Where's Willy?

As I was paying for lunch at the cafeteria today, I received a 5$ bill with a website address on it. The website is called Where's Willy, after Wilfred Laurier, a former Canadian prime minister whose face appears on the 5$ bill. It is so cool because it basically tracks how money travels. I'm such a geek but I find it fascinating! By the way, my American friends, there is also Where's George to track American currency.

In other news, Eve was supposed to arrive in TO tonight, but she is missed her layover and is stuck in Memphis instead. Bah. Take care, Evie. See you tomorrow. Actually, it will give me time to vacuum and clean so I think we're all winners here. LOL

Picture Surprise!

Two years ago, my brother and I gave my mom a digital camera for her 50th birthday. (She loves it, and took tons of pictures of France recently!) At that time, my mom gave me her camera. I had a camera, but I was never overly fond of mine. I always loved my mom's camera, and it took some kickass pictures of Italy and Washington DC on class trips. Anyway, when my mom gave me the camera, there was a film in it that was already started, but my mom did not remember what was on it. I decided to take a few pictures this weekend to finish the roll, and finally got it developed. Four events are chronicled on this film. Here they are! LOL

1) My M.A. graduation. Yes, this film dates back to November 2002!

2) My move to my current apartment in the summer of 2004.



A sleeping cat (the black and white mass on the corner of the bed) amongst a messy bedroom. I think I was trying out the camera so I documented the mess of a move! Mind you, the current state of my room isn't much better! LOL

3) The weekend in NYC in January 2005. Gina, you look like a little girl in this picture! :)

4) I had fun with my cat and my plastic brain over the weekend. Yes, I'm probably the only person who would think to do this!

So there you have it. This is my life in pictures!

Friday Night is Alright for Cleaning!

Nice little wordplay, ain't it. ;) Well, I did clean because 1) it was needed, and 2) my roommate had to write hi in the dust on the TV. Yes, my roommate scrubbed the kitchen counter, the kitchen table, some spots in the living room,... She was playing around with the bottle of Windex all around the kitchen and living room. But did she spray the TV screen? Of course not. She wrote with her finger on it. Like a five-year-old, I swear! Anyway, I vacuumed all over, mopped the kitchen and bathroom floors, and then scrubbed the bathroom so it is all clean now.

Last night, I also had to explain to her hypochondriac self that no, we were not likely to get the avian flu, and that yes, plans were needed even if that was probably not going to happen so that it doesn't end up being a pure improvisation like it was with the SARS situation. Yes, they are developing a vaccine, but no, the need for it is not dire at this moment since the virus will still need to mutate to be particularly virulant and contagious in humans. [As a note, I learned this week from a scientific magazine that flus that are avian in origin, known as Type A influenzas, are the ones most susceptible to pandemics or epidemics because of their ability to mutate quickly.]. Anyway, I don't quite get the germ paranoia. Sure, you need to be careful but once you take universal health precautions (of which you are particularly aware of when working in a hospital) like frequent hand washing, you have done what you can.

Tonight, I went walking with my friend David. We had a nice time in the cool May weather. Guess what he got me? A pin from my subway station. This is totally the kind of things that get me excited. I'm so glad it takes so little to make me happy. LOL

Time Flies By When You're Having Fun...

Or are marking exams. Life has been pretty darn busy recently, which is why I have been so sparse in my presence.

My friend Eve was in TO last week. The weather was total crap but we had a great time. On Saturday, we went to Insomnia for some yummy brunch (I had a lovely mimosa with grapefruit juice and French toast with a citrus batter!), and then went shopping. On Sunday, we went to see Tristram Shandy, and then, vegged with my Office DVD. The rest of the time was spent with my marking and Eve playing videogames! Hee.

This weekend, I came to Montreal for a dentist appointment and to bid my parents farewell. The 'rents are gone to France for 3 weeks. I'm sure they will have a lovely time.

I had a nice time here. Saw lots of friends, ate good food, all that lovely stuff. I don't know if I mentioned this before though, but one of my friends who I have known forever seems to want nothing to do with me anymore. It just saddens me because I don't know why. It started last summer out of the blue. Either she is mad at something that I don't know I've done or she just decided we've moved on. She doesn't return my emails or ever makes the effort to come out with me when I'm in town but then, I've talked to her on her birthday (and today) and she was all: "We should try to meet up." without my prompting it. Talk about mixed messages. Anyway, as much as it saddens me, I'm also fed up to be doing some effort when she doesn't seem to care enough to say if there is something wrong or she doesn't want to see me anymore. So yeah, I guess I'm not going to write or call anymore. 15 years of friendship down the drain. Sad.

In other totally unrelated news, Stephen Colbert was hosting the White House Correspondants' Dinner last night. The man was fearless in his jokes. President Bush was sitting 20 feet from him, and let's just say he didn't exactly spare him or the press corps. Check it out.

Music & Sitcoms: Chicken Soup For The Soul

This blog is a funny thing. It allows me to be as neurotic as I want to be, a luxury not really afforded to me in the real world. Well, except when talking to my mom & my very close friends, who know the weird intracacies of my mind. I was rereading my recent posts, and some of it reminds me of the tortured teenager I used to be. I was a good girl as a teenager (except maybe for the heavyhanded sarcasm! LOL) but boy, was I an anxious mess. I used to have a lot of difficulty managing it. Everything was a crisis. I was succeeding, at least mildly, at most everything I did but I was always waiting for the impending failure or the other shoe to drop. Fortunately, I grew up, and things got better. I became more adept at managing stress, and I noticed that things have a way of working themselves out. At the same time, I've also learned that I'll never be happy in a job where I have too much stress. Having to repress the anxiety-filled side of me has had its consequences at time, especially in terms of my health.

Anyway, two of my surefire weapons against stress are music & sitcoms. I've termed them chicken soup for the soul because I was being so new age, and had to borrow the names of those books! LOL I'm listening to classical music at the moment, and it just made whatever knots in my stomach I may have had melt away. I think that's why I love singing in a choir so much. There is such a power in singing at the top of your lungs. This semester, we are singing Summertime by Gershwin! I love Gershwin as many of you know; I just wish we had also sung Someone To Watch Over Me, which is my favourite song. We're also singing some Rachamaninov & Dvořák pieces, and one badass Bach piece, Lobet Den Herrn, Motet #6. This Bach is so tough because it have no melodic line that repeats. The harmonies constantly change, and it is just so hard to count the beats because it goes so fast. Still, it is an entertaining challenge.

I have now changed my CD to classic 70s Quebec granola rock. LOL It's from one of the most popular bands of all time in Quebec called Beau Dommage. They've sold an incredible amount of records/CDs over the years considering only 8 million of people live in Quebec. It's urban poetry about love, friendship, city living (mostly in Montreal),... I feel home just listening to it. They wrote one of my favourite songs in French called La complainte du phoque en Alaska (literally The lament of the seal in Alaska). It's about a male seal who sits by itself on his iceberg in Alaska, missing his girlfriend who joined a travelling circus in the continental US. He ponders whether the ephemeral joy gained from exhibiting in the circus is really worth leaving loved ones behind. Anyway, it's a beautiful love song to which I could never do justice. I never tire of listening to it. Another balm to my soul.

Sitcoms are the comic relief in my life. You never get enough laughter in life. I love my NewsRadio and Friends DVDs. Oh, and they've been airing Cheers on the Comedy Network, which makes me happy. :) I got say, Cheers has aged well (unlike The Cosby Show) but the one thing that has not aged well about it are the clothes. Dear God, Sam wears horrifying sweaters, and Diane's clothing is plain scary.

Finally, I did forget one other stress relief in my life. Cute, ain't she? :) I need to scan even better pictures of her.

Happy Birthday, Canada!

Canada is 138 years old today. Makes for a big cake with lots of candles. Yesterday, someone asked me if July 1st had a particular significance, and I just thought it had been picked arbitrarily as a day to celebrate the Confederation. It appears that, in fact, the British North America Act came into effect on July 1st, 1867, thereby making us a self-governing dominion operating under a type of constitution called a confederation (although, as I remember from high school history class, we are not technically exactly what a confederation should be.). We were still dependent upon Britain in many ways though, and although Britain's power over us diminished over time, our ties were not fully severed until 1982! In 1867, only 4 provinces joined the Confederation: Québec, Ontario, Nova Scotia & New Brunswick. Today, we have 10 provinces & 3 territories. Our first prime minister was John A. Macdonald, who is now also the face on the 10$ bill. Hee. Well, that's it for the history lesson for today!

In more personal news, one of my former roommates just got engaged! Thus, I'll be going to a wedding next summer! I keep hearing people getting engaged in the last few days, whether it be Avril, Pink or friends of friends. I'm happy for all these people in love but I'm a bit sad I can't even get a date. The eternal "What is wrong with me?" dance has restarted in my mind. Then again, I do have potential as a cat lady so it will all work out in the end. ;)