Kick Off Your Sunday Shoes

Last night was Mike's company's Christmas party, believe it or not! It was a lot of fun. It was held at the Chateau Vaudreuil and the really nice part was that all of the employees were offered a room at the hotel for the night at a very reduced price. So we got to stay at the gorgeous Chateau Vaudreuil last night, which was awesome! I had heard it was nice there, but I didn't expect this:

Nice huh? We had a cute little suite with a separate sitting room! I felt like a queen!

Anyway, the cocktails and dinner were very nice, too, and there was a live band for the dance that came afterwards. They played all kinds of fun stuff! Mike also has some really nice and interesting coworkers; one of them spent most of the dinner with a breadstick behind his ear!

Here we are, all dolled up for the party:

Unfortunately, we had to check out of the hotel this morning. I would have happily stayed for another day!

In the meantime, I'm babysitting my 22-year old brother today. He went skiing yesterday with my Dad and his friend and he disappeared for almost two hours. He reappeared eventually and then blacked out for over 3 hours. He woke up this morning with a bad headache and no memory of what had happened to him when he had disappeared. He also couldn't remember stopping at Pizza Hut on the way home from the ski hill, most of the car ride home and putting away all of his skiing equipment. My parents seem to think he probably took a bad fall, bumped his head and got a concussion. So now I'm looking after him to make sure he doesn't start doing anything weird while my parents are out. I told him he's not allowed to fall asleep on my watch!

Trying

As some of you already know, I've been having a hard time with some of my classes this semester, and I've been rather stressed out. That's not to say I'm giving up. Not at all! In fact, I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that the remainder of the semester will be a huge challenge and I'm getting ready to face it. In the meantime, I've been listening to my "Zen Song". It calms me down and motivates me. Music has always been a huge inspiration to me, mostly when I can identify with what the song is about. I've been listening to this song over and over, and since it's been an inspiration to me, I thought I'd put the lyrics down. And give Fiona Apple some credit where credit is due.

Waltz (Better Than Fine)

If you don't have a song to sing

You're ok

You know how to get along humming

If you don't have a date

Celebrate

Go out and sit on the lawn

And do nothing

-'Cause it's just what you must do and

Nobody does it anymore

No I don't believe in the wasting of time

But I don't believe that I'm wasting mine

If you don't have a point to make

Don't sweat it

You'll make a sharp one being so kind

(And I'd sure appreciate it)

Everyone else's goal's

To get big-headed

Why should I follow that beat,

Being that I'm

Better than fine

As the title suggests, the song is a waltz, which I personally find to be one of the more captivating and enchanting melodic forms. Anyway, it gives the song much of it's character and uplifting appeal.

And it makes me feel good. You don't have to like it, but I do. That's what's important.

Smile!

Some British mathemetician came up with a formula several years back that calculates the most depressing day of the year. He used variables such as how long it's been since Christmas, the relative amount people pay in bills at this time of year, including credit card debts from Christmas, the amount of sunlight we recive per day and all kinds of other factors. All that to say, it's been established that today is the most depressing day of the year 2006. Doesn't that make you all warm and fuzzy inside??

Today is Election day and I don't like any of our Prime Ministerial candidates. I think THAT's pretty depressing. Nevertheless, voting is one of our most fundamental rights... don't forget to go out and vote!

Soon the Shoulder Falls

I've been feeling pretty stressed out lately. I'm taking these classes that are completely consuming and take up all of my time... and sanity. For the first time since my old CEGEP calculus classes, I find myself sitting there during the lectures having no idea what is going on. It's a really disconcerting and uncomfortable feeling. I hate it. At the very least, I'm not alone. I think the class is experiencing a form of mass panic attack and everyone is running around like a chicken with their head cut off trying to figure things out and get stuff done, while not really understanding what needs to be figured out and what needs to be done. Although the whole situation sucks, I'm so glad I'm not the only one!

Meanwhile, I've just accepted a TAship. I suppose I'll sign my contract on Tuesday. Anyway, now I'll be getting paid to correct tests and stuff, which is kind of neat. Was it a smart move, or an extremely dumb move, considering the amount I already have on my plate? I don't know. Call me greedy, I was attracted by the extra $430 I'll have in my pocket just for correcting some tests. That, and it'll look good on my CV!

Poignant... Maybe?

This is how I feel today:

Who came up with such a stupid name for bottled water, anyway?

Oh, I found that advertisement on the front door of a dépanneur on Duluth.

Children Waiting for the Day They Feel Good

Last night we celebrated Kim's 24th birthday! It got off to a slow start; we waited outside the restaurant, L'Académie, in the cold for almost an hour, waiting for tardy guests and a table. The was a snarky hostess that expected us to feel sorry for her because she occasionally had to go outside and get info from people waiting in line. As far as we were concerned, she was being paid to do it and it was part of her job. We were actually paying customers that were not even allowed to wait inside the restaurant and instead we were relegated to the sidewalk to hang out with the homeless guy in front of the SAQ. Great. Anyway, when we finally got in, we had a great meal, so I suppose it was worth the wait!

Afterward, we wandered up and down St. Laurent for a bar and finally settled on Belmont. I was surprised upon entering the bar that I had already been there once before. At first, the music was positively awful, but then we hit the magical 1:00 am mark and suddenly the DJ was spinning all kinds of retro tunes and we danced to MC Hammer's "Can't Touch This", Sir Paul McCartney's "I Saw Her Standing There" and other jems. When Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" began to play, we all gathered into a big circle, arms around shoulders, and belted out the lyrics... what a classic!

Just before 3:00 am, we decided to leave so we could avoid the line-up at the coat-check. Mike got his coat first and waited at the front door. There were two guys in front of me and as I was waiting for my coat, one guy looked at me and asked "So, did you have a good time tonight?" Uh-oh! I thought, Desperate last-minute pick-up attempt! Dumb Guy didn't even consider looking at who I was with. All I said was "Yes, thank-you." I looked at Danny, who was standing behind me, to see if he had noticed this little exchange. He gave me an amused look saying he had seen it. Dumb Guy noticed. "Oh, is this guy your boyfriend?" he asked. Danny, being the nice guy that he is, tried to come to me rescue. "Yes." he said, just as I said "No." I think that usually I would have gone along with that little ploy, but my real boyfriend was only 10 feet away and I wanted to give Dumb Guy a nice little scare! I mean, why pretend a 6-foot guy is your boyfriend, when the real one is almost 6'5"?? So I said, "That's my boyfriend, over there!" Mike noticed me pointing at him and he did the best thing: he put on his serious/menacing face and took two steps toward us... Uh oh, scary tall boyfriend spots short Dumb Guy talking to girlfriend! Dumb Guy affirms the reputation I have already given him by saying, "Oh, he's a big guy!" As I walked over to Mike, Dumb Guy also came over and had the nerve to actually pat Mike on the chest and say "Don't worry about it"! And then he made some excuses about the effects of vodka and he said something about a lawyer. It actually looked like he was going to try and pick a fight with Mike... pretty stupid. But amusing.

Mike, Danny and I got Kim some sushi sets for her birthday. I mention that here because I thought yesterday's (January 14 - Kim's birthday) Toothpaste for Dinner comic was oddly coincidental:


Ha ha! What are the chances??

Birthday Wishes

** Happy Birthday, Kim! **

Live It Off the Wall

Oooooo it's Friday the 13th! Are you scared? No? Okay, how about this: tonight is a full moon! Now you must be terrified! Actually, don't even bother, the full moon is actually tomorrow night. So while we're out partying downtown for Kim's birthday, we'll have to watch out for werewolves. You never know. Especially downtown.

Here are some quotes I've been hearing around school and the office; just proof that geographers are not linguists:

1. "Retchard" (instead of Richard)
2. "He's revolting!" (in reference to a prof. that was having a mini-tantrum)
3. "... so as to avoid any incontinence and overlap with your other colleagues." (received in an e-mail. Emaphasis added)
4. "I have to go get my butt" (instead of bottes)

Okay, I'll admit, that last one was me. But in my defense, bottes and butt sound a lot alike! I guess my crazy bilingual talk doesn't always work!

No Cosmetitian

Yesterday I went to a Mary Kay party... not one of the first places you'd find me, but it ended up being a fun activity with the ladies. Now I can honestly say that my hands are ridiculously soft after having applied numerous cleansers, scrubbers and moisturizers! That was part one of the "beauty party". Then we had to do the same thing with our faces... cleanse, scrub, moisturize. So many products, I can't believe that women use so much stuff for their faces! Five different applications later, we were ready to start putting make-up on! So I put on some foundation... didn't like that much, I never wear the stuff because it makes me feel like my face is all clogged up and oily. But it was alright. Then we put on eyeshadow, blush, lipstick, lip gloss and mascara. I'm now officially terrified of eyeshadow! Again, it's something I never wear. Used to wear it for dance shows and my high school grad photos... but Mom always did the all-important make-up application so I never figured out how to do it myself! And to make matters worse, we were given three different colours to apply on three different parts of the eyelid. How big is an eyelid? How many different colours can you fit onto such a small surface?! It's crazy! Anyhow, I tried to follow the little diagram instructing where to apply each colour (and the colours were scary too - gold, bronze and charcoal) but I couldn't quite figure out how to look at what I was doing with my eyes closed. Needless to say, I ended up looking like a street walker or an alien or something equally scary. Of course, it wasn't scary on only me: the bronze shade made Mom's eyebrows all but disappear so she looked a little off as well. Anyway, after the Mary Kay lady fixed my horrendous application job, I didn't look so scary any more. I just looked like an Ancient Egyptian wannabe. A little bit of extremely dark lipstick later, I looked completely different. And felt really odd with my face ful of products.

But it was all in good fun, and it was completely free. We were under no obligation to buy anything, but naturally, we all felt compelled to support the nice lady and purchased her over-priced products. But it's all good. All of the stuff she had us try was very nice in quality, so I feel like I'll be happy with my purchases. And it's for a good cause. Some of the profits go toward cancer patients, so that's nice!

Guffaw

I decided that I HAVE to post this joke. A friend from school e-mailed it to me. Any environmentalists out there will have a field day. This is my training, guys... at least I can laugh at myself!

NOAH in 2005

In the year 2005, the Lord came unto Noah, who was now living in the United States, and said, "Once again, the earth has become wicked and overpopulated and I see the end of all flesh before me. Build another Ark and save two of every living thing along with a few good humans." He gave Noah the blueprints, saying, "You have six months to build the Ark before I will start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights".

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah weeping in his yard..... but no ark. "Noah," He roared, "I'm about to start the rain! Where is the Ark?"
"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah. "But things have changed. I needed a building permit. I've been arguing with the inspector about the need for a sprinkler system. My neighbors claim that I've violated the neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision. Then the Department of Transportation demanded a bond be posted for the future costs of moving power lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I argued that the sea would be coming to us, but they would hear nothing of it. Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl. I tried to convince the environmentalists that I needed the wood to save the owls. But no go! When I started gathering the animals, I got sued by an animal rights group. They insisted that I was confining wild animals against their will. As well, they argued the accommodation was too restrictive and it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in a confined space. Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark until they'd conducted an environmental impact study on your proposed flood. I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm supposed to hire for my building crew. Also, the trades unions say I can't use my sons. They insist I have to hire only Union workers with Ark building experience. To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets, claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally with endangered species. So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least ten years for me to finish this Ark."

Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine, and a rainbow stretched across the sky. Noah looked up in wonder and asked, "You mean, You're not going to destroy the world?".

"No," said the Lord. "The government beat me to it."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hello! Hi! I'm here! Happy New Year!

Yup, I know, it's been a while. The whole Christmas/New Year's thing was hiatus time, I think. The holidays are when everyday life just PAUSES... and craziness ensues. Hence, no blogging. But now I have UNPAUSED and gone back to plain old everyday life. Which is okay, I guess. We can't be in holiday forever (they call that RETIREMENT)!

So yeah, the holidays were fun. A little too fun, I think. I believe there were just a few too many late nights and parties and too many chocolates and mussels eaten. I got sick for a couple of days but apart from that, it was a great time. I got spoiled at Christmas (again) and I'm happy to say that Mike and I managed to put a good dent into our "Moving Out" list. We got so many nice kitchen supplies! And that's really great because that's all stuff you don't really feel like buying yourself, so it's awesome to receive that kind of stuff as gifts! Oh, and Dave and Kim had an awesome party, Christmas Eve: it turned into a dance party, so we ate tons of food and grooved all night long!

Also, I am very proud to say that I have finally begun to learn how to ski! I've been saying for years that I want to learn how, so I finally tried it out over the break. What fun! Painful though... especially when I crashed into Danny and my legs went inside-out. Don't ask me how that's done, I haven't managed to figure it out myself, yet. Anyway, I really lucked out because Kim sold me her old skis for a good price and I managed to get everything else I need for skiing for free, so I'm ready to try it again! The hills still scare me, though...! All in all, it was a painful, exhausting, but fun experience. I had the flu while we were there, but despite that, I think I was a pretty good sport!

Still had the flu on New Year's Eve, so we had to forego the Big Crazy Party. Actually, let me rephrase that. I had to forego the Big Crazy Party. Mike was nice enough to forego it with me, and we spent a much quieter evening at Dave and Kim's. So we had a nice, leisurely fondue, played some games and watched some absolutely HILARIOUS music videos from the 1980's. I think the unanimous favourite was "Obsession" by Animotion . It's your typical '80's video: bad clothes, bad hair, corny video yet singers taking themselves WAY TOO SERIOUSLY.

Enjoy the video clip: we sure did!