three cubed

To comment on my sister's mention of my birthday. I did not mention it for two reasons. First, I don't like celebrating birthdays. It isn't any sort of accomplishment. You just went another whole year without dying. Maybe when living another year is an accomplishment I'll celebrate it. Second, I don't feel like I have whole lot in my life to celebrate. Things like wedding anniversaries should be celebrated. Marriage is a lot of work and worth celebrating.

Things I learned this year in no particular order:
1) I am a music elitist.
2) There is no media conspiracy.
3) Some battles are not worth fighting.
4) Forgiveness is a choice you continually have to make.
5) You cannot lighten hair dyed black.
6) Life is never what you expect it to be.
7) God will humble the proud heart.
8) Patience is easier said than done.

I'm sure I learned some other things but I can't think of them right now.

woot! woot!

The Firefly movie Serenity trailer is online. Check it out. I'm so excited.

Side note to Dad: No this show is nothing like My Pet Monster. You are thinking of the show Sliders.

Brain Ouches

I tutored Calculus for 6 hours straight today. Didn't think I was going to be tutoring for that long. A combination of not eating supper when I should have and 6 hours of Calculus has made me spacey.

I need to prepare the pot roast for tomorrow. We invited my aunt, uncle and household over for supper. My cousin/roommate is going to turn on the crock pot when she gets up in the wee smalls of the morning. I am supposed to working on it right now. I think I should have a shower before I start using a large chef's knife. I'm a little out of it to be chopping vegetables.

"I dreamt about this but without the cold cuts"

There was a cute boy on the Daily Show tonight. His name is Reza Aslan and he is a religious scholar. He was promoting his new book about Islam. He used phrases like "clerical oligarchy". Ooooooooo. Hottest religious scholar I've ever seen. You'd expect someone with more wrinkles and excess hair of the nose and ears.

We had a planning committee meeting for the youth retreat our church will be hosting next month. We almost have the classes figured out. We got a lot done so it makes me feel much better about it.

Random news

Both of the people I was supposed to tutor tonight canceled because of illness. Very strange. I suspect a conspiracy but I don't think they know each other.

I decided I love the music from Match Game. It is pretty funky.

Mix CD

Sorry it took so long to finish this. Some of these were harder choices than choosing my minor in university.

1) A favorite political track. "Sleep Now in the Fire" - Rage Against the Machine

2) One of those tracks that make you dance on the dance floor no matter what. "Don't Leave Me This Way" - Thelma Houston

3) The song you?d use to tell someone you love them. "All I Want is You" - U2

4) A song that has made you sit down and analyze it?s lyrics. "Wheat Kings" - Tragically Hip

5) A song that you like, that a two year old would like as well - Spiderman theme song

6) A song that gives you an energy boost. "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" - The Darkness

7) A song that you and your grandparents (would probably) like. "God Has No Mistakes" - Loretta Lynn

8) A song that you really liked when you were 14-16, and still really like now. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana

9) A sad song that would be in the soundtrack of the movie about your life. "Pitseleh" - Elliot Smith

10) A peppy song that would start the opening credits of the movie about your life. I'm pretty sure any movie about my life would not have peppy opening credits. My sister would say "Short Skirt, Long Jacket" - Cake

11) A good song from a genre of music that no one would guess that you liked. "Guilty Conscience" -Eminem & Dr. Dre

12) A song that you think should have been playing when you were born. "Embryonic Journey" - Jefferson Airplane. I think all babies should be born to this song.

13) A favorite artist duo collaboration. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - George Harrison with Eric Clapton on guitar

14) A favorite song that you completely disagree with (politically, morally, commonsenically, religiously etc.)"Crash Into Me" - Dave Matthews Band

15) The song that you like despite the fact your IQ level drops several points every time you listen to it. "Every Rose Has Its Thorns" - Poison

16) Your smooth song, for relaxing. "Sweet Mountain Honey" The Steve Miller Band

17) A song you would send to someone you hate or are mad at. "Liar" - Henry Rollins

18) A favorite track from an outfit considered a ?super-group.? "Mysterious Ways" - U2

19) A song that makes you reminisce about good times with a family member. "Rocky Raccoon" - The Beatles

20) Your favorite song at this moment in time. "Feeling Good" - Michael Buble (or Nina Simone version)

CD mix challenge

Here's a blog meme called the CD mix challenge, to which I have edited to be more appropriate to this group. I hope that you can participate using your own blog.

In Blogspeak, a meme is an idea that is shared and passed from blog to blog, like a question posted in one blog and answered in many other blogs.

So here?s the challenge. From your own musical background, construct a CD song list in the following format. This idea was edited from a meme found here.

1) A favorite political track.
2) One of those tracks that make you dance on the dance floor no matter what.
3) The song you'd use to tell someone you love them.
4) A song that has made you sit down and analyze it?s lyrics.
5) A song that you like, that a two year old would like as well.
6) A song that gives you an energy boost.
7) A song that you and your grandparents (would probably) like.
8) A song that you really liked when you were 14-16, and still really like now.
9) A sad song that would be in the soundtrack of the movie about your life.
10) A peppy song that would start the opening credits of the movie about your life.
11) A good song from a genre of music that no one would guess that you liked.
12) A song that you think should have been playing when you were born.
13) A favorite artist duo collaboration.
14) A favorite song that you completely disagree with (politically, morally, commonsenically, religiously etc.)
15) The song that you like despite the fact your IQ level drops several points every time you listen to it.
16) Your smooth song, for relaxing.
17) A song you would send to someone you hate or are mad at.
18) A favorite track from an outfit considered a 'super-group'.
19) A song that makes you reminisce about good times with a family member.
20) Your favorite song at this moment in time.

I will post my answers later in the week. I hope you post your too.

"So what becomes of you my love" (the song lyric that has been stuck in my head all week)

I wish there was something exciting to report but there really isn't. This has been a pretty non eventful couple days.

I did some tutoring earlier in the week but I have not subbed. I sub on Monday and hope there will be more calls.

It has been really beautiful weather this week. I have gone on a walk around our fake lake three days in a row. It seems a little strange to be walking past a frozen pond in shorts.

I met my cousins at a bakery for dessert yesterday afternoon. We did a little shopping too. I was supposed to hang out with Bronwyn afterward but she was too tired. Oh well.

I went to the doctor yesterday for my allergy shot. He got confused which on he had given me already. He only gave me one of two shots. He didn't want to risk giving me a double dose of one. I have to go back early next week to get both of them.

I went over to visit my friend Jann yesterday and her new baby Kieran. I took over some cream of carrot soup. Her sister and my friend, Kristin, is leaving today so I wanted to visit before she left. We went shopping and I found a cute present for my friend Laurel's baby. Kristin and I came to the conclusion that people we know are out of control having babies. We know 5 people who have babies since January, 3 of those have been in the last couple weeks. There are still a couple more expecting this summer.

I hurt my leg a couple days ago. I was trying to take two full laundry baskets downstairs. I balanced them on a chair while I opened the basement door. The chair and laundry came toppling over and hit the side of my knee. I had already been having problems with my knees and this just made it worse.

I am annoyed with people being rude right now. Some people have little concern for others.

I went to the dentist yesterday. My previous dentist retired so his associate is my new dentist. I recognized his name and assumed I had never met him before. I got to the office and he is a guy I went to high school with. I thought I just recognized the name because he worked in the same office as my former dentist. I went to a big school and we weren't friends or anything. I just recognize him. He told me he could tell I take good care of my teeth. I have to go back today for a cleaning.

I got new glasses today. I had an eye appointment this afternoon and the glasses were ready by 4:30pm. They have magnetized clip on sunglasses. Very fancy. I was hoping to find my old ones but it has been two weeks. I couldn't stand wearing my old ones anymore.

Early this morning my friend Jann had her baby. She woke up at 5:45am at home and had her baby in the hospital by 6:30am. It is a boy named Kieran Aksel. He weighs 8lbs 5oz.

I'm waiting on hearing if my sister is done her thesis yet. This afternoon I stopped by to show my new glasses. She was writing the conclusion.

sorry, it's been so long

Man, it has been a long time since I updated last. Currently I am Regina for the Easter break or what I like to call "no chance for work". A recap of the past couple week...

I have working a lot lately. I subbed more this month than any other month so far. The subbing has gone well and I only had to use my outside voice inside once. I think teaching experience has made subbing much easier for me. I have many new students that I tutor. Right now I have 5 university students, a high school student and 2 grade 7 students. It has kept my evenings very busy. So been subbing and tutoring I did not have much spare time for blogging last week. Please forgive me.

This past weekend I was at a family church camp. I felt so anti-social. I wasn't feeling well so spent most of my time in my room sleeping. The meetings were good.

There was one pretty big event that occurred at camp -- my friend Laurel had a baby. Laurel has been one of my closest friends for my entire life. I was a bridesmaid in her wedding in 2001. She recently moved back to Saskatchewan when her husband Greg got a new job. Her due date was March 31 and she really wanted to come to camp. At her doctor's appointment, he told her to go to the camp, the baby was not coming anytime soon. Three hours after she arrived at the camp, her water broke. Her husband rushed her to the hospital where the doctor was convinced that the baby was going to come quickly. Then nothing happened. They had to induce her the next day and then nothing happened. They had to try vacuum assisted birth and nothing happened. They had to do a c-section because the baby was in distress by this time. Around 11pm on March 24, Kayce Elizabeth was born. She is 9lbs 2oz and 22 inches long. A big baby especially for a girl. Greg, her father, is an engineer so I'm convinced she is good at spacial reasoning. She was ready to be born and thought "Me, going out that way, ain't happening." Smart girl. She is adorable. I visited them in the hospital on Sunday evening.

In other waiting for babies news:
Also this past weekend, my cousin Heidi went to labour also at the camp. She is 8 months pregnant. She was rushed to the hospital. They were able to stop the labour. She is able to go home.

My friend Jessica is also pregnant (who was not at camp) and is way past over due. I heard if she didn't have the baby soon they were going to induce her. I'm still waiting to hear news.

I am also waiting to hear news about my friend Jann who was due this past weekend. She wishes she could have been at camp but couldn't if they baby wasn't born yet.

So in summary: the people I know are out of control having babies. There are more that are due later in the year.

So that brings me to now. I am in Regina visiting my family. My parents brought my grandma home with them after the camp. She is going to be here for a couple weeks. I don't feel so guilty about not getting to visit her at camp.

"Paging Dr. Mary, Dr. Mary"

Congratulations to my sister for being accepted into the Ph.D. program at University of Victoria. Things are falling into place for Maryanne and Chris.

My eyes are so tired from wearing my old glasses. They are way weaker than my new ones. I might even have to break down and wear my contacts tonight when I go out. I hope they find my glasses at the doctor's office. I hate my old glasses. I wore them for 2 years and never got used to the dark plastic frames. If I don't find my glasses I won't be able to afford new ones. I will have to get new lenses for my old frames. Sigh.

Tonight a group from my church would like to visit the place we are having a youth retreat for May Long Weekend. Before we can go ahead with planning the activities we need to see the place. We have a planning meeting on Saturday.

"My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again"

It has been a strange day in Jannyville.

I was awoken this morning at 8:35 by the emergency dispatch system looking for a sub for the whole day. School had already started but they had just got the call. I arrived shortly after 9:30 only to be informed that they didn't need anyone. There was a mix up and another sub was already there. I was informed that I would still be paid and I would work for the morning filing cumulative files. So I was paid for a full day of work to file for a half a day. Unusual but I'm not complaining (except for my back which is killing me). Even more unusual was that when I got to the staffroom to retrieve my things a teacher was rifling through my lunch. She was alone in the room and when I walked in she sees me and proclaims "This isn't my lunch!". Well, duh. Yours was right beside you in a plastic grocery bag and you were looking in a cloth red lunch bag. The principal said that sometimes lunches get stolen but I thought he was joking.

I woke up from my nap this afternoon and to my surprise it had snowed. The ground was completely covered from the time I got home to the time I left again two hours later to go to the doctor.

As I waited for the doctor I was trying to read The Odyssey. The attempt at reading was unfruitful the TV was on near me with a loud kids' cooking show called Edible Incredible. I took off my glasses while I was reading and I have no idea what happened to them. I don't know if I took them with me to the doctor's office or left them in the waiting room. I realized they were gone when the doctor came in. The nurses and I searched everywhere and I never did find them. I left my name and number and they said they'd call if they found them. Oy with the poodles already!

I'm pretty sure I am never going to get these German songs out of my head. I've had a song about a pretty little bird stuck in my head for the last 24 hours.

I almost got in a car accident tonight. My roommates and I were on our way home from a friend's house when a mini-van coming from the other direction started turn left and stopped right in our lane. It is a good thing that my car has good brakes and I have quick reflexes. My roommates were a little freaked out but I was surprisingly calm.

Things are better between my roommate and I after our "altercation" last night. She barely spoke to me for most of the day. We watched our tape of Alias tonight. As we watched the show we started talking again.

Fun task

Thanks for the suggestion Maryanne

1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
5. Don?t search around and look for the ?coolest? book you can find. Do what?s actually next to you

The nearest book:A Return to Modest by Wendy Shalit
Fifth sentence:"Mostly I was afraid I'd get pregnant"
I plan to not explain the context.

If you do not have a blog you can email me your sentence.

"It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me"

I have German songs stuck in my head. I had my concert tonight with the symphony. We also had a dress rehearsal this afternoon which equates to a lot of singing this past week.

After the concert, my friend Ky and I went to our church for a games night that was already in progress. The only played one game called Quiddler (a word scramble-type game). My roommate had a bit of tantrum at the beginning of the game when she found out she couldn't make a certain play. She freaked out on the owner of the game. She was being rather rude. I told her that she didn't need to get so upset and it was just a game. She looked away and made a motion with her hands like I was "yapping" too much and she was not listening. I very sternly told her never to do that to me again. She is older than me but she certainly was not acting like it. Later at least she admitted she threw a tantrum but apologized to no one. The ride home was very quiet. Normally she is rather talkative. The only time she is ever quiet is when she knows she is wrong or has done something she knows she shouldn't have.

My parents came up for my concert. Between the dress rehearsal and the concert, I met my parents for supper. After the concert they came to the games night as well.

Horrible Adventures in Hair

Last night my friend Bronwyn tried to lighten my hair and it went horribly. It wasn't her or my fault. I dyed my hair in October and only my roots changed color. My roots were dark blond. We went and got more hair dye but that only dyed my roots red. I went back to the drug store today and got "soft black" hair dye. That was the only color close to my natural color that would cover everything. I currently am deep conditioning my hair to counteract the over processing.

Happy Procrastination Week!

This used to be my favorite procrastination site:Ze's Page. You need to check out "How to Dance Properly".

Post your favorite procrastinate link.

Hotmail aka the email tease

Hotmail keeps on telling me I have new email when there is none. I get excited "Yes! Email!" only to come crashing down when I realize there is none. Booo. Just right now I had new email but it was only Hotmail member services. Double Booo.

I have been so forgetful tonight. As I entered the Education building at the university, I realized I left my choir music in the car. After choir I left my music in the auditorium.

Practice was horrible tonight for me. I was standing beside this woman who I am convinced has never been to practice before. She was singing the songs so poorly it was completely messing me up. I in turn messed up Ky. It was a viscous circle. I remember to avoid that woman in the future.

same old, same old

Friday night my friends and I greeted my friend Tina at the airport. It is her spring break this week and she is visiting until Thursday. Her plane was supposed to get in at 11:30pm but was delayed and didn't arrive until 12:15am. We were the "jerks" at the airport. We had a big banner that we wrapped Tina in after she walked through the gate. It was pretty silly. My sister came up to visit on Saturday to see Tina.

I subbed again today. Four days in a row, a new record. It was mostly math and computer classes but the last class of the day was drama 9. I was a little worried about drama because I have no experience teaching it at all. When I arrived at the auditorium there was a student-teacher there who volunteered to run to the class. She made them do these relaxation exercises and two girls feel asleep. It was very funny. The two girls are identical twins and one of them is named Xochitil (pronounced ?Sochee?). I had never heard that name before.

More Amusing Oscar Pictures

A roaring Rosario Dawson.


Elton John and Elizabeth Taylor and a very scary birthday cake.


Oscar's Grandmother


Farnsworth Bentley and Sean Combs. I love dapper men!


Scarlett Johansson - I'm not sure why people said she looked good at the Oscars.

There were some panicked moments last night for me. I received the official call for subbing for the rest of the week when the dispatch system hung up on me. It never called me back. I left a message at the emergency desk explaining what happened. I was scared that someone else got the assignment. The lady called me in the morning and entered everything in manually.

I went to the doctor today for my first shot. I thought I was going to set up the paper work so an RN could give me the shot. It turns out they no longer have an RN at that office so I have to make an appointment. The doctor made me wait a half hour after the shot. He was worried I was going to go into anaphylactic shock. I have had these shots for more than 4 years I do not think now I will suddenly develop an allergic reaction to it.

My friend Tina is coming to visit tomorrow. She is staying until Thursday. My sister is coming on Saturday morning to see her. I have lots of house work to do.

What happened to everybody? No one has left a comment forever and a day.

I just got off the phone with the man I subbed for this morning. I will be in for the rest of the week but only for the mornings. He is a man who works part-time because he has MS. He is having a bad week. He told me that it is so bad he can't even scratch his face. :( Poor man. I'm sad he has to go through that but I'm am glad to have the work. The vice principal is going to see if she can find more classes for me to cover.

My allergies have been horrible the last while. I have to go back onto immunotherapy shots. I had been taking drops but they have not been working as well. My family doctor moved away so I start to see a new one tomorrow and get my shots set up. Fun times getting a shot in the arm.

My new nickname is Thelchtereia (enchantress) because recently a young man called myself and my friends sirens. All of us have siren names now.

Finally I can say something about it...

Last week I had an interview at a educational software company. The interview went really well but I felt uneasy about it. The job is in a different city. The next day I was subbing and I realized that I would miss being in a school too much. I got a call today to tell me that I have been shortlisted for the position. I informed them I was no longer interested in the position. It has been absolutely stressing me out.

Oscar Silliness

I have felt a little aimless lately. I don't want to talk about it though. On with the silliness.

I did not have the patience to watch the Oscar's this year but the pictures from it always amuse me.

Winner Brad Bird polishing his Oscar



Samuel L. Jackson peeking around the corner. It seems to be the new award show trend.

Robert Richardson - winner of "Best Supporting Magician"

Apologies, Apologies

Sorry I have not updated my blog much this week. I have not felt up to it. It is been a strange week.

A brief overview of my week:
- had a dinner party on Tuesday and it was awkward
- subbed on Friday and had a modified math class that entirely consisted of grade 9 boys. That is cruel and unusual punishment because grade 9 boys are a special breed of stupid. It was a good day though and had no problems.
- had a girls' night on Friday we called boys we knew and sang to them
- watch my brother play soccer
- almost finished the mural at church

The rest of my time in Regina was rather nondescript. Glad to see the family but not really story worthy.

When I got home to Saskatoon there was a message from the vice principal at Allen School. She said she would like for me to come in for all day Monday and I needed to call her by 11. I called her at 10:30 and she had already found someone else. If I would have phoned her 15 minutes sooner I could have work on Monday. Not much I can do.

Last night while I was trying to get to sleep I had the song "Die Harmonie in der Ehe" (Harmony in Marriage) stuck in my head. It is one of the pieces from choir. Nothing like a German song about a husband and wife who like to count money to help a girl go to sleep. I woke up at 5:30am with the song still in my head. I couldn't get back to sleep so I watched TV.

Hopefully we are having company over for supper. I have only told a few people so I hope the others can still come.

grrr

I went to the allergist today. He told me I need to start allergy shots again. Right now I have these drops that I take but they seem to be rather ineffective.

After my appointment I did a little shopping. I bought a bamboo cutting board, marble mortar and pestle, a pizza cutter and ice cream scoop. My other ice cream scoop bit the dust on Sunday. I can't wait to use my mortar and pestle; I've always wanted one.

My newest amusement is Pseudodictionary.com.

Congratulations to my sister on finishing the first chapter of her thesis.

I just found out that this summer my friends Dave and his wife Catherine are moving to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. That is insane. They will be both teaching at an English private school for a minimum of two years. Right now they live in rural Nova Scotia. I am convinced I will never see them again.

Today is the first day of my "no possibility of work" week. The schools around here have the week off so teachers can attend convention.

Yesterday Ang and I invited people over for lunch. There were about 8 of us. We played games for most of the day including Tribond, Canasta and Trivial Pursuit. I continue my sucking streak in Trivial Pursuit. I don't know what happened to me. It seems like the last couple times I have played everyone else but me gets questions I know the answer to.

I leave for Regina tomorrow. Hopefully fun and good times will be had.

For those interested parties

For those fans of the show "Lost", here is a fansite for Charlie's band Driveshaft.

Sorry about taking so long for my next posting. I had just been so down about not working I didn't feel much like it. However that has changed...

My friend/cousin Ky and I had made plans for me to stay over at her place on Wednesday night. Her roommate is out of town on a ski trip and I was going to keep her company for at least one night. As I was getting ready to go, I got a call from the Saskatoon Public automatic dispatch system (ads) asking me to sub on Thursday. Even though I was going to work the next day, I still went. It might have been a mistake because I got a horrible sleep. Of course with my track record lately I might have slept horribly at home.

The sub placement was for senior math and calculus. The calculus class had 47 students! Definitely the biggest class I have ever taught. The day went well. I even got to teach lessons for 3/4 of the classes which makes it a little more exciting than just supervision. The staff was the friendliest that I have encountered so far. I hope I get to work there again soon.

When I got home from school one of our new cable boxes was not working at all. I called the technical support line and we were not able to remedy the situation over the phone. They were going to send a repairman the next day. We arranged for him to come on Friday morning. I set my alarm for 8am (the earliest he could show up).

My phone rang at 6:30am, it was ads again. I was quite prepared to have to change the time when the service person was going to come by. When I checked the assignment it was only for the afternoon. So it worked out to do both. Of course I could not get back to sleep until right before my alarm went off. After the repairman had come and gone I was able to go back to sleep for another hour.

I was a little nervous about subbing yesterday afternoon. It was the afternoon before the week long winter break. Students (and teachers) can be a little crazy. Both classes had assignments to finish before the end of the day. The only people who were done we the "good" students. It was a very quiet afternoon. The last class was so uneventful and quiet that I read drafting manuals to keep from falling asleep.

Around supper time I was starting to get a headache. I took it easy last night. I watched a little TV then went to bed early. I slept 10 hours last night. I needed it.

Tonight, we finish the mural at the church.

Chocolate was a bad idea.

Stephanie, Joel and I were the only ones that showed up for the afternoon shift for painting the mural. We stopped working around 5. We picked up subway for supper and played canasta until it was time for the young people's meeting.

Once everyone was there we got a lot of work done on the mural. We are nearly done now.

argh

I only got two and a half hours of sleep last night. I do not know what my problem is. It is 6:30 am and I have been wide awake for an hour and half already. I took a Claritin Liberator yesterday morning. I have felt buzzy since supper time. One of the rare side effects is "unusual excitement, nervousness, restlessness, or irritability" but that is not really how I feel. I have dry mouth and I know that is from the Claritin but it has never effected my sleep before.

After days and days of beautiful weather, it is cold again. A lot of the streets were clear and today we got 10 cm of snow. I got stuck in my parking lot twice.

My cousins Bronwyn and Lyn came to the city for the weekend. They met me at a restaurant for supper then they came over to my place for part of the evening. Bron and I played scrabble. I was being dreadfully boring. I had horrible tiles so I was taking forever for each turn. I finally told Bronwyn that she could go into the living room and visit during my turns.

Tomorrow I am supposed to work on a mural at the church. Should take up most of the day.

I completely rearranged all my furniture in my bedroom today. It was a monumental task. My bookcase was blocking one of the heating vents and my room has been way too cold the last couple days. I needed a change. I am still not done yet. I need to put everything back on to my bookshelves.

I called Sasktel today and arrange to get cable from them. I had enough from Shaw. Someone is supposed to come Tuesday evening to set everything up.

I have the house to myself tonight. Fun and good times shan't be had.

"Sweet Lincoln's mullet!"

From my point of view, the fondue party was a great success. I even managed not to drop any of my food in the fondue. We had 16 for supper and two that came later. Eating a meal entirely cooked by fondue takes a long time. After the meal we played "I Have Never..." and then four on the couch. Over all a good, fun time.

I am really upset with my current cable provider. Yesterday, without warning, they changed the channel lineup. Now channels we got before, we would have to pay extra. I was already annoyed because they increased the rates last month. I am considering a change.

Today is our big fondue party. We are throwing it to celebrate our friend Kelly's birthday. There is a lot of things to do to prepare: clean the house, prepare the food and finish fondue menus.

On Friday I finally watch the show Numb3rs. It is about an FBI agent (Rob Morrow) who gets help from his genius mathematician brother (David Krumholtz) on cases. I thought it was good but I might be biased due to my undying love for mathematics. My question is when did Fleischman become hot? Maybe it just because he playing a cop.

Casting Tease

So I WILL NOT BE AN EXTRA IN A MOVIE next week. This is sad. I got an email yesterday from the casting director saying she wanted and needed me to work Monday through Wednesday. She was supposed to call me last night with the details about what to wear and when to show up. She never called. When I got home there was an email from her saying they do not need me next week but will need me for the skating scene. I am supposed to call her about it.

I have been sick so I decided to not go to Regina until mid-February. I was overwhelmed with the urge to be responsible. I still need to go for an appointment with the allergist sometime plus I want to see my family.

Last night I went 5-pin bowling. The first game I did poorly, only bowling 106. This is well below average for me. The second game I did much better. I bowled 216 and had 4 strikes in a row. This is my third best score and only the third time I have bowled over 200. Congratulations me! I know I can be a good bowler, I just don't get to do it often enough. A lady who worked there told me that she was sure that there was league bowlers that would pay me to do as well as I was. That was encouraging.

I woke up with a sinus headache this morning. I was still feeling queasy so I took a Dayquil on an empty stomach. I was a little buzzy today. I felt like my brain was detached from my body. Like I was watching someone else's life.

I was so sick last night. I started to feel queasy two days ago. I thought I was feeling better yesterday until after I got home from tutoring. Last night I was running a fever. I felt cold but to touch my skin it felt like it was on fire. I slept with two comforters on my bed last night and wore fleece pjs. I'm trying to take it easy with the eating today.

I got a call from a good friend. She is going to be in the city for the day. I'm going to tag along while she shops.

"Every night has it's dawn"

It is almost finalized for me being an extra in the movie Just Friends. I received an email today from the casting lady. I might be in two scenes. I would do the first one next week on Regina. The next one would be in the middle of February in Moose Jaw. The one in Moose Jaw is an exterior shot and requires extras that can skate. Should be a fun time. My cousin/friend Lyn was supposed to send in her info to be an extra also. I don't know if she has heard back yet. I hope I won't be by myself. We need to have a Janny/Lynnie adventure.

There is a slight chance I might be an extra in a movie. I find out for sure tomorrow morning. I'll keep you posted if I will or not.

The world traveller returns

I typed this big long blog after my trip and then Firefox froze and I lost everything. I have been procrastination since then to write it all over again.

My trip to Calgary was fun. On the way there the roads were not great for about the first 150km of the trip. We ended up taking an hour longer to get there because of the roads. We had supper at 10:30 our time then we went out to met up with our friends.

We got directions to the house where everyone was from the people we stayed with. When we arrived at the house we were unsure if it was the right place because all the lights were off. We walked up to the door and saw people we knew moving around inside. We knew it was the right place. There were some people playing sardines but no one was looking for them. I find that to be rather funny. They were in their hiding spot for a long time before they came out. After some visiting, we went to Denny's to eat.

The next day we went over to our friend John's house to help him fix up his kitchen. After much discussion John decided on yellow, red and caramel for the paint colours. During the day people came and went to see the progress of the kitchen, to visit but to offer little or no help. At 8pm, I stopped working because I was tired and had been working all day. Everyone else had breaks running errands. I left my car and went over to my cousin Stephanie's place. We mostly played games and visited. I was a little disappointed that I missed out on a monopoly game. I did get to play Cranium (Ky was on my team) and we won. The win was cheapened by the fact that we had many of the questions before. At least we won.

The next day at church, I was completely shocked when I was called up to hold the microphone while the children said their verses. My friend John was leading the meeting and when he called my name I was stunned. I figured I must of heard wrong. When no one else was going up I figured it must be me he called. I was so nervous all I could think was "Keep the microphone 2 inches from their mouth". Those years of vocal jazz training have done me well.

After church, people were going to eat at Wendy's. They were going to ministering at a nursing home in the afternoon and the Wendy's is near by. We were following people (boys) there and got lost. They didn't get lost, we got lost. They were racing each other. We were told were the Wendy's was and we thought we knew where to go but we turned the wrong way on a road. We had to call John to ask for directions. We were convinced everyone was going to be gone by the time we got there. Everyone did leave shortly after we arrived but quickly returned. The got a call from the nursing home saying that too many residents had the flu so they were going to cancel for that week. We had a good visit.

It was after 4 when we left Calgary on Sunday. We didn't get home until after midnight.

Monday evening on my way to choir I got stuck in the snow. I live in an area that is right on the edge of town. Last week, with all the snow and wind, we got lots of snows drifts in our area. It took 6 people to get me out. I arrived at choir over a half hour late.

Tuesday evening I tutored twice. My brain was so fried afterwords. For one of my tutees, this was our last time meeting. She had the final for her class on Wednesday.

I found out that the new boy I tutor is the son of a former professional hockey player. He retired from hockey in 1997 and now he is a resort developer. I found out his wife is a cousin to my uncle. It is a small world after all...

Cute Boys: Now Available in Paperback

Reza Aslan was on The Daily Show again. I am so excited! He has my vote for cutest religious scholar ever!

"Everything's so fancy, and there's some kind of hot cheese over there. "

The doctor at the walk-in clinic does not think I am sick. He thinks I just strained my back. Like I don't know the difference between muscles and my innereds hurting. I have not done anything to strain my back anyway. I got some blood work done so we will see what the result is.

I wrote an email to a news program this afternoon. I am disappointed that it did not get read on air. I'll try it again some day.

I just found out my doctor moved to B.C. That was quite sudden. He had been my doctor for 5 years. By chance, we even moved to Saskatoon at the same time. He just moved here in August and he is already gone. I wonder what is the deal with that. I am sad now. He was a great doctor.

"Hahaha. Mine is an evil laugh."

I sent an email to The Hour. I hope it gets read on air. That would be cool.

My kidneys still hurt. It isn't constant but occasionally I am in a great deal of pain.

Yesterday, I intended to go to the bank. It took me so long to scrape the ice off my car I would have never made it there before it closed. I had to run my car for a half hour before I could get the ice off. It was a couple millimeters thick. I hope the weather and road conditions improve so I can go to Calgary this weekend. Fun and good times are promised to be had.

"We will rule over all this land, and we will call it... this land."

My kidneys hurt. Seriously, I am on painkillers because of it. I have been getting very little accomplished as a result. I am putting off going to the doctor. If it gets worse I will.

I seem to have a lot of free time this week. I had choir on Monday night (my new favorite German word is schlangelt). I do not have anything else on the schedule until Friday morning. It is probably for the best since I have been feeling so crummy.

My roommates and I watched 2 episodes of Firefly tonight. We only have about 5 more to go and we would have seen the whole series. I found out this week that the movie based on the show, Serenity, is coming out in September. I plan to watch the episodes with commentary on before then to get a few clues to the mysteries of the show. High excitement.

Amusing Pictures

David Hasselhoff peeking around the corner.


Sean "P. Diddy" Combs eating some ice cream.


Naomi Watts and a man named Juan Valdez (seriously that is his name).

"Doris, I just met a girl name Doris"

We had a girls' night last with the young ladies from my church. We had a pretty fun time. We did facials, manicures and pedicures. I got to know a new girl a lot better last night. She is getting to be much more comfortable around us girls.

I tutored twice today. The one girl I tutored last semester for Stats and now this semester for Calculus. This was our first time meeting today for Calculus. I am so much more comfortable with this subject matter than Stats. Even though it has been 8 years since I took my last Calculus class, it is the only class I have tutored before this year.

Queen of West Procrastination is my sister's new blog. It is pretty funny. You may know her as Sister Mary from the comments on my blog.

What happen to you Mike?

It was even colder today. It was -39C with extremely high winds. It was not a good day for going out but I had to.

I was almost in a car accident with a Staples delivery truck. He was coming the opposite direction trying to turn left onto a busy street. I was trying to go straight and had the right of way. There were lots of cars coming because it was rush hour traffic. He was behind another vehicle and got so impatient he pulled out of the left turning lane and into the lane where you are only supposed to straight. He turned left right in front of the car that was in front of him. He almost hit me and the car trying to turn left. Way to represent your company buddy! I am going to call Staples to complain.

I am so exhausted. I have not gotten a decent night's sleep in days.

Yesterday I subbed out of town. It was forecasted that there was going to be this massive blizzard. It never came. It was cold and windy but no blizzard. The kids were buzzing all day. A couple bus drivers picked up their students in the mid-morning. There was no reason at all for the students to leave. After that no one could get their students to work. The mentality was "My bus is going to pick me up any minute so I don't have to work".

I was supposed to tutor two people last night and two people tonight. I got two cancellations. I appreciate the work but I am so tired that I am glad for the break.

awesome possum

I had my first choir practice of the new term. All of our songs are in German, it is so great. It just doesn't seem like university choir without songs in a foreign language.

I got a call this morning for a potential new tutee. It for a boy in grade 7 whose parents are trying to get him into a private school. I meet with the mom and the boy tomorrow afternoon. From my conversation with the mother, this sounds like this would be a very regular thing for the rest of the year. Their former tutor had to quit because he now employed by the Saskatoon Public Board full time (they have rules that you cannot tutor students in school division if you are employed full time.)

Dancin' like a black bean

I had a pretty good day.

Last night at the young people's meeting the college and career group were not able to meet to plan our activities for the next couple months. We were making thank you cards for the retreat that ended a week ago and things ran a little long. That is ok. The new plan was to meet after church and have lunch together.

The service this morning went really well. It was mostly lead by the new people. They usually have us share what we learned after have been to a camp. I think the best thing happened before service. The doctors think my great aunt had a small stroke in November and she has not seemed like herself the last couple times I had seen her. Today before church I spoke with her a bit and she seemed like her old self. I am so thankful she is doing better. It is a real answer to prayer.

After church we met at my friends Graison and Joel's place. We ordered pizza and then planned activities for until a little after Easter. When we were done, we got into a really good discussion about relationships. This is a continuation of separate girl/ boy discussion groups we had been in at the retreat. I invited anyone who wanted to come over for supper tonight to watch the season premiere of "Alias" (I had it on tape).

At around 6:30 people started showing up for supper (we had a late lunch). We watched an episode of "Firefly" I have on DVD while we were waiting for people to show up. We ended up having 12 for supper. I had already watched the episode of "Alias" but it was a lot more fun with a group of people. We had lots of fun. Before the majority of people left we had a huge group hug. A couple boys stayed after most left and we played Trivial Pursuit. It was a supremely frustrating game for me. I normally do quite well but I kept on forgetting things I know well and getting questions on obscure sport figures. Before we quit I was doing better but I will not admit defeat. I was only one pie piece behind the leader and we never finished. Anything could have happened.

Tomorrow I truly hope I can go out and visit a couple high schools in the city. I keep on saying I will but it doesn't happen.

Me need to sleep.

Hayley Mills, Hayley Mills

I thinking about the movie The Parent Trap (the one from 1961 starring Hayley Mills and Hayley Mills). The parents split up when the twin girls were babies so that is why they do not know each other when they meet. The parents had a stupid argument and pride drove them and kept them apart all of these years. At the end of the movie the parents reconcile, admitting that they never stopped loving each other. I was wondering, could a couple really overcome that many years of hurt? Is it possible to reconcile without the help of Hayley Mills, Hayley Mills and a clever Disney plot?

Paradigms are shifting

The last couple days in my household have been strange. Yesterday I went to work and my roommate was at home (sick). Today all three of us are home because both of my roommates are sick. It is a rarity for all three of us to be home at the same time.

I am going to make cream of carrot soup because my parents, grandma, both roommates and I will be here for lunch.

If Love Were Oil, I'd Be About a Quart Low

Where shall I begin...
My church retreat was good. The classes were very good. Socially it was a little uneventful. I did try to make amends with a former friend so hopefully we can patch things up. We are going to see each other in a couple weeks so that will be the true test.

After the retreat, group of us met at my friends Shannon & Ky's place. There were about 16 of us there and we played Cranium. I had such a good team. (We won, I don't lode board games often). It was really strange because me and my friend Alex seem to have some sort of nexus. We seemed to be the only ones to know what the other was thinking during the game. Alex is a strange duck so that is a little scary for me.

Monday night, me and some friends went to watch a friend's hockey game. She is a 13 year old girl from my church that I tutor. It seems strange to have such a young friend but she is such a sweet girl. I have got to know her quite well since I began to tutor her. I feel like her big sister (she has none). This is the first time I was able to watch her play hockey. The best part about the evening was we were able to embarrass her "thinks he is too cool for words but really a goof ball" 15 year old brother. My friends and I yelled "Woooo Kyle!" as he passed by. His friend (also named Kyle) put his hand on Kyle's shoulder in sympathy.

Tuesday night we had another dinner party at our household. We quite the gang because a guy that likes one of my roommates (don't worry Mike, it is not your wife) and my roommate just wants to be friends. She wanted as much support as she could get. I made stew and apple-pear crisp. The plan was for my friend Ky and I to spend the afternoon together then everyone else be there for supper. She is one of my closest friends and we never have time to hang out just the two of us. Everyone else came early but she came late. We spent the afternoon watching my season 1 DVD of "Corner Gas". All I got to say is "My loins ache for goat felons" (You'd understand the hilarity if you have seen the show).

Wednesday, Ky and I attempted again to hang out with each other. She invited me to her house for the afternoon to watch Superstar and for supper. She was so sick and both of us were so tired. We spent the afternoon trying not fall asleep. I forgot my cell phone at home and I kept getting calls at her house. I probably got more calls at her house than I do at my own house normally in a day.

I cannot seem to shake this cold. *Cough, Cough* It is a little worse today because I subbed in a class with a chalkboard. It is really just an allergy thing. I was at my cousin Pamella's (intentional misspelling) school. I have subbed there before but we have never run into each other. We saw each other twice today and it freaked her out. The only thing I have to say about the rest of the day is in my professional opinion grade 9 boys are idiots. It is a scientific fact.

My mom and dad are stopping by my place tomorrow. They are on their way to take my grandma to North Battleford and to stay for the weekend. I also hope to visit some high schools in the city to introduce myself to the vice principals (the ones who call subs). Hopefully I can start getting more work. Even though at the end of the month the school division is getting an automated system to call subs. The teacher might be able to request a specific sub so it still might be a good idea to do some networking.

Mike, Stephanie and Angela would like to thank you for the pizza. I told Ang you are practicing a love ballad for her but I refuse to tell her which one. She thinks it is "Lost that Loving Feeling". She is so naive.

6 days and still going strong...

I am still sick. At least I have a voice when I wake up in the morning. The first couple days of my cold I had barely a whisper of a voice. Today I have a nasty sinus headache and can't stop coughing. I hate colds. I was so proud of myself because it has been more than a year and a half since I had my last cold. This is a major accomplishment for someone who normally gets a couple a year. I'm pretty sure I now have a chemical dependency on Neo-Citrin.

I was actually surprised by a few Christmas presents this year. Normally I only get things that are on my list. This year I got a ukulele and carrying case, SNL Trivial Pursuit and a manicure/pedicure kit in addition to some of the things on my list.

Tomorrow I leave my parents' house. I originally planned to leave on Monday but a combination of not feeling well, the roads being bad and wanting to see more my family made me decide to stay longer. I will just be stopping at home in Saskatoon briefly on my way to a Church retreat. I'm sort of looking forward to the retreat and sort of not. It is a complicated situation.

Last night Ang and I watched Elf. I had never seen it before. Good movie. We were drinking milkshakes and it made my throat sore. I thought nothing of it. I have a milk allergy and some times I get cold-like symptoms if I have too much milk. I woke up this morning not feeling much better. Today was the day I was coming home for the holidays. As the trip progressed I started to feel worse and worse. I have no voice at all right now. My throat hurts too much to swallow anything but hot liquids. Poor, poor Janny.

Just breathe

I got my karaoke plug-in from Dbpoweramp. You have to download the beta version of their audio player for the karaoke plug-in to work. It removes the middle track of a stereo song so it doesn't always work perfectly.There a lot of different plug-in you can download from their site.

I taught again on Friday. Hopefully the work will be even more regular after the Christmas break. the day went really well. I only taught 3 out of 5 periods but got paid for the whole day. The teacher I was subbing for is the network administrator so he has a lot of prep periods. I spent half the day eating cheese ball and spinach dip in the staff room. It was spending so much time in the staff room when I didn't know anyone. I made an attempt and visited a little.

I spent the last couple days at my grandparent's farm. There were a couple Christmas family get togethers. I ate so much this past weekend. I came home yesterday. The roads were terrible. Lately we have been having weird weather where one day it is warm and melting and the next day it is a blizzard. It makes for very icy conditions. The trip should have taken me 2.5 hours but it took me 3.5 hours. The closer I got home, the better the roads were.

Tomorrow I go to North Battleford and pick up my grandma and I will take her home for Christmas. I still have so much to do.

Yikes!

I got a plug-in that puts songs into karaoke mode (takes out the vocal track). Now I cannot get into normal mode. Oh boy.

Sometimes you just have to be silly.

Friday, I helped some friends move to their new home. My one friend is pregnant so I spent most of the day making sure she didn't wear herself out. I am so sore and tired. After lifting heavy boxes up and down stairs all day, I tutored for 2 hours. So at the end of the day I was physically and mentally exhausted. It was time to be silly.

That night, My cousin/roommate and I went to a midnight movie. On our way there we took some silly pictures downtown (more specifically of a store called mansized).

The next day the silliest continued. Before we went to our youth group meeting, my roommate Stephanie was wrapping some black curtains. My roommate/cousin Ang decided to use the curtains as a cape and was running around the house. She threw the curtains over her head, turned the corner and ran into the bathroom. We heard a loud thud. She had run into the wall and hurt her self. We were killing ourselves laughing. I am not sure why she did that.

Our youth group went caroling and delivered meals to the seniors in our church. As we were driving to and fro, we were taking silly pictures again. We posed at the corner of Rushholme St and Ave P (think about it). As I dropped off the last person, we took a picture of us making snow angels in front of his building. (Later that night we discovered that Ang lost her cell phone while making snow angels).

I have some good news. Monday morning I got a call from one of the schools in the city asking if I was available for Tuesday afternoon. This left me confused since I had not received the call telling me I was on the sub list. I was subbing for a teacher who teaches math and technology classes. He was acting vice principal so he needed a sub. The afternoon went really well. He was so pleased with how things went that he asked if I could sub for him on Friday (all day)! He told me he wants me to sub for him all the time now. That is a definite step in a positive direction.

Tonight we had 5 people over for supper since this is Steph's last night at home for awhile. Good times were had. She leaves tomorrow to go home to her family for Christmas vacation. I have to leave the house at 5:30am to take her to the airport. Yuck. At least I can sleep afterwords.

Oh let the sun beat down upon my face, stars to fill my dream

I tutored for 3.5 hours again tonight. At least that this the last night for a long time that will happen. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for the work but as I have said before it is a brain drain. It is different than teaching math. With teaching you know what you are going to say going into the class. You know the topic well enough to explain it in many different ways. I have no problems with my high school tutees. This is the stuff I spent the last four years teaching. The university classes are hard because I have not thought about these classes in about 7 years. This was stuff I had to learn myself not to the level that I could explain it to someone else.

A couple nice things happened this evening. First I realized that I was having a real effect on the work I am doing with my newest tutee. I see great strides in her understanding.

Tonight I saw one of my university students for the last time for her final. She paid me and gave me a little extra to show how much she has appreciated my help. She told me she is taking calculus next semester and wants me as her tutor again. That is so exciting, I love Calculus! (I know I am math geek and proud of it). I glad I get to continue working with her. She is studying to be a teacher and we have a lot in common.

Another nice things about our last session, we got free food. The on campus bar was handing out homemade cookies to people in the library. I know it was intended for students but I will lie by omission for homemade chocolate chip cookies. It is not my fault they assumed I was a student.

I talked to a friend on the phone tonight for a long time. It is one of my married friends that lives far, far away. There was a time and place where she was one of my closest friends. It was good to catch up with her. Her husband was out for supper with some work colleagues so she was glad I called (the house was little too empty). I am also glad I will get to see her over Christmas break.

I should get to bed. I am helping some friends move into a new house. I'll actually have to set my alarm tomorrow. It will be good to out of the house for the day.

let the good times roll

I chatted with a friend last night. She was going through the same thing as I was. The problem was we had both been watching Oprah in the afternoon and it put us both in the same mood. My problems are not solved but at least I feel a little better about them.

I decoupaged for the first time last night. It turned out pretty well. I had to cut the seams so the box could be opened this morning. I think I need to do some touch ups with the glue.

uneventful day, eventful night?

I've had sort of a sad day. I sort of started on Monday and has continued to today. I'm tired of having to worry about not working and having no money. I have been beyond patient what for my fortunes to change.

I have also been a little frustrated with some of the friendships in my life. This actually goes back a couple years. One of my best friends suddenly would take a long time to return my calls. Then she wouldn't return them at all. I found out from running into her mom one time that she had moved. I have had other friends where I feel like I am making all the effort to stay in touch. I feel like I do not have any close friends any more. I want to feel like I am important to someone. Even during the busy times, they are thinking about how I am doing. I am going through such a hard time personally right now, I feel like I really need those friends. There are things in my life I feel like I have no one to talk to.

A while ago I had complained about this very thing to a friend. Shortly after I started receiving emails from people I had not heard from in a long time. I literally received 6 in one day. This was very suspicious. My friend admitted that she had sent a mass email telling people I was going through a rough time and encouraged them to write me. That was very sweet of her. I was diligent to write everyone back. Slowly over time, these same people stopped making the effort to email me back. This made me feel worse than before like they only sent the emails out of sympathy. Kind of like people who volunteer at soup kitchens only during the holidays. "I've done my good deed now I can go back to spending time on what is truly matters to me."

It makes me sick sometimes to think of how many people I was there for when they needed me. Now when I need them, they are no where to be found.

Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered

I am brain drained. I tutored last night for 3.5 hours and tonight for 2.5 hours. Today I had a sinus headache so I took a dayquil. I have felt groggy all day. I was having a hard time concentrating tonight Even though I took it this morning.

Sunday night I had my choir concert. I was bad and went to Old Navy in the afternoon. As a result, I was late picking up a friend for the concert. Then I parked my car near the wrong church and we had to walk 3 blocks in the freezing cold. My friend was wearing heels and cursed me all the way there. We barely made it on time for the dress rehearsal.

Before we began singing at the concert I found where my family and friends were sitting. My aunt waved to me like the Queen. I started laughing and almost fell off the riser. This got me laughing even more. I also noticed a friend I had not seen for a long time. I never got a chance to talk to her.

The concert went well for the most part. Twice the tenors came in too late and once a couple altos came in too early. It was nothing the audience would notice. After the concert, my family, friends and I went to Earl's for dessert and coffee. We had a good time.

Yesterday morning my parents came over to my place before they went home. They had stayed at my aunt's house after the concert. They helped put together my new bookshelf (an early Christmas present) and hang pictures. I have lived in this place for more than 4 months and I just hung pictures on my bedroom.

Tomorrow night I am having a crafting party. A group of us need to make homemade presents for a gift exchange on Saturday. It is more fun to make crafts in a group. Promises to be a silly time.

grrr

I was supposed to see my friend Twila tonight but is sick. I hope we can reschedule soon. I spent the evening playing board games with some friends. It was a little disappointing that some people who said they'd come, didn't. Despite that I had a pleasant evening.

I'm a little annoyed right now. I just got home due to a marathon game of Trivia Pursuit 90s edition. I walk in the door, tired and ready for bed. My roommate (the one who is ill) is on the phone in the living room. She is giving directions to a friend who had just called looking for a place to stay. A couple things make me mad:
1) She knew she was going to be in the city yesterday and did not bother to call ahead of time to ask if she could stay here.
2) She has been in town since suppertime and did not bother to tell us she need a place to stay until now.
3) She called after 2am to ask if she could stay here.
4) I have to stay up and wait for her to find our house. I don't want my sick roommate to worry about it. She has to work tomorrow and she is getting over strep throat and the flu.
How inconsiderate! Of course, my roommate won't tell her friend that. I just may have to.

Nothing too exciting happened today. I am mostly procrastinating from going to bed.

I had an awesome hair day but no one to share it with. I hate when that happens. I spent most of the day cleaning so I felt the need to do my hair after I showered. Sometimes a girl just has to dress up.

I wrote a quiz about myself last night and it started an epidemic today. I received 5 quizzes written by friends today. It is good to see everyone uniting in procrastination. Laziness is the true tie that binds.

whiter shade of pale

Thankfully, I did not get sick last night. I am determined not to get sick so my task for the day is to clean any common surfaces (or would that be communal surfaces).

I created a quiz about myself for my friends last night. It is difficult one. One friend got 100% only because he cheated. I called him on it. He admitted to me he only knew about half of the answers.

I'm not feeling so great. I have been tired all day. I tutored this afternoon and when I was coming home I started to feel all achy. My roommate has the flu but I don't know if I am getting it or it is all in my mind. I still feel tired now but I don't feel achy anymore.

I have been think a lot about the song "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" by Bruce Cockburn. There is this one line I think about "kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight." For the metaphorically challenged a translation: if you think something is worth it you have to keep at it.

This brings me to another point. I think you really have to choose you battles. I know that is cliched but is the truth. Some times keeping at it is not worth it. I know sometimes conflict can bring about change but sometimes the change is not worth the price of the conflict. For example, My co-operating teacher for my internship told me once "If you find yourself constantly enforcing a rule sometimes you have to decide if maybe it is an unreasonable rule." The ironic thing was she had this rule in her classroom that no students were allowed to put their feet on the baskets under the chair in front them. It got to the point where I was wasting so much time getting after students about this rule I had to re-evaluate. I realized that it wasn't that big of deal (as long it didn't bother the person in front of them) and was not worth my energy constantly enforcing it. I have tried to apply this to everyday life. If I am constantly upset or complaining about something, I think "Is this really worth getting upset over?" Sometimes you have to accept that what will be will be.

Turn it on, turn it up, turn me loose

I have a new appreciation for men. I have no idea how they put up with women.

I have some catching up to do.

I did very little on Friday. People were either busy or not home. I ended up staying home and watching TV. Saturday, I spent the day cleaning because my sister and her roommate were coming into the city for overnight. They went to a matinee of Les Miserables. I was supposed to meet them for supper. Well I met them for supper but never had supper with them. The restaurant we were supposed to met at was too busy so we decide to go to another one. The food was taking so long at the other one I had to cancel my order. I had to open the church for the youth group I am a leader for. I quickly went through A&W drive-thru and barely made it in time.

I called the city school division today concerning when I can begin subbing. The person was gone for the day already (I called before 3). I was told by a secretary that she is incredibly busy and does not know when she will get to processing my paper work. Ugh.

I caught up with my friend Twila on the phone today. We have lived in the same city since August and we still have not seen each other. We were speculating since a friend let slip that someone I know is pregnant but she couldn't tell me who. Twi and I were trying to figure out who it could be. I'm a little stumped since I already have 6 pregnant friends. That doesn't leave too many people it could be.
I also found out my friend's younger sister is engaged. For that I am including a song my friend Sharon wrote on the occasion of my sister's engagement. It needs to be revisted...


"Everyone's Engaged"

So it seems, to me, that everyone has a ring (this is a ballad)
It's all so sudden and crazy, that's why I must sing

Of these people who are deluded
There life seems so concluded

But don't worry, because I'm not bitter! (this is where the song really takes off in pitch)

Chorus:
I'm not bitter about being alone
I won't grumble and moan

about being single and hot
the world's my meat pot

I'll get through without them
There so like Barbie and Ken

Everyone's engaged

Second verse
So what if they're happy
There lives will soon be crappy

When they wake up beside the person they thought they knew
Who's turned into a fat mess of goo

They've let themselves go
They run a freak show

Yet I'll still be there, thin and oh so beautiful
No I am not bitter

Chorus:

Refrain:
Quit touching each other and looking with googly eyes
Quit making plans and laughing at me as though I'm the ridiculous one (the tempo has obviously picked up)

Quit saying you'll find someone it only takes one day
Because maybe I'm just happy with myself and don't feel the need to have somebody else validate my life just because you do, and just because you think your partner is so great, doesn't mean I'm not going to find someone ten times better who has killer abs and broad shoulders, who makes me dinner and actually does ironing and finds time to write me little notes about how great I AM and so....

Chorus:
Last bit:
No i'm not bitter, not bitter.....at......aaaaaaaalllllllllll.

I hate it when people make plans involving you without first asking you if it is alright. So right now I'm seeming like the "jerk" because I am messing up people's plans.

A couple nights ago I saw a repeat of The Daily Show. The guest was Tom Wolf where he was wearing white spats. It was so awesome. I think guys should start wearing two-toned wingtips and spats again. It would be the cat's pajamas.

Free at last

I finally got a call for subbing today. I was completely shocked. I figured I wasn't going to get any calls until I was officially added to the Saskatoon Public list. It was for Allan Composite School.

The day went well for the most part. The day started a little shaky. I left later than I should have. My gas light was on so I was praying that there would be a gas station open on the way. You never know with really small towns. All the classes went well. During the teacher's prep period, I taught grade 2 reading. Good times. They told me they had fun. All of the math classes told me they were glad to have a sub that knew math. I told them to make sure to tell their teacher how much they liked me. I even caught a couple mistakes the teacher made in her notes and assignment. I don't blame her though. She is a first year teacher and has lots to learn. I was like that too.

I'm off to make supper.

Between the Bridges

It was a strange day in our household yesterday.

A couple days ago, my friend Mike email me and asked for our address because he wanted to "surprise his wife with something". His "wife" of course being my cousin and roommate Ang. Since May long weekend they have been joking that they are married, though they are not. I cannot believe they still joke about it. Mike does not seem to tire of his joke too easily. (He has been calling me "man" for over a year now).

Yesterday, there was an anniversary poem posted on my blog. A little later, I got an email from Mike asking me to make sure that someone would be home after 5. He sent another email later to find out our phone number. By this point I figured out what was going on.

After 4, I received a phone call from a flower shop making sure someone was at our residence for a delivery. About an hour later a delivery guy arrived with flowers wrapped with paper addressed to "Angelaroo". Man, Mike sure can take a joke far.

Angela wasn't supposed to come home until late but I called her and told her she had a delivery that was time sensitive. She got home and I gave her the flowers. It was half a dozen red roses. The card inside said "Happy 6 Month Anniversary". She laughed then kept on shouting "That turd!" So I wasn't too sure of what she thought until later.

Later that night after Ang returned from her parents' house. She talked to Mike on the phone. Apparently, we are supposed to tell girls what a nice guy he is. The idea is of he is that sweet to a fake nice, imagine what he'd be like for a real girlfriend or wife. Hear that girls, Mike will be nice to you if it is to his benefit. (Just joking). He's a little weird but a nice guy.

That brings up an interesting topic of conversation. I am very suspicious about people who call themselves "nice" or "creative". I often think they are the opposite. I'm starting to believe that people who are nice or creative don't tell anyone they have those characteristics. It is something people just know. I am more willing to believe people who claim are trying to be these things. Discuss amongst yourselves...

bah-humbug

I found out my arch-nemesis is pregnant and going on maternity leave in January.

Bury the Shovel

Last night I had planned a Clue night for the youth group I am a leader for. Instead of a game board, the teams had to complete tasks to get get clue cards. sometimes things were a little chaotic but overall everyone had fun. People even told me so. It feels good to be appreciated. I'm a little worried though. For the next two weeks I have to lead the group all by myself.

After the meeting, a group of us went to Boston Pizza. For the most part I had lots of fun. I laughed harder than I had in a long time. I found out there is a rumour going around about me. My dad's cousin, a part-time resident of the town I just moved from, heard I was fired from my previous teaching position. Apparently I called a student stupid. This is so far from the truth. I resigned because I was living too far away from my close friends and family. I left with glowing letters of recommendation from the director of education, my principal and vice principal. Why would anyone think or say anything like that about me? People in town knew why I was leaving. Was not the best way to end off an evening.

One definitely positive thing about the evening, I ran into a friend that I had not seen in over a year. We exchanged phone numbers (we have both moved since we last saw each other) and made plans to see each other again.

An Arguement for Hermia

I was thinking recently about what Shakespeare character I most identify with. I think most women would choose Ophelia from Hamlet. It is understandable why; he used to seem like a good guy until he started acting like a something he wasn't, he couldn't make up his mind about anything and kept comparing her to his mother. Something many women can relate to. I find Ophelia to be the cliched choice.

I find I much more can relate to Hermia from A Midsummer's Night Dream. I am falling for a guy who want nothing to do with me. Even when he treats me poorly, I make excuses for him convincing myself he really does care.

Here is an example:
DEMETRIUS
Do I entice you? do I speak you fair?
Or, rather, do I not in plainest truth
Tell you, I do not, nor I cannot love you?

HELENA
And even for that do I love you the more.
I am your spaniel; and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me, I will fawn on you:
Use me but as your spaniel, spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave,
Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
What worser place can I beg in your love,--
And yet a place of high respect with me,--
Than to be used as you use your dog?

(Act II, Scene I, 204-215)

i'm such a doi-yoi

I've had quite the frantic day.

I was in a rush to get groceries before I had to tutor today. I picked up the mail and found a package from Saskatoon Public S.D. telling me I have been accepted as a secondary substitute teacher. Hooray! Finally! They had some forms they needed me to fill out and some I.D. to show them before I could begin. I checked the time and realized I could run down to their office and get it all down today before it closed. I had to postpone my tutoring session but it was not a problem.

I got downtown and the secretary was photocopying my criminal check when she noticed the date on the letter. I received the letter on August 18. They do not accept criminal checks that are more than 3 months old. Three months ago was yesterday. Oi with the poodles already! Can I never win! The date on the letter they sent me was dated November 5. Since when does it take 2 weeks to send a letter within the city? The secretary told me that they may accept it but I should go apply for another one today just in case.

I arrive at the police station about 7 minutes before closing. It takes a couple minutes before an officer is able to let me go to the second floor to apply for the criminal check. He was arguing with a woman about a subpoena that does not exist but she swears it does. This other lady and I arrive at the office and it had just closed. Boo. We are given a form from the lady at the finger printing office and were told to come back on Monday.

I got home and had enough time to wolf down supper before I had to go out again. I needed to borrow a friend's scanner so I took my laptop over. When I got there I realized I left the things I needed to scan at home. What a day! As I left and got to my car I realized I left my purse at his place. As he returned my purse I assured him that I was like this all the time.

Just as I got home I received a message from my roommate that friends of ours had invited us to a movie. My one roommate and I went to Bridget Jones. It was peelarious.

Time for sleepy.

"It only hurts me when I cry"

I had a strange evening. I came home from tutoring, returned some phone calls, made some thing to eat and was getting ready to watch the tape of the shows I missed tonight when the doorbell rang. I was a guy name Merv looking for my roommate. He had been calling all day so he could drop off some paper work. Ang was at a candle party but expected home soon. He wanted to wait for her to come home. I quickly called Ang on her cell and told her "The dude is here and is staying until you get here." It was not my finest oratory moment but it got the point across.
The strangest thing about this man (besides the constant burping) is his glasses. His glasses are pretty well only glass. They have a bridge across the nose but no arms. It mesmerized me how they stayed on.
While he watched me eat and watch TV, there was a phone call from a man named Clint. As I was writing down the message, Merv started laughing and asked if he could talk to Clint. As far as I knew he figured it was a good joke to talk to a complete stranger. It turns out this was someone he was trying to get a hold of. "Its a world of laughter, a world of tears..."
Ang finally arrived home. I was watching Survivor and he told us a story about while he was in Africa a man slit a goat's throat and drained the blood right in front of him. I'm convinced I am going a have nightmares tonight about Merv and goat's blood.

I'm off to make caramel brownies.

It turned out that I was able to get my application in for the job I wanted. I called the human resource office and I was told that the person had not picked up the applications yet. I quickly got my resume together, filled out the application and rushed over there. I got horribly lost on the way there but it was still enough time to hand it in. Now I will just wait and see what happens.

Last night was the first night in a looooooooooooong time that me and all my roommates were home for supper. I made baked salmon, rice and steamed vegetables. We played canasta for most of the evening. We have lots of fun. I was thinking about going to prayer meeting but thought it was more important to spend time with my roommates. As much as I can complain about them, I appreciate that even when we do not see each other much we still communicate.

I tutor tonight for 2 hours. I should be thoroughly brain drained afterwords.

The way things used to be

My apologies for not updating my blog in awhile. I've either been too busy or not in the mood.

This past weekend I took a road trip with some friends. We all went down to Washington state for a church camp. It was amazing that with seven people in a mini-van there was not a single fight.

The meetings at the camp where really good. Every single message I felt like the speaker was talking right to me. For that I am glad I went.

Socially speaking it was OK I guess. It was a good weekend for girl talk and good times were had. I got to know some new people. I had so much fun playing football one afternoon. What made the camp kind of suck for me was the awkwardness around someone who used to be one of my closest friends. This person was one of closest friends up until about 5 years ago. This past January we both expressed desire to rebuild our friendship. Easier said than done. We email each other but can't seem to carry on a decent conversation face to face. During the camp I was treated like I didn't even exist. He would not even look me in the face most of the time if we were hanging out with the same people. There were times that if I joined a group he was in, he would take off. Just about a month ago we had decided to leave the past in the past. That apparently has not happened. I am not going to email him anymore. I've been fooling myself that we are friends. We are at best pen pals. If he wants to know what is going on in my life then he ask me to my face.

The trip home from the camp was a little strange. WE stopped in Cranbrook, BC for lunch and watch the CFL Western final. We left with 1 minute left in the game and the Riders were winning. When we got to Calgary where we were staying for the night we found out they had lost in overtime.

Later that night we went 10 pin bowling which I had never done before. I wish we could have done it for longer but we were limited on time because we got there a half hour before closing. I stayed up way too late that night. I got less than 3 hours of sleep. On the trip it was amazing what you find funny on little sleep (like the town of Balzac).

We got home around 4 pm on Monday. I didn't really want to go to choir that night but I knew as soon as I got there I would be glad that I did. I had to go to the grocery store as soon as I got home so we would have something for supper and the next day. As soon as I got into the car I realized that my roommate who had stayed home used my car. She did not have permission to use my car at all. I was so mad. I was already mad from the weekend but this made it way worse. I was out of the country with the car registration, if something had happened she would have been big trouble. I would have been understanding if it was for an emergency but it wasn't. Members from my own family are not allowed to borrow my car without permission. Later that night when I picked her up from work she apologized for missing a couple minutes of a show that I was taping and a mark she made on the bathroom floor. I told her I didn't care about those things and told her what really made me upset. For someone who talks a lot, she sure was quiet.

Earlier that night on my way to choir I almost got into 2 accidents at the same intersection. It was a 4-way stop. I waited for the 3 other cars that got to the intersection before I did. I entered the intersection when someone ran right through the stop sign. I slammed on my brakes and honked my horn then a truck that was right behind the car ran through the stop sign too. The guy driving the truck stuck his tongue out at me and gave me the finger. Way to make a bad mood worse. I had a very poor opinion of humanity that day.

Today I am a little sad about a missed opportunity. I checked an employment website this morning and saw I job I would love to have. It is for training people at the synchrotron at the university. They are looking for someone with an education degree with strong computer skills. I had a tour of the synchrotron a couple years ago and my immediate thought was I would love to work there. I even considered going back to school to get my B.Sc in physics so I could work there. The closing date was yesterday. :( Not much I can do now. I just have to trust that is where I am supposed to be they won't find someone for the position and post the job again.

I know how negative this posting has been so I'll leave it off on a good note. Last night I went to pick up from school. We had agreed to meet at a friend's apartment near the university. I got there a little early and had a good chat with my friend's Cory. We haven't seen each other in a couple weeks so we had lots of stories to tell. Since we saw each other I dyed my hair black and left parts of my natural hair colour as streaks. He noticed them and told me he thought they looked good. He is the first one to notice even though it was 3 weeks ago. It completely made my day. I had been having such a bad couple days that you have to appreciate the little things.

"There are plenty of fish in the toilet of love"

My time spent at my my parents' house was pretty easy going. I spent most of my time watching TV with my sister. I went to my brother's soccer game. I try to make it to as many games as I can. I know he really appreciated that I came. The men's division does not get many spectators.

I got a letter in the mail while I was gone from SIAST. It was inform me that I did not get the position teaching night classes. My fears were not unfounded since they went with a more "senior teacher". The letter also said if enrollment increased there would be another position.

Riders are going to the semi-finals in Vancouver! Ottawa here we come!

Me sleepy now, time for bed.

Golden Slumbers?

After being incredibly tired last night, I woke up at 2:30 am. It is now 5am and I am wide awake. I hate when that happens. It seems to be happening to me more than usual.

Yesterday I decided to come back to my hometown for a visit. It is a little more than a 2 hour drive from where I live. The short visit on the weekend wasn't enough. I had nothing else going on this week so I figured it wouldn't hurt. I plan to stay until Saturday.

Last night I arrived at my parents' house a little after supper. My mom had choir practice but my sister came over to visit. We watched TV for most of the night. My dad is away on a business trip until Thursday and my brother is off with his girlfriend (of course) so it will mostly just be Mom and I for the week.

Let's start at the very beginning...
Saturday I traveled to my hometown where my cousin was having a Halloween party. As previously mentioned I went as a swing kid. I have to say I looked pretty authentic. We visited, played some silly games and then topped off the evening with a viewing of The Lost Boys (aka that ridiculous 80s vampire movie). I had a good time but I was too tired and a little out of it. I was kind of quiet.
I was really sad to go home on Sunday. If I didn't have an interview today I would have stayed. I barely saw my parents and didn't even see my brother. I do not have much going on this week so I think I'll go back tomorrow for the rest of the week. What else do I have to do (being unemployed)?
Speaking of employment, my job interview went really well. The interviewer even told me that it went well. I will not know if I got the position until the middle of November. My one disadvantage is my age. This is a position teaching adult education in the evenings. They maybe worried since most of the students are a little younger or approximately my age. I am completely qualified for the job so I hope they can see past my age.
After my interview I stopped off at Saskatoon Public (where I had my interview on Friday). I had a new reference I wanted to add to my file. I was complete shock when I ran into my cousin (that I haven't spoken to in nearly 6 months). She used to work as a secretary there before she moved and was in town visiting. As I was talking to her, my friend's dad came into the reception area. He is teacher who lives out of town but was there for a conference. Weird, I guess it is a small world after all (especially in Saskatchewan).
I didn't have enough time to eat lunch before I took my car in for an oil change. I ate at Denny's while I waited. There was a cute guy there who was staring at me. I wished he would have come over to talk to me. Even though I normally do not like guys I don't know approaching me. Anyway, it was nice to get the attention.