Canned Cheeseburgers and Cartoon Chipmunks

This is so disgusting. At the same time I find it so fascinating and hilarious. I love the play by play photos. Davis is making me pizza now and I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it to Stitch n' bitch or not because I'm waiting for Kelly to call or answer her phone and so far no luck. That's all for now. We're watching the Alvin and the Chipmunks so I might have to throw up or kill myself. We'll see. I'll let y'all know if I find anything else cool, weird, disgusting or interesting.

Hey, it's Thursday!

So I had this idea to write a blog post about stupid diets (Breatharian, Flexitarian, the rice diet, the cookie diet etc.) Luckily I found this other funny article that's way better and funnier so here it is.

I'm going to Stitch N' Bitch tonight. Despite the fact that I can't stitch I'm going to take some kind of a project to work on. We'll see what. I believe Kelly is going to accompany me.

I'm sitting in the library right now listening to my Child Development online. It's much better than being in class. Gary Anderson is such a great teacher too. Actually I think all of the Psych. department at Camosun is really great. Unfortunately, it turns out that if I start blogging I stop listening so I'll write more later after my psych. lab. but first I need to find some kind of energy drink/Cliff bar combo. Thanks for reading this short little entry.

Best ever!

I received the best text message of my life tonight. (that means the best text message up until now and the best I will ever receive) It reads...

"Oh f***. You will not believe this but I'm 104% sure I just sprained my index finger while masturbating. Holy f***"

I won't say who it was from or if they are male or female but c'mon...you have to respect that. Thanks for reading. Please be careful while having your "alone time". This has been a public service announcement.

People are terrible.

Just me or is this the worst thing ever? It is advertised on the side of facebook and I had to look and see what About2croak.com could possibly be offering. It is a site where you guess which celebrities will die in 2008. This can only result in people hearing someone died and going "yessss...internet points!" What is wrong with people?

In other news I now have a significant amount of pink hair. Jealous? Some decent pics will be up...eventually. Ash was taking some for me but she got distracted making videos of the dog and kitten with funny voices. Maybe I'll post one of those too if you're lucky. ;)

In the meantime...thanks for reading. Watch this now. 5 decade DELIGHT!

Odd Pilots and Nude Passengers

Good morning! I am once again writing to you from a redundant psych. lecture. I have an airline themed post for you. Yahoo News is so funny. The link to a story about an Air Canada flight being grounded because of a co-pilot with mental illness issues reads "Air Canada grounds flight over odd pilot." This struck me as quite hilarious.

The odd pilot (I smell a sitcom!) story paled in comparison to the exciting news that you can now fly naked in Germany. The best thing about this story (as with most news on the internet) is the comments. Such as this gem:

"its crazy to fly naked, what kind of skanks are these people, i mean, people are weird, sick and dirty people and sexy girl there is not a place for a sick, tresh like you on here, what is the world coming too, try to be normal not weird"

This one that actually brings up the Holocaust....

"That is sick - clothes are functional, and attractive when chosen well. Why else have they been in use for so long? It's twisted to think about German people wanting to fly naked as a way to feel free when you recall the Holocaust and how the people were stripped naked to reduce and humiliate them in the death camps. Don't we have higher ambitions than attention-getting garbage like this. People really can be disappointing. I doubt this idea will catch on."

Or my personal favourite...

"What an excellent way to increase sexually indecent behaviours! Wow! Looks like the rate of sexual assault (particularly among women) will skyrocket as a result of this. Congratulations to the lawmakers who made these nude flights possible. I guess it seems that Germany's standard of morality has decreased even further. Well, I certainly won't be booking this flight."

You know when a man sees a naked woman he instantly goes crazy and rapes her. The main thing preventing rape is clothing: scientific fact. I love this person's picture of a plan full of sexual harassment. Is anyone as amused by this as I am? I'm going to try listening again. There might be another post up by the time this lecture is over. Thanks for reading. (Hope you had a bit of a laugh)

JHQOTD

Jack Handey Quote of the Day:

"Is there anything more beautiful than a beautiful, beautiful flamingo, flying across in front of a beautiful sunset? And he's carrying a beautiful rose in his beak, and also he's carrying a very beautiful painting with his feet. And also, you're drunk." --Jack Handey

School at 8:30 in the morning. It's supposed to snow all night and rain all morning. Ew. I'm still feeling good though. That has to be a good sign. Thanks for reading. Love you!

More like FUNday! (...am I right?)

For those of you (Adrian) impatient fools who aren't happy with my lack of posting rest assured that it was (primarily) because I had such a fun relaxing weekend that I was off the computer living real life for most of the time.

Friday night Davis and I took it easy and watched Waitress. To be more specific, I watched Waitress and Davis went to sleep. It was a wonderful film though. The kind that catches me off guard. Made all the better by the fact that Kristel had given it a bad review and I hadn't checked Rotten Tomatoes so I didn't know that it had an excellent rating so I wasn't expecting much. I loved it and the major shift in palette from pale to vibrant at the ending. It was lovely.

Davis and I are now watching another very colourful show, also about pie. Well, it's actually about Ned, who can bring dead people back to life through the power of his touch. The people he touches can only stay alive for one minute though and if they don't die again (from a second touch) someone else nearby will die. Ned uses his ability to solve murder cases by bringing the victim back to life and asking them about their death in the one minute he has. I know it sounds absurd and surreal and it is but it's wonderful and you will love it. Why aren't you watching it now? Oh yeah, because you're reading my blog. Ok as soon as you're done make sure you go find it somewhere. (like CTV or the internet) Edit- It's called Pushing Daisies.

Anyway, that's my entertainment update for the moment. Saturday was lovely. Kelly Davis and I booted around town grocery/liquor shopping and then Davis and I made food to take to a potluck. I made a baked artichoke spinach dip and we both made fried tofu with peanut sauce. It was delicious. The potluck, which was at Missie Peters' house, was so much fun. Most people brought vegan food and we sat around and ate and then played potluck and then everyone cleared out but Davis and I stuck around to help with the dishes and then we had tea and chatted with Missie and it was very cool to get to know her better. I think she'll be the feature poet at Tongues of Fire sometime over the next couple months and when I find out when that is I'll let you know so you can come see her perform because she rocks!

Sunday we went to visit my grandparents and my aunt and uncle who were in town. I have pictures to add from that at some point in the near future. The drive back was terrible and icy and I remembered why I left Saskatchewan. It's still way too cold out for my liking!

Today Ash and I went to the Undersea Gardens. That was a lot of fun. The scuba shows were cancelled for some reason but we got a discount because of it which was nice. The we went to her dad's house and had lunch with him and hung out. All in all a pretty nice day but I'm looking forward to going to school tomorrow and hanging out with adults (even if most of them are probably 18 or 19) Wow...I really need to make sure I try to write every day or I have too much to write about to fit into one post. Thanks for reading y'all!

Feeling gooooood

I am feeling good people! We have a break for a couple days from parenting. We got up to all kinds of crazy shenannigans last night. First of all Kelly and I had a birthday mission to go on. This involved walking downtown with a handful of birthday balloons and taking a "detour" to get cake. (At detour in case you didn't get that) Kelly and I started to get pretty goofy on the way there and by the time we got to Tongues of Fire we were all hyped up on chocolate, gin and energy drinks. Tongues of Fire was so much fun. I performed a piece that I did before Christmas. Alex read an open letter to Mr. Peanut complaining about the level of salt on Planter's Pumpkin Seeds and Davis read the following....(forgot my memory card so no video)

Ghostbustas

John sat gaunt and ashen-faced, gently cradling himself.

"I don't really know how to describe it" he told me, "I get this almost...spectral sensation during urination--phantom pains, pale fire sweeping through my urethra..."

"John," I said, shaking my head, "I told you that's what happens when you fuck a ghost without protection. You've probably got a memorial disease. That shit'll haunt you for the rest of your life."


I thought it was pretty funny. Of course I'm a little biased. Nora Smithisler was the feature and she was so awesome! Afterwards we bunch of us headed to Garrick's Head Pub. That was a lot of fun except that Davis had a few beers and got out of hand. Ok...out of hand for Davis. His pride and joy discovery of the evening was the following...

Blog Cabin
Mood: Serene
Listening to: Birds Chirping

That's it. We laughed and laughed.

Anyway...today has been such a fun relaxing day. Davis went to work in the morning and wasn't feeling so great and so they told him he could go home. There apparently wasn't a lot of work to do. Thank God for salaried government positions. I slept till 11:30 and then got up and went for breakfast with Alex and Davis at Mo:le. On the way back Kelly called me and said she saw us walking and wanted to hang out. We went to Solstice for tea with Kelly and Ben and then went shopping in Fan Tan Alley. We found a really nice new hoody for Davis. (Pictured here)


Now Davis and I are bumming around watching Corner Gas and going to take it easy for the evening. I realize this post may have been boring but I'm having a fun day chilling out and maxing and relaxing so too bad for you! Serves you right for reading my blog...oh and thanks for reading. WINK!

Generous Donations

This is what I see while I'm going to the bathroom between classes.



Zoom Media "Targeted Lifestyle Media". I'm not sure which lifestyle I'm a part of that's being targeted. People who...go to college? Go to the bathroom? Have vaginas? People who aren't afraid of public toilets? (obviously a minority) So many unanswered questions as to why I'm being targeted. This confusion is only amplified by the small print. (click to see full size on flickr if you care; blogger cuts it off.)






This advertising space was generously donated by this establishment and Zoom Media? I can see Camosun selling the backs of their bathroom stall doors but a donation is preposterous. You'd think they would be a little more honest since it's in the small print. Couldn't the small print just admit my school sold me out? Also, is the advertising itself a non-profit organization. Since they so generously *donate* the advertisement. Hmm...interesting that most of their ads are for birth control. (Hence the girl riding the scooter; she's clearly not knocked up)

I'm calling for a guerrilla attack on bathroom advertisements. Bring art, poetry or stickers to put on these so people aren't targeted while they're going to the bathroom. They target me on the bus, they target me while I'm watching tv...I even have to suffer through the ads when I'm at the movie theatre now. Let the people poo and pee in peace I say!

So, in conclusion--I take pictures while I pee. Thanks for reading.

Hate to blog about celebrities but....

New info on the Heath Ledger story from yesterday. It sounds like Heath may have been depressed and although they're saying the overdose appears "accidental" I don't know how you can gauge someone's intention post-mortem. Opening them up isn't going to tell you how they felt in those last few hours. Looking at someone's heart doesn't tell you if it was broken, hurting or lonely.

Someone I would have called a "friend" in the past posted a facebook note about the event so calloused and cold and unfeeling that it makes me honestly question who they are as a person.

The note includes such touching musings as "Let me just say, I'm glad they finished Dark Knight before Heath decided to down those sleeping pills. That movie is going to be fucking rad. And yeah, sucks his daughter is going to grow up without Daddy around, but what a legacy. Like, how many people get to play the Joker?"

Well two people got to play the joker and it sounds like that may have been part of the reason for Heath's depression and anxiety as he played the joker more like a sociopathic madman than Jack Nicholson's goofy humorous joker.

Anyway, I think at this point it's easier for me to focus on Heath Ledger's death than my own life. I have a social worker meeting this afternoon to make some very important decisions about the child in my care. We'll see how that goes and what it means and where it leads.

I am happy to report that I made it to jazzercise last night. I made it all the way through the class and I think I'll go back. (As an aside...does anyone who reads this have an Entertainment book? I need a coupon for it.) The highlight for me was "Lovestoned" by JT which we took from the first part of the song at a high pace and then used the slow part to move into the cool down. The regular instructor threw her back out so some skinny pretty blonde bi...girl instructed the class and Chelsea said she made things a lot more complicated than Vicki does. She kept changing the steps and a lot of the times I was dancing with myself or simply marching with myself trying to figure out what the eff we were doing but in the end I was glad I toughed it out because I did sweat a lot and I know it's the kind of thing that I would do really well with because the music keeps me going and I know no matter how hard anything we're doing is...it's over within an hour. Only thing I'll change is the weights I take. I'm firmly against little girly pink 2 lb. dumbells and I borrowed Jessica's. Next time I'm taking my straight up grey 4 pounders. I know 4 still isn't much but it's repetitive strength training. Stretches were a little wimpy but the ab section was great though and I'm feeling it a little today. Well on I go. Thanks for reading!

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger died today. This is a really sad story; he was under 30 and had a 2 year old daughter. It sounds like it was a drug overdose although police have not confirmed this yet. It's kind of sad that most articles on this sum his life up loosely as "Heath Ledger, who earned an Oscar nomination for his role as a gay cowboy, has died." I think that must be so sad for his family who knew him and loved him to have his life minimized to one role he played. The whole idea of celebrity is very confusing because many people die every day from drugs and you never hear about it because they never played a gay cowboy. Meanwhile millions of people will be grieving today over someone they never knew. Remember to reach out to those in your community who struggle with addictions. Some of them are the people sitting on the side of the road asking you to spare some change, some are your coworkers, some are your friends and family.

Blogging in class...

I`m sitting here in Experimental Psychology and I`ve started a very tangential conversation about autism. John was giving an example of previous ideologies that can interfere with new learning. When he was younger he worked with the psychologist who did a lot of investigation into autism and the conclusion was that it was caused by parents being cold and unfeeling towards their children and a lack of touch and cuddling with the children. It was later that he began working with people who were saying that it autism was hereditary but had a hard time accepting this new idea because he had been so convinced of the environmental attribution. This made sense of course because one or both of the parents were probably autistic or somewhere on the spectrum of autism. I brought up the Geek Syndrome article which puts forward the interesting hypothesis that autism may have increased because many of the individuals who would previously have been single and never have children now make over six digits salaries because they are now software engineers etc. You can also take an autistic quotient test to see if where you register on the spectrum. (I`m the least autistic person in the world...Davis is just a few points away from being autistic; so is my mom.) Anyway, this conversation just triggered my memory of that so I thought I would share it. Now John is giving us a section of a lecture he already gave us two weeks ago. The guy who sits beside me has fallen asleep again.

Some people have asked to see the headshot I took yesterday so here it is.



You can see his old headshot here. I think this one is a vast improvement.
I hope he likes it too. We`ll find out soon.

I think I`m going to make up some business cards and get a website going since it seems fairly simple to do some photography for a little cash on the side. Well, I`m going to start listening again even though I apparently have to much prior information to really appreciate any first year psych class because I am not really learning anything new. For once though I`m not going to use that as an excuse to slack off in the class but I`m going to aim for a good grade. What a novel idea! Here I go...thanks for reading.

I love this.

Ok, I better update so that you all know I didn't commit suicide after that last post. I am feeling much better. The Cindy Davis show last night was all kinds of amazing! Jason Cook opening was so great. I`m always shocked when I hear the voice that comes out of this guy. I`m used to seeing him drum but he deserves to be in front of a mic for sure.





Justin Hewitt was good too although I had already heard him at his cd release party so we did duck out to grab coffee while he was playing. The band was tight and Cindy's gorgeous vocals and songwriting were much better suited to the Metro Studio Theatre then say...Logan's or Steamers (RIP). f you still haven't checked her out I'm not sure what you're waiting for. I lurked about with my camera and got a few choice shots.


Cindy can really capture a room. Even just her and a piano is completely captivating


Cindy's lovely husband Ryan Mcleod



In other news I did my first paid photoshoot for someone I didn't know today. The lovely Nicole Jabs passed my name along to another mortgage broker and he popped by after noon to get some new business card shots done. They're not edited yet. Chelsea also wants me to take some photos of Ava and Dani's mom wants me to do their family portraits. So I'm really building up my portfolio now which is exciting.

In other wacky news I'm going to Jazzercise tonight with my legwarmers and 4 lb. hand weights in tow. Ok, in all honesty I don't have any legwarmers at this second but I'm a pair of scissors and a sweater away from a pair. I wonder if I can find my sweatband...

Well I have homework left to do and tuition left to pay...oh and a house to clean. I better mosey on. Thanks for reading.

I hate this.

I am feeling a little depressed at the moment. Everything seems just short of hopeless right now. How can there be months to wait just to get a psychiatrist to see a child who needs immediate help? How is what we do not valued for being as hard as it is? It took me every ounce of my being to get myself and my foster daughter from first thing this morning till last thing tonight and at the end of the day there is no one who can understand just how difficult it all is. Feels like pushing against a brick wall. I don't know where we go from here. This system needs reevaluation. I need more support. The good thing is that I talked to our resource worker who is finally back from weeks of vacation and she is willing to give us whatever we need. Now I just have to figure out what that is. Thanks for praying.

TGIF?

Oh Effffff C.R. Avery tore up Legends last night. It was too good. Just too good. Coasting on crisis adrenaline and two energy drinks I wandered through the door to Jeff Andrew's mellow bluesy tunes. Seemed like it was going to be a pretty chilled out evening. C.R. usually does spoken word and some piano tunes. The Soapbox Poets and Odditory presence (check out Death to all Martians) were up next and I settled into the comfort level of Tongues of Fire transported to Logan's.

Next thing you know C.R. busts onto the stage wearing black eye makeup and he's backed by a full band sans piano. Of course the harmonica was still out in full force. Overall, just a great show. Highlights for me were the song "German Computer", as well as a song about Duncan and C.R. crowdsurfing while playing the harmonica and his guitar player crowdsurfing while playing the guitar and his threat to bring T.O.F.U. next time. Also any Vancouver residents or Victoria wannabes who go there every couple weeks (representin!) would appreciate all the nods to Van...usually East Van/Commercial. (A few disses of Abbotsford, Yaletown etc.) So I bought their new album. It's pretty good so far, just started listening. I loved that he had a sliding scale on his cd's ($2-$20) and was open to negotiation.

Well, yesterday before any of that was a pretty stressful day. I missed my psych. lab because I was dealing with the gong show that is my life. Today is much better. I kept Ash home from school in the morning and took her at lunch and spent the rest of the day with her. I really with I could go back to elementary school and realize how awesome it all is. We had D.E.A.R. time first (drop everything and read) and then we went to the library and were read a story. We spent the last little bit of the day outside playing tag. Overall, not a lot to complain about. So that went well. Then we headed over to Solstice to have an afterschool snack while we waited for Davis to finish work. Now we're at home watching Transformer's. Ash's older sister Kat is over and we're just going to try to keep things chill and relaxed.

Tomorrow night we are going to Chelsea's show at detour. Anyone is welcome to join us. Hopefully the rest of the night is uneventful. Thanks for reading!

I love Jack Black.

I can't wait till Be Kind Rewind comes out. It looks so awesome.

That's all for now. Thanks for watching the trailer for it and then getting excited for it too.

I missed you.

Sorry for the delay in blogging. Everything that's been going on in my life over the past few days has revolved around my foster daughter and therefore confidentiality prohibits me from writing about it. I can say that Davis and I had the night off last night. We watched a great Louis Theroux special about the prison system in the states. We also watched The Rules of Attraction which was really good. It's based on a novel by Brett Easton Ellis who is just a great writer. He wrote American Psycho. This was not nearly as gory although equally disturbing at times. If you haven't seen it you might want to.

Today Davis and I had our levels assesment meeting with a resource worker from MCFD and we came in as a Level III specialized care home which is really good because it validates the work we are doing and will open up the doors to better support for us. After we did the school pick up thing we went to Old Navy to get Ash new pants. She picked out army ones with skulls on the pockets so she's stoked on that and also that she got a new bathing suit. It came with two bottoms which is pretty cool. Davis got a new pair of pants and a shirt and a new bathing suit too. (We better go swimming soon) I also found a little outfit for...Child X over at my mom's house because I know she doesn't have a lot of clothes and they had good deals on. I hate shopping there. I did not buy anything for myself...go me! I'm on a "free clothes only" stretch that has been over 3 months now. (I don't look like a hobo yet so I've got a ways to go)

Alright, I'm eating a salad with Annie's Goddess Dressing and wondering how can it be so delicious? Anyone have a recipe for it? I should look that up. If you haven't tried it...do so now.

I think that's actually all I have to say right now. I think tomorrow I might try to make it to the C.R. Avery show at Logan's since it's walking distance and starts at 10:00 long after bedtime. Anybody else who's in Victoria and up for a show tomorrow night let me know. If you haven't seen someone beatbox and play the harmonica simultaneously or never got to see Bob Dylan live-- you must go. Alright, I said I had nothing else to say and I have now broken your trust. For that I'm sorry. I hope you'll forgive me. Thanks for reading.

Comments and Celebrities

I would like to personally thank Andrew for his consistent commenting and shame the rest of you. (I'm not going to name you individually that would be way too much positive reinforcement--I only acknowledge GOOD behaviour) So, the bottom line is...I *know* you're reading. It looks ridiculous when blogspot says I have "1 comments". Please make it at least "2 comments" in the future just for the sake of grammar. Thanks.

In other news...we have a couple nights off. Whoo hoo! I have class from 8:30 to 9:50 and then from 10:30-12:20 and then a doctor's appt. to take the kid to in the afternoon. Not so much a day off as a day...a day. (I have no joke for that. I'm all joked out)

So, I made Davis download the first episode of the Celebrity Apprentice just because I figure that is too surreal and ridiculous not to watch. He is not happy. Well, I'm off to relax before my head explodes. Thanks for reading!

Amidst the chaos...

I am having a gong show of a day. As per usual, I can't be too specific but can I just give you my word that I'm a superhero? Davis is too. I don't know how we do it. You trust me right? Good.

Alright, so amidst the chaos we take small victories. How about this one-- yesterday afternoon while doing some shopping out in Lameford...I mean Langford...I meaaaaan....the "Westshore Communities?" I had a brain child. I was thinking of my mom's new foster daughter (Child X for the sake of confidentiality.) Child X is pretty constantly terrified. They think there's a possibility she could be autistic. I don't think so because she loves to be held and is learning new words everyday despite the initial report that she didn't speak at all. So anyway, I started thinking back through all the random psych classes I've taken over the years. I suddenly remembered operant conditioning. Positive operant conditioning to be exact.

My mom was getting worn out because in order to change the baby's diaper or give her a bath she had to go through kicking, screaming, crying...sometimes even shaking. This was obviously a negative experience not only for...Child X...but but my mom as well. So...what do toddlers like? Candy obviously. So I went over and said "Hey do you have any suckers?" She didn't but she had some Real Fruit candy so I fed her those while mom changed her diaper and she barely cried at all. Now, remember the point of this isn't that she will always need candy when her diaper is changed but for her to have a positive association with the bath. (Remember Pavlov's dogs?) So Davis and I went to Superstore and while we were there we grabbed a bag of suckers.

We tried the sucker while she was in the bath and she got right into it. (The benefit of the sucker is that she can give it to herself.) She was fine until we got her to sit down in the water. What we did was we took away the sucker as we sat her down, she started crying but as soon as she was sitting we gave her the sucker back. She ended up playing with the toys and having a really positive bath experience. After the bath we played with her and she was in a great mood running around, laughing, giving kisses; I even taught her how to say buh bye. It was such a great experience. This renews my faith in my own ability to get inside a child's head and that I am actually good at what I do even if it is a constant struggle over at my house with my ten year old I'm not going to give up on myself. We'll see where the rest of the night takes us but I am holding on to small victories for now. I hope this wasn't boring to read. I find it all very fascinating. Which I guess proves that blogs, in the end, are self-indulgent and vain. Unless you weren't bored in which case it proves that I am brilliant. Which brings us back to self-absorbed vanity. Oh...thanks for reading anyway. WINK!

P.S. I bought a pink vacuum yesterday...picture to follow.

Important Update

I actually spent some time with Andrew yesterday. He came over and had a veggie dog and talked about linguistics and the electronic music scene in Victoria. He borrowed four books including my book of Leonard Cohen poetry. We listened to Joe Rogan`s rant about psychedelic drugs and the meaning of life. (The meaning of life is that we are bacteria...pretty much a really advanced mold) Then he left.

So far today I have done nothing but lay in bed. Didn`t I say I was going to sleep for 10 hours? I wasn`t lying. Well...I can`t keep writing much longer. I have some very pressing absolutely nothing to get done. I better get back to it.

Juno and jPod

Ok...quick entertainment update before bed. Juno....amazing! Not overblown at all. I`m in love with Juno...the film and the character. I went expecting to be charmed only by Michael Cera (and don`t kid yourself he was adorable) But the real charmer here was Ellen Page as Juno. I love her so much and her dad in it is so amazing and...SEE IT! I can`t be more articulate at this point because I loved it so much.

Well, almost everyone has heard how great Juno is but have you heard about jPod? It`s a Douglas Coupland novel that they`ve now made into a show. It feels a little bit like a Canadian version of Weeds in some ways. We just watched the first episode but I`m curious to see where it goes.

Well, Ash is not here tonight and it has been really relaxed. Davis and I went to detour with Kelly and Ben for a light dinner and dessert. It was wonderful to have a night out with just adults.

Anyway, speaking of which, it`s so nice to have a night off from children so I`m going to keep it short. What am I looking forward to the most right now? Maybe the Phoenix package at Silk Road Spa? Nicole and I are going on February 8th and I am just counting down the days. Well, I`m off to play some Mario World on Nintendo DS before sleeping for 10 hours. Thanks for reading!

Saturday Morning Psych. Class

First of all this morning I would like to discuss this article. In summary, it states that people who are given a biological explanation for anorexia are far less likely to apply blame than those given a socio-cultural explanation. I would hypothesize this would largely extend to poverty and homelessness, addictions and who knows what else. The study's practical application is said to be that if people understand the biological impact it can help to lower the blame based stigma towards those struggling with anorexia. Only problem is that as far as I'm aware eating disorders are largely culturally based. Go to Ethiopia or Uganda and try to explain to people what anorexia is and they will not understand. "You mean...they *have* food and they don't eat it...because... they think they're fat?" Now the useful question that arises for me from this study has less to do with changing the explanatory model for anorexia but more to do with an understanding of why a personal issue an individual is going through is all of a sudden their fault because it is socio-culturally influenced as opposed to being biological. Does the logic that this individual has been bombarded with images of unnaturally thin women and that this becomes a self-perpetuating cycle mean that the individual living with an eating disorder "chose" to have anorexia? I don't think so.

It's the same shift in thinking that happens for many if you were to find out that a homeless person has a biologically caused mental illness than an addiction to crack. This doesn't make sense. We need to look at the way our society treats and supports those with addiction and question access to housing and food within the group rather than making it all about the individual. Likewise, would you say that a child is not to blame for their actions if they have a biologically based mental illness such as autism but if they had poor parenting and struggle to relate to others that this is their fault because of a lack of biological influence? This seems to be an arguement between nature and nurture and I think we`re to the point where few, if any, believe one to be solely responsible for personality. Certainly there may be some biological predisposition to anorexia but if the societal and cultural elements were not there as a catalyst anorexia would most likely not exist. To me, this study means people need to learn more about sociology and the impact of our culture on us as individuals.

I also question this study`s validity based on exclusively studying nursing students. What if you studied psychology students or sociology students or geography students or how about a random sampling from different fields and different walks of life rather than a cohort. Maybe I'm thinking this way because I just started taking experimental psych and I want to look at new studies quite critically so that we don't come up with ideas that years down the road we will all laugh at. (phrenology anyone?) Does anyone agree with the new study's conclusion or do you get what I'm saying? Let me know.

News in the blogosphere....Davis has a new blog! When I read his first entry it makes me remember how smart he is and wonder why he puts up with me. I'm kidding, of course. (I'm brilliant) Davis's old blog, Braincrap, was fictional ramblings and a lot of it is great and will make you laugh. His new blog is essentially going to be all of the independent research and reading that he does and documentation of it. I'm sure if you stay tuned you will learn a lot. (and who doesn't like learning?)

Alright, this week school will swoop into full swing so I better enjoy my weekend. (by lazing about in bed for at least another 20 minutes before I get up and going.) Before I go though, I'd like to sincerely thank you for reading!

Jack Handey and the New Boyz 2 Men.

First of all...before bed I need a Jack Handey quote of the day. The quote is...(drumroll please)

“If trees could scream, would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.”

Thank you sir. Every day you grace us with your genius.

In other news-- Colin McT pointed me in the direction of Naturally Seven. They're amazing. there's a good possibility that everyone else has already heard them/of them but I hadn't and they are so tight I had to share. Check out this video of them on the subway. (one of my favourite things about this video is that while most people are into it and videotaping it or grooving there's a man trying to tune it out and do his crossword puzzle/sudoku and a woman that looks pretty irritated by it.)



We had a very stressful evening and though I can't go into details let's just say we are doing the best we can at a really freaking hard job. Confidentiality prohibits me from writing any more of the details from my afternoon through evening but it was pretty hectic. I was very blessed to have Davis home for the last portion of this week and I'll be sad to see him go back to work on Monday. Ash is away for tomorrow afternoon through evening and it will be nice to have some down time. I'm off to watch a movie and then pass out but I hope you have a great night/morning/afternoon/evening whatever time it is when you read this. And as always...thanks so much for reading!!!

On Coughing, Poetrying and Beatboxing...

Can you believe I am still sick? Ok, so I need your feedback. I've been coughing for about a week plus a couple days. Pretty serious coughing but that's about it. I don't have a sore throat. (Other than after coughing it gets a little raw) I don't have any chest congestion or trouble breathing. What can a doctor possibly do for me if all I'm doing is coughing? Won't he just tell me to take some cough medicine? That's what I think. Davis thinks I should see a doctor at this point. What do you think?

Alright, so despite my voice not being at its best I still read at Tongues of Fire. It was a good night although I was feeling run-down and didn't stay past intermission. Too bad because Spillious seemed great but we (Craig, Katelyn and I) went to my house to watch Dylan Moran. I also felt bad that Davis was stuck at home alone. So...there is a video of me reading. Only issue is that I asked Craig to record it for me and for some reason he decided to hold the camera on a vertical which results in the video being sideways. Nonetheless, I am still going to post the video and you can either turn your head sideways or close your eyes and listen.



I'm also putting up a video of Blank Space beatboxing because he's always a crowd favourite and I thought you guys might want to see some of the different things that happen at Tongues of Fire. Beatboxing is so mind boggling if it's not something you can do. I would like to record more of the open mic and/or feature but 2 gigs of memory isn't a lot for the video files on my little Canon camera.



Well, today is supposed to be our big clean up the house day. We'll see how much of it we actually get done with the way I'm feeling. We also have to try to register with Kid's Klub and I have to figure out if I can register for Child Development because the prof is retiring after this semester and he's great. For his online classes he has radio shows that you listen to where he interviews people. They are so interesting and I would much prefer to be taking that class online than stats. I think I will wait to take stats in the summer when I'm only taking one or two courses. Well, I think my writing is starting to verge on rambling but I love you all and thanks for reading!

Oh...hello there...

First off...my Jack Handey quote of the day: "Mom always told me I could be whatever I wanted to be when I grew up, 'within reason.' When I asked her what she meant by 'within reason,' she said, 'You ask a lot of questions for a garbage man."

Love it. Ok, onto my day. I had my first First Nation's Literature class today. It is really interesting so far. We listened to the telling of the creation story of the Anishaabe. (Ojibway, Chippewa) It is a beautiful story called "The Woman Who Fell from the Sky". We compared it to the Judao-Christian Creation story an it was an enjoyable discussion although I felt that it was very biased because in the telling of the stories we heard (which was on a cd about story telling by James King) the native story was very long and told with humour and obviously the preferred and then the bible's creation story was skimmed over very briefly and I felt that it removed any beauty from the Jewish/Christian creation story and left many details out. Anyway, the Aboriginal story had some cool concepts of interconnectedness with nature and was very balanced and I enjoyed it and the discussion that went along with it. (Especially as a Vegan Christian I had some thoughts to share on the comparison)

So, moving along, Davis and I went to Mo:le for lunch and I had the vegan huevos rancheros (sub tofu, nix the cheese and sour cream) It was delicious. Then we shopped for a bit and then back to class for my Psych. lab. That was super easy and I only took about 20 minutes so even though it was an hour and a half lab I got to leave early.

Tongues of Fire is tonight! Unfortunately I don't think Davis can go because we were unable to find someone to watch Ash. Craig is supposed to come along though and thank goodness because I always need a bit of moral support. I will try to get him to record my performance so that I can post it on here. Also, I am going to try to snap some pics.

Davis is just picking up Ash right now and then we're going to view King of Kong. Andrew recommended it to us and so now I have to recommend it to you. Don't take my word though...click the link. 96% on Rotten Tomatoes has to mean something.

Thanks for reading. PEACE!

Dylan Moran is hilarious.

Davis and I are watching Dylan Moran. He is so funny. He has this delivery that is just really Irish rambling.
On Driving: "I've realized that it's really mostly about swearing. It's...swearing in a box with wheels"

On Germany "The food is terrible, you can't even eat it but you can't complain because you would have to speak it and it's a terrible language, no one should ever speak it. It sounds like a typewriter being kicked down the stairs. It's foul. And that's not prejudice, that's just observation"

On Children: Children have such a sense of purpose. They have such a good walk and they're walking about and you say "Why are you walking like that?" "Because I have a harmonica?" "Why do you have that harmonica?" "Because I'm going to put it in the toilet."

"You tell your child bedtime bedtime but they don't hear bedtime. They hear 'lie down in the dark...for the next nine hours...I'm locking the door now'"

"Really, you're not an adult, you're just a really tall child with a beer in your hand having a conversation you don't understand....yeah...the middle east...that was really bad...I wouldn't have done that...oh, a histerectomy, yeah, the shoulder is a painful area."

On the British: "If you're talking to an English person you don't know if they've just died or just gotten married."

On Addiction: "I don't take loads of drugs beause it's too routine. You take the drugs, you lay there for nine hours going uhhhhhhhh and then you run out of it and you go out and do it all again. But you know you can get addicted to anything except fruit."


Alright...this might not be as funny to read as it is to hear so check him out. He's hilarious.

Hump Day

Still sick! Blech. I'm so over it. Despite my continued coughing I managed to get out and do a quick photo shoot with Nicole for her new business cards. She recently became a Mortgage Broker and I should probably put a quick plug in for her that if anyone reading this is looking to buy a house anytime soon I'll point you in her direction because I know she'll be great at it and she'll have you laughing along the way. Although we were going for business professional of course things got a little goofy.



Ultimately though we did end up with a half decent businessy one.



Anyway, those pictures take us to about noon in my day. Through the afternoon I just rested and played Super Mario Brothers on DS which I just got today. It's pretty rad. It made me feel nostalgic which I always love. Actually, that reminds me of a great Jack Handey quote.

"I'm not sure it's good to think back to my childhood memories because I end up feeling happy and sad at the same time, and that gives me a weird "neutral" feeling."

I love Jack Handey by the way. Well.....veggie burgers and french fries for supper and then off to Colin's show. It was a lot of fun. Craig showed up and I got to have a visit with him and of course some great food. Our dip was rolled out within the past couple days. Davis and I brought a black bean and artichoke dip to New Year's Eve and Launa was excited about it because she had been looking for a vegan dip she liked for their sweet potato fries. So we tried that and it was delicious! Then we had coconut chocolate cake. Mmm...

ANYway...enough about my day! I have something interesting for you to check out. They are called Implicit Association Tests (IAT) They are supposed to reveal your true feelings about various topics. It told me that I like thin people slightly better than fat people but the good news is that I like black people and white people equally. It's pretty interesting.

One other thing I have to point you in the direction of is Tim and Eric, Awesome Show: Great Job. I think a good chunk of people won't get it but it's freaking hilarious! If you like the sketch I linked to there are a lot more on YouTube or you can always download them like we do!

Well, that's it for today. I have First Nation's Lit at 8:30 am. We'll see if I am able to learn anything at that ungodly hour. Anyway, thanks so much for reading my blog today!

The show must go on...

Well, we made it through a very stressful evening and we're all still alive. All we can do is take it one day at a time they say. I've never found that very encouraging. For one thing, I don't think jumping ahead days is possible and if it were I would definitely sign up for that. For another thing most of the time I'm taking it 10-15 minutes at a time and I still struggle with that. So after making it to bed I woke up a couple hours later with an uncontrollable coughing fit that was not fun. Some water, tea and Buckley's and I was eventually able to go back to sleep.

I was supposed to have a meeting with a social worker this morning and I called her at quarter to 10:00 to say I was sick and reschedule. It was at that point I decided to casually check out my class schedule and realize I had a Psych class at 10:30 so I was pretty rushed to get there. The prof is really interesting and it seems like the class will be really interesting. 40% of the grad is participation in labs and 10% is just for doing these practice quizzes on a website. The remainder is for test that are multiple choice on a computer. I can totally handle that. I'm excited for real classes. Unfortunately, I ended up sitting beside the two dumbest girls ever. Within the first 5 minutes of sitting beside them the one had said both "I hate literature" and "I hate children". It was very annoying. The class is huge. Between 60 and 70 students. The lab is on Thursday though and it will be a smaller group of people which will be nice.

Chelsea and Ava came over for tea this afternoon and that was nice. Chels gave us Ava's old stroller and we gave her Ash's 'too small for her age/going to wreck her back before the age of 11' stroller that she was pushing everywhere. That will be a very good thing for us. We had a nice little visit.

Oh...a really good thing is that Davis booked "holidays" for the rest of the week! It will be so nice to have him home and to get some time alone with him instead of it always being kid-centred. Well, that's all I really feel like writing for now. Sorry if it wasn't very exciting. Thanks for reading!

Just Another Manic Monday

Monday morning came just in time this week. We were ready for the so-called "vacation" to be over and Ash to go back to school. Yesterday was good times. We got a call from Sean and Lyle in the morning inviting us to Floyd's. It was my first bad experience there. Davis had ordered a veggie burger and they brought it with cheese although he ordered it no mayo, no cheese. She took it back and brought it out with the cheese just scraped off of it. Not cool. Turned out to be better anyway because we found out the burgers there do have egg in them even though I've been told otherwise by servers. He just switched to the same thing I get there every time which is the veggie sandwich with no mayo and no cheese. I think we'll be going to Mo:le next time we go out for brunch. At least they mark their vegan options and are consistent about it.



As you can see Lyle has the coolest new glasses. He told me he picked them out all by himself without any help. I said I like them and that they were cat eye glasses. How wrong was I! Lyle quickly corrected me and informed me that he doesn't have cat eyes. Lesson learned. "I look like Royal Business" he told me. "My hair is dark red and my glasses are fire engine red. People can see me for miles and miles and they will wonder who it is and when they see my glasses they'll know it's Lyle." He also met Caleb. They're pretty much best friends by now.




Today has been really really really hard. I'm sick and I've been given no mercy by this 10 year old who has chosen to really make this evening hard for me. If you pray, please pray for me. If you don't...send me some positive thoughts or energy or something.

Top 10 Song List

Well, Sean has challenged me to compile my "Top 10 songs" list. This is really going to be a challenge but I'm going to give it my best shot. I'm also going to post links in case you've missed hearing one. I don't know if this is supposed to be in order but mine will not be. It's taking me enough work to narrow it down and I know I'm leaving out many songs I love that I'll remember later.

Cat Stevens- Father and Son
India Arie- Brown Skin
Fisher- I will love you
Ben Harper- Diamonds on the Inside
U2-One (Also LOVE the Johnny Cash cover of this song)
The White Stripes- Seven Nation Army
Tegan and Sara- Living Room
Sarah Slean- Lucky Me
Paul Simon- Diamonds on the Soles of her shoes
Stevie Wonder- Overjoyed


It is IMPORTANT that everyone know that there are no Prince songs on this list because choosing one would be like asking a mother to choose between her children. (Also, wouldn't have been able to link because Prince doesn't let anyone puthis songs on YouTube)

Lest we forget.

Without Chelsea's permission I have to share this e-mail from her earlier today because I enjoyed it so much. Her e-mails are always entertaining and well written and this deserves to be shared.

Chelsea's opinion of New Year's Eve at Steamer's:

"I felt very old and overdressed (at) Steamers. Also like I'd been transported back to the mid-80s, an era whose fashions should not be celebrated with the kind of wink-wink-nudge-nudge "retro" giddiness usually reserved for themed frat-house parties. Skinny ties, shoulder pads, leggings with flowey skirts over top, wrists swimming in bangles, neon-hued high heels, purple eye-shadow, fart-bangs... all were out in full force last Monday, and all worn with so much hipster pride and ironic earnestness it made me want to shrivel up and cling to the nearest wad of gum under the table. All these girls tottering around, so proud of themselves, meanwhile I refused to take off my giant coat and sat in the most inconspicuous corner I could find. So maybe Steamers was fun, and awesome, but I am just too square and belligerent to be truly in on the joke."

So I've decided that we're going to start a new Remembrance Day in honour of the 80's where we will lay wreaths of sweatbands and bangles row by row because if we forget our fashion history we are destined to repeat it.

Saturday Morning Fever

Welcome back folks! Anyone reading my blog on the weekend? 10 points to you if you are. (You can keep those.) I'm still coughing away this morning but I'm tossing back tea and toast and starting to feel human again. Davis made me a cashew butter and apricot jam sandwich for breakfast. If you've never tried any nut butters besides peanut please go out today and purchase some cashew, hazelnut or almond butter. Sure a jar will cost you twice as much but it's *more* than twice as good so in the end you are making a profit...in deliciousness.

This week I'm really looking forward to Tongues of Fire. I have a new piece to read and I'm pretty happy with it. I'm also going to make sure I have my camera battery charged so I can photograph the goings on. At the suggestion of the beautiful and talented Launa Kremler I am going to use my blog to shamelessly self-promote more and include some of the photographs I've taken recently in my blog. So here are a few of my favourite photos from the recent Tom Wait's tribute show at Solstice Cafe



Children of Celebrities


This guy (also from Children of Celebrities) was pretty rad. Of the whole night I think he did the best job of capturing how huge an actual Tom Wait's performance would be. (Except perhaps Shayne Avec i Grec who just got really drunk)


The gorgeous Jess Hill. Check out her music, it's beautiful.


Jeff Andrews.

In my latest film news, Davis and I watched Art School Confidential last night and it was so awesome! I didn't know anything about it till I watched it. I check with James B, my go to critic, and he gave it 3/4 stars which is a great rating from him. He also mentioned that it was by the director of Ghost World which was a great film. If you're not into dark comedy you might not get this. For me, it was refreshing to watch a film that let the audience get the jokes rather than throwing them in your face. (not mentioning any names...Walk Hard) I highly recommend this film. I won't tell you any more about it, just that it's great.

Tonight David and Chelsey are coming over to finally take Ruby the cat home. We'll miss this old lady cat we've been taking care of for the past three months but I know she'll be happier on her own without our cats bugging her. It will also be nice to chill because we haven't had David and Chelsey over since we moved into their old house. Plus we get to visit with little one year old ('ish?) Ava and she is such a cutie. (Though she does not have a website to link to...yet) We also might be trading our FD out for my mom's new placement for the evening. Mom got a 16 month old yesterday and apparently she's a lot of work so far.

Alright, well before this turns into a full length book I'll stop typing and go clean my house. Thanks for reading!

Still kickin'

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still alive. (I know you were worried!) Just returned back from dinner. Kelly, Ash, Davis and I went to Detour and, as always, it was so good. Detour is a dessert lounge started by two couples who go to my church. The best thing about it is that they go out of their way to have options for anyone to eat regardless of their food preferences or dietary choices. It's really busy during the nights when they have concerts but during the day it's pretty slow so if you haven't been yet and you live in Victoria make sure you go. It's located in Centennial square near City Hall.

So seeing as it's a dessert lounge I usually just get cake there but today I had the grain stuffed portabello mushroom as well before splitting a piece of "Hilary hates cake" (Named for Hilary Kingsley who doesn't enjoy cake but makes an exception for this chocolate, banana, peanut butter, dairy-free whip cream heaven!) They specially made Ash a grilled cheese sandwich at request even though it wasn't on the menu and Kelly had Garlic Lemon Angel food pasta. It was such a great meal out.

Ok, enough about food. A friend asked me today if I thought that it was ridiculous for her to have a goal of becoming a personal trainer if she's in really bad shape herself. She said she feels insane for even thinking about it but that it's something she would really enjoy. My answer was that that would be a great place to start from. If you, yourself, have struggled with getting fit you will be so much more understanding of where people are coming from. You're probably not going to train big meat-head gym rats (no offense) but people who are having a hard time getting motivated or knowing where to start. After making a couple of encouraging statements to her she confessed that her sister had really shot her down about the idea and made her feel really stupid and that it meant a lot that I was supportive of the idea. This reminded me how it is equally easy to build others up as to tear them down and we all make that choice. Most often we choose neither but I think it's important for us to let our friends know the strength we see in them. We all need encouragement and support but we're far too quick to criticize aloud and keep our compliments to ourself. We assume other people know the good things about themselves or that someone else will tell them. I am going to make more of an effort to share with people the positive qualities I see in them and back my friend's goals and dreams.

Perhaps I'm rambling about all this because lately I've been finding myself more in need of encouragement because each day can be so trying. I'm really ready for Christmas break from school to be over. I mean really reaaaaallly ready. I need my days back and I need to get more done. I think this is why people set New Year's resolutions. It has less to do with the calendar year changing and perhaps more to the winter solstice, days start getting longer and we realize we've fallen into a winter slump. I know that the seasons affect my mood and I am ready for more sunshine! I want to connect with friends more in the near future and I'm ready to be back at school myself. Alright, that is all I have to say about that. I'm really full of good food and cake and I think we're going to play some Uno now. Thanks for reading!

Musings from a deathbed...

Ok...maybe just the slightest bit dramatic. However, when I woke up this morning and sang my usual tune to greet the morning (you know, the one that invites the bluebirds into my room to help me into my pink satin robe...) only a mere croak came out. I woke up with no voice. Several people around the world who know how much I talk (including, but not limited to my brother and sister, mother and father, friends, former coworker, students, people who have taken the bus with me...) are rejoicing right now. My foster daughter was so sweet and brought me a cup of chamomile tea first thing this morning. Speaking of which I helped her start a blog yesterday. I made the template according to her requests and then wrote out what she said and it's pretty freaking cute. Please leave her a comment if you visit because she really loves that. She was pretty stoked for her first comment. On the topic...I, myself, actually enjoy comments so feel free to leave one or five.

So, now I've been doing BuckleyBombs (Buckley's dropped into a glass of redbull) all morning and I'm feeling great. I've gone for 3 jogs and cleaned my whole house... (The theme for today may be fantasy) or perhaps I've just crawled out of bed and am now parked on the couch doing watching Game Plan *again*. I don't understand how kids can watch the same movie over and over again. When my sister was about 10 (I think) she watched Madhouse with Kirstie Alley every day for about 6 months and then she watched The American President with Michael Douglas for another 6 months. (Neither of which are in any way good/re-watchable) At any rate, I don't have to watch the whole thing again because my mom's picking her up around noon for a couple hours. I think I'll do something exciting with my time off like...sleep.

I have nothing to say about the news today other than that I find it disturbing that the most read story on BBC news was about Britney Spears doing drugs and having issues with custody. This happens so often right in our own neighbourhoods (not the Britney Spears part but the other parts) but we're only interested when it happens to a "celebrity". Never mind that the humanitarian crisis in Kenya that is growing by the day. Skip that and find out what's happening between Brit and K-Fed. I have nothing more to say about this.

Well, relaxed day planned for today. I'm going to meet Kelly out for coffee in the afternoon. Other than that I'm going to laze about in my pajamas and possibly edit some photos. Happy Friday and thanks for reading!

On Nancy Drew, Baby Farms and Cough Medicine

Anyone wondering how the Nancy Drew movie was?

...

Didn't think so. I'm going to tell you anyway! Nancy Drew was actually a sweet film and definitely stayed true to the spirit of the books. I loved reading Nancy Drew when I was a kid so it was very cool to see the girls enjoy her too. It makes me sad how Ash doesn't enjoy reading because I read constantly when I was a kid. We're working on it. Recently I went to a used bookstore and picked up a bunch of Babysitter's Club, Sweet Valley Kids and Beverly Cleary books in hopes of sparking some interest and she did actually finish one of the Sweet Valley Kids which was great. Such classics! In the meantime we're watching The Game Plan which is overall a pretty cute movie for kids. The next...movie that isn't for kids...(I was going to say Adult Film and then I realized that has other connotations) I want to see is Juno. I have heard nothing but good about this film and I also adore Michael Cera. If you haven't seen any Clark and Michael, go watch it now! No wait...finish reading my blog and then go, but definitely go!

Well that is my film update for the day. I hope I've made your next trip to the video store (and/or bit torrent site) a lot easier.

On to the news. This story was disturbing to say the least. With all the children in this world I find it disturbing that people are this desperate to have a baby with their eyes or hair colour. Does the word "voluntary" apply when you live in India and can't feed your family? I also have to wonder if like the outsourced call centre employees they tell the American parents that the surrogate mother is an Indian woman named "Marilyn" or "Amanda". When I worked at West 80% of the people I spoke to in India were named "Rocky" or "Elvis" but if you looked at the notes they would leave in the account you would see that their first name actually had 30 letters in it. Back in my more mischievous days I would transfer the call and say "Thanks for holding, I have Aminadadahasaratmaponidad on the line from Accounts Receivable. He'll help you from here" and the rep. would say "Uh...actually sir, my name is...John." I just felt so bad for them that they had to hide their identity so that the Americans wouldn't be jerks to them. Especially since they were anyway.

Anyway, my day is well on its way. It's really frustrating that it seems my foster daughter can't seem to manage her anger/behaviour unless she is the only child present. At 10 years old she already has such an attitude and it takes a lot of work to not take it personally. I'm just going to take it as a victory than when she stormed out of the house to go skateboard she was wearing a sweater even if she was also sticking her tongue out at me.

The other two are sitting quietly chatting on the Nintendo DS. At least the house is quiet now. No major plans for the day. I kind of want soup for lunch so depending on whether attitudes are adjusted by then we may go out. Otherwise I'm stuck in the house till 2:00 when I get a bit of a break. Can I just say that Christmas vacation is not fair? School starts back for me next week too but I don't feel like I've gotten much of a break. This semester I'm taking Elementary Statistics, Experimental Psych and possibly a First Nation's lit. course. Jealous? I thought so.

Since I'm still coughing a bit I thought I would offer a quick update on Buckley's cough syrup before I go...it still tastes AWFUL! I swear that is what diesel fuel must taste like. Well, considering I've already posted before noon I may have more to say before the day is out. I hope you're all having a great day and thanks for reading!

So this is 2008...

I survived the holidays! This blog is proof of life. Now that I am a “stay at home foster mother” (well, plus a student, a poet, a photographer….) I have too much time on my hands not to share my every thought, opinion and adventure with the world and so…I bring you my blog! Are you so excited? Good, I’m glad. Then let’s continue…

Christmas was lovely and it was very cool to have a kid-centred Christmas again. I had missed the morning excitement and having children around really revived that for me. Unfortunately, I can't post many photos from Christmas on the net because of confidentiality surrounding the foster children. Too bad because they're adorable...just take my word on it.

Well, I don't think I'll dwell too much on last year and reminisce too much on the journey that took me from being a data entry clerk to being a foster mom. In this way, I can also skim over how much I hated last semester and what a waste of time (/money) the program I was taking at Camosun was for me. Still, many good things came out of the year. I feel much more fulfilled helping kids than sitting in an office. Four of my friends became vegan! I became involved with Tongues of Fire and have performed my work there several times and am loving having an accepting artistic community to participate in. I started the year with my first digital camera and have added two new cameras to my collection as the year continued. By the close of the year people I can technically call myself a semi-professional photographer since people have actually given me money for my work behind the camera. How exciting!

2008 began with a kickin' party hosted by Colin McT. Many good friends were there and it was a great way to jumpstart the New Year. I was surprised how many people actually showed up but I guess I shouldn't have been since Colin's awesome party reputation proceeds him. The night, for me progressed from casual visiting to booty shaking to laughing with Launa and Zack about vegan prejudice and peanut allergies through an acoustic rendition of "What Goes Around Comes Back Around" and ended with a hot tub and watching a movie in bed before we headed home at about 4:30 in the morning. Slept till noon and then headed back over to Colin's temporary abode to make breakfast and watch football. Last night we went to see Walk Hard. I was disappointed considering how pumped I was for this film and the fact that it crossed the ludicrous border more often than not. I won't say anymore because James B. is such a great critic and has already written a stellar review of the film here. It had its moments but overall I wasn't too impressed.

Thankfully today is much more relaxed. Ash, my ten year old foster daughter, is building a blanket fort in the sun room and I am sitting here writing this and listening to Cindy Davis's new album which is fantastic! She has 2 cd release shows coming up at the McPherson in a couple weeks time so if you're in Vic you should definitely show up for support. Davis is off at work for four more hours and I plan on getting at least a bit of cleaning done before then but I can't seem to stop sneezing. Tonight we are going to turn our living room into a movie theatre for Ash and her sisters to watch the Nancy Drew movie and I'm sure the house will be destroyed by bedtime anyway but I will at least have a head start. Thanks for reading!