so that's how it is, eh?

The Phone Rings:

Me: Hello.
Person: Hi, may I please speak to your mom or dad?
Me: Actually, I am an adult who lives on her own.

Seriously - It's bad enough that I look 17, but apparently I also sound as though I am 12. Geez!!

people are dumb.

I am at serious coffee and this man has spent the last five minutes plus explaining the plot of a movie to his coffee companion. The only words she has managed are "I don't need to see the movie now". Just a helpful hint: a description of a FICTIONAL set of events does not a conversation make.

Things I have been thinking about:

1) Leapfrog educational games for children. You know what is educatoinal? Reading to your children. Talking to your children. Playing with your children. Making-up stories with your children. Listening with your children. Do these things and you will drastically increase your chances of having happy, well-rounded, intellgent children. That is how your children will became well-adjusted, smart kids. Not sitting in the backseat of the car or in the livingroom while you wax nogalstic about how well they are being taught (parented?) by an army of mircochips!

2) Why is the weather mad at Victoria? Why did it snow. And then snow. and then rain. and then be very cold. why are my shoes wet and my toes cold and my super warm sweaters in toronto?

3) Eggnog chai lattes. I totally forgot you could get those. And I really want one.

4) Britney Spears. Why. Why. Why. On second thought, I don't think the answer would actually be very interesting.

The great storm of '07 '06

So yesterday when I posted I might have given the impression that I was pleased with the snow. Which, at the time (12:10pm), was true. Shortly thereafter I took a trip to Starbucks, and when I returned around 3pm, I returned to an aptartment with no power. Walking towards my house, I ran into my landlord, who informed me that only did I not have power (so no lights or heat), but that I shouldn't expect the power to return, and I should try to find myself other accomodation for the night. As I was entering my apt. my other landlord stopped me and suggested that I call my boyfriend, because I probably was not going to want to spend the night in my apartment.

By 5:00pm there was no power, it was starting to get cold, and the only light was courtesy of a half dozen tea candles, so I gave Devin a call and informed him of my plight, at which point he was kind enough to invite me over for the night. So I gathered up some clothes, schoolwork, three extra pairs of socks, and my salmon from the fridge, and began my trek.

I trudged through street after street of unplowed snow, but before I got more than several blocks I came across "do not cross" tape, and spent a moment trying to discern why it was there, and if I could ignore it, since I didn't really want to backtrack. Then I notice a few more words "do not cross, live wire" and peering into the darkness, I notice that yes indeed, there is a downed wire across the street. At which point I decide that it would be in my best interest to go the long way.

So I continue on my way, clumps of snow falling off trees as I walk, being careful to avoid ice patches and puddles, though I do fall victim to one patch of ice and two pretty good "soakers". I walk from my power-less neighbourhood, though a neighbourhood with power, then throughh another one without power, until I finally arrive at in Devin's neck of the woods. On the way, I see numerous power lines, sagging so much under the weight of the ice and the snow that I am surprised that the SUVs who are driving underneath and not making contact with them. I finally arrive at Devin's, take off my boots and socks, both of which are soaked, change into another pair of pants, and wring my first pair out into the bathtub. That's right - they were so wet they needed to be wrung out - and then put into the dryer.

Everything was going along well until around 7pm Devin's lights too went out - more tea candles were lit, until around 8:00pm when the lights came back on. So we watched the Simpsons and Studio Sixty, adn then turned in for the night. Around 7:00am Devin's alarm went off, and the t.v. and the internet were turned on to assess the situtation. All the schools in Victoria and many in the lower mainland were closed, including all the Vancouver universities, and following a quick check, the University of Victoria was also closed. Later that morning, I called my landlords, who told me my power was back, and that I could return home. On my walk home, I must admit, that the city looks beautiful all covered in snow, almost beautiful enough to make it all worth it.

And so today is a snow day in Victoria. Many, but not all, buisnesses are open, and people are advised not to drive unless it is necessary. Now as a non-native BCer, I will admit, there is a lot of snow. There is not so much snow that Toronto or Calgary would have shut down, but then again, Victoria probably does not possess the dozens of snowplows of other large Canadian citizens.

So now I am at home, nice and cozy, and I plan on staying here for the rest of the day.

SNOW!

I think that says it all.

Is it just me?

I try and I try and I try, but despite my best intentions, I cannot, for the life of me, properly fold a fitted sheet.

foibles of the english langugage

Right now I am at serious coffee.

I order, put my stuff down at a table at the front, and the go to the end of the bar to wait for my drink. After 3 or 4 minutes the girl looks at me and is like "sorry, I put your coffee up here (at the front till)" so I reply with, "oh, it's okay, it's my fault for not looking better".

Which, as far as I am concerned, a perfectly acceptable sentence, except that it really sounds like I am saying "it's my fault for not being better dressed" or something.

Anyways... that's all. Maybe I will post something actually interesting later.

Julie Andrews makes everything better

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens
Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens
Brown paper packages tied up with strings
These are a few of my favorite things

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple streudels
Doorbells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes
Snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes
Silver white winters that melt into springs
These are a few of my favorite things

When the dog bites
When the bee stings
When I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don't feel so bad

[Repeat all verses]

terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

After forcing myself to leave my house at 9:30 this morning so that I would go to school and get some work done, I spent 1 1/2 hours at school in the computer lab, doing nothing, and trying to figure out exactly why it was that I wanted to cry. So I decided that if I was going to do nothing and want to cry I might as well do it at home. And now I have Tostitos and I am watching Degrassi the Next Generation - so hopefully I will regroup and return to form this afternoon.

Part II: Things I hate feeling (in no particular order*):

sad
isolated
frustrated
not okay
not in control* (but if they were in a particular order, then this would be number 1)

gotta love those Bush appointments

"A Woman's Concern is persuaded that the crass commercialization and distribution of birth control is demeaning to women, degrading of human sexuality, and adverse to human health and happiness."
-- policy statement of the pregnancy-counseling organization whose medical director was Dr. Erik Keroack, recently appointed to head the nation's family planning program (found at slate online magazine)

I have been unsuccessful at satisfactorily expressing my feelings at this quote, so I will leave it to everyone's imagination.

Hey Kids!

This message is for everyone who has Globe and Mail access - on page A5 (at least in the Toronto and Victoria editions - so probably all editions) there is a picture of a cathedral made out of tuna cans, with a sardine can floor, a baby food bell tower, and granola bar grass, as part of an annual competition in support of the Daily Bread Food Bank in Toronto.

The Cathedral, made out of approx. $8,000 worth of food, was the winner of the structural award this year. It was designed and built by my mom's engineering firm! How cool is that!! So everyone, check it out if you get a chance.



Check out some 2005 winners: http://www.canstruction.org/2005winners.html
my favourite is "more than just peanuts".

To Whom It May Concern:

Dear Chequing Account,

I know that over the years we have had our ups and downs, and I know that this must be a scary time for you, what with it being only half-way through the month and already most of you is gone. However, I just want you to know that I really needed to buy that OPI nail polish yesterday. Needed. I don't expect you to understand. So you'll just have to trust me. And besides, November is only 30days long, so I'm sure we'll be fine.

Your (sometimes) friend,
Liz

Life in Victoria or strikethrough

At the risk of sounding like a spoiled brat* (something which Devin will readily confirm) today I went to the tailor's, and apparently it will take until next Thursday (8 days!) before my stuff is ready. I think this is an insanely long time. I guess that's what happens when you move from the centre of the (Canadian) universe out to the colonies.

*if I could figure out how to use strikethrough I would use it here. Anyone know how to use strikethrough?

Okay - here are the instructions (thank you blog world). This is what you do: put <, the word strike, and > before the word, and <, /, the word strike, and > after the word.

Lists, Lists, Lists

A couple months ago, I was reading Cosmo (I know, I know) and they ran an article about a young woman who had died in September 11th and before she died, she had been working on a list on her computer titled "100 Things I Want to do Before I Die". Anyways, I thought this was a fabulous idea - and then the recent spat of lists on other blogs - has prompted to me to write the first (of perhaps several?) lists of things I have not done that I would like/hope someday to do.

1) Have a facial
2) See a James Bond movie
3) Go horseback riding (I did this once as a young child, but not since)
4) Complete a large scale creative work
5) Have my own dog (or I suppose share a dog with my partner)

My Comments on the "big list"

02. Swam with wild dolphins: would totally love to. I almost swam with captured dolphins, but something about swimming with captured dolphins seemed not-cool to me.
14. Seen the Northern Lights: okay, seriously people. I have never seen these. I feel suddenly inadequate since everyone else seems to have.
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa: I am pretty sure you can no longer do this. We tried to walk to the top of a leaning tower in Bologna, but it was closed, and by closed, I mean I don't think you could ever actually walk to the top. stupid guidebook.
42. Had amazing friends: yes, yes, and yes again.
51. Visited Ireland: Lived baby, lived.
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love: okay, I was not in love, nor was I heartbroken, but I definetly talked about it for longer than justified.
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them: no, but a stranger (an American woman, about 25) sat at my table with me and my mom and sister at a vegetarian restaurant in Paris for about 20 mintues, before deciding to leave because it was too expensive.
54. Visited Japan: maybe someday.
72. Gotten married: hopefully someday.
78. Won first prize in a costume contest: I won a prize for "best couple". That was pretty cool. Although the prize left much to be desired.
94. Spoken more than one language fluently well enough to have a decent conversation: no but it's a life goal. Seriously.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour: I don't know about followed, but saw The Crofters in Kingston weekend, after weekend, after weekend.
105. Wrote articles for a large publication: but someday I will have to, stupid life plan, requiring that I filful this stupid requirement. I'm not such a fan of my life plan at the moment, in case you hadn't noticed.
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon: I would sort of like to do this, but what I really want to do is go to Tucson and visit S&S.

And for the record, I am blown away at the "have shaved my head people". I mean wow. That is super cool and also a little perplexing to me. And may I suggest, this Christmas, leave the kids at grammas, because y'all need to go out and order yourselves a martini.

Circle Craft Annual Christmas Craft Fair

I spent the past couple of days in Vancouver attending the Circle Craft Annual Christmas Craft Fair, the largest one of a kind craft fair in western Canada. I went with my friend Sarah and her mom, and it was super fun. The Thursday night we went out to a Malysian restaurant for dinner (it was good, not great. And now that I am eating red meat again, I had lamb, which was really good!). Friday it was crazy-raining so we drove down to Canada Place and we spent about 5 hours at the craft fair (we would have spent longer, but I had to catch a ferry back on the Sunday night). I ended up with Christmas presents for my mom, dad, sister and Alex, plus a couple of extras. All of the gifts are really random - well my sister's is sorta normal. But the other gifts are super random. I also got a shirt for myself, though alas, not the $100 hoodie of my dreams. So now, the only major gift I still need to get is for Devin, and so I just have to figure out where I can go to get a motorcycle helmet engraved.

Vancouver:
*Banana Leaf
*Blended Lychee Mojhitos (sp?)
*6 hours of travelling
*milk in a glass bottle
*crazy curvy houses (which I will buy when I an extra $350)
*glass insects made by the husband of the $100 hoodie woman
*amazing feeling of being surrounded by people who do what they love for a living, and hoping that someday I can be like them in my own way.

serious coffee dilemma

Tonight I was at my local serious coffee doing a bit of reading. I am sitting in one of four comfy leather chairs (there are two sets of two, plus lots of regular tables and chairs) and there is one girl in one of the other sets, and that's it. Just the two of us. Then a middle aged woman comes in, gets her drink, and asks to sit in the comfy chair next to me. I say okay. I personally would ask someone that if there was no where else to sit, but otherwise I would have sat at a normal table. But whatever. I spend the next twenty minutes listening to her drink, pick candies out of little plastic bag, chew the candies, and cough. In this time I get about three pages read due my extreme irritation, especially with the russling of the plastic bag and the audiable chewing. So I get up, and move to another table.

So I ask you - was what I did okay? I felt really bad, because I didn't want her to be offended, but I could not concentrate. What should I have said? Anything? Is there anything one can say? I tried to stick it out, but it didn't get less annoying, and once she switched from the newspaper to her book, I realized she was in for the long haul. So yeah, any thoughts?

Today I have:

1) Read 2 chapters of my book (this may not sound like a lot, but it is).
2) Done all my dishes
3) Done 5 loads of laundry (everything is clean!)
4) Went to starbucks for an eggnog latte
5) Tentively picked out this years Christmas cards
6) Sent 2 important emails I have been putting off
7) Talked to my mom on the phone. The second phone call was about gay celebrities, a topic on which she was suprisingly well versed
8) posted on my blog twice!

The Abyss and Freedom

Today is Sunday. The day of rest. Or the day of reading "Feminism and the Abyss of Freedom". Unfortunetly, I am spending the day doing the latter. And let me tell you, the Abyss of Freedom is about as pleasant to read as it sounds. Actually, the Abyss of Freedom is good thing, but it is not a particularly fun thing to read about.

However, I was supposed to read it last week, and I didn't start it until yesterday, so I don't have the option of giving up for the day. This week was a good week. I finished my final grant proposal (well, the second of two) and now I have a million-less-one things to worry about. Just now, to take a mini-break from the Abyss of Freedom I went to Starbucks and bought my first eggnog latte of the Christmas season!! Apparently a grande skim-milk/eggnog latte has 10 grams of fat and costs $4.72. This has prompted me to re-evaluate my plan of an eggnog latte a day for the next two months. Mainly because $150 is about half of my monthly food budget. Though it's still not enough for the shoes I want to buy :) Plus, I have to save for Devin's Christmas and birthday presents, so I can't go spending all my money on coffee.