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.