If today were a weekend

This morning when I was supposed to be sitting in my office chair but was actually sitting on the 223 couch reading a magazine, I was thinking about the things I would rather do today than work.

• Go to the library and read MANY magazines
• Read a book
• Ride my bike
• Get my rear derailleur re-aligned (was going to do this before work but was discouraged by the rain)
• Buy a rear fender
• Put rear fender on bike
• Learn to make sushi
• Eat poorly made sushi (reference above bullet)
• Start planning a new vacation
• Devise a plan on how to start dating Wolverine
• Watch online episodes of "Deadliest Warrior"
• Purchase groceries that aren't candy or cereal
  
• Rent and watch the three X-Men movies (research for Wolverine goal)
• Destroy the funny blisters on my finger (I did this at work anyway)
• Fill a deep bathtub with water
• Sit in deep bathtub that had been filled with water
• Feel guilty about wasting water
• Devise a strategy to change the rainy forecast for the next few days
• Get a tan, through sheer will powering and mental determination
• Develop some sort of skill that will allow me to be cast in Cirque du Soleil

There is a huge possibility that I would not be able to complete this list all in one day.

On Monday night I went for my first "big" bike ride of the year (big being more than 20ish km). I went with people much fast than me. I was absolutely exhausted afterwards. Including my short commute to work and home, I biked about 50 km that day. Nothing excessive, but whoa, I didn't quite expect it to hit me that hard. The 'official' ride of my day started from Stratford and went to Cherry Valley. I borrowed a lovely road bike from Cycling PEI and went to their "beginners" road ride. I guess beginner is a very broad term as I'm pretty sure I was the only beginner/newbie. That being said, everyone was super friendly, nice, and encouraging and I look forward to the next ride!

The ride to Cherry Valley actually went over quite well. The ride back... mostly well! There was one point going up what seemed to be the Biggeset Hill on Planet PEI that I may had gotten off the bike and walked up the hill had no one been around. Big hill + head wind = Weakened Jennifer. I felt so jittery when I got off the bike after the ride. I'm not used to the odd vibrations of road bikes - the senseation of someone rattling all your bones. Riding my regular bike home afterwards (I'm such a hard-core comuter) seemed so cushiony. I got home at about 8:00 and was passed out on the couch at 9:15 and woke up at one point wondering if someone had beat me with a hockey stick while I was sleeping. Then I was thirsty and hungry, but was supposed to fast for bloodwork the following morning. No refueling for me! (Again, because I'm hardcore.)

So in weird business practice, I took my bike in to a bike shop last week for some pedals and I needed new front break pads. I didn't notice when I picked up my bike, but they took my break pads off the back, and replaced them with new ones?! This was not mentioned to me, and I do believe I was charged for them reflecting on the un-itemized receipt. Issue: I didn't ask them to do that, they didn't tell me they were doing that, and the break pads on the back were brand new, and the kind with removeable pads, so you can just replace that rather than the entire component. Boggles the mind and it will be brought up when I go into the shop again very very very soon (as mentioned, rear derailleur has been malfunctioning since I picked my bike back up).

I suppose I should work now.

Holy headlines!

Yesterday was a restless day. It ended up being a bit of a stupid day which went by v-e-e-e-e-r-r-r-r-y-y-y-y-y sloooowly. And a hungry day, as I made an effort to stop wandering to the vending machine during work and to cut back on the incredible amount of candy and chocolate I consume. This went well until I *forgot* about this goal and bought delicious delicious DELICIOUS caramel cakes for an impending hopefully camping adventure that did not take place. But that's beside the point.

Brown won't apologize for blowing up beaver dam - I laaaaughed when I read the original article yesterday. Apparently PEI's current Environment Minister used to have a job in his 20s blowing up beaver dams. This makes the opposition angry.

Why? From what I read in today's article, it seems that this was common practice. I realise this is an opportunity for the opposition to make more people dislike MLA Richard Brown, but they are making an issue out of a non-issue, really. Some people who commented on the article and the previous day's point out that the beaver is a symbol of Canada. Yes, yes it is. But he didn't actually blow up the beavers.. and besides, what if he blew up a ferret? Would that be okay as the ferret is not a symbol of Canada?

Naked guy running around in Charlottetown - (not actual headline, but close enough) This made me smile. Streaking just isn't as prevalent as it used to be. Nice to see someone celebrating the warmer weather :) One comment said, "It was very emBARE-ASSING for the gentleman as he ran along the street trying to get the winter stink off himself.." Who doesn't enjoy a good pun, eh?

Cruise ship passengers spend $3 million in PEI in 2008 - our report made headlines! Weee! And we got a radio spot and TV spot. I didn't write the bulk of this report, but I did editting and some additional work on it, and wrote the press release. Jen Mac makes stuff happen.

(not true, but she sometimes certainly tries!)

That being said, cruise ships make me have moral dilemas regarding gluttony and waste... but so fun...

There were also many articles on Chrysler, and its bankruptcy. Quote from linked article: "The Canadian and Ontario governments will end up with a two per cent stake in a restructured Chrysler, while the U.S. government will hold eight per cent. Canada will get to appoint one independent director to a new nine-person Chrysler board. The U.S. will appoint four independent directors."

I don't want to own Chrysler :(

Also, who will be the independent director? Can *I* apply for the position?! Will the Gov't of Canada receive dividends? Will I get a portion of these dividends in the form of a tax rebate?

If I got bankrupt will the entirety of Canada band together to own a two percent stake in *ME*?! I suppose I'm just not convinced we are doing the right thing; I see this a putting a band-aid on a bear attack wound.

Taxes!
Tax season is OVER. I ended up owing just over $8K in taxes, CPP, and Gst. Not too bad. But sometimes I think about how much we give the government on a daily basis, directly and indirectly.

Indirectly I give them many hugs and love.

hee... ^_^

For simplicity sake, let's say I made $20/hr, doing something lovely like hugging small cuddly animals. Suddenly the fed gov't took $3.00, and PEI took $1.96 in taxes (minimum tax bracket). I pay some CPP and EI (not sure how much? let's pretend $1.50). I now have $13.54 left. I can now buy, using algebra (which I miss, ooh, high school math) (1.05x)(1.10)=13.54, items with a listed, pre-tax total price $11.73.

Umm, that seems a little ridiculous, so I'm thinking I must have did something wrong? Granted, I didn't take any deductions off total income to decrease my net income, thus decreasing my taxes. So really, maybe I actually had about $15 left to play with.

It's such a cycle too. Whatever I bought with my leftover $15, part went to taxes (as pointed out above), and THEN, the organization from which I bought the product/service has to pay tax on its profit. Pretend I gave them $12 pre-tax. Cost of goods sold is $6, and with cost of electricy, rent, blah blah blah, they make a profit of $2.50 per item once boiled down to net income levels. Some of that profit goes to shareholders in the form of dividends, which are taxed (though I can't remember at what level, perhaps only half of income earned this way is taxable?), and some goes to the gov't in the form of corporate taxes.

Tax tax tax. What a taxing thing to write about!

So nice to know my taxes are buying a car company. Hope I get a discount if I ever decide to buy a Chrysler.

Unrelated, but the rear derailleur on my bike has taken on a mind of its own and magically shifts gears when I don't want it to, and often doesn know when I initiate the process of switching gears. I try to switch gears, nothing happens, aim for a crack or blip in the road (so easily done as the roads are full of them) in effort to 'bounce' the derailleur into place. This practice is generally effective, albeit annoying.

Time machine

Today something was said to me at work that made me flashback to last summer and realise how much life repeats itself.

Last night I saw reading some stuff I wrote during a sad phase of last year (not too long after I blew my top/lost yee olde temper and broke up w/ le Boyfriend) and realised how much 2009 is shaping up to look like another 2008. And how much of an absolute wreck I was at this time last year. Whoops.

HELP.

I don't want to do 2008 again, it was kind of icky.

Although it's not 2008 again, otherwise I would not have went to Hawai'i/San Diego/BC... I would had went to AB and FL.

My leg hurts. I cut it with my new bike pedals. I don't understand how I do such things, but I do. I also bumped my arm against my handlebars today and bumped my handlebars against my thigh shortly after.

Why do I keep hurting myself? I half expected the arm to bruise.

A close friend has been gone on a kayaking adventure for five days and I feel like a mom for starting to become concerned about his lack of communication and potential drowning at sea. I just looked at the Guardian's online website and no one has reported a kayak mysteriously floating about without an owner. Plus one point Thomas survival. Who moves away on Monday. Oh, Dear.

It's now 12:34. That's one of my favourite times.

I don't want to work this summer. Today was 23C. I'm ready to retire, folks! Hurrah! It's been a good two years in the industry. I'm ready to collect my CPP.

Good night.

PS~I've been getting to work early as of late. Woohoo!

Patios

Yesterday was such a nice day, weather wise. I feel like the reward of suffering through the winter is starting to show. PEI has recorded below seasonal temperatures for what feels like forever. Yesterday was well above seasonal and I feel like PEI finally got a break.

In exciting news I get new bike pedals tomorrow. Hurrah! They are curiously cracked in a variety of places. Do I have heavy feet?

I had a pimple under my eyebrow a couple of days ago. An ideal place as no one can see it; and I can't see it thus don't constantly scratch at it.

When biking around yesterday I noticed Hunter's patios were packed. It's a sign of summer. Also, a tanning session was held on the parents' patio. My co-tanner received the Season's First Burn; I seem to have faired okay.

Bye. Zzzz.

love for 'being a girl'

I haven't written on me blog in ages, and now my brain is simply overflowing with thoughts SO relevant to your life! In the past month I have reached Goddess level and am filled with information to get you thinking about life, your potential for greatness, and cute bunny rabbits.

Not really.

And rabbit is a weird word. Actually, many words are bizarre, and I now have great desire to learn the origins of the word 'rabbit'. A quick search of the Vast Vorld of the Veb has given me no clues.

Last night when I was unsuccessfully falling asleep I was thinking about girls being girls, and boys being boys. Mostly after hearing two close [girl] friends say to me in the same night in separate conversations, "I'm being such a girl," in a negative way. I also found myself saying that this weekend, "Sorry for being such a girl."

Why do we have to apologize for being girls?

Being "such a girl" usually is a result of poor communication or lack of respect from another, or just reacting to something that merits a reaction. My being-a-girl apology was given after a few tears randomly started flowing down my cheeks one evening after I had been thinking about some thing over a few days that was making me sad. When asked what was wrong, I didn't really utter a single word. So I was thinking deeply about something for awhile, reacted to it, then didn't bother explaining why I sniffling and whimpering. I was being a girl, I guess. But why say, "Sorry I was being such a girl," (and I meant that in regards to the runny nose and single dramatic tears,) and not, "Sorry, I should have told you why."

Such a girl ;) I think "being such a girl" usually means showing an extreme emotion as a reaction to something.

I have never had a male say to me, "Sorry for being such a boy."

So, devoted readers (Hi, Mom!), what would "being such a boy" involve?

I was also talking to a guy about how my emotions run a wee bit wild, say, two days a month and being frustrated by it. He rightfully pointed out that sometimes guys let their emotions get a little wild. However, my point was that females get it on a cyclical basis and it's not really based on anything except estrogen production. I assume guys letting their emotions ride a rollercoaster is a result of an actual event and not a result of, well, the monthly hurrah of not being pregnant. Heh.

God, or whoever created people, perhaps has a warped sense of humour. "The men and women must breed to ensure the Earth remains populated, but I will make them different so that they are constantly confused and baffled by one another. I will make the females deep, emotional thinkers for whom communication is important. I will make the males strong so they can lift heavy things to impress the females. The females will be impressed and will, in turn, purchase new shoes to attract the male. The male will be attracted to her, but not because of her shoes. In fact, he will not notice her shoes; he will notice her 'feeding instruments', not designed for him, but for eventual off-spring."

Whatever, at least male humans aren't like male bears - I have never seen a mother human take her child away from the father because he was going to eat the cub/baby. Us humans are very dignified like that: we don't eat our children!! HURRAH!

Completely unrelated, but I don't know what to dooooooo. My contract at work is almost up... I haven't said I would renew (mostly I just smile awkwardly when the subject arrises), but have not said I wouldn't renew (see previous line about smiling awkwardly). I'm enjoying PEI a bit more lately (55% credit goes to the verrrrrry slowly improving weather) but I don't expect that to last forever. I have another good friend leaving soon and, well, bleh.

My big issue is that I don't know what to do next. If I leave my job, I will be moving to a different province, no questions asked. I not entirely sure if I'm up for Vancouver or Victoria. My stops there on vacay were purposely to test their living potential. The temperature was much higher than in PEI... but the sky was grey very frequently, as I was told it would be. I would actually rather temperatures a bit lower but a bright blue sky. Even if it isn't warm, it still at looks nice when looking out the window.

Why must the two ends be so extreme? Minus 400 degrees in the rest of Canada with sunny days, or, damp dark days above freezing in [parts of] BC?

Where is the happy medium? ( Hawai'i :) )

I like the outdoor fun of BC, but was left rather unimpressed by the beaches. They were pointed out to me in the grey Vancouver sky and... well... weird. I suppose I'm not used to having lots of trees by beaches? Or minimal sand? But I could spend much time exploring and riding zee bike.

On the other other other OTHER hand, I realise living in Van would likely require me to give up something I love: a yard. Yards are oh so wonderful! A small balcony would never, EVER compare to being able to walk outside in your bathing suit and throwing a blanket on the grass and reading a book. And having the neighbourhood cat come by to visit.

I do not know what to do. The option to go to Ottawa is there... but I don't know if I want to live there again.

I also don't want to go through the job hunt process again, I just want someone to *give* me a wonderful, meant-for-me job. Please? Whimper. Apparently it's also not the best time in the economic cycle to be looking for a job, because the recession is scary, supposedly.

I just really want to play all day and have fun. Be on vacation.

I took my first crack at my taxes last night and am almost done. A huge disadvantage of not paying taxes all year is realising you owe the government thousands of dollars by the end of April. I am not exagerating at all when I say THOUSANDS. I'm hoping it'll be less than $10K by the time my GST is included. Yikes.

I suppose working now would be a good idea. Crap I want a nap. I always stay up really late when sleeping at my parents' home (they are on holiday) because I have to fall asleep the instant my head hits the pillow or I will lay in bed trying to convince myself that every crick is *not* someone breaking into my house.

I want a house. I feel like I had so much room to play at my parents' house. They had more than one shelf they could put food on. The stuff in ALL of their cupboards was THEIR stuff. They have a patio to sit on, more than one room to put all their stuff, it was clean (and I managed to keep it relatively neat while they were gone), I didn't trip over messes left by other people, etc. Sigh. The only thing that really excites me about going back to 223 is a warm bedroom in the morning and my skylight. Other than that.... :P

Pre-spring fever

I am getting excited for spriiiiing!!! There hasn't been a cloud in the sky all week and I love it. Temperatures are about seasonal (just hovering below freezing during the warmest part of the day), I can bike for more than a half hour without freezing, the roads are clear of snow, and I'm convinced Soft Stranger will show up any day now.

I re-newed my gym membership last Friday for a month. I have went once. Saturday I went outside with Hannah instead, and Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday I went for a bike ride. I have started wearing what I refer to as my "stomping" boots for biking. My toes no longer freeze, but the soles are a bit thick and my feet keep slipping so the pedal is under the arch of my foot making for difficult biking. I also have one rather cracked and one slightly cracked pedal. Not sure if this is related to the awkward boot biking or not. I'm looking very forward to biking in sneakers again soon. I'm half contemplating going the clipless pedal route and buying delightfully geeky bike shoes, but it seems kind of silly this time of year because my feet would likely still be cold and I think the mud and water would get all over the pedals, freeze, and create havic with my "skillz". Yes, I have because so efficient at pushing down on pedals I have classified myself as having "skillz". (No, not really.)

My ride on Sunday left Bicyclette in a muddy, icey mess. A friend and I initially went downtown, and all was mostly good on the roads. Then we hopped on the Confed Trail and proceeded to cover our bikes in mud. Mud is half fine, but the issue was the water in the mud was freezing to the bike. Kind of screws up your brakes (good argument for disk brakes, I don't think they would be quite so bad), and I couldn't use most of my gears by the end of it. Bicyclette and I had a dumping-hot-water-on-bike party once I got home. Of course, then I go and do the same thing the following day. Heh. Brakes are fine, but I still can't shift onto the smallest ring for my, umm, front gears (I'm sure there is a better term for this - "smallest ring on my front cassette"???). I'm pumped for Bicyclette's spring tune-up, but I don't really want to get it yet because I'm sure it will snow again (Sunday - sigh) and everything will get gucked up again multiple times. Maybe early April. Also, my chain got a bit rusty over winter (oops) but excessive amounts of lube seem to do the trick. La la la.

In EXCELLENT news, today I wore SNEAKERS on my walk to work! It truly was very exciting. I also wore only one pair of pants and two shirts under my coat. And I was still a sweaty mess by the time I arrived at UPEI! I also haven't wore 'full' pants to work yet this week. Well, I wear them on the way (am doing the biking/walking thing, Wee Red is unhappy and going through a mid-life crisis), but once here I have been sporting capris and skirts. People ask why I am dressed for summer. I tell them I dress for winter for only three or four months of the year and the time is up. Exercising to work definitely helps warm you up anyway, so I like to ride the warm train for the day.

Except right now, I'm starting to get goosebumps. Shh, don't tell. Luckily have other layer to add on top

I love the time change.

I've been contemplating a move to Vancouver-land, but am slightly apprehensive now due to the lack of sunlight. As mentioned above, I haven't seen a cloud in a few days and I love love love it! In Vancouver I think I saw the blue sky for a few minutes my second day there. Hmm, very concerning. Will have to research weather stats to find the location most suited to me (HAWAI'I).

I'm excited for when I can just wear one bottom layer for biking. Putting on so much clothing is getting annoying.

I am going to work now. After I take a few minutes to channel the Spirit of Aloha and let it run through my veins.

I really want to watch Lilo and Stitch. And multiple 'animated features'. Does the bright blue of the sky trigger an association in my brain with the bright colours of cartoons? Curious.

San Diego - la fin

It turned out I love San Diego :) had a great time, got to enjoy some nightlife, sat on a vey sexy roadbike for, oh, 13 hrs spread ove two days. It was red. It made me realise I wish my own bike was red! alas, t'is black.
\
THat's all, internn is expensive and this keyboard is crappy. Am on way to Vancouver now... sigh. I hope I can tan o te beach there? :S

San Diego

piss off.

Not only am I not in Hawai'i, but my hostel apparently does not allow ALCOHOL AND deleted my blog post.

HI San Diego - we may be in a fight.

Surfing USA!

I went surfing today!

It was more amazing than I ever could have expected. I loved it - and shockingly, did WELL at it. Very rare for Miss J-maki-maki (my new Hawai'ian name I gave myself) to do well in sports, particularly on the first try! (I stood up on my first wave!) I figure surfing is about two things: balance, and not being scared to fall. Apparently my balance is decent, I only feel off really when stupid *@$* children got in my way and I didn't want to behead them. I figure good balance comes from a secret thrill of climbing/jumping on rocks and biking? I have no idea. And I'm not scared of falling because, well, I'm not.

YAY!

Honestly, surfing was one of the best experiences of my life. My ribs are a bit sore from laying front down and paddling, but no sore muscles yet. I could have just stood with my board instead of laying on it, but I like bobbing and heading face first into the waves when I was waiting for my turn. It was so much fun, I can't believe I didn't take surfing up as a child (duh, lives on PEI).

I contemplated renting a board for the rest of the afternoon, but was kind of hungry and needed to fetch a couple of things. *and lay in the sun*

I think I will rent a board on Sunday back in Waikiki :) :) :)

Also have a bad sunburn. I coated myself in sunscreen, but apparently missed the back of my legs at the very top. So from the bathing suit bum line down to halfway down my thighs is blinding red. Sexy. And a bit painful to sit on when driving. Lesson learned!

Time is up.

La fin.

Hawai'i!

Things of note:

• It's amazing - obviously
• The weather fascinates me: it rains about every 20-30 minutes, just wee sun showers, and sometimes it's quite puzzling as you can feel rain, but looking up, see no clouds. You could tell those who ran for cover at the beach were unexperienced with such weather. Other than that, the sun shines! -- even when it rains
• WIND - it is sooo windy here, but apparently it's not the norm, according to a strange man I talked to at the bus stop (he was very normal at first though). So basically the weather almost reminds me of Edinburgh - except the sky-high temps and sun.
• I flew first class from Chicago to LA! Very good experience (how could it not be?) but probably wouldn't spend an extra $1,000 just to get the experience.
• We got a free upgrade at our hotel - we have a corner room. At first they upgraded us to a room that, uh, already had people in it. Awkward. I walked in the room and saw stuff on the bed and floor and we booted it out of there. Our view is good on the east side, but amazing on the south side. East is the Nike store across the street, south is Fort DeRussy Park and the beach, and a kazillion palm trees.
• Jet lag is a big difficult, I have woke up at 5:30am both days so far. It's nice though, in a way, it's 8:10am now and Erin and I both ready to tackle the day. On the down side, we were planning on heading out on the town (so I live my grade 12 dream of marrying a surfer) but she was snoozing at about 9:00 and I didn't last past 10:00.
• Free brekkie at the hotel! They have "tona" toast - and it's goooood. It's a blueish-purple colour and taste like amazing would taste like, if packaged in bread format.
• So many tacky gift shops and I want it ALL. So far I have bought a bracelet and a journal. And band-aids, but that is unrelated. And beer. Also unrelated.
• I have blisters already! I decided the Chicago airport would be an excellent place to break in my new flip flops, and my feet were roasting in my boots. So I decided I would walk the entire Chicago airport in my new flip-flops with a crapload of weight on my back. Hey - you know what is massive? The Chicago Airport. I seriously walked for kilometres and kilometres. I got blisters between my toes a wee bit and they just won't heal. Luckily I have other sandals, but I also have not worn them in months and walked a lot in them yesterday so now have a wee blistert on the top of each foot. How did I become such an amateur?
• Am paranoid that we are trying to do too much and won't receive amazing tan that I desire so badly. Need to schedule in more beach time.

Must hop off now as we are going to Pearl Habor (specially the MS Arizona Memorial) for the morning. Hopefully only the morning, it is known for having very long wait times. Then we explore Honolulu and China Town and, fingers crossed, if sunlight time remains I change into my bathing suit and nap on the beach.

I need to figure out how to live here.

Recession & Snobby Kitty

Today I *drove* to work so had the opportunity to listen to the radio on the way. It was the Global Financial/Recession Update, so I listened to the sad stories of Canadian job loss (except in Saskatchewan, if I heard correctly). Then, as per usual, my brain started to wander a little bit. Would the recession be so big, mean, and evil if there were more communication barriers? What if we didn't know that the economy collapsed in Iceland? We would not had become quite so nervous, stashing our pennies in a box under our bed. What if we, as Canadians, did not know about the Dow Jones or NYSE? How would our own economy be chugging along? It's hard to imagine though, as we do not live in a special Canada bubble, and watch our currency shake up, exports decrease, imports become more expensive/cheaper, or whatever happens. Canada is massive, could we function without importing/exporting? I quite think we could, but crap I would miss bananas.

If we gradually stop importing and exporting, what would be the consequences? Clearly many products would not be available, and, likely, many products would become more expensive. Looking around my office, I search for something that was 100% made in Canada. I see very few things:

1. Coins on my desk (while minted in Canada, not sure where the actual metal comes from)
2. Paper?
3. My ancient Northern Telecom phone (though this is questionable)
4. ME! (only thing I'm 100 percent sure)

I think recession fears greatly accelerate the start of recessions. Scary! Bad things *may* happen! So people and organizations start acting like it *will* happen, sooner rather than later. Yes, it's nice to be proactive, but maybe being too proactive has its downsides. I'm trying to think of an example but not pop quickly to mind... Imagine a rumour got started that we heading towards a global shortage of eggs. People panic, and start stocking up on eggs. All of a sudden, the eggs are gone, and it turns out the prediction of the egg shortage was correct. Never mind that the sudden increase in demand (actual shift of the demand curve instead of shift along the demand curve) is actually what changed.

But really, what do I know?

I don't really follow exchange rates very much unless I'm leaving the country. Even then, there are only a few currencies I randomly look at: USD, GBP, Euro, etc. The ones I have used in the past extensively. The others I used I don't follow so much (DKK, SFF [or whatever the abbreviation for Swiss Franc is]).

Right now the Euro-CAD exchange rate is pretty close to the same (I think) as when I galloped around the EU in 2004-05. The USD is stronger than my super happy fun US playground days (2005-06), which isn't surprising. I don't think anyone thought the CAD would sustain its power over the USD for too long. I recall talking about it in fourth year (fall 2003) how no one though the dollar could sustain itself over $.83. We easily surpassed that for a nice 5ish year run, and are close to that level again now.

Then there is the GBP - the pound. Which I have no symbol for on my keyboard.

What happened and why did I not notice?! I recall when first moving to the UK in May 2004 the exchange was a hairball inducing $2.60 - 1GBP cost $2.60CAD (or, .38 GBP bought $1CAD). Now the rate is $1.83CAD to get 1GBP (.55GBP gets $1CAD).

Apparently I live under a rock, albeit a pretty rock most likely. That's a rather substantial drop, although a good chunk took place while I still on the other side of the sea. When I left in August 2005 the exchange rate was about $2.10. Still, to drop another $.30 on top of a $.50 is rather substantial.

Currency exchange is a very curious game.

The plus side of this is that my US money is worth much more now than it was than when I came home in Nov 2006! I literally made an extra 7% or so by doing nothing. Mind you this is eliminating the possibility that I could have invested it in Canadian funds at a higher return rate... but that seemed like so much work :P

Regarding my Snobby Kitty, last night I slept at my parents' house for unimportant reasons (I had their car and returned it late). This morning Mr. Cat was sitting on the floor. I sat down next to him and patted him on the head. He looked at me, sat up, and walked about three feet away, sitting down where I could no longer reach him. Hmph, I thought. So I shuffled over to his new location and enjoyed his company for about five seconds before he left the need to, again, rise to his feet and promptly sit down about four feet away.

Kitty and I aren't friends anymore.

Friday! Long weekend! Happy "Islander" Day!

pedal pedal pedal

Hmm, I'm watching the snow fall out my window from work and think it will disrupt my plans this evening. I was going to go to a documentary being shown on campus (because it's in Spanish with English subtitles and Spanish is sex-ay) but classes are cancelled this evening thus I suspect the showing will be cancelled as well. If it's not cancelled, I'm not sure I want to stay on campus until 9:00 and then walk home in potentially very, very crappy conditions.

Someone biked by me this morning as I was walking to work this morning and I was jealous. There is no reason I can't be biking to work! Except my bike is in my parents' basement. Actually, I went biking on the weekend and it was lovely! I still haven't figured out how to keep my toes from going numb, however. Perhaps I will master that this coming weekend.

By purchasing new toes!!

No?

I was thinking earlier about the difference between running and biking, and how it seems people have a passion/interest for one but not the other.

Why I prefer biking:

• I stop moving my legs, but the bike keeps moving! aka, downhill
• It's faster than running - woooooooooosh
  
• I can do it longer, hours, really
  
• NO SHINSPLINTS!
• Hot ass ("biking bum")
• Bells *ding ding!*
• Biking through large puddles
• Get to play in traffic
• I'm convinced I have a funny run, but do not have a funny, uh, "biking posture"
• Spandex
• Carrying a biking helmit when walking up the stairs to work makes me feel cool
• The actual bike - biking gives you something to use, running, well, you don't use anything. This is similar to me liking lacrosse, "I get to carry a stick!"
• Hobby: you can take apart your bike, improve it, clean it, etc. Running? Well, you can't really dismantle your legs or sneakers.
• Accessories: you can buy neat things for your bike. Like lights, reflective crap, clipless pedals, different handlebars, forks, etc. Mind you I know nothing about any of these things, excepts lights.
• Different kinds of biking on differen terrain
• Coming home completely muddy after rain and biking on trails
  

I felt a bit wobbly biking this weekend, nothing to be concerned, but since I had been sitting (peddling) on the spin class bikes at the gym, I never have to be concerned about balance, tipping over, or skidding on ice. Also felt the difference in the requirement to move my own weight and the actual bike as well. At the gym I just move my legs. "There they goooo! Look at those legs, and nothing else, moving!"

I would like to leave, but don't feel like changing back into my winter clothes to walk home. I'm wearing a "winter skirt", which is such an oxymoron. No skirt is actually designed for winter wear unless a pair of snowpants is constructed under the skirt.

I'm also going on strike from wearing pantyhose because they are stupid. Exception is fish-net stockings and similar, because you aren't kidding anyone about trying to keep warm. And because apparently that is all I own now for under-skirt covering.

I want to bike to Quebec City this spring. With someone. It's far too long of a journey to do alone. I suspect if one could pedal 60 km per day, it would take 13 days. While in perfect conditions 60 km/day is perfectly feasible (only about, hmm, 3 - 3.5 hrs, ceteris paribus), it would be foolish to expect perfect conditions in the Maritimes in Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, or even Dec. Wind, hills, and gear would also slow one down, as would sore knees. It would be road through NB (and I would make someone drop me off at the Bridge to save myself some time/energy) and trail for most of the part through Quebec, along the Flueve St.-Laurent. Bien!

Takers? :)

Look at the wall! It has writing on it!

The writing says, "Get back to work, Jennifer."

Except, oh, tricky, the message is written in PIG LATIN so it takes me so long to decipher it, that the work day is over!

"Et-gay ack-bay o-tay ork-way, Ennifer-jay."

Looking at what I wrote in the past month it seems so, "Look at me, I'm so deep, deep like the sea."

I will use this not-spare time to write a poem.

I will challenge myself and pick a subject that does not rhyme with many things.

I will write a poem about... POEMS. I feel this will somehow open a door to another reality, much like what would happen if one lightening bolt sailing to Earth got intercepted by ANOTHER LIGHTENING BOLT. I suspect a loud bang would be heard and the Mighty Mighty Titans of Greek "mythology" fame will came thrashing out of the Earth's core.

After doing some quick reading, I'm afraid that Disney slightly mislead me in the lyrics to the opening song in the move "Hercules". While I am much aware that the movie has many Greek mythology inaccuracies (but not so enough I would not watch it), I am not convinced that the Titans were as bad as the lyrics imply. Well, they were bad, but probably no worse than the Olympi ans that followed them.

"Back when the world was new
The planet Earth was down on its luck
And everywhere gigantic brutes
called Titans ran amok

It was a nasty place
There was a mess
whereever you stepped
Where chaos reigned and
earthquakes and volcanoes never slept

And then along came Zeus
He hurled his thunderbolt
He zapped
Locked those suckers in a vault
They're trapped
And on his own stopped
chaos in its tracks"

However, it's not like Zeus didn't have jerk-like qualities. Zeus, technically, was a titan, for he was born to a titan mother and father. However, he was the only one of his brothers and sisters not to be eaten by the father. He was hidden far away by his mummy, and eventually fooled his papa, via potion with the aid of his grandmama, into vomitting up the other siblings. Then the older titan Gods fought the young Titan Gods. The latter were victorious.

So Zeus gives off a good first impression. HOWEVER! The jerk continuously cheated on his wife (and SISTER), Hera, with both other Goddesses, demi-Goddesses, and mortals. Alas, it slightly appeared to be the norm at the time.

Ah well.

Now I shall eat lunch instead of writing my poem. I'm really not much for poetry anyway, except haikus. They are short, don't have to make sense, and really just involve counting syllables.

I will eat lunch now
Perhaps a bagel with spread
I hope it tastes good.

And that my friends, it poetry.

Gosh she is SKILLED.

Write, much?

I'm writing a lot lately, usually that implies unrest in my life. It's true, I am getting restless in my current position. Things have been static for so long. I feel like the last *true* goal I had was 'get a job'. So I got a job. It actually took a lot of work and patience, but it eventually materialize with the setback at one point of working many hours at a job I despised. Next time I must be more specific in my desires.

I feel like I am in a snowglobe. The type of snowglobe that has random, unattached objects in it. I am the mini sailboat that got wedged behind the plastic palm tree and won't move anymore.

My new fear is not living up to my potential. I could be very useful in this world. I just have to figure out how I can be useful and avoid the fluff (though I do occasionally enjoy it).

Impress-ion me! happy?

Imagine what would happen if everyone was completely honest.

Would we be better people? Would hurt and anger be more short-lived?

What about first versus long-term impressions? There are really four permutations, in a complete black and white world.

1. Good first impression, good long-term impression
2. Good first impression, bad long-term impression
3. Bad first impression, good long-term impression
4. Bad first impression, bad long-term impression

Category one is always good, and I believe/sincerely hope most people do fall into this category. Two is tricky and deceiving, and more likely to be the cause of anger, betrayal, hurt, confusion, and frustration. Three is in an unfortunate, challenging position, he/she must work to change the initial impression. It's like wanting to learn how to ride a bicycle, but only owning a unicycle. Sometimes I fear I am number three because I occasionally come off as an idiot, rude, quiet, or shy when I meet people, primarily if it's somewhere noisy and I can't hear very well and have to play the deaf card.

The fourth is pretty much not desirable at all. I suppose it is more straight to the point than number two though, which may cause less misery in the long run.

And this is why first impressions should not be used to judge someone entirely. You never know what's happening behind the scenes in their head, lives, anything really. I suppose one silver lining could be that different people react differently and interpret differently. The first impression one person has on different people may be entirely different, even if they all met at the same time.

I was reading a "Happy" special the CBC did awhile back. Quote: "I didn't know that if you gave people nasal viruses that will produce colds in 50% of the people the people who had a lot of positive emotion don't get the colds. The people who don't have positive emotion do get the colds." (http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/howtobehappy/psychology.html)

"Close relationships are an essential factor in happiness, because they bring meaning to our lives. "The most clearly potent source of happiness is satisfying, meaningful connections with other people. You just cannot get away from the importance of social relationships. And it's not the number," says Todd Kashdan. "It's not the density. It's not having a cell phone filled with a hundred people that you can call. It's having people that you can confide in and people that you could effortlessly be yourself."" http://www.cbc.ca/doczone/howtobehappy/makes.html

I feel there is nothing ground breaking in this that I haven't read before other than the virus thing. I think being unhappy takes a lot of energy, because you are so focused on the unhappy (and it's exhausting), that your immune system doesn't have the proper energy to function as it should. One who is unhappy is probably not eating well, thus depriving the body of essential nutrients/minerals/vitamins required to allow the immune system to properly function.

The relationship quote clearly separates quality versus quantity. I'm lucky; I have many fantastic friends and am very close to my family. That being said, especially in the past four/five months, it has turned out that most of my fantastic friends are far away... which, frankly, sucks.

I also am a huge believer that place plays an incredible role in happiness, as per "Who's your city?" by Richard Florida. If someone said I could live anywhere in the world, I would be completely overwhelmed. Distance home is a factor, but let's say that distance was equal to all places, and 'home' was easily accessible. Visas and passports would not be an issue, nor would language (unless one wanted it to be an issue, such as go to China because of a desire to learn mandarin).

I have no idea where I would go. Clearly a place where one does not experience 14 months of winter per year. I can survive winter... but it's just so long. It's the end of January and there are still two months to go, and even then, summer in PEI is still ages away (early July) and will last for, oh, four weeks, take a three week break, then maybe last for another three weeks in a weaker form.

Global warming forgot about PEI, you see. That's why 'climate change' is the issue, ha. It has been consistently below seasonal here for AGES, with the odd above seasonal day. Very few days are actually "normal" (as per Environment Canada).

I have/want to leave now.

Green eyed monster

Lately I've been thinking about jealousy a lot as I've been hit with a hard batch a couple of times this week. It's a pretty simple yet relatively complex emotion. Simple in that it is almost like an equation: jealousy is what you feel upon becoming agitated when seeing someone having something(one!) you want.

As of late pangs of jealousy stem from hanging around an ex-boyfriend. It's a curious feeling, and I think the jealousy one feels when accepting an ex-boyfriend is free to develop relationships with another is an effect of a few questions that one faces, and may not ever really be able to answer. More bothersome for me is that I was the one who ended our relationship, so sometimes I feel I have to forfeit the rights to jealousy.

I think when one feels jealousy it's important to identify which factor is making you jealous. In regards to the ex-boyfriend, what is the issue? Is it the, "But I want to date you!", the "You are in a relationship with someone who isn't me!", or "You have found someone, potentially the person you will spend the rest of your life with."

Definitely the third one. Very occasionally the first one (because we are 95 percent compatible, but the remaining 5 percent highlights my 'deal breakers'), sometimes the second one, but were the event to materialise, it would be the third. My poor brain does not comprehend how two people finally know when they have found the person they will spend the 'rest' of their lives with (ideally both members of the couple will have determined this person to be the other person).

Another example of jealousy is when I hear about someone going to work at Disney World under the same program I went on. I get jealous in more of a sad than bitter way. That is a bit easier to pinpoint though, I never think, "Sure wish I could do the bread spiel again 20 times a day!" (Though it does lead to good money.) "Sure wish I could go to a party for 20 mins only to have security break it up." It's easily, "I wish I could be with my friends down there again, having fun, and wearing summer clothes, going to the parks, having fantastic days off and nights for clubbing." le sigh!

Anyway, I had great aspirations to write, and had mentally set out what I was prepared to share, but then about halfway through the phone rang and gabbered on it for 75 mins and somewhat lost my focus on this. But I think jealousy does give you the opportunity to focus: what is it I want? What about that situation do I desire? It is not always evident on the surface and may require some digging.

Sometimes I get jealous of peers with Federal Government jobs. Never because of the actual job position (at least not yet), but the mobility and pay scale that comes with it. Also, the absurd quantity of PAID vacation time! The option for two un-paid months off per year! Blah blah blah.

However, I am jealous of NO ONE'S winter vacation plans, for mine are amazing and YOU should be jealous of me, hee!! brag brag brag

I wonder what life will be like this time next year. If you told me January 25,2008, what I would be doing on January 25, 2009, I probably would have looked at you with a rather bizarre look on my face. "Well, why am I living on PEI? Why did I break up with my boyfriend but still hang out with him randomly? How did I finally lose my Scotland and Florida weight?! How come your car looks like it may fall apart at any second? Do I still not own a cute Shetland pony that I keep in my office? etc."

I need to go to bed. Stupid Monday mornings coming before I'm ready for them. Two more days of weekend, please?

24C

My office thermostat says it's 24C in my office. Curious, as I am cold, and am wearing two shirts, another large sweater draped over me as a blanket, pants, and wool socks.

Hunch says the thermostat may be wrong.

I am leaving for vacation in less than one month. Exciting! It's so wonderful to have something to look forward to. First up is one ENTIRE NIGHT in Los Angeles.

Meh.

Then TEN DAYS in marvelous HAWAI'I!!!! Followed by San Diego, Vancouver, and Victoria. Oh, and Charlottetown. Apparently that is where I will eventually end up.

Crap I'm sleepy.

Zzzz.

Friday afternoon lull...

Oh, Friday afternoon at work.

The sky is actually rather blue, which helps prevent me from being blue.

Things I have been thinking about lately:

• Baby Elephants - I was thinking about a documentary I saw ages ago on the Discovery Channel about a baby wooly mammoth. Some researchers at a uni where analyzing bones or something of a long-dead (obviously) baby wooly mammoth to learn about them and how the creature died. It was all interesting, but the part that got me was the scene where they show a cgi baby wooly mammoth wandering around on campus. I was thinking it would be nice to have the modern day equivalent - a baby elephant - wandering around on my campus.

• Hawai'i - I'm going there! From what I have been learning about Hawai'i, and from what I know about myself, clearly I am going to love it. I'll be there from February 13 - 23... possibly longer if it turns out I am the reincarnate of a Hawaiian goddess. I have been feeling quite majestic lately and believe this is quite possible. Perhaps I was the goddess of fire, but had my goddess abilities and powers SABOTAGED by an evil doer, and then died in a fire. This, of course, explains my inexplicable and intense fear of flames. A big moment for me in 2008 was when I lit the candles on Sheena's birthday cake. While the day was big for her (anniversary of her birth), it may have, in fact, been even bigger for me. Conclusion: Hawai'i [with one Erin Brown of co-castmember fame] will rock.

• PEI School Closures - A report recommends closing eleven schools in the Eastern School District of PEI. I have not seen the report, but the recommendations were based on current and expected future trends. I have no issues with the school closures. Clearly they do not directly effect me (I have long since graduated from the public school program), and I do recognize the importance the school has on a local community and I do not want children to have long commutes to school, but I cannot help but feel that children who attend a very small school run into disadvantages not experienced by children attending larger schools. I am thinking specifically about the "extras" - a gymnasium, music class, band opportunities, photography, art, computer labs, etc. I have also read about the anger expressed by the mayor of Georgetown over its school closing in favour of keeping one open in Cardigan. It makes sense, really. Although Georgetown may be larger in population, it would be more difficult to transport children there. Georgetown is on the extreme east of PEI, so is not central. Cardigan is not far from Georgetown, but would be able to accept children from more areas surrounding the school.
  Apparently no teachers will lose their jobs, which is good, but I don't really understand. I recognize that new teachers will need to be sent to certain school that remain open in order to compensate for the higher enrollment, but all of them will remain employed?? How? Also, I feel for the schools' support staff, hopefully things work out for them as well.
  
  Winners: kids (hopefully more opportunity), unemployed bus drivers (more bus transportation will be required)
  Losers: kids (hopefully not, but no one wants to have an hour-long commute to school every morning), communities of closing schools (I suspect families will be more reluctant to move to those communities due to a potential long ride to school?)

• Snow - one cannot help but think of snow, for it is EVERYWHERE. Okay, slight lie, upon looking out my window I see a patch of grass next to the Robinson Library right up against the wall. There are a few grassy patches scattered around. Often these grassy patches are next to a three-foot snow drift... So it's not like there is no snow, it just moved. So much snow... Though I haven't shovelled since Sunday and my shovelling muscles are happy to have a break. It is hard on the back, but the next morning I always found myself thinking, "Why does my left forearm hurt? Oooh, right."
  

• OC Transpo Bus Strike/Unions - It's still going on!! Seriously. For those confused, OC Transpo is the public bus system in Ottawa. The drivers have been on strike for about a month over, from what I gather, scheduling issues and wages. The city wants to control the schedule so it can save a few million per year, as apparently now the company controls the schedule and senior bus drivers can pick their shifts. Apparently this can lead abuse of the system where drivers will collect overtime pay for hours not actually spent driving. I respect the right of workers to strike... But I just have trouble finding that much sympathy for the drivers. From what I read, they are apparently quite well paid (as they should be) and this scheduling issue doesn't actually effect that many of them. Yet, the strikes roars on. I feel the city and the union are probably even grumpier now then they were before and are probably not coming to an agreement out of spite and the dangerous action of "trying to prove a point". (Such a female thing to do. "I'M PROVING A POINT!!! DON'T YOU GET IT??" "No." "ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGHHHH!")
  
  Another issue with this that was easily solved when the Toronto public transit people striked is that public transit is not considered an essential service in Ottawa. In Toronto the workers were on strike for one day until the Province giggled, and sent them all back to work the following morning. In Ottawa, the OC Transpo is actually an inter-provincial transit system: the buses go into Gatineau, Quebec. Apparently this means that the Federal Gov't (I think -- I saw this posted on the comments section on CBC News online but haven't actually verified the facts) would have to deem it an essential service. Okay... oh right, the Feds, who sit in Ottawa, aren't working right now because Parliament is on an extended winter holiday. Also, only THREE bus lines go into Gatineau. The 8, 27, and 40. The 27 and 40 (provided it's the same as when I lived there 642 years ago) only run during peak hours on weekdays. They also had only, I think one or two stops that were literally spitting distance from Ontario. Bus crosses bridge into QC, bus stops, bus goes back to ON. The 8 spins around a bit more, but never more than, say, seven blocks or so from Ottawa.
  
  Winners: No one.
  Losers: Everyone. Once the strike ends, I think the public will, sadly, be bitter towards bus drivers, and people will hate unions. I'm not really a fan of unions. I see the point they served when people were truly working in unfair working conditions (asbestos in mines), but it seem they are now more so protection so lazy people or poor workers cannot be fired.

• Children - I think some people have children because they are bored. I was sitting on top of a snowbank last weekend (Jen = awesome) and wanted to, umm, play in the snow with someone. I kind of wished I had a toddler/pre-school ages kid so I had someone to frolick in the snow with. Of course, then the afternoon would end, I would have to feed the kid, blah blah blah. Someone else said something very similar to me as well, "I had no one to hang out with so thought it would be nice to have a kid to hang out with."
  
  But I do not have children, so instead I am going to Hawai'i. I have four years to have wee babies (when I was younger -- 21 -- I decided I wanted to have kids by the time I was 30 -- progress has been quite slow on this) so in the meantime I will develop, nuture, and spend money on myself. I will raise myself to be AWESOME.

Done. I suppose I should do some more work now. This whole full work-week thing baffles me after having almost TWO WEEKS (!) off over Christmas. That was super fun! I haven't been on a PEI vacation for that long since... umm, well, unemployment after returning to PEI post US and European adventures, I suppose, but that doesn't count because I spent most of the time being miserable and panicking.

I miss adventure.

Extra extra!

So much news...

CBC PEI headline:

Canned beverage sales in P.E.I. well above expectations
Umm, great. No, not really, as I am quite confident that the bulk of this is soda. I have doubts any health professional encourages one to increase consumption of pop in order to maintain (or eventually achieve) a healthy lifestyle. I highly doubt that people are purchasing in bulk to stockpile in event of emergency. ("Earthquake!!! Quick, get the soda stockpile!")

CBC Canada headline:
GG agrees to suspend Parliament until January
Extra long Christmas holiday for MPs!! Sigh, why didn't I run? I haven't decided yet what I think of this, but I think it's wrong for the Conservatives to point fingers because I have this sneaking suspicion they would try to pull something similar if the election had resulted in a minority Liberal government. That being said, I don't know who the Conservatives would align with - NDP/Conservative love affair seems awkward. The Bloc?

I don't think suspending Parliament is the right reaction. A majority of MPs, the folk whom we chose to elect, are discontent with the PM. The majority is actually supposed to chose the PM, in theory, it's not automatically the party leader of the party with the most seats. Watching our democratic system "work" is interesting. Things are happening! It's half cooperation (the left) and half war fare (the right). The Bloc must be thrilled. They have the chance, in theory, to become a party that represents the country, not just one province.

I do find the possibility of Stephan Dion becoming prime minister... awkward. I know his party has the second highest number of seats, but it just seems wrong to give the 'second place winner' the first place prize. That being said, that is what would happen in an athletic competition if the athlete who won first place was suddenly disqualified.

Things that made me giggle from the above referenced article: "Harper was greeted by about 40 chanting supporters, including many Tory staffers, when he arrived at Rideau Hall, the Governor General's residence, at 9:30 a.m. ET. A single anti-Harper demonstrator stood waving a sign reading 'Harper Must Go.'"

At first I slightly laughed over the single anti-Harper demonstrator, but then I snickered and snorted at the 40 chanting supporters. His staff. I'm pretty sure they have a vested interest (job security) not directly to the overall well-being of our country. Nothing wrong with them being there, I would also go hang around outside chanting if my boss told me it would augment my job security.

Anyway, this is fueling my interest in politics again, which is nice.

It also means more Jack Layton and his mustache. I am happy.

The PEI Legislature is closed after 13 days. Thirteen days?!?! How can you even accomplish anything in 13 days? Right, you hide controversial items until the legislature closes, and hope they are tidied up before it opens again.

Government confuses and amazes me, both in positive and negative ways.

Les mots francaises du jour

This evening I am working on some French stuff. (I say this evening because I didn't get out of bed until 9:30 and didn't plunk myself into my desk until 10:30. However, I have been super productive today, because I spent the least productive time period of my day in bed. Listening to your inner clock is actually incredibly useful.)

English- French translations that amused me:
Fire pit = foyer
Petting farm = « Petting farm » ( ferme où l’on peut caresser les animaux ) (instead of making a french word, the French have apparently decided to be descriptive)
Turn-down service = service « bonne nuit »
Maid service = Femme de chambre (woman for/of room... prostitute?)
Cot/roll-away bed = Lit pliant/berceau (I only recognize the first word so the others blew my mind)
DVD Player/VCR = Lecteur DVD/magnétoscope (again, last word puzzles, but amazes me)
Steam room = hammam


In an unrelated note, Virgin Mobile Canada now only offers flip phones, slide phones w/ QWERTY keyboards, or blackberries. I don't like flip phones. Perhaps because I never had one. But it's just one extra step in answering the phone. An extra second to slow you down when already spent 27 seconds digging through your bag searching for your phone.

Every mobile I have ever owned has been a Nokia (four phones - one in UK, two in US (RIP phone in toilet), one in Canada). Their phones are not prominent at all anymore. Curious. Did they go out of business and I miss it somehow?

No, says the internet, they did not.

Icky Dream

I had multiple dreams last year, likely due to my weird sleeping pattern. I 'took a nap' on th couch from 11:00 - 12:30, woke up, had an extremely late supper (Honeycombs), then went upstairs to my bed. Couldn't fall asleep for another hour or so, then woke up at 7:00. Feel asleep again for a wee bit, but perma awake by 8:00. That is a lot of sleep for me.

I have two very vivid memories from my dreams. I warn you, the first is GROSS, and the second is TERRIFYING.

1. I was looking in the mirror and noticed a blackhead or hair folicle on the side of my chin. So I tried to squeeze it out and this gross, thick, clumpy, gaggy brown stuff started coming out, followed by a fruit fly. I thought about it for a second, and quickly realised that a FRUIT FLY had been LIVING IN MY CHIN. And until it died, all of its poop had just been collecting inside my chin. Sooooo gross. Ugh.

2. My was getting ready for my mum's wedding, rushing since my dad was about to pick me up. (No idea if they were having a cute second wedding/renewing vows or my mum was marrying someone else???) A wasp flew in my window and started chasing me, literally hunting me. It kept stinging me on my bare back and I was quite upset.

This afternoon a stupid orange dishtowel turned my laundry orangish. I had accidentally put it in with my whites. Survival of clothes is still unknown as they are currently being rewashed. After I angrily threw them all over the laundry room and into the foyer/livingroom/porch. The dish towel, however, will never see the light of day again.

Because I cut it up with a large butcher knife.

It felt really good.

In other news, I am going to Hawaii. I haven't booked it yet, but a wee leprechaun inside of me keep whispering in my ear that I should book a one-way ticket. The leprechaun is very wise, you see.

I had a good morning. I started cleaning my room, did laundry (first load was okay - problems were with second load) and SHOVELLED! I secretly love shovelling.

I am going to a bar now. Stupid dish towel

Try, try, try again

This may sound deep, but it's really not.

You know, there are some things in life you really get only one shot at. First impressions, not tripping on the stage during high school graduation when accepting your diploma, birth, etc.

However, there is something I consistently fail at, but always get a second, third, fourth, fifth shot at:

Getting up early.

I always have good intentions, but every morning something seems to come up, and I don't get to work until 9:00 generally, at the earliest. I thought today would be the big day when I would be there by 8:30, alas, I was there at 9:05. I'm starting to notice the difference between biking to work and driving. My attire that I bike to work in is definitely not work-wear (though sometimes I wear it for a bit until I feel like changing) so a bit of care is required when packing my backpack up for the day. Sometimes I am trying new combinations of clothing (oh my!) so must try them on in the morning. So I try on the day's work outfit. Then I take it off. Then I put on my biking clothes (sometimes multiple layers - must think ahead as likely will be biking home at 8:00pm). Then I pack my work clothes up. Then I pack my gym clothes up (weather pending - nice days I still try to bike instead because it's 800x better). Then I get distracted. And eventually I get to work. If I drove to work I would get dressed, look for keys, then drive to work. Simpler.

It is 11:00pm right now, and I am going to try and get up at a decent hour tomorrow so I can take an afternoon bike ride as weather is supposed to be uncharacteristically, well, nice. Curious.

Today I ditched work for an hour and a half or so in the afternoon to go biking. Went downtown since it was a bit windy and quite gusty. I like biking downtown when windy because you never have to bike right into the wind for too long. Was super nice out and I wish I wore shorts instead of 'knickers' (bike term for 'bike capris', I guess) and the long sleeves were even a bit much. Granted I probably would had been cold if I had been walking, or simply standing still, but I was a disgusting sweaty, rosey-cheeked mess when I got back to work. Love it :)

Sleep!~
La fin.

Holding in laughter makes it look as though I've been crying

So I finished my work early today, and went to read some more archives of my favourite blog du jour.

The difference between boys and girls

Particularly when taking photos. I was trying to hold back laughter and now have watery eyes and let out a few unfortunate snorts.

Amazing.

Abuse in the Wind

This afternoon I left work a bit early as I had pretty much finished for the day and wanted to go for a bike ride before the sun disappeared. (No worries, I'm a good lady and am back at work now to make up for the lost time.)

It was a super ride! It was quite windy but I hardly ever was in a direct headwind, most headish winds were coming at me from an angle. Still difficult, but not nearly unmanageable.

I got back to work and the pain started. My knees were throbbing when going up and down the stairs. As I started to cool off I got super cold and really wished for a blanket. But the worst, and I have noticed this even since biking on chilly spring days, is when you boobs get cold. It is actually quite painful as your nipples get tight and shrivel up.

It feels good to get that off my chest, no pun intended.

Do males experience such a phenominum?

I re-launched my UPEI gym membership last night. I thought I would hate the gym as I have been on a bike all summer and haven't been to the gym since sometime in early June, I suspect. Regardless, it was okay. I hopped on one of the spin class bikes for about a half hour and proceeded to sweat about 30 gallons of liquid from every pore on my body. I've had sweaty arms before, but actually being able to see the round beads of sweat all over yourself is really something. I'm hoping that something is "attractive" and not "disgustingly repulsive". You would think I would want to use a different piece of machinery rather than a bike, but no. The spin bikes are amazing and are much more similar to an actual bike than the other exercise bikes. They adjust size/height wise in many wonderful ways. And they seem so much less... machine-y. On the ellipticals, treadmills, and stairmasters, you are surrounded by massive pieces of plastic and various parts. Bike = simple, elegant, sexy. Much like myself. Hense why I like bikes.

I managed to stay at the gym for a bit over an hour. I think that's my time limit, depending what's on the telie. I'm not going to get too crazy or anything. Maybe once winter hits and I get bored and the sun vanishes by, oh, 4-freaking-15. I seem to plump up in the summer (drinking on patios, laying in a sedetary fashion in the sun) and then de-plump in the winter. Except the two years I skipped winter in the UK and US. Deplumping did not occure, results were evident in various photos. Had nice Jen Jugs though. Hee hee...

La fin. To the gym? Meeeh... I guess, I did pay for it. Maybe I will sit in the sauna to fix this nipple problem.

Elephant dream

Last night I had a dream about elephants. Baby elephants, specifically.



Sometimes I feel like I have such a kindergarten brain. Elephants!! Clap!!

In my dream I was at the Calgary Zoo and two baby elephants walked out of the elephant pen. Apparently they really wanted to see me. How they communicated this with the zoo keeper is beyond me. Of course they were adorable, and of course I wanted to play with them. However, for some reason I did not play with them. So very curious. I think I was a bit intimidated. Anyway, this dream served as a reminder that I must read the Globe & Mail this weekend. According to Friday's edition, there is to be an article on elephants in the travel section.

Completely related, I turned to an online dream dictionary to find out the significance of elephants in my dream. I don't think, however, that the fact they were elephants were key to the dream; it was more about how much I loved them, but was scared of them.

From astrology.com ....
"In the Zulu culture, the elephant is the symbol for wisdom, patriarchy, and sacred relationships (similar to the bear or eagle in Native American culture). It is important to notice that geographically different cultures find symbols within their own contexts to convey universal themes of human concern.
"Also, most western cultures revere the elephant as powerful and possessing a strong memory. Because of our common acknowledgment that elephants have powerful memories, to dream of an elephant may be an association with the act of memory-this may point to something forgotten in your life."

Another website mentions that baby elephants specifically symbolize good luck or forture.

What really bothers me about the dream, other than the fact it was only a dream and I did not have the real opportunity to play with elephants, is that I was kind of scared. It was clearly something I wanted to do, but I was too scared to do it. On the other hand, at least it reminded me to read the Globe today, perhaps that was the real meaning of the dream - to trigger a memory?

Anyway, I shall do something now. Perhaps head for a bike ride (though it is supposed to get quite windy which makes my left knee hurt) or go to the library to return some books.

La fin. Encore.

Internet obsession du jour

I have found my favourite blog of the moment (with the exception of mine, which continues to amazine the masses, no doubt):

Fat Cyclist.com - http://www.fatcyclist.com

Even if you are not a biking fan, he is a fantastic writer - aka, he is HILARIOUS. I'm reading through the archives now and will be sad when I complete them for I will have to return to unhappy life full of humourless blogs (again, other than my own).

I am supposed to be social now with the people in my home. Perhaps I should take Mr. Laptop downstairs and entertain them with oral readings of my new favourite blog? Surely it would be much more entertaining than the silly hockey game that is on the telie at present. Vomit.

Science Experiment: bar de power

Today I am doing a research project not related to tourism.

On my adventure at the Superstore last night, I noticed many Powerbars on the discount rack. (I was originally looking at the hair dye, as my hair continues to be a case for the fried-rainbow convention.)

Apparently these Powerbars are generally about $3.00 but these were marked down to $1.15. I became curious. What would happen to me were I to eat such a powerful bar? Would I work faster? Become more restless? Be able to move furniture with the tip of my pinky?

Today I am going to find out. After work I shall eat what remains of my powerbar. I slightly cheated and nibbled a bit off last night (wanted to know what it tasted like to avoid disappointment the following day), and have had a few munches today out of Office Boredom (tm). Over half remains of this "Vanilla Crisp" flavoured Powerbar. After work, I shall don my biking clothes, mange my Powerbar, and proceed to bike to the moon.

Maybe.

Two questionable conditions have developed this afternoon.

1) As stated, almost half of the powerbar is already gone. This reduces potential derived power by almost half. Power gained is directly related to the amount of power eaten.

2) I'm really full. I made chili last night and had some of my 800 litres of leftovers for lunch and am already proteined out. I feel I may need to use the washroom soon, so I am hoping that will create more room for the Powerbar.

3) I am uncertain as to when the Powerbar should be consumed. Should I eat it about a half hour prior to my bike ride? Perhaps I should consume it right before my ride, swallowing the last bits as I mount Sexay Bicyclette (my bike's name today, sometimes it changes). Should I even eat it after my ride as an attempt to re-fuel?

WHY DOES THE POWERBAR NOT COME WITH DIRECTIONS?!?!

It also should be noted that the Powerbar is apparently step one of three. I am unsure as to what the other two steps are. Step 2: Physical activity? Step 3: Throwing up Powerbar after too much physical activity? Such mysteries.

4) It is cold out, about 5C apparently. This means my bike ride may not be that long, because I hate the cold with a very special passion. This morning my TEETH hurt when biking to work. Biking into the wind proved difficult thus my mouth was open in an effort to increase my air intake. The result was a chilling breeze skimming the top of my bottom teeth, which still feel weird right now. My face and ears were also cold, but my torso did its usual, "Holy crap your wind breaker works well and is an amazing insulator, I must sweat profusely now!"

I think it would be useful to perform a similar experiment on the same day next week. However, this time I will not eat a Powerbar. I will still eat the excessive (sigh) amount of chili. This will aid me in determining if it is the Powerbar giving me the strength of a bear, or simply the Jen Mac chili (extra lean ground beef, corn, zuchini, green pepper, red pepper, onion, kidney beans, tomatoes, chili seasoning, ketchup, and wee bit o' cheese occasionally).

What an educational evening this will prove to be. Now if you will excuse me, I have a Powerbar to slowly eat. It must be eaten slowly because it almost has the delicious texture of taffee, so it is impossible to eat quickly.

Useful Things to do with Office Supplies

Oh, I had so much to say and my brain just crashed about ten minutes ago. Case in point, I actually wrote "ten minutes away" instead of ago before fixing it.

Today my too-large-but-wonderful pants (aka capris) were falling down, so I fixed them with a binder clip. What a wonderful invention. Suddenly my pants fit better than they have in YEARS. (And by 'years' I mean twelve months.)

Now, let's not just stop there. These binder clips could be used for MANY wonderful things!

• Hair clips - the clips come in multiple sizes, but I'm thinking they would generally be ideal for the end of a braid.


• Paper weight - although I suppose one could simply bind the papers together using the clip with its intended purpose.


• Curtain shutters - you know how sometimes your curtains just don't *quite* meet in the centre? You could use a binder clip to piece the curtains together. I can't actually test the level of usefulness for this as I do not own curtains. You will find this entertaining if you are outside of my house between 8:00 - 8:30am or 11:30 - 12:00am. Location of said house withheld.


• Nose plug - I am terrible at swimming without a noseplug. While the binder clip would be a bit much and possibly crush some important part of the nose structure. However, this would serve as a catalyst or incentive for the swimmer to learn how to swim without a nose plug.


• Nail file - not to file the top of ones nails, but to pick out dirt that may appear under the nail. There are many edges and sides to binder clips, especially when one considers the silver squeeze things (technical name). Those could also be used to pick small objects/wax/general dirt from the ears. And nose, if your into that, which I know everyone secretly is when you have some mucus up there that blowing the nose just doesn't seem to wedge free.


• Clothes pins - this is an easy substitue. In fact, I suspect he/she who invented the clothes pin was probably influential in the design of the useful (in so many ways, as we are learning) binder clip.


• Torture device - well, yeah, clearly. It is recommended that men not be bastards when naked next to a woman yielding multiple binder clips.

I am very confident that there are many other uses for binder clips, but I encourage you to use YOUR imagination and free time (or work time) to explore further options.

Now I must learn about H2B visas. Or go to bed? No, learn about H2B visas. I have the feeling Canadians cannot apply for them, but I will use the power of Google and my reading skills to make certain.

Five minutes later: Canadians can apply for them!! Now, I just need a plan *cough* Hawaii *cough cough*

100% with election predictions

I am so proud, my two measly elections predictions were spot on. I have become a wee bit of a politics junkie over the past few weeks. Replace my Olympics junkiness, I suppose. Anyway, I predicted three Liberal and one Conservative seat on PEI, and figured it would still be a Conservative minority.

Anyway, now that the election is minutes away from being over, I suppose I can retire my mini-crush on Jack Layton. I felt he would look after me. If I were to be locked outside of my house and Jack Layton was walking by, he would get me in. He would either kick in the door with his mighty cycling legs or punch through the window, letting me in. He would probably fix either the door or window afterwards too. Then he would smile at me, and his teeth would sparkle and make that ding noise. *ding* I also wanted him to challenge someone to an arm wrestling contest at the end of the Engish debate. (I geeked out and watched both the French and the English debate. Listened to Elizabeth May speak at the University too.)

I've been a wee bit sickish lately. Cough. Me and everyone else in this great G-8 nation, apparently. It makes me want to sleep a lot, which is not possible, because of other commitments. Like work. Riding my bike. Eating. Growing a belly. Making funny faces in the mirror. And so forth.

I'm supposed to be in bed now actually, but it's kind of Jen Mac tradition not to sleep much prior to travelling. I'm leaving tomorrow after work con la familia to travel to Haut Canada (high five doing history in French) pour visiter mon frere. Mon frere est grand. Il aime couper ses cheveux. J'aime mon frere parce qu'il est drole par fois. Mais je suis plus drole, parce que je parle plus que lui. Mais comme pour cent, je ne sais pas. Peut etre nous sommes egalement droles.

I've started wearing fall clothing now. This means I wore jeans once for a couple of hours (so... weird...) and wore dress pants one day at work. I have also wore a coat about a half-dozen times. I actually quite like my spring/fall/not-so-cold-days-in-winter coat. However, mostly I just wear my black boots with long shorts or capris. Oh, and I wore sandals the day I wore pants. Don't want to get too crazy all at once. Pfft.

I've been quite busy at work lately writing a kajillion reports (give or take). I feel like I could write them in my sleep, which is productive, because sometimes writing them makes me want to fall asleep. Hee. (I poke fun, but things are still going well at work. Like today there was apple pie and there are often lollypops in the admin office.)

On Saturday I was going to bike to Hunter River, but my legs were not cooperating. Instead they were pointing and laughing at me. So about three-quarters of the way there I decided to lay on a bench and enjoy the sun. There was not a SINGLE CLOUD in the sky, and the warmth of the sun felt amazing. I'm convinced people who live in sunny locations must be, overall, statistically happier and less likely to suffer from depression and thoughts of suicide. I hope to replicate this sunny sensation at some point in the near future.

Oh election. I could start following the American election, but I kind of don't care. It's interesting... and, wait, no, no it's not really. I feel like the US election has been going on for a decade or so. It is like a long running TV series.

The Canadian debates were interesting, but a bit irksome. I enjoyed how they were all sitting around the table, face to face. However, it just seemed so finger-pointing-esque. Point at Harper, complain, hiss, stamp feet, then smugly smile. Actually, I think the most smug smiles came from Harper. His tactic to make the other party leaders more emotional. Let them freak out at you, and simply stare back at them with a smug smile. Watch their blood pressure slowly rise as they ramble more to try and make their point better.

I liked the French debate because I am much better at understanding anglophones speaking French than francophones speaking French. So I had to pay super attention to the frenchies, but could slightly relax with the.. anglies.

Anyway, a shower would be pleasant. I have to return library books before work tomorrow morning because the library AND the drop-box were closed yesterday. I have never before encountered a closed DROP BOX. Weird.

La fin.

Such a character!

This morning I did something stupid, so I redeemed myself by doing two unstupid things. One of which was cut my own hair (well, trim my fringe). They're a bit crooked, but so darling cute, but I believe the non-linearness simply adds character.

Now people will say, "Oh that Jen, such a character," and I'll smile and point to my fringe. Then we'll burst in loud, hearty, gay laughter and continue sipping our brandy.

Oh Miss Mac.

But I am le tired...

Today was a very sleepy day at first, a morning that would have been spent well in bed cuddled into some blankets. Or perhaps not, as my room was quite warm last night. So cuddled into one wee blanket and a couple of pillows, I suppose.

C'etait un bon fin de semaine. On Friday I went for a bike ride (where I saw Tom DeBlois vans simply IDELLING (sp? while he was knocking on doors, ugh - environment, much?). After I had work related stuff today, then met up with some people for a drink. I had a banana split martini.

Hey, you know what's gross? Banana split martinis. It was a sad drink. Eventually we split off. I went home, stayed up way too late, then woke up before my alarm on Sat morning because I had to man (woman?) a booth for work. Later on I decided I needed new biking shorts! So I went to MacQueen's and, despite my intentions to just be in-and-out, left with a pair of biking shorts AND biking... something. Capris? Ankle pants? Something. It was almost shameful and completely un-Jen how much of an easy upsell I was. $85 later (pretty good deal though) I biked home, excited to change and test 'em out. On the way home it started to rain, as it had been threatening to do all afternoon, and I was disappointed.

But I went on my bike ride anyway, and my new shorts are amaaaaazing. They aren't as long as my other ones (good), and they give more comfort. I suspect this is the case though as my older pair were worn almost everyday so I'm sure the padding is starting to thin out.

And holy Jesus it rained. I was such a mess when I got home, but so happy. It was warm out so the rain was very refreshing. My sneakers had massive pools of water in them, my rain coat was soaked and quite muddy (but kept me dry, as it should), but I was in very good spirits. The rain was very energizing, and I'm sure all the cruise ship tourists thought I was a bit of a nutter. Maybe not at first, "Oh, poor girl was probably biking home and got caught in the rain!", but then they would see me again, and think, "Oh, she's actually just a moron. Heh."

Heh indeed.

So turns out there is a six-week fencing course starting in two weeks, and lacrosse every Sunday night at the sports centre! Me thinks I found some stuff to do. I'm a bit ansy on both, as I feel my temper and easily-frustrated self will not bode well with fencing, and I never really learned to excel at lacrosse, mostly just run around and get in the way of other players when necessary. If anything, it will give me people to go to the Wave with after our matches :P

I've been working in French most of the afternoon. It was a nice for a change. Bien!



Oh look, it's a giant strawberry from my bike ride a few weeks ago. So very excited!

bye .

Hump day

Woo, Wednesday! It's pretty much official the hump MOMENT because I'll be heading for lunch soon on the mid day of the work week.

What's wrong with my attention span lately? It seems all that I want to do is ramble ramble ramble, bike, or read. Ramble via speach or script.

Earlier I was wondering if anyone was thinking or talking about me. Not in a lustful way (okay, maybe a wee bit), but in the same way I think of people throughout the day. For example, if someone were to speak of a city in BC, I would think of the people I know from that city. The various things I associate with various people. You know how sometimes you say, "Oh yeah, my friend ______ does that/likes that/worked there, etc." I wonder how many people are thinking about me at one time. Or not even me, pick a co-worker with many contacts, how many times a day does that person come up in conversation? I kind of wish I knew... Or maybe not. If my name didn't appear at all I would be concerned as to why I am so un-memorable or un-mentionable. And what if it came up in a bad context? Some, of course, in understandable, definitely not everyone out there loves me. My personality is borderline space cadet/scattered/anal/perfectionist. I feel like the extreme corners of a mishapen polygon, ha! Anyway, some bad talk is okay, but clearly one would wish the majority be positive.

******

Ha ha, I just came back from a hilarious lunch. Anyway, apparently I'm stressed (unrelated to previously mentioned lunch). Generally I can pinpoint this from small blisters on my fingers and the urge to sleep. I would love to have a 20-minute nap right now. Actually no, I wish I was in a hammock reading.

Is it bad that I am, technically, only 16 months into my "career" and I already think it would be lovely to have 6 weeks off to "expand my horizons"? I wonder what I would actually do.

Six weeks off paid, of course. Because the likelihood of that is, oh, none.

Ideally someone else would have a lot of time off and would also think riding camels in Northern Africa sounds like a good day.

I wish more other people had blogs, I remember during university that the blogosphere was endless - apparently everyone had something to say! Either that or the lack of a "structured" day gave people more small periods of free time to spit their thoughts out to a computer. A free 40 minutes here (clearly not enough time to do anything class related), the odd 15-minute break there, etc.

It's kind of a weird feeling the first time you fully realise that people you do not know are reading your blog. You almost feel like your privacy has been invaded, but also proud that someone thinks your life is interesting enough to read about. Then your mind quickly darts to the content that has been presented - did I sound like a loser? Whiner? Boring? Was it filled with grammatical errors (GASP!), spelling errors, directionless dribble? Did it anger anyone? Was it "controversial"? Was it too detailed? Not detailed enough? Is it going to get me in trouble? Suddenly, the meeting of this person ends just as quickly as it started, and you are left standing there concerned as the person has already moved on and is now thinking about beer, parking fines, foreign languages, etc., anything but you and your blog. But afterwards, you feel a slight bit famous and find yourself winking at people more.*

* this may be a slight dramatization of what really happened, but I aim to entertain even if it jumbles the facts.

Really though, if someone does not want to be heard, he/she would be saving writings to a Word doc. If it wasn't meant to be shared, if would be in a hand-written journal shoved into a random drawer with spare batteries and free pens from various booths at employment fairs. Not saying that is me, as I keep my pens in a Poly plastic "glass" on my window sill. In a related note, perhaps why my pens dry up...

I'm back to rocking the curly hair today. I don't know why people with curly/wavey hair spend so much time straightening it. Of course I understand once in awhile, but daily? Soooo much time waaasted, and the heat is super hard on your hair. My hair dresser (who I see, oh, once or twice a year) commented that my hair doesn't need to be cut that frequently because I don't damage it with heat. High five lazy!

I'm eating dried mango. So good! Also, looked like mangled cat. Sad.

My workplace is a little hilarious. So many eccentric personalities (professors) in one place. At lunch today one professor went into detail about how to cook "fartless beans".

Two hours left of work. Two hours til I go on a bike ride! Okay, probably 2 1/2 by the time fifteen minute nap is factored in, as well as changing. Biking in boots is not difficult, but I wouldn't want to do it for many many kilometres.

Last night I saw a pair of shorts (but long shorts - so wearable until November) for sale. But I didn't buy them. 1 - was rushing through, no time to try anything on, and 2 - I am never the same size for, it seems, more than twelve months. See capris I am wearing today (almost wore "real" pants today - so glad I didn't, it's not that time of year yet and the mere THOUGHT of putting on pants made me depressed), I love them, but they are pretty much hanging off me. Contrast with capris purchased in summer 2004 in Scotland (red, kind of awesome) that I can barely stuff myself into and then worry about ripping the seams. My size seems to fluctuate based on many factors... I wonder if I can work out an equation for it?! That would honestly make my day. Factors included is current residence (out of Canada = bigger), season (summer = bigger, more BBQs, drinking on patios), workmates (drinkers after work vs not), relationship (always seem to be skinnier when have a boyfriend), relationship "quality" (on verge of break-up or actual break up means I stopped eating because everything tastes like woodchips), roommates (how much we eat out on fun, random nights out), workplace some more (in the UK people were always bringing in sweets, basically sinning is okay if it occurs in a group. Have another cake!), etc.

How will I roll all these wonderful factors into one?!

Differences between current workplace and UK workplaces: first night out with UK workmates (FIRST DAY OF WORK) led to a big conversation of how old everyone was the first time they got laid. Canada? "Would you like a drink?" "Well, what are you having?" "Oh, a beer I suppose." "I suppose I shall have that as well." "How are things going?" "Pretty good, and you?" "Also good." "I wonder if anyone else is coming..."

Post.

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!