Happy St. Patrick's Day

Although I'm not technically Irish (my step-dad's Irish, does that count?), I just want to wish everyone a happy St. Pat's day! I dressed in head-to-toe green today, which made my students laugh . . . hard. That's what I'm here for :)

Good Bye

No, I am not going anywhere, but a good friend of mine from Church passed away on Tuesday morning from lymphoma. He was such a wise, funny, gentle man and an excellent drama teacher. His name was Colin Vint. He sang at my dad's second wedding, and in many ways he reminds me of my dad (for those who don't know, my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease a few years ago and a few months later he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. He is now cancer-free, but I think the chemo advanced his Alzheimer's quite quickly so now he live full-time in a hospital and doesn't walk or talk much). I guess it's because my dad was the person who took me to Church for years when I was younger and he and Colin were friends. Anyway, the memorial service is next week. I will definitely be in attendance. It really puts into perspective what's important in life and what's just crap!

Question of the day

Here's the question of the day: how can I get more people to read my blog?

My Sexy name

Check out my sexy name:

Sun Run

For the past couple of weeks a group of us at work have been talking about signing up for the annual Sun Run. Well, on Friday we did it! I walked it two years ago with some friends from work and had a blast, so I'm looking forward to doing it again this year. I suspect that the group dynamics this year will be way different. For starters, at least two of the people in the group will be running the 10K, while the rest of us walk it. A few people that aren't very well-liked at work have signed up to join us, which should make the conversation a little stilted. Oh well, Christine and I will have fun :-) I am the team captain this year, which apparently means that I'm in charge of going all the way down to the Hyatt Regency in April to pick up everyone's numbers and timing chips. Oh yeah! Maybe I can leave work early that day . . . yeah, right! Oh well, I guess on the skytrain it won't really take that long. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to the walk - keep your fingers crossed that it's a nice, sunny day!

Windy Day

We had a powerful windstorm two nights ago and it really affected the lower mainland. There were many power outtages, and flash flooding in some areas. My power was out when I woke up early, early Saturday morning (my internal alarm clock seems to work fine, but it sure doesn't keep dates very well - I woke up at 6:30 on Saturday morning! Somehow I have to let my body know that I don't actually have to go to work on Saturdays!). The power stayed out most of the day, as I discovered when I got home from an impromptu dinner at my mom's house. By the time I got home at 8:30 the power had only been on for about 3 hours! Luckily I had plans to go out with a friend and we went out to where there was power, so it wasn't all bad. I expect to see a lot of branches and leaves and debris littering the area for the next few days as people try and put their yards back into order! I'm very glad I have no yard, and no patio furniture on my balcony right now to worry about :-)

Here's What's New, Des

Since I apparently have to keep my friend Des informed about what's going on I'll post this work update. My pregnant coworker is harsh (well, harsh in my mind, I've never been pregnant so I don't know how harsh it can get) suffering from morning sickness. She's not been eating much at lunch, and today was mostly just sipping ginger ale. She's also been getting near-constant heartburn, which I imagine totally SUCKS! Anyway, I think she's also suffering because her husband is in Calgary right now, but she'll see him again at the end of February when she moves there!
The boss lady (AKA Dragon Lady) is really driving people nuts again. She's been freaking out over the smallest things, and cursing like mad when the littlest thing goes wrong. She's really been offending the children's teachers, and I'm concerned that if she keeps this up one or more of them may quit. It doesn't help that she was supposed to observe one of them teach this morning and forgot all about it! The poor teacher had a special lesson prepared and everything, and was really, really mad afterwards. Anyway, I guess it's now part of my job to keep the peace and calm people down. Great.
Dave is stressing now about going to China. I think it sunk in today how much he has to do before he leaves, and how little time he has to do it. I suppose it doesn't help that dragon lady and I were both harrassing him today over getting his progress reports done. It's going to be so weird not having him around for the next four months! I think the teacher who will be replacing him is good, so at least we won't have anymore "boring teachers" issues.
Well, once again it's pouring rain here and it doesn't seem like it's ever going to stop! It's only Tuesday and there are still three days of work left this week - yuck! I'm off to eat and zone in front of the TV for a while!

Shopping Trip

Well, I went shopping with my mom today. It was a successful trip (for her, I didn't buy anything). Mom got a dress for my sister's wedding, a dress for my step-brother's wedding in the summer, shoes, and another top. We also went into Home Outfitters and took a look around the store with my sister's wedding registry in hand. Some neat stuff there, and it gave me some definite ideas ;-) Can't be more specifc right now for obvious reasons . . .

The search is over!

The search for a dress to wear to my sister's wedding is over! I found a navy blue skirt and matching top at Addition-Elle and I'm very pleased with them. They won't be warm or too cool for April 1st, and the best part . . . they were on sale! Now all I have to do is find some shoes and I'll be set :-)

The Truth about Kim

Check it out:

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Kim!

1. In her entire life, Kim will produce only a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.
2. Kim can remain conscious for fifteen to twenty seconds after being decapitated.
3. Kim was originally green, and actually contained cocaine!
4. Kim cannot jump!
5. The Church of Scientology was founded in 1953, at Washington D.C., by Kim.
6. Kim is the oldest playable musical instrument in the world!
7. Kim can not regurgitate!
8. It is bad luck to light three cigarettes with the same Kim.
9. The Kim-fighting market in the Philippines is huge - several thousand Kim-fights take place there every day.
10. Britain's Millennium Dome is more than double the size of Kim.

http://thesurrealist.co.uk/trivia.pl" method="get" style="background-color:#5F5F42;color:#CFCF95;padding:4px;text-align:center">I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

This is NOT a post about bran

Confused about the title of this blog? The most recent post on my sister's blog is a comparison of different brands of bran. I can't honestly say that I'd have the patience to eat that much bran! So what is this post about? Basically it's just a quick round-up of what's going on in my life. My newly married coworker announced yesterday that she's pregnant. She's about 8 weeks along, which is really exciting. She told the students yesterday, and one girl in my class shrieked so loudly that they probably heard her in China! We may all have suffered permanent hearing damage! I'm happy for my coworker; I know her and her husband have been really wanting to have a baby soon, so it's great that she got pregnant right away.
My mother and I are going shopping together on Sunday. She's going to look for a mother of the bride outfit, and I will continue on my quest to find the right outfit to wear in my role of bridesmaid. I can't remember the last time I went shopping with my mom so it should be interesting. I'm sure it will be fine (maybe even fun), but I don't think our taste in clothing exactly matches.
My boss came into my grammar class this morning to complete an observation. I haven't been observed by an authority figure in a while, so I started off a little nervous (not nearly as nervous as I thought I would be given who this particular boss is). Since I have such a wonderful grammar class and really know my stuff in grammar anyway, I think my lesson really kicked ass! My boss was complimentary, but it's hard to know with her if she really means it or if she's just saying it. I feel good about the lesson though, and that's what really matters. My students, who enter my class not liking grammar, end up laughing and staying awake and asking good questions and learning, so how can anyone find fault with that? Anyway, my observation was the first of all the junior teachers, so we'll see how the others stack up in the coming days.
I found out what the "lay of the land" will be in the coming months for the Juniors program. Looks like they want us to go down to 2 classes after this large group leaves. Normally that's what happens with our program, but with our new level system I don't see two classes working. We should be running a minimum of 3 classes in order to make our levels successful. Hopefully I'll get a chance to express that view to our Operations Director tomorrow!

Pants?

Went out shopping again today (just briefly). Bought a pair of navy blue pants that I like so I'm wondering if I should wear them for the wedding. I've seen bridesmaids wear pants before, and I think I would feel more comfortable in the pants than in the denim skirt. Still have to run the idea past the bride, but since she's been so not-picky up to this point I can't see pants being a problem. Will keep you updated!

Dress Shopping Update

So in my last post I talked about going bridal shopping for a woman I didn't even know. I had hoped to find a dress for my sister's wedding, so the shopping trip would have been worth it for that alone. Well, my friend and I went shopping yesterday and we went into the store at Brentwood Mall. It had some gorgeous dresses! It was unlike any other clothing store I'd ever been in though - if you wanted to try a dress on you had to fill out a pink form, and the wait for dressing rooms when my friend and I were there was half an hour! Anyway, didn't find anything for myself, though I did see some styles that I liked. My friend found 3 possibilities for her friend's wedding dress. All of them were bridesmaid's dresses. We very, very briefly looked at the selection of actual wedding dresses. Mostly we just wanted to see how much they cost. Some were quite expensive, but others were reasonable. I think I'm going to have to start saving now though . . .
My quest for a dress continues. I did get some leads on dresses over the weekend. After extensive internet research I found some styles that I liked. While I was in Burnaby I went into the Pennigntons stores there. The ladies there were very helpful, but they didn't have anything. One woman did tell me about another girl who works there who makes dresses and is in school studying design. She took my name and number and promised me that the woman would call me, which she did an hour ago! She's not sure she would have time to make a dress, but she did give me the names of a couple of other stores that may be able to help me. I'm hoping to visit the stores next weekend. I'll keep you updated on my continuing search for a dress . . .

Shopping for wedding gowns

So tomorrow I am going shopping for wedding gowns. My best friend and I are going to a bridal store in Brentwood Mall to look for a dress for that special day. Nope, we're not shopping for my sister's dress since she's already chosen hers. Nope, we're not shopping for my best friend's dress (although she has a long-term boyfriend, he has not yet popped the question, and we're not scouting out dresses in anticipation of the question being popped anytime soon). We are scouting out dresses for a woman that my best friend works with who is getting married in August. This woman asked my friend to stop by a bridal store or two and look for dresses in her price range (which is on the low end). Then, the two of them will go shopping together once my friend has found a couple of dresses. Here is the kicker: the August wedding is going to be very small, and not only is my friend not in the wedding party, she's not even sure she's going to be invited to the wedding! Really, all I can do is laugh! Who knows though, maybe I'll find a dress for my sister's wedding!

Another Day of Rain

Yes, here in beautiful British Columbia we have just had another rainy day. I think we're approaching a new record! I read somewhere, and I may be mistaken, that this was our 23rd day in a row of rain. CRAZY! I feel bad for my students who have come from other countries. What must they be thinking when they look out the window and see nothing but rain? I'm sure we have students at the school right now who haven't seen anything but rain! We haven't even had a decently partly cloudy day! I live on the second floor of a four-storey building, and with all this rain I'm starting to wonder if my apartment is going to flood or something!

Canadian Joke Punchline!

Okay, so I have left at least one person wanting to know the punchline to the "what kind of sport do Canadian frogs play?" joke. The answer is (prolonged drum roll) . . . "croquet" (croak-eh). Giggle . . .

So with the new year comes a brand new group of students at the school I work at. On Tuesday we doubled the number of Juniors we had, so getting to know all the new faces and names has been a bit of a challenge. I've got two good groups though, so that's a good way to start the year. I have some girls from Brazil who I think could end up driving me a bit crazy, particularly the one in my afternoon class who acts like a real know-it-all. If I catch her speaking Portuguese one more time I'm going to have to give her a warning letter. That could be interesting . . . anyway, we'll see what happens after another few days. She'll be getting her first progress report next week, so maybe she'll smarten up after she reads a few comments about how her behaviour is perceived in class.

Happy New Year!

Well, it's officially 2006 - wahoo! Lots, and I do mean LOTS of important stuff happened in 2005, and looking back I would say it was a pretty good year. I am looking forward to even bigger and better happenings in 2006 . . . including my sister's wedding, which takes place in exactly 4 months!
With the beginning of a new year, many people take this opportunity to evaluate their life and make resolutions about what they will stop (or start) doing in the coming year. You know what? I don't make resolutions! I shouldn't have to wait until the beginning of a new year to resolve to do something differently, nor should I feel as though I have to change something because it's the start of a new year. For people who use the new year as a motivator to get things done, I say more power to you! For me personally, I have never found that I've kept any of my resolutions, and really only made them to please other people.
As a teacher I know that it would be very easy for me to walk into my classroom and ask my students to do a writing assignment about their New Year's Resolutions, but I don't think I'm going to do that this year. Instead, maybe I'll have my students reflect on the past year and write about their successes and failures, etc. Who knows?
What about you? Do you make New Year's Resolutions? Is this year's resolution to figure out the Canadian joke I posted a few days ago?

Canadian Humour

Okay I just read this funny joke and I wondered if you (yes, I mean YOU) can figure out the punchline. Here we go: what game to Canadian frogs play?

If you read this post and want to guess (or just desperately want to know the answer) then you need to post a comment. I'll post the answer sometime next week. Good luck!

Things you didn't know about me

I suspect most of the people who read my blog are my friends and family, but there still may be things about you don't know. Here are a few of the most interesting:

1. No matter where I get the glass from, I always blow inside of it to "clear the dust out". At least that's what I tell people. Honestly, I don't know why I do it.

2. I used to suck my thumb. This lasted until I was 8 or 9, possibly even longer.

3. Although I love being a teacher, I'm not such a fan of discussing teaching ad nauseum outside of the workplace. Have you ever noticed that all a group of teachers seem to talk about is teaching? Really, is this necessary?

4. I LOVE going Christmas shopping. Don't get me wrong, spending money I don't have and getting sore feet from walking the mall doesn't do much for me, but I LOVE finding the right gift for the right person. I like to think I'm pretty good at it too.

5. I'm addicted to e-mail. I check my e-mail (I have 5 accounts, but only use 3) obsessively. Seriously, I probably check my e-mail at least 5 times a day, if not more. I love finding new mail in my inbox, and I get sad when I check my e-mail and there's nothing there.

6. I wish my hair were a different colour (either dark brown or red), but I'm too lazy to dye my hair and keep it up.

7. I really like Brad and Angelina together. I don't really like Jennifer Aniston, though I like all her movies and love watching Friends. I just figure that if Brad is happy with Angelina and Angelina is happy with Brad, they should just go for it.

8. My favourite colour is pink. For a long time it used to be purple, but that changed when I started buying a lot of pink clothing. A lot of you might be thinking, "duh, I already knew that Kim!" What you may not have known is that I didn't even realize my favourite colour had become pink until one of my students asked me one day "if you're favourite colour is purple then why do you wear so much pink?"

9. I get really, really agravated when people say "I'm sorry". I think this is because my students are constantly goofing off and/or breaking the rules and then trying to say "I'm sorry" as though that will fix everything. I'd WAY rather have them do the right thing so that they wouldn't have to apologize in the first place. I honestly think "I'm sorry" are the most overused words in English.

10. I used to love watching the soap opera "Another World". I really miss it now that it's gone off the air. I don't really watch any other soaps anymore 'cause I don't find them that interesting, but if "Another World" came back on the air I'd tape it every day!

So, it's your turn now. What weird and wonderful things don't I know about you?

Merry Christmas!

I put up my Christmas tree today! In addition to getting the bulk of my Christmas shopping done, I also brought a bunch of ornaments up from my storage locker and decorated. I'm pretty excited - this is the first year I've put up my own tree! As a kid we always put up a tree as a family, but over the past couple of years things have changed. I can't remember putting up a tree two years ago, and last year my roommate at the time attempted to put up a tree. That didn't work too well as she never got past the puting up the lights on the tree part. Don't even get me started on her!
Currently I'm engaged in the tinsel debate. I love the look of tinsel on the tree, but I'm not sure I want to clean it all up after Christmas! Taking the ornaments and lights off the tree is one thing, but picking off all the tinsel is another. But, it does add that sparkly effect that makes it really seem like Christmas! How to choose, how to choose . . .
I'm feeling a bit bad right now. I skipped going to the Christmas concert tonight because I didn't feel like going all the way to the Church. I suppose that means I'm getting lazy, but I didn't want to go all the way down there without knowing how I was getting home! It's a lot further away now then it was before I moved, and I just didn't want to worry about how I was getting home. I do feel bad about not going out to support the Church and the people I know, but on the other hand . . .