Backwards Socks

I want to pass on some clothing advice. Not fashion advice, as I'm not near fashionable enough to do that. I don't understand fashion rules. White after labour day stuff is all so confusing, pretentious and contrived. (Though socks in sandals is never a good idea, never Dad, never.) What I want to tell you about is dressing, actually how to put the clothes on. Listen well my friends. If you put your deodorant on before your shirt (some people do it afterwards, they can ignore this advice) be sure to fold up the bottom 4 inches or so of the shirt before pulling it over your head. This way the deodorant rubs onto the inside of the shirt leaving marks there where no one can see them. I also want to pass on the inside out sock trick I learned from my Dad (yes, the one who also occasionally wears the dreaded socks with sandals.) He never actually sat me down and explain this, I just picked it up from watching him when I was younger. It was only recently that I realised not everyone puts their socks on this way. If the sock is right side out, just pull it on obviously. But, if it is inside out, instead of righting it and then pulling it on, use this trick. Dent the bottom a little bit and put the tip of your toe in, then roll it down over your foot and pull it up, it rolls itself out and goes on correctly. This will save you valuable time in the morning.

2lbs Of Cheese Whiz

I went to Walmart this evening with some of my roommates. I only needed to pick up a few things, one of them being some Cheese Whiz. They had a special on the large jar, and were interestingly out of the smaller jars. I went to go and pick up the large one when my roommate said, "My God, what are you going to do with two pounds of Cheese Whiz." I laughed it off saying it wasn't 2lbs, then I picked it up. It felt heavy, heavy enough to be 2lbs. I looked at the label. "Yea," my roommate said, "One kilogram, which equals about two point two pounds." I bought it anyway, but I have to say, it is alot of Cheese Whiz.

No Camera

Teri was down this weekend. I am wondering how she is doing at work this morning as I'm exhausted from staying up late and waking up early. She forgot to bring her camera, and mine was stolen at a party this summer, so we have no photographic evidence of the very busy but super fun weekend. Even though we visited Steph on Sunday and hung out at her place, there were no pictures taken. Usually Steph documents every moment with her camera, being the avid photographer she is. I can't wait until I get another camera, hopefully for Christmas, if not I'm going to buy one before I leave for London on January 15th.

Black Days

Today is 'Black Friday', named as the busiest day for shopping in The United States. I had been disturbed by the use of 'Black' for this day, as it tends to be reserved for more serious things. People then explained to me that it was called 'Black Friday' because it was when stores moved from 'the red' into 'the black', implying that they run at a loss before this date. Turns out this is a misconception and it was named 'Black Friday' because of it's busy and hectic nature back in the mid-seventies. I don't think it deserves this title at all. Black days should hold true meaning. Black days of the week should and do stem from massacres, riots, specific events of war, or terrible economic events. The most well-known would be Black Tuesday, in reference to the October 29th stock-market crash in 1929 that led to the Great Depression. The initial crash occurred a few days before, on the 24th, that day is referred to as Black Thursday. For me though, 'Black Friday', referrers to February 20, 1959, the day that Prime Minister Diefenbaker announced that the Avro Arrow project was cancelled. Named this by Avro plant workers, 60,000 of who were laid off because of this cancellation. At the time Avro was the third largest employer in Canada. After this many engineers and technicians left Canada to work in the U.S. starting what is known as the 'brain drain'. The announcement day for the end of the Avro Arrow is still considered the darkest day for Canadian engineering.

Miswanting

"Most people have no idea what will make us happy. So we go after something we think will make us happy and might be temporarily elated when we get it. Ultimately, we end up disappointed because the thing - whether it's say getting into Columbia or snagging a cool job at True - doesn't have the enduring, euphoric emotional payoff that we thought it would. So we set out sights on something else that we think will make us happy, only to repeat the cycle indefinitely until we die. The upside to this is that the same holds true for negative experiences. Something we think will kill us - say a best friend moving a thousand miles away or a boyfriend choosing a college across the country - won't have the long-term devastation on our psyches that we think it will. " - Author: Megan McCafferty from her novel Charmed Thirds

New Link

I found another addictive website. It is called Found. I have added it to the Links section (See Right) with the rest of my addictive websites. It is similar to the others as it is mainly comprised of things sent by others but controlled by a single person. He posts a new found item everyday. Some are very strange.

French Moment

I was thinking the other day about my French language skills, which are minimal, and I realised I recognize certain things instantly, and other it takes much longer then it should to figure out. The days of the week, which I have been taught in French every year since Kindergarten, I still have to count out on my fingers and think about for a long time before I can really connect them to the proper day in English. Numbers I can handle, and also directions, especially right and left. In French the word for directional 'right' is 'droite' and the word for directional 'left' is 'gouche.' As soon as I hear these French words I know what direction is being mentioned, it is an instant translation. I have always thought of it as the word 'right' ends in a 't' and the word 'droite' ends in a 't'. This trick has served me well for probably the last 19 years, as I was most likely taught these words in Kindergarten French as well. The real trick is not to think about it too hard and just go with it, because if you do puzzle over it, you will realise that the word 'left' also ends in a 't'.

Early Morning Yoga

I went to my third early morning yoga class today and plan to continue doing it. My yoga studio (Rama Lotus) only offers 6:30am classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. They offer a 50% discount to students for any class before 4:00pm and these early morning ones count. There are three different classes offered a one hour Power class in the hot room, which is way to intense for me that early in the morning; an hour and a half meditation style yoga class with a gong and probably chanting, totally not me; and lastly the one I have been attending, a 90 minute Hatha yoga class. For the most part the class focuses on legs, I swear I spend about half an hour each time in a lunge of some sort or another. There is also ab work and some balancing. The instructor says our mantra should be "I love my abdominal muscles," currently I don't. The class is still a challenging work out and I hope to improve in the postures over time.

Dark To Dark

I want to say that yesterday I was productive from dawn to dusk, but with the short winter days it was more like I was productive from dark to dark. I woke up at 5:30 to go to a 6:30am yoga class. My studio has classes at 6:30 on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I want to start going all the time. I have made it to the last two. So I grabbed the 6:00 bus, head down for an hour and half class. Then I catch another bus afterwards (on the same transfer.) The bus doesn't take me all the way to work, I still have to walk a few blocks up the street, but I get in 10 minutes early. Then I worked all day, late actually as I was prepping for a few days in an other position. I'm currently filling in for an executive secretary while she is on holiday. I had a great lunch which I had brought from home, Chicken Cordon Blue and vegetables, out of the freezer and made for dinner the night before. After work I went to Carleton and watched a full lecture, then I walked home in the dark in time to catch House M.D. before heading to bed. It was such a productive day, I hope it continues throughout the week.

Another New Word

One cool thing about university is that it can make you smarter. In my case, I often return from class with a slightly wider vocabulary. Today I learned the technical term for the point in drunkenness when a person becomes overemotional and weepy. 'Maudlin' is an adjective for being foolishly sentimental when drunk. The word stems from Mary Magdalene, who as a saint was often depicted crying. So now I can add this word to the many other drunk night descriptors (trashed, pissed, buzzed, and now maudlin.) Thank you Carleton U.

I Like Learning

I love museums! Steph (left), Jerrica (right), and I went to The Canadian Museum of Civilization this past weekend. It was free on Remembrance day, and not very busy. We only did about half of it, and did not get to do near as many crafts as we would have liked. We may have spent a good deal of time in the Children's Museum. There were many new sections (or ones I didn't remember) and a fair amount of dressing up (also in the Children's Museum).

Remembrance

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.


Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
- John McCrae -

Chickadee

I have been going to this nature trail affectionately called 'The Chickadee Place' for as long as I can remember. It is actually called 'The F.W.R. Dickson Wilderness Area' and is a short drive out of Paris. It is a really small trail with steps and boardwalks. On the boardwalks chickadees will eat from your hand, even from the hands of little kids. We go all year round. I can remember going as a kid all bundled up, the trails completely covered in ice. I still love going there when I visit home. It is all about the chickadees. Definitely my favorite bird. (They are also the provincial bird of New Brunswick, Ontario's is the Loon.) When I was younger, I also subscribed to the children's magazine 'Chickadee' which was a younger version of 'Owl', which I got later on. Chickadee isn't really the right name (but I'm neither a biologist nor a bird watcher). Chickadees, tits, or titmice basically are the birds found in the family Paridae under the order Passeriformes (known as perching or song birds.) Most of the birds in this family look like what I would consider a chickadee. The Paridae family is composed of small stocky woodland birds with a short stout little bill. I like the ones that have the little cap and bib with a strip to the sides of the face. The name 'chickadee' is also onomatopoeic, which is my favorite literary term (when the word mimics the sound it is describing, like 'meow' or 'click'.) Yes, I have both a favorite literary term and a favorite bird and today I realised they combined. I always forget the the chickadee is another example of onomatopoeia, their call is 'chick-a-dee-dee-dee'. I don't really see them much in the city, they used to come to our feeders at home. I would put a feeder out this winter at Le Manior, but I think that the squirrels would take it over. They are cute, but not as cute as fluffy little chickadees.

Word Geek

My English Professor (for my Shakespeare course) touched briefly on the use of the suffix '-ling.' It was in the context of the villain in Marlow's play The Jew Of Malta calling the audience 'worldlylings' which is insulting. Adding '-ling' to the end of a word demeans it. It makes it mean a young, small, or inferior thing. Think 'duckling' or 'underling' or 'darling' or 'fledgling' or 'yearling'. I wish it was around more still, as it is amusingly condescending.

To Stress Or Not To Stress

I was supposed to start my birth control pills for this month yesterday. I didn't get around to it. When I went to find them today I realised I was out. I thought about it and have decided just to forgo it this month. I don't want the added time issues and financial stress of getting them this week, and I pretty much would have to get them today or tomorrow since you can't start your month too late. I'm not in any danger of anything and the month off might give my body a bit of a chemical break. So I choose not to stress and I will pick up my next three months sometime in the next few weeks and start again later.

The Many Styles Of Me

I finally got the Cotton Spandex Jersey Bandeau Dress from American Apparel. It can be worn 15 different ways! (Mind you, really it is just tying the straps differently.)

First NHL Game

I attended my first professional hockey game last night. The picture on the right is me singing the national anthem. The Sen's won, against the Thrashers, I don't remember the score. Without the TV hockey commentary and replays I have no idea what is going on. I missed most of the goals and exciting parts because I wasn't paying attention to the right part of the ice, or the ice at all. I did see the final goal by the Sens, into an empty net, while the other team had a power-play (A Direct Energy Power Play, I might add, as all parts of the game are sponsored by someone) it was very impressive hockey. Between the first and second period there was also adorable hockey, little Timbit Hockey players. I love all the flashy lights and video screens, and I still hate the fights.