Inventory of the brain's day

1:54pm: And so the day goes.

When I was at my disgusting filing job back in the lovely summer of 2005 (such a good year!!) I remember having a few blogs just open all day, then posting at the end of the day. Often involved were, I'm sure, records of papercuts. Today is a wee bit of a data entry day, after reviewing a report this morning we will be releasing soon. I wrote the first draft back in February, but we did not have enough staff and it never got around to being released. Now our new staff are reviewing it, and I had my review day this morning. It's actually pretty good, but could be better as some was clearly filler blabber for length.

1:58:Bathroom break!

2:02: Bathroom break successful! Hair looked kind of greesy in the mirror, probably because I haven't washed it since Saturday and did a half-ass job of straightening/de-poofing it. I went to bed with wet hair on Saturday, which made for a hair disaster on Sunday so I half-straightened it. I like doing that once in awhile, though it gets greesy much more quickly because I play with it because, shock, I can actually get my fingers through my hair! Back to work...

2:11: I hate when people spell "Anne of Green Gables" without the 'e' on their survey comments. Did they not pay attention to the book/musical AT ALL? (Anne & Gilbert possibly excluded, I suppose, as I do not believe that is referenced in that specific musical.) I'm going outside now.

2:55: Someone who filled in one of our six-kajillion surveys is from "Newalla, OK". I picture someone with a thick southern twange shouting NEwaaallllalayayay okay! -- what a magnificent find.

3:09: I wish I could see Beauty and the Beast on stage again. I'm singing "If I Could Have Love Her' in my head right now (and doing a very good job of it). I missed it in Edmonton by mere DAYS (which I'm sure relieved le ex-boyfriend) in March, alas. But I could have easily sat through it by myself, loving it to bits. It makes you feel good inside, like the play is giving you a hug. (I've stopped singing the song in my head and am now listening to it instead. I'm swooning.)

3:17: Song ended. Repeat! swooooon

3:36: I cannot believe it's only 3:36. Tick, tick, tiiiiiick. If this were a movie and I was still a student, I would be half-hunched over my desk staring at the clock... Flash to clock, where the second hand starts ticking even more slowly. My eyes shift, confused, suddenly, the second hand starts to go BACKWARDS! CLASS WILL NEVER END, because suddenly it is only 3:15 again. Oh my!

4:00: Uggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggh. If I had arrived at work this morning at 8:00 I could leave now. Instead I only got out of bed at 8:15. Oooh, weird dreams last night too! Sadly, can't remember them at this exact moment.

I'm hungry. Grr, says stomach, GRR. I'm listening to the ET theme and have visions of biking to the moon. Wouldn't that get a wee bit chilly? DID THE PRODUCERS CONSIDER THIS?

Song over. Now the Jurassic Park theme. Spectacular! It's so... unvieling. The music wants you to be awed, and you are awed, because there are dinosaurs. It makes me think of the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Islands of Adventure that is scary and makes want to dive out of the boat.

Post!

Writer's Field

I was trying to think of the opposite of writer's block - the block being a large figure before you that no light seeps around. So I thought of a field, light drenching it, no obstacles in sight. I'm in a middle of a field.

I think it's because I've been spending far more time alone than I'm used to. It's... trying to think of a positive adjective... "enlightening", I suppose. I remember Shan and her well used Myers-Brigg book from the Canon Street days. I am apparently an extrovert, and get my energy from being around other people. I kind of thought of myself as more middle ground - border line extrovert, border line introvert. Now I'm pretty sure that I flirt far more with the extrovert label than the introvert.

I think if I wrote as much as I wanted to in the course of a day, this blog would be essays long. But I don't, because it's not always accessible. I rarely write at work - except wonderful, ground-breaking, industry-changing reports - and I cannot hop off my Bicyclette at any given moment to dive for a laptop, thought sometimes I do take pen and paper with me.

I saw the sunset again tonight. Actually, I'm almost always outside for the sunset. It sets so early now that I'm usually still out biking and on my way home at that point. Tonight's sunset was different. If someone asked me to describe it, I could do so in two ways: a visual description, and an emotion-evoking description. One, the sunset was pretty, and much more yellow than usual. Beautiful gradient from a soft blue to a vibrant yellow. It actually looked more like a sunrise, the sky was stripped of the frequent pink, purple, and deep blue shades. Emotionally, it felt like a very optimistic sunset. It was weird, usually sunsets don't really draw much emotion from me other than a logical statement of, "Look, the sun is setting," to no one as I'm generally peddling on my own. I try to avoid talking to myself. Apparently society frowns upon it after your eighth year or so. Really though, I think speaking to oneself can provide clarity, much like walking away from a paper for a couple of days. Maybe it has to do with the different ways people learn or retain knowledge. For a audio learner, maybe speaking out loud to him/herself is more efficient. I don't judge. I still haven't figured out if I'm a visual, audio, or hands-on learner. I tend to link things very logically, but I don't think that is due to preferred learning method. However, I definitely think I have a visual memory (though I believe I'm getting rusty - will need to play more games of memory with a deck of cards). Sometime when trying to remember something it's almost like flipping through a series of files, and I know exactly which one to stop at and can pull a mental picture of it. It's interesting. I'm good at flipping through books and easily finding the page I'm looking for, was especially good at that with textbooks during uni.

I was looking at some pictures I took this weekend last night thinking about the role pictures play in my life. I love pictures. I have very, very, very few printed off, but my laptop is filled with digital photos. I then thought about the role a camera plays when you are by yourself. Sometimes I think it's a bad replacement for a person. Like this weekend, I would had rather been biking with someone, it makes for good encouragement and good company, but I was on my own so once in awhile I stopped to take pictures because I had no one to stop and talk to. By taking a picture of myself do I give myself someone to be with? "Lookie! You're with her! Gosh, she looks just like you..."

In a related note, if anyone ever wants to go on a bike ride... :) Apparently there is an PEI biking/cycling group that goes on rides every Monday night. Something to look into, if it's not too late! I also need to start, UGH, wearing warmer clothes. Sigh. Oh, just checked out calendar for said group and next Monday is the last ride. My timing is impeccable.

I kind of have the urge to get something pierced. Not sure what though. Realistically, probably nothing. I don't like bellybutton piercings... I just find them weird. Eyebrow reminds me of junior high, and that would be putting me back more than a decade. Maybe something in my ear(s). I feel this is similar to last summer when I couldn't stop sooking after getting home from vacay so promptly cut of 90 percent of my hair. Bizarrely, my mood lifted fantastically well. But I don't feel like chopping my hair this time - I'm having curiously good hair days as of late (by Jen standards) and don't want to tempt the Gods to end those days.

Imagine if people actually lived out their daydreams? Those sighs, some days, and if onlys. My life would be a circus. There would be animals everywhere, and I would be in a million different places, fluent in tens of languages. Some of my daydreams are unrealistic (baby elephant), but others much more obtainable. I just feel very ADD that I have very few long-term daydreams, they scatter so quickly based on my mood of the day and, so frequently, based on what book I'm reading or what other people are doing.

What if everyone lived out their daydreams? Would the economy crash into the fiery depths of the Underworld, or would equilibrium still be found? (Arguably never truly found due to the lack of an actual free market economy.) If my dream is to move to Hawaii and take hula dancing lessons for three months, does someone else have the dream to teach me that? Or would we exchange, and I would somehow help my teacher achieve his/her dream? Wouldn't that be nice - people putting forth so much effort to help others achieve happiness.

How would population demographics shift? Would people start living longer because they are happier? Or would the average life expectancy drop as people realise their life-long dreams of extreme, dangerous activities? What regions would emerge as centres, and which would turn into ghost towns?

And would people actually be brave enough to do it?

Change causes fear in some people. Would people happy with the present status-quo become disturbed when their hometown is overcome with dream-chasing immigrants? (Immigrant used in the sense of an outsider, not necessarily a foreign individual from another country.) Would the people who live in temples in the hilltops of Japan be happy that so many people are coming there to find inner peace? Or does the presence of the new individuals disrupt the inner-peace of the current, can't think of the word, temple person? Would the person that can help others find that inner equilibrium even still be there? Or will he/she be with me somewhere giggling in the ocean, trying to stand up on a surfboard?

So many questions. But it would be interesting to be approached by someone saying, "I just achieved one of my dreams, now I will help you achieve yours so long you pass the favour onto someone else." So this person achieved his/her dream, and now must help me find my way to working on a vineyard in France. He/she doesn't have to actually escort me there, but perhaps give me encouragement, help make arrangements - put the wheels in motion. I get to France, do my vineyard stint, and move forth to help a friend of a friend of a friend perhaps, say, be reunited with a childhood penpal from decades ago. Imagine having someone whose purpose was to help you achieve one specific dream... What would you ask for? If would have to be achievable. "I want you to mend my broken leg with the single tap of a wand!" isn't valid.

I have such word driblage lately, like my mouth won't stop spurting things out that my brain randomly touches on. Uh, see above for reference.

I was reading CBC news today and a discussion had been opened on the possibility of Canada having talks to try and arrange trade agreements with the EU.

Well, WHY NOT? There is no reason we shouldn't partake in talks. They may not lead to anything, but I believe variety, and versatility, make for a stronger, more reliable economy in the long run. In simple, simple, SIMPLE terms, imagine eating only one kind of food. That food suddenly gets wiped out by say, a storm, or perhaps is recalled due to health reasons. Now that food is unavailable, and one is left searching for a new kind of food to be enjoyed. Compare that to the person who eats a variety of food (let's leave food qualities out of this and assume neither is missing nutrients/minerals due to food choice) has also lost access to that particular kind of food. Unfortunate, but he/she has many alternatives to fall back on. The other person does as well, but may have to go through more work to find such food. Where does one purchase it? How does one know if it is ripe or has gone sour? How is it best prepared? Learning curves take time. Our trade is so dependent on the US, and it wouldn't surprise me if there are secret trade agreements that force us to remain so interdependent, but all other things equal, expanding trade partners is good. Some people that commented in the discussion mentioned us aligning with the Euro and *joining* the EU, but I think that was mere speculative thinking, or perhaps miscomprehension of the topic. It's no secret that I would happily move back to Europe for a short stint (founder of the Tourism Research Centre - Salamanca Branch), but the idea of Canada joining the EU in the near future makes me scratch my head in confusion. I haven't been following the currency markets at all, but I believe the Canadian dollar is doing decent?

Holy Jen MacRamble. In an effort to be in bed (though I type from my bed) by 1:00am, it's 12:58 and I need be trying to shut down the brain for bed, otherwise I'll soon have a dissertation written. Yay, Jen Mac, PhD.

Oops, now 1:01am by the time I finished spellcheck. Ahh well. Long live the job of no official start time...

Weekend Adventure

Oh, the weekends are full of such adventure.

On Friday I suddenly worked a Tourism Research Centre booth at work for the official opening of the new building. It was nice to actually be out and talking to people, instead of hiding in my office, hissing when the sun comes up and people walk by with cloves of garlic. So that took up most of the morning and a wee chunk of the afternoon. At 4:30, the TRC went to our director's house to partake in "team building"/"beer drinking". Then I tried to go on a boat cruise with Doug, but we missed the boat. Literally. So we went to Peake's, ate, and left. However, we did get free things at Peake's as part of the Shellfish Festival promotions - glow bracelets, a blinking set of lip lights, t-shirt, and an OYSTER.

The oyster taste like ass; I can't believe people happily eat those as a delicacy. They could just lick the beach - it would almost taste the same. Just add hot sauce.

Saturday was the REAL adventure - oh my. I hitched a ride down east with ma and pa (70-mile coastal yard sale - I bought stuff, it was fun) who dropped me off in Montague so I could bike home. It felt a little windy, but I figured I would be okay as most of the trail is pretty sheltered. I checked when I got home, and the winds were about 30 km/hr, sw. Not sure what gusts were. Anyway, I biked the trail from Montague to "Montague Junction" (10 km). I was just going to head on west towards Mount Stewart, then to Charlottetown, but decided I may as well go to Georgetown since I was so close and, well, had never been! So I detoured 10 km to Georgetown and biked around there a wee bit. Took the road back to the trail, and away I went! I biked about 18 km and noticed the trail was washed out and muddy ahead. No worries, I will BIKE AROUND THE WASH OUT! Ooops but the grass was actually holding a kajillion litres of water and poor Sexay Bicyclette promptly sunk into the ground. So I had to hop off and walk through the mush, feeling water filled my primarily mesh sneakers. I biked to the nearest bench, listening to the squish squish of my thick socks. I sat there, took off my sneakers to survey the damage. Actually - not bad! My feet had been getting cold biking lately so I was wearing thick socks which pretty much absorbed most of the water from my light sneakers. I had brought an extra pair of thin socks in case my feet were to get too hot, so I happily put those on after sitting in the sun letting my barefeet dry, and my damp sneakers. Thumbs up!

I biked about another 6 km or so and met another cyclist on the trail. He warned me about a loose dog ahead, a large german shepherd, that had chased him for awhile, and the trail was pretty soft and ick as they were resurfacing. This didn't sound very ideal, so I didn't I would take the road for awhile... possibly all the way to Mount Stewart, then the trail or Rte 2 home, or maybe just take the road all the way back to Ch'town on the other side of the river. Hmm. So I started biking on Rte 22 in St. Theresa's, heading towards Mount Stewart. Looked at map and decided to take Rte 21 back to Ch'town, thought it would be a nice change. What a friggin mistake. I literally turned onto Rte 21 only to be standing at the bottom of a massive hill and the feeling of my jaw dislocating as it hit the pavement sharply. No worries, a hill won't kill me, I've done 'em before! So up and up and up I go... heading south... into the previously mention winds. Find myself a little windy at the top of hill so stop to take picture of giant strawberry. Cute. Proceed to go down hill a bit, peddling against the wind... to find... another massive hill. Begin to second guess decision to take road. More hills, and more wind later, I find myself in Fort Augustus, wondering if crying will magically transport me back to Ch'town. Instead I sit down on the side of the road to look at my map to see how much further. How discouraging. Very far. In the meanwhile, mosquitoes feast on me, euphoric to have found such a delicious, accessible treat. They did quite a number, and must travel in packs as I have multiple bites on my lower and upper legs, a few on my ass, two on my elbow, a couple of the back of my arm, two right next to each other on my stomach, and one (!) on my forehead.

I hop back on my bike and trek towards Stratford. Eventually I make it (hurrah!) and contemplate stopping at Captain Sub in Stratford. I realise that if I get of Bicyclette, I may have difficulties getting back on it. So I bike straight past and over the bridge... the bridge leading into magnificent Ch'town. I'm heading west, and the winds don't bother me nearly as much. I dramatically stumble through the door at 223, collapsing onto the couch. Sweaty and dirty. Then I kind of pass out and wake up freezing about two minutes later. Struggling, I make it up the stairs and, even further eventually, manage to work up the effort to stand up in the shower. The rest of Saturday night involves me eating, oh, everything in sight.

According to the trail map and google map, I went 89.5 km yesterday. I'm rounding up to 90 km in about 5 hrs. I've had longer days (distance wise) before, but not against such hills and wind. My knees are shot right now, but I went for a walk in Greenwich National Park today and they were okay, just a bit tender on the drive home.

Which leads to Sunday's adventure! Not quite as exciting, but I felt like going for a wander so I went to Greenwich National Park. I had never been before, but the pics of the floating boardwalk have intrigued me. So away I went! It felt nice to go for a drive on the highway, I don't drive very much. Mostly because I bike everywhere, and also I don't really have anywhere to go. First I went to the beach where it was windy and the water was full of waves! The water looked frigid. Then I went to the walking trails and went exploring on those. You know, all the interpretive signage showed many wonderful animals that live in the woods/marsh. I saw only a hare, chipmunk, and a dog someone was walking. Anyway, I will write a strongly worded letter requesting more ferrets and owls.

Then I ate lots of pizza with Keri Shields. If my body were a temple, it would be crumbling under marathon bike rides and junk food. The empire of Jen Mac wouldn't hold many armies away.

11:15. Time to wind down and get ready to face tomorrow's work day. Cry.

Free water!

Yesterday K-Rock was handing out "Aquafina plus+ - vitamin enhance water" at the student centre. Someone brought a bunch back to the School of Business, so now I'm sipping on the pomegranate cherry flavour.

It's weird.

Looking at the ingredients list compared with the frequently-refilled regular Aquafina bottle on my desk, the regular water has demineralized treated water, and ozone. (Yum, ozone! Is this why the ozone layer is getting thinner, because we are plucking it from the sky and adding it to our water?) The "enhanced" water features water, SUGAR (quantity not specified), natural pomegranate cherry flavour, citric acid, sodium citrate, modified corn starch (high five!), chocineal, calcium phosphate, gum arabic, caramel colour, silicon dioxice, and sodium benzoate. Now, I'm not knocking these because I drink gallons of Crystal Lite, or more accurately, Sobey's knock-off non-aspartame version of it, but it seems weird that these are in water. The enhanced bottle is more attractive than the regular one, but also holds less water, though it looks like it would hold more ( 473 mL vs. 500 mL).

It tastes fine, I feel fine (should I feel enhanced?), but I'm kind of reluctant to give it a thumbs up because, well, it's vitamin enhanced water. I guess I don't really get it. I'm sure it's better for you than pop (at only 80 calories a bottle versus whatever 473 mL of cola would have) but I don't think I would buy it. But I will gladly accept a free bottle as part of a promotion to encourage me to buy it.

The other flavour was some sort of orange mandarin... something. Didn't appeal to me so much. Though I love the colour orange, artificial flavouring wise, orange is my least favourite.

ALTHOUGH, it must be noted that while I was very tired earlier, I am not as tired now. Enhanced water side effect?! Or perhaps just a water side effect? Curious. Or maybe the banana I ate a half-hour ago. So many possible answers... Gosh, scientists must never run out of topics.

You know, I am arguably a researcher (which may get me to Hawaii next year - high five!... long story. Beer was involved. Story may prove to be fictional in long run) but don't get a cool title like "SCIENTIST". From now on I am a TRAVELOLOGIST - someone who studies travel patterns.

Jen Mac - Travelologist. High FIVE!!!

La neige...

I kid re title above, there is no snow.

BUT IMAGINE IF THERE WERE???

Oh my, that would be disastrous.

Things at work are busy, and I like it. I'm at a good place right now where I have been there long enough that I really know what I'm doing and am *knock on wood* pretty good and efficient at it. New projects and responsibilites keep popping up. I quite like working in a project based position, rather than a "day to day routine"esque position.

There was a firedrill today at work and I could only think of Dwight running around in The Office yelling, "DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!" when people wouldn't leave the Office quickly enough upon Ryan burning something in the toaster oven.

Things at home are not so busy. During Topical Depression Hannah on Sunday I went to the library and took out some books. Apparently I am going to read four books in the next three weeks? And last night at 1:30am I decided it would be great fun to go online and request four more books. Oh Gosh the excitement! Hee hee...

In my current possession we have a book on the history of the modern olympics, a French book about a mute kid and something about a rabbit ("J'enterre mon lapin", which babelfish humourously translated to "J' bury my rabbit", something I plan to start saying a lot)?, a book about quarter-life crisises (what is the plural of crisis?) in women, and a "humourous" book about brain differences in men and women regarding sex. The cover is cute because it has two very small ladybugs humping each other. Oh how clever. Sigh. Based on book choices it was clear I was feeling a bit lost mentally and emotionally on Sunday. Physically, I knew exactly where I was and felt much better upon brushing my teeth (MAGIC TOOTHPASTE?!) and leaving 223. I got a FREE ice cream at Cows, wandered through the Confederation Centre, and spent much time reading at the library. Whenever I am slightly glum I wander to a bookstore or the library; it's really a store of inspiration, ideas, and escape.

It's getting quite fallish. I can tell because I have to dress more warmly when biking, the winds are a bit insane as of late (exhibit a: jen biking in Victoria Park with watering eyes from the wind, so fun :) ), the hours of sunlight are diminishing, and I had to buy a parking pass at UPEI. A sure sign of autumn if there ever was one! And why did Miss "Oh my God, I love my bike soooo much, I am so awesome and 'GREEN', give me a prize!" buy a parking pass? Well, the one day I drive to work [meeting downtown in afternoon] in the past couple of weeks turns out to be the day parking permits will start to be enforced. SUCH AMAZING TIMING. Of course this occurred on a Monday, when I was already angry, tired, bitter, and thinking about slaughtering fluffy animals for my own pleasure. Anger levels peak on Monday morning when I pretty much need a forklift to get out of bed at some point before 8:00. Any volunteers? I will complain, groan, sigh, and make evil faces towards you, but I do have a spectacular smile during non-morning hours and a wonderful cereal collection that I would be willing to share as payment. I have also recently purchased some hummus, and would share that as well. Nothing says "great start to the day!" like garlic breath. Yum.

Another summer has passed and I managed to again fail on a journey to the Mags. Maybe Thanksgiving weekend? Or just a random long weekend coming up? Anyone want to come? My plan would be to bike as there is a hostel only 4 km or so from the ferry terminal.

I went on a lovely 65-km bike ride on Saturday, the longest ride I've done since the tip-to-tip (generally weekend rides are about 45 km). I took the trail to Hunter River and faced a wee bit of a headwind on the way there, on a slight incline. It took me about 90 minutes to get there, and about only 65 mins to get back. I was also much better mentally on the way home because the sun was shining, I was listening to some music, and purchased AMAZING cookies from the bakery in Hunter River. Biking makes me crave sugar like no other... I inhaled four of them by the day's end and had extreme biker/sugar high on the way back from Hunter River and thought about making it, say, an 80-km day. Then I started getting some stomach pains east of Ch'town and turned around to head home. Forgot about the winds coming from the west and felt like I was going to be blown of Sexay Bicyclette. Luckily I wasn't, but we both got a wee bit dusty.

Also, I saw the most beautiful field just east of Hunter River!!! I am completely serious, it was so many shades of green, was spotted with hay bales with perfect parallel, curvy lines segmenting the field. It was really stunning, I stopped to appreciate both on the way to and home from Hunter River and really wish I had a camera. I may sneak back this weekend, weather and sky pending. In a way, it was almost better I didn't have my camera because I decided to engrain the sight into my memory and can know pull it out whenever I need it. :)

I slept for a solid 7-8 hrs on Fri, Sat, and Sun. I don't remember Monday night, but I had some sad dreams and woke up in a bum mood. Anyway, it eventually passed and I'm back into the norm of staying up late and struggling to pull myself dramatically out of bed at 7:30, with a hand delicately draped over my forehead as I stumble into the kitchen questioning why Apollo has chosen to make the sun appear again to signalise the start of a new day. Well, provided the sun is even around... Grey clouds are quite common as of late.

12:41, I should go to bed.

J'bury my rabbit, eh?

Le francais?

After many, many busy days at work, I think I finally *knock on wood* am all caught up! What a difference hiring new employees makes.

Aujourd'hui, je veux parler en francais, sans les accents parce qu'ils sont difficile a trouver sur mon ordinateur. Il y a un fruit fly dans mon bureau. Je lui deteste. Maintainent, il est sur mon banane. Le fruit fly (Fred) est tres vite. J'assaye plusieurs fois de lui tuer, mais il est trop vite pour moi.

C'est presque la fin de semaine! Dans, comme, deux heures. J'ai lu la temps pour les prochaines jours et, comme d'habitude, il pleut beaucoup. Mais, c'est plus que 24 heures depuis la derniere pleuit. Wow.

Je veux manger du gateau vanille. Beaucoup de gateau. Et apres ca, quand je me sentirai malade, je dirais, "Dans le futur, je ne mange pas gateau." Mais quand je dis ca, je vais etre un menteur.

Aujourd'hui je porte des souliers avec les heels. C'est depuis la commencement de l'ete que je porte ces souliers, alors je marche comme un vache. Ils faisont trop de bruit aussi, et c'etait pour cette raison que je ne les porte pas. Presque tous les autre travailleurs portent les souliers qui ne faisont pas de bruit. Shhh.

Mes mots en francais c'est commes des mots d'enfant, je ne sais pas les mots difficiles. Ou les forms de verbes difficiles. Peut etre demain je vais etre plus intelligent, et je pourrais ecrire avec l'air d'un personne qui a 20 ans.

J'aime mon bicyclette. Il est un bon ami, il est toujours ou je le departs. Quand je veux jouer, il veut jouer aussi. Il dit rien quand je lui monte dans la pleut or la vente. Oui, il est un bon ami. Et apres je bois d'alcool et mon auto dit, "Non!", mon bicyclette me voulait.

Maintenant je dois depart mon bureau pour chercher des choises. Ca va etre difficile dans mes soulieres. Peut etre quand je depart Fred le fruit fly va trouver une nouvelle maison. Je l'espere beaucoup. Sigh.

Au revour - bonne fin de semaine!

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.

Thirsty Sleepy One

This morning as staring confusingly into my closet trying to decide what to wear, my eyes took a downward shift. At the bottom of my closet there is a grand collection of unconsumed beer and coolers. All of a sudden it seemed like the best idea in the world to have a Schmirnoff Ice (Wild Grape, mmm,) before work. I really, really wanted it. It would taste just like a grape freezee. I knew it would taste oh-so delicious, and perk my taste buds for the day, but I refrained because, umm, consuming alcohol before 8:30am seems kind of pathetic and something to be judge negatively for. At the same time, one probably wouldn't be terrible, really, it probably has no more sugar than a glass of apple juice and the alcohol content is probably lower than cough syrup which people consume in mad quantities when fighting off a cold.

Actually, it was probably a bad idea not to have that drink this morning.

almost like the scientology test

Global Personality Test Results

Stability (76%) high which suggests you are very relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.. Orderliness (13%) very low which suggests you are overly flexible, improvised, and fun seeking at the expense too often of reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment. Extraversion (56%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.

Take Free Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

This makes me laugh. It kind of reminded me of when Shan and I took personality tests at the Church of Scientology because they were free. Basically they really stressed your negative traits and would try to sell you a book. I recall being, in a nutshell, kind of bitchy and self-centred, but extremely happy! However, I don't think this website was trying to sell me a book. It says word that describe me are, "messy, tough, disorganized, fearless, not rule conscious, likes the unknown, rarely worries, rash, attracted to the counter culture, rarely irritated, positive, resilient, abstract, not a perfectionist, risk taker, strange, weird, self reliant, leisurely, dangerous, anti-authority, trusting, optimistic, positive, thrill seeker, likes bizarre things, sarcastic". I don't know if I'm "tough" (I wouldn't start a fight in the street... except for the McDonalds and chippy incident long ago), but I giggled at "sarcastic" and "weird". Hannah thinks I'm weird. Maybe she was onto something?

Not sure about the perfectionist thing... I am a bit of a control freak, but I guess that's not a perfectionist. I can't delegate well because I'm concerned the person won't complete the task to my standards. Insert issues with excessive group work in the School of Business.

I should go to bed. I stayed up until 2:00 with a racing mind last night and didn't bother trying to shut it down as today was supposed to be a storm day. Alas, when I looked out the window at 2:00, I knew the snow day was not meant to be. But as per usual I made it through the day on 5 1/2 hours of sleep. Once again I rode my emotional rollercoaster for the day, and now I'll hop off and go to sleep and have quirky dreams.

I was thinking today that I have some extra time on my hands and should organize myself a wee bit. Maybe start going to bed a little earlier so I can somehow make it to work before the rest of the world takes their first coffee break. I started cleaning my room on Sunday night, got distracted, and nothing really happened. I also think I'm tired of candy. Actually, I'm tired of food in general. I'm suddenly sick of all my favourite foods (except strawberries which I will eat until the Earth crashes into the sun) and can't be bothered to buy groceries because I feel like I've eaten it all before. Not true, but I may need some inspiration. I have salmon defrosting, maybe I'll get a little crazy with that tomorrow. I remember learning to "cook" in Jr. High. We made cookies, muffins, potato something or other, and .... ? Why didn't we learn to cook something useful? Cooking class didn't even help me get over my fear of hot things. I could barely take stuff out of the oven until I worked in the Food and Wine Festival and was serving hundreds of ridiculously hot soups everyday. Working in a restaurant forces one to rather quickly get over her fear of hot things. Maybe not completely, but let's not be irrational - baby steps all the way.

Poor brain doesn't know how to shut down. She'll keep whirling for a while, it's been a whirly few days for her. She's excited about the World and its unlimited opportunities, but she's disorganized and can't plan ahead any further than a week.

This weekend I'm going cross-country skiing with Shan and am rather excited. See, I can have fun in the winter!!! I suspect people think I hate winter far more than I actually do... It's okay, it's not my favourite, but I'm not afflicted with SAD by any means. Last winter was definitely not the standard - it was too much culture shock too quickly combined with loss of too many friends/job/apartment/home, etc. I haven't lost anything yet this winter! Well, a boyfriend (sad) and THREE FREAKING EARRINGS. How do I keep losing them? Of course, all three belong to different pairs. One I don't care about, actually, I broke it playing with the claspe because apparently I don't know how to sit still, but the other two are lost. One in Victoria Park somewhere, and the other... just somewhere. No idea. The second one MUST be replaced when I head down to Florida in March. I used to wear them everyday, so my ears will go through some sort of withdrawal if they are not replaced.

I also lost a button off my new, wonderful coat, but found that about two seconds after the event occured. Hmm, what else have I misplaced... Oh yes, one of my winter hats, and something else that I remember looking for and not being able to find... But I recall thinking, "Sigh, it's been forever since I've seen _______." Oh yes, hair clips. Nothing major.

And now it's about 1:00am. This is why here needs to be more hours in the day, or people should sleep only four hours a night. I took a wee nap after work, (okay, after work, after the gym, and after shovelling snow,) for almost an hour at 8:30. I kind of wish I hadn't woke up and just slept through til, like, 5:30. That would be pretty amazing. Maybe I'll try that tomorrow night.

she's not a smart one

So I'm trying to distract myself this evening. My first night on PEI since Mr. (Now ex on good terms) Boyfriend departed the Isle. I'm moping. But people are allowed to mope; it shows that at one point they were very happy. I think to feel one extreme emotion, one must have felt the opposite emotion on a very extreme level as well.

I'm a moron and f-ed up my taxes for 2007 already. There is something to be said about not planning ahead and the punishments that come with being a disorganized, scattered-brained lady. Anyway, won't go into detail, we don't need the gov't googling me =P

I don't think I ever finished recapping my NYC adventure. On New Year's Day, Keri and I went to play in Central Park. Loved it! I actually think it was one of the highlights of the trip, just being able to be outside in the grass, trees all around, not overly crowded, and, YES!, going to the zoo!! The Central Park Zoo. I feel like I have somehow filled a secret, unknown-until-now, childhood dream. I know I shouldn't love zoos, captive animals and all, but I do! At least "nice" ones. I don't think I would enjoy seeing a donkey in a cage that was far too small. We saw sea lions, penguins, lots of unique birds (in the "rainforest"), polar bears (maaaaaassive), goats, monkeys, pacas, and more. I loved it all! Then we wandered a bit and giggled at Park Avenue, because neither of us, uh, really belonged there ;) I found the Flat Iron Building, which made me immensely happy. Something about it, I adore it. It was a challenge to get a decent photo of it though. I pretty much ran circles through the park across the street and the surroundings streets. The tall buildings were blocked the sun as it was already setting on the horizon. I don't think any of my photos really do it justice, but I think it's a wonderful building. Probably something about the unique shape and symmetry appeal to me. I love symmetry. So much that I can't even spell it properly - heh.

Eventually Keri and I split up, and I ended up wasting too much time waiting in line for the toilet at Toys R Us in Times Square. Really though, it wasn't a waste of time because I, well, really needed to use the toilet. It was actually a very worthwhile experience. And I stood in line behind a Spanish mother and her ridiculously cute children. I love eavesdropping on Spanish conversations. I think it's a beautiful language and I wish I could speak it with greater skill than I can. I'm proud of what I can do with my limited vocabulary (although it's rusty given I never use it now) but I want to be better.

All seven of us met up to eat before the long bus ride home. I had a salad at the pub we were at, and it was disgusting. So instead I ate on the bus, random bits of food that I had packed.

The bus ride home was very long - about 22 hours. We didn't really drive directly into bad weather, but were kind of behind it so it made for some rather nasty road conditions. The Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles when we arrived, so shuttles were to take us across. Sitting at the front of the bus, we got on the first shuttle! .... and the only shuttle to take some weird route through Gateway Village and get stuck. Heh. Anyway, while we were crossing, the Bridge opened back up to all traffic, so we hopped back on the bus to return to Ch'town. The bus ride was long, but I didn't really mind it too much. We watched movies, slept some, I did random number puzzles, wrote some, played on my phone, listened to music. It's kind of nice to have some time to oneself!

New York? C'est la fin.

Sheena, Shannon and I went to Halifax this weekend. It was lovely. Halifax still isn't my favourite city, but I had a good time there. Saturday morning involved sleeping in, something I've been lacking as of late.

I need something new. Now something new to buy, but a new challenge. It was hard saying good-bye to Tom for many reasons, one being that he is leaving on an adventure and I'm not. It's supposed to be me that leaves for fun adventures, damn it! I just don't know what to do. I went on some weird Africa kick for a couple of weeks, but I was looking through the internships offered by CIDA and I don't think I qualify because I already have "international experience". However, I do believe I can argue that my international experience is a completely different level of the positions they look to fill. Luckily there are other ways to get to Africa. My only incredibly selfish issue is that I want to get paid, or at least no blow a crapload of money getting there and while there.

I'm also itching for South America or Mexico, mostly due to the Spanish language thing referenced above.

Sometimes I wonder if I like adventures or think about them a lot in an effort to distract myself from some unknown... demon? Element? Can't think of an appropriate word to use. Growing up, perhaps? Adventures are good reasons not to buy houses or nice cars. Or purchase some sort of cell phone "package". Contract of doom, if you will. My wee Virgin Mobile pay-as-you-go and I have a wonderful relationship. Although it won't be used so much now as my texting partner in crime has fleed. Fled? Fleed? Fleeddededededed? Probably.

This year I am going to keep track of spending. I threw out a crapload of receipts tonight hoping to find gas receipts, and realized that I charge a lot. It's fine, I pay off my balance, but what the hell do I spend so much money on?! Based on the quantity of receipts, food and liquor. Seriously. Probably 95% of them were from Sobeys/Super Store, the liquor store, or some restaurant. In 2008 I start spending my money on better things, things that will last longer than the digestive cycle. Like my wonderful new, cheap fleece that I already love to bits and pieces and picture myself standing atop a mountain in - or at least a large hill. Hannah I went walking this moring/afternoon in Point Pleasant Park. It was such a nice (but non-typical winter) day out. I bet people thought I was all out-doorsy because I was wearing a lovely fleece and ankle pants rolled up. That are BROWN. Out-doorsy people wear brown, I bet. Because it matches the Earth so they don't stain as easily? I was also wearing sneakers. Clearly I must be some sort of professional hiker, trekker, mountain guide, or something. Or perhaps a sneaker salesperson.

Well, my "real" journal beckons me to take my stress-filled head and smatter it all over her pages in permanent ink. It's funny, I like writing in it, but I don't so much enjoy going back to read it. I like re-reading my old blog entries, perhaps because they record my happy times. Writing on paper records my emotional, probably more negative times. Or completely, immature, "OMG - a hot guy looked at me today! I have a crush on ___________! I like puppy dogs! Like, I can't believe that he totally looked down my shirt and blah blah blah blah blah." Very deep and meaningful. I hope someone finds it someday and comes to the conclusion that all twenty-some-year-old females are completely nuts, insecure, and clearly put on a fake front when pretending to have it all together when facing the public.

Adventure, much?

Tick Tick - NYC

I am killing time at work. I've been killing time for most of the day. If I continue this tomorrow, I'll be on trial for murder by the end of the week.

Christmas break was lovely - it was great to have family and friends home. It's always so rushed, but I love it. Life has such an unfortunate slow pace in the winter months that I want to be ran off my feet over the holidays so that I want at least a few days of peace in January. But only a few.

Six of my friends and I went to New York City for New Years Eve. The NYE thing didn't really matter to me, I just liked the idea of leaving PEI. To make a long story short, the adventure began 7:00pm on Friday, Dec 28th. I was excited, but a bit bummed as I had said good-bye to Tom (which I thought was going to be a perma-foever-and-ever-and-ever good-bye, but wasn't thanks to the PEI Weather Gods), Brother, friends, etc. Then I got forced to sit with a random stranger away from my friends on the bus. Wasn't so bad though, I made myself a little cocoon and spent some hrs immersed in music, writing, and reading. I never read as much as I plan to on long plane/bus trips. In fact, I don't have much focus on reading at all lately. Apparently I would rather stare at grids of numbers and do sudoku or similar puzzles.

About seventeen hours later, we checked into our hotel in New Jersey and had a slight "room issue" on which I will not elaborate here. Sheena, Julie and I trucked to the mall (along with hundreds of other people, apparently) for part of the afternoon and evening, and then pretty much collapsed on our beds in dramatic shopping exhaution. After a treck to the liquor and grocery store of course. I love groceries stores outside of Canada. I know the US isn't that different, but walking around in a non-familiar grocery store with different food enthralls me. As with liquor stores. Plus liquor is much cheaper in the States. For the liquor Sheena and I brought home, we figured it would have cost us $36 CAD for what cost us $15 US. Hardly seems fair.

Sunday we left the hotel at 9:00 for a "four-hour long" bus tour (actually only 3.5 hrs) which was a waste of time. I won't get into it, but I was rather disappointed and chose to skip the night tour. After the tour, a few of us grabbed some food from the greasiest diner ever, and wandered around for the next few hours. I parted ways with the others at about 5:00 (after a note-worthy struggle through Rockefeller Center which was far over-filled with people) and walked around. I felt like a regular New Yorker by the end, cursing at the strollers, sighing at pedestrians that stopped to gawk in the middle of heavy foot or car traffic, etc. It had also been lightly raining since about 4:30, so by the time 9:30 rolled around I was a wee bit wet. However, actually didn't really notice too much - until I sat on the bus at 10:00 and promptly started to freeze from the not-warm air coming out of the air vents. Upon arrival in our room, I pretty much stripped, rushed into my pajamas, blasted the heat, and cuddled into 410 blankets. La fin de dimanche soir.

Monday was the 31st. We took public transit into the city because our free shuttled was mysteriously cancelled. First we went up to the Museum of Natural History to check out the crowd levels. Packed. We snapped some photos of the area, and took a wander through the area just west of the museum. Afterwards we headed to China Town so Sheena could indulge in the "real" knock-off purses. Quite an experience! We dined in Little Italy (which given how the area is changing may need to change its name to "Very Little Italy"). Afterwards I squealed in excitement and bought watches. Yay! Sheena, Julie and I had decided that it would be nice to take a rest before heading into the crowds for NYE and headed back to the hotel. However, before catching the bus (which we unknowingly timed ridiculously perfectly) we decided to take a peak of the crowds at Times Square. Couldn't really get close to the area, but I didn't really care too much. The people you see on TV have to put in pretty much a whole day of waiting to watch the ball drop. I had better things to do with my time [buy watches].

We rested at the hotel for a bit [after a liquor stop] and, not gonna lie, I was a bit mopey for the same reasons as the bus ride down. However, turned out PEI was getting blated by Madame Nature, and Mr. Boyfriend had not departed the province. My mood may have perked up ;)

We ventured back into the city arriving at about 9:30. Our bus dropped off at... I get mixed up, either Penn Station or Port Authority. The one on the corner of 42nd and 8th. We decided to walk around the area around Times Square to soak in some of the atmosphere. Apparently we weren't the only ones with that idea. There were loads of people, but traffic flow was decent since many roads were blocked off and there were always a couple of cops attempted to direct the crowds and vehicles. After a half-struggle with the crowds, we had our fill and joined the rest of our group at a bar/restaurant close to our bus pick-up point. Great location, great seats, and great fun! So much better than standing with 1.1 million of my closest and new best friends in Times Square!

The following day shall wait because I get to leave work now. Woohoo!

Dirty Floor

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 :)

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.

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.