IBAAW

It has been crazy lately blog-wise. In fact, you probably haven't been able to see it at all, if you've been visiting! Pretty much, I've been trying to sort out a bunch of stuff before I have to start contributing to the world, sometime after Monday. The main thing was the DNS, because typing www was driving me crazy! So, I've switched DNS hosts, and now you can get here without the www, and if the www is still there, it will redirect to the sans-www address. Okay? Good.

Other than that, I've completed my resume, but I'm still not sure what I want to do! Or what I will be able to do, actually.

I am watching the news, and there is a lady who is training cats. She gets them to do obstacle courses and ride skateboards. It's kind of weird, but also cool. Kizzie must have known I was typing this, because she has come over and sat on my foot. Weirdo.

This entry is all very random, ha ha.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Labels: Journal

I sat down to a big bowl of Ramen today, and it got me thinking. I did not like Ramen before Katimavik. In fact, I was not a fan of spicy food in general! The rest of my family adored spiciness, but not I. Then, I went to Katimavik, where everyone was pretty much a beginner in the kitchen.

When you are first learning to cook, sometimes spices are the least of your worries. The main goal is to create something that 1) won't kill anybody and 2) is not burned. Good flavour is just an added bonus! Besides, there is only so much flavour you can put into tofu and rice noodles, anyway. And that's where the hot sauce came in. While I never quite got into the world of Tabasco, I did fall for hot sauce's less-hot cousin, barbecue sauce. By the end of the nine months, there was not much that I did not put barbecue sauce on! It tasted good on everything! I especially enjoy the spicy version from Kraft!

Before Katimavik I avoided feta cheese like the plague. I mean, GOAT'S CHEESE? Ew. Imagine my surprise when I encountered it in a Greek salad, and discovered how amazing it was! Cheese had a great influence on me in Quebec. I had always enjoyed it, and often remarked it as my favourite food. However, my experiences pretty much landed in the world of cheddar. In Quebec, I was introduced to cheese curds, which were lovely and salted and squeaky, and I began to explore more cheese options. I'm not sorry, and I've never looked back. Cheese is amazing.

I'd never even touched a sweet potato since I was five years old. I had disliked it back then, so I assumed I still did. Sometime in Katimavik, I encountered them again, and discovered that I liked them. Then I discovered that I loved them when mashed with butter and cinnamon! Now sweet potato and cinnamon is one of my favourite foods!

Katimavik gave me different food experiences and choices. Which is great. I encourage everyone to get out there and try something new today!

Random Fact of the Day: Today is Blog Action day. Unfortunately, my stomach got the best of me, and I've blogged about something else. Still, please check out the Blog Action Day website, for a list of blogs that ARE participating!

Labels: Journal, Photos

Unfortunately, my two month reprieve from everything is drawing to a close. I've begun to search the job websites for suitable employers, and sort of out my resume. I've been thinking a lot more with school, and trying to decide what I really want to do. I'm pretty sure I would like to be a teacher- it's been my plan for the last six months, but I've been trying to consider other options to make sure I am very sure of what I want to do. I mean, this is my career for the rest of my life, probably.

Another idea was presented to me, which was to become an Educational Assistant for a little while. If I take the course full-time during the week, I can be finished within a few months, and start temping at schools. This way, I would get more experience, and have a bit of an "in," with the Board of Education when I do go back to school to become a teacher.

So, I don't know! I guess it's time to seriously consider my options and start trying to formulate a plan.

Random Fact of the Day: Nearly half of graduates choose a career in a different subject than their major.

Labels: Journal

Dear Aisling,

I am a scholar, and recently I discovered your website in an Internet archive. I'm studying history, and I was wondering if you could tell me a bit about your life. It has taken me several months to learn your language. Here we speak a Global tongue, which I've read is similar to that of your modern day "Chinese." I am quite interested in how you managed to survive in a world where you do not speak the same language. How is it that you've managed to communicate?

I live in the region formerly known as "Alberta, Canada," which is where you live now. I live on a mountain, and from the West facing window, I can see the ocean. Sometimes, with all of the floods and tsunamis, it threatens to climb up the mountain and wash into the prairies. But it hasn't yet.

Our government is controlled by one Global council, that was established after the third world war. They mandate pretty much everything. It is an honour to work for the government. I, myself, submit my research to them to help them run the world better.

The main conflict afflicting us these days are terrorist threats by reactionaries. They believe that the assimilation of former culture is wrong, and that we should be preserving the old values of your world. Many of them have been gathered and sent to the part of the world you know as "Africa." Africa proved to be too much of a challenge for your generation, and by the end of the third world war it had been transformed into a nuclear wasteland. Now it is the site of the largest prison on the planet, and also contains laboratories for experiments comparing the DNA structure of your people to that of ours.

It has changed quite a bit, they've reported. Vaccinations were banned shortly after the break out of the war, and our immune systems developed a way of protecting ourselves without that ancient technology. There are still diseases, resembling what you would know as cancer, caused by the rapid changing of our DNA due to exposure to dangerous chemicals used as warfare, but AIDS is no longer a threat. The government took care of that by commanding quarantine in 2076, and waiting for the virus to run its course.

I'd best be wrapping this up now, as too much information about the future can prove to be harmful to less-developed mind of your century. Just a tip- learn to use the extra 90% of your brain, it will be useful in the future.

Sincerely,

A Future Friend

What do you think the future will be like?

Labels: Exposé, Journal

I have a lot I need to thank Bill Nye for. He taught me, essentially, all I know about science. When my teacher asked me what inertia is, I proudly answered "Inertia is a property of matter," and everyone else went "Bill Nye the Science Guy! Bill! Bill! Bill!" It has just that much of an influence on our culture. One day I was sick during Katimavik, and the next day I went back to the class I was working with, and found out that they had watched Bill Nye while I was away. I almost cried.

And now, for the ode:

Bill Nye.

Your name rhymes with Science Guy,

But really, you're my guy.

If we had lift and drag and thrust and gravity, we'd fly,

All over the dense gaseous atmospheric sky.

And we'd look into each other's eyes,

And the lights would reflect off our retinas,

And into our world of luuurrrve.

Yes, I do realize that Bill Nye could be my father. In fact, he is 6 years older than my father. But still. He helped me pass Biology, and I can never repay him for that.

Random Fact of the Day: Bill Nye won a Steve Martin lookalike contest, and started being a stand-up comedian at night. Then he developed the idea to become Bill Nye the Science Guy. And the rest is history...

For more Bill information, visit his official site, or watch him on YouTube!

Labels: Journal

I QUIT THE INTERNET!!!!!

Random Fact of the Day: The Internet and technology, in general, are making me angry today, and driving me absolutely crazy!!! I seriously want to poke out my eyes when I look at this layout, and any other layout I am working on. Breast cancer awareness is important, yes, but this pink is driving me bonkers, which is saying a lot because pink is my favourite colour.

Also, my old computer crashed and took my music files with it. Not too big of a pity about the computer, since it was destined for the electronics recycling depot anyway, but now I have to find all those music files again so I can re-build my media library on my laptop.

All of this makes me want to just give up with computers altogether. However, I am addicted to blogging. So here is my new blog:

http://www.freewebs.com/aislingzpage/index.html

....

Oh, alright, I'm kidding, but sometimes it just seems like that route would be so much simpler.

Labels: Journal, Rant

So, our dining room table seats 8. (It can seat 10, but for the sake of timeliness, let's just stick with eight, shall we?) This afternoon at our Thanksgiving meal, we played a game where each of us chose a bunch of people that we would invite to our fancy dinner party, and here's who I chose:

Ellen DeGeneres: She is very funny, and I love her. Ha ha. I watch her show all of the time, and she makes me laugh, and I'm sure she'd make my other dinner guests laugh as well.

Emma Watson: Well, I kind of feel obligated to her since my fan site dedicated to her did help me reach the depths of fame I hold today. Ha ha. No, really, I love Hermione, and I think it would be interesting to talk to her about growing up in the spotlight like she has.

Zac Efron: He's cute.

Reba McEntire: I've recently begun watching her show, "Reba," and have rather enjoyed it. It's about a mom, Reba, dealing with her ex-husband's cheating/marrying/new baby/moving next door, and her kids, including one of her daughters, whom also has a baby at the same time as her ex-husband! Also, she's an amazing country singer, so much love there!

John Krasinski: He's cute and funny and nice and the star of my favourite television show! I think he'd be nice to talk to, and easy for everyone to get along with.

Anderson Cooper: zOMG, I love Anderson. I think I've mentioned my love for him before. He is SO SMART. Smart guys seriously turn me into jelly. Normally, I don't like them to be too much smarter than me, but this is an exception. I also found him quite funny on Regis and Kelly. He is the complete package.

Regis Philbin: I have been watching Regis practically since I was born! I love him, and he is definitely coming to my dinner! He would be a riot, in his quirky way. OMG I cried when he went for heart surgery, it was so sad, and I didn't even have a T.V.!!! I got to see some of the footage from We Heart Regis Day, and that is when I realized how much I love Regis.

And then, obviously, the last chair goes to me.

Also, this is just my pop culture list, ha ha. Obviously there are other lists for historical people (Gandhi, FDR, Pierre Elliot Trudeau...) and musicians (John Lennon, Bob Marley, Elvis...) and so-on, but that could take years!

What I want to know today, is, if you could choose any 7 guests at your fancy dinner party, who would you choose?

Labels: Journal

Well, it's the Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, and lately I feel like maybe I haven't been expressing how thankful I am for the aspects that make my life pretty great. Luckily, they've created a holiday to remind us to be thankful, even though, sometimes we forget. Now, if only they had Pay Your Taxes Day or Send Your Mom A Mother's Day Card Day, where we could eat a huge feast and get things done.

So, what am I thankful for?

I am thankful for a really great year. Katimavik was a definite challenge, but it was something I will never forget, or regret. I've learned a lot, I've made great friends, and really, what more can you ask for? Having the opportunity to travel around the country was a dream come true. When I was younger, I thought I may never even visit Eastern Canada, and now I've lived there! Also, included in this, I am thankful for the friends I made during Katimavik. We may be far apart, and busy, but we've been through a lot together. Nobody else understands our Katima-experience more.

I am thankful for my family. My parents were really supportive of me going away for nine months, and of me taking time off when I returned. My brother took over for some of my responsibilities at home, which he may not have had a say in, but was still quite nice. So, I'm thankful for that, and I'm thankful that they still deal with me, even when I'm acting like a selfish brat.

I'm thankful for you, person reading this! Without you, this space would be... well, probably still existent, but definitely more boring. And, if you're a Snark member, with a layout reflecting 2005, with incredibly bad (worse) coding.

Even if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, or if you're not celebrating until November (you American, you!), tell me, what are you thankful for?

Random Fact of the Day: A mosque in Toronto is telling Muslims not to celebrate Thanksgiving, since it is not a Muslim celebration.

A two-part article on the mosque Web site says Muslims should also "stay completely away" from "Halloween trick-and treat nonsense," Christmas, New Year's, anniversaries, birthdays and Earth Day.

"How can we bring ourselves to congratulate or wish people well for their disobedience to Allah? Thus expressions such as:Happy Thanksgiving, Happy Birthday, Happy New Year, etc, are completely out," it says.

Okay, so I can see how Christmas might not be celebrated, but Earth Day?! What did Earth Day ever do to anyone?!

Also banned, it says, are: watching sports or soap operas, walking dogs, family photos, wedding bands, Western hats, mingling and shaking hands with the opposite sex.

Okay, so I guess I can't be Muslim. *Crosses off list.* Are there any Muslims out there reading this? Or does anyone out there know more about this religion? I must admit, I am somewhat ignorant when it comes to this. I just want to know if most people are doing this, or is it just a radical article being put out by some fundamentalists? Anyway, here is the source!

Labels: Journal

I was cruising the Internet today, and stumbled across a certain site that posts private photos of the young actors in the Harry Potter films. This site began quite a while ago, and focused mainly on seventeen year old actress Emma Watson. Some of you may know that I ran an Emma Watson fan site myself from before Philosopher's Stone was released, until just after Prisoner of Azkaban was released. So, I obviously am somewhat interested in her, especially since she embodies one of my favourite literary characters, Hermione Granger.

What I found on this site today was despicable. Not private pictures this time 'round, not that it's a big deal since they've been posted on gossip sites such as ONTD, which has made them to become somewhat run-of-the-mill, but alleged excerpts from her emails, detailing a very personal time in her life!

Now, there is no proof that the things posted on this website are real, other than the fact that they claim to have been contacted by a very real law firm regarding this matter- mainly the hacking of Emma's alleged Hotmail account.

Whether the excerpts posted on the site are real or not, is not the issue I would like to discuss. What I would like to discuss is, what if they are? How would you like your personal emails to be broadcast? I know it happens to "normal," people all the time, but this is so much bigger, because Emma cannot be considered "normal," and neither can the size of audience this information may receive. There are Emma fans the world over, as well, as Emma haters, and just everyday Joe Blows who don't really care, but may want to take a gander at the emails from the Harry Potter girl. Those are potentially millions of people reading her personal thoughts without her consent. This is not a BLOG setting, this is email. Email should be considered at least a little bit more safe! I think it is disgusting to post these kinds of things about ANYONE, but especially about a YOUNG actress, who essentially hasn't done anything wrong, except allegedly send angry, hurt, and personal emails to her boyfriend, which really, is done by practically everyone at one point!

On the other hand, if these are fake, that means that someone is out there passing it off as truth, just to profit from her! Profit how? Well, not money-wise, probably, since I don't see any way to generate cash from these emails without solid proof. So, they must be trying to profit by boosting their status online. How shallow is that?

Anyway, I am quite angered to see Emma getting this kind of dirt shovelled on to her plate. She doesn't need it, she doesn't seem to deserve it, and... ugh.

Obviously, she will never read this, but I would just like to say that I support Emma, even if some of her supposed fans are a bunch of douche bags, and I hope she knows that she does have some really great, non-obsessive fans out here, that just wish her the best with everything.

Random Fact of the Day: In countries with a constitutional guarantee of the secrecy of correspondence, e-mail is equated with letters and thus legally protected from all forms of eavesdropping, says this Wikipedia article.

Labels: Journal

You may notice that there is even MORE pink than usual around here these days! That is because October is the month for breast cancer awareness, which is a very important cause, because breast cancer is a non-discriminatory disease, which means that it can affect anyone.

You may not know as well, the story about the daffodils in the header image (which is the same one that's been around for a few weeks now). Daffodils are my favourite flower, and I've always received a bunch on my birthday from my parents. The reason for this, is that, in spring, the Canadian Cancer Society hold their daffodil campaign, and they sell daffodils for cancer research.

Personally, I have never had an experience with cancer, and neither have any of my family members, but it is a very scary disease, that could happen to myself or someone I love one day. While I also like to give to other causes such as AIDS research, it is not as likely for me to acquire this disease, as long as I take care of myself. This is not the case with breast cancer.

Random Fact of the Day: It is important to be informed about breast cancer. Please visit the following sites for more information:

• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer
• Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation: http://www.cbcf.org/
• Breast Cancer Society of Canada: http://www.bcsc.ca/
• Canadian Cancer Society: http://www.cancer.ca
  

Labels: Journal

My mom told me about this story yesterday, and I absolutely fell in love with some of the boys at Central Kings High School in Halifax, NS.

A group of boys, David Shepherd, Travis Price, Chris Spencer, Nick Sullivan and John Kenneally, grade 12 students at CKHS hit the local discount shop, after a group of bullies at their school threatened to beat up a grade 9 student on his first day of high school, for wearing a pink polo shirt. They cleaned the shop out of every pink tank top they could find, and the next day at school, gave them away in the front foyer. Loads of people took them, to protest.

"The school looks cool," Sullivan told the King's County Register. "There's pink all over the school."

David Shepherd, the mastermind behind the plan said that they decided to do this because,

"It's our last year and we want to make a difference. At a young age, you don't know the difference between playful teasing and bullying. Doing it over the colour pink is just so stupid."

The principal of the school, was quite pleased with the protest, and stated,

"It doesn't surprise me at all they'd want to do this - we have some great kids."

Emphasis mine.

Along with some obvious jerks who were too insecure with themselves, and needed to take it out on some poor niner.

Anyway, a big round of applause for these awesome grade 12 boys, who decided to take a stand, and not let their school go on being a centre of torture. Oh yeah, and here's a picture of them:

Lookin' good, guys! Keep up the good work, and good luck with your last year of school!

The source of this story, other than what my mom told me, can be found, on The Halifax Daily News website.

Random Fact of the Day: The word "pink," was first used in the 17th century to describe the colour of the Dianthus flower family. Pink is also my favourite colour. If you would like to learn more about this hue of excellence, including it's hex codes and historical influence, please hop on over to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink.

Labels: Journal

I was surfing around the web, and managed to find an old site I had on Geocities, which contained quite a few cool old files, including some fansigns I received aggges ago! For my 16th birthday to be exact! Awww, it's so sweet! Heidi drew on her wall for me!

This red one was from Joni! Awww those were the days!

I'm kind of sad. I still have Heidi on my MSN, so I talk to her once in a while, but I haven't heard from Joni in years! Time sure does fly!

Apparently, in September of 2004, I was doing a project on Australia. I remember it now! I think I did it with Orry and Lauren. It was supposed to be a project on our heritage, but someone else had taken Germany, which was the bloodline we had in common, so we volunteered to do Australia, even though none of us have even a smidge of Australian blood. I remember we printed some Aussie slang for everyone as well, which was a lot of fun.

Not much going on today. Just a lazy Sunday. I've been listening to "Gotta Go My Own Way," by Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efron, from High School Muscial 2, which I finally got to watch the other day! Obviously, I enjoyed it, since I am listening to certain parts of the soundtrack on a loop!

Random Fact of the Day: The Bible, the world's best selling book, is also the most shop-lifted. Seriously though, maybe you should just GIVE the shop-lifters a copy. Then they could learn that Thou shalt not steal!

Labels: Journal

I just got back from the cinema, where I saw Across The Universe, which just came out in theatres. Links where you can find more information on this film can be found here (Official Site), here (IMDb) and here (Wikipedia).

This film is a musical. However, most of the songs are probably already familiar to you, as they are songs by The Beatles. The story follows quite a few characters, but focuses mainly on Jude and Lucy. Jude is a dock worker in Liverpool, and travels to America to find his father. He meets Max, whom he befriends, and falls in love with his Max's sister, Lucy. However, Lucy has a boyfriend, whom is killed early on in Vietnam, and Max is soon drafted. The political climate is hot, and Lucy, once sheltered by her family and life in a peaceful town, gets caught up in all the activism associated with 1960s New York City. Meanwhile, Jude is living illegally in the states, and doesn't get too caught up in the war, for a few reasons, including the fact that he cannot get drafted, so it doesn't seem to affect him too much.

Well, I really don't want to give too much away, but I would like to say that I would definitely recommend this movie! The music is fantastic, the art is amazing. There are a lot of really cool, psychedelic sequences that you definitely must see!

While I can't pick a favourite part, or song, since I've been listening to the entire soundtrack over and over since it was released last week, I really enjoyed "It Won't Be Long," and "I Want You."

Random Fact of the Day: In Across The Universe, 90% of the songs were recorded live and were not looped during post-production. "If I Fell," by Evan Rachel Wood, was done totally live, on the first take!

Labels: Journal

... is probably what people are beginning to say about me. It's true too. Giving me two months off before starting work = bad move on the parental front! Because, seriously, I am becoming more of a dork than I was before Katimavik. During Katimavik, we often broke our computer. And even when we had one, I just checked my email, typed out a quick blog, checked facebook, and was finished in about 10 minutes! But, ever since I got home... well, here it is in list form (because I love lists).

• I've re-done my blog 3 times. This latest layout is even less "AAAGGGHHH CRAZY ASHERZ!!!1!!1" as is my normal jumble of net shenanigans and more "professional looking," and "neat." I'm not even blending anymore! I did blends for 5 years! And now, I'm back, and actually semi-acting like a level-minded web mistress. My coding is still crap, but I'm working on it!
• I spent so much freakin' time on Snark, it's insane. Back when I was on Toxic Passion, I posted a lot, but not as much as others. It took me a few months to make it to 200 posts. But on Snark, even though my post count isn't as high as others, I've still managed to reach 200 in three weeks!
  
• I've started using odd lingo, like adding a Z to the end of Internet, to make it the ever so popular Internetz, snarky expression. I use this smiley, on occasion -> :3 <-
• I spend time finding sites with LOLCATS on them. I used to see them because Gwobert had them on his Google page, but now I actually GO LOOKING for them, just to have a nice giggle.
• I talk to my own cats and dog... while they are ASLEEP. Because even they are bored of my dork ways!

Oh my goodness, there are so many others, but I have to go get ready to go out for my mom's "girls night out," thing. I'm wearing a deliciously skanky outfit. Maybe I'll take a picture, if you're lucky. :3 ---- See?!? I just did THAT smiley!

What kinds of dorky things to you guys do?

Also, I'm going to my drama teacher's son's funeral on Sunday morning, which is bound to be heartbreaking. *Siggghhh.* A bunch of people want to go to the viewing tomorrow night as well, but that's just way too creepy for me. I'd rather just go to the memorial.

Labels: Journal

Well, I'm very sad today. Last night, while at the mall, we ran into some of Matt's friends, who told us that my drama teacher's son passed away. I don't know how, but I do know that I am devastated. He was only my age, 19 years old.

It makes me think about what would happen if my life were to just end, unexpectedly. I know that my family and friends would be wrecks. My friends would eventually move on, but I'm not sure my family would. It would affect their every action for the rest of their lives. My blog would be completely abandoned, so nobody I know online would even know that something had happened to me. My parents would keep a bunch of my stuff, but probably get rid of some of it as well. My Facebook account would live on, probably the way I left it. It's kind of weird to think of.

From a dorky online, blogger, forum poster point of view, how many blogs do you find that haven't been posted to in months or years? How many people on your forum just disappear without notice? Have you ever wondered what happened to them? It's possible, even probable, that they've just lost interest, or have other things going on in their lives, but what if something awful has actually happened to them?

Agggh, I'm being depressing, and I definitely don't want anyone reading this to become depressed. So, have a good day. Tell everyone you know how much you love them (unless, of course, you don't).

Labels: Journal

So, here's a new layout. Ha ha. I know, it's the third one in the month since I've gotten home. I'm kind of hoping to keep this one up for a while longer.

The picture in the header is just a little thing I doodled once in Katimavik. Daffodils are my favourite flower. I was born in April, which is when the Cancer Society has their daffodil campaign, so I always get daffodils around my birthday. The star and "dream," part is from my tattoo. Except my tattoo doesn't have the pink part. Anyway, I just thought it was cute and simple.

I've done some baking in the last few days which has been fun! I'm going out with my mommy on Friday so I get to go clothes shopping tonight! It's one of the best things about coming home- I've been shopping virtually non-stop, and I haven't paid for anything!

Labels: Blogger, Journal

Okay, so I just saw this commercial a for this new product called Tooth Tunes. Go ahead, look at site now.

We know…getting your kids to brush their teeth can be a daily battle. Not any more! TOOTH TUNES is a revolutionary toothbrush for kids that makes brushing their teeth fun and entertaining.

Your kids will love brushing their teeth to hit songs from some of their favorite artists. As sound vibrations stream from the bristles through their teeth, they hear the music in their heads. But, when they take the bristles off their teeth, the music stops playing in their head. So they'll actually want to keep brushing for a full two minutes!

Quoi? What is that? You're sending sound waves into your child's brain, so that they brush their teeth for two minutes? Why not just teach them to brush their teeth properly, like my parents did for me? Sure, sound waves may seem perfectly harmless to be sending into your brain now, but what about when the kid hits 20? Will it have any effect then? I'm sorry, I just don't think it's safe to be sending any kind of waves directly into a kid's brain.

Still, at the same time, part of me wants to try it. I mean, I'm not a kid, so sound waves through my brain shouldn't be a big deal, ha ha. It seems pretty weird. But in any case, I'm not going to shell out 10$ for a toothbrush, no matter what! Anyway, I think it will be like those revolving lollipops- novelty for a while, but after a bit, nobody cares!

Hmmm... I think maybe I'll make cookies today. After I finish cleaning. Not my room though, because that will take several centuries, but after I finish the kitchen and living room, maybe. I should really get on that, but the computer is so distracting! I really need to cool it though- my parent's electricity bill went up 30$ during this last month! Oops.

Labels: Journal

Today was my cousin's baby's 2nd birthday. So, I got up at 6am to have a shower and straighten my hair. So, my hair was nice and straight and pretty. We drove to Edmonton and got there around noon. Ethan is SO cute! He's very very blond, and he loves toy cars! The rest of my family began to arrive at 12.30-ish, which was pretty exciting. I hadn't seen them since October of last year, at Thanksgiving. Everyone was pretty happy to see me. They all loved how long my hair is!

Nick and Jade arrived at around 2, or so, I think. It was so great to see them! It has been 24 days since the end of Katimavik, already! Jade lost her wallet in the Edmonton airport! It had all of her I.D. in it, and her bank card. So, she is I.D. and money-less all the way across the country from her home! It was funny seeing them react to my enormous family- 4/6 of my mom's siblings, plus all of their husbands and children. Plus family from the other side of Carrie and Greg's families. It was a little intense watching all of my aunts hug them! But it was also cool to have them there, meeting my family. Seeing Jade in Alberta was pretty odd! But... yeah, overall it was a fun time!

Ethan got loads of toys, clothes and books! Like I said, he loves cars, so he got a bunch (my brother, Matt, bought him 20$ worth of cars) and some cool Tonka trucks. And his cake had construction trucks too, which he promptly stole after one of his other young relatives blew out the candles that he was a bit afraid of.

We left around five, so it was a nice long-but-not-too-long visit, and the 3 hour ride back to Calgary wasn't too bad after I took out my contacts in Ponoka. I pretty much listened to Hayden Panettiere all the way home. I love the songs "Your New Girlfriend," and "I Still Believe." I also read some of my Love Stories from World War Two book, which was pretty great, and got me in a historical mood, which I love. It kind of gets me thinking about what I would do if I met someone who was off to fight in a war. Would I go for a whirlwind marriage, or write letters and postpone a wedding until I was sure of our mutual survival? Hmmm... it's hard to say! I guess it would depend on the situation!

Labels: Journal

Okay, so here we go.

This is a little bit embarrassing, but...

I am afraid of ladybugs.

I don't know exactly why, but they just creep me out so badly! I think it probably goes back to when I was younger. My brother and I used to spend hours finding ladybugs and sticking them in a margarine container. We'd collect hundreds. I was alright catching them, but looking at them in the container was gross. Even worse was at the end of the day when my mom would make us throw the little bastards on the grass next to the front door. Then, comes the image that generally pops into my mind when ladybugs are mentioned- one hundred plus ladybugs scuttling all over each other trying to get away, ultimately going nowhere fast, trampling the bodies of the morning's catch who had long since run out of oxygen even though holes had been roughly provided.

My fear escalated from there. The sight of a ladybug causes me to shudder. Actual contact with one can be responsible for a much dire reaction. One time I was at work, at Canadian Tire, and I made the mistake of telling someone about my fear. He proceeded to tell someone else, who decided to pretend to put a ladybug on my back. I started yelling, and actually had tears in my eyes at the thought.

So, yes, I have a fear of ladybugs. It's weird, and unreasonable, and not likely to change anytime soon.

Funnily enough, a few years ago, my dad revealed that he is ALSO afraid of the little buggers. So, maybe it's genetic!

Labels: Exposé, Journal

I love Forrest Gump. It is one of my favourite movies of all time. I can watch it over and over.

I know he's a fictional character, but his life is just so amazing! I would love to be a part of history like he was. Okay, I wouldn't want to be fighting in the Vietnam war, or any war for that matter, but living in that time. Wow. It just fascinates me. I love seeing how people band together in bad situations. It shows the real spirit of people.

Also, the Forrest Gump Soundtrack is amazing! We used to listen to it in Katimavik, and I used to love dancing around to it while we made dinner. It's a collection of some of the best music of the 20th century, in my opinion. I would definitely suggest getting a copy!

So, yes, Forrest Gump = love.

Not much going on (still.). Jadey is moving to Alberta from Quebec! She is moving in with Nick, in Edmonton, which is 3 hours away, but still a lot closer than Quebec! She'll be getting here on Saturday.

On Saturday I am also driving up to Camrose for my cousin's baby's 2nd birthday party. It will be fun to see the family again, because I haven't seen them since last Thanksgiving! (October)

Labels: Journal