Leaving early.

Really the biggest thing I need to improve is my work-life balance.  I can honestly say I love my job, it's fun, it's fulfilling, and gives me a lot of purpose.  In a lot of ways, I feel ridiculous to be paid to do something so rewarding and so fun.

But it is a lot of work.

I can see how you could be a crappy teacher and get by.  Boring textbook lessons every day.  Don't change things up or be creative.  And you could leave at the bell!

But I would hate that.  I'm always changing things up, experimenting with new labs, inventing new games, and scouring the internet for interesting videos and funny science cartoons. And as a result my classes fly by and we all have fun.  Case in point today, I had a room full of teenaged boys with words taped to their foreheads walking around and playing a version of the game "Headbands" to review for their exam. And they were having a great time and completely into it. 

Anyway, the more I keep planning and innovating (the stuff I like), the farther behind I get in the drudge work of marking, photocopying, cleaning up my lab, and other things I hate.  And then I feel stressed and ugh, and it's an awful cycle.  I often stay at school way too late trying to get caught up but I'm not even that productive because I distract myself either by planning something new, or get caught up chit-chatting in the staff room.  

This year I'm trying to leave school early more often and it's great!  I leave, go to the gym or run errands and come home refreshed enough to maybe to a little bit of school catch-up.  I must keep doing this.

Yesterday, I left early to go on a three-hour expedition to get supplies for a long-term lab for my grade 12 biology students (they have to take another semester of bio but with another teacher).  It was still work-related, but being out of the building was so much better and I had fun because a friend was kind enough to join me.

I need to get out of there early more often.  I must continue this into next semester despite the spectre of another new course to teach for the third semester in a row.  I'm no longer using "I'm teaching a new course" to allow the rest of my life to fall apart.

January... so far, so good.

Off season woes.

I was a pretty big baseball fan when I was a kid.  I would read my dad's baseball magazines religiously and was quite happy to go on a family vacation to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.  I had my baseball card collection and my MLB Panini* sticker books.  I used to ride my bike with the boys in my neighbourhood to the convenience store to buy sticker packs and trade.  I remember oh-so-clearly tearing my Mark McGwire sticker out of my book to give to my then-BFF Karl because that was the only sticker he was missing from his "Rookies of 1986".  I always regretted doing that, but then after all of the steroid scandals, I'm glad that sticker is no longer in my possession.

My baseball obsession peaked in 1992/1993 when the Blue Jays won back-to-back World Series.  Those were good days, hey?  In 1992, my dad took me to my first baseball game at the Skydome. I even named a cat after Joe Carter, who hit the home run that won the 1993 WS.

As I got older, and the Jays weren't as great, my basbeball obsession diminished.  When I moved to Toronto, I'd go to the occasional game, but more as a social occasion.  It was fun to reminisce about the old days, and remember all of my favourite Jays from the glory days (Fred McGriff, anyone?).  But I didn't follow baseball at all.

Fast forward to the end of 2013.  My friend Mathew had recently rekindled his own love of baseball, and asked me if I want to join him on flex passes.  15 games for $120.  Why not?  Even if I missed games, it was a great deal!  And baseball games are fun, right?

Well, by the end of the 2014 season I was pretty much watching every game that I could on TV.  Even though the Jays weren't in contention that year, my early-90s super-fandom came flooding back.  And then, well, you know what happened in 2015.  It was a (bat) flippin' amazing season!  Playoff baseball games!  Woo-hoo!

And that brings us to now.   The long boring off-season.  Do you know what I'd give to be watching a game right now?  Baseball has the most insanely long season of 162 games but somehow that's not enough for me.  I almost need to start following all of the international leagues or something.

On Tuesday, my pal Mathew and I are doing something that cements us as die hards.  We are going to an event called Pitch Talks, which is a series where we listen to people talk about baseball.  Yes, it's come to this.  The event is advertised for "real baseball fans" and I'm pretty sure I qualify.

Tonight Mathew just messaged me "what are you going to wear to Pitch Talks.  I think I'm going to wear my playoff hoodie."  I started laughing so hard.  This is what the off season has brought us to.  Until then, we've got 29 days until pitchers and catchers report to spring training.

*Wow!  The 80s were great!  I like to remember the days when "Panini" didn't refer to a sandwich, but to those sticker collections that you could spend all of your allowance money on.

Pirate Cat

When I got home on Thursday, Rilo greeted me at the door with her left eye closed. It was weird.  All evening, she wouldn't open her left eye and it was rather runny.  I consulted the Internet about what it could mean when your cat was closing one eye, and after becoming freaked out with stories of cats having their eyes fall out of the socket, I figured that she probably just got something in it, and if it didn't look better the next day, I'd make a vet appointment.

Even though she looked like a pirate with one eye shut, she was her old spirited bossy self, so at least I knew that she wasn't in pain.

On Friday, I got home from school to a quite pathetic looking cat.  Her pirate eye was half open and very runny.  It was 6 pm, so I called the vet's office right away to make a Saturday appointment before they closed for the evening.  I described her condition, and they fit me in for an afternoon appointment.

As Friday night progressed, her eye got better.  In fact, her eye was back to normal by the time I had to cart her off to the vet on Saturday.  However, no harm in getting her checked out.  It's been a while since she was at the vet anyhow.

Getting Rilo into her cage is quite the ordeal.  There's nothing she hates more.  I got her carrier out on Friday, and as soon as she saw it, she promptly hid.  After about 20 minutes, she figured the coast was clear.

On Saturday, even before I got ready to go myself, I seized the opportunity to pack her up.  She was snoozing on the couch, and I scooped her up and got her locked up in the cage before she knew what was happening.  As I was getting myself ready, I was treated to a cacophony of furious meows and the sound of claws trying to scrape through plastic.

The vet's office is about a seven-minute walk from my place.  As I was walking, many people expressed "poor kitty" at my pissed-off meowing caged pet.  When we got to the vet's office, we had to wait for awhile, and a couple of dogs walked up to her cage to check her out.  I was afraid she'd get scared, since I don't think she's seen a dog up close before, but she was too angry to care.  I think she just saw the dogs as someone else she could express her outrage too.

Once we were into the examining room, and she was out of the cage, she was fine.  The vet was impressed how chill she was.  I explained the eye problem to him, and he said it was most likely a flare-up of cat herpes that she probably caught back when she was at the Humane Society.  Like the herpes simplex virus in humans, it can lay dormant for long periods of time.  In cats, an outbreak of the virus can result in upper respiratory infections and ocular discharge.  These outbreaks are often caused by stress, but it doesn't seem like anything has changed to stress Rilo out on Thursday.  Who knows, maybe I didn't wake up early enough to give her treats.

Anyway, it was good to get her checked out.  The vet said she was in excellent health for an approximately eleven-year old cat.  (I don't know her exact age because it was estimated she was about 3 - 5 when I adopted her.)  Her only problem is that she's got some tartar build-up on her teeth.  The vet said that she could use a cleaning, and then he printed up an estimate for me, which would run around $1000, so ummm, I think she's gonna live with dirty teeth.

So now at least I know that if Rilo busts out the pirate eye again that it's just her herpes acting up.  Nice souvenir, there Humane Society.

Emo Reading

I had a rather emotional day on Friday.  It was no big deal, and nothing negative, other than I had some feelings to deal with.

As a result, I was in no head space to deal with reality this weekend, so I lost myself in books.

I did, however, manage to get my hair cut AND plan an event for my birthday.  It's a cross-stitching class held at a local brewery!  Crafts + beer sounds great!  I bought the last four remaining tickets for myself and 3 friends.  I can't wait!

Things I'm Into:

1) Wool socks from Simons in Montreal.

2) Grimes' album "Artangels"

3) Making A Murderer.  Especially Dean Strang.  I binged the series in two days.  Now I just keep up on news and the reddit. (My heart broke for Brendan Dassey so much.)

4) Toque weather but not what it does to my hair.

5) Jenny Lawson's Fuirously Happy.

6) Rilo no longer waking me up at 5:30 am for treats.  She's gotten chill.

7) Short lists.

Holiday Wrap-Up

Where did those two weeks go?  Seriously, how it can be 11:39 pm on the Sunday night before I have to go back to work is beyond me.

I had a really nice time in Montreal.  It snowed the whole time, but I was prepared with my Hunter boots & warm liners (I can just walk through all slushy puddles), my sparkly warm toque, mittens and warm winter coat.  A snowy winter vacation is fun as long as you are prepared for the weather!

Places that we visited:

• St Hubert's - The Quebec version of Swiss Chalet!  Their sauce is better, I think.

• Simon's - I love going to this department store whenever I go to Montreal.  I think there might be one in Mississauga now, but I haven't gone there.  I got lots of neat things: a new cardigan sweater, a fuzzy owl blanket (that Rilo will take over I know it), an owl shower curtain, some cheap jewelry, owl napkins, and some winter socks.

• The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts - I'd never been here before, and wanted to go.  They had lots of cool art, but this was the highlight!  I waited in line for about 45 minutes to go into this exhibit and it was so fun!  The birds were so cute.

• La Banquise - A great cafe for poutine.

• Creperie Chez Suzette -  A cute place in Old Montreal for crepes.
   
• The Montereal Biodome & Planetarium - A great opportunity to get my science nerd warmed up for back to school!  I loved the Biodome; there were four distinct ecosystems set up inside the dome, with lots of cool animals and plants.  I think the highlight for me was seeing the two lynx playing with each other.  The Planetarium was okay; the show that I really want to see (on the Aurora Borealis) was sold out, so we saw a less-interesting one on how constellations were used to tell time in the past.  I may have fallen asleep in my comfy chair.

• Fairmount Bagels and St. Viateur Bagels - We checked out both famous bagel places!  The blueberry bagel I bought at Fairmount was the best train snack ever.

• Notre Dame Basilica - A beautiful church both outside and inside.  I'd never been inside before, and I was glad to see its bright and colourful altar.

I'm very bad at adding pictures to my blog, but I'm pretty good at posting on my instagram account.

Our train got back to Toronto at 11:30 pm on Friday night, and I've been having a pretty chill weekend.  Last night I went out for drinks for a friend's birthday, and today's been a lot of reading and Netflix.  Not the marking and lesson planning I was going to do....

I haven't yet made a resolution for 2016.  I think my priority will be to get back into running because I miss it.  That means a return to regular visits to the gym and weight-training.  I'd really like to do a 5K in May, and then do the 5K at the Toronto Zoo in September.  Then maybe I can work up to longer races again in 2017...

I should blog more too.  I definitely need to do a post about all of the true crime documentaries I binged upon over the holidays.

Happy 2016 friends!

2015 Wrap-Up: Books!

I wanted to read 40 books in 2015, and I made it by finishing the last one on New Year's Eve eve.  Here's the list. 

• 40) Why Not Me? - Mindy Kaling (funny)
• 39) Pretty Girls - Karin Slaughter (awful)
• 38) My Brilliant Friend - Elena Ferrante (quite good)
• 37) A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini (amazing)
• 36) The Grownup - Gillian Flynn (excellent gothic short story)
• 35) Those Girls - Chevy Stevens (quite good!)
• 34) Luckiest Girl Alive - Jessica Knoll (ugh)
• 33) Garden of Shadows - V.C. Andrews (sometimes I like to re-read crap from my teenage years)
• 32) The Daughter - Jane Shemilt (mixed feelings)
• 31) We Have Always Lived In the Castle - Shirley Jackson (excellent gothic novel)
• 30) Burn - Ellen Hopkins (meh)
• 29) Modern Romance - Aziz Ansari & Eric Klinenberg (excellent)
• 28) Dear Daughter - Elizabeth Little (meh)
• 27) Woman With A Secret - Sophie Hannah (good)
• 26) Pretty Baby - Mary Kubica (OK)
• 25) Disclaimer - Renée Knight (quite good)
• 24) Who Do You Love - Jennifer Weiner (excellent)
• 23) Dietland - Sarai Walker (good and different)
• 22) Has Anyone Seen My Pants? - Sarah Colonna (hilarious)
• 21) Saint Anything - Sarah Dessen (good)
• 20) Inside the O'Briens - Lisa Genova (good tearjerker)
• 19) Wolf Winter - Cecilia Ekbäck (quite good)
• 18) Missoula - John Krakauer (excellent)
• 17) Finders Keepers - Stephen King (okay)
• 16) Pretty Little Killers - Daleen Berry (can't believe I read true crime)
• 15) What Alice Forgot - Liane Moriarity (good)
• 14) Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarity (excellent)
• 13) The Pocket Wife - Susan Crawford (okay)
• 12) Where They Found Her - Kimberley McCreight (meh)
• 11) The Wicked Girls - Alex Marwood (quite good)
• 10) Life Sentences - Laura Lippman (meh)
• 9) The Good Girl - Mary Kubica (meh)
• 8) After I'm Gone - Laura Lippman (meh)
• 7) If I Fall, I Die - Michael Christie (OK)
• 6) All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven (quite good)
• 5) I Was Here - Gayle Forman (OK)
• 4) Celestial Navigation - Anne Tyler (heartbreaking)
• 3) The Girl On the Train - Paula Hawkins (good)
• 2) Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng (excellent)
• 1) What the Dead Know - Laura Lippman (good mystery)

My top three (in no particular order) were:

Everything I Never Told You - by Celeste Ng
This book about a missing girl isn't a simple murder mystery.  It's a complex look at a multicultural family before people were used to inter-racial relationships.  This book is beautifully written.

Who Do You Love - Jennifer Weiner
This is probably my favourite book written by Weiner.  It's a gripping love story where you really come to like the characters.

Modern Romance - Aziz Ansari & Eric Klinenberg
This is a book looking at modern dating written by a stand-up comedian and a sociologist.  It was a fascinating read and really funny.  I learned that the next time that I want a first date to go well, I'm going to a monster truck rally!




My reading goal for 2016 will stay the same at 40 books.  I don't think I can increase it and still keep up with other parts of my life, but about one book per week-and-a-half is a good goal to maintain.

2015 Wrap-Up: Concerts

The List:

• Dec 19th - Stars' Set Yourself On Fire @ The Phoenix
• Nov 28th - Sloan @ Nathan Phillips Square
• Nov 14th - Hawksley Workman @ The Phoenix
• Nov 3rd - The Weeknd @ The ACC
• Oct 4th - CHVRCHES @ The Danforth Music Hall
• Sept 30th - #imagineoctober20 @ Randolph Theatre
• Sept 11th - Sloan @ Massey Hall
• Aug 22nd - Blue Rodeo @ The Molson Ampitheatre
• Aug 11th - Jann Arden @ Nathan Phillips Square
• Aug 8th - The Roots @ Nathan Phillips Square
• July 22nd - Mariah Carey @ Cesar's Palace in Las Vegas
• July 15th - Marianas Trench @ Nathan Phillips Square
• July 14th - The Joel Plaskett Emergency @ Nathan Phillips Square
• June 28th - Nelly/TLC/NKOTB @ ACC
• May 27th - Constantines @ Massey Hall
• May 22nd - Joel Plaskett Emergency @ Danforth Music Hall
• May 9th - Hawksley Workman @ The CBC
• March 14 - Dan Mangan & Hayden @ The Vogue Theatre in Vancouver
• Feb 28th - Dan Mangan & Hayden @ Massey Hall
• Feb 13th - Stars with Hey Rosetta! @ Danforth Music Hall
• Feb 12th - Stars with Hey Rosetta! @ Danforth Music Hall
• Jan 24 - Elliott Brood & The Wilderness of Manitoba @ The Phoenix

22 shows in total.  Not too shabby!  What were the highlights?

1) Mariah Carey in Las Vegas - This was insane.  She more or less channeled the music videos of all of her #1 hits.  At one point she was pulled out on a sea-doo.  Classic.

2) Stars doing "Set Yourself On Fire" at the Phoenix - What a great album to play in it entirety.  The energy at this show was insane, and it was such a fun way to start my holidays.

3) Blue Rodeo at the Molson Ampitheatre - This show was fun because my friend Elisa and I won seat upgrades through social media.  And seeing Blue Rodeo's summer Ampitheatre show has always been a goal of mine!

I hope that 2016 brings many concerts as well!  I've already got two set up! Woo-hoo!

It's the first storm of the year!

After a practically tropical December, it started to snow after a day filled with cold winds.  It now sounds like it's freezing rain out so yuck.  A perfect night to stay home, drink some wine, and cuddle with the cat.  I did have plans tonight but they got canceled on account of the weather and I'm kinda bummed, kinda not, maybe just somewhere in between.

I have a 6:40 am train to Montreal to catch in the morning, so maybe it's for the best that tonight is extra chill.  I still have to pack, but since I never sleep well the night before a trip, I'll do it later or maybe even at 4 am in the morning.  A 6-hr train ride gives me plenty of time to catch up on sleep.

Christmas was nice, hey? I always hate when it's over though.  I mean it's still the season but the inevitability of taking down the decorations, and going back to work looms.

I'm hoping 2016 is a better year.  Other than when it came to baseball-related adventures, and the usual assortment of concerts and stuff, I can't help but feeling blah about this past year.  Work was significantly more challenging since I had senior-level biology courses to teach that I hadn't taught before, and that took up a lot of time/energy but I still think I could have used the remaining time/energy more effectively.  Balance is always such a struggle, but I know that I can find it and I'm happier when I do.  A goal for 2016 right there.

Hope you are all enjoying your holidays.

Set Yourself On Fire

I was going to blog about the amazingness that was Stars' SET YOURSELF ON FIRE album show last night and all of the feelings it made me feel but...

I got caught up in the gripping but upsetting 10-part true crime documentary MAKING A MURDERER on Netflix as I did some light crafting.  Now it's 1:30 am and I'm going to live like I'm on vacation (because I am!) and watch the last episode.

It's not beginning to look (or feel) a lot like Christmas.

This weather!

It's December 13th and we haven't had any proper snow!  I think there was maybe one snowy morning in November, and I remember some flakes coming down on November 30th as one of my classes and I were making our way toward the Science Centre, but that's it.

It's been down right *warm*.  I have my windows open in my apartment to keep it from getting too hot inside.  I'm not complaining, I don't think, but I'm not feeling super Christmas-y at the moment.

However, I do think that I had a productive weekend on the Christmas front.  I got some presents wrapped, cards and packages mailed out, built a new Christmas decoration (a Lego gingerbread house), and my pal Mathew and I went out for dinner this evening to exchange gifts.  I have a list of things to do this week, but I don't feel that overwhelmed so that's good.

I also had a good weekend on the entertainment front as well.  I've been in a reading rut.  Over the past month, I've started about five different books but none of them could hold my attention.  Finally, I decided to go back and read something that I remembered as being amazing.  I borrowed the e-book of Khaled Hosseini's A Thousand Splendid Suns which I think I read about five years ago.  I couldn't remember much about the plot.  All I could vividly recall is that I wept many time throughout the book.  It did not lose any power the second time around.

I watched a couple of episodes of Jessica Jones on Netflix.  I don't usually like superhero stuff, but this show grabbed me.  And hello feminism.  How often do we get a kickass woman lead in superhero stuff, and many of the other characters are women too.

I got distracted from Jessica Jones because I noticed that I had access to the second season of Transparent.  I watched the first season of that show over a couple of days over the summer, and really enjoyed its story of a man transitioning to a woman later in life and his dysfunctional family.  It also has moment of magical realism and genuine weirdness which I appreciate.

This week is going to be busy.  My goal is to get three productive days of work out of my classes, and then I have Christmas-related errands to run each night.  Not to mention a high school talent show to help produce (well, I'd say I'm a co-producer... I have lots of help from people with more expertise than I).

What a busy time!

What class is this?

A couple of former students came to visit me today.  They are in their third year of university, and like to visit every now and then.  I really appreciate that they organize their visits; nothing feels worse when former students come to visit and I'm in the middle of something and can't properly catch up.  They told me that they'd come during my period 3 class today which was fine since for about half of the class, my students were to be working on interactive activities and probably wouldn't need much direction from me.

Today about half of my period 3 class was away on a trip.  This class is small anyway; it's a grade 12 enriched biology course that's part of an academically advanced program that my school has recently offered. I've been teaching at a break-neck pace, and had a lesson ready to go about the history of vaccination, its immunological principles, and the use of monoclonal antibodies to make vaccines but when I saw that half the class was away, I decided to give them a chance to catch up on yesterday's work on the specific immune response.

Sometimes some of my students from this class hang out in my room during lunch.  Yesterday they were here, and I saw on Facebook that Serial (my favourite podcast) had released the first episode of the second season.  I got super excited, and started telling them all about last season and how good the show was.

Today one of them asked me how my podcast was, and then the others (who hadn't been there) wanted to hear all about it.  We decided to use today to catch up on work and listen to episode one (which I'd listened to yesterday).  At the same time, the VP of Student Council (who was on spare) came up to ask me if I wanted anything from Starbucks (he was going to the mall), and I let others place their order too.

My former students came to visit as we were just discussing the podcast and our drinks were being delivered.  They asked "what class is this?" and I sheepishly admitted it was the enriched biology class but we usually do a lot of work and don't listen to podcasts and get Starbucks hand-delivered to us.  I found it hilarious because it really looked at that moment that my standards were slipping!

(Note: the kids were as amused as I was by the cliffhanger ending of Serial when Sarah Koenig phones the Taliban like it's no big deal.)

O the rising of the sun and the running of the deer.

I have finally got somewhat into the Christmas spirit.  I've been to a Christmas party, the tree is up, and I've been listening to my Los Campesinos! Christmas album on my record player.  I've decided that their version of "The Holly & The Ivy" is my official 2015 Christmas jam.



I had a good weekend.  On Friday, I ran a few errands and then came home to finish season three of Nashville on Netflix.  Season four is currently on the air, but not yet on Netflix, so now what to do with life?  (I did start Jessica Jones tonight which is really good, so maybe I'll be okay.)

On Saturday, I got up early to walk the Santa Shuffle 5K (a fundraiser for a homeless shelter in Toronto) with some student from my biology class.  They actually organized it themselves and needed a tenth on their team, so it was me.  Most of them were walking it, and since it was advertised as a run, they were worried they'd be judged.  I assured them that I've done these things before (including this exact race twice), and that others would be walking and no one would be judging and they'd be fine.  After it was done, they gave me an enthusiastic "you were right!" as they scarfed down complimentary hot dogs, hamburgers, donuts, and hot chocolate.

I haven't run a race in all of 2015 and I miss my running days so much.  It's my fault for allowing myself to fall into a spiral of laziness, but being at a race makes me miss it so much.  I gotta start training again in the new year.  It'll be hard, but I hope my body will remember how to be fit and slide back into it.

On Saturday night, I had a Christmas party to go to which was all right.  Today I had a lazy-ish Sunday but got my nails done and my tree up.  I'm giving myself a weekend off of homework and it's great.

I booked a New Year's trip to Montreal with my friend Vern this evening.  I'm glad to get away for a change of scenery.

Also, I don't think I mentioned it here, but I've booked a trip to the Dominican for March Break with my friend Nadine.  Luxury and warmth in three months here I come.

But I have to make it through the next two very busy weeks of school first.

You can't wear your heart on your sleeve if you're just going to leave.

The highlight of my past week was that I had an A++ Saturday night.

I met up with my friend Elisa at the INSANELY BUSY AND PACKED Eaton Centre and we headed over to the INSANELY BUSY AND PACKED Cavalcade of Lights at Nathan Phillips Square. I want to go not so much for the light, but because Sloan was playing a post-fireworks show.

The fireworks show was pretty great.  I have seen a lot of fireworks in 2015: I saw Fourth of July fireworks at Comerica Park in Detroit during our baseball roadtrip, about four sets of fireworks during the Pan-Am games, and most randomly, the people whose backyard faces the back of my building had a November fireworks show a couple of weekends ago.  I was chilling with Rilo, and we enjoying the 30 minutes of backyard fireworks on a November night.  Why?  I really don't know.  But they were fun.

Anyway, Saturday night's fireworks were up there with the Fourth of July fireworks in quality.  After they were done, a lot of the crowd cleared out and we were able to get near the performance stage for Sloan.  They put on a really fun show.  I think it's the first time I've seen an outdoors wintertime Sloan performance, so I can check that off my list.  I really don't know how many times I've seen Sloan in my life, but thirty would be a reasonable estimate.

The show ended before 10 pm, so we headed to Queen St. for record shopping followed by drinks and nachos.  It was really fun; I haven't stayed out very late in awhile.  (Well, not since Nuit Blanche and CHVRCHES in October... so maybe I'm not as lame as I think?  I dunno, how many late nights are you guys pulling these days?  What's acceptable?)  I like staying out late!

Sunday was a day of hibernation and Nashville-watching.

Today was pretty swell for a Monday.  I escaped school with my grade ten class to go to the Science Centre for a day of learning, fun, and relaxation.  It was followed by a really long student council meeting, a longer-than-usual commute home, and me spending waaaaaaay too long writing a biology quiz, but it made for a nicer-than-usual Monday.  Field trips for life!

This week should be quiet but I really gotta get the Christmas shopping going.  I already have my first party on December 5th.  Tis the season!

Things I Did This Weekend

1) Went out for drinks on Friday after school with colleagues.  Came home and went to bed.  I'm officially old.

2) Saturday was super shopping day.  I had to exchange a necklace that I'd bought about a month ago at Swarovski because a couple of stones had fallen out.  So I did that, then got talked into buying the matching earrings.

After that, I browsed a shoe store and splurge on Blundstones.  I'd been wanting them for awhile and really like mine.  They have stripey elastics.

Mathew and I had plans to hang out for the first time since baseball season ended.  We ended up heading to Yorkdale, where I bought a new ring and a blingy toque with a pom-pom.  We also had dinner in the food court and watched highlights from the seventh inning of ALDS game five on his phone.  I think we're both still in withdrawal.

3) Today I watched a lot of Nashville on Netflix.  It's a super fun show to binge watch because you do not need to pay that much attention to a musical soap opera.  If I fall asleep for a bit, I can still figure out what's going on.  In between episodes I went for a coffee run, got groceries, and wrote a test.  So I think I managed to have a day that mixed the productive and unproductive.

Belly laughs.

I could really use a good belly laugh over something ludicrous that happens in real life.

The last time I remember one is when I took a class on a field trip in September, and the kids had to wear hip waders to collect bugs from the river.  One kid put his on backwards and got stuck in them. I have a photo of the facilitator patiently pulling him out of his waterproof pants.  It's hilarious.

I'm sure the darkness defines where the light is.

Oh, Paris.

I've probably been spending more time than is good for my mental health following Friday's attacks on Paris.

Some tragedies pack more of a punch on one's psyche for a myriad of reasons.  This one has really haunted me because it took place in my favourite foreign city.  I've visited Paris four times, and its streets, sights, smells, and sounds are ingrained in me.

The second reason that these tragedies are haunting me is that they affected innocent people doing things that I love to do: going to sports events, eating at cafes, and going to rock shows.

To think of people being targeted at events like these in a familiar city chills the fuck out of me.  I actually had a nightmare about violence at a concert the night after the attacks (I should have probably watched less coverage).  I actually went to a concert last night, and I felt so weird doing something that other people were killed doing the night before.

I've been reading a lot, and just not about Paris.  The day before there was a similar attack on innocent civilians in Beirut.  There was little coverage, and no global outpouring of grief.  Innocent people were doing every day things like going to the market, and lost their lives but it doesn't get the same coverage in the Western media because they look differently than we do, worship differently, and live in a part of the world where we assume that violent attacks are an every day thing.  We can so easily push that attack out of our minds.

I feel like absolute shit that Beirut has been ignored and what it means about humans.  And I am guilty of selective grief.  I think we live in a time where we are recognizing (and even fixing) so many of our failings.  There are valuable discussions going on about sexism, rape culture, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, body shaming, and so many other dangerous thought patterns that have hurt and oppressed many.  At the same time, there's a huge divide in how we react to tragedies that happen far away from us to people who are different than us.

We can do better.  Violence and hatred are definitely not the answers.

This Mr. Rogers quote has made me feel a bit better:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.”

We need love, light, and understanding for all people, no matter where they live, how they look, or who they worship.  I think understanding and helping will cure some of the world's evils far better than bombs or hate.

The Weeknd and etc.

It's been awhile, hey there, blogarinos.

Last week was pretty standard.  Busy busy at school, Friday night drinks after school, etc.

However, I felt pretty badass staying out late on Tuesday night!  And for benevolent reasons too!

Our school is partnered with an organization that aims to connect students with arts, culture, and sports.  They are able to get free tickets to a lot of events in the city and pass it on to students/  My colleague who is in contact with this organization is often looking for teachers to chaperone students to some of the these events.  We can often get executive suites at the ACC for shows, but they must have an adult in attedence.

Anyway, he put out an email saying that a student who had done some volunteer work in the community had gotten tickets to see The Weeknd, but needed a chaperone.  I figured that hey, if a friend had told me they had free tickets to that show, I'd say why not and go, so why not go with some kids?

Other than the student requesting tickets and her brother, I assembled some students together and we went to the show.  It was a great time.  Now, I know that The Weeknd's lyrics are not the most progressive, but I shut off my critical brain for a moment to enjoy the fact that the kids were having a great time at an even that they really wanted to be at.  I don't think most of them would have ever been able to afford the show, so it was a great thing to be able to do my part to make it happen.

***

It's still only November, but I can feel the year waning.  I'm still trying to kick this plague from Halloween, and I'm convinced that it's been holding on to me tightly because I haven't been taking very good care of myself this year.

I've not been making enough time or effort to eat properly and exercise.  I use the business of work as an excuse, and the fact that I've been teaching the senior level biology courses that require more preparation from me as an excuse.

I need to get the fuck out of this slump.  I feel like crap.  I have low energy, and I'm just not feeling like myself.  I don't get as excited for things as I used to.

I made the mistake of not traveling enough this summer.  My rationale is that I would save money and use the extra time to take better care of myself.  However, I spent more time watching TV than anything, which really isn't me.

I find myself sneaking out of making social plans to stay at home.  I use excuses like marking, cleaning, etc. but I tend to spend more time procrastinating than anything else.

I'm becoming my own enemy and I hate it.  I'm in a slump, and I'm doing it the way I do most things, with 100% effort.  I'm slumping big time.

I need to get through this week.  Report cards are due on Thursday.  After that deadline, I need to prioritize getting the fuck out of this slump.  I have some fun plans for next weekend: a concert and brunch with friends out of town.  This is good because I won't worm my way out of those things.

I will keep you updated on Operation Unslump.  It's on after report cards. I'm not waiting until 2016 to start pulling myself out of this mire.

Okay, vent over. 

***

Also, now that baseball is completely over, I am sadly realizing that it was my ultimate escape from reality.  I could slump away, but it didn't really feel like a slump because I always had games to look forward to.  It forced me to get out and socialize.

I guess my resolution for next baseball season is to go hard, but not to use it so much as an escape from real life.  Like 50% less escapism.

Halloween Plague

Something's been going around my school.  It's been hitting other colleagues hard, but I think I was lucky enough to only get a mild version of it.

I felt awful on Friday, and if nothing had been going on, I would have called in sick but because of some school events and a test I had planned, I wanted to be there.  I didn't have the energy to dress up on Friday.  I put on a tshirt with skulls on it and called it a day.

I think I've slept off the plague this weekend.  I managed to go out to see a movie last night but that was the extent of my celebrations.

And now that I'm feeling better it's time for more work. :/

What a season.

Sadly, the Jays' division-winning 2015 season came to an end in Kansas City on Friday.

I ended up watching the game at the house of friends that I hadn't seen in awhile.  Even though the outcome wasn't what we wanted, it was still fun to cheer for Jose Bautista's two home runs, and somehow hope that we'd be able to push a game seven.

During the game, I spent time texting baseball friends from near and far.  I think the best part of a winning baseball season is that it brings people together.  I really loved how the city of Toronto came together during the playoff run.  From the "Go Jays Go" signs at the front of TTC buses, to random conversations from fellow fans in grocery stores and elevators, it's been very fun.

I really loved this Blue Jays team.  I love that Joey Bats is a leader who is outspoken, who will flip his bat and speak out in support of his teammates and against injustice.  I love Josh Donaldson's (MVP! MVP!) intensity.  Who could have imagined that Marcus Stroman would be back to pitch for the playoffs after his supposedly season-ending injury.  And who could not love 20-year old Osuna's rise from poverty to being the youngest closer in baseball (and one with nerves of steel)?

I had to have a good cry when I got home on Friday, and I know that I wasn't the only one.  After a season so big, and so exciting, I just had to release it all.  I went to 18 home games, 1 away game, 5 playoff games, and probably watched the majority of the rest on TV.  I invested a lot of time, but I'm glad I did.  I saw a lot of great baseball.

I'm looking forward to 2016.  The core team will stay in place, and I'm sure we can fill in those gaps and hopefully hold onto Estrada and Price.  It'll be fun hearing about any roster moves, and choosing this year's 15 games on our flex pack.  And I can't wait to find out who will be the 2016 bobbleheads!  (My money is on Donaldson, Tulo, and Price if he sticks around.  Although I'd really love a Kevin Pillar bobblehead.)

Until then, I've got the World Series and all I have to say about that is Go Mets Go!  It's s tie game right now.  Those damned Royals are relentless.