Magnetic Grapes

This evening Dad and I troubleshot my demonstration on the repulsion of grapes when exposed to a diamagnet (magnet with a north and South pole). The instructor for my science education class has never been able to get it work before but we did :)

TBS Promo: Conan Washes His Desk!

The Zach Galifianakis Swimsuit Calendar: vanityfair.com

The Zach Galifianakis Swimsuit Calendar: vanityfair.com

Kids Re-Enact Project Runway

Someone is on Ky's mindgrapes

Photos by Ky
Awesomeness by Janny

Thank a Teacher

I've heard suspect things about the documentary Waiting for Superman but this promo makes me smile:

I think someone misses Ky

Photos by Ky
Awesomeness by Janny

Kickin' it to you, Knitwear-style.

Kickin' it to you, Knitwear-style.
Originally uploaded by Kylee-Anne

Just remembering the awesomeness of this picture. Good work Ky.

Altweibersommer (a haiku)

warming in the sun
finally wearing flip flops
making my heart glad

My cerebral cortex brings all the boys to the yard (a haiku)

attracting the wrong type
need to decrease nerd bait ways
I’m out of your league

Irritation for the Body and Mind (a Haiku)

red, slight bump appears
feeling it pulse on my chin
I’m too old for zits

Unruly Tuft of Hair (a Haiku)

cow lick in my hair
taunting me behind my back
more stubborn than I

It is pigeon poop, do not eat it.

I retweeted a clever picture



and received the following response:

I didn't I could find Jon Hamm more attractive

A Man and His RC Helicopter

Look at how cute my daddy is flying his remote control helicopter!

Six years...

Today is my sixth blogoversary. Let's review the last six years in Janny history:

September 15, 2004
RTA, Failte and I moved into a townhouse in Saskatoon. I had just left my full time teaching position up north to become a substitute teacher in Saskatoon. Would you believe that I didn't know anyone else with a blog at the time?

September 2005
I was still subbing in Saskatoon but all tutoring and working part time at a book store. When I wasn't working I mostly spent my time being a source of procrastination for others and impatiently waiting the movie Serenity. Although it was depressing not to be working as a full time teacher, I did enjoy the time I had to reflect.


September 14, 2006
Fall 2006 was an exciting time for me. Not finding much work in Saskatoon, I move to Calgary to became an admin assistant while I looked for a full time teaching position. For the first time in two years, I was back doing what I love and getting paid for it.

September 2007
The school I was teaching at in Calgary turned out to be a flaming disaster. With little regret, I decided to move from Calgary back to Regina. My dad was in ICU during the winter and spring which made my horrible job situation that much more horrible. I always want to go back to school to finish my BSc and wanted to feel more qualified to teach science classes. So in January 2008 Teacher Lady became Student Lady.

September 2008
In the summer of 2008 I worked for an applied mathematician which really made me question my future plans. I decided against an Honours degree in Math and opted instead for a double major in Math & Physics. I invested in a DVR and immersed myself in academia. Mt life became Eat, Sleep, Physics. School work became my life and left room in my mind for little else.

I also learned about Spidergoat.

September 14, 2009
Eat, Sleep, Physics became a little less lonely and a lot more difficult. I love the collaborative nature of Physics students. You spend so much time in the lab together it translates into a community where everyone helps one another outside the lab as well. Fall 2009 marked the continuation of Janny spending way too much time with boys in their early 20s.

September 14, 2010
I have two semesters left of university! In addition to a couple science classes this marks the first time in 10 years that I will be taking any education classes. I will also be working part time as a physics lab instructor (getting paid while getting experience). I've already spoken to the local school board and it seems very likely that there will be a full time physics teaching position for me next fall!

This is a very exciting time for me right now. My classes and instructors are great. I will be learning so many interesting and useful things. I certainly hope this enthusiasm for my present and future life can continue.

I admit that I timed this post to also be the 1300th. Thanks for reading and hope you stay with me.

Question about Blogger comments

I'm not sure why but I have to log in every single time I leave a comment on my own blog. It used to just come up as "Teacher Lady" and have the other log in options below. Anyone know how I can change the settings?

Ceramic Billygoats 2010-2011

Here is my second fantasy hockey team:



This season will be an experiment of sorts. I have two teams every year but decided to have one in a competitive league and this one in the casual league. I picked my players in a live draft for the competitive team and choose an auto-draft based on my preferences for the casual team. A lot of the players are the same so we'll see which one does better.

One month and two days until the new season...

Dancing at the Movies

Sometimes Facebook Recommendations Scare Me A Lot

Mistaken Identity?

Something weird is going on with my Twitter account. I'm getting bizarre messages from people I don't know. Maybe someone is tweeting the wrong person? I need to coin a term to describe such a thing.

JC Power 2010-2011

The live draft for my fantasy hockey league occurred this afternoon:



I'm a little upset with myself because I broke my own rule of picking goalies first. I also accidentally chose Tomas Plekanec so he better have a really good year.

Here's my trophy from last season:


I'm in a more difficult league this year so I have lowered expectations for myself.

Am I the key to tween love?

At least according to Twitter I am:


(Picture is a link to the tweet)
I'm not even sure what this means.

Witchy Woman

I can't believe I never blogged about this dream that happened back when I lived up North:

I am driving on the highway between Saskatoon and Regina late at night. On either side of road is fields of wheat. The sky is clear and the moon is full. The radio is playing what sounds like two different songs at once. I turn down the radio and realize that there is very loud music coming from outside. I pull over on the shoulder and get out of the car. I can hear the song "Witchy Woman" coming from the wheat field to my left. I'm puzzled since there is only wheat fields and empty highway as far as I can see.

I start making my way through the chest height wheat towards the music. I notice the ground is aglow up ahead and realize there is a tunnel opening. I make my way down the tunnel to a cave and discover a surprise birthday party for Eric Clapton. There is a boxing ring in the centre of the cave where Queen is performing with a new teen-aged lead singer. Oh, I forgot the mention that the party was being thrown by Mexican Wrestlers. Suddenly we are all overcome with tiredness and fall asleep.

The end.

Howdy Stranger

Wow, almost a month since my last post. Uhhh, sorry about that. I really have talked about myself in a long time as well. Sorry about that as well.

I'm kind of lacking in stories these days. For the first time in about two months, I can't sleep. More often than not I'm inspired to blog when I can't sleep. I couldn't sleep because the fan in my room was overloading the power bar causing it to beep every couple minutes. I use the term my room loosely because it is only my room for now. My current room is also referred to the Yellow Room, Mary's old room or Grandma's old room. Technically, once upon a time I shared the room with my sister until she drove me nuts and I moved to the basement. As they say, that is neither here nor there.

I am staying in the yellow room because there was flooding in my room again. Last spring there was flooding in my room and we thought we had fixed the problem. Flooding isn't really the correct term but the carpet and bottom on the walls are soaking wet. We're not even sure what caused it since we only had a bit of rain the other night.

Fact: Janny is a high maintenance sleeper.

I'm too wound up now. It is hard enough to sleep in an unfamiliar room. I tried to just shut off the fan but I've gotten too used to the white noise from my air purifier. I had to get up and move the fan to a different plug in. With no where else to put it, I set the fan on the arm of a chair but it fell over almost as soon as I had the lights off. I had to go to the living room to get a TV tray to put the fan on.

My shoulder has been bugging me so I was having a hard time getting comfortable. My usually pillow arrangement does not cut it for a different bed. I just want to be in my own bed in my own room. I'm at the point of the night where I know it will be easier to stay awake and go to work early rather than struggle to wake up in 2 hours.

Fact: Mornings are for chumps.

Not even close

I found this in a study about women with breast cancer:

Someone was having problems with conversion.

Guess Who

Eerie

I feel think I've gone mad

Early rave reviews for the movie Inception. I feel like the rest of the world has collectively gone insane.

Inception Trailer 2 Transcript
Leonardo DiCaprio: There is one thing you should know about me: I specialize in a very specific type of security...subconscious security.
Cillian Murphy: You’re talking about dreams?

Michael Caine: Mr Karl has a job offer he’d like to discuss with you
Ellen Page: Like a work placement?
Leonardo DiCaprio: Not exactly. We create the world of the dream. We bring the subject into that dream and they fill it with their secrets
Ellen Page: Then you break in and steal it
Leonardo DiCaprio: Well, it is not strictly speaking legal. It’s called inception.

Leonardo DiCaprio: I’m ready. I think I found a way home. This last job is how I get there. Dreams feel real when we’re in them, it is only when we wake up that we realize that something is strange.

Title: Your mind

Leonardo DiCaprio: This is your responsibility. You are not prepared to

Title: is the scene of the crime

Unknown Dude: The dream is collapsing

Leonardo DiCaprio: I have it under control
Joseph Gordon-Levitt: I hate to see it out of control

Can't understand the dude: You mustn’t be afraid to jimmy the vegit* down


*I have no idea what he said

If Arrested Development was an action movie

For the world travellers in my life

Welcome back to Canada Bron & Ky:

Math programs giving me low self-esteem

In the program Mathematica, I'm learning how to make a scatter plot and then export it as a image file. This is the result of my first attempt:

Freaking out over snakes

Is it bad I find this hilarious? I'm not scared of snakes but I shouldn't judge since I actually did see how big this snake was.

Tricking myself to sleep

As it has been well documented on this blog, I do not sleep well. Starting when I was in high school, occasionally I would be wide awake at night and sleepy through out the day. This would happen to me about once every couple months until I moved to Calgary. The last couple months before I moved back to Regina, I could not fall asleep before 4:30 AM. I would force myself to stay awake all night and try to go to bed the following night. This would result in falling asleep for about an hour and then not getting tired again until 4:30 AM. After some research, I found success gradually getting back to a regular schedule by delaying sleep 2 hours each night.

For the last week, I've been having the same problems again. Essentially my body gets confused between day and night. I did not have the time or patience to gradually get my sleep schedule back to normal. With the attempt to be proactive to prevent this from happening again, I bought a light box and some melatonin. I took the melatonin at 10PM last night with the hope to get to sleep by 11PM. I've been so sleep deprived, I was in bed before 10:30. Amazingly, I slept until 3 AM and only woke because I was thirsty. I was able to sleep again from 4:30 to 6. At 6AM, I started using my light box for a half hour. Wow, did it ever help me to wake up. For the next little while, I'll have to be pretty strict with my sleep and waking time. Hopefully, all this will help.

Look out world

my wing(wo)man is back!

Wished I would have remembered 18 years ago

On Saturday, I was trying to figure out something I could kneel on while cleaning the shower floor. I (not so) suddenly remembered that I lent my volleyball knee pads to a girl in grade 8 and she never returned them. Why did I not remember this in 1992?

Simplification

For weeks, it has been bothering me how much stuff I have and have no place to put it. I'm partially frustrated because I have so few days where I feel good enough to do anything about it. The rest of the frustration comes from not knowing where to start. I know things could be much worse but I want everything I keep to have a place. I came across this article tonight that I think will be useful:

Deciding what to get rid of is hard, but it must be done.
Our teacher told us the story of a man she had helped on a big cleaning project. He was hanging on to things like a plastic bag from a bookstore in Paris that he felt reminded him of his college travels. The bag, he said, had a special place in his memory.
Fine, she said. Let's get a nice frame for it and hang it on the wall. The man looked at her like she was nuts. You don't frame and hang a plastic bag.
No? Well, let's take a picture of it, then frame that picture. Again, the man stared at her like she had lost it. It finally dawned on him that the bag wasn't the source of his memories, but merely a souvenir, and a junky one at that. Toss it, he said.
Our teacher recommended that we use this rule for each item that we hem and haw over:
1. Would you want to frame and display it?
• Yes = Keep.
• No = See step 2.
2. Would you want to take a picture of it?
• Yes = Take picture, get rid of item.
• No = Get rid of item.
If you can take a picture of something that you want to remember, but can't use, do so. Put it in an album with a label. But let it go if it's taking up too much space.

Are Our Children Learning Enough About Whales?

I was an adorable baby

Trouble from the start

I uploaded some old-timey family pictures to my Flickr account.

When A Shirt Is More Than Just A Shirt

Back in the day, my sister wore grandpa clothes. She would call it retro, I call it grandpa clothes. She even had a pair of pants that once belong to my deceased great-grandfather that Krissie referred to as Ommie* pants. Sorry, I'm getting a little off track here. Once at Value Village with Maryanne, I happened to see a Levi's work shirt at the end of the rack in the men's section. It was an extra-small men's, still had the tags on it, fit me perfectly and was only $5. Mary and the girl at the till were jealous of my awesome find.


Cutest sisters ever! and the famous shirt

At the time when I bought the shirt, I was really skinny due to my food allergies. Everything I ate made me sick so it was difficult to even maintain my weight let alone put on weight. Eventually I started feeling better and was able to gain weight. It was bittersweet when the work shirt was too small for me to wear: I was so thankful to be feeling well enough to put on weight but sad since this kind of shirt wasn't made anymore. From the original store tags, it was from the late 70s or early 80s when work shirts were supa tight. Since then I ever never found a button-up shirt that fits me so well.


Inspired by the article When A Coat Is More Than Just A Coat: How Certain Articles Of Clothing Take On A Special Meaning - Jezebel. I want to read your stories of your favourite article of clothing. Post the story (or the link to the story) in the comments. If you write a story on your own blog, I'd appreciate if you linked back to me!

* Great-grandfather's name was Omund. At least it wasn't Ommie gotch which another member of our family "inherited". Note to Krissie: Dodged that bullet, eh?

"Caution: Contents are Hot"

Sorry, embedding didn't work:
Jimmy and Ladysmith Snack Mambazo Sing About Their Love for Hot Pockets

Nike Football: "Write the Future"

Less than 3 weeks...

Mr T on procrastination

This one is going out to Ky who has her qualifying exams soon...

Error of her ways

By no means do I condone adultery but I do see the merit in this woman's lawsuit:

In documents filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, Ms. Nagy seeks $600,000 for alleged invasion of privacy and breach of contract...Ms. Nagy's bill was being sent in her name until her husband signed up for Rogers Internet and home phone. Those services, along with Ms. Nagy's cellphone, were bundled into one bill, and that new invoice was addressed to her husband, the suit alleges. The invoice mailed to her then-husband contained details of her outgoing cellphone calls, the suit, filed in January, 2009, says. Ms. Nagy's husband figured out from the phone bill that she was having an affair. He left her and the children in August, 2007.
Woman sues Rogers over cellphone bill, says it ruined her marriage - The Globe & Mail

Ms Nagy fully admits that she had an extra-marital affair that lead to the termination of her marriage. Rogers had no right to bundle her cell phone plan with the other Rogers services and change the billing name without her permission. It could have been a business phone and that needed to be in her name, Rogers just doesn't know these things. The fact is that despite what the customer did, Rogers did break privacy laws.
I actually had to deal with a similar situation years ago that I blogged about:

I spent most of today calling customers to let them know when they can upgrade their cell phone. From as much as I remember, this is a VERY revealing conversation I had today. The names and places have been changed to protect the innocent (and not so innocent).

Teacherlady: Hi, is [Bob] there?
Wife: No, he's at work. Can I take a message?
TL: [Company preamble] Can you let [Bob] know that the cell phone he purchased from us about two years ago is eligible for an upgrade [later this month]?
W: You must have the wrong [Bob], we don't have a cell phone.
TL: Is this the [Bob Smith**] residence?
W: Yes, what address do you have?
TL: [Cherrytree Lane]
W: That's our house. When was the phone purchased?
TL: Two years ago.
W: Hmmm, When was the last call made?
TL: Sorry, I don't have access to that information. Only if [Bob] called directly could he find that out. If there has been some sort of mistake, tell [Bob] to call us directly so we can get this fixed.
W: Umm, [long pause] well thank you for telling me. [long pause]
TL: Well, [awkward pause] thank you for your time and hope you have a good day.

A couple minutes later I was on the phone when a co-worker told me there was a very angry woman on the phone who would talk to no one but me. By the time he tried transferring the call, she had hung up.

I explained to my co-workers and supervisor what had happened. Then I told them what I wanted to say the customer if he called in mad. "Number one: It's not my fault that you two have trust issues. Number two: It is not my fault that you are dumb enough to use your house number as your customer contact number for your secret cell phone."

** The real name is actually uncommon so it was no mistaking that I had the right house.

Ain't that the truth

Janny gets no satisfaction:

Dry mouth is the mother of invention

Last week, I was prescribed medication to reduce the frequency of my migraines. The pharmacist told me I could avoid the expected side effects of dry mouth and drowsiness by taking it right before bed. She told me that it could even help me sleep better.

Problem 1: Doesn't make me drowsy.

Problem 2: The dry mouth is so bad it wakes me up multiple times a night. A little sip of water won't do -- it feels more like dry mouth and dry esophagus. I've been drinking about a litre of water a night and it never seems to satisfy. It is like that episode of Angel where those parasite thingies* were sucking the moisture out of Fred.

Tonight it was so bad I can not get to sleep. Internet articles yielded no useful solutions for the middle of the night. I got the bright idea for a honey-lime concoction since I had heard that honey helps with sore throats. I figured the sourness of the lime juice and the sweetness of the honey should get the salvia going. I am not a fan of honey but I was willing to try anything. It works so much better than anything I have tried before (day or night). I'm seriously going to start drinking this all the time. It's a good thing I'm heading up north this weekend because I'm going to need more honey.

Sorry, this post is a little boring. Still not sleepy and trying to past the time.


* technical term

Please excuse my nerdiness

Changing Blogger Width

I finally found a useful article to change the width of my blog posts at Blogbulk.com. It annoyed me that Youtube videos were cut off at one side.

I pity the fool that doesn't treat their mother right

Happy Mother's Day!
Love Janny

Brontë Sisters Power Dolls

Now comes With barrier-breaking feminist vision!

Consensus: Janny is Broken

Two days ago I had appointments with my family doctor, massage therapist and chiropractor. The gist? Janny is broken. The allergies cause migraines which causes neck pain. The neck pain causes more headaches and tightness throughout the whole back. Tightness in the back causes the hips and spine to go out of alignment. Hips and spine out of alignment causes more tightness throughout the whole back. You can see the cyclic nature of my pain.

As it has been well documented on this blog, I haven't slept well in weeks. It has been determined that my strange sleeping* has aggravated an old shoulder injury. The general consensus is I need to start seeing a physiotherapist for my neck and my shoulders.

I just want to feel better.

*for lack of a better term

Why I watch TV

I enjoy watching TV more than watching movies. There is no TV show or movie that I'd rather watch than spend time with friends. Can you guess why I watch so much TV? It is hard to admit but it is because I'm bored and lonely. With school being done until September and not having a job (yet) just magnifies the loneliness. For a brief time, TV lets me forget these things.

I have friends that I rarely see. My friends tend to socialize with other couples or families with children or friends from work. I don't have much socializing time during the school year but I certainly have more time than I'm using. Everyone seems to think that I'm spending my time with another group of friends.

I have been accused of complaining too much on this blog but I don't really care. I'm going to write how I feel and I'm just trying to be truthful about what I'm going through.

Setting myself up for a fall

Growing up, one of my best friends moved to the other side of the city. Big deal for a child who can't drive. For the first little while we saw each as often as we could but eventually drifted apart.

Over seven years later, on my first day of university, I was happy to discover that she was in one of my classes. Immediately we picked up where we left off.

Three years later, she started acting strangely. First it would take her several days to return my calls or emails. Gradually it would take her several weeks then she stopped returning them all together. I ran into her mom while shopping and I was informed that my friend had moved away from home. Her mom was very surprised that I didn't know this. She gave me the new number and I tried calling again. We hung out once then she never returned my calls again.

A year later I ran into her at the mall. In a couple weeks she was going to be moving overseas to teach. She promised she'd get in touch with me. We emailed for awhile but then she stopped responding. Another year later, I found out from some friends of hers from high school I wasn't the only one this was happening to. How could such a used to be great friend just shut down all communication with her friends? What had happened to her?

A couple years ago, she emailed me out of the blue wanting to know how I was. My response went unanswered.

A couple days ago, she emailed me to say she's moved back to the city and would love to see me. At first I was really excited. I sent her my contact information but haven't heard from her. I'd love to be optimistic but I have a feeling I'm not going to hear from her. I've gone through this too many times. I'd been praying since I moved back to Regina for some Christian friends and I thought this was the answer. It is hard to stay positive when past evidence is considered.

Happy Anniversary Mom & Dad!

Things not to do on the eve of your birthday

I wanted to spend the evening getting rid of the clothes I never wear anymore. I had to get rid of my favourite dress.

Me getting ready to present my homeroom class with plaques at grad.

I thought purging my closet would be a good way to start my 32nd year. It mostly made me feel terrible about myself. I had to get rid of three garbage bags full of clothes that no longer fit. It is a reminder that I'm not as skinny, pretty and young as I used to be. Worst of all, it is a reminder of how broke I am to not be able to replace these clothes for a long time. Lack of money just reminds me of the fact I still have not found a job.

Bob Loblaw

One Bad Dream Ah Ah Ah

I'm starting doubt my father's theory that my recent nightmares have to do with watching too many scary movies. Last night I dreamt I was attacked by The Count outside my grandparents' barn.

Here we go

Since spring sprung early, I've been having problems with migraines. Since I started my allergy shots 10 years ago, the severity and frequency decreased dramatically. For the times when I did get them, my family doctor at the time suggested trying 2 acetaminophen and 2 ibuprofen before he would prescribe anything stronger. This worked for the most part up until the last couple months. What worked before lessened the symptoms at best. I was living with a migraine for about 3 weeks (Mom, correct me if I have the length of time wrong).

I finally saw my family doctor about 2 weeks ago*. She prescribed Naproxen** twice a day until I see her next month and massage therapy. She gave me a trial of rizatriptan benzoate to take at the first symptoms of a migraine. I've been taking the Naproxen for two weeks, had my second massage therapy appointment today and just had to take my first dose of rizatriptan benzoate a couple minutes ago. Let's see how this works.


*Took that long to get an appointment with her
** Basically a stronger version of Aleve

Get this woman her own show!

All I remember from my dream

is Ky punctuating everything she said with "hut cha CHAAA".

Behold, Betty White (with a special appearance by centaur John Ritter)

Two separate people today thought: "Hey, Janice is my source for Bea Arthur wrestling dinosaurs maybe she wants to branch out to other Golden Girls."

This week's Portland Mercury cover:

Because I'm classy

Hilarious and adorable.

You can't argue with science

According to Stupid Fight:

Not Justin Bieber

I realize that I'm nearly 32 year old and not exactly up on teen culture but



I know there is no way that is Justin Bieber.

"I'd like a single plum floating in perfume served in a man's hat."

Sit Down, Shut Up - Arnett vs. Bateman

2010 NHL Stanley Cup Prediction: Updated

Sigh, the things I do instead of homework.....



Please forgive, I didn't have much time to make the bracket image. Hopefully I'll have time to improve it by next round (and talk about my rational). It is unfair that hockey playoffs coincide with finals. Two years ago, I asked my doctor if she could write me a note to excuse me from finals until the hockey season was over -- she was not amused.


Add: James Cybulski of TSN made the exact same prediction as me. That has to count for something? Exact same logic as I (if you care).

Champion!

If only I could translate this into not pretend success...

Pleasant Picture Before Bed

On the job
Originally uploaded by star5112

ADORABLE!

Mouse Toilet (or things I say when I'm tired)

Alana, James and I ordered appetizers to share at a restaurant. After the waitress brought our plates, I explained that they always give their customers "mouse toilets". (Certainly something you would not want to clean your hands with). As Alana pointed out, I "traded diphthongs":
mouse toilet: ˈmaus ˈtoi-lət
moist towelette: ˈmoist tau-(ə-)ˈlet
(My apologies that the pronunciations are not written out correctly, I can't figure out how to do all the characters in html).

The last time we hung out, I had to backtrack on a story with
"Oh wait, not Morgan Freeman... I meant the Hulk." Understandable mistake since they are often confused.

Test Anxiety

Test anxiety USUALLY occurs before or during a test. I get test anxiety after the test (or assignment) I did poorly on. I think there is an expectation from others that I will do really well. I worry that others will be disappointed when I do poorly.

Yesterday, I wrote two lab finals and they did not go great. The exams were back to back for a total of 3 hours. The very first question on my first exam I had to set up an AC circuit with a light bulb. We only had 15 minutes to collect data and I could not get my ammeter to display anything. My lab instructor pointed out my cables where in the wrong inputs for an ammeter. Once I finally had things set up properly, I had so little time for data collection it left me completely frazzled for the rest of the morning.

Last night and today, I'm stressing out about the tests. Mistakes I made keep going over and over in my head.

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England (Puritian)

Ugh, more nightmares

Two nights ago, after I wrote my last blog post about nightmares, I was too tired to remember my dreams. So what made me wake up in a cold sweat early this morning? Zombie apocalypse*. I will spare the very gruesome** details but you didn't know who was a zombie until they attacked. The only other non-zombie was a female chef I didn't like*** and we had to learn to work together.







*Interesting Janny stat: this is the 6th zombie related post. Might explain a few things.
** I accidentally typed gruelsome the first time.
*** Not a real person but the chef part was integral to her skill set in my dream.

Inconsolable

I'm tired and I'm discouraged. Part of it is frustration from school. Part of it is feeling very unattractive. Part of it is feeling left behind and left out. Part of it is being frustrated that I'm sick so often. The worst of it is sometimes my best efforts aren't good enough. I need a good sleep. I don't know if it is all the anti-histamines I've been taking but I've had nightmares 3 nights in a row:

The first night, I dreamt I woke up and there was a child standing by my bed watching me sleep. In my dream I didn't believe it was actually happening so I forced myself awake.

The next night, I dreamt there was a dragon attacking my house. I was a hobbit and I ran down to my cellar to hide. There were all these other hobbits in my cellar and they appointed me king. As king, it was my job to get rid of the dragon. Just as I was going up the stairs of the cellar, the dragon came crashing into my house. His head got a little stuck in the cellar door so I cut off his hand and slashed his throat before he could get free. I then stabbed him in the heart to make sure he was dead. The cellar was filling up with his blood and we all ran towards the small window to escape. Then I woke up.

Last night I hiked to the top of a really steep hill. I was taking pictures and the hill started shaking. The hill was an active volcano that was starting to erupt. I ran down the hill as fast as I could. As I reached the bottom I turned around to watch lava start pouring down the sides. I wasn't watching where I was going and I tripped. Then I woke up.

Even though I woke up terrified, thinking about me being the dragon slaying king of the hobbits is making me laugh. You see this ridiculous brain I'm dealing with? If only I could get it to figure out how fast water is flowing between concentric pipes (AKA fluid mechanics question that made me cry).

I forgot about Uncle Kool-Aid

I might be procrastinating from homework but this morning's post inspired me to read Wikipedia's article on SNL animal sketches:
Facts About Brian Fellow

• Brian Fellow was once bit by a snapping turtle. Ever since then, he seems to have an irrational fear of any kind of turtle.


• Brian Fellow was once attacked by a pigeon.


• Brian Fellow has a friend named Jessie, who fixes cars.


• Brian Fellow has a friend named Angel, who likes to name birds.


• Brian Fellow has a strange fear and hatred of goats.


• Brian Fellow has a clean mouth. There is no talk of the birds and the bees on his show, except when there are birds or bees, and sometimes, not even then.


• Brian Fellow has an Uncle Kool-Aid who often wears a big belt buckle.


• Brian Fellow does not like porcupines.


• Brian Fellow has a brother named Ryan Fellow.

Brian Fellow's remarks on animals

• On a boa constrictor: "That's one big worm!" or "Does the snake still work for the Devil?"


• On a Sphynx (cat): "What'd you do to that cat? He bald-headed!"


• On a tarantula: "That's one fuzzy bug! ...If I had a bug like that, I'd make a coat out of him!"


• On a parrot after the bird mimics his catch phrase "I'm Brian Fellow": "That bird is a liar!"


• On a bat: "I understand bats live in caves", to which the trainer acknowledges yes, "Does he know where Osama bin Laden is?"


• On a pig: "Why does that pig hate Jewish people?" (a reference to kashrut, a Jewish diet that forbids consumption of pork)


• On a Miniature horse: "That's the biggest dog I've ever seen!"


• On a goat: "I didn't like that goat, he had devil eyes!"


• On a turtle: "If that turtle bites me, I'm gonna kill it!"


• On a rabbit: "That rabbit just winked at me!"


• On a porcupine: "That rat needs a hair cut" and "All I'm saying is he needs a haircut. Looking all homeless and stuff."


• On a donkey: "Our next guest has big ears too because he likes to carry coffee beans and rocks. Please welcome a donkey."


• On a cow: "That cow has a big head. I bet he's all stuck up 'cuz of that big head."

"That bird is a liar"

In celebration of post #1234


Brian Fellows Safari Planet: parrot & tarantula

If you haven't been watching "Parenthood", you should

I had no intentions of start to watch a new show but I heard good things about Parenthood. It is the story of four grown siblings as they deal with parenthood*. I cry every episode.

Without giving anything away, what you need to know:
Adam (Peter Krause) and his wife Kristina (Monica Potter) are trying to deal with a son that never seems to fit in. Meanwhile, their overachieving daughter always takes the metaphorical backseat.

Sarah (Lauren Graham) left her drug-addicted musician husband and has run out of money. With no where else to go, she moves back into her parents'(Craig T. Nelson & Bonnie Bedelia) home. Her teenage children have a hard time adjusting to their new school and their absentee father.

Just as Crosby's (Dax Shepard) long-time girlfriend is pressuring him for a commitment, he learns he has a 5 year old son.

Julia (Erika Christensen) is successful lawyer with a young daughter and stay-at-home husband (Sam Jaeger). Her daughter constantly goes to her husband for her needs and feels they are lacking a mother-daughter bond.



* Well, duh.

In all things moderation

Comments will be moderated for awhile. I had a spam bot or something attack my comments. Don't worry if your comments don't show up right away.

Tyra, you need to smile with your eyes

Unfortunate time to pause:

R.I.P. Bryan

About two weekends Bryan, who I've known since kindergarten, was in the hospital for unspecified reasons. He was released a couple days later proclaiming he'd have to make some serious life changes. He's always been a very fit person but he was going to have to give up smoking (a habit he's had since about grade 8). Today I found out he died from a heart attack on March 24th and his funeral is today.

Not until we started university did I realize how smart Bryan was. I wondered if he acted dumb because he was scared of what his friends would think. He couldn't hide it anymore once he was thriving in university. He finished a social work degree in 2002 and worked in the local jail ever since.

Bryan always had a soft spot for the downtrodden. He was a very generous supporter of the Humane Society and any organization that helped abused children. He had a good rapport with the inmates and wanted to be a good influence in their lives.

Mixed feelings to strong opinions about a new stadium

At first I was all for improvements to Mosaic Stadium in Regina. I was a little apprehensive about the building of a new covered stadium but I was going to wait until the feasibility study. For months we hear about the strength of the Saskatchewan economy and how this is something we could afford. Suddenly farmers all over the world refused to pay ridiculous prices for fertilizer and the government gets way less royalties from the potash industry than expected.

Before the provincial budget came out this week, we knew there would be cuts. A couple months ago, the government cut some coverage of chiropractic services but never did I expect it to be completely delisted. This is completely moronic -- people who can't afford pro-active services are going to cost the system more in re-active services (i.e., drugs and surgery). If we can't afford partial coverage of chiropractic services then we can't afford a stadium. If the people want a stadium get public money to fund it.

Andy Hallett Tribute Comic - The Afterword

For those of you have never saw Angel, this is not going to make any sense. Andy Hallett (who played Lorne) died from congestive heart disease a year ago. His good friend Mark Lutz (who played The Groosalugg) wrote the afterword in the new Angel comic "Lorne". An excerpt:

The rapport was instant, easy going, and warm. We spent the next hour talking about everything under the sun EXCEPT for the fact that we were both different colors and in these outrageous outfits on the ....Paramount.... back lot. Executives in suits would occasionally pass by us, everyone of them giving us some manner of ‘look’ that involved a combination of curiosity, mild-amusement and disbelief. Andy seized on every opportunity he could to make them laugh.

“Humans,” he said loudly in feigned disgust, “don’t they know it’s not polite to stare?”, to a gaggle of “suits” across the street.

“Who raised you, anyway Ma’am? Have you no respect for visible minorities?”, he inquired of who I instantly recognized as former head of Paramount Pictures, Sherry Lansing - but he, obviously, did not. She laughed heartedly and nodded in the direction of both the blue and green humanoids that had just verbally accosted her …an absurdity that I’m sure only could take place in ....Hollywood.....

Something You Should Learn in Kindergarten

I organized a documentary screening back in January at the university. A lady who works for the Faculty of Science helped a lot but was unable to make it to the event. Last month she borrowed the DVD and I haven't seen it since. We are donating the DVD to the public library and I said I'd drop it off weeks ago. I've been sending the lady who borrowed the DVD emails for weeks asking when I can pick it up from her with no reply. Finally today she admitted that she does not have the DVD anymore because she lent it to a friend. WHAT? THAT IS RIDICULOUS! You don't lend out something that isn't yours. I look like a jerk to the library because I'm waiting on someone I do not know to return the DVD.

Pet Peeve: Addendum

I thought of another one:
Nondescript subject headings for important emails.

The Physics Admin Assistant uses great subject headings:
Regional Science Fair Request
Seminar - March 19 3PM

The Math Ed Program Advisor uses the same subject heading every time:
Of Interest?????
Whether it is a You Tube video, news article, lesson plan, it is always the same. Being super busy with school right now, checking his emails are not a priority. Yesterday I found out he sent me information for a temporary teaching job* with the subject "Of Interest???" By the time I contacted the school, the position had been filled. Ack!




*not quitting school, it was for May-June.

Little Add

I added a Music, Movie & Book Recommend Gadget on the right. It is powered by the website Tastekid.

Notes in Church

LynnieC: My stomach hurts from the ghost of poopies future.
Janny: My stomach is feeling great from the ghost of poopies past.

Funny People Think I'm Funny (with Apologies to John Denver)

I sent this video to Jay Onrait to help with Olympic withdrawal. He loved it! It was a great start to the day to find out others appreciate your awesomeness.



Janny's note to Ky: It is alright to have a crush on Jay Onrait, I'm sure he could handle your high fives. Like your brother, I've watched him on TV for years. He's funny and charming and ridiculously tall. Viewers love him, people love working with him and that is why he was asked to anchor Olympic Morning.

Well that took long enough

I once read that if you ask your brain a question, it has no choice to answer it. It may not answer it right away but it never stops until it does.

This morning as I tied my shoes, I noticed my laces were made out of a nylon blend. I became annoyed because cotton shoe laces stay tied better. Shoe laces that won't stay tied reminded me of a time I re-lace a friend's shoes in a parking lot after midnight. The cops drove by and thought we were doing drugs. I chalked it up to strange behaviour and my friend's is anxious nature. I realized today the cops thought we pulled out the shoe lace so we could use intravenous drugs. Duh, why did it take me 12+ years to realize?

As I walked towards the bus stop, I heard the word antediluvian in the song Atlantis by Donovan. A couple years ago, in a semi-conscious state, I was bother that I didn't know what antediluvian meant. When I woke up in the morning and the weeks following, I was bothered where I had even heard the word.* People told me that I must have been reading something about Noah's Ark. This didn't make sense, I would remember that. It is amazing what the brain picks up when you are not paying attention. I spend so much time with music in the background as I work. This is the same reason why I realized I knew all the words to Bowie's "Space Oddity" as I caught my self singing the harmony part as I studied.






* Poet and I didn't know it.

Lazy Sunday Live 2010!

Never gets old:

BBC's How to Report the News

Language warning

Handsome Men's Club

Mom & Dad, don't bother watching, it won't make sense to you anyway.

I'm tired and frustrated and I don't want to do this anymore

Do you know how hard it is to do relativistic energy proofs when you have a migraine? I have a midterm tomorrow so choice do I have? I just want to curl up into a ball and cry. Drugs help relieve the pain but not the other symptoms.

I'm going to put on my new shoes, maybe they will help.

Pet Peeves

I’m a little grumpy. After 2 migraine free days, I, well, umm, have a migraine.*

1. water in my ears


2. people who touch the controls in my car. Tell me if you’re cold, don’t adjust it yourself.


3. People who complain but do nothing about it. Example: People who ride the bus in Regina complain about smoking in shelters but say nothing when they see it happen. Same goes for people who don’t vote.


4. Sniffling during class. Blow your nose!


5. People who don’t put CDs or DVDs back where they belong


6. Strangers who try to have a conversation with me while I’m going to the bathroom.**


7. eternal optimists

*I also like redundancy
** Lady janitor in the lab building is a notorious offender

Sometimes I remember the strangest things

I had a headache today, again. I slept a good portion of the afternoon and the acetaminophen with caffeine has me wide awake. With the Olympics on, there hasn't been much of new TV so nothing saved on the DVR to bide my time until I'm tired.* I received all the seasons of Gilmore Girls on DVD from my family last year for Christmas. I stopped watching episodes over the summer since I couldn't bare to watch anymore of season 6.** Last week I decided I could continue watching if I skipped parts of season 6 & 7.***

OK, I didn't want to talk about my headache, my sleeplessness or Gilmore Girls. Yes, Gilmore Girls makes me weepy sometimes but tonight it wasn't really the show that was making me weepy, it was Christiane Amanpour. You're probably thinking "What does CNN's chief international correspondent have anything to do with any of this?" She was made a cameo in the series finale of Gilmore Girls. Soon as I saw her I remembered a fellow teacher told me how she always wished she had become a journalist like Amanpour. This the first of many conversations about our path in life we take. All these feelings and insecurities came flooding back to me and it was a little much.

Sorry for the rambling.










* Please forgive, I just finished watching multiple episodes of Gilmore Girls. My brain is in fast talking mode.
** Not that it was bad, just hard to watch emotionally because you know what is going to happen.
*** Sorry, my brain is a little like this:

LORELAI: Because my brain is a wild jungle full of scary gibberish. "I'm writing a letter. I can't write a letter. "Why can't I write a letter? I'm wearing a green dress. "I wish I was wearing my blue dress. "My blue dress is at the cleaners. "'The Germans wore gray. You wore blue. ''Casablanca'. "'Casablanca' is such a good movie. "'Casablanca.' The white house. Bush. "Why don't I drive a hybrid car? I should drive a hybrid car. "I should really take my bicycle to work. "Bicycle. Unicycle. Unitard. Hockey puck. Rattlesnake. Monkey, monkey, underpants."

The Nose Knows

Today is the eighth consecutive day I've been sick. It started with a sore throat on Friday night then migraine Saturday then flu/cold by Sunday. My stomach is feeling much better but now it is just a dreadful head cold. I think my nose is playing tricks on me. It seems to start running like crazy whenever I've just washed my hands or if I even think of going to sleep.

New Highest Scrabble Score Ever! (With Apologies to May-B)

Beat my previous best score of 513 last week with a new high of 517! Woot!

As happy as I am for doing so well, I felt bad it had to happen when May-B was having such a rough game. Right after she had to swap her tiles, I played slumping for 100 points (my new highest single word score). She started a new game called "Thank God that is over".

Letters to Some Former Students

Dear Allison,
Glad to see that you are well and seem to have risen above where you came from. I always admired your cheery disposition in spite of your bad home situation. The fact that you are a new mother makes me feel very, very old.
Love, Janny

Dear Brandon,
Wow, you got hot. I'm sure you are still an idiot but the years since high school have been kind to you (unlike many others).
Love, Janny

Dear Andrea,
You've always seemed to have a sadness about you and I never knew why. I pray you can find the peace you are looking for.
Love, Janny

Dear Tyrel,
You seemed like you were one of those boys that would be stuck in that town forever. I am so proud of you for being more than the low expectations for you. It is amazing what the love a good woman can do for a man.
Love, Janny

Dear Travis,
I'm sorry if you thought I didn't like you. You thought you were my least favorite student but it was really the opposite. You honestly were the smartest student I have ever taught and I was just trying to push you to achieve what I knew you could.
In other news, I still tell people about how your grad date was a very attractive 23 years old.
Love, Janny

Dear Sabrina,
Is it bad that I knew that you'd be a girl that could never leave that town? Not necessarily a bad thing. I know you had big ambitions but family and friends were more important.
I forgot how hot your dad was. Also, your brother is still a piece of work but I think it is part of his genetics.
Love, Janny

Sometimes it is best to not know the context

Overheard at the university: "The Incredible Hulk and Morgan Freeman? That's just too much awesome for one conversation."

Ann-Margrock sings "Ain't Goin' to Be Your Fool"

I had this song stuck in my head this evening...

6-bee

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon's Glee Parody: