Mooning Santa

Here's the Santa that I gave my mom for Christmas! This is also the first video I have ever uploaded to YouTube :-) Enjoy!

Wow! Two posts in one night!

I know, you're shocked! I'm posting twice in one night . . . and both my posts include pictures!! Just wanted to share the most recent cross-stitch project I finished. This is the first project I've finished in ages. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if it's the first one I've finished in a year. I started it on Friday. It's quite small (about 2.5 inches square), which is why I was able to finish it. Without further adieu . . .

Britney Spears

In case you're one of the 10 people on the planet who hasn't heard the news . . . Britney Spears has lost custody of her two young sons. This was front page news on the CNN website, and I heard it mentioned as a headline on a local news broadcast too. Why is this headline news?? Is there nothing else going on in the world that's more important than a 25 year old young woman who has clearly made some mistakes in her life? Seriously??! I think, if even half of what I've heard reported is true, that taking her kids away from her was a good move. I applaud the judge who had the guts to say "your actions and behaviour around your kids is not acceptable and until you clean up your act, your young children cannot live with you!" I hope this makes her get the help she needs because she clearly needs some help! I also hope that her family and friends (not the people she parties with, but the people who actually want to still know her when she's a paunchy eighty-year-old) put her on suicide watch. I do object to the fact that our reputable news agencies think that this news is more important than anything else that happened in the world today. What does it say about the state of our society today that the latest celebrity scandal is front page news??

re: TV

It's been a busy week catching up with all the shows premiering this week. On Monday I watched Heroes . . . it was good but I'm not sure if it will stay in my weekly line-up or not. On Tuesday was the much-anticipated premiere of House. Totally, totally WORTH IT! I loved every second of the episode. I thought it struck exactly the right balance between the humour and the medicine. I also watched the season premiere of Law and Order: SVU. It was good too. On Wednesday was America's Next Top Model. I have to say I was quite surprised and impressed with this season's emphasis on going green and banning the models from smoking. I will only be fully and completely impressed if the emphasis on going green is a theme for all future cycles as well and not just a "hook" for this cycle. I also watched the premiere of the new show Dirty Sexy Money. It was . . . . interesting. It might be a little too out there, even for me. On Thursday was the premiere of Ugly Betty. Again, totally, totally WORTH IT! I even skipped Survivor to watch it and I'm so glad that I did. I also watched the premiere of Grey's Anatomy. It was good, but not fantastic. I think this year they may struggle a bit in the ratings against the juggernaut that is CSI. Tonight I will watch the premieres of Numb3rs and Las Vegas. All in all I have been pretty pleased with the shows I have watched and I'm looking forward to the fall season immensely. The only thing I'm disappointed about is that there won't be a new season of The Amazing Race until winter!! That totally sucks, but hopefully it will be a kick-ass season and worth the wait!

Five Things Meme

FIVE THINGS
I was tagged by Dianne to do this meme. Honestly since I enjoy doing these so much, I would have done it anyway :-)

5 Things I Was Doing 10 Years Ago:
- Finishing high school
- Starting university
- Working at a gas station. Definitely NEVER doing that again!
- Looking for a social life
- I can't remember! I'm getting old . . .

5 Snacks I Enjoy:
- Chocolate
- Crackers
- An apple
- Ice cream
- Popcorn

5 TV Shows I've Seen Every Episode Of:
- Star Trek: The Next Generation
- Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
- House
- Friends
- Full House

5 Things I Would Do If I Were A Millionaire:
- Travel to Europe!!!!!!!!!!
- Buy a second home in Whistler (okay, I'd seriously have to be a mulitmillionaire for that!)
- Pay off my mortgage
- Pay off my student loans
- Pay for a friend to go back to school

5 Bad Habits:
- Not eating when I'm super-stressed out
- Eating too much when I'm only moderately stressed
- Watching tv when I should be doing something more productive
- Not cleaning my apartment regularly
- Talking with my mouth full

5 Things I Like To Do:
- Read
- Watch tv
- FACEBOOK!
- Go shopping
- Sing

5 Things I Would Never Wear Again:
- The tiger-striped bright pink bathing suit my mom made me one year (sorry mom!)
- My barbie t-shirt
- Toe socks (I had high hopes for them, but my toes are too short for them to be comfortable)
- Glasses with large frames
- My purple jeans

5 Favorite Toys:
- My MP3 player, which I hope to upgrade to an iPod one day :-)
- My digital camera because it has encouraged me to take more pictures
- My computer
- The CD player next to my bed
- My cell phone

5 Things I Can't Stand:
- Sleeping in a warm bedroom!
- Having the door between my bathroom and bedroom open while I'm trying to sleep
- Incompetence
- Laziness
- The smell of rotten food

Now it's my turn to tag 5 people. Hmmmm . . . Jennifer, Megan (you've been tagged twice, now you must do it!), Heather (let's see if you're reading this), Janet (now you've been tagged twice too) and anyone else reading this who hasn't done this meme yet!

Sexy

My new haircut is awesome! It's a little shorter than I had intended, but I'm okay with that because my hair grows very quickly. When the stylist started cutting it she said "when was the last time you were in here?" I said "I don't really remember. It was in the winter some time though." She said "was it a year ago?" I was like "oh no, not that long ago!" She replied with "are you sure? Because I'm cutting about a year's worth of growth to get you to the length you were last time!" Yeah . . . my hair grows very quickly. Anyway, after a very reasonably-priced haircut (just under $20 for a shampoo and cut), she was able to talk me into highlights too. It's something I've been thinking about since the last time I was in there. Anyway, I decided that it's now or never, so I've made an appointment for next week . . . pictures to follow after it's done!

The ARK

Last night I went with some friends to see the movie "Evan Almighty". In the movie, God (played by the brilliant Morgan Freeman) commands Evan Baxter to build an ark for the imminent flood. Without giving too much away, let me just say there are some truly, truly funny parts in the middle of this movie that had me choking on laughter for a good 15 minutes. Don't be mistaken however, this movie is not the best thing I've ever seen. The setup at the beginning is completely obvious and they really hit you over the head with the message. There were a couple of comedic gags that are very obvious and hit completely "below the belt", but otherwise it was a pretty good movie. During the previews there was another Steve Carell movie that looked really good too . . . Dan in Real Life.

One of the things I discovered last night was the idea of the ARK. No, not the boat, an Act of Random Kindness. A lot of people probably call these random acts of kindness, but I rather like the acronym ARK and how it all ties together with the bigger message of the movie. Last night on the skytrain on the way home after the movie, I experienced a real-life ARK! I was sitting on the train feeling really tired (it was past midnight) and just wanting to be home. When the train pulled into Gateway station (one stop before mine), I saw a transit officer outside the train. Thinking he was going to get on and check fares I bent down to dig my bus pass out of my purse. When I looked up, the officer was standing in front of me, holding a white rose bud to me (it looked as if it had just been picked off a rose bush). He said to me "have a good night!" and then got off the train just before the doors closed. It was so random and sweet and totally made my evening (which had already been pretty darn good to begin with). Anyway, the picture above is of that rose, which opened this morning. That simple gesture brought me happiness and I've been in a good mood ever since. I want to perform an ARK for someone else now . . . and I strongly encourage everyone to perform an ARK this week!

Happy Canada Day!

I've spent the better part of the this fine Canada Day watching the first season of Lost on DVD. It's very addictive. A while back I had a dream in which several Lost characters appeared and after that dream I started getting a very strong urge to start watching the show. A friend from work happened to have the first season on DVD (she bought it in Korea) and she was kind enough to loan it to me. Because it's from a different country I wasn't sure it would work in my DVD player, but it does so hooray! Anyway, I want to try and watch as much as I can today and tomorrow because I'm not sure when I'll have time to watch the rest after this long weekend. So I guess what I'm trying to say people is if you need me, I'll be LOST :-)

Moving

Nope, I'm NOT moving just in case you read the title of this post and went "What?!" This past few days I've been trying to get our Juniors program organized so that we could move to our new summer campus. The move happened yesterday and it went quite smoothly actually. But that's not actually what this post is about. Today I helped my best friend unpack and organize her boxes in her new classroom at school. It was a bit of an overwhelming job for her and I was happy to go and help her. I would have helped her move all the boxes too if she'd needed it, but there were two teachers (only TWO, out of a school of at least 12) who kindly helped her move them on Thursday and Friday. Anyway, we spent a good 3 hours unpacking, organizing, and throwing things away. In return she bought me lunch and drove me all the way home. She didn't even need to do that; I was happy to help. But I did learn something in all of this. I think we both did. Both of these recent moving experiences has taught me that anything having to do with moving really shows you who your real friends are! Moving is such a grubby, yucky, exhausting experience that it seems like it really takes true friends to offer to help you. To my true friends who have helped me move in the past: THANK YOU! To the people who helped us move boxes and desks yesterday in anticipation of summer: THANK YOU! To the people who may potentially help me move at some point in the future (at an undetermined time as I have NO PLANS to move ANYTIME SOON): THANK YOU! To all of my friends and family reading this blog: if you are planning to move, I will help you. That's what friends are for!

All About Me (for the umpteenth time)

As most of you know, I'm kinda a sucker for these kinds of surveys, so when I saw this on Jay's blog, I couldn't resist adding it to my own:

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My middle name, Wilma, is after my maternal grandmother, Wilhelmina
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? A few weeks ago I guess, when some of the stress of dealing with the upcoming summer got to me
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING Yes!
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? I don't eat much lunch meat since I'm not big on sandwiches, but if I had to choose, I guess I'd say roast beef.
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Nope.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? No, never (heavy sarcasm here). You're reading the blog of a person who was once called a "sarcastic wench" . . . does that answer your question?
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Most emphatically no!
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Normally I'd say Cheerios, but the past few times I've purchased cereal it's been Lucky Charms 'cause I love those marshmallows!
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Yes I do.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Depends on what kind of strength you're talking about. Physically I'm okay . . . I can carry heavy grocery bags home and lift the things I need to. I think I'm strong mentally, though. I'd like to think I have strength of character too.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Plain old vanilla.
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their faces and their sense of humour
15. RED OR PINK? Definitely pink!
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My weight.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My dad.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? Well, I want to see it on lots of people's blogs . . .
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? blue jeans and no shoes, but green woollen socks.
20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? a chocolate chip cookie
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Sense and Sensibility (I've got the DVD running in the background)
22. IF YOU WHERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? pink
23. FAVORITE SMELLS? the Honeysuckle Belle body wash I got from the States, grass, storms
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? My mom
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Well, I got it off Jay's blog and I can honestly say that she's a wonderful person whom I have yet to actually meet in person!
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? I don't mind watching hockey . . . and soccer
27. HAIR COLOR? Light brown (some might say dirty blonde, but I don't)
28. EYE COLOR? Hazel
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No. I wear glasses, but have never really wanted to try out contacts.
30. FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? I like both, but I'm a sucker for a happy ending at the end of a romantic comedy :-)
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? The Incredibles . . . I was watching it just before I popped in Sense and Sensibility
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Blue
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? I like aspects of both . . . but probably I prefer winter a little more because I don't do well in the heat.
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Cake.
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Have to agree with Jay on this one . . . Dianne (hint, hint)
38. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Jennifer
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (have to refresh my memory before the next book comes out!)
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Just the mouse . . . guess I'm boring!
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON T.V. LAST NIGHT? Debbie Travis: From the Ground Up
42. FAVORITE SOUND? Hugh Laurie's voice . . . both his normal accent and the fake American one. I also love the sound of laughter, especially when I've said or done something to make people laugh!
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? The Beatles
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME??? Germany, but that was a long, long time ago (close to twenty years!!)
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? Making a fool of myself (on purpose) in front of teenagers. Seriously, I have no fear anymore, which is good since during the summers I routinely speak to LARGE groups of teenagers (think 200!)
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Burnaby, B.C.
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Everyone! I love reading these things and filling them in!

New and Improved Kill Count

The new number is 18. Yes people, 18 dead! It's a glorious day when you can brag about killing 18 fruit flies. Now I have to get back to my important ninja work (wait, that reference probably doesn't make sense to you unless you were with me on Friday night).

The First Kill Count of 2007

At least I think it's my first! Anyway, I put out the secret fruit fly death formula only a few hours ago and I've already claimed five victims! Woot woot! Fruit flies will tremble at the mere thought of coming anywhere close to my sink ;-)

Weird Dream

I just woke up from another really weird dream. It was a little scary and had a really cool ending. In my dream I was in my room, lying in bed. My room pretty much looked like it does now, but bigger and with stuff (like kids' art projects) hanging from the ceiling. I was lying in bed thinking about the stuff I had to remove from the room so it could be painted (I know what prompted that part of the dream!). Anyway, as I was lying there, a HUGE spider (the size of my hand or bigger) crossed the wall that I was staring at and then crossed the room on black webbing! (Hmmm, I did watch the second Harry Potter movie last weekend) Anyway, I jumped out of bed and started freaking out and screaming. This was one HUGE and menacing-looking spider. My sister came over at that point. She was going to help me clean out my bedroom. I told her about the spider and she said she would help me get rid of it. We found some raid and I started spraying close to where I had last seen it. The spider came out of the closet and I blasted it with spray. It went into death throes and ran back into the closet. I kept spraying it and it came back out of the closet. My sister, who was holding a fly swatter, handed the spider the fly swatter so that it could take it's own life with a little dignity. Then the spider started TALKING to my sister! I can't remember what they were talking about though. A few seconds after that, my attention was attracted away from this sight by the sounds of talking outside my window. I looked outside and I saw Harry Potter flying towards my window on his broom! Hermione was with him, and she had just landed on the sidewalk down below my window. I remember saying something like "Jennifer, forget about the talking spider for a minute, you gotta come here and see this!" and that's when I woke up.

On Saturday Afternoons in 1963

I've fallen in love with a new song. It's called "On Saturday Afternoons in 1963" and it's sung by Rickie Lee Jones (whom I had never actually heard of until I heard this song). I first heard this song on a first season episode of "House" called Paternity. It's played at the end of the episode when you see House watching his patient play lacrosse. It struck a deep chord in me the first time I heard it, and not too long ago as I was rewatching the episode on my House DVD, I decided I had to find out what the song was called and download it (perfectly legally through iTunes, so relax people!). The official House website has this cool feature where you can look up the songs played in any episode of House . . . for the second and third seasons only! Do you have any idea how freakin' annoying that was?! Anyway, I did a little internet research and found the name of the song. I downloaded and have been listening to it ever since. It makes me feel nostalgic and happy and sad at the same time. The melody is haunting. Anyway, the lyrics are below. If you have the chance to listen to it, I strongly suggest that you do!

The most as you'll ever go
Is back where you used to know
If grown-ups could laugh this slow
Where as you watch the hour snow
Years may go by

So hold on to your special friend
Here, you'll need something to keep her in :
"Now you stay inside this foolish grin ... "
Though any day your secrets end
Then again
Years may go by

You saved your own special friend
'Cuz here you need something to hide her in
And you stay inside that foolish grin
When everyday now secrets end
Oh and then again
Years may go by

Crazy for Hugh

I might be a little, no, a LOT, crazy about Hugh Laurie. If you don't know who I'm talking about, this blog is clearly NOT for you. A little while back, the picture on my MSN screen became this:

This picture alone wasn't enough to feed my addiction. I changed the desktop of my computer at work to this picture:

To be 100% fair, I didn't actually set out to find this picture when I did my search at work. I typed the phrase "Baby Blues" into google, intending to find a funny cartoon panel from one of my favourite cartoons, "Baby Blues." It must have been fate (or destiny, I'm not sure) that lead me to this picture. I don't think I'll be changing it, unless I find another picture of Hugh. A few minutes ago I decided it was time to find a Hugh Laurie picture to spice up my desktop at home. This is what is now on my home desktop:

Excuse me while I take a moment to wipe the drool off my keyboard. So, do you think I'm addicted?

Renovations

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I've been quite busy with my latest project: renovating my apartment! I guess renovations isn't quite the right word since I'm not knocking anything down or making many major changes. The painting that I had planned to do in the living room/dining room area is done. I wanted to take this week to paint the living room/dining room area and my bedroom, but it wasn't meant to be. Instead, EVERYTHING is getting repainted! My bedroom will have to wait until after I choose fabric for curtains, however . . . boo! This is what's been done so far: We've selected and purchased fabric for slipcovers and throw pillows, the paint has been purchased and put on the walls in the living room/dining room, and new light fixtures have been purchased for the kitchen and hallways. The exisiting light fixture for the dining room is going to get painted to match the decor. Eventually we'll paint the table too. Oh, and I purchased a new showerhead and a new towel bar and toilet paper holder for the bathroom. It's been an expensive week already! Anyway, once everything is done I'll be posting pictures of before and after! Stay tuned . . .

Outlet Shopping

Got back from outlet shopping down south a little while ago. We had a BLAST! We didn't actually make it all the way into Seattle, instead we stopped at Seattle's Premium Outlets in Tulalip. Picture it . . . a huge complex with about 80 brand name stores, and only 5 restaurants in the food court! Oh well, the mission was to shop, not eat, right? Anyway, we spent about 4 hours walking around and shopping, and we got some fantastic deals! I got three pairs of shoes, all for the summer, for about $75. The first pair of sandals came from Nine West and the other two are from the Shoe Pavilion. The second two pairs are identical, just different colours. They are easily the most comfortable shoes I have ever owned. Putting them on my feet was an almost sexual experience. Anyway . . . I also bought a pair of capris and two t-shirts from Lane Bryant. My friend got a pair of sandal from Nine West that are identical to mine, a denim skirt, two pairs of capris, a couple of shirts, several panties and a couple of bras, as well as a new Coach wristlet. By far the busiest store was Banana Republic. The line-up for the change rooms alone was easily as long as the border line we encountered heading south (about 90 minutes). Then there was another long line up for the cashier . . . it was just too much. Anyway, after we went shopping we decided to head back towards the border to find a hotel so we didn't have to hurry this morning. The first Best Western we stopped at was full, so we kept going towards Bellingham. We stopped at the Best Western Heritage Inn right next to Bellis Fair. It was a perfect location . . . we even managed to go into Bellis Fair for a little while (where we made a couple of purchases as Victoria's Secret). We had breakfast at Denny's this morning and away we went. The line up to get back across the border only took about 5 minutes, which was nice. We declared about a third of what we purchased, so technically speaking, we are guilty of smuggling ;-)

Meet my new Hollywood boyfriend

His name is Sendhil Ramamurthy. He can currently be seen on "Heroes". Need I say more?

My Spidey-Sense

Last night I saw Spiderman 3. It was good, but not as good as the previous 2. The theatre was packed so I had to sit quite close to the front, but I didn't mind. What I did kind of mind was the fact that the two kids next to me wouldn't stop talking! Their parents would shush them once in a while, but not often enough for my taste. I think they were probably too young to be at an evening movie (though it wasn't really late - it started at 7) since about halfway through the movie they started asking to go home. The other thing I didn't like was about three-quarters of the way through the movie a guy's cell phone went off. The man actually answered the phone and had a five minute conversation right in the theatre!

Anyway, I thought the special effects with the Sandman villain were superb. The other villains, I'm sorry to say, were a little disappointing. The black goo that takes over Spiderman for a while made for some very interesting personality changes in Peter Parker though. His "new" personality made for some of the funniest moments of the film. The other funny parts came from Bruce Campbell's character and Ted Raimi's character. On a scale of one to ten, I'd rate Spiderman 3 a solid 6.5 to 7.

Movies

I ended up renting 4 different movies yesterday evening. Each was different from the other, and each was good in its own way. Here are my thoughts on each:

1. Notes on a Scandal
This movie was initially recommended to me by a friend at work. This movie, more than any of the others I rented this weekend, resonated with me. I felt very sympathetic to both characters, but more to Judi Dench's character. I can easily imagine how the loneliness of the years impacted her enough to make her an obsessive woman with only her cat and fantasies for company. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 9.

2. John Tucker Must Die
This movie was just a little bit of fun for the weekend. It actually was a bit better than I expected. The plot is fairly predictable, but it's still cute. I find it a little hard to believe that the female lead can be "invisible" in school given that she's blonde, cute, has a good figure, and is smart, but whatever. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 7.

3. Scoop
This movie was the most unexpected of the 4. Having seen Match Point, which was another Woody Allen movie starring Scarlett Johansson, I was expection something a little more slick and mysterious. This movie was a little bit more like a comedy - particularly the scenes with "death". I also couldn't quite wrap my head around the fact that Scarlett Johansson's character was a bit of a nerd. On a scale of 1 to 10, I rate this movie a 7.

4. Freedom Writers
This movie was probably the most predictable of all 4 in terms of what the ending was going to be. Anyone who has seen Dangerous Minds, Stand and Deliver, or even Mr. Holland's Opus knows where this movie is going to end up. But that's not really a bad thing given the movie's subject matter. The only "complaint" I had with this movie was the pointlessness of Patrick Dempsey's character. I guess he serves the purpose of illustrating just how dedicated Hilary Swank's character was becoming to her students, but really, was that 100% necessary? Anyway, it is always inspiring to see a teacher make a difference in the lives of her students, so I enjoyed the movie anyway. On a scale of 1 to 10, this was an 8.

Ways in which I am like MacGyver

Okay, so there's really only one way in which I'm like the character MacGyver - I was able to fix a problem with a single paperclip (and no, the problem wasn't that I need to hold some papers together)! The zipper on my jacket broke and for now, I'm using a paperclip to operate the zipper. This is only a temporary fix until I can buy a new jacket . . . but I can live with it for now.

Just came home from seeing the movie "Fracture" with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Wow! It was a very, very compelling courtroom drama. I'm impressed with the Canadian boy, I must say. The whole time I was watching all I could think of was "where's the gun?" Now I know. I also saw a preview for a movie that I want to see. It's called "Martian Child" and it stars John Cusack. It looks like a really touching story. The premise is a little goofy - single man adopts a young boy who thinks he's from Mars - but I have a feeling that the Mars bit is really only an opening into a deeper discussion of the importance of being yourself. At least, I hope so.

I think maybe tomorrow I will walk over to the video store and rent a few movies that I've been meaning to see. I haven't actually rented any videos in a long while (can't really remember the last time I rented a movie) and it will keep me busy while I'm stuck at home doing chores.

Hello out there in blog land!

Hello fellow bloggers (or at least the ones not currently too addicted to facebook to keep up with blogging)! How is everything with you? I'm fine, but pretty tired these days. No specific reason I guess, just life catching up with me. My students have been fine, work is fine, blah, blah, blah. I'm closer to choosing my paint colours, but I was rather disappointed today when I stopped by Home Depot for some sample paints and discovered that it would cost me nearly $50 to get the 3 colour samples I wanted. FORGET IT! I picked up some more paint chips and plan on taping them up around the room in order to make my final decision.

Went to a re-gifting party last night hosted by my lovely sister. The basic idea was that people brought over stuff that they no longer wanted (either new or gently used stuff, not garbage) and had the opportunity to take other people's stuff. The stuff that was left over at the end of the evening was being donated to charity. It was a really cool idea and worked quite well, for the most part. There weren't a ton of people, and the stuff that people had brought was good stuff. I think in the future though, there should be a few "rules" or procedures set up so that choosing items is fair. There weren't any problems or anything last night, but I could see problems arising if more than one person really wanted one particular item. Anyway, I got rid of the stuff I really didn't want anymore, and came home with nothing. There were a couple of things that I would have taken if nobody else had wanted it, but the items were taken after all.

Last night before the party my purse strap broke. Has that ever happened to you? It happened to me about a year ago, which is what prompted me to buy the purse whose strap broke yesterday. Had the fabric not been so thick, I probably would have been able to sew the strap back on, but I didn't have the best needle for the job and there were about 4 layers of fabric to sew through, so I couldn't get it back together. The purse was starting to get a little worn (it wasn't overly expensive to begin with) so I decided to use the opportunity to get a new purse. I ended up splurging and getting two purses - one black and one brown. Both are Roots purses, and the black one is really similar to the one I was replacing, so I'm happy.

Back to work already again tomorrow - yuck! I love my job, I really do, but I'm looking forward to having a week off next month! Anyway, I'd better get back to those paint samples.

Reality Roundup

I'll admit it, I'm addicted to reality tv. I just finished watching America's Next Top Model and now I'm watching The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll. On Sunday's I watch The Amazing Race and The Apprentice. On Mondays I watch The Bachelor (but not as regularly as the other reality shows) and on Thursdays I watch Survivor. Here are my thoughts on what's happening on the shows:

The Amazing Race: What can I say? I actually really did like Rob and Amber and I'm sad that they're gone. Of the teams that are left, I think I like Oswald and Danny the best (Oswald is soooo cute!!). Charla and Mirna are growing on me, but I honestly don't care at all for the Beauty Queens (Dustin and Kandice) or Eric and Danielle.

The Apprentice: What a lousy season! I can't believe Trump moved the show to L.A. It seems to have lost its edge. The business tasks, for the most part, have seem rather uninspired. This business in the last episode of having the final task being done by the final four was just lame. The task was just like any other task and it sucked! Trump had better get his act together and move the show back to New York or I'm not watching again next season!

The Bachelor: Can't say I have many strong opinions about the show right now. Andy is cute, that's for sure. He seems like a genuinely nice guy too.

America's Next Top Model: Kinda glad that Jael just went home. She takes awesome photos, but she really doesn't do well when she has to talk. I went through a period of not liking Rene, but I think she's getting better so I kinda like her again. I still like Brittany too. At this point I'm not really sure who's going to win.

The Search for the Next Pussycat Doll: I like Melissa R. She's so cute . . . Chelsea has an awesome voice though. Melissa S. is just a b*tch. She looks old too. Asia annoys me when she sings, but when she talked about her daughter during the interview I saw a new side to her. I still don't know who should win.

Survivor: Some interesting twists this season. I really like Earl and Yau-Man. I liked Michelle too, but she was voted off last week. I'd love for Yau-Man to win!

Sun Run!

Edit (April 16, 2007): My official time, according to the Vancouver Sun newspaper, was 1 hour, 57 minutes and 31 seconds. Woot woot!

These are the photos from today's Sun Run. My mom, step-dad and me!! We walked it in approximately two hours - my best time by a good half an hour. I felt great during and after the walk. I actually really felt like I could turn around and walk the whole thing again by the time we were done :-)

Sweet Dreams

Okay, so I had a very interesting dream last night. It started on the skytrain, heading eastbound. I was crossing one of those pristine landscapes that you only get in BC: snowcapped mountains, a clear blue mountain lake, etc. Somehow I knew I was heading towards New West station. For anoyone who doesn't know about the skytrain, snowcapped mountains and a clear blue lake are NOT what you cross to get to New West station. Anyway, when I looked down at the lake (and it was most definitely a lake), I saw a bunch of whales! At first I saw blue whales and humpback whales (a lot were lying on little islands and not moving - not sure if they were dead, or just not being "used" at the moment. You'll see what I mean in a minute.) After another minute or so, I saw a bunch of killer whales frolicking and playing in the water. As we approached the station, I looked to my left and saw a killer whale "shaking" it's head (think "Free Willy" style). You think that would have tipped me off in my dream, but not yet! Anyway, we got close enough to the station to see people lined up waiting to board the train. That's when everyone on the train saw a killer whale jump up high enough to start trying to eat the people standing in line at the station! Everyone on the train and at the station started screaming! Then there were a few men who jumped out and tried to act like heroes, including the man above (Terry O'Quinn). When I saw him, I suddenly knew that we were in the middle of filming a scene from the show "Lost", except that nobody on the skytrain knew what was happening. All those whales? They were trained animals and props. In the next heartbeat, I was at work in the staffroom of the school. I was lying in bed (no, in real life there are no beds in our staffroom) in that near sleep state where you are aware of what's going on around you, but your eyes are closed and you don't care what's going on. There were only a few people in the staffroom, and they were in the kitchen area looking at a staff shopping list I had written. One of the other teachers was trying to take credit for it and it was annoying me, but I was too tired to say anything about it. A few seconds later I was walking out the door with one of the "Three Stooges", and I realized that she'd gotten a haircut. I knew it was a Thursday afternoon because she said "see you on Sunday morning at the Sun Run!" and I said "aren't you coming to work tomorrow?" and she explained that she was taking the day off to deal with a car payment problem she was having. That's when I commented on her haircut. I had to lie and tell her I thought it looked good, when in reality, short hair does not suit this woman at all! A few seconds later, we were both on the skytrain together, heading westbound. In reality, neither one of us takes the skytrain to get home. Anyway, she got off at a stop (don't know which one, it didn't look like any of the stops I'm used to) and was walking along a path parallel to the skytrain tracks. I looked over at her to wave when I saw that she had a tell-tale baby bump and was in fact pregnant, but nobody at work knew it yet. That's when I woke up. So. Weird.

Paint, paint, paint

Have to decide on paint colours. I would do like Dianne did and post my options, but I'm not feeling so technical right now. I have taken the enormous step of taping up some paint chips to the wall to see what I like. I took the chips to work yesterday to get some advice from some of the lovely ladies I work with (well, those still in the building past 3:30 anyway). They had a multitude of opinions, particularly after I showed them some pictures I had on my e-mail of what my place looks like. They were so curious to see what my place looked like that they crowded all around me and my computer. Discovered that I'm still claustrophobic . . . I thought I was going to die at one point when all 5 of them were standing around me! Luckily the feeling passed quickly. Unfortunately their opinions were very diverse and didn't bring me any closer to a decision! Laurie did suggest taping up the samples I liked the best, which I was planning on doing anyway, and that was about as helpful as it got.

I thought I may get some more guidance last night when my mom came over. Yeah, not so much. I mean, she did have lots of ideas, but they didn't really involve paint colour. One thing she suggested which I liked was to paint the dining room area a darker shade than that living room area to define the two spaces. Still no closer to choosing actual colours though. All my life I've had trouble making decisions about what colour to paint things. It's happened every time I've had to choose colours for my bedroom when I was younger. Luckily I have a little bit over a month to decide. If I stare at these paint chips long enough, I may actually make a decision!

Facebook

It's all I hear about these days at work . . . so I joined Facebook today! I don't know how often I'll use it given I rarely use my MySpace account, but it'll be fun for networking. Anyway, if you're on Facebook and want to add me, search for Kim Feuchter!

Clean at Last!

Well I actually did it. I told lots of people I would (including everyone who reads my blog) and I had to force myself to do it, but I actually did my spring cleaning this weekend! I started early on Friday morning (got up at my usual 7am to trick myself into thinking it was actually a work day) and spent about 3 and a half hours filling garbage bags and emptying boxes. I took about 7 or 8 garbage bags out to the dumpster (and boy did my legs feel it the next day!). I managed to accomplish my first goal of the living room and bedroom. I have to say, they both look awesome now! I forgot to take the traditional "before" photos, so there's not a lot of point in posting the "after" photos (I e-mailed them to the family members who have seen my place at its worst, figuring they now deserve to see my place at its best). I took a break on Friday afternnon when I was done the task I had set myself. I ended up with a tub full of odds and ends that I'm donating to charity, unless my friends want to lay claim to any of the items in it. A few of them, after sending out an e-mail offering up the stuff in the tub, have e-mailed me back to lay claim to a few of the items, so that's good. I also have a bag full of clothing to go to charity (if I took another close look at my closet, I could probably come up with another bag full) and three boxes of stuff to go down to my storage area.

This morning I woke up early again (though not quite as early as Friday since my task for today was a lot smaller) and tackled the kitchen. That was mostly a cleaning job rather than an organizational job. Traditionally my kitchen is a terrible mess, but I couldn't let it stay that way given the nice and clean living room and bedroom I now have. I got the room cleaned and organized (my counters have never been more free of stuff) and it only took an hour and a half (including the time it took to wash the dishes. There weren't that many dishes, but one of the bowls was new and it had a sticky label on it that took about twenty minutes to pick off). I got a couple of other pesky chores done too. I definitely want to get my painting done sooner rather than later! My walls have a bunch of holes in them from stuff that the previous tenants had hanging on the walls and I don't want to hang up my own pictures until the walls have been patched and painted! Hopefully I'll get the painting and "redecorating" done during the last week of May when I have my Spring Break from school. Now I just have to decide on paint colours!

Numbers

I've been thinking a lot about numbers lately . . .

1 - The number of biological siblings I have

2 - The number of televisions I have

3 - The number of days it took for me to remember that it's now April and I should change the calendar

4 - The number of step-brothers and sisters I have

5 - The number of the Level I teach in grammar class

(This could get boring really fast, so I'll skip ahead a little)

15 - The approximate number of telephone numbers I have memorized

19 - The number of pairs of new socks I just bought from Zellers (where they have mega-cute socks!)

20 - The number of pairs of socks I just cleaned out of my drawer

31 - The number of telephone numbers currently programmed into my cell phone

115 - The total number of pairs of socks I currently own, including the 19 new ones and the 20 I took out of my drawer. WOW! I could pretty much wear a different pair of socks every day until July 27th before I would have to wash them all and start again. May I say again . . . WOW!

Woot Woot for the Sun

So my dentist appointment on Saturday went fine. Apparently I have very nice teeth (said to me by both the dentist and the hygienist) and very strong enamel. That's nice to know. Since my appointment was finished early, I was able to get a couple of errands done before I was supposed to meet my friend for lunch. Long story short: we didn't end up having lunch as she got "detained" elsewhere. Actually, it really ticked me off as we were supposed to meet at 2 and she didn't end up calling me until close to 2:30 to tell me that she was running late. Since she just left a message on my voicemail, it was almost 3 by the time we actually talked and I was STARVING! Needless to say, I was more than a little irritated to find out that she was going to be able to make it after all. Grrrr.

How glad was I to finally see the sun on Sunday?! I have to say, I had no idea just how depressed I was starting to feel until the sun came out! My two favourite seasons are fall and spring. Both tend to be cool but not freezing cold. I love fall because of the changing colours and the excitement of "back to school" (well, before I started teaching year round). But, I love spring because of the feelings of renewal, birth, and the emergence of the sun! I love how seeing the sun again brings a fresh bounce to my step and a new lightness to my heart. In honour of the sun, I wrote this haiku today:

Saw the sun today.
Will it be back tomorrow?
I sure do hope so.

In honour of spring (and the rain forecast for later this week) I wrote this spring haiku:

The rain falls gently
As I walk around the town.
I am soaking wet.

Can you tell that the theme this week in my afternoon class is poetry? Tomorrow we'll go over the poem "In Flanders Field", which is a poem I happen to really like. I still remember most of it from when I had to memorize it in sixth grade (typed as I would say it):

In Flanders Field the poppies blow between the crosses row on row that mark our place and in the sky the larks still bravely singing fly scarce heard amidst the guns below we are the dead short days ago we lived felt dawn saw sunset's glow take up our quarrel with the foe to you from failing hands we throw the torch be yours to hold up high and . . .

Just for reference, here's the actual poem:

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

(Turns out my memory ain't all that bad after all!)

Ugh

I have a dentist's appointment today. When I was younger going to the dentist never bothered me, but now . . . I'm sure it was the cause of last night's mild insomnia. I'm sure the constant rain isn't helping either. It's pretty much supposed to rain all week, which is too depressing to really put into words. So let me just say again, "Ugh!"

The Many Faces of Kim

I got this way cool idea from the way cool Vesper!

Kim . . . The Botticelli version.

Kim . . . The Manga version.

Kim . . . The Modigliani version (my favourite!)

Old Kim.

You can transform yourself here. Be careful though . . . as you can see, the results can be scary!

The Zzzzzzzzzzz Report

I don't know what did it, but this week I finally managed to get a decent night's sleep without any sleep aids! Ever since Thursday night I've had no problems falling asleep . . . or in getting a full night's sleep! I pretty much feel back to normal now, which is a relief. I'd forgotten how nice it was to be able to go to bed and fall asleep :-) Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Sleep Review

Well, I tried the sleep CD last night. I can see where it would be helpful for people who have a hard time letting go of their worries or anger. It goes through certain steps to help a person relax, so it talks about deep breathing and relaxing your muscles. The spoken word is combined with relaxing music designed to help a person fall asleep and sleep deeply. Since I didn't have any worries or anger and felt relaxed, I don't think the CD particularly helped me. I listened to it for about an hour before I switched to one of my books on tape. All in all, I had a fairly decent night's sleep - it took me just over an hour to fall asleep, and then I only woke up once during the night to use the bathroom. I think I'll take a sleeping pill tonight and then that's it. I'm putting the pills away and only using them in an emergency.

And the Oscar Goes to . . .

I didn't actually think I'd watch the Oscars last night since I've lost interest in it over the years, but at 5:30 when it started . . . For the most part, I enjoyed the awards this year. I thought Ellen did a great job hosting. I really enjoyed her bits out in the audience with Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood. What made me laugh the hardest, however, was when Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt were presenting and taking about who was supposed to get Merryl Streep her cappuccino. Cut to Meryl Streep in the front row and the expression on her face is CLASSIC! I thought the men generally looked awesome in their tuxedoes, but not a lot of the women wowed me this year. Helen Mirren looked awesome, I loved Cate Blanchett's dress, Kate Winslet looked divine, and Maggie Gyllenhall looked great. I thought Jennifer Hudson looked wonderful (when she took off that stupid gold cropped jacket) and Jodie Foster didn't look too bad either. Oh, and I thought Emily Blunt looked fab too. Can't say I was thrilled with Anne Hathaway's getup, and I really didn't like Nicole Kidman's look, or Gwenyth Paltrow's outfit either. At 8 o'clock I did change channels and watch The Amazing Race, but I flipped back and forth and saw most of the major awards too. Way to go Jennifer Hudson for winning an Oscar for your very first movie! I was pleased that Helen Mirren and Forrest Whitaker won too. I haven't seen The Departed, but I've heard from many other people that it was awesome, so I'm sure it deserved to win Best Picture. All in all, a good evening.

Chinese New Year

Today at the mall where my sister works they had a Chinese New Year celebration. Stores had the option of hanging red envelopes containing money outside their stores and a Chinese dragon (which turned out to be a lion) would come around, collect the money, and bless the store. My sister's office took part and it was really cool! According to Yvonne, my sister's lovely Chinese coworker, I would share in the good luck since I was in the office during the blessing. None of us had cameras with us, but Yvonne and I both took pictures with our camera phones.
This is the best picture of the 5 I took. The lion was followed by some drummers, which you can see to the left of the lion. It was totally cool to watch the lion stretch upwards to reach the red envelope, which had lettuce attached to it. Then the lion threw lettuce at us and into the office for good luck. Way cool!

Sunday Summary

It's only Sunday morning so there isn't much to summarize yet, but I know what I will be doing today, so I thought I'd talk about that. First let me tell you about my knee . . . it's healing a little bit every day. I'm able to walk on it more and more, but I get tired more easily because my walk still isn't 100% back to where it was. So in my quest to go back to living my regular life yesterday, I went out with my best friend for lunch and then we did a bit of shopping (not a lot because a lot of standing around makes my knee hurt, and because it didn't take us long to find what we were looking for anyway). In the afternoon I stayed home and watched a couple of DVDs (Take the Lead with Antonio Banderas and Shall We Dance? with Richard Gere).

Today I will be going with my sister and brother-in-law to Maple Ridge to visit my dad for his birthday. His birthday isn't actually until Thursday the 22nd, but since that's the middle of the week, it's not practical for us to go then. We're also going to celebrate Chinese New Year by having Chinese food for lunch. I haven't had Chinese food for a while, so that should be good. Tonight is the season premiere of The Amazing Race so I'm looking forward to watching that too.

Woot woot!

Went to the doctor this morning and things turned out really well! When I told the doctor how much better my knee was feeling and how I felt like I could do more walking, he was really shocked, but pleased. The x-rays were normal, he said, and then he said that there was no reason why I couldn't go back to walking to work as long as I was careful (not about the knee necessarily, but about the neighbourhood)! May I reiterate . . . WOOT WOOT! As a result, I was able to walk to the bus stop this afternoon and take the bus the rest of the way home. Tomorrow morning I plan on walking to work. Life is good again!

Going to the Doctor

Well, in a couple of short hours I should be in the doctor's examining room to find out more about my knee. It is actually feeling much better than it was last week at this time. I feel like it has more mobility, it's not aching as much towards the end of the day, and my limp is disappearing as I'm able to walk more and more naturally. It's obviously still not 100%, but it's feeling so much better already that I really, really, really want to believe that it will heal on its own over the next few weeks. I don't know if that's a realistic wish or not, but there you have it. I've been trying to keep off my leg as much as possible, particularly in the past couple of days when I've been feeling better and wanting to walk more. I don't want to overdo it right now and set my recovery back. I mostly want the doctor to tell me today that it's okay for me to walk to work again in the mornings. That's been the biggest pain (and cost) of all - taking a cab to work every morning! I'm glad I live as close as I do and I've only had to pay around $8 a day, but still, it's added up fast! I can take the bus home from work more easily than I can to work, so I'll still be able to rest my leg a bit. Lovely blog readers, keep your fingers crossed for me today! I'll post again tonight and let you know what the doctor said!

Happy Heart Day

Tomorrow is Valentine's Day. I hate this holiday. I have never had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day and that just makes me feel like crap. Then I feel like crap for feeling like crap. This year I feel terrible because I usually get valentine cards for my students (sometimes little treats too) and this year I couldn't make it to the store because of my knee. At least one of the other junior teachers is bringing treats for her students, so now I feel really bad. All because of my stupid knee!!!!!!!!!!

The other night I started thinking about getting an MRI. I've never had one before (I've been quite healthy and relatively injury-free all my life, so my visits to the hospital have been minimal), but I've seen them done many times on tv shows like House and E.R. If the MRI is actually like what I've seen on those shows, it scares me a bit. Not the actual test itself, but having to lie still in such a small space for the duration of the test! I get chills just thinking about it! I really must be a bit claustrophobic because when I stop to think about it, it totally freak me out! I guess, if and when I ever get this MRI, I'll have to tell myself to just relax and breathe.

6 Weird Things About Me

I've seen this meme on several other blogs and I enjoyed all the little details I've learned about those people, so I'm doing one of my own.

One
I have this funny habit of talking to myself. You may not think that's weird, and normally I would agree, but it's gone beyond just talking to myself. I answer myself too. I also narrate the things I'm doing, particularly at work. It's not at all unusual to hear me say something along the lines of, "okay, I'm going to make 10 copies of this grammar package, then I'll send that e-mail to X, and now I'm looking for that worksheet I need for language arts class . . ." I have to tell the people around me to tell me to shut up once in a while or I won't stop!

Two
I once went to a Star Trek convention dressed in a costume. I'd do it again. 'nuff said.

Three
When I was younger one of my favourite snacks was a mustard sandwich. Not a sandwich with mustard on it, but a piece of break with nothing but mustard. Yummy!

Four
I'm 20-something years old and I've never had a drop of alcohol to drink. I never intend to drink alcohol either.

Five
I do not like the movies Bambi or Dumbo. I find them both incredibly boring.

Six
I am a teacher, but I have not yet developed an addiction to coffee. I'll have the occasional cup, particularly if I feel a headache coming on or if I'm really tired, but usually weeks can go by before I pour myself another cup of coffee.

My poor knee

Went to the doctor this morning. He believes that I've ruptured some cartilage and sent me for an X-ray. He says I need an MRI too, which with the state of our health care here in Canada right now, I will likely have to wait up to a year for. For now I'll be limping around a lot, and I may get some crutches next week. I have to go back and see the doctor next week, so hopefully things will become more clear then. Right now I'm not amused.

Sun Run Training Week 1

Once again this year, I'm doing the Sun Run. This year I'm actually training beforehand because I'm doing it with my mom and she really wants to train. Today, in the rain, wind, and near-freezing temperatures, we walked from Royal Oak Skytrain Station and Edmonds Skytrain Station (for those of you not from the Lower Mainland, keep reading as I'll be giving you actual numbers in a moment!). The walk took about an hour, roundtrip. Based on what I know about how fast I can walk and the distance I can cover, I estimated that we'd walked about 4 km. I was wrong. It was closer to 4.5! I felt good afterwards and I'm still not at all sore (yet! We'll seee how I feel tomorrow morning!) I still think setting the right pace is key. Anyway, before that walk I had spent a good 25 minutes walking in New Westminster (different story), so I'm guessing I walked about 2 km then. I suppose walking to and from work everyday has really done me good as even after mom and I stopped walking I felt as though I could have gone on much longer! We stopped for a couple of reasons . . . both of us had to go pee, it was really rainy and cold and we were getting pretty wet, and we were getting hungy! We had a good lunch of homemade soup and toast made by my stepfather - thanks Howie! Anyway, we're going to walk again next Sunday, and if the weather is decent we'll go down to the dikes in Delta and walk along the water. At this rate we should be in good shape for the April 15th Sun Run!

EDIT: It's now Tuesday morning (this post was originally made on Sunday night) and I haven't felt a bit sore from the long walk on Sunday. Things are looking good!

Geeky Post

This post marks a "first" for me . . . it's my first post using the Mozilla Firefox browser! Hopefully all of you reading this won't notice any difference ;-) Over the past couple of years many people have suggested that I try this browser but I always resisted. I figured that Internet Explorer was good enough for me. To a degree, I still think that. My school uses an online database for things like our progress reports and attendance records. In the last couple of months every time I tried to sit down at home and open the database website, I would get rerouted to the homepage of the school. A coworker recently experienced the same problem and told me this morning that after she downloaded Firefox she didn't have any more problems. Lo and behold - same thing when I downloaded Firefox at home! Unfortunately because my program uses a different version of the database that hasn't been finished yet, I'm still not really able to use it at home, but at least now I can access it! I've also discovered that Firefox is fun to play with, but I think I will still continue to use Internet Explorer as my primary web browser.

And the number one show on the planet is . . .

. . . CSI: Miami! I'm not even joking. I was reading this article in my TV Week magazine about CSI: Miami and at the end of the article was a mini-article about the top 10 shows on the planet, according to the research firm Informa Telecoms and Media. Here's the complete top-ten list:

1. CSI: Miami
2. Lost
3. Desperate Housewives
4. Te Voy a Ensenar a Querer (I Will Teach You to Love)
5. The Simpsons
6. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
7. Without a Trace
8. Inocente de Ti (Innocent of You)
9. Anita, No Te Rajes! (Anita, Don't Give Up!)
10. The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

5 Things

Here are 5 things you don't know about me (which I stole from here):

1. I can sing/rap the entire theme song to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. What can I say? It's one of those songs that really sticks in your head!

2. I talk to myself. A lot. And I have been known to answer myself sometimes too. It's the way I organize my thoughts.

3. Right now I have a Barry Manilow song stuck in my head: "Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl . . ."

4. I love men with British accents! Let me reiterate: I LOVE men with British accents! Hugh Laurie, Hugh Grant, Patrick Stewart, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, Clive Owen, Daniel Craig, John Hannah . . . the list goes on.

5. Although all my teacher training was with young children (five and six year olds), I discovered that I love teaching teenagers. They drive me crazy sometimes, but connecting with them is really worthwhile.

It's your turn! What don't I know about you?

My Dad

For some reason I feel compelled to write this post tonight. I don't talk much about my dad since it's difficult to talk about his current circumstances. You see, my dad isn't the same man I knew as I was growing up. He lives in a hospital now, suffering from Alzheimer's disease. As part of the disease, he doesn't really talk anymore and doesn't walk either. I don't think he recognizes me when I visit either, so it's hard to make those visits.

Anyway, usually I confine my thinking about my dad to early in the mornings when I'm walking to work. It's a quiet time when I can be alone with my thoughts. Since I walk to work in the morning, the fresh air and exercise reminds me that I can't dwell on any thoughts for too long as I only have a twenty minute walk. Usually I feel like it's the only time I can really allow myself to feel what I'm feeling. I try not to let my emotions show too much with my friends or other family members. I don't really know why. I feel like I have to carry this burden myself and be strong for others. My mom and dad divorced a long time ago, and even though my mom probably would understand a little bit of how I feel (her own mother had Alzheimer's disease), it's different for her since she lived in a completely different country from her mother and didn't see the daily/weekly/monthly progression of the disease. I guess I also think that it's not fair to make my mom listen to the feelings I have about a man she divorced and doesn't love anymore? After all, she is remarried now. I don't often share my thoughts with my sister either. She has her husband now to share her feelings with, and I kinda feel like I don't belong in that family group anymore. I definitely don't feel like I can share my feelings with my stepmother because she already assumes so much of the burden of taking care of my dad. She visits him daily and helps to feed him and attends his care conferences. I don't want to add to her burden by sharing how I feel. My friends know about my dad, but I can't talk to them about my feelings either since I hate to show any kind of weakness or strong emotions in front of them. I usually take the role of "caretaker" and advice giver in my circle of friends and it's hard to picture myself taking the opposite role.

Anyway, today during my third class my students were listening to a song by Beyonce called "Listen". The song kinda reminds me of some of Whitmey Houston's songs, and that made me think of the movie "The Preacher's Wife". Then I remembered that when I went to see that movie with a friend, my dad was in the same theatre watching the movie too and we ran into each other on the way out! It was such a random, chance meeting and it was really special since we only got to see our dad on weekends after my parents got divorced.

I thought of my dad again during my lunch break as another teacher and I were talking about our skiing experiences and I remarked that both my parents enjoyed skiing when they were younger. That reminded me of a picture I have of a ski trip we took one year to Big White. My sister and I are on a tobaggon with my dad. He looks so young - he has hair! It's brown. He even has facial hair. (ALTHOUGH YOU WOULDN'T HAVE NOTICED THE ABSENCE, BLOGGERS, I'VE HAD TO STEP AWAY FROM MY COMPUTER FOR 15 MINUTES AS I WAS CRYING TOO HARD TO CONTINUE TYPING. I THINK I'LL BE OKAY TO CONTINUE NOW.) Now I'm remembering that one Christmas Eve, before my dad married my stepmom, we had Christmas Eve dinner at my dad's place. He lived in a converted "apartment" above the mechanic's shop he owned (it wasn't zoned to be an apartment, so it was very cold and made of concrete). We had fondue and went to Church. We decorated his place with candy canes. I also remember my dad taking me to Star Trek conventions, including two in Seattle! I remember being in a campground with my parents when I was really young and my dad taking me by the hand and walking me to the bathroom. I came out of the girl's washroom and turned in the wrong direction and got lost. I remember my dad and sister going out skiing and walking the Sun Run together one year. I wish I had gone too. My parent's came to my grad dinner dance and I got to dance with my dad . . .

You know Bindi Irwin, that cute little daughter of the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin? Ever since he died, I can't watch little Bindi on tv. Every time I see her, I just cry. It's like that with the Amanda Bynes/Colin Firth movie "What a Girl Wants" too. Each time Amanda Bynes's character Daphne talks about not being able to dance the traditional father-daughter dance at her wedding, I think about how I'm never going to be able to do that either. It makes me cry every time. Then, at the end of the movie, when (for those of you who haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you) we discover the happy ending, I cry even harder 'cause that's not going to be me.

I hate this disease! I hate that I'll never be able to walk down the aisle at my wedding on my father's arm. I hate that I'll never be able to dance with my dad. I hate that he won't be able to hold his future grandchildren in his arms. I FUCKING HATE IT! It's so bloody unfair! I know the politically correct thing to say is something along the lines of "I just count my blessings that I had a good father growing up. I'm so much luckier than all those people who didn't have a father, or who had abusive fathers." Even though that's true, that's not how I feel! I want my father back! I feel like Alzheimer's disease is a long, long, long period of mourning for the death of a person you used to know. At least when a person dies you can mourn and then get on with your life. With Alzheimer's disease, the person you love is gone, but their body is still there. Honestly, it's like living in purgatory.

Two

Seen this on several blogs recently, but stole it from Vesper!

Two names you go by:
1.. Kim
2.. Teacher


Two parts of your heritage:
1.. German
2.. Prussian


Two things that scare you:
1.. Heights
2.. Being told by my strata council that I am responsible for paying a special levy that totals thousands of dollars that I don't have!


Two everyday essentials:
1.. Attendance/Marks book
2.. A good book to read


Two things you are wearing right now:
1.. Woollen socks
2.. Jeans

Two of your favorite bands or musical artists (at the moment):
1.. Rascal Flatts
2.. Avril Lavigne

Two things you want in a relationship (other than love):
1.. lots of laughs
2.. respect

Two truths:
1.. I am a worrier (but I've gotten a lot better over the years!)
2.. I am a wee bit messy (okay, maybe take out the wee bit part!)

Two favorite hobbies:
1.. Surfing the internet
2.. Reading

Two things you need to do this week:
1.. Finish my progress reports!
2.. Clean my bathroom

Two stores you shop at:
1.. Chapters
2.. Payless

Two favorite sports:
1.. Hockey
2.. Volleyball


Two shows you like to watch:
1.. House
2.. Ugly Betty (I just started watching this show and it's awesome!)

Two things you’d buy if money were no object:
1.. First and foremost I'd pay off my students loan and my mortgage
2.. A piano and organ. I know how to play the organ, but I want to learn the piano!

Two wishes for 2007:
1.. A house-elf to do my cleaning for me
2.. More 3-day weekends!
(I made silly wishes on purpose! I'm in a silly mood!)

The obligatory "Happy New Year!" post

Happy New Year!

Now that's out of the way . . . let me tell you what I did tonight. Normally I don't really do anything for New Year's since to me it's just another day. Today was going to be more of the same, and if I was still awake at midnight, maybe I'd say happy new year to myself. That all changed at 4pm this afternoon however. My best friend called me to tell me that her asshole boyfriend had bailed on her at the last minute. She was pretty upset with him; they were supposed to go out to a function and he opted to go out with his friends instead. They have been going out for nine years and are on the verge of getting married (more on what I think about that at a later date). Because of how late he ended up calling to cancel on her, she couldn't get tickets to go out with some of her friends from work, so she called me. I had already told her I wasn't doing anything, so I invited her over to my place for dinner and Nintendo. We ended up having a really good evening! We went to White Spot for dinner. During dinner she said she wanted to see "Blood Diamond" with Leonardo DiCaprio. Since I wanted to see it to, I said "let's do it!" We drove over to the nearest theatre afterwards to discover that it was starting in 10 minutes. We never experience such awesome timing, so in we went (good movie, but very violent! Leo was really, really good in it. It's hard to believe he was once the "king of the world!"). After the movie we went back to my place and played Mario Party on my gamecube. The game finished about 5 minutes before midnight so we turned on the tv and watched the ball drop in Times Square. Then, because the First Night celebrations were happening at my local mall, the office tower of which I can see from my windows, we watched the fireworks (Jennifer, we had an awesome view! I told you I face the right direction!). Then we chatted for a while about the asshole boyfriend, then she went home (we weren't drinking so don't worry, no drinking and driving happening on our part tonight!) As a bonus, I spent close to an hour cleaning my apartment while she drove over from Vancouver, so the tidying I thought I wouldn't end up doing over my vacation did kind of get done! Sweet! Now, since I'm so awake still, I'm going to go to bed and watch an episode of "House" on DVD. Tomorrow is my last morning to sleep in before I go back to work on Tuesday :-(