More stuff I'm grateful for . . .

So I'm feeling a little "blah" these days and I'm trying to NOT get into a bitchy, dark mood and end up yelling at people for no good reason, so I've decided it's time for another "things I'm grateful for" list. In no particular order, here it goes:

1. My iPod. It may sound materialistic, but I'm glad that I have a reliable device that I can use to listen to music in the mornings when I walk to work. It just helps me stay in a happy mood to start the day :-)

2. Free newspapers. This morning someone was giving away free copies of "The Province" at the skytrain station this morning. I took one since I love doing their word puzzles. Once when I was in university, we got "The Province" free for almost a year. I don't know why, but every morning, no matter what we did, there was a copy of the paper waiting for me at the door when I left to commute to school.

3. My new, yes BRAND NEW, computer at work. It is so fast!! It is so . . . shiny!

4. Judge Judy. Strange, I know. But where else would I get phrases like "beauty fades, dumb is forever" and "don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining" from?

5. Big Brother. Hey . . . it's not a rerun! Besides, I think it's kinda cool that a 75 year old man is competing this summer.

6. My new camp chair. It's very comfy to sit on - it has an air pocket for lower back support and it only cost $13 at Superstore.

7. The new camera that I'm going to buy soon. I think I've decided on which one I'm going to get and I can't wait to start using it!

8. My friends at work. They know who they are!

9. Turning 30. Okay, so maybe I won't always feel grateful for this, but right now I feel happy about turning the big 3-0. I really and truly feel like I learned some valuable lessons in my twenties and I'm happy with where I am right now. Now I'm not saying this won't change . . . but for now I'm cool with this milestone.

10. "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. I've read this book before (it was wonderful and made me cry!) and now I'm listening to the audio book :-)

So my dear readers, what are you grateful for these days?

Explosions Galore!

Went to the fireworks last night. Now that I think about it, I think it's the first time I've ever actually gone down to English Bay to watch them! I've seen them from a friend's balcony before, and I think one year we watched them from a boat, but never at English Bay. Anyway, the U.S. put on a lovely show. I would have taken pictures, but my camera batteries died early in the evening :-( I went with my friends Corinne and Rachel. We got there just before 8pm and even then it was CROWDED! It wasn't so bad until the bathroom line up started snaking past our spot, which caused a lot of people to step on our blanket and generally be annoying. And yes, I actually did see a student. I know, it seems amazing as there were literally thousands of people there, so what are the odds that you'd see someone you know? But that's my luck ;-)

After hearing some "coming back on the skytrain" horror stories from other people who have gone this year, I was a little nervous for the ride home. I was pleasantly surprised on this front. It took about half an hour to walk back to the skytrain, and if you follow the crowds, you can't possibly get lost! We only ended up standing in line for about half an hour before we got on the train - bonus! Even after we got on the train, I think we really lucked out with our timing because our car was never super-full and I only had to stand for about 5 or 6 stops. Anyway, I got home safe and sound around 12:30am. I slept in this morning until almost 10am, which is a little later than usual, but it was much needed! Now it's time to get mentally prepared to go back to work tomorrow.

The Dark Night

I saw "The Dark Night" today. Wow. That's my one-word review: wow! It. was. FANTASTIC! Heath Ledger as The Joker totally blew my mind. If he doesn't get an Oscar nomination (scratch that, if he doesn't WIN the Oscar) for his performance, I'll be shocked. He was the perfect crazy, weird lunatic . . . from his voice to his facial tics . . . AMAZING!

Overall I thought everyone's performance was great. Christian Bale makes a dark, sexy Batman - hubba hubba! Oh, and Maggie Gyllenhaal made a far better Rachel Dawes than Katie Holmes.

I hear this movie is breaking all kinds of box office records. If you haven't already, you should go see it too!!

Weird (and not so weird) things about me

Did you know . . .

- I can't sleep with the door that separates my bathroom from my bedroom open?

- I dislike oranges, but I enjoy orange juice. I only like orange juice without the pulp, though.

- I walk the same way to work every morning. By the same way, I mean I cross the street (jaywalking) at the exact same spots, and cut across the Safeway parking lot in the same diagonal path each time.

- I can only get into tv shows after they've been on a for a little while. This is how I became addicted to many of my favourite tv shows like Star Trek: The Next Generation, House, Gilmore Girls, Bones, Numb3rs, most reality tv shows (Survivor, The Amazing Race, and Big Brother).

- I can totally tell the difference between coke and pepsi.

- I way prefer being cold to being hot. I love to snuggle underneath a blanket if I'm chilly, but there are only so many layers of clothing I'm willing to remove if I'm too hot!

- It really, really, REALLY irritates me when I see people not using common sense or seeing a problem that needs fixing and not jumping in to fix it. If I'm standing there trying desperately to manage getting the 40 people in front of me to their classes and you see them standing around looking lost, why do you have to wait for me to ask you to help them find their classroom?

- When I'm motivated to do so, I'm really good at finding things at work to keep me busy. Not so much at home.

- Selfish people bother me. Get over yourself already!

- I love buying socks and shoes :-)

- I have never consumed a single drop of alcohol

- I have never smoked a single cigarette

- I have never tried, nor wanted to try, drugs of any kind