The write stuff

Well it's that time of year again where a person tends to look back on the years accomplishments and make goals for the next year! I didn't make a lot of my resolutions from last January, but I did accomplish some of the one's I was most interested in (like going to the UK) and survived meningitis and right now that seems like something of an accomplishment. Despite that traumatic experience, this year was a fairly good one. Top 5 best things about 2010 1) Trip to the UK 2) Spending time with my parents in Winnipeg in the summer 3) Spending my birthday with many of my friends and family at the Olive Garden 4) Moving to my own apartment 5) Reading and being inspired by Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series Top 5 worst things about 2010 1) Suffering through Meningitis and viral pneumonia 2) Health issues after a long recovery (muscle pain, fatigue, anemia, etc) 3) Missing Jonathan and watching his family miss him 4) Worrying about bed bugs (didn’t actually ge

I don't know if this is something that everyone does or not, but I have a stack of movies that I go to when I need inspiration. I guess they might be among my favorite movies, but it's more than that. These movies are the one's that give me something that I need at the time whether it be hope, joy, courage, or inspiration. Each one touches me in a different way. These are the movies that I will likely watch at least once a year and in some cases many times in a year. Do you have a movie or movies that do the same for you? Maybe it's a romance that reminds you that love is real and possible, or an action that pumps you up and makes you feel like you can do anything. Here's my list! 1) The Lord of the Rings Trilogy 2) Pride and Prejudice 3) The Sound of Music 4) Sister Act 1 and 2 5) Gone with the Wind 6) Yentl 7) Bruce Almighty 8) The Phantom of the Opera 9) Up 10) Tangled (new to the list) There are probably a lot more, but I can't think of them o

Well here they are, my rendition of a cupcake featuring ginger - in this case gingerbread cupcakes! I thought they turned out pretty good. I added 1/2 a cup more milk than I was supposed to and yet they managed to turn out fairly good texture wise. The flavour is a lot like gingerbread (with a few extra helpings of ginger) and the icing is a cream cheese icing.

All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy......................................................... Like my crazy friend from the Shining I too need to do more than work. I have just overcome the dreaded week 2 doldrums that have crippled many a fellow NaNoer. In week 2 the little voice starts to pop up in one's mind. You all know the voice. The inner critic that tells you that trying to write 50,000 words in one month is ludicrous and that even if you do manage it your novel will be of poor quality. Perhaps your story doesn't matter all that much. Thank goodness for the wise words of those who have overcome this inner critic and wrote because writing is what writers do! Sure my story may look sad and be nearly unreadable by the end of this month and sure the likelyhood of anything I write being published is small, but that doesn't mean I should give up. Now all I need to do is make sure to have some fun and leave my desk at some points because between work and NaNoWriMo I

Friday:  Angie, Olivia, and I got dressed up at my sisters house (Angie as a burlesque dancer, Olivia as Cleopatra, and myself as a Pirate) and headed out to RadioPark, a nearby club, to dance and have a few drinks. This was my first time at RadioPark and I really enjoyed it! Ladies get in free before 11pm, drinks are good and affordable, the DJ they had that night was fun and played songs I like, the costumes were entertaining, the facilities were fairly clean, and there were multiple screens on the wall playing all of the Simpson's tree house of horror episodes! I also noted that whenever a guy bumped up against one of us hoping to get a dance, that if we turned away from them, they would take the hint and move on! I'm glad because some of my experiences at other clubs came close to turning me off dancing altogether. After a fun evening, we picked up PJ and headed back to Angie's place. Since we were hungry and still wide awake we made nachos and watched a scary movie. T

Last Friday was exhausting, but fun! I ran from work right to my friend Sara's house to help her set up the boundaries at a park near her house for the games of Capture the Flag we were going to attempt to play with the Advent Lutheran Young Adults Group (YAK). We ended up playing about 5 games with my team sadly only winning one (the last one which was only because we traded one of the less sporty guys for one of the guys from the other team). I had a lot of fun running around and playing, but discovered just how bad of shape I'm in. I have always been one of the 'give it all you got and run straight for the flag' types and so that is exactly what I did on our last game. I ran with all my might and leapt up the playground's large steps, I grabbed the flag and rushed down and towards my camp. Strangely once I left the confines of the playground my legs refused to run anymore. I just couldn't do it. Thank goodness the sportier guy was waiting near by and ran over

 So I went over to the Harris household for what Laura and I have dubbed a cupcake date! For those of you who don't know who Laura is, she is Jonathon's little sister (refer to the story about Jonathon if you're not sure who Jonathon is). The cupcakes were so fun to make and turned out pretty good! Ever since Jonathon passed away about a year ago his family has kind of adopted me as the closest they'll ever have to a daughter in law. None of us know of course whether things would have worked out between Jonathon and me, but regardless of this fact and their acknowledgement of it, they have welcomed me as one of their own. It makes me happy that I made Jonathon happy for the short time he was in my life. I find myself connecting with his family on so many levels and feeling so at home with them. I have mixed feeling about all of this, but I think Jonathon would be happy that I met his family and continue to spend time with them. I hope I can be something of a comfort

Hi Friends! After our fun discussions during coffee on Wednesday night I was inspired to write a bare bones summary of my Nanowrimo (Nation Novel Writing Month) novelette. It is very much a work in progress, but here is the summary of what I'm thinking of writing so far! The year is 2010 and the heroine is a 30 year old career focused historian named Chloe. Her area of research is on literature and art during the early middle ages (5 th to 1000 th century) and her and her assistant Luke are on a flight from Canada to London where she is supposed to be speaking at a conference on monasticism during the dark ages . Chloe decides to arrive a week early so she can take a train up to the Northern edge of Scotland and make her way up to the island of Iona where she can spend some time in peace and quiet to retreat and prepare for her conference. Her assistant decides to join her as he has recently broken up with his girlfriend and is hoping to dive into work and take his mind of his w

I don't watch the Oprah show very often, but found myself watching out of curiosity of the subject matter yesterday. Oprah was interviewing a woman with DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). It's one of the disorders that have scared me over the years and I find that if I educate myself and normalize things they don't scare me as much. It was interesting hearing this woman's story and how she is managing to raise a healthy (currently 13 year old) girl. The expert they had on the show to explain the disorder did a very good job of helping those of us who don't suffer from this disorder understand it a bit better (since it is one of the few disorders that most of us can honestly not even imagine having). She said that all of us have experienced a form of disassociation at some point in our lives (for many it occurs while we're driving, we arrive at our destination and honestly can't remember the process of getting there). For many of us that have faced a traum

Generally my workplace is pretty good. Over the last few days though I have found myself feeling a little miffed by their policies. Last week they interviewed my sister and she won the competition for the position within my department. But does she get the job? No. Apparently it is a conflict of interest since she is my sister. So why interview her in the first place? They got my hopes up that I would have someone capable and friendly to work with and now I get to be disappointed and wait to see if they choose another clerk as useless as the last for me to train. And now my sister is disappointed. Anyway to borrow a friends new motto, "I'm so not impressed"

I remember seeing a commercial for this movie a few weeks ago and thought that it actually looked pretty funny. I'm pretty wary of teenage comedy's as usually the level of well thought out humour, intelligently designed plot, likeable characters, and enjoyablility is just not there for me. This movie on the other hand was very funny, well thought out, and well acted. Emma Stone plays Olive, a clean cut and generally invisible except to her few friends, teenage girl who finds herself a victim of the High School rumour mill when she tells a friend a lie. Her friend wants her to come camping with her family, Olive is uncomfortable with their strange habits (such as eating topless) and tells her friend that she can't come because she has a date with a college freshman. The next week her friend takes her vague responses to her questions as an indication that she must have lost her virginity to this mystery man. Olive decides to go with it so her friend will get off her case and

Michelle, Danaya and I went to see the Theater Calgary Production of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" last Friday night. We arrived in good time and so, for once, I actually had time to sit and read through the magazine about the play we would be watching. I found the story to be very interesting and then the author of the story perhaps even more so (worked for the Gov't, drove a hippie bus around the States encouraging the use of LSD, etc). Also there was a brief history of thought about psychology and the treatments for emotional and psychological maladies. It was disturbing to say the least and made me feel good about how far we have come as a society in both understanding and creating effective treatments. We have truly come a long ways, but we still have a ways to go. This play looks at some of the abuses that were common inside mental institutes when the patients were treated more like prison inmates than the ill. Into this redundent and hope deflating environ

The air is crisp and cool, the leaves a vibrant array of reds and golds, and teenagers occupy the streets enmasse. If the literal date didn't make it clear, then everything else would...it's Fall. Fall is one of my favourite times of year. As a person who depends heavily on my senses to tell me about the world around me, Fall brings the world alive in a frenzy of delightful sights, smells, and sounds! The other thing Fall seems to bring is overwhelming busyness. This part I am not so very fond of. Not that I don't love learning new things, getting exercise, and  having something of a social life, but I find that I overbook myself sometimes and end up feeling stretched rather uncomfortably. I have a responsibility to myself to work on maintaining health as I still find my immune system still somewhat weakened. So far I am finding myself torn energy-wise between work, CCASA, singing lessons, yoga, my Church's Spiritual Formation group, reading my rather large book ser

I remember hearing about CCASA (Calgary Communities Against Sexual Abuse) about a year ago when I was in the midst of coming to terms with my own difficult past. As an adult survivor of childhood sexual abuse I wished that I had had the support and care that one needs after a traumatic event to develop the proper mechanisms for dealing with the acute stress reactions that tend to occur after. Of course it doesn't help that I was very young and the mind refuses to deal with issues beyond its coping abilities therefore showing up for many children in the form of stomach aches and chronic nightmares. Denial is so much easier than facing your demons, but eventually they refuse to be ignored. I've faced my demons and will continue to do so for the rest of my life, but like many survivors I want to help other survivors, or even better, educate the public so that the next generation will not be as afraid to tell a loved one when someone is hurting them. Sexual abuse is one of the to

One thing continually bothers me as I read Diana Gabaldon's richly detailed story of Claire Beauchampe, a doctor who innocently walks into a stone formation in Scotland and winds up in 16th century Scotland. Much has happened since this beginning...Claire has married Jamie Fraser the young and impressive Scottish Laird (against her wishes), fallen madly in love with him regardless of a precarious beginning to their relationship, followed him around as they attempt to evade the English, fought with him at the battle of Culloden, been forced back through the stones to safety with their unborn child, raised their child with her ambiguous husband from the future, returned after her child had grown up so that she could find him, made a new life with him in an American Colony, and been surprised by the appearance of her daughter and new son in law in 16th century America. Through their many, often rediculous, adventures there is that one thing that my brain keeps going back to. Why doesn

1) Being surprised by a really good plot twist in a book 2) Laughing out loud to a joke I hear or read when I'm alone 3) Getting good news on a bad day 4) Being surprised by something beautiful 5) Getting or giving a word of encouragement 6) Making cookies and eating the dough…mmmmm 7) Finding kindred spirits 8) Curling up on the couch with hot tea and a warm blanket on a cold day 9) Getting a hug when I need one 10) Learning about something new that interests me

As I was skimming through the new and exciting books at Chapters awhile back, I noticed a book called, "The Book of Awesome" by Neil Pasricha. I'm not a big fan of self-help books (though I'm sure many of them are interesting), but I noticed when I flipped through this one that it was more about observations on the shared enjoyments and pleasant surprises in ones life (serendipity). As I flipped through and remarked to myself how true his observations are, it got me thinking about the things in my life that make me happy. This book has inspired me to be more aware of the pleasant moments in my own day to day life. I'll write down a few here and there over the next little while as they come to me! My first ten: 1) watching birds run (I know its strange, but their little legs amuse me) 2) Getting the parking spot closest to work in the morning 3) Making my own caramel macchiatto at home after work (tasty and inexpensive) 4) spending a whole day in my pj's

Well to my surprise and delight I was granted vacation on my chosen week...and so the frenzy began. I was given permission at the end of the work day on Thursday and had plans for that night and Friday night, so basically I actually got to packing my stuff at around 12am Friday night (Technically Saturday morning). By the time I had packed everything, cleaned house, showered, and taken care of my cat it was about 3am and I set my alarm for 5am wondering if sleep was even a good idea by this point. Little choice I had in the matter though as my eyelids would no longer stay up and my body ached for the comfort of my mattress. I fell asleep the moment my head hit my pillow and woke up resignedly at 5am. I took the first half an hour to get dressed and then called a cab and managed to arrive at the airport at around 6:15am. This wasn't necessarily late...well not very anyway, but my heart rate did increase slightly as I got closer and closer to the massive lineup that was the Air Canad

I'm one of those people who like taking photos of random signs that I find funny or amusing while I'm travelling and so I can appreciate the irony in this picture!

I always thought I was pretty comfortable with the idea of aging. We all do it, even if our culture tells us we shouldn't. But a few days ago it struck me that my Dad was turning 60 (he actually turned 60 yesterday) and to be honest I kinda freaked. You see, If my Dad is 60 and the average male in North America dies at the age of 70, that brings my dad closer to dying then I'm comfortable with. Granted he could die like anyone else at any time, but getting older is a really good reminder of its immenent arrival. Death is a funny thing in our culture. It's both flaunted in our media as entertainment and hidden from society as a whole in institutions which deal with such things (old folks homes, hospitals, hospices, etc). This leaves many of us with an inorganic and slightly confused perspective on death. My reaction to it is similar to my reaction to air flight. Yes, yes I know its safer than traveling by car, but does that make me any less anxious about flying? No. Similarl

So I received a rather disturbing notice under my door a few days ago. Apparently my apartment complex has seen a recent outbreak of the dreaded bed bug. Now the bed bug isn't exactly dangerous, just disgusting. They are little beatles about the size of an apple seed that live in dark hidden places in your home and come out at night to drink your blood. This wouldn't have been a problem like 20 years ago when DDT's nearly wiped every one of these suckers off the face of the Earth, but now they have come back with a vengeance. (For those who are squirming and having a hard time looking at the picture I attached I should note that I have not seen one of these suckers anywhere in my place and there is a chance I never will.) Thank goodness I'm a really good sleeper or else I wouldn't get a wink thinking of the possibility of bugs on, in, or near my bed.

I just had to put this one up on my blog All I could do when I first read this article is shake my head and think, "Really?" Is Obama considered extreme because he supports Universal Healthcare? Oh right I forgot that anyone who supports something like that suddenly shape shifts into a communist If I ever expected to see an American Presidents face plastered on this type of poster seriously it would be Bush's face, not Obama's.

Like many I am not a fan of pain. The whole idea of pain makes me uncomfortable partly because I don't like being in pain myself and partly because seeing others in pain makes me feel helpless. Everyone gets sick sometimes, but I find it difficult to write about my experiences because I want to find something funny or positive to put in each of my blogs, even the ones about difficult things, but I don't find much funny about pain. I have learned that it is best for me to attempt to process such things though, so I will do a brief recount of my last few weeks. The trouble started in late May with a simple cold. This cold wasn't remarkable in any way it just happened to weaken my immune system enought to make me easy prey for a much stronger virus. My first symptoms from this stronger virus started near the end of the first week of June and included high fever, severe chills, a painful headache, weakness, and sensitivity to touch. This remained the same for a few days and I

It always takes me a while to recover from vacations, so now that I am pretty much back to normal I figured I would go ahead and make my life difficult again! Yes that's right, despite my earlier indications that I was too tired from the last two moves to ever move again, I am moving again. I just put a damage deposit on a cute little 1 bedroom apartment with a balcony directly behind Market Mall. Moving is always stressful, but I'm hoping this decision will decrease my stress in the long run. It gives me much needed privacy, a quiet space, and puts me close to work, church, and many of my friends. I'm not exactly looking forward to packing again, but I am excited to be moving on my own again!

This session my career counsellor and I focused on the results of my personality test which came out as INFJ. This seemed odd to me because it wasn't very long ago that I did the Myers Briggs test myself online and was designated a strong INFP. We talked this over quite a bit and it became more and more obvious that neither of us could decide whether I am a Judger or a Perceiver. Although the recent test results show that I am a strong Judger, there are many things about my personality that I know do not fit in that category. According to the Myers Briggs website these are the general profiles of each of these two types: INFJ Seek meaning and connection in ideas, relationships, and material possessions. Want to understand what motivates people and are insightful about others. Conscientious and committed to their firm values. Develop a clear vision about how best to serve the common good. Organized and decisive in implementing their vision. INFP Idealistic, loyal to their

It's funny how being on vacation for two weeks both feels like a long time to be away and yet somehow goes by so quickly.  I'm now in the comfortable place of basking in the warm familiarity of home and reflecting on the novelty of having spent time as a stranger in a different land. I thought I would do a quick day by day rundown of the trip for both my own record and for anyone who may be interested. Day 1:  Arrived at Manchester Airport at 8:15am Sunday April 11, took cab to Menzies Pinewood hotel in Handforth (a small city in the greater Manchester area), took train from Handforth station to Manchester Piccadily Station, ate breakfast at a cafe in the station, walked around Manchester stopping to shop in a few department stores and getting a mini manicure at one of them, toured John Ryland's beautiful gothic library, took the train back to Handforth, walked back the our hotel, ate a four course supper at the hotel, went to bed at 8:30pm (amazing we lasted so long cons

The first meeting was very pleasant. My new career cousellor Emma and I both sat down with our steaming cups of tassimo green tea and chatted about why I was there, my likes and dislikes, and what I hoped to accomplish over the month. She was very engaging and understanding which helped me to open up to her. Over the course of a few days I found two tests in my inbox which was my homework for the week. I opened them up and completed them pretty much right away wondering what they were going to get out of my choosing between being a firefighter or a mathmatician and so on, but it was actually pretty impressive. According to their list of 5 themes (artistic, social, realistic. enterprising, conventional and investigative), I am mostly astristic, social and conventional. The funny thing about having this theme code (ASC) is that A and C actually almost contradict each other...its kind of like saying I am a free spirited, creative type who enjoys structure and organization? Well the funn

I went out with my sister and Irene last night for a girls night out that included a delicious meal at Moxies, some shopping time, and the new 3D movie "How to Train your Dragon." I was expecting the movie to be mildly entertaining with lots of action and little plot. Though it didn't boast a large quantity of time to the important art of character developement and plot, it was actually a really fun movie. I instantly fell in love with the sweet and dry humoured young hero who found himself at odds with his strong viking society and with the dragon toothless who was far from it (toothless that is). Toothless somewhat resembles a mix of a cat and a dog in temperament and I couldn't help but think of my cat when he regurgitates part of his meal as a present for his new friend or of my old dog Nikki when he lifts his gums up in an attempt to grin. I would highly recommend this movie to everyone who enjoys cartoons. 

I spent this weekend with my neice's situation heavy on my mind. No she's not pregnant or anything like that (phew), but she's so unhappy. She has had such a tough life and now she finds herself living with her Mom (who has some mental health issues), fighting with her Dad (who told her a few days ago that she is dead to him), bored because she doesn't get much parental supervision or scheduled activities, and depressed about her lot in life. She is such a smart and pretty 14 year old and deserves so much more. I'm nervous that she may eventually decide to run away. I sent her a message today asking her to consider me as an alternative if she is unhappy. It's a scary thought to even consider caring for a teenager, but part of me kind of hopes she does. I want so much more for her than she has.

Well it's almost four months into 2010 and I still find myself unsure of what my next step in life is. I know its not exactly a race, but there are things in life that I want that seem very far away...like a home of my own, a family, and a career that I don't just tolerate everyday. I feel like my life is pretty full in other areas...a supportive family, good friends, a church I enjoy, and a range of hobbies I can enjoy or ignore as needed. There isn't much I can do about a home of my own right now except pay off debt and save money which I am currently doing, and I am not exactly in a rush for a family of my own either though it is something I want someday. So that leaves my career as my focus for now. I've decided to take a chance on career guidance in the hopes that it will help me make a decision on which career is a good fit for me. Once that decision is made I'm hoping the guidance counsellor will be able to help me make goals that would at least put me on

"The War of 1812" by the Arrogant Worms

I was sitting at home last night watching a show I don't watch very often called "King of the Hill." They were playing one of the very last episodes in their long TV run and I had never seen it before. The episode was entitled "Uh-Oh Canada." I often enjoy watching the almost offensively silly view that Americans have of Canadian's as little ninnies, wearing preppy vests, speaking in a Minnisotan accent, and ending every second sentence with a pronounced "Eh". In this episode Hank Hill and his family and friends find their summer festivities being threatened by their new uppity Canadian neighbours. One of the group has decided to go away for the summer and thought it would be fun to switch homes for three months with a family from Toronto. Hank in his usual bid to be the best neighbour possible is left trying to convince his friends that the Canadians will be just like anyone else. To his surprise this family is rude and arrogant and only interes

I've always somewhat prided myself on being a feminist (despite the rather unappealing picture that this word brings to mind for many). Of course this made me happy to discover that there is an International Women's Day, but also slightly disturbed that I was not aware of this beforehand. Not knowing this and not knowing much about the history behind the ideology that I've taken as my own made me realize how easy I've had things. I've never really had my belief in the equality of men and women tested. It's scary being reminded that the rights and freedoms that I take for granted every day would not have been available to me if I was born just 60 years ago, or, for that matter, right now in many other nations. If someone was working to take away these rights would I fight for them? Would I be willing to pay the price that those who've gone before have paid? Some of them likely paid a very high price. I guess all of us eventually see our beliefs tested and r

This is a question that runs through a person's head many times in their life. Teachers start encouraging you to think about this in Elementary school and compell you earnestly to look at all of your options while still in High School. I wouldn't be surprised if it isn't brought up at least briefly in play school though if I tried to ask my Nephew what he wants to be I'm pretty sure he would look up at me with drool slowly dripping from the corner of his upturned mouth and utter "Car! Car!" "Hmmm yes well I encourage you to think outside of the 2 year old box and maybe consider becoming a err lawyer? You know you have a way with words and you are excellent at convincing me to give you more candy though I know it will only make you hyper." I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure that the first thing I wanted to be was a painter. I could paint every day in a state of pure bliss and I actually wasn't half bad..I even had the honor of having o

I just wanted to share this photo of Aanika! Isn't she cute? I love the sweet expression of peace on her face as she's held by her proud parents. I haven't actually met her yet, but I'm sure I will get the chance once she is out of the hospital.

I am often surprised by the things I learn from my time on Facebook. Today was one of those days where news poured forth revealing changes in the world of family and friends. There were two changes in particular that stood out to me. For one, my sister had changed her relationship status from " It's complicated" to "Married to Isaac Arhinful" with a little heart beside it. I guess that means that couselling worked out pretty good and they're officially back together. Sweet. Hmm I guess that means I might be moving out on my own. Oh well that is kind of what I wanted. I scrolled down a little and noticed the second big change. My neice had added a sibling to her profile. Kayla. I thought that this may have something to do with a conversation from awhile ago, but instead found out that my neice is getting into all kinds of trouble and is teetering between that dangerous adolescent place of anger and boredom. I'm still not sure about how good or useful