I'm looking forward to seeing something else on Broadway too.

Now I need to go buy some travel guides...

p.s. I also think that this trip will allow for some blog buddy meetings!

Come on teacher, just admit it, you think I will never get it.

Friday - Left school ASAP. Came home for a bit of a nap, then went out for dinner with Jason and saw the Joel Plaskett Emergency play the opening night of Luminato. The venue was nice; it was a grassy knoll (how often can one use that word?) by Roy Thompson Hall. The rain held off, and Joel and his Emergency Band played a great set. He played a lot of classics. It seemed like there were many tracks from "Truthfully, Truthfully" which came out many years ago, and is a favourite album of mine. He also played a new song, "Lightning Bolt" or something like that, and it was amazing. A new album is going come soon and I'm excited.

Saturday - Went to a little French cafe with Jason for some iced coffee and tasty quiche. It was a lazy morning/afternoon which suited me fine. In the evening, I met up with another Jason for dinner. This Jason is my pal from Buffalo who is one of my oldest blog readers. He's moving away for a job, so he wanted to visit Toronto one more time before he left. Good luck on your new job Jason!

Today - No day of rest for me. I met up with Fea for a marathon marking session, went to the gym, tried to catch up on laundry (a never-ending task) did a little bit of housecleaning (not that you could tell), and worked on some exam review material. What a busy day.

I have to say that I'm feeling overwhelmed right now. I actually had to say no to social plans this evening (I hate doing that) because I have to catch up on work and life. I'm feeling so busy these days and having a really hard time keeping track of everything. I've even accidentally double-booked one night. I'm not sure how I'm going fix that.

But really, I shouldn't whine. The busy-ness comes from having so many amazing people in my life, and I'm lucky for that. I hope that when summer comes, I have some time to exhale, because these last three weeks are just really really busy. Pro: I have booked a relaxing massage for myself this week. Con: it's another thing to keep track of.

Anyway, there are only four more proper teaching days left of this year. Pro: only four more days left with my yucky class. Con: only four more days left with my awesome class.

Here's a JPE classic to close out the last teaching week of the school year. Happy Monday blogger folks!

She's got a song for everything. Everywhere she's been, everyone she's pleased.

Post of randomness starts now!

1) Just in case you are all wondering, my summer travel plans are under construction right now, and when they are set in stone I'll announce them here. As always, it'll be all about travelling with friends, visiting with friends and FUN.

2) My pet peeve = people who don't like fun. Seriously. It's an inside joke between my work spouse and I since we both like fun a lot. Today, my period four class and I were having lots of fun playing biology jeopardy. My work spouse walked in (her class is across the hall) and said "I'm the fun police! It sounds like you are having fun. That is not allowed." One kid pretended to get scared and bolted out the door screaming. It was hilarious.

3) I had a good teacher moment today before the jeopardy game. I have this trick where I teach the kids the phases of mitosis. They use their fingers to mimic the movement of the chromosomes. Anyway, we were reviewing and I said "fingers up!" and everyone had their fingers up and the class demonstrated the steps in almost-perfect synchronicity.

4) Speaking of fun, it looks like two of my favourite people in the world are going to have some great fun together without me. I'm completely excited for them though. My dear friend Becca T is going to be in London for work (lucky) and she is going to meet up with my blog friend extrodinaire, Claire, to see my favourite band of all-time, The Weakerthans. Oh, if I wasn't still in school, I think I would totally consider another trip to the UK to join in!

5) Speaking of music, I discovered a new band today. They are called Library Voices and they are super fun. Here's a cool video of theirs. The song gets really good at the chorus (about 1:30 mins in).

6) I bought Rilo some new cat grass today. She likes it a lot. I bought it today when I was at the really cheap flower shop in my old neighbourhood. I needed some cheap flowers for my grade 9s to dissect tomorrow. They're rather pretty, so their fate is a bit sad.

7) It's the weekend! Tomorrow night Joel Plaskett is playing a free outdoors show as a part of Luminato (Toronto arts fest) so Jason and I going to see him. I am excited, since Joel is one of my favourites. I guess this will be the third time we've seen Joel together, but we didn't know each other the first time. Although maybe there were other Joel concerts we were at together and didn't know it. Hmmm, that will be some good pre-concert conversation.

The rest of my weekend will be devoted to marking catch-up with Fea. Oh, but I just found out I might have a surprise visitor on Saturday night, weather permitting. FUN!

8) There are only five more teaching days left!

9) Hope you all have good weekends!

But you still crumble and my name. You still crumble at my name.

I'm sure everyone has been on the edge of their seats today wondering how my scavenger hunt was fairing. ;)

Today I got the second word, and figured out how to properly use the scanner on my phone (I was holding it too close to the code yesterday). Claire - a QR scan is one of those square things you see on advertisements that you can scan with your phone and get more info on whatever the product is. I never cared much about them until they could get me into a show.

However, the third word in the scavenger hunt is going to be released at an event (that I was already planning to be at) in the future on the night before the secret show. So I won't know until then if my hard work paid off.

After I got my second word, I went for a walk and did some window shopping on Queen St. W. in the heat. Today broke all of the heat records for June 8th in Toronto: it reached 33.3 degrees. School is unbearable, I'll tell you.

I'm glad that I'm home from my walk now because we just had the wicked thunderstorm happen. Just a moment ago, I was looking out my window at hail that was coming down and whacking my windows with a lot of force. It sounded more like rocks than hail.

It was pretty funny because all kinds of people in the apartment across the way were also looking out to see the storm. In fact, one dude came out onto his balcony wearing a t-shirt and Speed-o type underwear. All I could think was "C'mon! Hide your shame!" I was completely cracking up at it. Did he think he'd be the only one looking out?

The storm seems to have died down now. I still need to run to Shopper's tonight to pick up some kitty cat treats. We're out, and someone will be very impatient and very angry with me in the morning if there aren't any.

It was the worst thing that ever happened to me, so why do I smile when I think about it?

Today I got a tweet from my pal AlieMalie about the fact that Stars is planning a secret show in Toronto, and to get in, you need to participate in a scavenger hunt.

Anyway, when I got home from work and the gym, I was a bit tired and tempted not to go on a hunt, but I knew that I'd regret it if I didn't try, so I got myself in gear.

First of all, I had to do a technology scavenger hunt of sorts. The way that you can get into this Stars show is as follows: there are three locations where there are QR Codes that you can scan with your phone. Once you scan, you get a secret word. Enter the three secret words on the website, and hopefully you'll get on the guestlist for the secret show.

Anyway, I tried to download the recommended QR Scanning app, but it turned out that I needed to update my phone to do so. I hate technology updates and tend to procrastinate with them. It took me over a half-hour to update my phone, so hopefully I'll learn my lesson about updating technology promptly (doubtful). Then I got my app and I was off to the first location.

When I got there, I found the code quickly, but could not for the life of me get it to scan into my phone. Luckily, some other hunters came up and could get it to work on their phone, and shared with me the first word and next location (which I already knew). Unfortch, location #2 closed at 8 pm, so I didn't have time to make it there after my technology snafus.

Does anyone know a good iPhone QR scanning app? I downloaded another one (NeoReader), and I hope it will work for me tomorrow, when I head to location #2 after school and find out the whereabouts of location #3. I hope I make the guest list.

In addition, Stars released an album out of the blue today. It's just demos of their fabulous album "In Our Bedroom After the War", but it's still a fun listen. I always like to hear different versions of songs I love, and this is one of my favourite Stars albums. Plus there are two tracks on the demo that didn't make the studio album (I guess), so there's some new music on that album.

Wish me luck as I continue my hunt tomorrow!

p.s. Just in case you don't know Stars, here's a sample from the original "In Our Bedroom After The War" album.

She told me she loved me like fireworks. And that's the way I like it.

It's been a busy weekend overall. And that's the way I like it.*

Friday night was prom night. I wasn't planning on going until a couple of weeks ago when I was having lunch with Fea and R (gym teacher friend) and R was talking about prom and then looked at us and said "You're going.... right?"

Both Fea and I looked confused and replied "No. Are we supposed to be going?"

R responded "Of course! We went last year! It's an annual thing. I bought my ticket. You guys had better be there so I have good people to sit with!" R is extremely fit and scary so we realized we'd better figure how to get to prom.

So, I managed to grovel to the prom organizer, and apologize for missing the staff deadline for prom tickets by a month and got me and Fea tickets. Funny side note: many of our staff thinks *I* was in charge of prom. If I had $35 for how many people tried to buy prom tickets from me, I'd have at least $175.

Anyway, so we carpooled together and R was in charge of getting us a table with a few of our other friends. However, there weren't enough of us to fill a table so I ended up with the luck of sitting beside someone who I wouldn't necessarily choose as a dinner companion. (Claire - think opposite of Raimundo.) It provided Fea and R with a lot of laughs at my expense though.

Luckily prom is not just dinner and overall it was fun seeing all the kids dressed up and having a good time. They're always so sweet at prom and it warms my heart a lot.

I had a hard time getting motivated on Saturday. In fact I didn't do a whole lot of anything until Jason came over and we went out for beer and hamburgers at my neighbourhood brewery (my 'hood's got everything!). We had plans to maybe go see a movie after that, but decided to come back here and watch the hockey game instead. I fell asleep when it was 2-1 for Boston; however, I was pleased to wake up and find out that Vancouver pulled it through somehow.

I think I fell asleep yet again after that, until Jason woke me up and told me to go to bed. Then I gave some words of wisdom: "You only get once chance to go to sleep." However, I had no recollection of saying that until Jason told me about it today. I killed myself laughing; I don't sleep-talk much, but I will do it every once in awhile.

Today I had to wake up early-ish and buy a baby shower gift (little red baby Chucks and the book Grumpy Bird) and pick up a Zipcar to drive out to Whitby for my friend Flora's baby shower. (Yes, that's my second baby shower in as many weeks.) Her wedding shower was seriously like exactly a year ago, so it felt like huge deja vu making the trip yet again. I'm a bit sad that Becca T has been in France for all of these Flora events. I don't really know any of Flora's other friends well, so it sucks not having Becca T there to talk to. However, one person showed who I knew enough to chat to, and she sat beside me, so at least I had someone to make sarcastic comments to during the cheesy games.

After I got back to Toronto safe and sound after highway driving (I'm not a fan), I met up with Mathew for sushi and gelato and grocery shopping. Finally we got to see each other after a bunch of mishaps and cancellations. It was good catching up.

And with that, I have to get ready for another week of school. I have two more weeks of regular classes, one week of exams, and then a week of year end stuff, and then that's that. I love home stretches.

*I've been listening to Ben Lee's oldie-but-goodie album "Awake is the New Sleep" quite a bit lately because it always puts me a good mood. This is one of my face cheer-up songs from that album.

p.s. I just thought of something exciting - I don't think there are any events this week that I have to stay late after work for! WOW! I can't remember when this happened last! Of course, I'll stay late to catch up on marking and prep and stuff, but seriously having no after school extra-curriculars sounds impossible!

What if I can't see the stars Mildred?

I had a busy day. So busy that I completely forgot to eat my lunch. During last period, when the kids were dissecting perch no less, I realized that I'd forgotten to eat. Luckily, the smell of formaldehyde chases away hunger, so I didn't feel the need to eat.

After school, I went with Fea for a marking/gossip session at our usual coffee shop. It was productive: I got two sets of assignments marked which isn't bad. Heck, I feel like I could have the marking pile almost decimated by the end of this week. (Only to have it replenished by next week, of course.)

After that, I still had a lot of energy left, so I went to the gym. Based on my energy level today, I think I'm almost back to normal after that nasty cold that I had.

So now I'm at home and I ate my lunch, and now I'm having a nice chilled glass of rosé wine while I am blogging.

I'm listening to the new Matthew Good album "Lights of Endangered Species". It came out yesterday, along with the new Death Cab for Cutie album "Codes and Keys". I have not yet listened to the DCFC, because I'm waiting until I completely absorb the new MG first. I really like the new MG, and I feel like it needs lots of listens for me to figure it out.

It's absolutely insane that it's June already. I can feel everything in my entire being getting ready for a vacation. I'm tired, some of the kids are getting antsy (especially because it's been so hot the last couple of days and our school mostly is not air conditioned; and the AC is not working in the parts that have it, so it doesn't really matter).

I need some this summer to figure some stuff out. I've been feeling a bit negative lately. It's weird, because I'm usually an optimistic and positive person, but a lot of bitterness has been churning inside me. I hope that I can use this summer to get back to my old self. I think it will help having so much time to visit with friends, exercise, pamper myself, travel, and reflect on the positive in my life.

Just 29 more days, my friends.

I'm made of atoms, you're made of atoms, and we're all in this together.

I had a good St. Ratford weekend.

I arrived in good time on Friday evening (no train delays hurrah!) and hung out with my parents. I needed to run some errands at Shopper's, so I made a run there and splurged on some books. I got a fast read for myself - "The Girl's Guide to Homelessness" by Brianna Karp, and a book for my dad - "Life" by Keith Richards. Buying my dad a book at the beginning of a visit was a bad idea; I kept making fun of him for always having his nose stuck in it and joked "well, this was worth the train ride!" whenever he was ignoring me for Keith.

I slept in on Saturday morning and waited for my friend Teresa (Go9) to pick me up to go to Sandee's (Go9) baby shower. At one point, my mom saw a car parked on the road outside my house and told me that my ride was here. I thought it was strange that it was a car; I was pretty sure that Teresa was driving a van these days. However, I could see a carseat in the back so I thought maybe it was her. I couldn't made out the driver. Anyway, I got really close to the car before I realized it was not her. The driver was so absorbed on whatever was on her Blackberry that she didn't notice a complete stranger almost opened the door and got into her car...

A few minutes later Teresa arrived in her van (I was right). Since she was driving, I was in charge of directions. I had it all mapped out on my phone, and told Teresa what direction to take. "Don't you take highway 19?" Teresa asked. "Ummm, I think that's what her aunt said, but the phone says to take this street. However, there's a lot of turning in these directions, so maybe it works out the same?"

Anyway, so we took highway 19 and drove for awhile. We were chatting and catching up so we weren't really paying attention to where we were going. I asked Teresa if she'd ever been to Ingersoll, and she said "yah, for a drama festival in high school once." I think this made me pay less attention to the fact we were going in the complete opposite direction of where we were supposed to be going.

I'm not sure when we figured it out, but it turned out that Teresa was calling the town Listowel, "Ingersoll", so we were going the right direction in her mind, but not in reality. Now, someone could have been paying attention to the GPS on her phone, but she was too busy chatting.

So, we ended up having to turn around and backtrack completely. However, the extra part of the trip gave us time to reminisce about other times we'd gotten lost together. Moral of the story though - always trust the phone.

We made it to the shower late, but it was really nice to have time to visit with Sandee and her husband Jason, both of whom I hadn't seen in forever. And their little baby girl is super cute too! I had a good time, and before we knew it, Teresa and I were back in the car, but we made it back to St. Ratford with no major detours.

The rest of Saturday was pretty lazy. I spent a lot of time reading my book. In fact, I stayed up quite late finishing it. It was an all right read, but I liked the fact that it was based up on the story of a blogger, and I like reading stuff about bloggers, obviously. It was a pretty fast read, which was what I needed. I haven't finished a book in a long time.

I also stayed up late watching the movie "The Machinist" with my mom. It's the one that Christian Bale lost all that weight for. It was okay; it's one of those twisted mystery type movies that leaves you saying "WTF" a lot, but at least it made sense in the end.

On Sunday, I went to the gym and also hit the pitiful Stratford mall for some shopping. Prom is this Friday, and I felt like I needed a new dressy outfit, instead of recycling something I'd worn before. Luckily, the mall had a Le Chateau, which I find is pretty good option for nice clothes. I got a pretty new black skirt (with a white and red design) and red top, and also a new pair of open-toe black wedges. I will definitely need to get a pedicure (red!) before prom, that's for sure.

The rest of the evening I spent chilling with my 'rents and then it was time to catch the late train. It was nice be able to spend my whole weekend, more or less, in Stratford, but the late train kills me. It is supposed to leave Stratford at 9 pm, and get to Toronto at about 11 pm. However, last night it got to Stratford more than half an hour late, and kept losing time along the way. I didn't get back home 'til 12:30 pm which made for a rough morning today.

All in all I had a good weekend though. I was happy to get a lot of rest. I'm still not 100% after that blasted cold I got last weekend, but I'm getting close to it. Also, it was nice spending a lot of time with my family, and getting to see some friends too. And, it was great actually reading a whole book in a weekend. That's such a treat.

Oh! And there are some changes in Stratford: my usual wifi coffee shop, which was a huge hangout for me and friends in our late teens and early twenties, has closed! I'm shocked. It seemed to always be busy! I feel it's a bit of history gone down.

Also, Stratford has been resisting getting a Walmart for years and years and years, but it seems like one is going to go in, but it will be a smaller one. Sigh. I liked being from a Walmart-less town.

This week's going to be a busy one for me, but I am committed to some pampering. As I said, it's prom on Friday and I must get my hair cut and my nails done before that! Now that I have a new outfit and shoes, I must complete the look.

Hope you all have great weeks!

Wind at my side; songs that I want to sing.

Wow, this has been a long week for a short week. I'm sure you know what I mean.

This weekend I'm headed off to Stratford for a belated Mother's Day/birthday celebration with my mom. Mother's Day this year was too ridiculously close to Easter to go home. The next weekend was my mom's birthday but I had my run so I couldn't visit. Then I accidentally booked my Billy Elliott tickets on the long weekend so I couldn't go home then. I prefer heading home on long weekends, but since I made that booking error, I will pay for that mistake with the late Sunday night train back to Toronto followed by a school day.

Anyway, my mom's super cool with the delayed celebration. I mean, it's not like I ignored her. Flowers were sent and phone-calls were made. And I've got her a good present to boot and I'll buy her whatever she wants for dinner this weekend.

In addition, I'll be able to make my friend Sandee's baby shower on Saturday, so that's a bonus. I'll get to meet her baby too.

And hopefully I'll get some relaxing time in too.

We're down to three teaching weeks of school now. The month of June is insanely busy but the end is in sight.

I'm also finding it hard to find time to see some friends. For example, I've barely seen or talked to my dear friend Mathew since I've been back from Barcelona. We were supposed to go out last week, but our plans were for the same day that I had to call in sick, so they were postponed 'til today, but then his basement started to leak so he had to cancel. Hopefully our third try (next Sunday?) will be the charm.

Hopefully this summer will give me the chance to reconnect with people and myself.

Happy weekend!

I'm on the edge.

To add injury to insult, I had a dentist appointment today. I'm on the mend, but I'm still sniffly and sick-sounding and all around pathetic. Anyway, I had to get a filling done, and it was a particularly nasty one, so I had to get a double-dose of freezing done so it wouldn't hurt quite so much. (Note: DO NOT procrastinate going to the dentist for years at a time. You will pay. If you are in that situation, take care of it ASAP or else you could turn into a creature similar to that I will continue to describe in this post.)

Anyway, I left the dentist's office with a "no more fillings!" hurrah and a half frozen mouth. The trickiest thing I find about a half frozen mouth is the temptation to chew mindlessly on your tongue/inner cheek. In fact, it can be quite satisfying. However, I discovered that you should not under any circumstances give into that temptation the first time I ever had my mouth frozen as a kid. I chewed at it, and I was in lots of pain later. (Has anyone else ever done this?)

So yah, I'm walking to the grocery store with a stuffy/runny nose, and concentrating as hard as possible on not accidentally or purposefully chewing on my half-frozen mouth. I had to be careful not to walk into people or traffic too. I also realized that it could be really easy to accidentally drool out the side of my mouth as well, so there was added focus to that problem as well.

When I'm checking out at the grocery store, the clerk asked me if I needed a bag. At this point, I realize that I can't talk very well. I actually had already placed my reusable bag by my groceries, so I'm frantically gesturing towards that, because she doesn't seem to understand the polite "I brought my own bag" that I'm trying to say through my frozen mouth. She gets the idea, and I sneeze loudly. Awesome. Then she asks me how I'm going to pay, and when she doesn't understand how I say "debit" (maybe I sounded like I was trying to ribbit?), I yet again have to wave my card in her face while fighting back a sneeze attack. I want to explain that I've just come from the dentist, but seeing that she couldn't understand my other simple communication attempts, I realized it was futile.

Moral of the story: run errands before you get your mouth frozen. However, being that yesterday was a holiday and everything was closed, and I stayed close to my bed all weekend, it was tough.

Anyway, my mouth is now unfrozen, and I'm slightly less stuffy, I think?

All right, now I have a confession to make: I may have accidentally on purpose acquired the new Lady GaGa album. Yah, see, I like cheesy to music to listen to at the gym, and I figured that her new album would fit the bill.

I like it. Eeep. I wish I was healthy enough to actually take it to the gym (soon, I should be well enough to exercise by Thursday). However, it made for good listening during my earlier walk of monumental focus as described above.

Even worse, the song I like best is Yoü and I. Yes, I even like it despite its unnecessary umlaut. And I like it despite the fact that it was produced by Shania Twain's ex-husband, who I'm not a fan of, since I'm fan of Shania's autobiography. Anyway, I'm feeling a bit of conflict over this enjoyment, but life is suprising, right?

Right.

Hopefully my next post will less monstrous.

Breathe, just breathe.

After feeling super yucky on Tuesday night, and taking Wednesday off of work as a result. I was feeling pretty fine on Thursday. I had the energy to go to the gym after work and then head to the school play after that. I got home late, blogged, and then went to bed, and then I noticed my throat was itchy. Then it got sore. Then very uncomfortable. Oh, crap.

I felt yucky on Friday but made it through the day, made it home, and then slept 'til I had to go back to school to help sell concessions at the play. All the concessions kids were like: "Miss, you sound really sick." It was yucky.

On Saturday, I pulled myself out of my sickbed to go see Billy Elliott, which I've had tickets for for a long time. It was really great. I even managed to go for lunch first.

I can't remember what happened on the rest of Saturday or Sunday for that matter. There was sleeping, that's for sure. I think I watched some stuff on TV, but I can't really remember what.

Today, I felt a bit better and had lunch plans with my friend Elaine and decided to go instead of cancelling. It was fun.

Anyway, I feel that this long weekend was almost a complete washout for me. I didn't get very many of the chores nor schoolwork that I wanted to get done either. Sigh. Oh well, they will still be there when I'm better, right?

Right. Happy back to work everyone.

p.s. I've been feeling a little bit like Eeyore lately; all complainy and the like. I think I'll have to do some positive blogging to make myself feel better and soon.

I think this is it. It's a hit.

I'm tired but pretty happy.

My grade tens, who are my favourite class this semester, were concerned that I was away. It was really sweet. I love those guys. I wore my new outfit to work today. I got compliments from many people on my new red sweater. A former student said "oh Miss, you look so pretty in red." Maybe I should wear it more often.

I saw a lot of former students tonight because it was the school play. This was the performance I chose to watch. My great friend Fea puts so much work into the play and it freakin' amazes me every year. I try to help as much as I can, but since I do a lot of other stuff around the school, she usually just gives me an easy job like concessions.

She completely outdid herself this year. I think it was definitely my favourite of all her plays. It was a twisted version of a bunch of fairy tales, and was simply hilarious. It was a perfect choice for the student body. I loved seeing all of the kids up there; so many of them I've taught or worked with on various extracurriculars. It's so nice to see them shine and I always get a little bit emotional on play night.

There are some days that I get a little bit frustrated at work, and I can even feel a little bit burnt out too. However, days like the school play alleviate that and remind me why I'm a teacher. Even though the play's not my project, it reminds me of how lucky I am to be in a nice little community such as my school.

But I'm still happy that it's a long weekend.

Well you can be so kind sometimes. And you can be unkind sometimes.

I didn't get to wear my new work outfit today.

I start feeling very poorly and uncomfy last night, and couldn't sleep as result. (I think poor Jason thought he might have given me food poisoning, but it was something completely unrelated. Dinner was very tasty and it was so good to have leftovers around so I didn't have to worry about food today!) Past midnight, I realized that I should go see a doctor. I sat there thinking "hmm, I could go in and teach my morning classes, see if I can get an appt in the afternoon and leave early, or just go to a walk-in clinic after school." Then thankfully, a voice of reason appeared in my head and told me that it would make way more logical sense to call in sick and take care of myself. What good would I do attempting to teach after a sleepless night?

I spent the hours between 1 am and 2 am creating and e-mailing in some lesson plans, postponing evening social plans, and such. I think I got a little bit of sleep in between 3 am and 4 am and for a bit of the morning. As soon as 9 am hit, I called my doctor to see if I could get an appointment, but she was unavailable until Friday, so I decided to go to the walk-in clinic down the street from me. I was pretty lucky and didn't have to wait for hours. I got a prescription for my malady, and spent my afternoon sleeping.

I feel much better this evening and expect a good night's sleep. I am glad that I took care of myself instead of worrying about work and trying to do too much at once. I always feel so guilty about calling in sick, but seriously, my health comes first. I've dragged myself in sick before only to make myself more sick, so I'm glad I was more proactive this time.

Anyway, new work outfit will get worn tomorrow. And, it'll get a long day since I gotta be in very early to write a test since I don't feel like doing so tonight.

p.s. Sitting in a chair while reading and waiting to see a doctor at the clinic reminded me of the good old days of jury duty. Thankfully it was only a 1.5 hour wait as opposed to a whole day's wait like jury duty was.

p.p.s I love this new Sloan song "Unkind". I dedicate it to my body for getting sick, and to the weather for being crappy. There was a bit of sunshine this afternoon, but now it's violently pouring rain out.

The Needle Has Landed.

I am so tired of this rainy wet cold dreary drab yucky spring. I've never felt myself so (dis)affected by the weather as I have this year.

After a super busy day at school, I stopped by the little mall near my house to get a bottle of wine for dinner tonight. I thought that I should get a local wine to be environmentally friendly, but I am craving travel, and when one is stuck working, why not get an exotic wine? I was going to get a French wine (of course), but then saw a bottle of Wolf Blass Shiraz on sale, and remembered that I'd visited that winery in Adelaide, Australia way back in the summer of 2005. Wow, that was a long time ago. Here are some pictures. Looking through that file of pictures makes me feel like I was a completely different person back then.

After I bought the wine, I saw a red short-sleeved cardigan in the window of Smart Set. I decided to go in and look for it and found it on sale and also scored a new black pair of dress pants on sale and a white tank top to go underneath. New outfit for tomorrow for the win.

As I was walking home in the rain, I had my iPod on shuffle. I kept flipping through the tracks because nothing fit my mood until "The Needle Has Landed" by Neko Case came on. Even though that song is a little sad, it totally made me feel really good. I like Neko Case a lot.

Oh, now Jason's here to cook me dinner and help me drink my wine. I'll leave you with a picture of the Sydney Opera House since I was going through my Australia pictures. I didn't notice the guys who photobombed my shot in the thumbnail. Yeesh. I think my photo-taking skills have gotten better since 2005.

p.s. Check out that blue sky!!! I could go for some of that!

(Hey!) No cars go.

Despite the rain and the cold temperatures (it's apparently May, you know), my 5K run went quite well. It was really fun! I loved running around Queen's Park, then down University Ave to King St. and back up to the finish line at Queen's Park. I enjoyed being able to ignore traffic lights, and I chuckled a bit to myself to see traffic stuck on cross streets. I think it's kind of funny, because usually the motorized vehicle is king of the street, but it's nice when the streets are taken over by pedestrians.

I also enjoyed the community spirit of the whole thing. It was fun to have people cheering you on as you went by, and I really enjoyed the guy handing out Gatorade at the 3K mark. He was like "You can do it Christy! Only 2K left!" (My name was on my bib.) At that point I thought there was much more left, so that was welcome news.

My time was comparable to my training times on the treadmill at the gym, which was good news. I thought the outdoors, the cold, and the rain would make me slower. When I got home, I promptly signed myself up for the Scotiabank Waterfront 5K in October. I think with about 5 more months training, I'll be able to improve on my time. I'm already looking forward to it!

Anyway, so I've been lazing around at home for the rest of the day. I watched "Vicky Cristina Barcelona" this afternoon. I have to admit that I kept dozing off during it, but I liked the Barcelona part of the movie. The scenery brought back great memories. However, I thought the movie's story was rather meh; I didn't care about nor like the characters, so whatever. I don't think I like Woody Allen movies.

This week at work is going to be INSANELY busy. I look forward to its end already. Happy Monday everyone, and thanks for all of your encouragement and kind words on my pre-run post.

I'm ready so don't stop.

With the recent Blogger shutdown and life's typical insanities, I've not been able to blog in a few days. It's been my longest hiatus for eons. Anyway, a quiet Saturday night doing laundry gives me a chance to catch up on blogging.

On Thursday night I was summoned to a friend's house for emergency wine. I like when helping my friends involves me drinking red wine. Win win!

On Friday night, Jason and I went out to dinner to my favourite neighbourhood Mexican restaurant where I ate my usual dish of taquitos and got a little bit drunk on sangria. Then, we went to see Bridesmaids which is a *great* movie. Seriously, go see it, all of you. I laughed so hard during the movie. It's such a great movie about friendship, and even though it's about female friendship, guys will enjoy it too. It's kind of silly that male buddy movies are supposed to appeal to everyone, but oh, if a movie is about female friendship, then it must be a chick flick, right? Well, I hope that Bridesmaids breaks down that barrier. In "Bossypants" Tina Fey writes a lot about how female comedic actresses face a lot of sexism - i.e. it's assumed that a sketch/show/movie with too many women in it won't be very funny. Anyway, I think Bridesmaids proves Tina Fey's point that women can carry comedy just as well as men. Also, there was one part especially that made me think of my pal Claire. Claire - you gotta see this movie!

Tomorrow is a rather exciting day for me - I'm actually signed up to run the 5K portion of the Toronto marathon. I've been doing a lot of running (albeit on a treadmill) since January, and I've definitely improved my speed, stamina, etc., but tomorrow's 5K could be more of a run/walk (but with more running). I find running outside way harder than running on my comfy treadmill at the gym with a TV in front and no wind, so my outside time will be slower than my indoor time. I wanted to practice more outdoors than I did, but this year's spring weather was so crappy, that I was so much happier on the treadmill.

Speaking of crappy weather, tomorrow's weather looks yucky, so I hope to still enjoy the experience. I'm really looking forward to being able to run on streets that are closed off to traffic. It's a nice part of Toronto where my run will happen, so I'm looking forward to the scenery.

I'm proud that I'm at least trying this 5K (there is a part of me that kind of still doesn't even want to do it). I've always been super un-athletic. I found gym class quite traumatizing as a child/teenager. I was always picked last, got hit by baseballs, missed catches, came in last in races, tripped over hockey sticks, missed baskets, and so on and so forth. All this lead to me being so self-conscious about anything athletic. After all, there was nothing else that I failed at. I don't think it helped that my schools' attitudes to phys ed were archaic: the teachers weren't particularly inspirational, the classes were co-ed, and they allowed kids to pick teams. Luckily, I can see that the phys ed teachers at my school are pretty awesome (they are my friends after all), and the class aren't co-ed, so I like to think gym class wouldn't have been as hellish if I'd been in my school.

However, I'm at the point in my life where I realize fitness is important and I've been doing my best over the past few years to get over my self-consciousness. I've been on a dragonboat team, done yoga, got a personal trainer for a bit, tried to go to the gym as much as I can (this year's been good; last year sucked), bought a bike, and now I'm trying my best at running (although I gave running a good run back in 2007; I'd run all the time in the cemetery).

Anyway, I'm thinking that this will be my first go at a 5K and I'll do another in the fall to see improvement.

All right, I need to get my sleep now. This will be hard 'cuz I'd really rather be watching SNL!

I don't need you and brand new Benz or your bougie friends.

Today was one of those days where my nerves seemed to be a little frayed. Nothing especially bad happened today, but it was one of those days where I went home feeling yucky and overwhelmed.

Off-topic rant - Pencil quality these days SUCKS! Seriously. I have to buy a lot of pencils in my game, and all brands eff-ing suck. They will not sharpen, even with a good quality electric sharpener, and it's seriously going to be the death of me. Those pencil companies are scamming us all, and something's gotta be done. I don't want big pencil to win this game. This lack of quality product is unacceptable.

Despite my yucky mood, I did pick up Sloan's new album (!!) and found some YouTube gold that made me happy.

1) Ben Folds' cover of Kesha's Sleazy.

2) Pomplamoose's cover of the Angry Birds theme.

In summary - YouTube = yay! Poor quality pencils = boo!

p.s. This is post #900 on this blog.

The coffee could use more cream.

This weekend was pretty low-key but a really good type of low-key, and I daresay I needed it. This past week at work seemed pretty long.

On Friday night, I met up with a former colleague, but for-always friend, for dinner. At some point this year I resolved to make more time for friends who I don't see very often, and I would give myself a C+ on this resolution. (C+ means I'm very close to be satisfactory, but need to work a little bit harder.) Anyway, dinner was lots of fun, and catching up is always good for the soul.

On Saturday morning, Jason and I were on a mission: we were going to get weekend passes to this year's Hillside Music Festival in Guelph. It's a three-day indie/folk music festival at a conservation area. There is one place to buy passes in Toronto: Soundscapes on College St at 10:00 am. There are also passes online, but apparently they sell out really fast so the online option is a gamble. Anyway, Jason got there at 7:30 am, and was kind enough to let me sleep for another hour (I got there at 8:30 am). The line was pretty long. Here'a picture of what was ahead of us (photography credit goes to Jason). The store itself is around the corner and one door over from the BMO.

Apparently the people who were first in line had been there since 1:30 am! Crazy. It was a nice morning for sitting outside though. I brought Starbucks on my way over, and even managed to get some reading done. We got our passes thankfully. According to the dude who counted everyone in line, we got passes 204 and 205 out of a total of 250 available. The only negative part of the endeavour was the people behind us in line were really really annoying. They provided a lot of stupid inane conversation. I hope we don't see them again at the festival.

I'm looking forward to seeing Dan Mangan, Memphis, Hannah Georgas, Kevin Drew & The Beauties, Old Man Luedecke, and Serena Ryder & The Beauties the most, but I'm sure I'll discover some new artists during the festival. In fact, just looking at the list, I like the name Common Grackle, so maybe I should check out that band.

After we got our passes, we walked down College and went for a nice brunch and spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around Kensington Markert and down to Queen West. I got excited because I found a health food store in Kensington that sells my favourite flavour of baked potato chips that I thought were only available in the US. Score.

Today we spent the day wandering around my 'hood. We went for sushi followed by my first post-Lent gelato (I gave up all ice cream). In fact, I'm pretty sure it was my first gelato of 2011 at my favourite neighbourhood gelato place. I got coconut and chocolate/orange as my flavours. They had all of my favourites so it was a pretty tough decision. Here's a picture of part of the selection (again, courtesy of Jason... I have the same instagram app, but I'm often too lazy to take pictures. I really should do so more often.)

I've done a lot of reading this Sunday. After I published my last blog post, I noticed that the Shania Twain biography was on sale at Indigo, so I splurged. It's been a really good read so far. Man, she had a pretty tough life. Wigsf - if you think she just married a producer and got famous, her story is WAY more than that. She's not famous 'cuz she had money and got her voice auto-tuned like some Kardashian or whatever. I'd recommend the book to those of you who expressed interest on my last post.

In fact, I am going to continue ignoring my housework and schoolwork and keep on reading it this evening.

Hope you all have really nice weeks! Don't forget that Tuesday is Double Cross day! (Yes, I'm totally treating the day that I will buy the new Sloan album as a holiday of sorts because it's more fun that way.)

The Answer Was You.

Luckily today was a really lovely day to chase away the post-election blues. It was sunny, and I bought some new laceless black Chucks to wear as my lazy slip-on shoes this summer. They'll be good for biking.

Time for a random post.

1) Sloan's new album, The Double Cross, is coming out in about a week. I am excited for it. My plan is to actually walk to Soundscapes after work to buy a physical copy of the album. Today I got tickets for their June 22nd show at the Mod Club. The new album is streaming here for the next week. I've been cheating and listening to it. I LOVE the second song "The Answer Was You". It's a Jay song. Jay songs are my favourite.

2) I have no attention span for staying with a book these days. I've been starting them, but abandoning them. I feel that my attention span for anything is at an all-time low. However, I'm intrigued to read the Shania Twain autobiography of all things. It's been all over the TV at the gym, and it sounds like it could be a good story, and probably doesn't take much of an attention span to get through.

3) Today I dug out an old notebook which contained the following:

a) A list of all the books I read in the year 2006. I read 35 books that year. I am so not on that pace with my gnat-like attention span.

b) Directions to the houses of two friends. Neither friend lives at that location any longer.

c) A made-up math problem that I solved. Some people doodle. I make up math problems. Sigh.

4) I rarely really want to see a movie, but I really want to see the movie "Bridesmaids". It looks funny.

5) I don't have any set travel plans for the summer yet. This is not like me.

6) Last week, I gave my biology class a quiz on the nervous and endocrine systems. Two kids walked in late, so I handed them their quizzes. Fifteen minutes passed. I notice one kid holding up his paper, and on the back was a page of lens diagrams. I had mistakenly given the late-comers my grade 10 quiz on lenses. They sat there for fifteen minutes with the wrong quiz and puzzled through it and did not say a thing. I started to laugh, as did the rest of the class, for a good five minutes. I marked what they had completed of the wrong quiz. I added whatever they got right, by sheer dumb luck, on the wrong quiz to their proper quiz to make-up for the emotional distress that they had caused themselves for being late.

But seriously, why is it that teenagers will question everything, until something actually comes along that they should question?

7) Jay has come up with another winning song in "Green Gardens, Cold Montreal". It's beautiful. (I'm streaming The Double Cross as I write this.)

8) I've been going to bed really early lately. For me, that means before midnight. I think my age is catching up to me and I don't like it.

9) I'm pretty psyched that it's almost the weekend.

Happy Thursday folks!

Kent Brockman was right.

He's said it before, and he'll say it again: democracy simply doesn't work.

Seriously, Canada, seriously?? We used to be the cool kids. Now we're going to be the dinosaurs who don't do anything about climate change, and I fear what's going to happen to our healthcare system.

And now we're stuck in this mess for four to five years.

I need a strong drink.