Monday, December 29, 2008

10:00-10:30


5:15 - naked eye viewing of tiny sliver of waxing crescent moon, about 10 degrees above my horizon, Venus about 50 degrees and Jupiter about 10 degrees. I could see the dark side of the moon a little because it was so close to sunset, but was on my way to Costco with no camera. :(

10:00-10:30 - I've been practicing with star charts in my copy of "The Backyard Astronomer's Guide" that I got from Dave's parents for Christmas, and a library copy of "Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe". Both of them are AWESOME.

Anyway. With my Opa's binoculars tonight, I saw:
-Orion (plus identified the stars Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, and Rigel within it)

-Sirius (a star in Canis Major...the light pollution was too bad for me to see the whole constellation

-Castor and Pollux (two stars in Gemini, again with the light pollution)

-what I think was part of Taurus (Aldebaran, the second major star in that constellation. Capella was directly overhead, which meant I would have had to look through my balcony roof and several others above me)

-a freaking NEBULA in the middle of Orion (it's just below his belt. I wonder if it has a crude nickname...*snicker*)

-the Pleiades, a cluster of seven stars, although I could only make out six for sure. These ones hurt my neck...they were very up, which is when I wish I had a lawn chair or an air mattress or something.

I think the coolest part is looking up and recognising shapes out of all the bits and bobs that are out there!!! I love Casseopeia, but she's in the north and I face south...she's one of the first constellations (not counting Dippers [which aren't actually true constellations!!] or Orion.) I ever identified, way before I was interested in astronomy.

I might've seen the Big Dipper, but it was partially blocked by buildings, but there seemed to be some stars in the right spots.

Saturday, December 20, 2008

Yesterday: 420


Venus and Jupiter again. Further apart, Jupiter was a lot closer to the horizon.

Saw what I thought was Mercury (close to the horizon in the south) but it was just a plane. :P Hey, it was moving really slowly...didn't realize it was moving at first. Also, I'm not used to being able to see really far along the horizon and yeah. So there.

Mental note: need stronger binocs or a telescope soon. It's awesome to see the planets, but they don't look much different through the binocs I have.

Monday, December 15, 2008

4:45


It seems like Venus is a lot lower earlier in the evening. Jupiter is a lot further away from Venus and a lot lower too. They're off the horizon a lot earlier too.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

7:00 pm


Venus had an orangey yellow tint, low in the southwest, checked through binocs and it just looked like a brighter speck. Looked at other stars that happened to be out, but went inside PDQ because I was wearing my robe and it was friggin' cold after the snowfall yesterday/last night.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

4:30


Clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds for like a million years.

Dec. 11, 4:30pm - During sunset on my way home from work, I saw Venus and Jupiter at about 45 degrees up in the south west. Cool. They followed me home...can I keep them? :)

Looking like a clear night tonight!! Maybe I'll see some actual...y'know...stars. I hear they're out there.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

4:25-5:00 pm


Clear, some clouds on the horizon.

Southern horizon near sunset, what I this is probably Venus. Bright white through the binocs for about twenty seconds before it went behind a patch of filmy pink clouds.

Waxing crescent moon about 30% high southern sky.

After only about ten minutes, Venus and Jupiter were visible high in the sky and moving toward the west. I took some pictures of them, as well as the moon. I love digital photography. :)

If any of them are any good, they'll go up on my flickr account.

Astronomy


I've started getting into astronomy a bit...difficult since I don't have a telescope, astronomy books or anyone really close to me who knows what they're doing... and I live in a rather light polluted area. I do, however, have a pair of really nice 7-15x35 Bushnell binoculars that belonged to my Opa, the expertise of the internet and the folks at Vancouver Telescope Centre and a certain amount of stubborness. So since this blog has been dormant for months, and it's got a rather appropriate address...here we go.

Nov 29 2008, around 8pm: Naked eye viewing, (probably) Jupiter and Venus near southern horizon, (probably) Orion to the southeast (hidden by buildings)

clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds, clouds...

Dec 2 2008, around 8pm: binoculars, cloudy, but the waxing crescent moon (20% or so) was visible briefly high in the south. I saw craters!! Not sure which ones since the binocs were shaking a bit and the clouds came in quickly, but it was really cool!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Cutting Down Time Eaters


So, I've taken down my blog/webcomic links. I just can't spend that kind of time online anymore. :( I spend an hour or two every night clicking around, and that's time I need to spend doing other things.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Going insane


I spent this week basically at home...I would make a LOUSY stay/work from home person. It's not even that there are too many distractions (although there is that), but I'm just not efficient.

I also forget to eat. This could contribute to the general lack of efficiency.

Inertia is HUGE in my life. If I'm doing something, I'll keep on doing it. If I'm not doing something, I'll keep on doing that.I also have "shiny thing" syndrome where I'm all over the place. Hence why I have wet laundry in the washer, nearly burned the pancakes (as it is, there's three that are pancake crisps, only unburned since the heat was on so low) and didn't even go shopping for dinner until it was after five (good thing D's working late.)

I'm feeling...bleh. Maybe it's the rain the last two days...my Vancouver brain can't handle it after all the gorgeousness. Maybe I'm coming down with something. I've got something really important coming up on August 30th, and I'm not ready at all. I'm working every day on it, sooooooo....I've got 29 days to BE ready.

I guess I felt like I should've accomplished a bunch more stuff since I had the week off. As it was, we basically still ate out/had take out and the place is still a total disaster. Between Dave and I, we're probably working the equivalent of three or four full time jobs, so I guess it's understandable that things have slid a bit. I just had these big grandiose plans of cleaning the whole apartment, organizing a whack of things and getting all of my homework finished for the summer.

Epic. Fail.

Maybe writing it all out will make me feel better (as soon as I swap the laundry...)

Things I've accomplished this week:Train karate (every day)
grocery shopping
empty dishwasher (2x)
make banana bread
clean out fridge
put away laundry
garbage and recycling run
work on botany scrapbook (every day)
press flowers
wash bed linens
recycling depot
pickup flowers from Jen’s
get green card stock
go to school for a day (making up for a sick day
organize school binders
final exam homework
grocery shopping again

That looks pretty good actually. Huh.

I've still got a billion things on the list...but it's a little less depressing when I see it all laid out like that.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

:D


I have been taking and posting pictures like whoa. So, wander over to my flickr site if you haven't been recently.

Today I was trying to catch salmon fry in a puddle (our creek overflowed, then receded). I didn't catch anything, but I got to see some water snails and some weird thing with a whippy tail that I need to post online and see if anyone can identify.

The beavers that live in our creek are still there even though there's been two days of city maintenance workers breaking up their dam. The creek has dropped a crazy amount!!

I saw a nifty neato little yellow bird today, but it flew off before I could get a picture.

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

School Work Can Be Fun!


There are SO MANY things I want to do someday...learn to scuba dive, various foreign languages, various art projects, various movement arts (dance, fencing, gymnastics etc). I want to be in a play someday. I want to learn aromatherapy to the point where I can blend scented relief for people quickly and easily. I have thousands of books I want to read. I have dozens of books I want to write, gardens I want to plant

Sometimes, life comes about and lets me fulfil a few of those ideas at once.

I've always been envious of scrapbookers, but I never started scrapbooking, even when I was working at Michaels. I've already got an insane stash of art and craft materials...how could I possibly justify a new (potentially extremely expensive) hobby, even if I have hundreds of printed photos from trips, special events, and so on. I would love to do a scrapbook for each year I have a class (since I have thousands of digital photos). I have always wanted to do a botany scrapbook with drawings, and pressed flowers and...ahhh... This ties in with my love of plants (I love them SO MUCH that I will cut them apart, squash them between heavy objects and keep them with me FOREVER!! A little creepy when one thinks about it...) and my love of order (not noticeable to anyone who's ever seen any place I've ever spent any time at all) which manifests itself in strange ways.

For school this summer, one of my assignments is a botany scrapbook. I've been spending the last several weeks collecting flowers and leaves, pressing them in a lovely microwave flower press I got at Lee Valley, and gluing them to bits of cardstock. Things are coming together quite nicely. Pictures of in progress are forthcoming, but I'm on vacation this week, (a post ALL for itself...I am under the impression that I would make a REALLY crappy homemaker, but I will allow you to judge for yourself when [if] I make that particular post. [seriously, horrible housekeeper. for realz.])

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Meme!


One word answers only!

1. Where is your cell phone? counter
2. Your significant other? David
3. Your hair? varies
4. Your mother? teacher
5. Your father? tall
6. Your favorite thing? touch
7. Your dream last night? sick :(
8. Your favorite drink? cold
9. Your dream/goal? classroom
10. The room you’re in? diningroom
11.Your hobby? crafts
12. Your fear? spiders
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? WAHM
14. What you’re not? healthy
15. Muffins? cranberry!
16. One of your wish list items? laptop
17. Where you grew up? Coquitlam
18. The last thing you did? massage
19. What are you wearing? pedometer
20. Favorite gadget? iPod
21. Your pets? imaginary
22. Your computer? Vaio
23. Your mood? tired
24. Missing someone? David
25. Your car? Cavalier
26. Something you’re not wearing? (ear)rings
27. Favorite store? craft
28. Like someone? many
29. Your favorite color? purple
30. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
31. Last time you cried? today (while I was throwing up)

Sunday, July 06, 2008

Home!


And thankful. There was a bitch of a storm starting just before the Coquihalla toll booth and going until Abbotsford. What should have taken about two and a bit hours took me nearly four. It was hellishly scary. I had visibility of about 2 feet for a while there.

Pictures of stuff coming later. I'm waaaaaaaay too tired. Hooray for cool air! I think it averaged around 36 degrees Celsius when I was in Kelowna (105 or so Farenheit.)

To recap: driving=bad, home=good

Friday, July 04, 2008

Because I have absolutely ZERO sense of direction...


When reading yesterday's lightning post, please read "south" as "west" and "north" as "east". Thank you very much.

...

And weirdly, I do solo road trips, usually get where I'm going, and so far also get back home from them. (knock on wood, since I'm actually still in Kelowna for another day.

I can see my fingers reflected in the screen (mental note: laptop with matte screen, and one with a card reader) and, damn, it's weird seeing my fingers just...do stuff. Nifty. I want to keep typing and watching them. Lalalalala....I guess I could watch them do homework.

Meh. :P

One more day of school!!

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Sentient Weather


The lightning is mocking me.

And not only because when there's lightning I won't go swimming. I was trying to take pics of it when it was in the north, about three minutes ago, then I decided I should do work and anyway SCREW YOU CAMERA SHY LIGHTNING, so I went onto the porch where I'm facing south. Guess what? The lightning is suddenly in the south.

Stupid, sentient, mocking lightning.

It's nice and cool right now. YAY!!

Two more days of course...wow. That feels like a crazy lots amount of time, and it also feels like a crazy little amount of time.

There have been eight lightning flashes since I started this post.

Nine.

That's a lot, since I copy/pasted part of this from IM with (ten) my mom.

I think I'm going to stop liveblogging the flashes of lightning now. As awesome as they are (and they're seriously, really [eleven] freaking awesome), I really, really should get some stuff done (TWELVE! And that was a GOOOOOOOOOD one.)

Maybe I'll try takeing a couple (thirteen) south facing pics....

(edited to add: fourteen and fifteen hit just as I clicked post...sixteen...)

(edited again to add: YEAH! Southern lightning must less inhibited. I got three or four pics at the same time lightning struck, and two of them show the forks! I'm super stoked, and now I should go inside to get my WORK DONE!!! and not be distracted by a bunch of STATIC ELECTRICITY! Pictures will be posted when I get home, since I have no cord, and as far as I can tell, my mom's laptop doesn't have a card reader for my camera.)

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Not sleeping outside tonight!!


Ok, holy crap...apparently there are BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS in Kelowna, and apparently there was one RIGHT BESIDE THE DOOR AT THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE today. Holy crap on a crap stick. I guess I'll just bake tonight.

Gahhhhhh....nnnnnnghhhhhuuuuuhhhh...

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Before Day One


(from an email I sent my mom this morning. I currently feel much better, although very tired.)

I feel like death. :P I got to sleep around eleven upstairs after taking a shower and not drying off in an attempt to combat the HEAT. I woke up around two to spider nightmares, realized it was insanely hot and couldn't sleep, drank some water and splashed water all over my tank top and me. That didn't help, so I went downstairs to try since it was cooler down there...spiders were still on my brain, so THAT wasn't going to happen. So, after some deliberations and more attempts at falling asleep, I set up a mattress on the back porch with the chair cushions and watched a bit of lightning before I slept from around 4 until 530, when it was liiiiiight...waaaahhhhhh...

Managed to squeak out another hour or so of dozing between glaring at birds and the lit up clouds when my cell phone went off. Now, I'm feeling gross because I'm exhausted and still sick, nervous about class, and my mouth tastes ick from my antibiotics.


Random Mishmash of Otherness
The class was absolutely phenomenal. I'm so excited about teaching this stuff, it's awesome. This is totally the right path for me.

According to the scale here, I weigh about 171 lbs. I like this scale. The one at home says I'm 174 or so.

I'm debating another swim before I try and get some sleep (had one after dinner tonight). I'm also debating if I'm going to be sleeping on the back porch again, or if I should at least attempt an actual bed tonight. Decisions, decisions. I think part of it will depend on whether the drunk neighbours continue celebrating Canada Day in their backyard.

I love having use of a laptop. Last night, before attempting the aborted inside sleep attempt, I was hanging out by the pool fooling around online (which is exactly what I'm doing right now! Yay!), as I am wont to do. I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and a cat was hanging out with me. Hee! Ironically, I'm doing a whack of hand written stuff because of class notes, and because some of the other notes I'm taking lend themselves better to hand written. Ooh, plane just flew overhead. Nifty.

PS, I also love having a pool. Kersplash! Swim tonight? Yes/no? I have to cover it still, so I might as well get another quick use out of it before I go inside to die a little bit of heat. Hrm...regardless, I'd better sign off, since I want to do a bit more work before bed. Good night, Lower Mainlanders!! Happy Canada Day!

Monday, June 30, 2008

Safely in Kelowna


Timeline for today so far.
1130-leave Port Coquitlam after the doctor's appointment (whee! a week of the antibiotics that taste like gah!)
1230-Pass through Hope
100-Coquihalla toll booth
130-arrive Merritt, eat at A&W...they've got a decent veggie burger...who knew??
215-leave Merritt (busy at the A&W)
400-arrive in West Bank and try to find my Oma and Opa's old house.
430-find the house by memory (10 years after the last time I was there!), take pictures
500-find where I'm staying, unpack car
515-phone around to let people know I'm here now
534-get off phone, get into swim suit
535- dive into pool...ohhhhhh yeahhhhhhh
538- hear thunder (pretty far away, but why take chances?)
538 and thirty seconds- jump OUT of pool
542-sudden massive rainfall and much closer thunder.
544-get online

Time to figure out where I'm going for class tomorrow...or supper first? Hmmm.

What happened to the sunny Okanagon I've heard rumours about??

Holy crap, the rain is coming down like CRAAAAAAAAZY, and the lights are flickering. HOORAY FOR LAPTOP!!!!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

School


Tomorrow I leave for Kelowna to start a one week course. I'll be there from Monday to Saturday, coming home either Saturday or Sunday, then I'll start a two year program on Monday.

*whimper*

Oh, and I'm sick like yikes. I took three days off school in the second last week, then was almost better when I got WHAMMED with illness again. Summer colds are the worst. :P I've got a doctor's appointment on my way out of town. Hee.

Friday, June 13, 2008

??


The kids were strangely quiet today...a bunch of them didn't come to school and the secretary couldn't get their parents on the phone. I guess there's something going around. We had a shortage of substitute teachers today too...a couple of people just didn't show up, so we were covering classes today.

* * *

Recess was weird. There was a lot of movement in the bushes and one of the kids swore that she saw a bear wandering around. I had supervision and saw a bunch of people walking toward the school as if they were drunk or something. At 10:30 in the morning? Luckily we came in before they got there. They were moving pretty slowly.

Some of my kids had been talking about zombies the last couple of days, so that was on my mind...and I never want to be that grownup who says "NO SUCH THING!" and then gets killed...sooooooooo...it's been a bit on my mind.

* * *

I'm home now, sixteenth floor. I'm looking toward Metrotown and there's a lot of cars just...stopped. There were accidents all over the place and I couldn't get through to home for nearly an hour. I'm not sure what the hell happened. There's power, but it's intermittant...that explains the accidents and traffic. There must've been a lot of accidents, beyond what the radio talked about before it went dead this afternoon. There are people walking around with blood on them, looking shellshocked.

There's a knock on the door...kind of scratchy. Dave's probably home with his hands full. Back in a bit.

* * *

(confused? go here.)

Saturday, June 07, 2008

It's that time of year again...


Just applied for a whack of teaching jobs. Wish me luck!

Thursday, June 05, 2008

Priorities


Files currently open on my desktop: report cards, report card comments.

Items currently sitting on my desk: ball of yarn, new project pattern.

Goal: if I finish my report cards by this weekend, I can start working on the new project.

Prognosis: I have very little self control. I am doomed.

(what if I just cast on and did...y'know, a swatch. To see how it looks? [it's not like it's...uh...a scarf or anything...where um...the swatch would be the start of the scarf...or anything like that. No, no, no.])

...yeah, I'm doomed...

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Book Binge Review


In no particular order:

The Kitchen God's Wife- Amy Tan
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Conspiracy- S.D. Perry
Not a Penny More, Not A Penny Less- Jeffrey Archer
The Feminine Mystique- Betty Friedan
Becoming Vegetarian- Melina Davis Harrison
Maria Montessori: A Biography- Rita Kramer (in progress, currently on page 273)
Anastasia, Ask Your Analyst!- Lois Lowry
Time Enough For Love- Robert Heinlein
Dr. Montessori's Own Handbook- Maria Montessori
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea- Jules Verne (in progress, currently on page 98)

Monday, May 26, 2008

Holy Hell.


I got this via Squid. A special needs boy is voted out of his kindergarten class by his peers...initiated by the teacher.

Oh my God...this is horrifying. I can't conceive of the kind of person who would do this to ANYONE, let alone a child... (I don't watch Survivor or any of those reality shows for this reason.) I make it my goal all the time in my class to ensure everyone is included. To deliberately segregate a child (NOT GROUNDS FOR EMOTIONAL ABUSE??????) via his classmates? Unbelievable. This woman should lose her teaching license. That is not ok.

I would like to meet the two children who voted against voting him out of the classroom. I'd like to think that I was that kind of kid. My mom told me once that I'd picked a very unpopular, seriously learning disabled, probably austistic/otherwise special needs boy to ride in our car for a field trip. When I was asked why by my mom, I apparently replied, "Because I knew no one else would pick him."

ETA: I am so sad and angry right now, for Alex Barton, his family and the rest of the kids in that class. I've been reading some other blog posts and news stories about this, and what strikes me is how so many people remember being horrible to another child, as children, and how they still bear emotional scars from that.

Grumpy, grumpy, grumpy


I can't WAIT to be finished tutoring. Holy crap, I'm tired of it.

Tutoring today, then not until next Monday...yay! Kids karate today too...tiring Monday...looking forward to karate though. I like doing kids karate, even when my brain feels like it's going to leak out of my ears.

I would like my weekend back please. It was fun, but not restful. I'm currently reading a biography on Maria Montessori for the course I'm starting in the summer.

What the hell, also...I was out all day Sunday, under a tent-structure at an Ultimate tournament. I literally was out in the sun for two occasions at about 20 minutes each...I HAVE A SUNBURN! Damn this pasty white skin of mine. It's not super bad, but it knocked me out for three hours yesterday afternoon.

I got random accupuncture on the weekend too. I was hanging out with the physiotherapist for most of the day because our tents were adjoined and mentioned my messed up hip, so he did some physio stuff and then he poked me with an accupuncture needle. OMFG, that was the weirdest feeling evar. I didn't feel the needle after the first quick pinch, but then suddenly a muscle that was about eight inches away started cramping up. Craaaaazy. My leg felt like it'd gotten beaten up afterwards. Interesting sensation...not sure if I'd like to repeat it.

Friday, May 23, 2008

New...weekend resolution


The time that I previously spent on clicking webcomics and blogs hour after hour in the hopes that they've updated: to be replaced by writing fiction and/or doing actual work, since I've registered for a summer course, and will be registering in a two year program next week.

The end. True story.

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Present



Pin Gift
Originally uploaded by Random Synapses
I got the most adorable present from one of my students today. She made this pin for me to thank me for teaching her how to knit. AWWWW!!!! It's even got a cable running on it...something I taught her how to do on Thursday (it's Tuesday now). She made one for my mom too, since my mom helps out with knitting club. I'm verklempt. :D

Monday, May 19, 2008

Lace


I did two rows of lace knitting last night on my scary shawl. I think I really should start something smaller and less difficult for a first lace/first chart project. I think it took me half an hour for the two rows. Granted, they're 85 sttiches across now, but still...

Problem...I have no lace weight yarn except for the skeins I've got set aside for this project, and I don't want to start something with them. I'm still semi on a yarn diet, so I don't want to buy something new.

I'm thinking of ripping out what I've got going for the shawl, but...ehhhh...don't really want to do that either. Hmph.

KnitPicks is NOT helping when they keep sending me emails with gorgeous lace weight yarn advertised. No wonder I'm craving the lace. I mean...COME ON!!! *drools*

Sunday, May 18, 2008

Miso Soup


I found miso soup paste at Save On the other week and just had some. Love it. It took me thirty seconds to make once the water was boiled, then poured it in and mixed it up. Nom nom nom. We have a boiled water dispenser at school. I will be eating this and rice every day for the next week, due to deliciousness.

Things are falling into place nicely for returning to school in July. Excellent. *steeples fingers*

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Sharp Sticks


I feel like knitting. I've been doing a lot of physical stuff lately (karate x 3 days a week, biking) and lots of reading, since I'm participating in the Book Binge (see button over ----------------} there, unless you're reading this from archives, in which case, it should be gone [although...um...I took it down about three weeks ago from last year. So it had been up for roughly eleven months. Yeah. I'm almost this good at real life housekeeping.]) I'll be doing a lot of intellectual sitting-on-my-butt work soon (details forthcoming...back to school-ness is in discussion and final shakedown), and of course karate is intellectual as well as physical, especially the stuff I've been doing lately (Holy hell...learning a second style is like learning a new language that is similar enough to the old language that it feels like it should be understandable, but then it ISN'T, and then it turns out that the basic grammar, that which is taken for granted has CHANGED. It's disconcerting in a very large way, as if suddenly English had another letter added to it, or plurals and singulars were swapped. Something like that, but totally not at all. Y'know. If that clears things up for anyone. [not even myself. {OK NEW PARAGRAPH TIME. I BELIEVE I WILL GET BACK TO MY ORIGINAL POINT.}])

I've been doing a heckuvalot of knitting, considering that I kind of run a knitting club, but none of it has been very intellectually stimulating. I've got a whack of boring projects on the go...good for waiting in line at the movies, or while watching TV, or at knitting club, where I get a constant stream of kids needing casting on or off, or a dropped stitch to be fixed, or for me to stare intently at something weird and whacky that they did which I have no idea how to fix (seriously...I have no idea how they DO half their mistakes. I've seen so many things I can't even identify, let alone fix...although they think I'm pretty much a total miracle worker, since I've been able to fix a bunch of things that looked pretty darned hopeless. [Holy crap, I'm using a tonne of brackets this time.]).

Current projects on the needles:
-cotton washcloth, basic pattern. Boring, boring, BORING. I'm so sick of it, and I hate knitting with cotton. No give and hurts my hands. Did I mention that it's BORRRRRRRING????? Oh yeah, and I managed to shut the door on one of the wooden dowel needles I was using with it...so until I get back to school after the long weekend, it's on hiatus.

-pair of socks, basic pattern. Meh. I'm currently working on the heel, which is at least a LITTLE exciting (yeah...whee.) but I'm sick of the colours. Grey, white, dark grey, dark white (or light grey. whatever.) *snore*

-weird red top thing: knit in the round, so it's knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, knit, until my fingers fall off, or it gets to the length it needs to be. Since I'm totally making up the pattern (well, kind of [totally] stealing it from a couple places) I'm not sure how long this is going to be. It's also got some weird lumps happening from poor decreasing choices, so I'm not sure how nice it's going to wind up. Bah. It's in a bag next to my computer desk. Staring at me. Maybe if I pull it out, I'll be pleasantly surprised at how much I've gotten done on it and it will inspire me to work on it! One moment please...hmmm.. Mildly surprised. Definitely not inspired though.

-Lace stole: mmmm...lace. And beads. Lovely. I would really like to work on this...I'm actually craving lace right now, but there's a problem. I have all the stuff, but I think know I screwed up several rows back and might probably almost definitely have to rip back a ways. Hmmm...maybe I oughta take a chance. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? (don't answer that.)

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Stay Outta My Way!


Ironically, I was just thinking yesterday afternoon, "Huh...I'm not getting my normal hormonal evil nature this month. Yay!"

Ha. Ha.

*chants to self under breath* I'm not ruled by my hormones. I'm not ruled by my hormones. I'm not ruled by my hormones. I'm not ruled by my hormones. I'm not ruled by my hormones. I'm not ruled by my hormones. I'm not ruled by my hormones. I'm not ruled by my hormones. I'm not ruled by my hormones.

In other news, my bike now has aproximately ten miles on it.

In other, other news, I think I can officially go to movies again. Dave and I saw 88 Minutes today...decent movie. The smell of the popcorn in the lobby almost made me ill though. Bleah. I love popcorn, but popcorn don't love me.

I'm trying to cut back on my labels. I have tooooooo many labels.

I'm currently sad. :( I feel as though I shouldn't be sad. This annoys me. Then I get annoyed that I'm annoyed...as though my feelings aren't valid. Then I get sad because I feel that way. Vicious circle, which is usually broken either by distraction, or sleep. Since I'm currently very tired, and up past my bedtime...I believe I will choose sleep...after one game of Scramble (not linking, due to high addictive aspect)

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

FREAKIN' SWEET!


Look what I bought this weekend!!!

Cannondale F3 mountain bike!!!

I'm super excited. I already rode it about four miles last night and as soon as the bell goes, I'm blowing out of here to pick up some stuff I need for art class tomorrow, then I'm going riding. WOOO!!!

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Whee!


A good day, this I am having!

I'm currently typing on my currently working computer that my currently in Vancouver boyfriend seems to have fixed! (I'm being subtly slightly pessimistic due to the fact that this computer sometimes randomly explodes right when I think it's working.)

I have several small rock chips taken out of my windshield, so I (finally...ahem) arranged for a windshield chip removal appointment at Crystal Glass in Burnaby. Not only did he say that the chips weren't worth fixing (because they'd be made worse), he also told me how to figure out if it's worth bringing the car in for windshield service! Very, very impressed. By giving up my $50 transaction today, he's pretty much guaranteed himself a customer if/when I need to get any glasswork done. This happened a few weeks ago too...I was buying gas at the Esso on Lougheed near...uhhhhh...kind of near the GardenWorks...whatever that cross street is. Anyway, I had hot chocolate and my gas purchase, and I was given the hot chocolate for free. Again, $1.50 or so of transaction given up equals loyal customer. Love it.

I cut up some green onions today to make a vegetable soup stock. I found them to be pretty much totally unobnoxious and actually quite delicious smelling. SUCCESS!! I have found the solution to my onion problem! If the stock's any good, I'll share the recipe here.

I have karate today, and through the magic of Dave's mad laundry skillz, my gi is basically in shape. Minimal ironing will be needed. This pleases me immensely, as I loathe ironing my gi and have a small (miniscule, really) scar on my hand from where I burned myself a couple years ago*. I need to have a chat with my laundry sensei and learn from him.

I've started using my flickr account again. Feel free to pop over there and say hello. With luck, I'll be able to post the roughly 123498792374210324765 pictures I've taken since my computer died last year.

At least two kids from my knitting club have taught their moms to knit. I'm in awe. I have started a knitting revolution. In sad news, we've had our first knitting injury...one of the girls from another class was knitting very close to her face, and the needle slipped, stabbing her in the cheek. Apparently there was much blood...I wasn't there, as this was in her regular class. Nnnghha. Ouch.

Dave and I saw Iron Man yesterday. Loved. It. I strongly suspected some of what was going to happen because of formulaic stuff, but still enjoyed it a lot. Great writing. this is only the second movie I've gone to see since The Bourne Ultimatum's opening night (August 3 2007, apparently...I thought it was further back than that...I guess not.) because of horrendous dizziness and nausea that made me leave the theatre for about half the movie (iirc...might've been less time). Anyway, hopefully this means that I can start going to movies again. That reaction made me extremely nervous to go. I took some generic Gravol before the movie and was fine...but I don't really remember the car ride home. Hee. Totally out of it...yeah. SCREW YOU MENIERES!!

*which I can't seem to identify. Wow, I've got a lot of miniscule scars on my hands.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Product Plug: Yves Veggie Dogs


The first time I was a vegetarian was when I was 13. For about six months, I stayed away from chicken, beef and pork. For two months after that, I ate some chicken. Then, at camp, I crumbled into a million pieces after smelling the bacon everyone else was eating for breakfast. Ka boom.

Anyway. One of the things that my mom picked up for me was some tofu-ground meat stuff and some tofu dogs. Holy hell, were they ever gross. Texture, taste...yuck. Just...yuck. The ground tofu stuff was put in a casserole in an attempt to disguise it. EPIC FAIL. The tofu dogs were even worse. I think I ate part of one, and chucked the rest.

Understandably, I've been leery of the various meat replacement products I've seen in my local produce department. There's also so much choice! Cajun, cheese flavour, tofu, veggie, help! Last week I picked up some tofu to play with (and figured out that bits of fried tofu, plain or on salad, and strips of fried, garlic salted tofu dipped in tzatziki are darned tasty) but hadn't quite gotten up the nerve to try the meat replacement products. Today, I did.

I tried Yves veggie dogs. They smelled like real hot dogs coming out of the package...a good sign. I zapped them in the microwave for about 30 seconds, still smelled good. I tried them, and they were AWESOME. They weren't as salty as beef hot dogs and had a slightly different texture (a teeny bit spongy) and squeaked a bit in my teeth (which I found rather charming). All in all, an excellent purchase.

Incidentally...mental note to self: when walking to the grocery store to purchase a bit of stuff (fruit, wild rice, veggies, yogurt, oatmeal) DON'T WIND UP BUYING 35 POUNDS OF STUFF. Half a mile isn't that far, but now your fingers are tingling with pre-blisters and your back hurts like a bitch. SAVE THE QUANTITY PURCHASES FOR WHEN YOU'VE DRIVEN OR GONE WITH SOMEONE. Thank you...your disgruntled body.

On a totally related note, I'm off to take a hot, HOT bath.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

Annoyed


I have decided I need to write a cookbook. It will be entitled "Vegetarian Cooking: Beyond the Onion". Seriously. It's nearly impossible to find a vegetarian recipe (except for desserts) that doesn't include onions. I don't really mind cooked onions, but I can't stand prepping them (my eyes burn like hell if I walk into a room where they're being cut), and I don't really care for the taste or texture that much. That being said, I will eat them...but they seem unnecessary to me. Raw onions? Yeah...no. No way. They're WAAAAAAAAY too strong for me. If they're on my burger in itty bitty pieces, all mixed with the ketchup to the point where they're an integral part of the whole thing I will eat them, but then I'll taste them for the next forty-eight hours.

I guess the big problem for me is that I don't know enough about cooking and how things will cook up and taste if I eliminate the onion and add something like garlic instead (loves me some garlic...mmmmmm). I could experiment, but I already had a majorly bad experiment gone wrong this week (bean/cornmeal patties...apparently the cornmeal needs to be "cooked" so it's "digestible". Who knew??).

Hints, tips, tricks all welcome.

(PS. three days in a row of steadily falling weight, each day being the lowest in three months. Down to 172.8 lbs today!)

Friday, April 25, 2008

Bleh


It's been a really long week, yet it flew by so quickly. So tired. Love my kids, but wow. TIRED. They're not even high maintenance.

So, I've decided I'm going to take a first aid course. There's a story behind it...ask me in person.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Random Mishmash


My hands are insanely dry. I'm slathering on the lotion and it still feels like I've poured SuperGlue all over them. (FYI, I did not pour SuperGlue all over them)

I think I saw Ashley panhandling near my apartment. :( I can't stop thinking about her.

I'm more sore from kids karate than from my own karate, I think. This is due to the massive amount of push ups and sit ups I did. Ow. Three months off = sore shoulders and abs. (FYI, it wasn't really that many [maybe 50 sit ups and 20 push ups {and my form was really shite for most of the pushups...}], but hey...three months off.)

I really like tofu when it's fried in a little olive oil until it's crispy. It was supposed to go in my stir fry, but a lot of it wound up as a snack while I waited for the rice to finish cooking.

While I was teaching discus yesterday, a kid's throw smashed into the ground where a group of the class had been standing mere seconds before. I sounded like this: "Everyone behind the line! I shouldn't have to tell...LOOK OUT!!!" *thwack* Gave me six consecutive heart attacks, I tell ya.

Only a month until final term report cards. Holy crap. I'm still dealing with the aftermath of the previous report cards!!!!

Saturday, April 19, 2008

Take THAT Odds!!


Awwww, yeah. I went to karate tonight. I enjoyed it way more than I had been just before I took my break. I really needed to think about it and DECIDE...yes, this is something I want to do, rather than feeling like I needed to be doing it. I'm very happy.

And I'm gonna be one sore puppy tomorrow. Ow.

Haha...also, I get to start helping to teach kids karate again. I'm totally going to be the "K" teacher at my school. Karate, knitting club...yeah. Hee.

(thanks to Sensei for the kick in the butt/dare disguised as a comment on a previous entry)

Monday, April 14, 2008

Bah.


My kids are driving me bat shit today. They're not actually being that bad...what the hell? THEY'RE SO AGGRAVATING!!!

Oh. Right. PMS. Stupid month.

(ETA, you'd think I'd learn...every 28 days for the last...what? 12+ years or so? Sheesh. You'd think that running out of pills for the month would give me a frickin' clue.)

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Out in the Aether


While I was in the produce section today, I noticed a woman kneeling/crouching beside a display, her shoulders shaking. I picked up a mango, then looked back. No one was helping her...they were sort of staring and then avoiding her. Normally, I'd do the same thing; I think most people would. It's hard to get involved with someone who is in the middle of whatever private hell they've got going on. For some reason, I didn't.

Her name is Ashley. Snuggled into the hood of her puffy jacket, she told me that she had lost her shopping list, which also contained the directions for how to get to the apartment of her friend, from which she had just come. She couldn't remember if she was in Safeway or Save-On, or which direction to go after she left the store. I helped her get her groceries and pay for them, while another shopper, a man, trailed us at a discreet distance, obviously concerned for my safety. He and I exchanged glances a couple of times, him worried about me, me worried about her. She kept thanking me, obviously embarassed, teary, scared. While we got her items, she told me that she had had a brain haemorrage.

After I got her through the checkout, I finished my shopping and left the store. It had been at least 15 minutes since Ashley had gone out, and she was out by a bench in front of the store. This is a shout out to everyone...if you could think safe thoughts at her, and hope she made it to where she was going to make her French toast.

Spring!!


Spring is probably my favourite or second favourite season. Summer can be a bit of a bitch if it gets insanely hot, and spring can be annoyingly unpredictable...but it's amazing how awesome the sun feels after the rain (and SNOW...WTF???) we'd been getting the last few months.

To me, one of the best parts of spring/summer is all the fresh fruit and vegetables that are cheap and taste SO much better than during the winter. Everything tastes so much more alive than when it's cold out. I love my carrots, potatoes and yams (boy do I love them), but it's so refreshing to get away from the starchy roots and get some juicy veggies and fruit that isn't just apples. I've been rejoicing in grapes the last few days, eating them plain, with fruit salad, on green salad with raspberry vinegarette dressing...awwwww yeahhh... I made a fruit salad yesterday with a mango, an orange, a banana and the aforementioned grapes...it was like being in Mexico. I'd planned on eating it over a couple days, but wound up devouring it in two sittings. Heh.

I'm trying to cut back on the meat I eat as well. I don't necessarily want to become a vegetarian, but I'm doing some research, and I think that it's healthier, more economical and more ecological to eat less meat. I'm also trying to make healthier choices about meat: chicken or fish instead of beef or pork (easy, since I don't like pork much).

I still like meat (a lot) and knowing that I can't have something makes me crave it like crazy. (I should tell myself I'm forbidden to eat healthy food...) It's weird. Since I've started tracking my food, I'm more aware of how much I eat and I'm less likely to crave sugar and fatty food. I'll notice that I haven't eaten much, so I'll say I can have a treat of a cookie or whatever...but I don't want any! It's like giving myself permission takes away the forbidden-ness and thus the craving. It's totally bizarre.

We bought some awesome whole grain bread at Save On called "Granary" or something. It's really good. I've been eating tomato, cucumber and tzatziki sandwiches for lunch today and yesterday. Yesterday, I had a bit of chicken on it as well, but couldn't taste it, so didn't bother today.

I'm really happy today. We looked at bikes yesterday (but we're not getting one yet...HOW DOES ONE KEEP A BIKE IN AN APARTMENT!!! SOMEONE HELP!!), the sun is shining, I got a crapload of marking done (OMG, giant pile...I marked some stuff today that the kids gave me on FEBRUARY 12th!!!), I'm more in love with Dave than ever, I'm eating all this wholesome food which gives me energy (woke up early [for me] today and yesterday...unheard of on a weekend!!) and I'm exercising, which probably is helping with all of that.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Saturday, April 12, 2008

"At Least You're Adorable"


Apparently my night time routine is more ingrained than I thought, or else I'm more tired than I thought. Normally, I clean my ears out with a Q-tip (yes, bad, I know...nothing smaller than your elbow should go in there) while getting out the other stuff to get ready for bed. Toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush, makeup remover (if applicable that day), pills, whatever.

I decided to skip the ears, put toothpaste on my toothbrush and only the fact that I was looking in the mirror at the time stopped me from sticking it into my ear. I was about 3 inches away.

Friday, April 11, 2008

I know it's not about the numbers...


...but yesterday I hit the lowest weight in the three months I've been tracking it with our awesome scale of doom. It is totally FitDay.com which has been doing it. Dude.

Two nights ago, I ran for a whole mile in a row, plus walked for a mile (split between 5 min before the run and 12 min after the run). I'm so freaking proud of myself. Last time I did that was junior high.

Yesterday, I walked to the store to buy brown rice, wild rice and salad dressing. It's just under a mile round trip, and it's a little hilly, but not too bad. I love it.

Knitting club is so cool. I've gotten rid of so much yarn that I'll never, ever use and I've been inspired to start knitting more myself. :D I've got eight year olds now in the club, and some even younger kids want to join. A brother of one of my students wants to join...I'm tempted. He's six, but he already knows how to knit. It'd be a hoot watching him, and he'd probably be able to teach some of the kids.

Feeds


Does anyone know how to send my LiveJournal posts to here or vice versa? Feed or syndication or something? Bonus points if someone tells me a simple way how to do it that even someone who's pretty stupid with computers can do. Thanks in advance!

Monday, April 07, 2008

Mrrrph.


My short whiny post disappeared. I hate Mondays. Tutoring sucks. I'm sick of it. Good bye cruel world...I'm off to ESL-ing. Staff meeting's finished. TIIIIIIRED.

Oh yeah...


So much for putting it out in public in order to shame myself into going. I didn't make it to karate on Saturday...I spent most of it and Sunday sleeping. I think I'm fighting off a cold or something because I'm totally freaking exhausted.

Today MUST be Monday...


I never could get the hang of Mondays*.

I work today from 900-300, then I have a staff meeting that will run from 315-515, then I tutor from 545 to 845.

This morning I was in the elevator with Dave when he noticed that there was milk dripping out of my lunch bag. The milk for the cereal I was going to have for breakfast this morning at work.

I left my marking at home this weekend, so I didn't get any of that done, so I figured I'd do it between work and tutoring.

Oh, right. Staff meeting.

My grapes are mushy.

It's raining.

At least I didn't do what I did on Friday...book knitting club at lunch, while forgetting that I had to do supervision at recess, allowing me 20 whole minutes to eat my lunch and have a break. Woo.

Yeah, it's Monday, all right.

*Apologies to...Douglas Adams? I think? If it wasn't Monday, I'd probably remember...although I think the original quote was about Thursdays.

Saturday, April 05, 2008

Hi.


I've been visiting this page basically every day, since all my links are here. I haven't been writing for lots of reasons...mostly busy-ness and stuff like that.

(it's not because I couldn't remember my password. Psssht...as if. Shut up.)

Things have changed a lot, but some stuff is still the same. I'm still living in the awesome condo of awesomeness with my awesome boyfriend of awesomeness. :) I'm learning how to do stuff like cook, and clean up after myself (I can make ROAST BEEF! WHO AM I??).

I got a temporary contract to teach an amazing 4/5 class of students in the district that I grew up in. Full time work is *thumbs up!* I started a knitting club with the grade 3, 4 and 5s, and have about 40 students. It's totally insane. I love it. My mom comes and helps out at lunchtime with them...some of the kids are way better at knitting than I was when I started. They're teaching each other now! It's so cool!!! One of the boys found some knitting videos on YouTube and learned how to cast on (start the knitting) and he's taught a bunch of kids in the club, and me too! (ETA: By this, I mean he taught me a new way to cast on, since I already know one of the ways.)

I took a break from karate for two months because of insane amounts of work. My gi is ready for me to iron and step back up on that horse. Many, many people don't come back from a hiatus, but I'm wanting to totally buck the odds. SO THERE! HA!! I'm excited to go back. I've missed it.

What else? I started going to the gym a bit more often, starting in the new year. (a bit more often...considering I didn't go at all the first two months we were here....yeah....) I ran for nearly a mile at 5 mph a couple weeks ago. I haven't done THAT since junior high! Of course, I haven't done it since, due to back issues and general pain and meh. I've opened up my fitday.com account again and am tracking all my eating and some of my exercise.

Dave and I play Wii a lot...not so much this week, but over spring break we played a lot and before that. I've become addicted to Resident Evil 4 and we each played through the main game twice, and I played through both mini extra games. Dave's been playing a different extra game.

So, yeah! Now that I remember my password have a little more time, maybe I'll post here often enough that I don't have the posts on the front page completely memorised from when I come here to check blogs and webcomics.