One Ticket

It has never been easy for me to make friends. The "get-to-know-you" stage has always been the most difficult because I'm complete rubbish at small talk and even worse at flirting. I've had many close friends move away and others starting families. Instead of complaining about how I don't get to see old friends as often, I became resolved last October to overcome my nature and meet new people. Easier said than done...

I've met a lot of interesting people in the last several months that I would love to get to know better. My greatest difficult now is asking "Hey, want to hang out?" I'm always looking for the perfect opportunity that never comes. Case in point: I have an extra ticket to a Salsa night this evening. I originally bought two because I figure that it force me to ask someone to go with me. I did ask someone but there was a miscommunication as to when it was so now I have an extra ticket again.

There will be other people there I can hang out with tonight and I know I will still have fun but that really isn't my point. I feel like the ticket is a symbol of my current inability to "put myself out there". Did I have time to ask someone else? Yes. Did I have people I wanted to ask? Yes. I'm not sure if anyone of them would have been able or interested in attending but I certainly didn't ask to find out.

Even though I'm not talking about romantic relationships specifically, my situation reminds me of the Herman's Hermits song "No Milk Today":

No milk today, my love has gone away
The bottle stands forlorn, a symbol of the dawn
No milk today, it seems a common sight
But people passing by don't know the reason why

How could they know just what this message means
The end of my hopes, the end of all my dreams
How could they know a palace there had been
Behind the door where my love reigned as queen

It isn't a symbol to anyone but me. It probably doesn't bother anyone but me.



PS This is my new dress that I will be wearing this evening

A Blogger's Dilemma

I'm having an online identity crisis. Things have changed so much in the 3 years since I have been out of teaching. I've been thinking about this for awhile but I am really feeling like a need a non-anonymous online presence. The braveness started with posting links to my blog on twitter then on Facebook. It was hard to admit to people I've known my whole life that I had a blog for years. I've done a pretty good job of keeping my professional and private life separate online.

If I started new blog but how often will I post to the old one? What would I post on the new blog? Do I take some old posts and put it on the new blog?

Should I just scrap my current blog? I like a place to share/vent my silliness and certainly think it would be unprofessional. About a year after I started my blog, I had hundreds of visitors a day but now on a good day I don't even have a tenth of that. Maybe it should just be contained to Facebook?
Even though I'm Facebook friends with most of my readers, you just don't have the same control. On the other hand some of my best writing on this blog was about the hockey playoffs last year. This writing is not related to education but certainly not unprofessional.


Would you (all three of my readers) be worried about being connected to me using my real name? So many bloggers I know have worked so hard to stay anonymous. What happens when one is anonymous no more? My dad and sister are anonymous bloggers but would be no more if I did not handle things carefully.

SO MUCH TO THINK ABOUT.

There's No Rest for You Here (a haiku)

Saw dust in the air
Jackhammers beneath my feet
When will they be done?

Sweet, Delicious Nitrates (a haiku)

"Have bacon for lunch"
Beyond doubt, I have no choice
Scrabble foretold it


Current Scrabble game between myself and May-B.

Glad she never became a teacher

While I was on a former student's Facebook profile, I noticed she had updated her education:

For those keeping track at home, this would be 3*

I woke up with such a fright, I couldn't get back to sleep for hours.

In my dream, my dad and I drive a school bus to a hospital to pick up twin boys who are friends of the family. Dad kept the bus running and I went inside to retrieve them. My sister met me inside but we couldn't find the boys anywhere. We looked down the atrium to the main floor and we could see Data from Star Trek fighting off zombies with a phaser. We jumped down three flights to help with only a barbed wire fence to break our fall. I'm not sure what Mary was using but I was fighting off the zombies with my mom's letter opener.

This morning after church I told the twins and their brother about my dream. They were super jealous that I have such awesome dreams.


*This is my third zombie related dream. Others include Zombie Grandma and Zombie Apocalypse. Technically my dream about the Count from Sesame Street attacking was a continuation of a dream about the Zombie Apocalypse but since there were no zombies in the dream I don't count that one.

Comfortable (or how I spent $50 on a pillow)

My RMT went to New Zealand for a couple months to train for the Ironman Triathlon. In his absence, I've been seeing May-B's RMT who works in the same office. Her diagnosis: "You have a great core but the rest of your body is a mess." Tell me something I don't know.* She recommended a new pillow since the one I've been using are a couple years old.

I have a hard time finding pillows that I like. Since I sometimes sleep on my side but mostly sleep on my back it is hard to find a pillow that will be comfortable for both situations. In the store I tried out all the pillows but the only one that seemed comfortable was $49.99. This might not be a big deal to you but I have never spent that much on a pillow before. I've been having so many neck problems lately it certainly didn't seem like the time to skimp.

So far so good. Most of the time my neck feels worse in the morning but now it either feels about the same or better.

Wow, that was a really boring post. I'll try to make it more awesome:








*A couple months ago my chiropractor gave me "as we age..." speech. Ouch.

My First Crush

I didn't even know his name. He was so cool the way he wore that yellow pail handle around his neck. We played in the sand that one afternoon but then never again. Years later when I was grade 1, I bemoaned to my friends what could have been. I certainly never went through a boy hating phase.

I've always loved winter

One of my favourite winter memories was the time my dad made a tiny ice rink in our backyard. By tiny, I mean it was probably less than a metre in diameter but despite the size I had so much fun skating on it.

We are the (bridesmaids) stereotypes

The new movie poster for Bridesmaids makes me feel so clichéd.




Been there, done that


Photo taken July 16, 2005

What Rough Beast

I realize the poem is about post-war Europe but I think it is very applicable in a post-9/11 world:

The Second Coming
W.B Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert.

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Student Logic

Yesterday I had to deal with two students who handed in the exact same lab report. The department has a very clear policy on the matter which they are informed about during the first lab.

The first argument was "I didn't know I couldn't copy off of him".

The second argument was "I did all the work so I should get full marks".

The third argument was "We live together and copying saved me a lot of time".

The argument degraded to "C'mon, you should give us a break".

I'm not sure how anyone of those arguments is supposed to help them. They fully admitted what happen but tried to justify it.

Dear Adobe Acrobat Pro,

You didn't do a very good job recognizing text. Smarten up!



Love,
Jsnny

I might have forgiven Jerry O'Connell

As a teenager I had a huge crush on Jerry O'Connell. First he was on My SEcret Identity then later on Sliders. I swear, every time something important happened on TV on Sliders, his character was in the shower so he's have to come running out in a towel.

The first time Jerry O'Connell was on Conan, I was disappointed to discover that he was uninteresting and a bit of a moron. [My sister can verify as she remembers watching it too]. I think he might have redeemed himself after the Golden Globes:


I love photobombing! I also found this awesome one of Michael Douglas.

Didn't know the old man had it in him.

My favourite photobombing of all time belongs to my mom's dog Prince:

Dear Firefox,

Don't be stupid, Scrabble is obviously not done loading.



Love Janny

Sundays as a child

Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches always remind me of Sunday evenings as a child. After church Sunday dinner was always the big meal of the week so my family would always have something simple for supper.

Like many of you, I spend Sunday evenings as a child watching The Wonderful World of Disney. If you were to ask me what was the first thing that popped into my mind when thinking of Sundays as a child, I would think of watching Wayne and Shuster. I take for granted sometimes that many people don't understand political humour because I was exposed to it from a very young age. I still get this song stuck in my head sometimes:


Several years ago, I had the idea for a funk musical about the political history of Canada called Parliament. Get it? Parliament? No? Well, never mind then.

I couldn't find a video of just the outro:

You can't always get what you want

Several years ago, I took part in an Internet meme where you put "[your name] needs" into Google and post the results. I was so amused by the first results, I thought I'd try it again.


Janice needs to get her head out her arse!

Janice needs a kidney.

Janice needs numbers.

I think Janice needs to shut up!

Robert feels he knows exactly what Janice needs—a new piece of equipment.

Janice needs to work on her posture, wow.

Janice needs to grow up.

Janice needs to crawl in a hole and die.

While Christopher may keep pushing her away, Janice needs to let him know she cares about him.

Janice needs to be licked.

Janice needs Bricks in order to complete a Boosted General Store

Janice needs more substance though

My New Years Resolution

I'm not really one to make New Years resolutions. If there is something in your life you think you need to change, you should do it when it comes to mind instead of waiting.

My only New Years resolution is to find/make this t-shirt because it is so fitting:

My Year Through Tweets

Inspired by Bronwyn, I decided to reflect on my past year through my tweets. The ones I found most amusing were conversations between myself and Lyn (further proof that we are the fun ones).


Jan 10
@LynmaraH Did I ever tell you about the remake I read called "Big Guy, Little Women"? I swear it isn't porn.

Jan 18
Finding the temperature of a light bulb is less fun than it sounds.

Jan 19
I find myself doing more dancing to Duran Duran this evening than homework.

Jan 24
@LynmaraH I don't care if you think I'm awful as long as you bring me cupcakes.

Jan 26
Overheard at the university: "The absence of pants ruins 90% of presentations."

Jan 31
Started hiccuping uncontrollably ever since I left @Bronwyn_MayB and @LynmaraH. Coincidence? I think yes.

Feb 12
Christopher said the flowers in bloom makes him want to puke. Mary said that was an inappropriate response to flowers.

Feb 23
Forgot the delight of Sebastian Bach singing "Holla Back Girl" #gilmoregirls

Feb 23
Note to self: y and t are different letters no matter the circumstance.

Feb 25
I made a careless mistake but at least I'm still adorable.

March 9
@LynmaraH Bacon will only make you feel better. Trust me, I'm a scientist.

March 12
Dear CBC Radio movie reviewer, Playing an audio clip does not prove that the director should not have used a steady cam. Love Janny

March 19
Most unfortunate abbrev at a physics seminar: rotator ass'y ** Most unfortunate collaborator of a physics seminar: P Wang

March 21
I think my brain broke. At the very least I sprained it.

March 23
Science is hard and makes me sleepy.

March 29
If you "procrastinate effectively", you're not doing it right

March 30
Dear juicer infomercial, KFed's 1st baby mama is not an impressive celebrity endorsement. Pls don't judge me that I knew who she is. - Janny

April 20
@LynmaraH Nitrates are my favourite.

April 30
I wish there was a way to get all my errands done while in the pajamas, watching TV from home.

May 19
Dear Neck, Don't be a hater: I need you to hold up my head and look over to the side. Love, Janny

July 16
Day 4 of no anti-histamines: I'm ready to die dead

Aug 9
@Bronwyn_MayB No such thing as too much hype for pickles and cheese

Aug 26
Yikes! Burly man in short shorts.

Sept 1
Just saw two wiener dogs leaping through a field of tall grass. Adorable.

Sept 10
Haven't eaten lunch yet and outside smells like donuts. #ohcruelfate

Sept 17
I'm so tired I'm starting to forget which letters make which sounds.

Sept 30
The blond Linda Evangelista is really the Kenneth Parcell.

Oct 7
Now realizing that yoga pants in front of the bus station at 10PM was a bad idea.

Oct 20
Apparently my true life goal is to be diabetic by Halloween

Nov 17
I'm thankful when my headphones blocks out the crazy.

Dec 8
((°J°))

Upon Several Viewings of Burn Notice

Throughout the school year, I have very little time to watch TV. As I explained to my parents, "A DVR is an investment in my education." Now that I am on holidays and actually have time to watch TV, all I want to do is re-watch Burn Notice.
Watching the entire series within a matter of weeks, I started to notice inconsistencies with the sets:

• From the exterior shots, Madeline Westen's house is clearly a large two story house. At one point, Madeline considers selling the house and shows a real estate agent the entrance to the stairs to a the second floor. By the next season, the door to the second floor suddenly is a closet. Madeline Westin's house is now a kitchen, living room and back porch with only exterior doors. Where does she sleep? Where does she go to the bathroom? Could explain why house guests always stay in the garage.


• Michael Westen's loft apartment has no interior doors so I'd assume he also has no bathroom.


• Mr Pyne (Ray Wise) and Jean Pierre Duman (James Black) live in the same house