Movie Review

Just came home from seeing the Jennifer Aniston/Clive Owen movie "Derailed". It was a last minute decision on my part since I walked into the theatre thinking I would see "Chicken Little". I'm not a big Jennifer Aniston fan (though I do love Friends, and generally like most of the movies I've seen with her), but can I just say that I'm totally adding Clive Owen to my growing list of hot guys? WOW! Anyway, the movie was really, really good. It had me glued to the edge of my seat for the whole two hours, and made me jump at least once. I don't want to say too much about the plot since I don't want to give it away, but you should see this movie!

Migraine

I'm sitting here right now with a massive migraine, wondering if I'll survive until morning. Why am I cursed with these pains? What is the best way to get rid of them? Uugghh . . . need to sleep!

Thankful

For the past few weeks (well, longer probably) I've been feeling quite blue. Actually, I've been feeling downright depressed, and really worried that I was sinking back into a depression I successfully escaped from a few years ago. The reason for the sadness (I don't think it's completely gone away yet) is the tension and difficulties I have been facing at work. I don't want to go into details, but the tension in the workplace has really begun to take its toll on people. Anyway, this weekend, while being perfectly normal in many respects, has also taught me that I should be thankful for what I do have. Canadian Thanksgiving has passed, but I would still like to take this opportunity to list a few things I am thankful for:
1. My friends and family! Whenever I've felt down these past few weeks I've gotten great support and love from all my friends and family! Even people at work have really been sticking together lately! It's like we've all recognized that we need to come together and support each other in the face of these current challenges.
2. Christmas! I don't know that I would be able to cope as well if this weren't the beginning of the Christmas season. I'm going to try and have a peaceful and relaxing Christmas this year, which means no frantic practicing for the Christmas concert, no worrying over where to spend Christmas, and NO stressing over the Christmas shopping! I take enormous pleasure in finding the perfect gifts for all my friends and family, and I've already started my shopping!
3. New life! Just when I thought things were really starting to suck I found out that one of my good friends is expecting her second child! This is such exciting news that nobody can feel sad right now!
4. Wedding! My sister and her fiance are getting married in just a few short months, and wedding plans and events will be kicking into high gear soon!

Thank you God for showing me how an ordinary weekend can turn extraordinary!

Odds and Ends (God Bless James King!)

I'm pretty proud of myself today - I finally did some apartment cleaning, and I got my next TESL assignment completed. I definitely had to do some cleaning, not necessarily because my apartment was so dirty, but the guilt was starting to set in. I blame the Woman's Television Network. I've been watching some WTN shows lately, and they have a commercial that totally freaks me out! It starts off with a warning that if you don't like dirty pictures you should turn away. That of course prompts curiousity. Before your sick minds wander too far away from the story, I should tell you that it's a commercial for a new show called "How Clean is Your House?". The dirty pictures are of actual dirt! They show filthy, disgusting homes filled with mold, rotting food, and insect galore! My place does not in any way look like that, but it still makes me feel guilty that I haven't done my cleaning yet. Hence the cleaning binge I went on this morning.
I'm also happy that I got to finish my next TESL assignment. I have to say, as much as I used to enjoy school, going back to do any kind of school work SUCKS! I have little motivation to get my assignments done, so I have to force myself to work on it on Sundays. Luckily it's been pretty easy so far, and I am actually learning stuff! I think in order to force myself to complete it in a timely manner (it's Distance Ed., so theoretically I suppose I could work on it forever) I'm going to have to reward myself big-time when it's done. For those of you who are curious to know how I want to reward myself, I think I'll buy a new Nintendo game. Either Donkey Kong Jungle with congas, or Mario Party 7. For those of you really, really generous people out there, feel free to walk into Future Shop and drop $60 on one of those two items in order to reward me yourself. I won't be offended; I can always think of another way to reward myself!
Now comes the James King part of this blog entry. Does anyone know who James King is? I didn't think so. He is the inventor of the washing machine! He invented a modern version of a washine machine with a drum, but it was still human-powered. He's the best person I could come up with to answer my "who invented the washing machine?" question. I say God Bless him because I'm doing some laundry right now, and I don't think I'd ever get anything done if the washing machine had never been invented. I also know that I would hate my new apartment if I hadn't purchased a place with in-suite laundry! So, the next time you get some kind of stain on your outfit, or the next time your dirty laundry piles up, please take a moment to say thank you to James King!

House

Last night I had one of the best laughs I've had in a long time. I was watching the show "House", which I am addicted to. For those of you who don't know, House is a medical show in which a group of doctors in a New Jersey hospital diagnose and treat patients with unusual diseases. The main character, Dr. Gregory House (played by the fantastic Hugh Laurie - one of my Hollywood boyfriends) is extremely sarcastic and this makes for some very funny moments. Last night was a classic . . . I won't spoil it for you, but I strongly recommend you check it out. For those of you living in the Surrey area, House airs on Tuesday nights at 9pm, channel 11.

Question of the Day

So I've been doing some thinking about my current (lousy) work situation. It's prompted me to put the following question out into the cosmic void: at what point do you just cut your losses and quit the job? Maybe I should explain a bit about my situation in particular . . . I have worked at my current job for just over two years now. I love my job and find it challening and satisfying. I love my students and most of the people I work with. For the most part, everyone gets along well and the atmosphere in the workplace is quite friendly and relaxed. As it turns out, a great majority of the credit for this happy workplace goes to our former boss. He left his job a while back and in exchange we got a female boss that many of us had worked with before. Because of her manner of dealing with people, many of us are experiencing severe job stress. Luckily I still love other aspects of my job, and I get along well with most of the people I work with, but for the first time in two years I'm now starting to think about quitting. I just don't know . . .