boy, are my arms tired ;-)

So I had this really weird dream last night and I just had to share it with my loyal blog readers (all two of you). WARNING: THIS DREAM CONTAINS A STAR TREK REFERENCE. IF THAT MAKES YOU NAUSEOUS, STOP READING HERE!

Still with me? Here it goes . . . I was flying, relatively low to the ground, in a lawn chair. This seemed to be completely normal to me. I was flying over what appeared to be grassy hills bordered by forests, and it seemed to be a small airport (like the airports for small private planes, not commercial airlines). There were planes taking off beneath me and I must have been high enough for this not to interfere with my flight but when I looked down it looked like I was only about 15 to 20 feet above the ground. I kept radioing the "tower" (though none was in sight) talking about cloning my signal so that I appeared to look like a plane. After I crossed the runway, I started to go down for a landing. I landed safely, though I touched down pretty hard, and waited impatiently for my travelling companion to land. I was worried that he had not made it safely. A few minutes later he stumbled towards me from the top of a low hill, coming from some trees. He looked in rough shape, but he was safe. That man was Leonard Nimoy (Spock) from Star Trek. But not Leonard Nimoy as he would look today. It was a young Leonard Nimoy like in the Star Trek days. It wasn't Spock, but it was the actor when he was young and played the character of Spock. Then, after I could see he was safe, the dream started again from the beginning and the exact same things happened again. How weird is that?

So my loyal blog readers, I now invite you to tell me about your strange or weird dreams. Or, if you have some kind of expertise in interpreting dreams, can you please tell me what the hell this dream was supposed to mean?!

I lied to my dog because the voices told me to

I think what you have to do is self-explanatory ;-)

The month you were born:
January-----------i married
Febuary-----------I did
March--------------i played with
April--------------- i ate
May----------------i spanked
June---------------i kissed
July----------------i killed
August------------i lied to
September-------i choked
October---------- i slapped
November------- i watched
December--------i stole from-

DAY [NUMBER] YOU WERE B0RN 0N =]
1-------a spork
2-------my friends pants
3------- myself
4-------a mexican
5-------a hobo
6------- p diddy
7-------my best friends boyfriend/girlfriend
8------- my dog
9-------a lawn gnome
10-------a banana
11-------a monkey
12-------an ipod
13-------my neighbor
14-------a sandwich
15-------a goat
16-------a pickle
17-------bigfoot
18-------a spoon
19-------my sister
20-------a football player
21-------a ninja
22-------a fireman
23-------your mom
24-------a gangster
25-------1000 people
26-------a noodle
27-------an alien
28-------my true love
29-------my science teacher
30-------a squirrel
31-------my uncle-

C0L0R OF Y0UR SHiRT ;]
White------- Because i keep it gangsta
Black--------Because im sexy and i do what i want.
Pink---------Because im in love
Red----------Because thats how i roll
Blue----------Because the voices told me to.
Green--------Because I hate myself.
Purple--------Because i can
Gray---------- Because dat thang took my taco.
Yellow--------Because someone offered me 1,000,000 dollars
Orange----Because i hate my family.
Other-------Because i was high
maroon-----Because i was drunk.
teal-----cuz they were illegal
Brown-----Because im emo
Caramel----cuz Charlie told me too.
Striped------cuz ur mom said so
black..pink----Because i am kool like that
bra-----cuz im to kool for tv
bathing suit----- cuz im so sexy and i freak like no other

Oregon Pictures

Hey y'all, here are some pictures I took in Oregon. Enjoy!

Here are my grandparents, Bob and Evaline Bixby, and my step-sister Roisin (pronounced Row-sheen).

Here's a picture of where my sis and I slept. I had the bed on the right, Jennifer slept in the bed on the left. The room was in the basement, so it was nice and cool at night. One thing I found rather interesting was how differently Jennifer and I perceived the temperature downstairs. I know that Jennifer feels the coolness a lot more than I do, so I was curious to know how comfortable she'd be in the basement. She ended up wearing long-sleeved pajamas and sleeping with the top sheet, blanket and quilt covering her. In contrast, I slept in shorts and a tank top with only the top sheet covering me. I slept under the window, which I only closed because I figured Jennifer would be cold with it open all night.

This is my grandparents' house. They live in a city called St. Helens.

Here's a cool house in St. Helens.

Back from Oregon!

I'm back from Oregon my peeps! We got back this afternoon after a long car ride. The ride down was worse though - my knees were cramped and my legs were tired. We stopped more on the way back up so my legs weren't feeling so bad. We had a nice visit with our grandparents. We didn't really do much besides read, talk, take naps, and go for a walk down to the river. It was nice and relaxing for me. I took a bunch of pictures, which I have attempted to post 3 times now, but blogger is being uncooperative at the moment. We got to see an aunt and uncle and two cousins from Portland. They came up for dinner on Sunday so we got to chat and find out what's happening in their lives. One of the cousins has just turned 18 and he's going off to college next week. He'll be studying in Wisconsin, at a college that's quite close to Chicago.
We, or more accurately I, had a shocking moment yesterday evening though. We had been sitting around chatting after dinner and someone knocked on the door. He was from across the street and wanted to let us know that his dog had gotten out of the yard and had spent some time in our garage. He just wanted to apologize for his dog getting out, but we hadn't even known that the dog was in the garage, so it was fine. Anyway, a short while later I went downstairs to take a shower and get ready for bed. I got to the bottom of the stairs and saw that the basement door was wide open. This did make me a bit nervous, but knowing the family I figured that someone had left the door open when they came in from the garden (my grandparents aren't in the habit of locking their doors at night, or when they go for walks around the block). I rounded the corner to walk down the hallway to the bedrooms when I came face to face with a giant dog sitting in front of the bedroom doors! Yup, it was the dog from across the street! It turns out that the basement door hadn't been closed properly when the last person came through it so the dog, when he escaped from the yard again, was able to push it open and come right in. No harm done, but it was rather shocking!

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In other news . . . tomorrow is my birthday!!!!!!!! I'll be honest, I love getting birthday presents! I haven't always had the best birthdays . . . but that's a whole different story. Anyway, I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but I really, really want to see Phantom of the Opera for my birthday! I love the music, I love the recent movie that came out, and I know I would love to see it performed live too! I don't know if it will happen or not, but I'd sure love it if it did.

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Now my lovely blog readers, it's time to get back to reality and get ready for work tomorrow. Did I mention that while I was relaxing in Oregon I had two work-related dreams? In the first one I was heading to the bathroom when someone beat me to it. I had to go down the hall to the other bathroom, which is right when I woke up. Man, I was pretty ticked off when my sister went into the bathroom first and I had to wait with my full bladder! In the second dream I was basically living the life of my sister with her two jobs and I was focused on job number two. I couldn't for the life of me remember if I had to work on Saturday or Sunday. I don't know how my sister works two jobs . . . I don't think I could handle it!

Going to Oregon!

I'm leaving for Oregon tomorrow to spend the long weekend with my sis, step-mom and step-sis. We're going to visit my step-mom's parents, which is always a lot of fun. I'm taking my camera so I'll be posting some pix when we get back on Monday. So my loyal blog fans (and I know there are legions of you out there who are just too shy to comment. Don't be shy! I don't bite . . . hard), I probably won't be posting or checking my blog over the weekend. Try not to miss me too much!

Best wedding favours ever!

The groom (my step-brother Brad) and the bride, Janine.

At this point the witnesses were signing the register. The woman sitting at the table is the bride's sister, Michelle.

My sister Jenn, and her husband Lance. They're newlyweds!

The Sadowski family. From left to right: Rachel, Cindy, Brandon and Dave. Cindy is Brad's sister.

These are the groom's parents. That's my mom, Erika, and my (step) dad Howie.

These cupcakes from Cupcakes made up the wedding cake. They were delicious!

So as you can tell from the pictures above, Brad and Janine's wedding on Sunday was awesome. I couldn't get over how elegant yet casual things were. There were bride and groom touches all over, from the total organization on the bride's part to the exclusion from the bar of Coors Light beer on the groom's part. Although it did start raining on us during the ceremony, everyone had a great time. The choir that brought this couple together sang during the ceremony and that was a really special touch. I couldn't get over how gorgeous the wedding dress was. It was everything that I imagined my own wedding dress to be one day. Oh and the wedding favours? Like I said, they were the best wedding favours ever. They were personalized M&Ms! No pictures of those though, they were gobbled up too quickly!

Congratulations!

A huge congratulations to my friends Sheryl and Koji! Early on Tuesday morning Sheryl gave birth to their second son, Caden. He's absolutely gorgeous and I'm sure he'll bring his parents a lot of joy and happiness :-)

My Feet

The beauty shot of my toes. The colour I chose was "I'm not really a waitress" by OPI. I have decided that I LOVE OPI nailpolish, so if anyone out there would like to know what to buy me for my birthday (which is on August 8th) . . . .

My left foot up close. My toes have alway been called "sausage toes". I inherited them from my dad. My baby toe has a really, really small nail that was difficult to apply polish to! One thing I don't really like about my feet is the hair on the knuckles of my toes.

My right foot. Not that much different than my left foot.

One last shot of my beautiful feet. These are my favourite shoes. I got them last summer from Avon. I really, really wish I had purchased two pairs! The best part about these shoes is that the flowers are stuck on by velcro and they come with 4 different coloured flowers - green, pink, orange, and beige.

Brides are everywhere!

Yesterday I went to a bridal shower for my future step-sister-in-law Janine. It was a Pampered Chef party and it was really neat. I had never been to any kind of Pampered Chef show before, but I have used a few of their products. My mom and sister both have some of their stuff, so I knew it was good. Watching the food preparation actually made me want to cook . . . but only if I have all the products she showed us! I was curious to know how we would be able to buy Janine some products since we didn't know what she had or what she wanted. In the end we were able to purchase products in two ways - by choosing things from the catalogue that Janine browsed through and chose items from, or by leaving money for her in a gift bag that she could use to buy whatever she wanted. Since Jennifer had given me some money to contribute towards a gift, I opted to give the money to Janine to buy whatever she wanted. Of course I also wanted to buy some stuff, so after careful consideration, I bought the food chopper (works to both chop food and relieve stress since you get to pound on the food a bit to chop it) and an apple wedger/corer that also works for potatoes. As my free gift with purchase I also received some twixit clips - clips of different sizes that you use to keep open bags closed. Since I had wanted to order those anyway, it worked out well. My mom also got a bunch of stuff! She got some stoneware and the miracle can opener (really wicked cool - it opens cans and leaves no sharp edges! And the can lids snap back on afterwards) for Janine and the garlic press (which is for Janine from my step-sister Cindy, who couldn't make it yesterday). For herself, my mom got a spatula and a piece of stoneware.
The marathon of brides continues today with a stagette for my friend Taran. The stagette is at a spa in Richmond (how cool is that?!) and I'm going to be getting a pedicure. Right now I can't think of anything more decadent than a pedicure for my tired, sore feet. The spa has a big party room that we can use to have some of our treatments, watch movies, and munch on some snacks. I'm totally looking forward to this spa experience. Right now I'm thinking of choosing a deep red colour for my toes. After our spa treatments, we're going to have dinner at the Cactus Club (yummy!). Hopefully I'll get a picture of my fabulously well-rested and pampered feet and post a picture later.

Insomniac

I've been awake since 3am. Not by choice, but anyone who knows me knows that to be the case. Yesterday was a crazy busy day! We tested in the neighbourhood of 120 new kids. It was chaotic, but it was controlled chaos. Placing students afterwards wasn't too bad either, but it took me 4 hours to create a working class list! I didn't leave work last night until 7:30 (usually I leave at 5:30)! There were a lot of students who didn't know how to spell their name in English, or who didn't write their full name on their test, so I had to make a few educated guesses. Today I'll have to spend a few more hours trying to get the list back up-to-date. I figure it'll take another 3 or 4 hours. I'm hoping that the 19 or so students we test today end up fairly evenly distributed throughout the levels we created yesterday or I could have a few more headaches to contend with today. It would be abundantly useful if I could use e-mail at our summer campus so I could e-mail myself some documents back and forth to work on while everyone else is teaching. At this point I'm not sure if that's possible, but we'll see. I'm hoping that once we get through today and start the process of getting ourselves fully organized, my insomnia will go away! I can't take too many more nights like this.

Another Kill Count

Bathroom: 10
Kitchen: 6

TOTAL: 16

Sweet. If only all problems could be solved with a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of vinegar, and a drop of dish soap! Although wasn't it Mary Poppins who sang "just a spoonful of a sugar helps the medicine go down"?

In other news . . . today I met the majority of the new teachers I will be working with over the summer. It seems to be an interesting group. A lot of them are trained public school teachers, so that should improve the organization and general level of chaos. Several of the teachers already know each other from the school they currently work at, so that's neat. Hopefully that will work to our advantage - I don't want a situation where we have a group of teachers who do nothing but fraternize with each other! I do have a wonderful teacher who is returning from last year, so that should help. He's a great guy who is completely reliable and gets along well with everyone. There is another woman who is a bit older that I'm not sure about. I'm hoping she doesn't turn out to be like a current teacher we have who can't handle the teenagers and gets all upset every week. Don't get me wrong - I've definitely been in the situation where I have a class that's hard to handle and it makes me upset, but I only ever lost it at work once! Even that situation was extreme in that I'd had to deal with one thing after another after another after another, culminating in a student stealing the damn batteries from the classroom clock. At least I learned a few things from that situation. But, I digress.
I've decided that in order to cope with the summer (and hopefully avoid getting yet another ulcer) I've got to do a couple of things to relax myself. To that end, I've decided that I deserve a little pmapering. I've booked myself for a 30 minute massage on July 3rd. The following Sunday I'm getting a spa pedicure! The pedicure is part of a friend's stagette that is being held at a spa in Richmond. It should be a lot of fun - and what great timing!

Updated Kill Count ('Cause Now I'm Obsessed)

Kitchen: 4
Bathroom: 8

TOTAL: 12

Normally I wouldn't take pleasure in the death of another living being, but these are FRUIT FLIES! Do you have any idea how satisfying it feels to kill a fruit fly? Damn honey! It feels great!!

Teachers Take Note!

In my time as a teacher I have learned the following truths:

1. Teachers should all be trained as primary (preferably kindergarten or grade 1) teachers. They can move up from there, but it's really hard to move down if your training is at a higher level. It has been my experience that primary-trained teachers are waaayyy better prepared to deal with students at all levels of education. They're organized, able to manage a whole roomful of students without breaking a sweat, are more creative, and generally deliver better lessons. Now if you're a teacher reading this and you disagree, please feel free to comment argue with me.

2. Teachers should do their photocopying ahead of time. Do not leave it for the morning of because you never know what might come up! Photocopiers break down quite regularly you know!

3. Teachers should leave day plans, attendance lists, etc. AT THE SCHOOL. Taking it home might help you with your planning, but it doesn't help the substitute at all! If you really need to take stuff home with you, photocopy it and then you can keep a copy at home!

4. Teachers who can't be flexible or think on their feet shouldn't be teachers. Bottom line is you never know what is going to get thrown at you. If you can't deal with it, you shouldn't be there.

Happy Father's Day!

Just wanted to wish all the fathers and fathers-to-be a happy Father's Day this weekend! I am lucky enough to have two fathers (bio and step) and I hope they both have a great weekend!

Bye Dragon Lady!

Today was Dragon Lady's last day of work. Tomorrow she has to move out of her apartment. In the past couple of weeks I have tried harder than usual to be helpful and pleasant. I tried very hard lend her a hand in view of the fact that the assistant director (who is now the new director) was away on vacation. Today I found out that dragon lady told someone that I've been a real bitch lately and she didn't know how she would have dealt with me over the summer. Either I am one super-bitch who can no longer tell the difference between niceness and bitchiness (doubtful since I can't even walk past a former student without them saying hi and wanting to talk to me, and everytime I see my former students they shout "Kim, Kim we miss you!"), or dragon lady was truly a miserable person that I am well rid of as she just brings everyone around her down. So the last thing I have to say to dragon lady is "good riddance!"

High School Reunion

I just got an invitation to my 10-year high school reunion. It's given me conflicted feelings. On the one hand I want to go and see what people are up to and how they've changed. I also (selfishly, I suppose) want to show people what I've been able to accomplish in the past ten years. I may not be married or have kids or be rich, but I'm satisfied with my life. On the other hand, I don't really feel like seeing a lot of the real jerks that were in my class. Also, I don't feel like I have anything to prove to anyone. I only keep in touch with a few people from my class. Seriously, there are very few people from my class that I really cared to know or stay in contact with. Of those few people, I see two on a somewhat more regular basis than the third (who is in New Zealand). They all know what's happening in my life. I've run into a few people over the years and we've had some pleasant "how are you/what are you up to" conversations, but for the most part, I really don't have a burning desire to know what everyone is up to. Anyway, the reunion isn't until October, so I guess I have a few months to decide whether or not I want to go.

My first photo post

I've been watching a friend play around with her blog for the past day and a half and it has inspired me to try and post a picture on my blog. This picture was taken at my sister's bridal shower a few weeks ago. If you know me, you know which person is me. If you don't know me, please feel free to post a guess in the comments section. Maybe I'll tell you if you're right . . . maybe I won't ;-)

Another Meme Courtesy of Vesper

Yes, yes I'm posting another meme, and yes, I got it from Vesper:

accent: Canadian all the way, baby!

booze: I never drink.

chore I hate: Hmmm. You'd be better off asking me what chores I like. I HATE vacuuming and dusting. I love doing laundry.

dogs/cats: I don't have either right now, but I'd love to have a cat! We always had dogs when I was growing up, but I have to say I'm partial to cats. I still miss my first (and only) cat Frisky.

essential electronics: My computer and tv.

favorite perfume/cologne: I don't wear perfume that often, but when I do, I like Elizabeth Taylor's "White Diamonds"

gold/silver: I like both, but I suspect that gold looks better with my skin tone.

hometown: I was born in Burnaby, B.C., but we moved to Surrey just before I turned two. So I'm going to have to call myself a proud Surrey girl.

insomnia: Yes. I get it quite often when I'm stressed. I've just gotten over a bout of it actually.

job title: Juniors and Children Head Teacher. It sounds big and important, and it sometimes is. But usually it's just code for "do this. Do that. Take care of that. It's your fault if this doesn't work."

kids: no biological kids, but I often refer to my students as my kids. Oh, and I've sorta "adopted" two of my Mexican girls. One is a former student who is 17. The other is a current student who is 16. They are my hijas.

living arrangements: in an apartment that I bought last September. I live alone and I LOVE it that way!

most admired trait: organization and passion for teaching!

number of sexual partners: yeah, like I'm going to publish that information here ;-)

overnight hospital stays: none. Knock on wood.

phobia: Heights, though that one has gotten better. Snakes, which I don't even like to think about or see pictures of. And I've started to develop a slight fear of small spaces.

quote: "What fools these mortals be." No, in all seriousness, I don't really have a quote.

religion: Christian. I'm a member of the United Church of Canada.

siblings: my sister, Jennifer. I have a step-brother (Sean) and a step-sister (Roisin) on my dad's side, and a step-sister (Cindy) and a step-brother (Brad) on my mom's side.

time I usually wake up: 6:33am. Yes, that is what my alarm clock is set for. It's very scientifically figured out. My snooze alarm lasts for 9 minutes. If I hit it 3 times my alarm goes off at exactly 7am. I never stay in bed that long though.

unusual talent: The ability to raise my left eyebrow independently of my right.

vegetable I refuse to eat: none actually.

worst habit: I talk to myself an awful lot. And I tend to get pretty crabby when I'm stressed.

x-rays: None.

yummy foods I make: Well, I don't cook a lot, but I do make an awesome spinach dip and some great chocolate-chip pecan cookies.

zodiac sign: Leo. Oh, and I was born in the year of the horse.

Warning: Faulty Appendix Story

Yesterday one of the students at my school, a boy who I see everyday and is always friendly and says "hi Kim" to me, was taken to the emergency room with a faulty appendix. Yes, he has appendicitis! When I went to the hospital yesterday afternoon to visit him, he was still in the Emergency Room with a morphine drip to control the pain. The poor guy . . . he's all alone in Canada and we can't find his gaurdian. All of our minor students are supposed to have guardians when they come to Canada, but sometimes these guardians are more like "paper guardians" that only sign the documentation but don't know or care about the student who they are supposed to guard. Anyway, there were people from the school who were going to stay with him overnight. He was supposed to go into surgery late last night or early this morning. I'm sure that he'll be just fine, but I worry about him being in the hospital over the weekend without anyone to sit with him and visit him. I told my colleague from the school that if they couldn't get hold of the guardian to call me and I would come and stay with him for a while. This afternoon I'll stop and pick up a get well soon card and maybe a Korean book or magazine to bring to him.

Grinder, Coola, and CNTM

Went to Grouse Mountain today. Gorgeous, gorgeous day with awesome views. We got to meet the two grizzly bears they have up there too, and we watched a short film explaining how they got to Grouse Mountain. Overall a pretty good way to spend the day. All my students (well, technically since I'm not teaching right now, they're not my students!) want to take home bear cubs as pets now. Clearly, the do not understand the meaning of WILD animals. Reminds me of one of my former Japanese students who was totally determined to ride a polar bear. Yes. Ride a polar bear!

Quick rant: Why does Canadian reality television, as a general rule, suck? Seriously . . . I used to be addicted to American Idol, but I can't even sit through a whole episode of Canadian Idol! I sit glued to the TV when America's Next Top Model is on, but I think Canada's Next Top Model is fairly lousy. I don't know what it is . . . but I have a theory that the slickness of Hollywood is a factor. The glossy sheen and sparkle seems to be missing from Canadian television. The slick and glossy Hollywood personalities seem to be missing too! Call me shallow, but I miss the Hollywood-factor!