You know, there is nothing like being sick to make you notice how badly your bathroom floor needs to be sweeped. Seriously. Yesterday I had an incredibly sick day that involved the fetal position, collapsing dramatically on the bathroom floor, and going down the stairs backwards because I determined it used less energy and was less likely to make me dizzy.
Beware - this definitely falls into the 'too much info' category
Yes, so vomitting has a very consistent pattern with me. Right before it happens, I feel like the temperature has shot up to 48C. Then I puke bunches in the toilet, and dramatically collapse on the floor, sweating, panting, and a tear-stained face. I eventually struggle to stand up, and return to the bed and sprawl out. In a few minutes I start freezing and return to the fetal position, rock back and forth, and try to fall asleep. Exciting. Anyway, during the various "collapse on bathroom floor" events, I noticed that the bottom of our toilet is dirty, and there is a lot of hair on the floor because Sheena and I both shed like wooly beasts. It kind of irked me. To the point I almost thought of cleaning. However, wasting energy like that would not have been efficient as standing was currently even too much to master.
I still have no desire to eat or drink anything, but have concerns about dehydration. I've been eating some freezees, but those were inadvertantly locked away at work as the kitchen was locked while I was in a meeting. Very tragic story.
In wonderful news, the damage to my car in my most recent mishap was... *drumroll* only $40.00!!!! I could have kissed the wonderful man at The Muffler Centre. But I didn't. Should I have? Hmm... Could have saved me another few dollars, potentially.
It's a little blustery outside tonight. I remember telling guests when working in FL how PEI generally no longer has White Christmases due to changes in weather patterns and global warming. Wow, foot in mouth on that one. Lots of snow around, we even had a snow day last week!!! That's one thing that is wonderful about working at UPEI, if classes are cancelled, it's a snowday for employees as well! However, I don't get paid for snow days. Sad. Well, in theory I could have worked, but bumming around and giggling in the snow was a far more favourable option.
If winter stays at this level I'll be okay. I'm just nervous because I remember the excessive cold at various stages of last winter... The cold that makes you consider not leaving the house because it isn't worth the effort to put on thirty layers of clothing but still get blasted by the cold.
In Maine I bought a wonderful pair of winter boots that are serving me quite well. For $40 I feel like I can kick through any snow drift - as long as there isn't a wall of ice enclosed. I believe that would just lead to some sort of cracked ankle.
FYI for the all the hungry Charlottetownies out there - the veggie gyro at Churchill Arms is probably one of the worst meals I have ever eatened at a restaurant. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. It's kind of funny, generally if I have a couple of bad experiences at a restaurant I don't go back, but I keep returning to Churchill's. Earlier this summer I waited over 45 mins for my chicken sandwich (by this point everyone else at my table HAD FINISHED EATING) because, get this, the cook refused to COOK MY FOOD BECAUSE HE/SHE WAS ANGRY AT MY SERVER. I found this out afterwards from someone I now who works there. Seriously. Anyway, me thinks we need to find a curry alternative (Leo's Thai?! it's good!) because the Churchill's thing is getting old. Charlottetown, considering its size, actually has many good restaurants with an impressive variety of food. So I am temporary ix-naying Churchill's, two-for-one curry or otherwise. Sigh, I wish Bahama Breeze would open a restaurant here. I would DIE of happiness for a salmon tostada salad or an Aruba Red beer. Oooh, or a Koi. Erin, Kerri, and I ate there in LA and it was ridiculously delicious. Anyway, Ms. Stomach is making awful swirly, twisted feelings/noises so I am off to bed.
Zzzz...
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Friday, November 30, 2007
Precipitation
Brought to you buy the weather network...
"From Friday Evening to Saturday Afternoon we expect close to 10cm of snow." [in Charlottetown].
Deep breath. And here we go. Welcome to winter. I can't believe it's winter again already. The winter better go over better than last year or I will have to turn into a snow bird at a dreadfully early age.
"From Friday Evening to Saturday Afternoon we expect close to 10cm of snow." [in Charlottetown].
Deep breath. And here we go. Welcome to winter. I can't believe it's winter again already. The winter better go over better than last year or I will have to turn into a snow bird at a dreadfully early age.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Spam, much?
Ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa!!!
This evening I spammed MYSELF over 8000 emails.
Genius, thy name is Jennifer.
I was doing a mass emailing at work for a tourism study we are doing for the province. I'm quite new to this, and no one from my team has done it before, so I just kind of went at it on my own. After a disastorous day trying to get it done on Friday, today was the day. With my nifty Excel ad-on, I could conquer the world! or not. I wanted a copy of the email that was to go out, so I selected this wee button that would bcc me on the email.
Unfortunately that meant EVERY email. Hmm. So for about three hours my inbox filled repeatedly with the same, wonderful email over and over and over and over and over and over and over (repeat by 8500) again. I laughed. Because what else can you do? :)
Sometimes learning lessons the hard way ensures you will never, ever make the mistake again.
I also made the foolish decision to "notify"... which turns out that when the panelist opens the invite email, I get an email explaining in great detail that, zut alors, the email had been opened! So me thinks that is what I have to look forward to over the next couple of days.
La fin.
This evening I spammed MYSELF over 8000 emails.
Genius, thy name is Jennifer.
I was doing a mass emailing at work for a tourism study we are doing for the province. I'm quite new to this, and no one from my team has done it before, so I just kind of went at it on my own. After a disastorous day trying to get it done on Friday, today was the day. With my nifty Excel ad-on, I could conquer the world! or not. I wanted a copy of the email that was to go out, so I selected this wee button that would bcc me on the email.
Unfortunately that meant EVERY email. Hmm. So for about three hours my inbox filled repeatedly with the same, wonderful email over and over and over and over and over and over and over (repeat by 8500) again. I laughed. Because what else can you do? :)
Sometimes learning lessons the hard way ensures you will never, ever make the mistake again.
I also made the foolish decision to "notify"... which turns out that when the panelist opens the invite email, I get an email explaining in great detail that, zut alors, the email had been opened! So me thinks that is what I have to look forward to over the next couple of days.
La fin.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Phones for You, Phones for Me !
I'm going to post lots about this later, but quite the USD-CAD exchange rate, eh?
So noting this new strength of the Canadian dollar, I'm convinced we have to pay more for [some] goods/services just to have the honour of being labelled a Canadian. Case in point for this lovely Sunday afternoon:
$49.99 mobile phone from Virgin in the US.
$49.99 mobile phone from Virgin in CANADA.
Sigh. I would rather buy an American phone. However, I assume it wouldn't work in Canada, as I currently have an American Virgin mobile and it's rather useless here. My US phone is about one step down from the link posted for the Canadian phone. The only real different is my US phone has a black and white screen, and the phone is a nicer colour. Oh, and it was $49.99 cheaper, because it was free provided you purchased $20 in phone credit.
One may argue that the taxes make up some of the difference. However, all prices listed are BEFORE taxes.
Oh, and my first mobile was a Virgin phone from the UK. That was a few years ago, so I can't remember how much I paid. But now, for the equivalent of $50 CAD, you can get this phone, or for about $10 cheaper, this phone.
These all pay-as-you-go phones, I'm quite aware that one can get substantially better phones for cheaper when signing up for a three-year plan in Canada. But wow, three years is a long time. Although perhaps I'm just a wee bit of a Canada-committment phobe.
So noting this new strength of the Canadian dollar, I'm convinced we have to pay more for [some] goods/services just to have the honour of being labelled a Canadian. Case in point for this lovely Sunday afternoon:
$49.99 mobile phone from Virgin in the US.
$49.99 mobile phone from Virgin in CANADA.
Sigh. I would rather buy an American phone. However, I assume it wouldn't work in Canada, as I currently have an American Virgin mobile and it's rather useless here. My US phone is about one step down from the link posted for the Canadian phone. The only real different is my US phone has a black and white screen, and the phone is a nicer colour. Oh, and it was $49.99 cheaper, because it was free provided you purchased $20 in phone credit.
One may argue that the taxes make up some of the difference. However, all prices listed are BEFORE taxes.
Oh, and my first mobile was a Virgin phone from the UK. That was a few years ago, so I can't remember how much I paid. But now, for the equivalent of $50 CAD, you can get this phone, or for about $10 cheaper, this phone.
These all pay-as-you-go phones, I'm quite aware that one can get substantially better phones for cheaper when signing up for a three-year plan in Canada. But wow, three years is a long time. Although perhaps I'm just a wee bit of a Canada-committment phobe.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Usy-bay eek-way?
Things have been pretty busy at work lately, just trying to get stuff done and move forward onto the next project. "My" (ha ha) conference starts tomorrow, and the past couple of days have been very long, (hours per day are supposed to be in the double digits, right?) but I think everything has come together. Scratch, I hope everything has come together! In theory, I probably don't have to be at the conference all day Wed, Thu, Fri, and Sat, but I have control issues and don't like other people doing things I have started. Especially if something does go wrong, I will not be there to defend myself/fix it, and don't want people thinking I'm an idiot.
I had fun picking out the menu for the events. The first important thing I did was enquire if strawberry shortcake was still in season. It was. Excellent. I also noticed there were cookies on the menu. Also excellent. Then I ordered coffee and figure I'll just get everyone through by dosing out caffeine highs. An excellent strategy.
This year in an effort to be a better person I am volunteering to be a program advisor for the Junior Achievement Company Program. Rob is my co-bloke and between his experience and my beauty, we will be rockin' the cp boat, yo.
That's all. I should be in bed. Actually, I should have been in bed awhile ago. Interesting.
I had fun picking out the menu for the events. The first important thing I did was enquire if strawberry shortcake was still in season. It was. Excellent. I also noticed there were cookies on the menu. Also excellent. Then I ordered coffee and figure I'll just get everyone through by dosing out caffeine highs. An excellent strategy.
This year in an effort to be a better person I am volunteering to be a program advisor for the Junior Achievement Company Program. Rob is my co-bloke and between his experience and my beauty, we will be rockin' the cp boat, yo.
That's all. I should be in bed. Actually, I should have been in bed awhile ago. Interesting.
Sunday, October 14, 2007
LA the Three
In the interest of preserving memories, I am aiming to conclude my three-part series of exciting vacation adventures. I feel this is critical, primarily for me, as when I was watching my parents vacation video of New Orleans I realised that my memories of the trip are a bit hazy. Why did I not write down the names of places we ate? Why did I not write down briefly some interesting facts I learned? Alas, no use crying over spilled milk (unless it was the last glass of milk in the ENTIRE WORLD).
After Kerri and I ate pizza, we parted ways with Erin and bounced off towards the "thrill" rides. I like them because somehow their kinetic energy is transfered to me in EXCITED energy! First we went on the Maliboomer, an attraction that even this nerdy theme park girl could not remember the name of. We weren't sure if it was a good idea to go on this directly after pizza, but it was, because it was so much fun! It's basically a reverse, theme-less Tower of Terror. You get shot up, and descend with less force. We then giggled our way to California Screamin', which I also love to bits and pieces. I don't really know why... Maybe it's the carnie music, the wind in the face, the launch (!!), or the total package, but I quite like it - better than Space Mountain even. We then, umm, secretly went on the ride again since the line was so short! I'm drawing a bit of a blank, but I believe we departed at this point and headed over to Disneyland. I was *quite* excited, along with the others. It was nice to see a big, fake castle again :)
Disneyland was PACKED - it almost reminded me of MK at Xmas. I believe it had to do with the walkways starting to be roped off for the parade, the narrow walkways (compared to WDW), and the abundance of AP holders who hang out at DL every night. Heh. And ps, I enjoy using an excessive amount of accronyms. It's only appropriate. I believe the first attraction we headed for was Pirates of the Carribean. I was quite impressed that the line was only about 15 mins long! We rode it, and partway during the ride I stated that Disneyland is the equivalent of a local mall for teenagers. I'm convinced parents just drop them off mid afternoon and come and pick them up around midnight. Someone sitting in front of us nodded and laughed. After Pirates, we hopped off to It's a Small World. Maybe I'm getting confused, but I think I like the one in WDW better. I find the one in DL looks like it needs some work in parts. Unless my brain is getting spotty, in IASW in MK, the water goes right up to the displays, where as I believe in DL the water is getting in a boarded canal (for lack of a better term) in which the boat travels. As well, in spots you would look to the right and see the attraction, but looking to the left would yield a black wall with glitter flowers pasted on it. Meh? Maybe it's like this at MK as well, but I don't think so. Ah well, there were some different scenes and I did enjoy it overall. Erin, however, is one of those people who hates the ride >=)
After the happiest cruise that ever sailed, it was firework time! I was ridiculously excited!! I'm sorry, but I have never seen a firework display that rivals Disney's. EVER. I've seen pretty good ones (Edinburgh) but Disney's are presented so well. The music, the lasers, the story, etc. The budget definitely helps, of course ;) I loved them. At DL Tinkerbell just keeps flying back and forth for a little while, where as in MK she just "flies" from the Castle down to Tomorrowland. Instead of rambling, here is a link to the fireworks narrated by Julie Andrews with great vocal clips of Walt Disney inserted. Anyway, the children singing at the beginning still give me watery eyes and an enormous smile. I still remember the first time I saw Wishes at MK. It was the first weekend we were there, the day we finished Traditions. I remember Dave (eventually "Server Dave" =P ) saying how great it was when it ended and that no one could not feel happy after watching it. I actually like the DL ones a bit better because they are less focused on the movies and feature the park itself. Sometimes I feel like being in the parks too much is like ODing on Disney movies. Anyway, who couldn't appreciate a Star Wars laser fight that takes place DURING a fireworks display?
So the fireworks eventually ended and I wanted to watch them again. And run up and hug the castle. I refrained though. The crowds were still pretty heavy so we diddled in shops for a bit and watched Disneyland - The First 50 Magical Years which I loved to bits and pieces. A short film about Disneyland starring Steve Martin AND Donald Duck? Yes, please!
I think we left at this point and headed to Downtown Disney. I took the looooong walk to the medicine stand (really a magazine stand with random pharmaceutical items) and spent $10 on a bottle of cough syrup that would generally retail for $4.50 at Walgreens. However, it was one of the best $10 I spend in my LIFE - even though the kid working the stand was an idiot and said they didn't sell cough syrup. ("Umm, isn't that it right there?" "Oh, maybe... Yes. Heh.")
Then met up with the others, and we took the shuttle back to the hotel and craaashed.
Sunday
Up again! We were at DL for opening. Again, took the shuttle over. We went through the gates immediately. I think there was an early entry that morning for resort guests (?? - not sure) so people were already in the parks, but we were still roped off. We snuck into the shops on Main Street to get closer to rope drop. I figure for each person I pass, that is one less person I have to stand behind! The rope dropped, we (and other smart folk) filed out of the shops and took off for Nemo's Submarine Voyage, heading through Fantasyland rather than Tomorrowland. Holy freaking queue. Despite being there mere minutes after rope drop, the queue was still about 45 minutes. The castmembers can't even tell how long the wait will be because the queue itself is so intertwind and lengthy, wrapping around the lagoon. Kerri and I amused ourselves in line and I think Erin thought we were... slightly off. We eventually made it to the ride, and I enjoyed it, although I couldn't justify waiting hours for it. It had some similarities to the Nemo ride at Epcot, but it feels a little more "immersed" since you are actually IN the water, rather than looking obviously from the other side of glass.
Afterwards we went Kerri and I went to Space Mountain for fast passes and then... ummm... I can't remember. We must have done something though? Right, looking at my pictures leads me to believe that Kerri and I went on the Matterhorn. It was fun, and kind of freaked me out. Older rollercoasters tend to do that. We then met up with Erin and rode the Alice in Wonderland Ride. It was, well, what you would expect from an Alice darkride. Then Kerri and I scuttered back to Tomorrowland and went on Space Mountain using our Fastpasses thus having a minimal wait. I believe it's definitely darker than it's MK counterpart, and the starry sky has more of a '3-D' feel to it. And it scares the piss out of me. I think it's due to the extreme darkness and I find myself hunched over in fear I'm going to knock my head off a steal frame somewhere. See trauma A: getting hit with a BASEBALL CAP of the Rock 'n Roller Coaster in the DARK and practically suffering from a broken nose. So yes, I shuddered my way through Space Mountain.
I believe at this point we met up with Erin again at the foot of the monorail (which actually picks guests up INSIDE the park!) and went to the Disneyland Hotel for our character brunch. Definitely NOT a highlight of the trip! It was Goofy's Kitchen, and apparently you only go to meet Goofy if it was your birthday. The food was good, but the characters kept skipping our tables. Our server wasn't really around, so we couldn't tell him. We mentioned this to a character attendant that came to talk to us, but she wasn't concerned. She asked if we had met Donald Duck when coming in. We said no, and she encouraged us to stop and get our picture with him when we left. Well, he wasn't there. Anyway, I ate pizza and ridiculous amounts of canteloupe and pineapple so that was good. I definitely would not repeat the Goofy's Kitchen experience. I dunno, I just wasn't impressed with the overall experience.
We returned to Disneyland via monorail and hit up the other half of the park after taking pictures of the Castle and watching a brief, random Mary Poppins shows that suddenly appeared in front of the castle.
We then went to Tom Sawyer's Island / "Pirate's Lair", pretty much just to meet Captain Jack Sparrow. We couldn't find him, but after exploring caves and what not I saw an area that looked... suspcious. My castmembers flags went up, I could tell it was a photo op set up! I saw a tall fence that had a door "Cast Members Only". My flags got taller. I tried peaking through the cracks but couldn't see anything. Then, Kerri or Erin (sorry ladies, can't remember) looked through and saw him!!! We were quite excited and spied for a bit while he was backstage. Suddenly, unknown to us, Sailing Ship Columbia went by and fired a canon and we jumped about 30 ft in the air in surprise at the nose. We poked around, killed time, and giggled.
THEN HE SAUNTERED OUT. It was a good day. He talked to a couple of kids, then the photos began. I was planning on being all cool and possibly flirting/teasing a wee bit (I know - I'm a moron) but instead got rather ga-ga and stupidly star struck. I think I mumbled something about him having a nice ring and he stated that he had stolen it from a gypsy. Erin was up next. As they were posing for photos I said, "Erin, your shirt is to clean for you to be a pirate!"
Erin: Oh, but I can get dirty.
And I died laughing. I also died some more upon seeing Cpt. Sparrow's reaction... I don't think he knew what to say! He actually said to Kerri when she went up for a photo, "Well, that was awkward."
Afterwards, we were videoing commentary about the event and a couple walked by as we were recapping and said to Erin, "Yeah, he was definitely looking down your shirt!"
And, for a third time, I died. Such great memories! :)
We then went back to Critter Country and went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, mostly because it was there. We also met Eeryoe and Winnie the Pooh and stopped for photos. They are soft, so I like hugging them; however, I want pictures with more interesting characters. They are EVERYWHERE so I feel like I already have their photos 600 or so times. I think we also got fastpasses for Splash Mountain at this point? Regardless we continued towards Adventureland. Went to the Tiki Room, rode Jungle Cruise, and Kerri and I went on the Indianna Jones Ride. Loved it!! We then met up with Erin. I think at this point we returned to Splash Mountain. Umm, I like the MK one better. I just find the audioanamatronics don't look so worn, and ride is a bit slower making it last longer and giving me more time to hum along to the songs. Kerri and I went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which always makes me think of my mum and Keri Shields) and did indeed enjoy the wildest ride in the wilderness. We then met up with Erin at Pinnochio. We road that and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. And, I believe, that was the end. Sad. Actually, really sad now that I think about it... Crap. We left to return to DCA for one last adventure on California Screamin. We also went on Soarin', and Kerri bought a hat and jumper. Crap, it's almost like my trip just ended again and I'm bummed again :( Tear. Soarin' is a good ride to end on, however, it's relaxing, impressive, and always makes me smile, especially the smell of the orange groves.
Whoops, my bad, we actually did return to DL to go to the photopass place. I feel like we MUST have done something else though, perhaps wander in shops?
Oh yes, and I missed it above, but at some point Kerri and I went to Toontown. Hmm. We also saw a bit of the Jedi training thing where I was infatuated with the hot Jedi Master. Probably because he had a light saber. Umm, I guess I like fictional characters.
After we left DL (sad) we went to Downtown Disney. Kerri bought stuff, and we went to HOB to eat. Not gonna lie, I was rather drained. 7:00am - 12:00am makes for a pretty long, busy day. We walked back to our hotel, watched some video, packed, and whined about not wanting to go home.
Sigh.
On Monday we finished packing, had some free brekkie, booked airport transportation and went to a mall since we didn't have very much time to do anything of greatness. Getting a cab back from the mall turned out to be a MASSIVE hassle and Erin and Kerri almost missed their shuttle ride to the airport. I continued my day of exploring and, gasp, ventured away from the Disneyland area. I went to Target, must to the envy of Kerri. (It's a weird Canadian in the US thing for us and Target. I can't explain.) I stocked up on stuff that I missed, such as peanut butter chocolate chip chewy reduced sugar granola bars that are like crack and I want them ALL THE TIME, and stuff that is cheaper in the US, such as my facewash that is about half the price as on PEI. Wankers. I also went to a grocery stores and bought random boring stuff like an apple, orange and banana, but also a cantelope that cost only $.50! I could get used to California.
I then returned to Disneyland Resort area as I wanted to look at the hotels and figure out where the closest liquor store was. I received that critical piece of information and started to walk there. I realised about half-way there that if I continued my journey I *may* miss my shuttle. So I freaking booted it back to the hotel and got there JUST as my shuttle pulled in. Seriously, I'm suprised my flip-flops didn't snap into a thousand pieces at the rate I was going.
Arrive at airport. Drink massive quantities of cough syrup since I can't take it on the plane with me. Go through long security line. Read magazines and books at shops. Eat pizza and salad from Wolfgang Pucks. Buy cough drops. Board plane. Fall asleep about thirty seconds after plane takes off. Eventually wake up and land in Toronto. Guy working customs thinks I'm hungover, but really my cough syrup and Targer cold pills screw me up and make me retardedly drowsy. Plus, umm, I had just taken the red-eye flight and it was apparently 5:30am in Toronto. Please be kind to me. Thank you.
Get to Halifax. Drive to Ch'town (which took almost six hours due to me being a moron and getting confused and thinking I went the wrong way [I didn't though], stopping to eat, and stopping to sleep), arrived at parents to fetch my car, tried to stay awake so I would be able to sleep that night, then can't fall asleep and go to work the next day like a zombie. But a happy-I-went-to-Cali-and-saw-my-friends zombie. That's a good kind of zombie to be :)
After Kerri and I ate pizza, we parted ways with Erin and bounced off towards the "thrill" rides. I like them because somehow their kinetic energy is transfered to me in EXCITED energy! First we went on the Maliboomer, an attraction that even this nerdy theme park girl could not remember the name of. We weren't sure if it was a good idea to go on this directly after pizza, but it was, because it was so much fun! It's basically a reverse, theme-less Tower of Terror. You get shot up, and descend with less force. We then giggled our way to California Screamin', which I also love to bits and pieces. I don't really know why... Maybe it's the carnie music, the wind in the face, the launch (!!), or the total package, but I quite like it - better than Space Mountain even. We then, umm, secretly went on the ride again since the line was so short! I'm drawing a bit of a blank, but I believe we departed at this point and headed over to Disneyland. I was *quite* excited, along with the others. It was nice to see a big, fake castle again :)
Disneyland was PACKED - it almost reminded me of MK at Xmas. I believe it had to do with the walkways starting to be roped off for the parade, the narrow walkways (compared to WDW), and the abundance of AP holders who hang out at DL every night. Heh. And ps, I enjoy using an excessive amount of accronyms. It's only appropriate. I believe the first attraction we headed for was Pirates of the Carribean. I was quite impressed that the line was only about 15 mins long! We rode it, and partway during the ride I stated that Disneyland is the equivalent of a local mall for teenagers. I'm convinced parents just drop them off mid afternoon and come and pick them up around midnight. Someone sitting in front of us nodded and laughed. After Pirates, we hopped off to It's a Small World. Maybe I'm getting confused, but I think I like the one in WDW better. I find the one in DL looks like it needs some work in parts. Unless my brain is getting spotty, in IASW in MK, the water goes right up to the displays, where as I believe in DL the water is getting in a boarded canal (for lack of a better term) in which the boat travels. As well, in spots you would look to the right and see the attraction, but looking to the left would yield a black wall with glitter flowers pasted on it. Meh? Maybe it's like this at MK as well, but I don't think so. Ah well, there were some different scenes and I did enjoy it overall. Erin, however, is one of those people who hates the ride >=)
After the happiest cruise that ever sailed, it was firework time! I was ridiculously excited!! I'm sorry, but I have never seen a firework display that rivals Disney's. EVER. I've seen pretty good ones (Edinburgh) but Disney's are presented so well. The music, the lasers, the story, etc. The budget definitely helps, of course ;) I loved them. At DL Tinkerbell just keeps flying back and forth for a little while, where as in MK she just "flies" from the Castle down to Tomorrowland. Instead of rambling, here is a link to the fireworks narrated by Julie Andrews with great vocal clips of Walt Disney inserted. Anyway, the children singing at the beginning still give me watery eyes and an enormous smile. I still remember the first time I saw Wishes at MK. It was the first weekend we were there, the day we finished Traditions. I remember Dave (eventually "Server Dave" =P ) saying how great it was when it ended and that no one could not feel happy after watching it. I actually like the DL ones a bit better because they are less focused on the movies and feature the park itself. Sometimes I feel like being in the parks too much is like ODing on Disney movies. Anyway, who couldn't appreciate a Star Wars laser fight that takes place DURING a fireworks display?
So the fireworks eventually ended and I wanted to watch them again. And run up and hug the castle. I refrained though. The crowds were still pretty heavy so we diddled in shops for a bit and watched Disneyland - The First 50 Magical Years which I loved to bits and pieces. A short film about Disneyland starring Steve Martin AND Donald Duck? Yes, please!
I think we left at this point and headed to Downtown Disney. I took the looooong walk to the medicine stand (really a magazine stand with random pharmaceutical items) and spent $10 on a bottle of cough syrup that would generally retail for $4.50 at Walgreens. However, it was one of the best $10 I spend in my LIFE - even though the kid working the stand was an idiot and said they didn't sell cough syrup. ("Umm, isn't that it right there?" "Oh, maybe... Yes. Heh.")
Then met up with the others, and we took the shuttle back to the hotel and craaashed.
Sunday
Up again! We were at DL for opening. Again, took the shuttle over. We went through the gates immediately. I think there was an early entry that morning for resort guests (?? - not sure) so people were already in the parks, but we were still roped off. We snuck into the shops on Main Street to get closer to rope drop. I figure for each person I pass, that is one less person I have to stand behind! The rope dropped, we (and other smart folk) filed out of the shops and took off for Nemo's Submarine Voyage, heading through Fantasyland rather than Tomorrowland. Holy freaking queue. Despite being there mere minutes after rope drop, the queue was still about 45 minutes. The castmembers can't even tell how long the wait will be because the queue itself is so intertwind and lengthy, wrapping around the lagoon. Kerri and I amused ourselves in line and I think Erin thought we were... slightly off. We eventually made it to the ride, and I enjoyed it, although I couldn't justify waiting hours for it. It had some similarities to the Nemo ride at Epcot, but it feels a little more "immersed" since you are actually IN the water, rather than looking obviously from the other side of glass.
Afterwards we went Kerri and I went to Space Mountain for fast passes and then... ummm... I can't remember. We must have done something though? Right, looking at my pictures leads me to believe that Kerri and I went on the Matterhorn. It was fun, and kind of freaked me out. Older rollercoasters tend to do that. We then met up with Erin and rode the Alice in Wonderland Ride. It was, well, what you would expect from an Alice darkride. Then Kerri and I scuttered back to Tomorrowland and went on Space Mountain using our Fastpasses thus having a minimal wait. I believe it's definitely darker than it's MK counterpart, and the starry sky has more of a '3-D' feel to it. And it scares the piss out of me. I think it's due to the extreme darkness and I find myself hunched over in fear I'm going to knock my head off a steal frame somewhere. See trauma A: getting hit with a BASEBALL CAP of the Rock 'n Roller Coaster in the DARK and practically suffering from a broken nose. So yes, I shuddered my way through Space Mountain.
I believe at this point we met up with Erin again at the foot of the monorail (which actually picks guests up INSIDE the park!) and went to the Disneyland Hotel for our character brunch. Definitely NOT a highlight of the trip! It was Goofy's Kitchen, and apparently you only go to meet Goofy if it was your birthday. The food was good, but the characters kept skipping our tables. Our server wasn't really around, so we couldn't tell him. We mentioned this to a character attendant that came to talk to us, but she wasn't concerned. She asked if we had met Donald Duck when coming in. We said no, and she encouraged us to stop and get our picture with him when we left. Well, he wasn't there. Anyway, I ate pizza and ridiculous amounts of canteloupe and pineapple so that was good. I definitely would not repeat the Goofy's Kitchen experience. I dunno, I just wasn't impressed with the overall experience.
We returned to Disneyland via monorail and hit up the other half of the park after taking pictures of the Castle and watching a brief, random Mary Poppins shows that suddenly appeared in front of the castle.
We then went to Tom Sawyer's Island / "Pirate's Lair", pretty much just to meet Captain Jack Sparrow. We couldn't find him, but after exploring caves and what not I saw an area that looked... suspcious. My castmembers flags went up, I could tell it was a photo op set up! I saw a tall fence that had a door "Cast Members Only". My flags got taller. I tried peaking through the cracks but couldn't see anything. Then, Kerri or Erin (sorry ladies, can't remember) looked through and saw him!!! We were quite excited and spied for a bit while he was backstage. Suddenly, unknown to us, Sailing Ship Columbia went by and fired a canon and we jumped about 30 ft in the air in surprise at the nose. We poked around, killed time, and giggled.
THEN HE SAUNTERED OUT. It was a good day. He talked to a couple of kids, then the photos began. I was planning on being all cool and possibly flirting/teasing a wee bit (I know - I'm a moron) but instead got rather ga-ga and stupidly star struck. I think I mumbled something about him having a nice ring and he stated that he had stolen it from a gypsy. Erin was up next. As they were posing for photos I said, "Erin, your shirt is to clean for you to be a pirate!"
Erin: Oh, but I can get dirty.
And I died laughing. I also died some more upon seeing Cpt. Sparrow's reaction... I don't think he knew what to say! He actually said to Kerri when she went up for a photo, "Well, that was awkward."
Afterwards, we were videoing commentary about the event and a couple walked by as we were recapping and said to Erin, "Yeah, he was definitely looking down your shirt!"
And, for a third time, I died. Such great memories! :)
We then went back to Critter Country and went on the Winnie the Pooh ride, mostly because it was there. We also met Eeryoe and Winnie the Pooh and stopped for photos. They are soft, so I like hugging them; however, I want pictures with more interesting characters. They are EVERYWHERE so I feel like I already have their photos 600 or so times. I think we also got fastpasses for Splash Mountain at this point? Regardless we continued towards Adventureland. Went to the Tiki Room, rode Jungle Cruise, and Kerri and I went on the Indianna Jones Ride. Loved it!! We then met up with Erin. I think at this point we returned to Splash Mountain. Umm, I like the MK one better. I just find the audioanamatronics don't look so worn, and ride is a bit slower making it last longer and giving me more time to hum along to the songs. Kerri and I went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (which always makes me think of my mum and Keri Shields) and did indeed enjoy the wildest ride in the wilderness. We then met up with Erin at Pinnochio. We road that and Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. And, I believe, that was the end. Sad. Actually, really sad now that I think about it... Crap. We left to return to DCA for one last adventure on California Screamin. We also went on Soarin', and Kerri bought a hat and jumper. Crap, it's almost like my trip just ended again and I'm bummed again :( Tear. Soarin' is a good ride to end on, however, it's relaxing, impressive, and always makes me smile, especially the smell of the orange groves.
Whoops, my bad, we actually did return to DL to go to the photopass place. I feel like we MUST have done something else though, perhaps wander in shops?
Oh yes, and I missed it above, but at some point Kerri and I went to Toontown. Hmm. We also saw a bit of the Jedi training thing where I was infatuated with the hot Jedi Master. Probably because he had a light saber. Umm, I guess I like fictional characters.
After we left DL (sad) we went to Downtown Disney. Kerri bought stuff, and we went to HOB to eat. Not gonna lie, I was rather drained. 7:00am - 12:00am makes for a pretty long, busy day. We walked back to our hotel, watched some video, packed, and whined about not wanting to go home.
Sigh.
On Monday we finished packing, had some free brekkie, booked airport transportation and went to a mall since we didn't have very much time to do anything of greatness. Getting a cab back from the mall turned out to be a MASSIVE hassle and Erin and Kerri almost missed their shuttle ride to the airport. I continued my day of exploring and, gasp, ventured away from the Disneyland area. I went to Target, must to the envy of Kerri. (It's a weird Canadian in the US thing for us and Target. I can't explain.) I stocked up on stuff that I missed, such as peanut butter chocolate chip chewy reduced sugar granola bars that are like crack and I want them ALL THE TIME, and stuff that is cheaper in the US, such as my facewash that is about half the price as on PEI. Wankers. I also went to a grocery stores and bought random boring stuff like an apple, orange and banana, but also a cantelope that cost only $.50! I could get used to California.
I then returned to Disneyland Resort area as I wanted to look at the hotels and figure out where the closest liquor store was. I received that critical piece of information and started to walk there. I realised about half-way there that if I continued my journey I *may* miss my shuttle. So I freaking booted it back to the hotel and got there JUST as my shuttle pulled in. Seriously, I'm suprised my flip-flops didn't snap into a thousand pieces at the rate I was going.
Arrive at airport. Drink massive quantities of cough syrup since I can't take it on the plane with me. Go through long security line. Read magazines and books at shops. Eat pizza and salad from Wolfgang Pucks. Buy cough drops. Board plane. Fall asleep about thirty seconds after plane takes off. Eventually wake up and land in Toronto. Guy working customs thinks I'm hungover, but really my cough syrup and Targer cold pills screw me up and make me retardedly drowsy. Plus, umm, I had just taken the red-eye flight and it was apparently 5:30am in Toronto. Please be kind to me. Thank you.
Get to Halifax. Drive to Ch'town (which took almost six hours due to me being a moron and getting confused and thinking I went the wrong way [I didn't though], stopping to eat, and stopping to sleep), arrived at parents to fetch my car, tried to stay awake so I would be able to sleep that night, then can't fall asleep and go to work the next day like a zombie. But a happy-I-went-to-Cali-and-saw-my-friends zombie. That's a good kind of zombie to be :)
Monday, October 08, 2007
Woooo, I shall continue my wee LA story. I left off on Friday.. but in telling the story and the actual story. Heh.
We took a cab from the pharmacy, where I had invested in cold pills, and the others in bandaids, confectionary, and wine, back to our hotel. We zonked out for a wee bit and debated what to do. We "freshened up" and then went for a wander about Santa Monica down to the pier. Quite an event. Saw a couple rather dodgy folks/activities, and wasn't overly impressed. We didn't go on any rides, despite the fact I adore rides. Really though, we would be spending a good chunk of Saturday and all of Sunday on rides, so none of us felt it was necessary. We walked around a bit, half looking around and half looking for a spot to grab a drink. We were all dragging a bit, so retired back to the hotel to sleep / cough excessively while trying to sleep.
The next morning we split all headed to the shopping area one last time to run into those stores we had missed, or had seen things that it turned out we really "needed" (really wanted) something. However, the stores didn't open until 10:00, and we were out and ready at about 9:15. Ah well, there was a lovely farmers market filled with outdoor stalls. I made a wise investment in delicious strawberries and peaches, did some speed shopping in a wee british shop, and a couple of clothing/shoe stores we had skipped earlier. After we made our final purchases we, gasp, actually ventured to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful!! The water wasn't as warm as I thought it would be, but we didn't have time to swim anyway. We half played in the water (as much as one can when wearing clothes) and then pretty much sprinted up to our hotel to meet our drive to Anaheim. The drive to Anaheim didn't take quite as long as I expected (a little over 45 mins) and traffic was quite smooth. We really didn't run into any heavy traffic during our time, I was pretty impressed. We were dropped off at our hotel, and I laughed while watching Kerri and Erin lug their massive lugage up the stairs. To rub a bit of salt in their wounds (not literally, since they actually did have wounds all over their feet from our walking adventures) the front desk lady asked me if we needed help. I said no >=D (Sorry ladies, I don't think I told you this... but it was only one flight and you were half-way up by then. Plus it was hilarious.) We sat around in our room for about 35 minutes and then took the complimentary shuttle to Disneyland. Turns out we really didn't need the complimentary shuttle as the walk to the maingate was only ten minutes!
Disneyland!!!
So obviously us little three former castmembers squealed our way through the parks. This would also be the point where I get very detailed.
First we went to California Adventure. I still felt a bit castmember special since we had our not-for-sale passes and go in for free. First up we went into a merch shop as Kerri needed some sort of Disney head gear for the day. After a bit too long in the shops, we started to do the important things. (Jen is not so much a fan of the merch shops.) We grabbed fastpasses for Soarin' and then took off for whatever ride was closest - Grizzy River Rapids (or something like that). Kind of a standard water raft ride... We got wet, we smiles, we laughed, we stuffed our bags under our shirts to keep our stuff dry, etc. Why the ride doesn't have the "dry bag area" in the middle of the rafts like at Animal Kingdom is beyond me... They are practially carbon copies of each other. We then proceeded to the next closest attraction - Brother Bear play in the forest something wweeee kids play bounce bounce boooooing! It was basically a random play area for children and childish adults. (Cue Kerri and Jen bouncing excessively rope bridge things that made me think of Sand Spit.) We then... did something. I remember stopping so Kerri could buy something... Mickey Mouse ice cream, perhaps? I believe at this point we went back to Soarin' and soared over California. It's still such an impressive ride, and people still clap at the end of it! Then Erin proceeded to stand in an eternal line for the official food of Disney - chicken strips and french fries. The line didn't really move at all, and Kerri and Erin were concerned about missing the High School Musical 2 pep rally / summer vacation sing-a-long show. I watched a bit of it, then wandered off to the toilet and take pictures. Afterwards, Erin got her precious chicken strips. We then poked along to grab fast passes for Tower of Terror, and then to the Aladdin musical, which I quite liked. I also pretty much left a lung on the floor in the theatre as about ten minutes before the end I started hacking like a cat and scampered away to the back of the theatre and basically shook through the rest of the performance trying to swallow coughs.
Ahh, Tower of Terror. I cannot say enough good things about this ride. I love it to bits and pieces!!! The DCA one certainly lacks the atmosphere presented at the Studios by not having the queue wrap through the gardens. The ride is a bit different in that the elevator does not move forward into the "drop shaft" or whatever it is. It also has a different heat-thermal screen thing in which you see yourself and the other passengers, and then you disinegrate (sp?). Then you drop and bounce and scream and love it. Also in the queue for unintentional entertainment, Kerri went to lean against a railing and pretty much fell through because it turned out to be the swinging entrance to an exit ramp. Cue Jen dieing from laughter (after ensuring she was not hurt, of course). After the AMAZING ride, we met up with Erin and rode Monsters Inc. It was fine, but I wasn't blown away by it. C-ticket, for the fellow nerds who know what I'm talking about. The other two sauntered off to watch Muppet Vision, which I do like but have seen about 604 times, and I wandered off to first aid. My first time at a first aid station in any theme park!! Or anywhere, really. I needed cough syrup like maaaad. The nurse could not give me any, but told me where I could buy some (far away in Downtown Disney, unfortunately,) but did give me some cough drops which, to me, were worth more than gold!! We met up again, and proceeding to our next food quest: Disney pizza. Sadly, I was a bit disapointed. DLR does pizza by the slice, WDW does it as mini personal pizzas. WDW definitely wins the pizza challenge. We parted ways again as thrill rides were next up on the itinerary.
WAIT!! At some point before this, I believe on the walk to the pizza spot, I got ran over by an ECV. Seriously. I was pointing off and looking to the right trying to show the others something and a man in an ECV ran over both of my feet. It quite hurt, but I was moreso flabbergasted that SOMEONE IN AN ECV CLEARLY RAN OVER MY FEET!!!!
I feel that is a good spot to end my story for the night. Tomorrow I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the padres. I have never cooked a turkey dinner before. Luckily Dominoes will likely be open for back-up ;) I'm just getting visions from the movie Christmas Vacation when they do the first cut of the turkey, and it basically cracks over and shrivles like chrushing paper machee. That'll be my turkey!! Not turkey related, but at an extended family event about a month ago I saw someone who looked almost EXACTLY like the older Aunt in that movie - the one who pledges her alligiance to the flag when saying grace. I pretty much died laughing and had to point it out to Papa and a couple of other family members. We weren't very good at keeping straight faces afterwards.
La fin.
We took a cab from the pharmacy, where I had invested in cold pills, and the others in bandaids, confectionary, and wine, back to our hotel. We zonked out for a wee bit and debated what to do. We "freshened up" and then went for a wander about Santa Monica down to the pier. Quite an event. Saw a couple rather dodgy folks/activities, and wasn't overly impressed. We didn't go on any rides, despite the fact I adore rides. Really though, we would be spending a good chunk of Saturday and all of Sunday on rides, so none of us felt it was necessary. We walked around a bit, half looking around and half looking for a spot to grab a drink. We were all dragging a bit, so retired back to the hotel to sleep / cough excessively while trying to sleep.
The next morning we split all headed to the shopping area one last time to run into those stores we had missed, or had seen things that it turned out we really "needed" (really wanted) something. However, the stores didn't open until 10:00, and we were out and ready at about 9:15. Ah well, there was a lovely farmers market filled with outdoor stalls. I made a wise investment in delicious strawberries and peaches, did some speed shopping in a wee british shop, and a couple of clothing/shoe stores we had skipped earlier. After we made our final purchases we, gasp, actually ventured to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful!! The water wasn't as warm as I thought it would be, but we didn't have time to swim anyway. We half played in the water (as much as one can when wearing clothes) and then pretty much sprinted up to our hotel to meet our drive to Anaheim. The drive to Anaheim didn't take quite as long as I expected (a little over 45 mins) and traffic was quite smooth. We really didn't run into any heavy traffic during our time, I was pretty impressed. We were dropped off at our hotel, and I laughed while watching Kerri and Erin lug their massive lugage up the stairs. To rub a bit of salt in their wounds (not literally, since they actually did have wounds all over their feet from our walking adventures) the front desk lady asked me if we needed help. I said no >=D (Sorry ladies, I don't think I told you this... but it was only one flight and you were half-way up by then. Plus it was hilarious.) We sat around in our room for about 35 minutes and then took the complimentary shuttle to Disneyland. Turns out we really didn't need the complimentary shuttle as the walk to the maingate was only ten minutes!
Disneyland!!!
So obviously us little three former castmembers squealed our way through the parks. This would also be the point where I get very detailed.
First we went to California Adventure. I still felt a bit castmember special since we had our not-for-sale passes and go in for free. First up we went into a merch shop as Kerri needed some sort of Disney head gear for the day. After a bit too long in the shops, we started to do the important things. (Jen is not so much a fan of the merch shops.) We grabbed fastpasses for Soarin' and then took off for whatever ride was closest - Grizzy River Rapids (or something like that). Kind of a standard water raft ride... We got wet, we smiles, we laughed, we stuffed our bags under our shirts to keep our stuff dry, etc. Why the ride doesn't have the "dry bag area" in the middle of the rafts like at Animal Kingdom is beyond me... They are practially carbon copies of each other. We then proceeded to the next closest attraction - Brother Bear play in the forest something wweeee kids play bounce bounce boooooing! It was basically a random play area for children and childish adults. (Cue Kerri and Jen bouncing excessively rope bridge things that made me think of Sand Spit.) We then... did something. I remember stopping so Kerri could buy something... Mickey Mouse ice cream, perhaps? I believe at this point we went back to Soarin' and soared over California. It's still such an impressive ride, and people still clap at the end of it! Then Erin proceeded to stand in an eternal line for the official food of Disney - chicken strips and french fries. The line didn't really move at all, and Kerri and Erin were concerned about missing the High School Musical 2 pep rally / summer vacation sing-a-long show. I watched a bit of it, then wandered off to the toilet and take pictures. Afterwards, Erin got her precious chicken strips. We then poked along to grab fast passes for Tower of Terror, and then to the Aladdin musical, which I quite liked. I also pretty much left a lung on the floor in the theatre as about ten minutes before the end I started hacking like a cat and scampered away to the back of the theatre and basically shook through the rest of the performance trying to swallow coughs.
Ahh, Tower of Terror. I cannot say enough good things about this ride. I love it to bits and pieces!!! The DCA one certainly lacks the atmosphere presented at the Studios by not having the queue wrap through the gardens. The ride is a bit different in that the elevator does not move forward into the "drop shaft" or whatever it is. It also has a different heat-thermal screen thing in which you see yourself and the other passengers, and then you disinegrate (sp?). Then you drop and bounce and scream and love it. Also in the queue for unintentional entertainment, Kerri went to lean against a railing and pretty much fell through because it turned out to be the swinging entrance to an exit ramp. Cue Jen dieing from laughter (after ensuring she was not hurt, of course). After the AMAZING ride, we met up with Erin and rode Monsters Inc. It was fine, but I wasn't blown away by it. C-ticket, for the fellow nerds who know what I'm talking about. The other two sauntered off to watch Muppet Vision, which I do like but have seen about 604 times, and I wandered off to first aid. My first time at a first aid station in any theme park!! Or anywhere, really. I needed cough syrup like maaaad. The nurse could not give me any, but told me where I could buy some (far away in Downtown Disney, unfortunately,) but did give me some cough drops which, to me, were worth more than gold!! We met up again, and proceeding to our next food quest: Disney pizza. Sadly, I was a bit disapointed. DLR does pizza by the slice, WDW does it as mini personal pizzas. WDW definitely wins the pizza challenge. We parted ways again as thrill rides were next up on the itinerary.
WAIT!! At some point before this, I believe on the walk to the pizza spot, I got ran over by an ECV. Seriously. I was pointing off and looking to the right trying to show the others something and a man in an ECV ran over both of my feet. It quite hurt, but I was moreso flabbergasted that SOMEONE IN AN ECV CLEARLY RAN OVER MY FEET!!!!
I feel that is a good spot to end my story for the night. Tomorrow I am cooking Thanksgiving dinner for the padres. I have never cooked a turkey dinner before. Luckily Dominoes will likely be open for back-up ;) I'm just getting visions from the movie Christmas Vacation when they do the first cut of the turkey, and it basically cracks over and shrivles like chrushing paper machee. That'll be my turkey!! Not turkey related, but at an extended family event about a month ago I saw someone who looked almost EXACTLY like the older Aunt in that movie - the one who pledges her alligiance to the flag when saying grace. I pretty much died laughing and had to point it out to Papa and a couple of other family members. We weren't very good at keeping straight faces afterwards.
La fin.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Ooooh, I am a sleepy one this evening. I feel as though I stayed up til 4:30 and it's 7:30 and I'm just waking up. The past couple of days I have felt ridiculously run down and exhausted all day. Well, for me anyway. To just want to go straight to bed after work isn't very Jen-ish. So I don't do it, but then I fall into my usual routine of having trouble falling asleep, and waking up periodically during the night wondering what time it is. I'm sure that's not the real reason I wake up, but I always look at the clock right away so I'm making assumptions.
I guess I haven't blogged in awhile... No biggie, the Earth is still turning and I'm still here! My adventure to LA with Erin and Kerri was fantastic, and I loved every minute of it! I left Wednesday night at about 11:30pm. It wasn't the best drive to Halifax as it was rather windy, but after I hit the rotary in NB it was smooth sailing. However, I was rather paranoid about hitting a moose in NB. It was actually probably the most nervous I was the entire trip! The drive over was rather unadventurerous. I slept in the car park the Tim Horton's by the park 'n fly for about a half hour. I didn't as much on the plane as I had hoped, and felt rather groggy when I was sitting on the bus to Santa Monica. I met Erin and Kerri at our hotel (The Fairmont Miramar - we were having a 48-hour period of being classy ladies). We then hopped and shopped about the 3rd Street Promenade area. Kerri and I giggled our way through the $15 store (all items were $15 or less) while Erin disapproved of the poor quality clothing. Around 5:00 we all felt like our feet weight 600 lbs so we ventured back to the hotel to nap. I woke up about 45-minutes later feeling like my head was going to explode due to a cold. Luckily, my head didn't explode! Thank God, it would had been quite messy - not to mention I would be missing a head. We primped and then headed to West Hollywood for our dinner reservation at Koi, apparently a new "hot spot". We arrived, and were greeted by the paparatzi at the door. Sadly, they didn't seem too interested in us. I wanted to take a picture of them, but didn't at risk of looking too much like a tourist. We were greeted by a large man with a list. Were we on the list? Yes, yes we were. Sometimes you actually do need to plan ahead! We waited about 35-minutes to be seated (not too bad - the place was packed) and then had a lovely seat on the back patio area. It was a Japanese restaurant, so I had "real" sushi for the first time - and it was absolutely spectacular!! At first I tried some of Erin's (spicy tuna roll, perhaps??) and it was quite good. I had a salad with, umm, some kind of spicy dressing that was quite good. My sushi dish was bay scallop roll, and yuuuuuuuuuuum. I think I ate almost the whole thing despite being full. But it was just soooo good. The whole thing was accompanied by a peach martini that I gave a full thumbs up.
While we had been waiting to be seated earlier in the night we saw Jennifer Coolidge, aka Stifler's Mom from the American Pie movies. I didn't really recognize her, but Kerri and Erin noticed her quite quickly. That was our "big" star sighting.
The next morning Erin and I hopped off for a quick exploration/brekkie while Kerri slept off her martinis ;) We then took a bus into Hollywood, then the metro up to Burbank/Universal City. There, we waited for a bus to take us to the Warner Bros. Studios. Then we waited some more. After waiting, we waited some more. Eventually we trucked up a giant hill (yes - I considered it giant despite living in Edinburgh but 16 months!) to a hotel and hopped in a cab. Thirteen-dollars later we were at the studios! We booked ourselves on a tour to depart at 1:30. We had a little over an hour to kill, so we hussled off to the Disney Studios/headquarters and looked sadly in through the gates, hoping some American blokes would take pity on us, marry us, thus giving us green cards to work in the States. (Disney could also create some sort of Canadian head quarters, that would be acceptable as well. Perhaps easier, from my perspective.) Sadly, we eventually left the area still single, and not a step closer to obtaining that elusive green card. Maybe next year.
The Warner Bros tour was a couple of hours long. It was okay, but I wouldn't do it again. Maybe I just don't watch enough TV or movies anymore... We saw some of the exterior sets, got to go through a museum of memrobilia (lots of Harry Potter stuff!!!!!!!!!) and went to visit the re-located, former Central Perk set from Friends.
After the tour we returned to Hollywood - the nice part. Huuuuuge difference between the nice part and the slummy parts! The nice part is about, oh, three blocks, and the rest is filled with crappy gift shops and, ahem, "adult novelty" shops. Classy. We did the tourist thing and bummed around the Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater, and the various shops in the area. I pulled a Jennifer and immersed myself in the Virgin Megastore for about six days. We also grabbed a quick bit at Mickey's Ice Cream Shoppe Sprinkles Happy Food Poof Restaurant or something like that. We then walked for a bit hoping to get to the Beverley Centre so I could spend my life-long savings at H&M, but alas, the walk was too far, it was getting dark, and the other girls had OPEN WOUNDS/blisters all over their feet. I, in my well broken in sneakers, could have walked for 25 more kilometres ;)
Aaaaand, tired. The end.
I guess I haven't blogged in awhile... No biggie, the Earth is still turning and I'm still here! My adventure to LA with Erin and Kerri was fantastic, and I loved every minute of it! I left Wednesday night at about 11:30pm. It wasn't the best drive to Halifax as it was rather windy, but after I hit the rotary in NB it was smooth sailing. However, I was rather paranoid about hitting a moose in NB. It was actually probably the most nervous I was the entire trip! The drive over was rather unadventurerous. I slept in the car park the Tim Horton's by the park 'n fly for about a half hour. I didn't as much on the plane as I had hoped, and felt rather groggy when I was sitting on the bus to Santa Monica. I met Erin and Kerri at our hotel (The Fairmont Miramar - we were having a 48-hour period of being classy ladies). We then hopped and shopped about the 3rd Street Promenade area. Kerri and I giggled our way through the $15 store (all items were $15 or less) while Erin disapproved of the poor quality clothing. Around 5:00 we all felt like our feet weight 600 lbs so we ventured back to the hotel to nap. I woke up about 45-minutes later feeling like my head was going to explode due to a cold. Luckily, my head didn't explode! Thank God, it would had been quite messy - not to mention I would be missing a head. We primped and then headed to West Hollywood for our dinner reservation at Koi, apparently a new "hot spot". We arrived, and were greeted by the paparatzi at the door. Sadly, they didn't seem too interested in us. I wanted to take a picture of them, but didn't at risk of looking too much like a tourist. We were greeted by a large man with a list. Were we on the list? Yes, yes we were. Sometimes you actually do need to plan ahead! We waited about 35-minutes to be seated (not too bad - the place was packed) and then had a lovely seat on the back patio area. It was a Japanese restaurant, so I had "real" sushi for the first time - and it was absolutely spectacular!! At first I tried some of Erin's (spicy tuna roll, perhaps??) and it was quite good. I had a salad with, umm, some kind of spicy dressing that was quite good. My sushi dish was bay scallop roll, and yuuuuuuuuuuum. I think I ate almost the whole thing despite being full. But it was just soooo good. The whole thing was accompanied by a peach martini that I gave a full thumbs up.
While we had been waiting to be seated earlier in the night we saw Jennifer Coolidge, aka Stifler's Mom from the American Pie movies. I didn't really recognize her, but Kerri and Erin noticed her quite quickly. That was our "big" star sighting.
The next morning Erin and I hopped off for a quick exploration/brekkie while Kerri slept off her martinis ;) We then took a bus into Hollywood, then the metro up to Burbank/Universal City. There, we waited for a bus to take us to the Warner Bros. Studios. Then we waited some more. After waiting, we waited some more. Eventually we trucked up a giant hill (yes - I considered it giant despite living in Edinburgh but 16 months!) to a hotel and hopped in a cab. Thirteen-dollars later we were at the studios! We booked ourselves on a tour to depart at 1:30. We had a little over an hour to kill, so we hussled off to the Disney Studios/headquarters and looked sadly in through the gates, hoping some American blokes would take pity on us, marry us, thus giving us green cards to work in the States. (Disney could also create some sort of Canadian head quarters, that would be acceptable as well. Perhaps easier, from my perspective.) Sadly, we eventually left the area still single, and not a step closer to obtaining that elusive green card. Maybe next year.
The Warner Bros tour was a couple of hours long. It was okay, but I wouldn't do it again. Maybe I just don't watch enough TV or movies anymore... We saw some of the exterior sets, got to go through a museum of memrobilia (lots of Harry Potter stuff!!!!!!!!!) and went to visit the re-located, former Central Perk set from Friends.
After the tour we returned to Hollywood - the nice part. Huuuuuge difference between the nice part and the slummy parts! The nice part is about, oh, three blocks, and the rest is filled with crappy gift shops and, ahem, "adult novelty" shops. Classy. We did the tourist thing and bummed around the Chinese Theater, Kodak Theater, and the various shops in the area. I pulled a Jennifer and immersed myself in the Virgin Megastore for about six days. We also grabbed a quick bit at Mickey's Ice Cream Shoppe Sprinkles Happy Food Poof Restaurant or something like that. We then walked for a bit hoping to get to the Beverley Centre so I could spend my life-long savings at H&M, but alas, the walk was too far, it was getting dark, and the other girls had OPEN WOUNDS/blisters all over their feet. I, in my well broken in sneakers, could have walked for 25 more kilometres ;)
Aaaaand, tired. The end.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Oh, how I should be trying to sleep! However, the kids outside the crack-house next door are being loud, and I just realised it's been over two years since I have left Scotland. Yet I still spell 'realise' with an 's'. It makes me feel cultured.
So two years. Wow. I've adjusted to the fact that I finished uni over three years ago, but to move to the next level and accept it's been over two years since my first "big" adventure ended is quite astonishing. How young I was, just a wee lass of 21 crossing the ocean. Actually, 21 isn't really that young, many people do it when they are younger.
I don't really believe in faith, but I like to think the decisions we make at present affect the outcome of the future. I don't like the idea of faith and the "purpose" of someones life because it makes life seem pre-determined. The idea of my life path already being in place, even if I don't know the plans set before me, does not appeal to me at all. It makes the present seem so irrelevant if you are to reach the same conclusion regardless. We all have the same conclusions eventually (death, boo,) but I don't want the events between birth and death to be in a proper, sequential line. I like to think if I do something stupid, it's because I was temporairly being an idiot and not because it is part of a bigger plan.
Summer is nearing its end. It quite saddens me but I'm trying to remain hopeful that this winter will be better than last. Barring an extremely unfortunate, tragic event, I really don't think this winter could ever be any worse than last winter. Those were dark days. Literally and figuratively. This may sound odd, but winter is inconvenient. I hate having to put on so much clothing before facing the outdoors. I hate wearing socks. I hate wearing pants... I can't even tell you the last time I wore pants that did not involve a uniform or... Well, actually, I just don't recall. Hmm. I remember wearing pants to tennis in May.
So yes, this summer was great! Starting in July I finally had a "Canada" Canada Day. It was great! I took many photos and got to wear a costume!! We had Lynda's hen party, followed by Kiki's wedding the next day. Next Brad came to visit, and I was sooo excited someone "from" Florida found his way here. I also re-learned a valuable lesson regarding drinking that I hadn't experienced since that dreadful pubcrawl back in January 2004. But it was all in honour of B-Rad! Brad also brought the consistent start of summer, as prior to that the warm days were scattered among cold, grey days. The following weekend Raeanne and Jay came to PEI, and I, gasp, actually experienced nightlife in Summerside. Nice for a change, but not my preferred location. *cough* House of Blues *cough*. Dawn also arrived in early July. She was a masters student from Arkansas doing an internship at UPEI for six weeks. It was fun having a long-term tourist around who was up for anything and wanted to experience everything. I also enjoyed listening to her "y'alls". The following weekend (July was amazing - there was literally an event or visitor every weekend) was Lynda's wedding. It was so much that I kind of want Lynda to get married again. To Jamie though, not for her to get divorced or anything. Maybe a giant one-year-anniversary party/"reunion"? Hmm? Brother and Heidi came home around this period too. (Not together though.) The more the merrier on this Gentle Island! Heidi was still home the first weekend in August... Then came the strange weekend: no visitors the following weekend. It was Shan Courtney's b'day, however, which ensured happenings, and probably one of my favourite "bar nights" of the summer! (Save the insane adventure with Brad and Hannah, and my interesting foray into Summerside culture. But those were more so for the people.) For Shan's b'day we went to Piazza Joe's!! It was almost like a real club, music wise. Not so much in decor. (It's an Italian restaurant by day, for those not in the know.) It was just a DJ doing his thing, you know, that thing DJs do. Umm, like mixing music without lyrics and stuff. I dunno, but sober Jen danced so hard in her own little world that she was pretty much dripping in sweat when the bar closed. She was wise and said, "Dancing is really like listening with your feet," but now thinks it's like listening with your whole body. But she wasn't wise enough to say that at the time.
The following weekend was spent in Ottawa. I had so much fun, and the post-holiday blues were quite apparent when I came home. The solution was simple: cut off two-thirds of my hair. Seriously. It was, Monday, mope, Tuesday, mope, Wednesday day, mope, Wednesday evening, cut hair, GREAT!! It's not that I really disliked having long hair, but I felt it had reached its expiry date. It's what I do... Grow my hair out, then chop. Grow hair out again. Chop. Repeat. However, the leaving-O-Town blues weren't really caused by miskept hair - it was saying good-bye to people again. It's neat that the World is so big, different cultures have developed and hundreds of language span the globe, but sometimes I wish the world could be a bit smaller. Make it easier to reach out and literally touch those I care about. It was a bit of a flashback. Like when in Florida, I got to see Charlene every day. Now I shall not see her again for, oh, six months at the earliest.
I kind of wonder what it would be like to live in Ottawa there. The winters are harsh, and Lord knows I despise harsh winters. They grate on my soul and destroy me. I do still know people there, but some of them are leaving so the experience wouldn't be the same I had during my short vacation stint there. I'm not sure if I would like to live there. Lots of greenspace and bike paths, which is great, but I don't know. It's funny, because people comment that it's such a clean city. Guess I'm rather spoiled on PEI, because I find it much cleaner here. However, the market there is amazing! Oh, but yes, it shuts down in the winter. I dunno. That's all I can say.
The weekend just passed was Keri's b'day so more going out fun. When I was younger I thought it would be bad to have your b'day in the summer because you wouldn't see your friends at school to invite them. However, I thought it would be nice not to have your birthday party cancelled due to weather. Now I'm envious of those with birthdays in the summer. During university I spent multiple birthdays either writing exams, (bonjour 19th b'day, Sat night, 7 - 10pm exam,) finishing papers, studying, etc. Bonne fete, eh?
This weekend is Labour Day weekend and... the end. It's an empty feeling, similar to that I had when I graduated high school.
In great events to look forward to: trip to LOS ANGELES!! Justificiation? A seat sale. I'm meeting up with two lovely former Disney co-castmembers and am sooo excited. I was a moron though and thought I could satisfy my travel urges with multiple short trips. While it is nice to have one already in the works when returning from the current vacation, the short trips sometimes feel like they are over before they really "start". I arrive in LA Thu at about 11:00am, and depart Monday at 10:30pm. I'm betting on a one-day lag of jet lag when getting home. It'll be the same time difference as Ch'town to Edinburgh (four hours). I always found flying east much harder than flying west. I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do for driving to Halifax. Literally I have (put keys in ignition, turn, place car in "drive", etc.) but my flight leaves Hali at 6:30, I think. I was thinking about sleeping after work, then waking up at 1:30 to drive to Hali. However, I can never sleep before trips at, like, 2:30 in the morning so that won't really work as I'll be bloody knackered by the time I get to the airport. But then there is the prospect of sleeping on the plane....
Regarding sleep, it would be ideal to get some tonight. Funny, I have been quite tired as of late but still can't seem to fall asleep before, at the absolute earliest, 11:30. Now it's pretty much 1:00am and my alarm is going off in six hours. Hmm, kind of a flashback to my Delta days. How on Earth did I ever, ever, EVER manage to work at 6:30 in the morning?!!??!
So two years. Wow. I've adjusted to the fact that I finished uni over three years ago, but to move to the next level and accept it's been over two years since my first "big" adventure ended is quite astonishing. How young I was, just a wee lass of 21 crossing the ocean. Actually, 21 isn't really that young, many people do it when they are younger.
I don't really believe in faith, but I like to think the decisions we make at present affect the outcome of the future. I don't like the idea of faith and the "purpose" of someones life because it makes life seem pre-determined. The idea of my life path already being in place, even if I don't know the plans set before me, does not appeal to me at all. It makes the present seem so irrelevant if you are to reach the same conclusion regardless. We all have the same conclusions eventually (death, boo,) but I don't want the events between birth and death to be in a proper, sequential line. I like to think if I do something stupid, it's because I was temporairly being an idiot and not because it is part of a bigger plan.
Summer is nearing its end. It quite saddens me but I'm trying to remain hopeful that this winter will be better than last. Barring an extremely unfortunate, tragic event, I really don't think this winter could ever be any worse than last winter. Those were dark days. Literally and figuratively. This may sound odd, but winter is inconvenient. I hate having to put on so much clothing before facing the outdoors. I hate wearing socks. I hate wearing pants... I can't even tell you the last time I wore pants that did not involve a uniform or... Well, actually, I just don't recall. Hmm. I remember wearing pants to tennis in May.
So yes, this summer was great! Starting in July I finally had a "Canada" Canada Day. It was great! I took many photos and got to wear a costume!! We had Lynda's hen party, followed by Kiki's wedding the next day. Next Brad came to visit, and I was sooo excited someone "from" Florida found his way here. I also re-learned a valuable lesson regarding drinking that I hadn't experienced since that dreadful pubcrawl back in January 2004. But it was all in honour of B-Rad! Brad also brought the consistent start of summer, as prior to that the warm days were scattered among cold, grey days. The following weekend Raeanne and Jay came to PEI, and I, gasp, actually experienced nightlife in Summerside. Nice for a change, but not my preferred location. *cough* House of Blues *cough*. Dawn also arrived in early July. She was a masters student from Arkansas doing an internship at UPEI for six weeks. It was fun having a long-term tourist around who was up for anything and wanted to experience everything. I also enjoyed listening to her "y'alls". The following weekend (July was amazing - there was literally an event or visitor every weekend) was Lynda's wedding. It was so much that I kind of want Lynda to get married again. To Jamie though, not for her to get divorced or anything. Maybe a giant one-year-anniversary party/"reunion"? Hmm? Brother and Heidi came home around this period too. (Not together though.) The more the merrier on this Gentle Island! Heidi was still home the first weekend in August... Then came the strange weekend: no visitors the following weekend. It was Shan Courtney's b'day, however, which ensured happenings, and probably one of my favourite "bar nights" of the summer! (Save the insane adventure with Brad and Hannah, and my interesting foray into Summerside culture. But those were more so for the people.) For Shan's b'day we went to Piazza Joe's!! It was almost like a real club, music wise. Not so much in decor. (It's an Italian restaurant by day, for those not in the know.) It was just a DJ doing his thing, you know, that thing DJs do. Umm, like mixing music without lyrics and stuff. I dunno, but sober Jen danced so hard in her own little world that she was pretty much dripping in sweat when the bar closed. She was wise and said, "Dancing is really like listening with your feet," but now thinks it's like listening with your whole body. But she wasn't wise enough to say that at the time.
The following weekend was spent in Ottawa. I had so much fun, and the post-holiday blues were quite apparent when I came home. The solution was simple: cut off two-thirds of my hair. Seriously. It was, Monday, mope, Tuesday, mope, Wednesday day, mope, Wednesday evening, cut hair, GREAT!! It's not that I really disliked having long hair, but I felt it had reached its expiry date. It's what I do... Grow my hair out, then chop. Grow hair out again. Chop. Repeat. However, the leaving-O-Town blues weren't really caused by miskept hair - it was saying good-bye to people again. It's neat that the World is so big, different cultures have developed and hundreds of language span the globe, but sometimes I wish the world could be a bit smaller. Make it easier to reach out and literally touch those I care about. It was a bit of a flashback. Like when in Florida, I got to see Charlene every day. Now I shall not see her again for, oh, six months at the earliest.
I kind of wonder what it would be like to live in Ottawa there. The winters are harsh, and Lord knows I despise harsh winters. They grate on my soul and destroy me. I do still know people there, but some of them are leaving so the experience wouldn't be the same I had during my short vacation stint there. I'm not sure if I would like to live there. Lots of greenspace and bike paths, which is great, but I don't know. It's funny, because people comment that it's such a clean city. Guess I'm rather spoiled on PEI, because I find it much cleaner here. However, the market there is amazing! Oh, but yes, it shuts down in the winter. I dunno. That's all I can say.
The weekend just passed was Keri's b'day so more going out fun. When I was younger I thought it would be bad to have your b'day in the summer because you wouldn't see your friends at school to invite them. However, I thought it would be nice not to have your birthday party cancelled due to weather. Now I'm envious of those with birthdays in the summer. During university I spent multiple birthdays either writing exams, (bonjour 19th b'day, Sat night, 7 - 10pm exam,) finishing papers, studying, etc. Bonne fete, eh?
This weekend is Labour Day weekend and... the end. It's an empty feeling, similar to that I had when I graduated high school.
In great events to look forward to: trip to LOS ANGELES!! Justificiation? A seat sale. I'm meeting up with two lovely former Disney co-castmembers and am sooo excited. I was a moron though and thought I could satisfy my travel urges with multiple short trips. While it is nice to have one already in the works when returning from the current vacation, the short trips sometimes feel like they are over before they really "start". I arrive in LA Thu at about 11:00am, and depart Monday at 10:30pm. I'm betting on a one-day lag of jet lag when getting home. It'll be the same time difference as Ch'town to Edinburgh (four hours). I always found flying east much harder than flying west. I haven't quite figured out what I'm going to do for driving to Halifax. Literally I have (put keys in ignition, turn, place car in "drive", etc.) but my flight leaves Hali at 6:30, I think. I was thinking about sleeping after work, then waking up at 1:30 to drive to Hali. However, I can never sleep before trips at, like, 2:30 in the morning so that won't really work as I'll be bloody knackered by the time I get to the airport. But then there is the prospect of sleeping on the plane....
Regarding sleep, it would be ideal to get some tonight. Funny, I have been quite tired as of late but still can't seem to fall asleep before, at the absolute earliest, 11:30. Now it's pretty much 1:00am and my alarm is going off in six hours. Hmm, kind of a flashback to my Delta days. How on Earth did I ever, ever, EVER manage to work at 6:30 in the morning?!!??!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Visitor!
A fluffy, orange kitty just walked in through our broken door. He was soft. We are friends now.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Ahh, I love the sunshine. I don't even care that I'm inside because eventually I will make the treck outdoors and it will be AMAZING. Hopefully the sun stays out in full force for tennis lessons this evening.
Tennis lessons. Let's discuss. I am still awful at tennis. Pathetically awful. It's very frustrating because I am not good at a single sport. It's almost getting to the point that I want to leave half-way during lessons because I'm so sick of hitting the ball into the net or out that I would rather leave Victoria Park and go take pictures or something somewhere. After Monday's lesson I had to go sit outside by myself for a good thirty minutes to calm down. Thirty minutes actually wasn't enough though, but Janielle called me in because she needed something. Next time I will bring my earplugs when I'm moping outside by myself.
I'm also the only one in class that throws her raquet. Nice.
I saw Harry Potter last night. To re-iterate what I told Candace afterwards, I lapped it up like a thirsty puppy. It had been quite awhie since I read the book so it was a good refresher. I also feel as though I must refresh on the sixth book since I will likely spend all day Sunday inhaling the seventh book. Which brings me to a dilema: do I take my time and savour every chapter or do I plough through the thing to avoid being spoiled by the media and random, overheard conversations in public? These are the problems I face daily.
In a magnificant turn of events, I think I found shoes to wear to Lynda's wedding! And even better, I actually quite like the shoes. They are Jen's signature Jesus shoes. Issue is, they *may* be a bit tight (heading back today for a second try-on) but I may be able to fix that. The heel is also rather high, so perhaps not overly practical of a long day on ones feet. However, no one will notice if I take my shoes off at the reception, right? And although I think it's kind of tacky, it's not uncommon for ladies in heels to remove their shoes at the dance.
The shoe thing was quite a dilema as I don't really like white shoes that much. They are so... starkly blinding. Also, weather pending, the wedding is outside and it may be a challenge to walk down the aisle with heels sinking into the ground every step.
And back to work.
Tennis lessons. Let's discuss. I am still awful at tennis. Pathetically awful. It's very frustrating because I am not good at a single sport. It's almost getting to the point that I want to leave half-way during lessons because I'm so sick of hitting the ball into the net or out that I would rather leave Victoria Park and go take pictures or something somewhere. After Monday's lesson I had to go sit outside by myself for a good thirty minutes to calm down. Thirty minutes actually wasn't enough though, but Janielle called me in because she needed something. Next time I will bring my earplugs when I'm moping outside by myself.
I'm also the only one in class that throws her raquet. Nice.
I saw Harry Potter last night. To re-iterate what I told Candace afterwards, I lapped it up like a thirsty puppy. It had been quite awhie since I read the book so it was a good refresher. I also feel as though I must refresh on the sixth book since I will likely spend all day Sunday inhaling the seventh book. Which brings me to a dilema: do I take my time and savour every chapter or do I plough through the thing to avoid being spoiled by the media and random, overheard conversations in public? These are the problems I face daily.
In a magnificant turn of events, I think I found shoes to wear to Lynda's wedding! And even better, I actually quite like the shoes. They are Jen's signature Jesus shoes. Issue is, they *may* be a bit tight (heading back today for a second try-on) but I may be able to fix that. The heel is also rather high, so perhaps not overly practical of a long day on ones feet. However, no one will notice if I take my shoes off at the reception, right? And although I think it's kind of tacky, it's not uncommon for ladies in heels to remove their shoes at the dance.
The shoe thing was quite a dilema as I don't really like white shoes that much. They are so... starkly blinding. Also, weather pending, the wedding is outside and it may be a challenge to walk down the aisle with heels sinking into the ground every step.
And back to work.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
And two more things!
1) Tomorrow is my last tennis lesson for the term. I think I improved quite a bit the first few weeks... and then suddenly regressed substantially. Seriously, it's pathetic that so many of my shots still go in the net. I was told to slow down and take my time, but it's so much more fun to hit them hard! I usually jump the gun. Patience is that I lack.
2) I got a sunburn about a week and a half ago. And my chest is peeling like bloody mad now! This sunburn thing is so new and foreign to me. When will the peeling stop? =(
1) Tomorrow is my last tennis lesson for the term. I think I improved quite a bit the first few weeks... and then suddenly regressed substantially. Seriously, it's pathetic that so many of my shots still go in the net. I was told to slow down and take my time, but it's so much more fun to hit them hard! I usually jump the gun. Patience is that I lack.
2) I got a sunburn about a week and a half ago. And my chest is peeling like bloody mad now! This sunburn thing is so new and foreign to me. When will the peeling stop? =(
Oooh, mes pieds!
I forgot what a horrible runner I am today and decided to hop on the treadmill for a 5-km walk/run. (After discussing my bridesmaid dress is "a bit snug". It fits decently, but I look like an enlarge green grape.) I have issues with my right foot; I'm convinced it's attached to my leg on an awful angle. I walk/run on the outside part of my foot which makes running more than two seconds "a special challenge". I also get bad shin splints, but I think those would go away if I ran on a consistant basis. Long story short, it took me about 32 mins to go 5 kilometres, and the tops of my feet ache.
Halifax over the weekend was excellent! Beauty and the Beast was a fantastic show and the cast was brilliant. Would have prefered to see it in NYC, but I guess that childhood dream will die a terrible death =( Tear! I got to see some ex-Disney Castmembers and it was soooo great! It's such a feeling of relief being around people who understand. People who know what's it's like to sit in your own home, in your hometown, and feel so incredibly homesick that you want to rip out your own kidney. Sigh. But it brought back the experience a bit too much, it made me ache to go back for another contract. But then I think about speiling the bread until my jaw was ready to crack and land on the floor. Then not so much.
But THEN I think about PI, HOB, Chillers, Blue Martini, Jellyrolls, sleeping at the Poly, BW, AKL, etc., and I would rip off my left leg (or maybe the right one since my right foot is more sore than the left one) and eat it in exchange for another contract.
In Halifax I got to go to a "real" club which was fantastic. Halifax has a new bar/club/something that opened up, the Coconut Grove and I wanted to go soooo badly. I mean, there was a sign out front promoting two martinis AND a cheeseplate for $10.00. Such a fantastic deal! It had open, outdoor seating on the second floor (technically the roof of the neighbouring building) and was playing great music that reminded me of the boat cruise we went on in San Juan. Alas, it was not meant to be. Maybe next time.
And there is nothing like travelling with non-night people to confirm that one is indeed a creature of the night and "a trooper" in the nightlife scene. ;) (Donde esta mi amigos de Floride cuando los necesito?) Anyway, to sum it up, coming home on Sunday was quite saddening. I'm old by PEI standards and am supposed to be popping out babies or something. Instead I spend most of my time thinking about events that happened at some point in the past three years and wondering how long I'll last on PEI before I start to get a twitch to explore something new. Me thinks it won't be that long...
I forgot what a horrible runner I am today and decided to hop on the treadmill for a 5-km walk/run. (After discussing my bridesmaid dress is "a bit snug". It fits decently, but I look like an enlarge green grape.) I have issues with my right foot; I'm convinced it's attached to my leg on an awful angle. I walk/run on the outside part of my foot which makes running more than two seconds "a special challenge". I also get bad shin splints, but I think those would go away if I ran on a consistant basis. Long story short, it took me about 32 mins to go 5 kilometres, and the tops of my feet ache.
Halifax over the weekend was excellent! Beauty and the Beast was a fantastic show and the cast was brilliant. Would have prefered to see it in NYC, but I guess that childhood dream will die a terrible death =( Tear! I got to see some ex-Disney Castmembers and it was soooo great! It's such a feeling of relief being around people who understand. People who know what's it's like to sit in your own home, in your hometown, and feel so incredibly homesick that you want to rip out your own kidney. Sigh. But it brought back the experience a bit too much, it made me ache to go back for another contract. But then I think about speiling the bread until my jaw was ready to crack and land on the floor. Then not so much.
But THEN I think about PI, HOB, Chillers, Blue Martini, Jellyrolls, sleeping at the Poly, BW, AKL, etc., and I would rip off my left leg (or maybe the right one since my right foot is more sore than the left one) and eat it in exchange for another contract.
In Halifax I got to go to a "real" club which was fantastic. Halifax has a new bar/club/something that opened up, the Coconut Grove and I wanted to go soooo badly. I mean, there was a sign out front promoting two martinis AND a cheeseplate for $10.00. Such a fantastic deal! It had open, outdoor seating on the second floor (technically the roof of the neighbouring building) and was playing great music that reminded me of the boat cruise we went on in San Juan. Alas, it was not meant to be. Maybe next time.
And there is nothing like travelling with non-night people to confirm that one is indeed a creature of the night and "a trooper" in the nightlife scene. ;) (Donde esta mi amigos de Floride cuando los necesito?) Anyway, to sum it up, coming home on Sunday was quite saddening. I'm old by PEI standards and am supposed to be popping out babies or something. Instead I spend most of my time thinking about events that happened at some point in the past three years and wondering how long I'll last on PEI before I start to get a twitch to explore something new. Me thinks it won't be that long...
Sunday, June 17, 2007
This is my first complete weekend off since... Well, ever since I started working at the Delta. End of March, I guess. Since then, until I finished at the Delta one week ago today, I think I had two days off... and both of those were in early April, ha ha! So now I feel so free. Yesterday Janielle and I layed on the deck on my parents' house for the afternoon. I was outside pretty much from 12:00 until 7:00. The drastic sunburn on my chest and the 4-square-inch patch on my left thigh show that sunburn is not to be over rated. I put sunscreen on my face, shoulders, and forearms (seemed to make sense since I was cutting the grass in a tank top and kind of forgot about the rest of me. This is actually the worst sunburn I have ever had. Weird, since I recall spending alllll day outside at the beach in the Bahamas and leaving with my nose having a faint red tint, and that was it. However, one could argue that I have been indoors for most of winter, so my skin's, umm, "natural shield" has regressed and no longer stands up to the strength of the sun as it did in Florida.
But to make me feel better, Jannie is about 3x worst than me =P
Today I cut grass, cleaned my car, and vacuumed our stairs. The stair thing doesn't seem like a big deal, but it was because blue lint from someones blanket was pretty much pasted to the carpet. So the next lovely lady of 223 who drags her blue blanket up the stairs will be forced to pick each individual piece of lint off the carpet and eat it. WITHOUT ketchup. Whoa.
It's Father's Day today. Happy Father's Day, Papa~! I guess you're in Calgary, although you and mum never called to say you safetly made it. If *I* hadn't have called I would be disowned from the family.
My hand hurts no more typing.
PS ~ our pirate party was fabulous. Any party that involves costumes is always grand.
But to make me feel better, Jannie is about 3x worst than me =P
Today I cut grass, cleaned my car, and vacuumed our stairs. The stair thing doesn't seem like a big deal, but it was because blue lint from someones blanket was pretty much pasted to the carpet. So the next lovely lady of 223 who drags her blue blanket up the stairs will be forced to pick each individual piece of lint off the carpet and eat it. WITHOUT ketchup. Whoa.
It's Father's Day today. Happy Father's Day, Papa~! I guess you're in Calgary, although you and mum never called to say you safetly made it. If *I* hadn't have called I would be disowned from the family.
My hand hurts no more typing.
PS ~ our pirate party was fabulous. Any party that involves costumes is always grand.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Today was a good day. It was *almost* a day off as I worked for only four hours!!! I meant to set my alarm for 9:00 this morning but forgot to actually turn it in - oops. I woke up at 8:45 and rolled back over expecting my alarm to blare shortly. It didn't. And suddenly it was 10:15 and I woke up, gasp, actually refreshed! I had planned to do great things today, but didn't get them all done. My quests to clean both my bedroom and the bathroom were left un-fulfilled, but I did buy groceries. Working at the Delta has quite changed my shopping habits all round, food and otherwise. Keeping ridiculously busy prevents one from spending, well, almost any money. Keeping busy at the Delta means free food, especially when one works in the diningroom and/or kitchen.
Early this afternoon I walked through the new food court at the Confederation Court Mall. It's nicer than it was before... but it still looks kind of ugly. But obviously they couldn't tear down the ugly brick walls - the ceilings probably would have fell in or something. I didn't get anything, but I'm sure it's a nice alternative to those that purchase their lunches and work downtown. It's kind of interesting to think why Chef Gordon Bailey accepted the challenge or re-doing the food court after receiving rave reviews for his work out at high-class Dayboat. Quite a change going from $30 pieces of salmon to $6.00 sandwiches. Nothing wrong with his choice, just a bit curious to why he made it.
I did something I am actually quite proud of tonight: I made salad dressing! A "citrus vinaigrette" to be more precise. I took the receipe from Bahama Breeze's website. I was inspired by my bundle of romaine lettuce purchased last week that, somehow, was still good tonight. I ripped off a couple of odd looking, half-eatened leaves but the rest was fine. I recalled one of the best salads I ever had: Grilled salmon tostada salad from Bahama Breeze. It was, shock, grilled salmon on a salad (that had warm corn on it, mmm,) that was served on top of two small tortilla shells that had been baked with a sprinkle of cheese. I always got the dressing on the side (some chefs put a disgusting amount of dressing on salads) and it was also served with salsa and chimichurri sauce on the side. It was sooo good. Long story short, tonight I made the citrus vinaigrette they use. It's not the exact same as the recipe on the website as I forgot to buy one item (creole seasoning, which I don't even know if they would sell at Sobey's as it's a blend of other seasonings so I just made my own) and couldn't find one. I also put the ingrediants to make Apple Mango Salsa which sounds good. Unfortunately the OJ I bought tastes like McDonald's "orange drink". The stuff that was served at every single elementary school function at West Kent. It is orange juice, but it's reduced sugar and is partially sweetened with splenda instead. I used to drink reduced-calorie OJ in Florida and something similar in Edinburgh, but those both tasted the same as regular OJ. This stuff does not and will be used for recipes only. And possibly the odd splash or two in an unique martini.
(Completely unrelated: but it's really hard to say "an unique". "A unique" sounds better, but clearly breaks the rule for putting "an" before words that starts with vowels or 'h'. Can anyone help me out here or am I just a moron?)
Although not super hungry due to eating at work this evening (such a cost saver) I had to chop up some lettuce and try my first attempt at salad dressing. Munch munch... Success!! It was quite good and has a strong tangy and slightly spicey after taste.
I left my car downtown overnight on Tuesday and was smart enough to park in a two-hour parking spot. No ticket! I let my bike downtown last night and it was still there today so I was excited. No stolen bike! Life is good.
Our schedules at the Delta run from Thursday to Wednesday. I told them almost two weeks ago that I would not longer be able to work days during the weekdays and could work only two shifts a week. The schedule it would first apply to was the schedule starting today. I was originally scheduled for three shifts (almost two... close enough for the time being) but when I arrived today I looked at the schedule again and I had magically gained two shifts. I told my supervisor I would be unable to work them, which was fine with her. So that was good. I felt a bit guilty about being unable to pick them up, (and if I really wanted to I probably could have,) but I did have prior commitments and think I deserve a free evening every now and then.
Hannah just complimented me on my salad dressing. She has good taste.
I had only two tables this evening and still managed to make about $55.00 (I was especially charming and humourous this evening). If that had been breakfast, I would have made about $3.00 having only two tables. Plus I didn't have to wake up at 5:40 this morning. Probably the best reason in the entire world to work evenings rather than brekkie.
I'm still so proud of my salad dressing. Perhaps I just had a lack of things to be proud of lately? ;) Definitely true in the culinary world. I think the last thing I made that I adored was a scallop stir-fry in a mango sauce I bought from the grocery store. Considering how infrequently I have cooked in the past couple of weeks, that scallop thing was ages ago.
Today I learned that there is a big beer festival in Montreal next weekend. Guess I'm a bit late to make plans to attend. However, Toronto has a beer festival the second weekend in August. Basically I'm looking for a reason to go somewhere. Last year on the Thursday night before Memorial Day weekend I was packing to leave for Puerto Rico the following morning. The year prior I was in... either France or Belgium. The year before that we were settling into Edinburgh and exploring the city.
This year I am spending Memorial Day weekend (somewhat irrelevant since we are not in the States) working at the Delta. Hmm. Oh! And starting my new job on Monday :) :) :) :) :)
Today I went through a bun... Ooh! I just looked up a flight on Air Canada and am quite impressed with its new "Preview Seat Availability" feature! But yes, today I went through a bunch of old files on my laptop, deleting the unnecessary ones. I found some old blogs I had written in Florida when I wasn't connected to the Internet. I was so excited about being in Florida, so happy to be there. I am not going to say that I wish I was still there... But I still miss it lots. However, I like, say, not eating out 400+ times per week, not sharing my room, not waking up and walking into the livingroom to discover half-clothed Italians passed out on the floor, not having security follow you around as you go to parties, etc. I do miss the weather, the people, the nice tables at Le Cellier, meeting people from all over the world, having world-class attractions at my finger tips, the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon, going for one-dollar pints at Planet Hollywood after a busy night at work, staying at amazing hotels for a fraction of the cost, getting cheap flights, living in flipflops, having the outlet mall across the street, watching fireworks, etc. I don't really miss the job so much... I liked Le Cellier better than I like the Selkirk, but that's pretty much a given. But there are things at the Selkirk that I like faaaar better than Le Cellier! Examples: space, space, space, space, space, being able to eat at work without the risk of being deported, being able to drink the juice, being home mere minutes after my shift ends rather than waiting for the C bus, the people tend to be a bit more mature (duh, the are mostly older), the kitchen staff isn't nearly as stressed and don't make you feel like an idiot if you make a mistake, no DDP (hee hee.... although than no 18% auto grat, hmm,), no free ice tea or soda refills, no 6-minute, bus-reset rule, no one-minute greeting rule, no five-minute drink rule, etc.
Well, off to bed I go. Hard to believe just fourteen mere hours ago I was pulling myself out of bed this morning and now I get to go sleep again! Wow, exciting! I'm like me-and-Shan-in-Spanish-cady-store excited ;) (Excuse the grammar.)
La fin.
Early this afternoon I walked through the new food court at the Confederation Court Mall. It's nicer than it was before... but it still looks kind of ugly. But obviously they couldn't tear down the ugly brick walls - the ceilings probably would have fell in or something. I didn't get anything, but I'm sure it's a nice alternative to those that purchase their lunches and work downtown. It's kind of interesting to think why Chef Gordon Bailey accepted the challenge or re-doing the food court after receiving rave reviews for his work out at high-class Dayboat. Quite a change going from $30 pieces of salmon to $6.00 sandwiches. Nothing wrong with his choice, just a bit curious to why he made it.
I did something I am actually quite proud of tonight: I made salad dressing! A "citrus vinaigrette" to be more precise. I took the receipe from Bahama Breeze's website. I was inspired by my bundle of romaine lettuce purchased last week that, somehow, was still good tonight. I ripped off a couple of odd looking, half-eatened leaves but the rest was fine. I recalled one of the best salads I ever had: Grilled salmon tostada salad from Bahama Breeze. It was, shock, grilled salmon on a salad (that had warm corn on it, mmm,) that was served on top of two small tortilla shells that had been baked with a sprinkle of cheese. I always got the dressing on the side (some chefs put a disgusting amount of dressing on salads) and it was also served with salsa and chimichurri sauce on the side. It was sooo good. Long story short, tonight I made the citrus vinaigrette they use. It's not the exact same as the recipe on the website as I forgot to buy one item (creole seasoning, which I don't even know if they would sell at Sobey's as it's a blend of other seasonings so I just made my own) and couldn't find one. I also put the ingrediants to make Apple Mango Salsa which sounds good. Unfortunately the OJ I bought tastes like McDonald's "orange drink". The stuff that was served at every single elementary school function at West Kent. It is orange juice, but it's reduced sugar and is partially sweetened with splenda instead. I used to drink reduced-calorie OJ in Florida and something similar in Edinburgh, but those both tasted the same as regular OJ. This stuff does not and will be used for recipes only. And possibly the odd splash or two in an unique martini.
(Completely unrelated: but it's really hard to say "an unique". "A unique" sounds better, but clearly breaks the rule for putting "an" before words that starts with vowels or 'h'. Can anyone help me out here or am I just a moron?)
Although not super hungry due to eating at work this evening (such a cost saver) I had to chop up some lettuce and try my first attempt at salad dressing. Munch munch... Success!! It was quite good and has a strong tangy and slightly spicey after taste.
I left my car downtown overnight on Tuesday and was smart enough to park in a two-hour parking spot. No ticket! I let my bike downtown last night and it was still there today so I was excited. No stolen bike! Life is good.
Our schedules at the Delta run from Thursday to Wednesday. I told them almost two weeks ago that I would not longer be able to work days during the weekdays and could work only two shifts a week. The schedule it would first apply to was the schedule starting today. I was originally scheduled for three shifts (almost two... close enough for the time being) but when I arrived today I looked at the schedule again and I had magically gained two shifts. I told my supervisor I would be unable to work them, which was fine with her. So that was good. I felt a bit guilty about being unable to pick them up, (and if I really wanted to I probably could have,) but I did have prior commitments and think I deserve a free evening every now and then.
Hannah just complimented me on my salad dressing. She has good taste.
I had only two tables this evening and still managed to make about $55.00 (I was especially charming and humourous this evening). If that had been breakfast, I would have made about $3.00 having only two tables. Plus I didn't have to wake up at 5:40 this morning. Probably the best reason in the entire world to work evenings rather than brekkie.
I'm still so proud of my salad dressing. Perhaps I just had a lack of things to be proud of lately? ;) Definitely true in the culinary world. I think the last thing I made that I adored was a scallop stir-fry in a mango sauce I bought from the grocery store. Considering how infrequently I have cooked in the past couple of weeks, that scallop thing was ages ago.
Today I learned that there is a big beer festival in Montreal next weekend. Guess I'm a bit late to make plans to attend. However, Toronto has a beer festival the second weekend in August. Basically I'm looking for a reason to go somewhere. Last year on the Thursday night before Memorial Day weekend I was packing to leave for Puerto Rico the following morning. The year prior I was in... either France or Belgium. The year before that we were settling into Edinburgh and exploring the city.
This year I am spending Memorial Day weekend (somewhat irrelevant since we are not in the States) working at the Delta. Hmm. Oh! And starting my new job on Monday :) :) :) :) :)
Today I went through a bun... Ooh! I just looked up a flight on Air Canada and am quite impressed with its new "Preview Seat Availability" feature! But yes, today I went through a bunch of old files on my laptop, deleting the unnecessary ones. I found some old blogs I had written in Florida when I wasn't connected to the Internet. I was so excited about being in Florida, so happy to be there. I am not going to say that I wish I was still there... But I still miss it lots. However, I like, say, not eating out 400+ times per week, not sharing my room, not waking up and walking into the livingroom to discover half-clothed Italians passed out on the floor, not having security follow you around as you go to parties, etc. I do miss the weather, the people, the nice tables at Le Cellier, meeting people from all over the world, having world-class attractions at my finger tips, the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon, going for one-dollar pints at Planet Hollywood after a busy night at work, staying at amazing hotels for a fraction of the cost, getting cheap flights, living in flipflops, having the outlet mall across the street, watching fireworks, etc. I don't really miss the job so much... I liked Le Cellier better than I like the Selkirk, but that's pretty much a given. But there are things at the Selkirk that I like faaaar better than Le Cellier! Examples: space, space, space, space, space, being able to eat at work without the risk of being deported, being able to drink the juice, being home mere minutes after my shift ends rather than waiting for the C bus, the people tend to be a bit more mature (duh, the are mostly older), the kitchen staff isn't nearly as stressed and don't make you feel like an idiot if you make a mistake, no DDP (hee hee.... although than no 18% auto grat, hmm,), no free ice tea or soda refills, no 6-minute, bus-reset rule, no one-minute greeting rule, no five-minute drink rule, etc.
Well, off to bed I go. Hard to believe just fourteen mere hours ago I was pulling myself out of bed this morning and now I get to go sleep again! Wow, exciting! I'm like me-and-Shan-in-Spanish-cady-store excited ;) (Excuse the grammar.)
La fin.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
I love the sun. It's been nice here all week and I love it to bits and pieces. I feel like I've been waiting forever for the return of my beloved sunshine. It wasn't a terrible winter, weather wise, but it just wasn't my winter. Other than my great living situation, it was a bit rough factoring in the adios-Florida thing and the vanishing job act. Now the sun is out and I want to hug it I'm so happy. Unfortunately it's kind of dispearing for the weekend and we're dropping back down to single digits, but it'll be back, and I won't have to wait six months this time.
Today I put in my two-weeks notice at JA, which makes me kind of sad =( It was a fun place to work and the people are fantastic and work so hard to deliver programs to Island students. However, the job was only part-time, and, drumroll, I had accepted a full-time position!!! I'm quite surprised by me. I'm still a little nervous about commiting to time on PEI as I was thinking about hopping off after the summer, but it looks like I'll be around for awhile. I think. Hmm. I won't write anything about my future at the Delta as I haven't discussed it with them yet. Things are so much better now than when I first started. I think my first weeks I literally shed tears at night before my 6:30am shifts because I wanted so badly not to go to work there. I wanted my Le Cellier and would have chopped off my left arm to have it back. Although then I thought about doing the bread speil at least 10 times a night and I was oddly relieved at not being there =P Anyway, I'm quite excited about my new job. It'll be on campus, which is the second of my preferred PEI work locations, with the first being downtown.
Complete change of topic, but today I drove to work and felt guilty. I drove to JA this morning because I wanted to go to the gym after work. I went to the gym, followed by the bank and then went home. At about 4:00 I drove to the Delta to work my first evening shift (which went, in my own opinion, quite well although it was slow). In my own defense, by the time I finish at the Delta the sun is gone and I would rather not risk walking/biking home as sometimes the dinner server doesn't finish until midnight. But yes, I do think more people in Ch'town should be walking or driving to work. Or at least use the bus! The winter is a bit different, but with this nice weather now I should not be the only person biking to work. Seriously, I see very few bikes downtown. It takes me seven minutes or so to bike to the Delta. Mind you it's mostly downhill so it takes me longer to get home, but still. I know there are arguments and exceptions that makes it somewhat justifiable to drive (me today) but I think overall cars are overused.
Well, time for bed.
Today I put in my two-weeks notice at JA, which makes me kind of sad =( It was a fun place to work and the people are fantastic and work so hard to deliver programs to Island students. However, the job was only part-time, and, drumroll, I had accepted a full-time position!!! I'm quite surprised by me. I'm still a little nervous about commiting to time on PEI as I was thinking about hopping off after the summer, but it looks like I'll be around for awhile. I think. Hmm. I won't write anything about my future at the Delta as I haven't discussed it with them yet. Things are so much better now than when I first started. I think my first weeks I literally shed tears at night before my 6:30am shifts because I wanted so badly not to go to work there. I wanted my Le Cellier and would have chopped off my left arm to have it back. Although then I thought about doing the bread speil at least 10 times a night and I was oddly relieved at not being there =P Anyway, I'm quite excited about my new job. It'll be on campus, which is the second of my preferred PEI work locations, with the first being downtown.
Complete change of topic, but today I drove to work and felt guilty. I drove to JA this morning because I wanted to go to the gym after work. I went to the gym, followed by the bank and then went home. At about 4:00 I drove to the Delta to work my first evening shift (which went, in my own opinion, quite well although it was slow). In my own defense, by the time I finish at the Delta the sun is gone and I would rather not risk walking/biking home as sometimes the dinner server doesn't finish until midnight. But yes, I do think more people in Ch'town should be walking or driving to work. Or at least use the bus! The winter is a bit different, but with this nice weather now I should not be the only person biking to work. Seriously, I see very few bikes downtown. It takes me seven minutes or so to bike to the Delta. Mind you it's mostly downhill so it takes me longer to get home, but still. I know there are arguments and exceptions that makes it somewhat justifiable to drive (me today) but I think overall cars are overused.
Well, time for bed.
My alarm is going to go off soon. However, I have been up for quite awhile because the crack-head neighbours have taken to early mornings, rather than the previous late-night habits of the winter. So the past few mornings I have been awoken far earlier than I had planned. It's really not a good thing. The main problem is this old truck they have. The keep slamming the bloody doors and starting the engine, which sounds something like a dinosour purring, if dinosours had such talents back in the day. Point is, a very loud, deep growling noise. Oh, my nerves. Then the truck gets turned off, the doors are slammed some more, and heavy-sounding boxes are tossed into the back, then we start the engine encore!! What a fantastic morning!!! YAY!!! I like sleeping with my window open, so cleary that may have to end. At my parents' home I never slept with my window open because I was convinced a robber would crawl through my window. My window in Ottawa didn't open, I don't think, as I had a basement bedroom. My window in Scotland did open, but Scottish windows don't have screens so I tried not to leave it open *too* much. Ha ha, in Florida we weren't allowed to leaves our windows open. Seriously. Probably because of the random, almost-daily rainstorms that occure during certain parts of the year. Those Price Management security guards were a funny breed. "Sir, I have had stuff stolen from my apartment!" "We won't help you because we walked by your building yesterday and your window was open, although you were home. Bad. bad BAAAAD!"
Anyway.
Anyway.
Monday, April 23, 2007
Yay, Monday~!
I know people tend to dislike Mondays, but today was FABULOUS. Possibly one of the best non-holiday Mondays I have had since Girls in Florida.
It started off normal enough: my alarm went off, I looked around my room in a confused daze and tried to figure out what city I was in. (Still Charlottetown? Check.) I eventually stumble out of bed to remember something VERY important about today: the weather forecast!!! I had brekkie, ate some cookies and got to BIKE to work without getting numb hands. Then I had a good day at work, and came home and sat on the patio and studied for my French test. Ahh, brilliance. THEN, we watched the last four eps of the second season of The Office. I went to the gym later on to discover I'm still a miserable, out-of-shape slob, but actually had a pretty decent run on the threadmill. I remember about a year ago when I started running how I basically ran at 6.0 mph and built up to, like, 6.3. Now I generally run at 6.7 and try to do spurts at 7.2 or so. I know those are dismal numbers for some people, but they're pretty good for me! However, my endurance is rather shite and I think it's because I get impatient and a bit bored sometimes so I don't push myself as hard as I should.
Summer is so close I can practically TASTE it. I am so excited. SO so sooooo excited. It's ridiculous how much better the summer is than the winter. It doesn't even COMPARE. Today I didn't wear pantyhose under my skirt. I wore SANDALS on Friday and Saturday. Despite that I love my winter coats, I am thrilled not to wear them again for six months. If I'm ever in a sour mood this summer, just remind me about how much I wanted the summer. I shall be a whole new person! I know we still have some chilly days ahead of us, but we are soooo close that I can almost envision the tan on my pale legs. I do have one small summer fear though: what if we don't have a good summer?? When I was home for a few days last summer it was pretty damn cold. If we have a cold summer I *will* cry. If we have an excessively rainy summer, I will go on strike and start a position to have our wee Island towed to the equator. Hopefully we can avoid hurricaine season, but that is a risk we may have to take.
Oh, and ps, I have been in Canada for over six months now. (Save the week I left for holiday.) That boggles my mind... It's been six-and-a-half months since I finished at Disney at I still think about it ALL the time. Cling to it, if you will. I still can't believe that I'll never get to experience that again =( That job was pretty much my dream job, after I got past my dream of working at McDonalds when I was five. Seriously, I thought that would had been the most glamourous job in the world. That and being Dolly Parton and singing "Me and Little Andie" on stage and prancing in HIGH HEALS. Wow.
And to bed we go.
It started off normal enough: my alarm went off, I looked around my room in a confused daze and tried to figure out what city I was in. (Still Charlottetown? Check.) I eventually stumble out of bed to remember something VERY important about today: the weather forecast!!! I had brekkie, ate some cookies and got to BIKE to work without getting numb hands. Then I had a good day at work, and came home and sat on the patio and studied for my French test. Ahh, brilliance. THEN, we watched the last four eps of the second season of The Office. I went to the gym later on to discover I'm still a miserable, out-of-shape slob, but actually had a pretty decent run on the threadmill. I remember about a year ago when I started running how I basically ran at 6.0 mph and built up to, like, 6.3. Now I generally run at 6.7 and try to do spurts at 7.2 or so. I know those are dismal numbers for some people, but they're pretty good for me! However, my endurance is rather shite and I think it's because I get impatient and a bit bored sometimes so I don't push myself as hard as I should.
Summer is so close I can practically TASTE it. I am so excited. SO so sooooo excited. It's ridiculous how much better the summer is than the winter. It doesn't even COMPARE. Today I didn't wear pantyhose under my skirt. I wore SANDALS on Friday and Saturday. Despite that I love my winter coats, I am thrilled not to wear them again for six months. If I'm ever in a sour mood this summer, just remind me about how much I wanted the summer. I shall be a whole new person! I know we still have some chilly days ahead of us, but we are soooo close that I can almost envision the tan on my pale legs. I do have one small summer fear though: what if we don't have a good summer?? When I was home for a few days last summer it was pretty damn cold. If we have a cold summer I *will* cry. If we have an excessively rainy summer, I will go on strike and start a position to have our wee Island towed to the equator. Hopefully we can avoid hurricaine season, but that is a risk we may have to take.
Oh, and ps, I have been in Canada for over six months now. (Save the week I left for holiday.) That boggles my mind... It's been six-and-a-half months since I finished at Disney at I still think about it ALL the time. Cling to it, if you will. I still can't believe that I'll never get to experience that again =( That job was pretty much my dream job, after I got past my dream of working at McDonalds when I was five. Seriously, I thought that would had been the most glamourous job in the world. That and being Dolly Parton and singing "Me and Little Andie" on stage and prancing in HIGH HEALS. Wow.
And to bed we go.
Monday, April 02, 2007
• I is getting a bit distracted at work 1 today.
• Last night I wanted to go to House of Blues but I couldn’t because I wasn’t in Florida. Unlike my parents. They are in Florida, but not at hob. I don’t think it’s really their thing.
• I had to be at work 2 at 6:30am on Fri, Sat and Sun. WoW. Definitely not a morning person. I would sort of stand there confused with glazed-over eyes until someone would say something like, “Jennifer, could you get the juice bins ready?” and then I would proceed to slowly get the juice bins ready. I’m fine though once guests start arriving, especially if it’s busy. The running server bit wakes one up rather quickly.
• I’m so happy it’s April. March is associated with blowing snow, cold weather, and, well, winter. April is associated with spring and life returning to the Planet. (No, I do *not* over exaggerate.) Spring may *appear* to begin on March 21st, but it’s just a false start as evidenced by our random stormy weather last Thursday.
• If anyone is looking for a location to host/participate in a mud-wrestling match, our front yard should do the trick.
• I’m so excited that it’s 11:40 already. I think I prefer arriving at work closer to 9:00am rather than 8:00am. I’m just a little more… alert.
• I’m kind of an idiot and have terrible English. There are words for which I know the meaning, sort of, but cannot pronounce. I sound them out, but I usually sound them out with a foreign accent or something. I say them how a Spaniard would say them or something. Or more a Briton, since I am one deep on the inside. Somehow. I just *have* to be. Whoever decided the ‘a’ in hastening is pronounced as a long ‘a’ is a jerk. Hast (rhymes with cast) – en – ing. English is so far =( Conjure. The stress *should* be on the second syllable to give the word more strength as a verb thus making it more forceful.
• Last night I wanted to go to House of Blues but I couldn’t because I wasn’t in Florida. Unlike my parents. They are in Florida, but not at hob. I don’t think it’s really their thing.
• I had to be at work 2 at 6:30am on Fri, Sat and Sun. WoW. Definitely not a morning person. I would sort of stand there confused with glazed-over eyes until someone would say something like, “Jennifer, could you get the juice bins ready?” and then I would proceed to slowly get the juice bins ready. I’m fine though once guests start arriving, especially if it’s busy. The running server bit wakes one up rather quickly.
• I’m so happy it’s April. March is associated with blowing snow, cold weather, and, well, winter. April is associated with spring and life returning to the Planet. (No, I do *not* over exaggerate.) Spring may *appear* to begin on March 21st, but it’s just a false start as evidenced by our random stormy weather last Thursday.
• If anyone is looking for a location to host/participate in a mud-wrestling match, our front yard should do the trick.
• I’m so excited that it’s 11:40 already. I think I prefer arriving at work closer to 9:00am rather than 8:00am. I’m just a little more… alert.
• I’m kind of an idiot and have terrible English. There are words for which I know the meaning, sort of, but cannot pronounce. I sound them out, but I usually sound them out with a foreign accent or something. I say them how a Spaniard would say them or something. Or more a Briton, since I am one deep on the inside. Somehow. I just *have* to be. Whoever decided the ‘a’ in hastening is pronounced as a long ‘a’ is a jerk. Hast (rhymes with cast) – en – ing. English is so far =( Conjure. The stress *should* be on the second syllable to give the word more strength as a verb thus making it more forceful.
Thursday, March 29, 2007
We got practically a foot of snow last night. Uggggggggggh. I'm done with putting up with winter. Between starting shifts at a job for which I am not properly at bloody 6:30 in the morning, and the impending doom of the never-ending winter, I somewhat feel like crawling in a hole. Not a deep one though, as I would like to be out in about a week or so and for the summer. I think this has ben my worst winter ever. Not that it's been incredibly awful, but, meeeeh.
The Selkirk at the Delta holds about the same number of people as Le Cellier, but the dining is probably about three times the size. I need work shoes - I feel like I walk foreeeeever to get to the kitchen.
Blaaaah.
The Selkirk at the Delta holds about the same number of people as Le Cellier, but the dining is probably about three times the size. I need work shoes - I feel like I walk foreeeeever to get to the kitchen.
Blaaaah.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Today at work #1 I was listening to music, as usual. A song came on and I was thinking about how different songs spur up different memories. Now we shall take a wee stroll down memory lane... (Beware - most of these conjure visions of Scotland or Florida. And dear Shan - the first one makes me laugh every. single. time. I hear the song.)
That is all for the moment. Because I started typing this over two hours ago and then got gabbing on the phone and watching American Idol. Mwwwa. More song memories shall flood through my head as the night concludes. And tomorrow. And the day after.
Ta!
- Big Yellow Taxi - Filthy McNasty's, more specifically, the bartender (Ruairi?) that sang it all the time at karaoke. Even if I am in the saddest mood, play this song and I will laugh my face off.
- Sweet Child of Mine - Shan Courtney, Old Guy, and the Walkabout. Old Guy was there every Saturday night (as were we - after we got over the Filty's thing) and was big into the air guitaring. Everytime Sweet Child of Mine came on he would air guitar his lil' heart out. He would actually be on the floor/stairs leading up to the stage on his back. He had signature sunglasses that he wore all the time, except once in a while he would lend them out to his randomly changing posse.
- Wishes! - this was the music that played during the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. It opens with music, Jiminy Cricket, and children singing so sweetly it breaks your heart. And, umm, may make your eyes water a bit. Once the song/show is over, there is a condensed version playing as people leave the park, flood Main Street, or go back to going on rides. That part gives me such nice memories of walking down Main Street and makes me want to hug someone. Anyone. Play the song and come visit me if you need a hug.
- Me and Little Andy - by Dolly Parton. I used to sing this song when I was little. Looking at the lyrics, it was a rather sad song, but the deaf child in me didn't know the lyrics word for word, more so sounds and syllables randomly being strung together. Not too long after singing this song I was twirling/"dancing" and stepped on Brother's foot with my plastic high heels. Thanks to the watchful eyes of my parents, he didn't kill me.
- Kokomo - I "sang" this song after I stepped on Jeff's foot. I saw the Beach Boys in concert (TWICE) at Epcot during Food and Wine 2005 and realised I had the majority of the lyrics terribly wrong.
- O Canada - so this should fill me with patriotic warmth, but it actually reminds me of the F Bus and the Monday-night trips to Pleasure Island. For the unfamiliar, fill a coach bus with multiple, drunk nationalities "singing"/screaching at the top of their lungs. I always felt bad for the bus driver - Wayne.
- La Gasolina - Vanessa and I dancing with Food & Wine folk at Motion (PI).
- Living on a Prayer/almost anything Bon Jovi - The Three Sisters! That front, cave-like room. I recall once during the Fringe Fesitval being there late with Shan and a bunch of drunk guys standing on the benches along the wall singing along.
- Anything by Sean Paul - Ma soeur! Smiley/Titi, my French roommate from my first seven months in Florida =)
- Hella Good (No Doubt) - Heidi, singing at the Roost.
- I'm not a Girl, not yet a Woman - again, Heidi at the Roost. Specifically, her standing with the mic glaring at, I believe, Shan and I, and saying in a sad voice, "I thought I had friends..." because we refused to sing that with her. Eventually we felt guilty and uh, swayed in the background or something.
- Paradise by the Dashboard Lights - Filthy McNasty's. Someone ALWAYS sand it, and it was sooo long, but I liked it regardless.
- Old MacDonald Had a Farm - my cousin Keltie. This was one of her favourite songs when she was little - REALLY little! I remember her crying in the car on the way to Sussex in her car seat, and me singing it over and over and over and over and over and ooooooooover again.
- Bad Case of Loving You - (is that the name? Hmm) Grad week at Peake's!!! The pubcrawl on Thursday, and going there grad night on Saturday.
- Love Shack - Shan Curtis and I singing at the Roost. An awful, awful experience and I now hate the song. Two quotes: Shan, "I can't see the words!" (a consequence of our beverage choices for the few prior hours) and me, "Is it over yet?"
- Everytime We Touch - (by Cascada - I listen to her far too much at work) Mannequins!!!!! I love it. LOOOOOOVE it.
That is all for the moment. Because I started typing this over two hours ago and then got gabbing on the phone and watching American Idol. Mwwwa. More song memories shall flood through my head as the night concludes. And tomorrow. And the day after.
Ta!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Sometimes the sun is so misleading. Yesterday it was streaming in through my bedroom window, much like it is now, so I went bounding outside in a skirt thinking about what pair of sandals to wear. I came back in, and topped off my ensemble with a winter coat and boots. Sun does not necessarily equal warmth.
In good news,
It's now officially spring, so I survived aCanadian PEI winter. It was challenging by times, especially as I looked at pics of my friends still in Florida playing about in their shorts and t-shirts. Those days when I'd rather eat my banana pealing than run it outside to the compost. I won't say those days are over because it's still rare to get a temperature above freezing but *knock on wood* I think I won't be dealing with a -30C windchill again for AT LEAST EIGHT MONTHS!!! Probably longer due to the recent trend of late-starting winters.
On Friday night we had a impromptu "gathering of people" (Jannie: "We can't call it a party or someone might show actually expecting people to be here!") which was immensley entertaining. Jannie even captured some of our entertaining moments on video on my child/digital camera. Saturday afternoon I was hit with a very harsh reality upon watching said video: I am bloody annoying. AND I sound like a seven-year-old boy when I speak. Question: how do I have friends? Do they keep me around for entertainment? Quite possibly, quite possibly indeed.
In job developments, I have jobs. My time at Junior Achievement is over this week. It went reallly fast. Also this week I'm starting to work at the Delta. In the dining room. I have also been doing random administrative stuff at my mum's work.
Remember on Back to the Future II when Doc explains alternative 1985 to Marty? How life is the straight, horizontal line of destiny but a little choice throws you off the horizontal line and you skew diagonal? I am NO WHERE near my horizontal line. In fact, I feel like I'm a statistic that would be used to discuss the de-valuing of university degrees as they are so readibly available now on an over-saturated market. I pushed myself through a four-and-a-half-year program in four years, received scholarships/awards, and basically breezed through university pretty easily. That's not to say I didn't work hard, but I didn't mind doing it because it was mostly (in third and fourth year) stuff I enjoyed. (Except the DME marekting plan in Marking II. Not something I look back on fondly.) The point is, university graduation was almost three years ago and I feel that I am the statistic of why undergraduate degrees are over rated and losing their marketability. The other point is that I am impatient and being a moron, because really, I have been looking for a job only since mid January. So, like, just somewhat over two months. Not even as I haven't applied on a job in awhile.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote the Federal government GCT-1 test. It was quite easy. It was for an "administrative assistant" (which I later found out to be somewhat front desk work, greeting guests, and answering phones,) with Parks Canada at Dalvay. It's funny, because this type of position would be close to a minimum wage position at a non-government organization, perhaps paying, at most, $9.00/hr. But since this is a government position, it pays minimum approx $20/hr. Which is insane. No wonder so many people try to get into Government. Also making this position different than it's almost-minimum-wage equivalent is the hiring process. Applicants that successivly were screened through to the test-writing component were told that Parks was going to try and "really push this through" (as in make the hiring decision quickly) but the position's closing date was January 23 and I doubt they are anywhere near making a hiring decision. We wrote the GCT-1 test about two-and-a-half weeks ago and they were hoping to have our results within a week - week and a half. Hmm... Anyway, the next step for the position is a French oral and written test. Oye. The position is classified as CBC/bilingual imperative which, umm, probably puts me out of the running easily. My French is fine and gets me by; however, I think I would be extremely lucky to even get a BBA score. (In this case, A is the worst and C is the best.) I am learning that smiling excessivly during interviews gets me a job at Disney World or any service driven job, but doesn't necessarily work so well in "office" jobs. My office mate at JA was worried when she saw my resume that said I worked at Disney World. She was concerned I would be uber perky and, like, randomly break into song. But we actually get along very well because we both have a ridiculously dry sense of humour and laugh at the birds outside our windows.
This Saturday I am writing the govt's GCT-2 test for a position with Service Canada. It's a good thing I like writing tests =P I looked at the practice one online and it looks alright - all multiple choice, as most govt tests are. I did well on all the math/logic questions but the one that stated "What does 'SUCCINCT' mean?" Heh - NO idea. But of the seven practice questions, word definitions was only one of the questions. I figure if this ratio is reflective of the real test, I should do all right. I'm bound to know SOME of the definitions (although I may wish to amp to current reading from the Princess Diaries VII to something a little more substantial... like the dictionary) and I have a 25% chance of guessing the right answer.
I'm quite curious as to how much servers make outside of the Disney bubble. Before I worked at a ridiculously busy restaurant where most guests were on the Disney Dining Plan thus resulting in servers getting 18% of the guests' total bills. Pretty good as the DDP including an app, entree, dessert and drink. So I have very clear memories of making $195 one night (pre tax) and labelling that as a slow night. Oh Disney, how I miss thee on so, so many levels. Heh - we were $o $poiled.
I slept in today and it was AMAZING. I still (yes, STILL) haven't quite adjusted to going to bed at a "real" time. I'm generally snoozing by 12:30, and then have the urge to DIE when my alarm goes off at 6:45ish.
Now, I am off to do something productive. Well, sort of. Making long distance phone calls is classified as productive, right?
La fin.
In good news,
It's now officially spring, so I survived a
On Friday night we had a impromptu "gathering of people" (Jannie: "We can't call it a party or someone might show actually expecting people to be here!") which was immensley entertaining. Jannie even captured some of our entertaining moments on video on my child/digital camera. Saturday afternoon I was hit with a very harsh reality upon watching said video: I am bloody annoying. AND I sound like a seven-year-old boy when I speak. Question: how do I have friends? Do they keep me around for entertainment? Quite possibly, quite possibly indeed.
In job developments, I have jobs. My time at Junior Achievement is over this week. It went reallly fast. Also this week I'm starting to work at the Delta. In the dining room. I have also been doing random administrative stuff at my mum's work.
Remember on Back to the Future II when Doc explains alternative 1985 to Marty? How life is the straight, horizontal line of destiny but a little choice throws you off the horizontal line and you skew diagonal? I am NO WHERE near my horizontal line. In fact, I feel like I'm a statistic that would be used to discuss the de-valuing of university degrees as they are so readibly available now on an over-saturated market. I pushed myself through a four-and-a-half-year program in four years, received scholarships/awards, and basically breezed through university pretty easily. That's not to say I didn't work hard, but I didn't mind doing it because it was mostly (in third and fourth year) stuff I enjoyed. (Except the DME marekting plan in Marking II. Not something I look back on fondly.) The point is, university graduation was almost three years ago and I feel that I am the statistic of why undergraduate degrees are over rated and losing their marketability. The other point is that I am impatient and being a moron, because really, I have been looking for a job only since mid January. So, like, just somewhat over two months. Not even as I haven't applied on a job in awhile.
A couple of weeks ago I wrote the Federal government GCT-1 test. It was quite easy. It was for an "administrative assistant" (which I later found out to be somewhat front desk work, greeting guests, and answering phones,) with Parks Canada at Dalvay. It's funny, because this type of position would be close to a minimum wage position at a non-government organization, perhaps paying, at most, $9.00/hr. But since this is a government position, it pays minimum approx $20/hr. Which is insane. No wonder so many people try to get into Government. Also making this position different than it's almost-minimum-wage equivalent is the hiring process. Applicants that successivly were screened through to the test-writing component were told that Parks was going to try and "really push this through" (as in make the hiring decision quickly) but the position's closing date was January 23 and I doubt they are anywhere near making a hiring decision. We wrote the GCT-1 test about two-and-a-half weeks ago and they were hoping to have our results within a week - week and a half. Hmm... Anyway, the next step for the position is a French oral and written test. Oye. The position is classified as CBC/bilingual imperative which, umm, probably puts me out of the running easily. My French is fine and gets me by; however, I think I would be extremely lucky to even get a BBA score. (In this case, A is the worst and C is the best.) I am learning that smiling excessivly during interviews gets me a job at Disney World or any service driven job, but doesn't necessarily work so well in "office" jobs. My office mate at JA was worried when she saw my resume that said I worked at Disney World. She was concerned I would be uber perky and, like, randomly break into song. But we actually get along very well because we both have a ridiculously dry sense of humour and laugh at the birds outside our windows.
This Saturday I am writing the govt's GCT-2 test for a position with Service Canada. It's a good thing I like writing tests =P I looked at the practice one online and it looks alright - all multiple choice, as most govt tests are. I did well on all the math/logic questions but the one that stated "What does 'SUCCINCT' mean?" Heh - NO idea. But of the seven practice questions, word definitions was only one of the questions. I figure if this ratio is reflective of the real test, I should do all right. I'm bound to know SOME of the definitions (although I may wish to amp to current reading from the Princess Diaries VII to something a little more substantial... like the dictionary) and I have a 25% chance of guessing the right answer.
I'm quite curious as to how much servers make outside of the Disney bubble. Before I worked at a ridiculously busy restaurant where most guests were on the Disney Dining Plan thus resulting in servers getting 18% of the guests' total bills. Pretty good as the DDP including an app, entree, dessert and drink. So I have very clear memories of making $195 one night (pre tax) and labelling that as a slow night. Oh Disney, how I miss thee on so, so many levels. Heh - we were $o $poiled.
I slept in today and it was AMAZING. I still (yes, STILL) haven't quite adjusted to going to bed at a "real" time. I'm generally snoozing by 12:30, and then have the urge to DIE when my alarm goes off at 6:45ish.
Now, I am off to do something productive. Well, sort of. Making long distance phone calls is classified as productive, right?
La fin.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Random work-day thoughts:
• Definitely not a morning person. Still. And probably forever.
• I need to go to New York City to realize my child-hood dream of seeing Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. I didn’t do this when I was in NYC for my 23rd birthday (!!) because I was on podium and feeling poor. Now, the show closes at the end of July. After thirteen years of procrastinating, now is the time. I can fly from Ch’town for about $500. I need to go. Plus this time I won’t be trudging about in NYC the day after a storm, so site-seeing may be a wee bit easier!
• I bought a wee radio with headphones (about the size of an MP3 player) at the Dollar Store a few days ago. The radio was crap and wouldn’t pick up any stations in the gym. I figured that was acceptable, I mean, we are talking Dollar Store here. The earphones worked well though, so I figured it was really a one-dollar investment on earphones. Until I yanked them out of the radio too quickly this morning and they broke. So my $1.16 investment was terrible. Should have put it in an RRSP…
• You know, it’s cheaper to go to London Gatwick from Halifax than it is to go to NYC (La Guardia, I think,) from Ch’town. Oh, and flying is starting to make me feel morally irresponsible thanks to the talk I went to delivered by David Suzuki. So I’m feeling a bit torn because I loooove traveling and driving is just not an option for so many destinations. Nor is bus, or the non-existent PEI rail.
• I admit to stick checking the weather in Orlando, and usually sighing sadly followed by longing glances out the window.
• I’m excited to walk home today as it’s, apparently, like, eight degrees outside!!!!! Which is better be, because I’m wearing a skirt and don’t have any pants with me.
• Definitely not a morning person. Still. And probably forever.
• I need to go to New York City to realize my child-hood dream of seeing Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. I didn’t do this when I was in NYC for my 23rd birthday (!!) because I was on podium and feeling poor. Now, the show closes at the end of July. After thirteen years of procrastinating, now is the time. I can fly from Ch’town for about $500. I need to go. Plus this time I won’t be trudging about in NYC the day after a storm, so site-seeing may be a wee bit easier!
• I bought a wee radio with headphones (about the size of an MP3 player) at the Dollar Store a few days ago. The radio was crap and wouldn’t pick up any stations in the gym. I figured that was acceptable, I mean, we are talking Dollar Store here. The earphones worked well though, so I figured it was really a one-dollar investment on earphones. Until I yanked them out of the radio too quickly this morning and they broke. So my $1.16 investment was terrible. Should have put it in an RRSP…
• You know, it’s cheaper to go to London Gatwick from Halifax than it is to go to NYC (La Guardia, I think,) from Ch’town. Oh, and flying is starting to make me feel morally irresponsible thanks to the talk I went to delivered by David Suzuki. So I’m feeling a bit torn because I loooove traveling and driving is just not an option for so many destinations. Nor is bus, or the non-existent PEI rail.
• I admit to stick checking the weather in Orlando, and usually sighing sadly followed by longing glances out the window.
• I’m excited to walk home today as it’s, apparently, like, eight degrees outside!!!!! Which is better be, because I’m wearing a skirt and don’t have any pants with me.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
I want it more than I can tell
And for once it might be grand
To have someone understand
I want so much more than they've got planned
Those are a portion of the lyrics from "Belle (Reprise)" from Beauty and the Beast. It just kind of popped in my head. Mostly I think the first two lines pertain to me as I have been feeling a little trapped on PEI lately. I know I can just get up and leave, but I almost feel guilty about wanting to leave. So many people like it here, why not me? I almost feel as though leaving is either me A) giving up, or B) being a snob and thinking I'm above PEI. I haven't given up on it yet, but I'm getting close. I am also definitely not a snob. I was thinking about it today in my mind's chain of random thoughts. In a job interview about a month ago I was asked to describe myself in one word. I should have been prepared for such a question, but I wasn't and definitely said something stupid. (Regardless, I still made it through to the next round of interviews?!) Before my interviews last Tuesday (the third of the previously mentioned and one for a server at the Delta) I came up with a good word to use. I then promptly forgot it minutes later. Today I thought of a word, again, but this time remembered it. It actually may have been the same word I previously thought of, but I cannot be positive on that.
Curious.
Yup, that's the word I came up with. It kind of developed from "discovery", which isn't an adjective thus cannot describe me. ("An adjictive describes a noun." Thank you, Mad Libs.) But I like discovering things. Discovering new places, new people, new adventures, new languages, etc. I think this is a solution to the "problem" - my curiosity. I like knowing how people got to "where they are". I like talking to people about their jobs, finding out what they do and what that job title really means. I like talking to people about their hometowns.
To sum up a bit of my current problem and relate it to the previous paragraph, I have discovered nothing since being in Charlottetown. (Relating to the town, not people.) I know Charlottetown. I went for a walk last weekend and discovered nothing new. I remember on nice weekends in Edinburgh I would just walk... or hop on a random Lothian Bus, hop off, and then walk. Usually I had an idea where I was as I knew the bus system ridiculously well. If I was ever stuck I could just scan the sky line for Arthur's Seat, the Castle, Calton Hill, the Walter Scott Monument, etc., and determine my approximate where-abouts. When all else failed, I would just find a bus stop and work from there. I really don't ever remember getting lost, and if I did, I had a mobile and, sometimes, a map.
This week was a good week. I worked part-time at Junior Achievement and part-time piloting the 2007 Tourist Exit Survey (TES). I don't really care for surveying people, and I quite hate bothering people but most people are good about it and it has quite a high response rate. I think I just don't feel very productive doing it because there are so many Islanders at the airport. Of the many people I talk to, very few are even eligable to fill in the survey. At JA I'm doing .... let's make it sound fancy! "Database administration." I have to do 100 hours over the span of five weeks. I am temporarly filing in for someone who is one a leave of absense for, shocker, five weeks. She was a part-time employee working twenty hours a week hence my time obligations. I plan on working more than twenty hours a week, and once the TES is over I'll be able to put in more hours than I put in this week (twenty seven).
On Friday afternoon I wrote the ... I can't remember the of it, but a government test required for a position I applied for back in January. The test itself was quite easy. Hee hee, I just looked at the job description again (which was very vague) and the language requirements are "bilungual imperative" with a pretty high standard for French (C-B-C). I wonder if, provided I get through to the next round, will I have to write a French test? Oye. I may have to consider myself out of the running if that's the case, although I *do* listen to the radio in French so that's a start. Also relating to the test which I found interesting, all the people writing it were female. Curious!
Ooh, time to hop off, I think Jannie is home from Victoria =) And I have to run to the toilet. AND I'm thirsty. AND I need to brush my teeth. Wow, busy times.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Wow - it is windy outside! This winter weather is getting old. I realise winter is supposed to last for multiple months, but I'm done. Winter can leave. Where is my sun? I'm probably going to get rickets from lack of vitamin D. Wouldn't that be sad? I wonder if more Canadians develop rickets than, say, Brazilians.
I am still going through my quarter-life crisis. I randomly freak out, stuff myself with sugar, whimper, and then smile again. It is becoming quite repetative and annoying. My quarter-life crisis will probably leave me with a perma pot belly and diabetes.
I am trying to improve my French and it is kind of hard. I listen to Radio Canada 88.1 (French CBC) almost 100% of the time when driving. I sometimes watch TV in French and understand just about nothing. I am reading Harry Potter a l'ecole des sorciers and am quite enjoying it! But that doesn't quite satisfy me. I never really lost my ability to read in French; I really would like to improve my speaking and listening skills. My pronounciation is also shite, as I find myself mentally giving certain words spanish accents when reading.
Today I determined that getting a job is scary because I feel like it will be the end of my adventures. It's like someone will hand me a job on a plate, and I have to make it last forty years. Will I never get to live in Europe again? Will I bedoomed destined to spend the rest of my life on PEI? What if I become... boring? Oooh, scary. However, I don't find people who chose to live on PEI boring, so hopefully I won't be boring either.
Being unemployed should be enjoyable, but it's really not. It is stressful. It is ALWAYS on the back of your mind. Personally, it feels like such a failure and I have, umm, kind of stopped applying on jobs in the past week. I just got frustrated and angry. I pretty much flipped out and bawled (productive, I know,) when I found another interesting position open only to someone on E-freaking-I. I realise the purpose of the HRSDC Job Creation Program is to take someone out of the unemployed work rather than have someone quit a job in order to take the new one, but I am unemployed too! Just because I do not fit the proper EI statistic doesn't make it right to leave me stuck in the red mud.
I have a job interview tomorrow morning and meeting re another job in the afternoon. I know that makes it seem like I'm making great strides, but that's after about a month of looking. Brilliant. I'm actually quite disappointed in myself regarding how I have been handling my life lately. I should be enjoying my free time. That volunteer work I intended to do? I have done minimal. My scrapbook? Sitting in a drawer in my closet. Becoming super-fit, gym rat? Well, I've become a gym rat, but I also turn to delicious ju-jubes for a quick pick-me-up. Skiing? Nope, not yet. RRSP investments? No again! Filed my US or Canadian taxes? No, of course not, but I pretty much just have to print off my already-filled-in forms. This is when I wonder, what do I really do with myself all day? Nothingk, especially when you consider I usually sleep for only six-and-a-half hours a night. I get up, eat breakfast, maybe read some (I have read a lot recently), do some sudokus, watch some telie, eat some more, waste time on the Internet, maybe do something productive online, nothing, etc., blah blah blah. It's quite pathetic. I remember when I used to hardly spend any time at home. Hardly ever watched TV. Spent minimal time on the Internet. Well, that's in the past. I am trying to look forward, but I can see only fog for the most part. Randomly I catch a glimsp of a light in the distance, but the luminance is not quite great enough and I fall back to a displacement of zero. Okay, that is a bit of a lie. I am not at zero, I like to think I at least bumped myself up to two.
I have to do some interviewing prep now which will probably get me a little more excited :) Seriously.
Cheers!
I am still going through my quarter-life crisis. I randomly freak out, stuff myself with sugar, whimper, and then smile again. It is becoming quite repetative and annoying. My quarter-life crisis will probably leave me with a perma pot belly and diabetes.
I am trying to improve my French and it is kind of hard. I listen to Radio Canada 88.1 (French CBC) almost 100% of the time when driving. I sometimes watch TV in French and understand just about nothing. I am reading Harry Potter a l'ecole des sorciers and am quite enjoying it! But that doesn't quite satisfy me. I never really lost my ability to read in French; I really would like to improve my speaking and listening skills. My pronounciation is also shite, as I find myself mentally giving certain words spanish accents when reading.
Today I determined that getting a job is scary because I feel like it will be the end of my adventures. It's like someone will hand me a job on a plate, and I have to make it last forty years. Will I never get to live in Europe again? Will I be
Being unemployed should be enjoyable, but it's really not. It is stressful. It is ALWAYS on the back of your mind. Personally, it feels like such a failure and I have, umm, kind of stopped applying on jobs in the past week. I just got frustrated and angry. I pretty much flipped out and bawled (productive, I know,) when I found another interesting position open only to someone on E-freaking-I. I realise the purpose of the HRSDC Job Creation Program is to take someone out of the unemployed work rather than have someone quit a job in order to take the new one, but I am unemployed too! Just because I do not fit the proper EI statistic doesn't make it right to leave me stuck in the red mud.
I have a job interview tomorrow morning and meeting re another job in the afternoon. I know that makes it seem like I'm making great strides, but that's after about a month of looking. Brilliant. I'm actually quite disappointed in myself regarding how I have been handling my life lately. I should be enjoying my free time. That volunteer work I intended to do? I have done minimal. My scrapbook? Sitting in a drawer in my closet. Becoming super-fit, gym rat? Well, I've become a gym rat, but I also turn to delicious ju-jubes for a quick pick-me-up. Skiing? Nope, not yet. RRSP investments? No again! Filed my US or Canadian taxes? No, of course not, but I pretty much just have to print off my already-filled-in forms. This is when I wonder, what do I really do with myself all day? Nothingk, especially when you consider I usually sleep for only six-and-a-half hours a night. I get up, eat breakfast, maybe read some (I have read a lot recently), do some sudokus, watch some telie, eat some more, waste time on the Internet, maybe do something productive online, nothing, etc., blah blah blah. It's quite pathetic. I remember when I used to hardly spend any time at home. Hardly ever watched TV. Spent minimal time on the Internet. Well, that's in the past. I am trying to look forward, but I can see only fog for the most part. Randomly I catch a glimsp of a light in the distance, but the luminance is not quite great enough and I fall back to a displacement of zero. Okay, that is a bit of a lie. I am not at zero, I like to think I at least bumped myself up to two.
I have to do some interviewing prep now which will probably get me a little more excited :) Seriously.
Cheers!
Thursday, February 01, 2007
This is coming from a girl who is home from the bar far too early before her bedtime:
I know I'm going to be happy with my life; and I know I'm going to do great things. It's just a matter of putting up with the 'icks' that are currently, and will continue, to meet me. I can handle the bad things with a few tears, but the tears exist only because of the amazing experiences I have already have. Life will go on...
As it is. Despite moping for many months (!!) life keeps ticking as it should. Tomorrow I am whoring out my resume. I may wind up working at a pet shop, but that's okay. My new goal is to bring entertainment to PEI. Let's make PEI cool, eh? As Lord knows something is lacking right now. I'm going to fix that. Screw the Gentle Island stuff, we are know the Island of FUN!
I know I'm going to be happy with my life; and I know I'm going to do great things. It's just a matter of putting up with the 'icks' that are currently, and will continue, to meet me. I can handle the bad things with a few tears, but the tears exist only because of the amazing experiences I have already have. Life will go on...
As it is. Despite moping for many months (!!) life keeps ticking as it should. Tomorrow I am whoring out my resume. I may wind up working at a pet shop, but that's okay. My new goal is to bring entertainment to PEI. Let's make PEI cool, eh? As Lord knows something is lacking right now. I'm going to fix that. Screw the Gentle Island stuff, we are know the Island of FUN!
According to todays Guardian, PEI has a deficit of $1.3 billion. WOW. Rather sad, for the country's highest taxed province. (At least our PST is highest... not sure about actual taxes on wages, but I'm sure we're up there.)
Based on our 1999 population of 138,000, each Islander owes approx $9422. Also curious is why the most recent population statistic on Government's website is from 1999. Is there not a more recent figure? Or is it shameful that our population is decreasing? I don't know for sure if it is, but it seems like it should be. Us Islanders aren't popping out the babies like we used to! But, of course, people are living longer and blah blah blah. But daily we contend with the Island human resource drain as "our most precious resource" leaves the Island due to shite wages. Go figure. Recently the premiers of the Atlantic provinces went out west to Alberta to try and entice our precious resources to return to the homeland. Honestly, let them stay out there. There are people here (me) that are smart and have a decent education (me) but can't seem to stumble upon work (me again!). We already have a relatively high rate of unemployment, officially. Unofficially it's even higher as I believe the rate is based on those eligible for EI. (Not me.)
So, it's essentially costing the government $10,000 per person to keep us here. Really, that's quite a bargain for them, I think. Or at least I think I'm a bargain. I cost the department of health very little and have been to the doctor's, like, three times in almost four years (and once the province wouldn't even cover me =( ) and have been in the hospital, excluding audiology and speech crap when I was little, four times - including once to be born.
I really don't have much of a point here. I wonder how much the average Islander is in debt by? Although it's debatable as to whom is considered an Islander. A student studying here for four years from, say NB, who has full intentions of leaving after grad, is he/she considered an Islander for debt stat purposes? At first I thought you could judge debt by banking figures, but that doesn't take credit cards into consideration, or financing provided by car dealerships.
While sweeping today (don't I sound like Cinderella pre-Fairy Godmother?) I thought about the lack of a theatre in Cavendish. Just a thought. As far as I know there isn't one. Would it be viable? Profitable? I think there would be potential, but could it compete with the Confederation Centre of the Arts (Confed Centre in Island terms)? The Mac? Victoria Playhouse? And others? PEI is so small that driving from Cavendish/Anne's Land takes under an hour depending on, heh, camper traffic, weather, tractors, etc. Could you find people willing to put on a show? What would the incentive be? Why would a director and/or producer chose Cavendish over another location?
I also have been thinking about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Could a similar festival on a (much) smaller scale be replicated on PEI? It's so much fun, pretty affordable, and really does have something for everyone. Venues don't necessarily have to be a proper theatre. Anywhere a band can play a production can be performed.
I haven't been too busy with the job hunt this week. I have an interview coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm just a little indecisive as to what I want. (Other than my new two-hour dream of opening a theatre in Cavendish.) I liked working with the public at Disney and poking at kids. However, sometimes being fabulously happy and ALWAYS working with guests was a little much, and intellectually it wasn't a very rewarding job. In the other hand, I had office jobs that offered minimal contact with others and I didn't care for that too much either. I'm think I'm designed to be a temp. Bump around in a lot of different roles. Or maybe I'm best suited to run a pub or some sort of business. I could get out and work with people, but also do my intellectual running-a-business stuff too.
I don't want to sell things. Well, that's a bit too broad. I don't want to be constantly on the phone trying to sell things! Outbound sales rep isn't really for me. I mean, those are the people I feel bad for everytime they call a house and get shot down. Does anyone really take those calls?? I'll have to ask Brother because I think he did something like that for a little while.
Jobs are stupid. Remember that time I filed for six hours a day? Oooh, wow. Not fabulous.
I really want to work at a theatre. Hmm.
I miss Disney World. (Again.)
Well, it's 12:30 and I have accomplished nothing other than bookmarking a few job postings, semi-cleaning the kitchen, and watching two episodes of Save by the Bell.
Based on our 1999 population of 138,000, each Islander owes approx $9422. Also curious is why the most recent population statistic on Government's website is from 1999. Is there not a more recent figure? Or is it shameful that our population is decreasing? I don't know for sure if it is, but it seems like it should be. Us Islanders aren't popping out the babies like we used to! But, of course, people are living longer and blah blah blah. But daily we contend with the Island human resource drain as "our most precious resource" leaves the Island due to shite wages. Go figure. Recently the premiers of the Atlantic provinces went out west to Alberta to try and entice our precious resources to return to the homeland. Honestly, let them stay out there. There are people here (me) that are smart and have a decent education (me) but can't seem to stumble upon work (me again!). We already have a relatively high rate of unemployment, officially. Unofficially it's even higher as I believe the rate is based on those eligible for EI. (Not me.)
So, it's essentially costing the government $10,000 per person to keep us here. Really, that's quite a bargain for them, I think. Or at least I think I'm a bargain. I cost the department of health very little and have been to the doctor's, like, three times in almost four years (and once the province wouldn't even cover me =( ) and have been in the hospital, excluding audiology and speech crap when I was little, four times - including once to be born.
I really don't have much of a point here. I wonder how much the average Islander is in debt by? Although it's debatable as to whom is considered an Islander. A student studying here for four years from, say NB, who has full intentions of leaving after grad, is he/she considered an Islander for debt stat purposes? At first I thought you could judge debt by banking figures, but that doesn't take credit cards into consideration, or financing provided by car dealerships.
While sweeping today (don't I sound like Cinderella pre-Fairy Godmother?) I thought about the lack of a theatre in Cavendish. Just a thought. As far as I know there isn't one. Would it be viable? Profitable? I think there would be potential, but could it compete with the Confederation Centre of the Arts (Confed Centre in Island terms)? The Mac? Victoria Playhouse? And others? PEI is so small that driving from Cavendish/Anne's Land takes under an hour depending on, heh, camper traffic, weather, tractors, etc. Could you find people willing to put on a show? What would the incentive be? Why would a director and/or producer chose Cavendish over another location?
I also have been thinking about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Could a similar festival on a (much) smaller scale be replicated on PEI? It's so much fun, pretty affordable, and really does have something for everyone. Venues don't necessarily have to be a proper theatre. Anywhere a band can play a production can be performed.
I haven't been too busy with the job hunt this week. I have an interview coming up in a couple of weeks. I'm just a little indecisive as to what I want. (Other than my new two-hour dream of opening a theatre in Cavendish.) I liked working with the public at Disney and poking at kids. However, sometimes being fabulously happy and ALWAYS working with guests was a little much, and intellectually it wasn't a very rewarding job. In the other hand, I had office jobs that offered minimal contact with others and I didn't care for that too much either. I'm think I'm designed to be a temp. Bump around in a lot of different roles. Or maybe I'm best suited to run a pub or some sort of business. I could get out and work with people, but also do my intellectual running-a-business stuff too.
I don't want to sell things. Well, that's a bit too broad. I don't want to be constantly on the phone trying to sell things! Outbound sales rep isn't really for me. I mean, those are the people I feel bad for everytime they call a house and get shot down. Does anyone really take those calls?? I'll have to ask Brother because I think he did something like that for a little while.
Jobs are stupid. Remember that time I filed for six hours a day? Oooh, wow. Not fabulous.
I really want to work at a theatre. Hmm.
I miss Disney World. (Again.)
Well, it's 12:30 and I have accomplished nothing other than bookmarking a few job postings, semi-cleaning the kitchen, and watching two episodes of Save by the Bell.
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