Grr

So in an effort to get ahead a work a wee bit since I'd like to take an afternoon off this week, I brought some work home for me. Little did I know that fate had a different plan for me. The internet is as slow as molassis having a race with cold honey, and the UPEI servers are even slower. Pathetically slow. Going back to work and simply working there would actually have been about a kazillion times faster. Even if I had hopped to work, backwards, on one foot. And stopped to save an abandonned cat from a tree, and then brought the cat home, fed it, bathed it, then knit it a sweater. It still would have been more productive than sitting in the 223 livingroom watching my laptop screen gather dust. Anyway, my brilliant planned failed, and it put me in a bit of a bad mood. Unfortunate as I already shook off one bad mood today. (A rainy Monday morning, clearly a bad-mood catalyst.)

Grr. Grr. GRRRRRRR! One step forward, two steps back. Well, not really two steps back, it just means now I have to carry everything to work tomorrow in my backpack so I can do the work there. Sad, I was quite looking forward to working, drinking a beer, and listening to music. Cocooning, like I do on a bus.

Ooh, there was a loud clap of thunder outside. I hate thunder and lightening. Time to hide. The only thing worst than storms of such is being eaten by a dinosaur.

List of non-regular fears (i.e., not including death of loved ones, being eternally unhappy, etc.):
* Dinosaurs
* Hot things
* Thunder and lightening
* Wasps
* Wooden rollercoasters
* People thinking I'm boring, unintelligent, bad-weird, etc.
* Giant, flying bulls (related to a dream I had when I was 4)

I could be so much more productive. Doing my work. That I can't do from home.

Cleaning ones room is productive, but that won't save me time at work in the coming days. Prepping a lunch for tomorrow is also unproductive because there is a free BBQ on campus tomorrow.

Big lightening clap. Sign off.

Injury!

First off, long weekends are amazing. I may consider taking either Monday or Friday off every week for the rest of my life. Sure it won't help me financially, but it'll keep me happier, thus I will be able to tolerate work life well into my later years, and perhaps I'll be happy with a shorter retirement and will retire at 65, instead of my planned 33. (Yes, overly ambitous, especially considering I keep spending all my money on vacations.)

I received a SPORTS INJURY this weekend. Nope, not from biking 100ish km (yes, I'm a geek and usually map out my rides on Google Maps afterwards!) over the long weekend, nor from kayaking from a couple of hours....

But by doing a cartwheel on the front lawn.

My cartwheel went over well, 10s all around, but I pulled a muscle on the inside of my thigh during "launch". Anyway, it's still a bit sore. Hurting myself doing a cartwheel makes me feel old.

My life has revolved around a select few things in the past week or so:

1. My new bike!!!!! Except mine is black and a ladies frame.


2. The Olympics. I love them. I have a bizarre interest in syncronized diving.


3. Patty O'Malley's trivia in Brackley. We reigning champions. We're kind of awesome.


4. Work. Kind of a given as I spend 40ish hours a week there.


5. Tutoring an energetic, ridiculously cute Korean girl. I would so much rather play in the park with her then try to make her sit still and learn.


6. Golf lessons. Seriously.

So yeah. In more detail, I looooove my bike. It wasn't an instantaneous love. I'm kind of a commitment phobe in such matters. Test ride 1 went okay, but it was my first time on a hybrid bike and it felt a bit weird. I was a bit disappointed. Then I did a second test ride the following day and loooooved it. So now I own it! I bought it last Saturday morning and have put about 135 km on it so far. Not too shabby seeing as I do work all day and have some other commitments. Only concern is that there are some random noises coming from it already, but I assume it's the bike "breaking in" and the kind folks who sold me the bike will spiff it back into shape when I take it in. I biked to trivia on Tuesday in Brackley and going down the hill where the Snoopy barn is was a bit scary - not sure I have ever went that fast on a bike before! Somewhat reminded me of the adrenaline rush experienced post-SheiKra at Busch Gardens. Anyway, in conclusion, I love my bike, and I wish I had bought it ages ago. It only took me about 50 minutes to bike to trivia! (~22 km) I dunno, some may consider that slow, but on my old bike it probably would have taken six days. Approximately.

I love the Olympics so much. The opening ceremonies blew me away, specifically the sequence with the drummers, and the large yellow globe (sun?) that people were "running" around. The torch lightening was also impressive. Not so exciting was the parade of nations as the individual countries entered the Birds Nest. However, it makes for a good flag lesson. "Oh, that's what [insert county name]'s flag looks like." Also, I have determined again, that I would love to hang out with Ron MacLean. Was never a huge Don Cherry fan; I always thought he was rude and saying your point more loudly doesn't make it a better point. But Ron? I'd buy him a beer.

Olympic commercials are also entertaining.
Winners:

• Wonderbread, with the kids doing Olympic events in front of a white background. Particularly I enjoy the speedskater, and the bobsledders.
• Aliant's "Believe" commercials supporting Atlantic Canadian athletes.
• Bombardier.

Least favourite commercials are the McDonald's ones. Although I do want Olympic glassware now... So although annoying, somewhat affective.

Every summer I like to try something new, sports wise. Last summer was tennis. Result? Never picked up a tennis racket again, although I would play if someone asked. Maybe I'll play this weekend?! Anyway, this summer I am taking GOLF lessons. So PEI. One of the students at worked proposed it, and it seemed like a good idea. It's only five lessons, and so far "wedging" is my clear favourite. I also felt satisfied when I saw two foxes at the first lesson, confirming that the name "Fox Meadows" is not misleading.

I need to go to the Olympics in Vancouver. Not so much go, but work at them. Then maybe I can somehow get on-board for London 2012. Then Chicago 2014. Then I will put forth a proposal for PEI 2016. We will rename PEI "Olympic Island". It's sounds very majestic and forceful, in a good way though. We will be well suited to host the summer games because, umm.... we have beaches. And we are hosting the 2009 Summer Canada Games so they are digging up the ground at UPEI (again) to build track facilities.

I would like to work at a winery. In France. But as of late I have been disturbingly all talk and no action, and it's slightly bumming me out. Am I getting "comfortable" on PEI? It makes me nervous. I'm actually not getting comfortable, and in the past couple of weeks have been desperate to make a plan to escape... but... eek... nerves.

I would like to learn more about architecture. Like the differences between modern, contemporary, neogothic, post-modern, etc. I spent awhile learning on wikipedia one rainy weekend, but learning via Wikipedia is a wee bit risky.

I think I am going to take up swimming in the fall. I need a decent bathing suit (i.e., probably not a bikini with strings and such) and a nose plug, because I never learned how to properly blow bubbles out my nose. A nose plug will definitely up my sexy factor by at least two points. I believe last winter there were some adult competitive swimming lessons. I already know how to swim, I finished swimming lessons long ago, but I'm sure my form could improve.

I would also like to try squash and fencing.

There is a male gymnast on the telie and he is doing some crazy things on the floor. He's all springy with legs flying every which way. Bounce bounce.

My arms look puney. Apparently cycling and watching the Olympics doesn't build your triceps OR biceps?!

I may cook supper now. Cooking in summer just doesn't really happen. Kind of like wearing pants. I refuse refuse refuse refuse refuse refuse refuse to wear anything longer than mid calf in the summer. And even then I feel awkward, and that's sort of "Oh, have to do laundry" or "It's rainy and cold and your office will be even colder."

I'm still undecided about what I think of the Olympics being in China. I feel like it's the world showing support for China, a "we believe in you". Kind of like an unknown, young actor or actress being nominated for an Oscar. You know he/she won't win, but it's a vote of confidence. Anyway, my least favourite part about the Olympics being in China is the bloody time change. Bah. Stuff doesn't start happening much until 9:00pm here. If I watch Olympic coverage when I wake up, then in the evening... Nothing has changed. Vancover will be better... but Chicago and London will be even BETTER. London especially because if they host a big event in the evening, I can watch it in the afternoon. This is also why we should consider bidding to host the 2016 Olympics: it would be much more convenient for me.

La fin.

Mr. Sunshine?

I've been trying very, very hard not to complain about the weather... but I think the time has come.

What has happened to the sun? Why the wind? Should I build an ark in case the rain continues? I understand it hasn't rained much this summer, but I definitely haven't seen the sun for more than a ten-minute spurt for over a week. I'm fading - I should be fading in the middle of summer! I'm stubborn, and I find it chilly to be outside in just a t-shirt.

I think the rain has, knock on wood, stopped for today, meaning I can test-ride bikes after work, and bike to my GOLFING LESSON later. Every summer I try to play a new sport, and every summer, I learn to hate said sport because I am not good at it instantaneously. Last week during the putting lesson, the instructor said, "You need some work." Well, unless he was talking about my nose or chest, that's kind of, you know, the reason I was at golf lessons.

Anyway, it's time for me to leave! That's pretty exciting.

Remember that time I had a blog?

Oh wee blog, I remember you. Perhaps I shall continue to chronicle my adventures to entertain the masses. There has been writing the past seven months, just in my "real" journal and fictional stories, nothing worthy of a blog. But that shall change, and some day, some day soon, I will shall with you again the life of my.

I got to dress up as an elephant trainer for a party tonight. It was pretty amazing, and I got plenty of stares at Jake's later on.

Charlottetown disappointed me tonight. At & and Jake's, I just felt like not too many people wanted to have fun.

What has happened to fun? Has it become an endangered species?

No. It has not. I recall having great fun only recently.

I'm buying a new bike soon and am super excited. It's going to become my baby. I have become curiously attached to my current bike; we have been through so much together. I bike pretty much everywhere, and Bike has been very reliable. The chain comes off ocassionally, but I can fix that easily. That being sad, Bike is sometimes hard on the knees, and has many, many kilometres on it - perhaps much more than a $120 bike should. It's the wonderful Supercycle 1800... one of the cheapest bikes offered by Canadian Tire. And it has a bit of a following!!! Actual cyclists seem to have a somewhat curious attachment to Creeky(the name of my bike, because it makes many strange noises), seeing how long it tastes to destroy the SC1800. My favourite saga of the SC 1800 is Bike of Doom.

I'm attached to Creeky McClunky for multiple reasons.
1) The seat is the right height, so the (L) knee pain has mostly stopped.
2) Nice seat. Though not the original seat; I don't remember how that one felt as I haven't sat on it in years.
3) McClunky really should be dead by now, and it baffles me that he still works. I don't treat him very well and bump through Charlottetown over curbs, through potholes, etc. It actually makes me question why I'm about to spend close to $500ish on a bike.
4) Creeky has a very low chance of being stolen (knock on wood). When I park by bike at the uni, I easily have the cheapest, dirtiest bike at the bike rack. (Yet I also have an AMAZING bike lock leftover from my backpacking days.) Mine would be the least preferable to steal, unless one was looking to destroy his/her knees.
5) Creeky accompanied on my treck across an ENTIRE PROVINCE. Granted, it was the smallest province, but such a cheap, heavy, questionable bike went 60 km one day, ~100km on each of the following two days, and 43 km on the last day. Some bikes don't see that many kilometres in a lifetime.

This all being said, I am so excited to have a bike that offers a smooth ride. I also kind of want to rip apart ol' Creeky, just to see all the different components required to put together a bicycle. Trying to put it back together will be a difficult puzzle, but New Bike will exist by then, so returning Creeky to it's previous condition isn't critical to the daily commute.

Good night. Love.