the problems of a 20something: Problem #84

When you are 25 and are still ID'ed when you try to buy a scratch-and-win lottery ticket.

the problems of a 20something: Problem #137

It is easy and sometimes fun to be judgmental. However, the older I get the more I realize how destructive it can be.

So the other day I was talking to someone who said something quite judgmental.

Later I relayed the judgmental comment to Devin in a highly judgmental way. So it then occurred to me that not only was I being judgmental, but in being judgmental about someone else being judgmental I was also being a hypocrite. And isn't it worse to be judgmental AND a hypocrite than just to be judgmental?

Is the solution that I should embrace being judgmental in order to avoid being a hypocrite?

Quote of the Day: If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me -Dorothy Parker

why I don't like pants

So in general, I am actually a big fan of pants. However, there is one thing about pants that I find quite annoying. The pant hem. So you buy a pair of pants and they are too long. So you get them hemmed. Problem solved, right? Wrong! Because pants are hemmed to a certain length. Which means that the pants look great when you wear the shoes that the pants were hemmed in. Or any other shoes that are the same height as the shoes that the pants were hemmed it. So if every day you wear one inch heels your pants will always fit. But wear a pair of flats and the pants are too long. The pants drag on the ground. They no longer fit perfectly. Wear a pair of two inch heels and the pair are too short. They show too much of your socks or nylons. They look funny. This creates quite a problem when transitioning from summer shoes to winter shoes, from flats, to heels, to boots.

Pants. Can't live with them, can't live without 'em.

That's what's great about being young and wearing jeans. You buy them too long, walk all over them, destroy the bottoms, and tell your mom it's okay because that's the "style".

you know you're distracted when...

you wash your hair with conditioner. And don't notice until you pick up your shampoo to condition your hair.

why you need your morning coffee to order your morning coffee

Me: Good Morning!
Barista: Good Morning. What can I get for you?
Me: I would like a 16oz, non-fat vanilla... no vanilla... no vanilla.... no London Fog! I would like a 16oz, non-fat London Fog!

Talk about triumphing over adversity!

when a relationship is like an ill-fated moon landing starring Tom Hanks

I think this is a super interesting description of how to make a relationship work.

"It's about taking what you have, and, instead of trying to change it, finding a happy way to live with it. The movie image that just flashed into my head is in "Apollo 13," when the earthbound scientists stand at a table full of stuff representing everything the astronauts have available to them in the capsule. Their job is to rig something from those materials alone.

Being part of a couple is the same way--you both bring certain things to the relationship, and that's what you have to work with. Either you can rig something with it or you can't."

-Carolyn Hax

An Irish Triad

The three most short-lived traces: the trace of a bird on a branch, the trace of a fish on a pool, and the trace of a man on a woman.

- Away, Jane Urquhart

Fun Facts about Wyoming

Dear Governor Freudenthal,

You have my apologies. I was, perhaps, too quick to judge Wyoming. So I will share some fun facts about Wyoming in attempt to educate both myself, and my audience, about the lower 48's least populous state.

1) Wyoming's Nicknames are "Equality State" and "The Cowboy State"
2) Wyoming's Population is 505,907
3) Wyoming's Area is 97,914 square miles. (I am not going to do that math, but if you really wanted to, you could figure out the number of people per square mile)
4) Wyoming's Capital City is Cheyenne (and the population of Cheyenne is 51,507)
5) Wyoming's state mammal is the Bison
6) Wyoming is the birthplace of abstract expressionist artist Jackson Pollock
7) Wyoming is famous for Yellowstone National Park, being the home where the buffalo roam, agriculture and dude ranches.

These fun facts courtesy of the Lonely Planet USA Guide Book, 2006

Jeopardy - part II

So last week we heard about Devin getting final Jeopardy right based only on the category. Well on Friday I did something equally impressive, and yet completely pitiful.

Friday's final jeopardy category was "US Population Geography". I said "North Dakota" on the assumption that the question would be "Which state has the smallest per capita population."

Well apparently I am too smart by half. I correctly guessed question (or in Jeopardy terms, the answer), but my question (or answer) was incorrect. Final Jeopardy was in fact "Which of the lower 48 states has the smallest population per square mile" or something like that. To which Devin immediately got the right answer. The right answer which was not North Dakota.

In fact, on our recent road trip, Devin and I had discussed this very question, and he had told me the right answer. If only I had listened more closely I would have remembered. And then my story would be that I got final jeopardy right based only on the category, and not that I guessed the clue, only to come up with the wrong answer.

And for you trivia buffs out there, I have revealed the correct answer in the comments section.

a small little ranting thought

from Today's Globe and Mail

by Preston Manning

"How do Canadian cities measure up in terms of quality of life, economic performance, civic governance and leadership capacity?... In seeking answers, former Ontario premier Mike Harris and I have been examining some recent data [which] suggests that all is not well with Canada's largest city."

Hmmm.... Really? Mike Harris is examining data to try to figure out what is wrong with Toronto? Well, I imagine that this is subject he is intimately familiar with considering how much of what is wrong with Toronto today is the direct results of the Harris government policies of the 1990s. Thanks anyway Mike.

when invasive species attack

Yesterday I was hit in the leg by a rabbit.

"You hit a rabbit?"
"No, I was hit by a rabbit"

I was walking along a path, and on my left there was a garbage can. Now I guess that the garbage can blocked the rabbit's view of the path, as it ran, full speed, into the side of my leg. I must say I was quite startled. Although probably not nearly as startled as the rabbit, who after a few seconds of disorientation, continued it's full speed run across the pathway to the grass and bushes on the other side.

I thought I might end up with a giant rabbit shaped bruise on the side of my leg, but I seem to emerged from the incident unscathed. I can only hope the rabbit was as lucky.

rise and shine!

Last night I found out my friend Carly wakes up everyday at 5:00am. Just because. I get up every morning at 7:30am. She said she can't sleep in that late.

Last night I also found out my friend Carly is CRAZY!!

Reason #241 why I love my dad.

Because no one else I know would read the introduction of my thesis, which is on culture, and say:

"Gee now doesn'’t that sound like a sophisticated psychotherapeutic approach to the integration of self-states, ego states, differing cognitive-affective self-schemas, good and bad objects etc. It is the same process and prevents one state, schema or object relation from dominating the many and an awareness and appreciation of the many paradoxically leads to a stronger sense of self."

The older I get, and I more I learn, the more I realize how incredible my dad is.

I can do it!

This morning, at 7:30, when my alarm went off, I laid in bed for about a minute not wanting to get up. And then, I said to myself, outloud, "C'mon, get up - you can do it". Apparently I now need to give myself inspirational pep talks before I can get out of bed in the morning.

On the plus side. I did get up.

word of the day

I was recently reading something that I wrote when I came across the word "colliery".

I realized that I wasn't too sure what colliery meant and that I was probably misusing the word. So I looked it up.

Colliery: A coal mine together with its physical plant and outbuildings.

So I'm not really sure what word I was going for, but yeah, definitely not colliery.

Canada Post

On Tuesday at 3pm I mailed my dad a father's day card.

And it arrived in Thursday's mail.

It took less than 48hours to get from my mailbox in Victoria to my parent's house in Toronto. Go Canada Post Go!

sparkley! and bunnies!

I saw this (obviously old) picture this morning and I was really drawn to the sparkles and the cut - although not Ms. Heigel so much, who looks a little weird.

Also - right now I am in the library - and right outside the window there are five baby bunnies, three black and two a tawny tan colour playing with each other. And my goodness don't I just want to go outside and pick them up and hug them. And feed them. And do my part to support an invasive species.

A Dog Swimming with a Dolphin

Can you think of anything cuter?

the plot thickens...

The Wife US Republican John McCain Callously Left Behind

I think the headline speaks for itself.

Jeopardy

Tonight Devin got final jeopardy right.

That is not what is impressive. What is impressive is that he got the right answer from the Category. Not the clue. The category.

The Category was "Great Chefs of Europe" or something like that.

And from the category alone, Devin knew the answer was "Escoffier".

I mean seriously. 1) I never would have known the answer in 100 years. 2) I have never got a right answer from the category alone. I am beyond impressed.