It's the only way we know how to rock

Guess what *I* did yesterday?

I got to talk to my bestest blogger buddy Sarah Cool for nearly an hour a-waaaaay over in Cincinnati! SO FUN!

One of the things I love about blogging is meeting all kinds of really awesome people. Radzilla (aka Sarah) is definitely one of them! She is most definitely the one who has introduced me to THE BEST WAY TO EXPRESS ENTHUSIASM OVER THE INTERNET EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's also been a HUGE source of encouragement and fun, and has an amazing way of pointing me towards God.

Hehe, ok ok, enough mush. You can read her take on our conversation here. She totally stole my idea about laughing at out different accents (that's what happens when she's an hour ahead and starts work at a ridiculously early hour!), but hey, that's ok. I'll let it pass.... THIS time! ;)

And? Thanks for recognizing that Canadians don't say "aboot!" ;) Tee hee!

I won!!!!

Holy shneikie!!!! I just got a phone call from some organization that had a draw that I entered who knows when. It turns out that they drew my name and I won two Canucks tickets AND a 2-for-1 voucher for a Carnival Cruise. Now before getting all excited about it, I was like, ok, right, and what 2 hour time share presentation or $500 lifetime membership to a furniture "discount" store hoop do I have to jump through before MAYBE winning these tickets?

I asked all the skeptical questions I could think of, but, it turns out, there were none! I entered, they drew me, and I won! Thoughts immediately jumped to spring break cruises or what have you...

"I just need to ask you a few qualifying questions"

Oh great, here goes. No, wait, that's like one of those "skill testing questions" or something, right?

"Maam, this promotion is for couples... are you currently married or living common-law with someone?"

Dangit.

"Uhhh... no?"

"Ok, I'm sorry maam. Then you don't qualify. But I'll put your name back in the box for hte draw next week for blah blah blah..."

Crap. Tell me again, WHY didn't I jsut say yes? Oh right. Lying is bad. Phooey to that.

Dumb lady. Call me and get me all excited about my sweet prize, then take it away from me! How RUDE!

The world didn't end (hehe)

Thanks for your tips about blogger beta! I switched over (after being outsmarted once and for all, grrr! There wasn't going to be any worming my way around it this time, and believe me, I tried!). It doesn't look any different, I think, so that's good. Or bad. Maybe it's time for an overhaul. Though if I use the new "update your template easily" feature, I lose a lot of my own customization. Grrr. Oh well, not gonna deal with it today, I've got more important things to do.

Amusing song lyrics of the day:

Like a blind dog without a bone
I was a gypsy lost in the twilight zone
I hijacked a rainbow and crashed into a pot of gold

Bits and Pieces

Bloggger is getting sneaky. I went to sign in and they're trying to force me to switch over to the new beta-but-not-beta-anymore version. This scares me. Those of you who have done it, have you had any problems with custom stuff in your template and everything? What do you love? What do you hate? I WAS going to post some "Help! How do I NOT switch yet?!?!" comments, cause it looked like there was going to be no choice. But ah-HA! I wormed my way around switching this time. Bah. I don't like change, apparently....

... which leads me to my next point. It's becoming increasingly obvious that I need to get a hair cut, and stat (yeah yeah, "Shut up and DO it, Hillary," I know, I know. I have no regular hairdresser. This apparently is traumatic for me.). But I'm becoming a danger to people on the dance floor. I think some of the regulars that I dance with have adapted some of their moves to avoid getting whipped in the face with my pony tail when I spin around. I don't think that's a good sign!

And about the dancing. Yes, I've raved about it before, but I'm definitely hooked, and L-O-V-I-N-G it. So glad I went for level 3. We're learning all kinds of fancy shmancy stuff. This is evidenced by the names for the new moves, which are getting more and more complicated. Gosh, what was tonight... a neck wrap two hand cross bow side split double back half whip non fat extra shot or-ange mocha frapp-a-chi-noooo ... no, wait... that went wrong somewhere along the line... Who knows WHAT they're called, but they sure are fun! A few of us even went out to a real live dance LAST night, too! Hehe. It was kind of intimidating at first, but super fun! But my FEET hurt tonight, let me tell you.

So the rest of my week was much calmer, after Tuesday's near breakdown. This first year teaching (well, with my own class, anyway) is an interesting beast. It jumps up and tries to gobble me whole sometimes. I'm slowly but surely learning to beat it down. ah-HA! Take THAT! Anyway, thanks for all your kind words, it was much appreciated!

The day after my freakout I left work early and went for a walk along the beach, and took some time just to chill out, watch the sunset down at Kits Beach, and take some time to breathe. Venting, my time at the beach (there's just something about the ocean), and an encouraging conversation with a friend (thank you) definitely helped me get back to "ahhhhh" levels again.

The weekend has been fantasterriffic, too... a swanky launch party for a friend's website on Friday night (oh WAIT till I tell you about his site... SO cool!!!), tons of marking on Saturday, dancing, church, more marking, more dancing... oh yeah, baby! And, as much as I whine about having to prep for a sub, I'm taking my half day lieu day Monday afternoon, so I'm done tomorrow at noon. Gonna go back to the beach, go for a run in the sun, and settle in for some more marking, trying to dig myself out of the pit of behind-ness I seem to have gotten myself in.

*does a little happy dance*

Lookout! Here comes Monday...

Time for a chuckle

Occasionally I catch the medical sit-com show Scrubs. I had heard that they were gonig to a musical episode a while back, but didn't end up catching it. Christine over at Welcome to My Brain posted this little gem, and now I SO wish I saw the whole episode. This was hilarious!

Stress

- Never, EVER coming even CLOSE to finishing all the stuff I've got to do for work
- Being reminded yesterday that I'm this month's union rep and I have to go to the meeting today immediately after school, when I already had plans for tonight and that will just put me yet one more step further behind (see #1)
- Remembering that as part of being union rep I get a half day off in lieu of union duties, but that means actually prepping for a sub, which will take nearly as long as just teaching anyway
- Being hungry and out of groceries again, and deciding to just not eat dinner cause that's easier, and knowing that that is NOT a healthy thing but being too tired to even care at this point
- Totally forgetting about a commitment I made to two friends to do something, and kicking myself for forgetting, cause what I was supposed to do wasn't even for their benefit, but mine, and probably would have alleviated some of the stress I'm b!tching about here
- Having students in my class that won't/don't/can't pay attention, so don't understand, so get frustrated, and start crying, and I totally want to help them, but what else am I supposed to do if they don't pay attention and won't stay in for help and shut down when I tell them about something they need to correct, and if their parents won't get them tested so they can get more support and if I have 26 other kids who also need my attention ......
- Seeing all these kids in my class and knowing they deserve SO much more than I'm able to give them right now
- Having a growing list of things that really need to be dealt with. Like the water that is still leaking into my trunk from who knows where and seriously, seriously needing to go buy new pants
- Knowing I should probably be sleeping right now instead of writing this, but knowing that I won't be able to sleep till I get this all out (lucky you)

Good thing tomorrow's another day. This one almost killed me.

Goodnight

Another "you people" post

You people ROCK!!!

I begged and pleaded and twisted a few arms for de-lurking week, and you delivered! Not inlcuding my own, you left a fantastical number of comments over the seven days. Ah-woo-hoo! I even fanangled a few of you to comment for the first time (YAY! Welcome!!!). Hope I didn't leave any bruises! *grin*

A Breath

Stop
and take a breath with me
let the going cease
the stillness seep in

Drop
the bags of busyness
come lets do more of less
with you I want to be

Oh, if you would take the time
to hear my heartbeat's rhyme
how together we could sing

You have got to make the choice
will I hear more of your voice
will you hear my melodies

Pains
how you come and go
effects which you don’t know
if you knew you’d change your beat

Oh! If you would take the time
to me your heart incline
find life that’s full and breathes

With you I want to be
with you I want to be

Words and music by Vania Levans.
Listen to the whole song here or here
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went to see another show of my friend Vania's last night, and, now having heard the album a few (dozen) times, there was a different song that struck me last night. Before she sang "A Breath" she told the audience that it was a song she wrote after reflecting on how God feels about us - as if He were singing the song. With that in mind, I listened closely to the words. Really. Go back and re-read it. Or better yet, listen to it. Rarely does a song hit me so squarely between the eyes and awaken something so deep in my heart. I really felt like I heard God's invitation last night...

My life seems so busy all the time. I often feel rushed or choked or suffocated from what I really want to do - to stop and take a breath with God. But the kicker is that I create all that flurry of activity myself. Even this term, where I have deliberately let go of all weekly commitments, still I fill my time with... stuff. Meaningless puttering - some emailing here, some guitar playing there, some chatting with friends, some dishes, some cooking, some reading, some TV, some... some... some... None of these are bad in and of themselves, but time flies by and another day is gone, and another, and then a week, and then a month, and I find myself tired and gasping for air, yet again. I need to learn how to let the stillness seep in. Why is that always such a hard thing to learn to do?

I keep saying I want to hear God's voice, but I never allow myself to be still enough to hear it. Why? Here God is inviting me - HE wants to be with ME. How can I ignore such an invitation?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Oh! If you would take the time
to me your heart incline
find life that’s full and breathes
With you I want to be.

You people search for WEIRD things

Well, ok, not YOU people. YOU people all search for normal, understandable things. But SOME people...

All of the phrases below are things people have searched for in the last little while that have landed them on my blog. I'm just including them here cause I think they're funny/interesting/disturbing. Some, yeah, I could see how they got that.Others... yeah, I have NO IDEA. This list is of course void of all the bajillions of versions of my blog's title that people search for (it's a line in a song, so it comes up a lot). Though "tragic love" is often searched for, and they land here. I'm really hopnig that's not indicative of something!!! Anyway, here be the list (with my own commentairies in brackets). Oh, and the weird characters? Those are my doing. I really don't need MORE people finding my site that way.

1. does rachelle love brad [no, I'm pretty sure she loves Nathan]
2. volleyball in the snow [um... noooo... I never made kids play volleyball in the snow]
3. sometimes i just sit and think, sometime i just sit [it's true!]
4. redneck gingerbread trailer [Jon's trailer is so famous even people from the eastern states have been looknig for it. Different people, and multiple times.]
5. quick change dance magic show [Quick change dance magic. That's the kind of dance I'm going to take next. It's very tricky. Too bad it's so quick, you miss all the tricks. And the magic.]
6. chinese @dult entert@inment [sorry buddy, you're not going to find what you're looking for here! Ew!]
7. hillary and candy ho down [who told them about my gingerbread party???]
8. homemade jube jubes [Where? I want some!]
9.. lumpy_goat [uhhhh... AND, this came up LONG before my comment to SarahCool about baby goats. (if you click on one link in this list, click on this one!)]
10. hello hillary crazy [yeah yeah. We get it already]
11. videos of couples m@king l0ve in public [ummm... again, not gonna find what you're looking for, buddy. Double ew.]
12. the famous dingle dangle man dilema [Ah yes. What girl DOESN'T have these? Perhaps that's why they're famous. Though I didn't know the dilemma dingled and dangled.]
13. felted umbilical cord hats [um, ew?]
14. homepage von crazy class [That's SO what I'm going to title my class' webpage if I ever do one]


So folks, keep on keepin' on with google... it provides me with some good chuckles.

Back from the dead

Whew. Today was my first day at work this week.

Coming back is always a little scary, especially after more than one day away. My kids had had three different teachers in three days. It's pretty disruptive to the kids' routine to have so many different people in, and they're usually pretty wingy when I get back. To make matters worse, the teacher on Tuesday never got my lesson plan due to an email mix up. Whoops. (Sure glad I spent three hours writing the day plan for that day! Gah! At least I was able to use part of it for the next day.) I felt terrible for my TOC (teacher on call)! It's always so hard if there's nothing left for you. And there was NOTHING. I don't think I even had written what subjects were supposed to happen in what block apart from the plan that never arrived.

So I was wondering what on earth I would be coming back to today. Who knows what got done, what didn't, and how much I'd have to re-teach, repair and reprimand.

I got in, though, and found - delight of all delights! - I had three wonderful TOCs who actually taught lessons, prepared for the next day before they left, and seemed to really have their stuff together. WOOHOO! (I've had many instances of the contrary) I was most impressed with the TOC from Tuesday, cause she - with nothing from me - put together a day almost exactly as I would have done it. She even managed to nail the PAGE in the socials textbook and the two concepts that I wanted covered that day! Go her! I emailed her this morning to tell her what happened with the plan and to apologize, and to tell her what a great job she did! Yay!

One thing I discovered, though? The Pee Nazi needs to make a triumphant return. ALL THREE TOCs mentionned in their notes to me that my kids were asking excessively to go to the washroom. I always read the 'student behaviour' bits to my class after I come back from being away, and, while they got a kick out of hearing the same message three times, they also got a big ol pee lecture from me today, complete with me assuring them that no, they will not make a puddle if they had to hold it for an hour and a half. "You go before school. You go at recess. You go at lunch. You do not go in class time. You will not leak. I promise." Oh it was a comedy fest, allright (remember, these are 10 year olds, and the mere HINT of anything bathroom related sends them into hysterics!), but these tiny-bladdered time wasters will find out very quickly that I mean it.

NO PEE FOR YOU!!!

Touchingly sweet...

... and sweetly true

Thanks, Andrea, for pointing this one out.

And wow, this is my 400th post!

Hair!

I was going to save this post for tomorrow to avoid accusations of blog addiction (3 posts in one day? come on!), but y'all are commenting on my desire to change my hair anyway, so here ya go...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I mentioned in my last post that it's time for a haircut and I'm thinking about a change. I also mentioned that I always say that, and I always end up getting the same thing. Well, we'll see this time around. BUT, it DID give me an idea. Surely there are some 'try out some new hairstyles' websites out there. A quick google search and I found one. Which gave me some entertainment this afternoon between naps.

I came up with 12 possible hairstyles, all representing a range of length and bangs/no bangs. Some are better/worse than others, for sure. Sooo... ignore the bad computer colours (I wouldn't colour my hair the same way as the pictures) and the not-so-perfect fit of hairstyle to head, but take a look!

Which do you like best? Which would you steer clear of? Guys - don't be afraid to comment, either, this isn't just for girls, haha! What do you think? Bangs? No bangs? Long layers? Short? Medium? Long? Staight? Curly?

Oh, and there are two versions of each style - one with glasses, one without. Call me crazy, but sometimes I feel like certain styles just look better/worse depending on whether or not I'm wearing glasses (which I wear about 80% of the time). Here's the cut I got last time, just for comparison sake.

And yes, I am aware that this looks more than a little ridiculous, espcially with cartoon hair on a real head - I'm doing this as half joke, half real (maybe even 70/30), so go for the idea and laugh WITH me (not at me!)! ;)


Click for a larger view

Wow. That's WAY too many Hillarys in one place. :P

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have decided

1. I'm going to talk to my (awesome!) landlords about the dumb furnace. It WAILS when it starts up. Loudly. And I'm not one to complain about noise or light when I sleep. I can pretty much sleep through anything. But the furnace? It wakes me up. Of course, it only happens when it's really cold, and we're just about done with this cold snap, so maybe I'll just let it go...

2. I'm going to do level 3 of dancing lessons. There are four levels, but unless you intend on competing or go dancing all the time, you just stay in level 3. There are people who have been doing level 3 for years, so I'm told. Which kind of scares me. Our instructor referred to it as "the big pond." Eep! :) I may take a private lesson to get a few things really solid before level 3 starts on Sunday.

3. I want to learn Italian. I read my phrase book almost daily, and last night I had this dream (yes, I did eventually fall asleep, but not till about 4:30am!) where I was in Italy (back in the Cinque Terre - photos - swoon!) and carrying on this full on conversation in Italian. I know I was using some real Italian words - I picked up a teensy tiny bit this summer - but the rest? Who knows WHAT I was actually speaking, but boy did it sound like Italian! hehe. I think I'm going to sign up for a class next term (starting in March). Hmm... maybe then I'll have an even better excuse to go back to Italy sooner!

4. I need to get my hair cut, and I want a CHANGE. Of course, I always say that, and I always get it just the same, but shorter. But I'm thinking, bangs? Layers? New colour? Highlights? Maybe I'll go for a buzzcut! hehe. I want Nick Arrojo from What Not To Wear to cut my hair. He just says, ok, this is what will look good based on your face/style/personality/commitment to a morning hair regime (which, for me, by the way, is extremely minimal. Funny story about that, actually, I'll have to tell you another time). I don't even have a regular hair dresser. Arg. What do YOU think I should do?

5. I need to go for a massage. They're covered under my benefits, why on EARTH have I not been going?!?! Being sick has left me really stiff, plus, massages are just the right thing to do. (I should probably start going back to my chiro, too)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Who needs sleep?

Well you're never gonna get it
Who needs sleep?
Tell me what's that for?


WAAAHHH! My sleeper is broken!!!

I've been flat on my back sick for the last three days, and pretty much all I've done is sleep (with the odd dragging of my sorry butt out of bed to check email/blogs or watch tv, but upright time has been limited). So now, I find it 3am, and I CAN'T SLEEP! Not even drugs are helping me now. Arg.

And I'm blogging about it, why? I dunno. I'm wide awake and I'm B-O-R-E-D.
I think I'll go back and stare at my ceiling some more.

National De-lurking Week *updated*

Well, ok, so it's only de-lurking week in my little world, but that outta be enough, right? It's not the first time this has happened - remember NaBloPoMo? I'm apparently really slow on the uptake on all these blogoshpere events (the real one was last week). It's kinda like that geeky kid getting in way too late on all the coolest fads. "Hey guys! Pick me! Pick meee! I've got teased bangs and flourescent bike shorts now! See? I'm cool! ... Right?" ... ahem... a hypothetical situation, of course...

So, what's de-lurking, you ask? It means that for this week, instead of just reading, you post a little hello or other comment in the comment section. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind lurkers. You are jsut as welcome here as commenters. I know that not everybody has something to add to the conversation all the time. But there are waaay more hits on my statcounter than there are comments, and I'm curious as to who y'all are, so for this week, speak up! I promise posts (yay! now your lives are complete! buah ha) if you promise comments! It could be a hello, it could be a draft of your thesis on the mating habits of earthworms, whatever! (um, though maybe not so much the earthworms?)

And, by the way, if you are someone who does comment here, thank you so much (and keep 'em coming!)!!! You're the bestest! It's really the comments that make things fun around here. I've met lots of neat-o folks through it!

And to make matters easy for ya, I'll give you a question to answer. Since it is now snowing AGAIN (what, storm number 15 this season?) I'll ask you this: do you like winter/snow or hate it?

Your comments make me happy, so comment away!

Update: I've replied to all the comments so far, so check'er out :)

Support the troops, Canadian Style

I had to laugh at this one. Only in Canada...

There is a group of people in White Rock who are showing their support for the Canadian troops in Afghanistan. They have packed up a number of care packages to send over with items that the soldiers are lacking: toothbrushes, deodorant, toilet paper, etc.

And?

Gift cards for the Tim Hortons they have there on the base!!!

Canada's favourite donut shop has an outlet on the military base in Afghanistan. Support the troops! Send gift cards for a honey crueller or a double double!

So true

Welcome to my life.

(Poster from here.)

Charcoal Drawings

I will put away my charcoal drawings
Sketches of my hopes now turned to gray
I will put away my charcoal drawings
Tomorrow could be a brighter day

Such an uncanny way to have to etch a picture
What I dreamed is not the art I look at now
My interactions with the drab life’s drawings
Have left me feeling somewhat out

So I will put away these charcoal drawings
Sketches that have become today’s dismay
I will lay these down to rest,
Seek arms that give me strength
Strength to face another day

No more gazing at these disappointing smudges
I rest frustrations with artistic skills I lacked
I will lay my pencils down for now
The sun sets and I know somehow
That tomorrow could be a brighter day
Tomorrow could be a brighter day.


Words and music by Vania Levans.
Listen to a clip here

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Last night I went to my friend Vania's CD release party. According to her website, her music is "a combination of jazz and soul, with a touch of funk here and there." It was there that I realized that I need to seek out independent artists far more often. She was phenominal. Phe-no-min-al. I knew that she was talented musically, as she often sings and rocks out on her flute (no, I didn't think that was possible either. It is.) on the worship team at my church, but I had no idea she was this good. :-)

"Charcoal Drawings" was a song that particularly struck a chord with me (really, go listen to it! "Keep on" is also hers). I think it's time for me to make some changes. To stop doing things the way I've always done them, cause that way doesn't seem to be getting me where I'd like to go. I don't know what to do differently, in particular, but perhaps it will come...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

No more gazing at these disappointing smudges
I rest frustrations with artistic skills I lacked
I will lay my pencils down for now
The sun sets and I know somehow
That tomorrow could be a brighter day.

Mo-ti-va-tion...

As in, apparently this week I've had none. I've written so many blog posts in my mind, but I've always been away from my computer at the time and have jsut not been motivated enough to write.

No New Years priorities posts, no "I love the snow look how happy it makes me" posts, no "the kids did the funniest thing today" posts, no "holy crapoly, I almost missed the deadline for applying to teach summer school" posts... all of which would have been fun (heh, to write, anyway...).

Blog boredom. I suppose that's where it's at right now.

Teaching this week has been fun - actually FUN! I've been doing accents (heaven help me) and litterally jumping around, waving my arms, and declaring a "13" in the tens place to be, "AK! An INTRUDER!!!" It's probably been the best week I've had all year. Hmm... could that be because I've just come from two weeks off? Maybe that should be a pattern. Teach for 2, rest for two. Think of how energetic I would be!

Hum. What else. Trying to decide to do dancing level 3 or a different pursuit this time around. Perhaps photography. Perhaps writing. Perhaps ACTING! Maybe guitar. It's a real toss-up, between dancing or something else. Confusion abounds. If you could take a class, what would you take?

With all this snow and oice these days, I've been donig a wee bit of slip slip sliding around to and from work. Driving home yesterday I discovered my car is really good at road ballet. Some doofus in his doofus-mobile on a sidestreet decided it would be a really good idea to try to dart accross a busy street during a heavy snowfall on roads that were totally iced over. Eastbound traffic was stopped, so he whipped through a break but DUH... westbound traffic (ie. ME) was still moving, and all of a sudden there was the front of his car barrelling towards what was very soon going to be my driver's side door. I honked, tried to brake, slid almost sideways, recovered, and somehow he missed me, jsut in time for me to start sliding down the hill that was ahead of me. I geared down, steered straight, and got control back, all without hitting the multitude of cars around me, but sheesh. That commute was insane. It took 61 minutes to make my 7km (4.5 mile) trip home. I could have ridden a turtle and gotten there faster.

That's it. I'm ending there. No concluding sentence. We've been learning about those all week in TeacherHillaryLand. As in, "every paragraph must have one." I'm such a hippocrite. Deal with it. ;)

We're baaaa-aaack!

Ah yes. School's in again. Who made the day so freaking long, anyway???? It was pretty funny to see all the satff back and bleary-eyed, trying to get used to the early morning routine again. I do believe I saw one or two intravenous stands with a steady caffiene drip, but I can't be sure. And wow, I don't remember my feet hurting this much at the end of the day.

It was good to be back. Well, once I actually got there, anyway. I had a near paralysing freak-out when I realized as I was getting up at 6:30 this morning that almost all the stuff I had planned to over the holiday was not done. "Maybe if I just stay in bed, it will all go away!!!" But really, it's a holiday. So I don't feel TOO guilty. I just have to kick it into overdrive this week (and next, and next...).

You know what? I actually missed my kiddies! They're so fun and silly and so full of excitement. They totally make me laugh. I think they were pretty happy to be back, too, not that many of them would actually admit it!

Though is it bad that before Christmas break was even over, I was already counting down to spring break??? (10 weeks!)

Apparently I'm going for the insane-o of the week award

So.

Level 2 of my west coast swing dancing class is almost finished. Near the end of level 1, I posted a few videos of some pro swing dancers in action. Well this time round I've found a series on YouTube called Move of the Week, where they teach you a new West Coast Swing move, you got it, every week. (They're all just 30 second clips, and be sure your sound is on)

For example, there's this one.



Looks kinda tricky, but pretty sleek if you can master it.

But then there are these. It's like swing dancing on drugs. Or at least really really drunk. The first one is called the Turtle.



Oh but it gets better. Here's Eggroll Swimming.


And the piece de resistance in classy sleek smooth sexy west coast swing dancing is here.


This makes me laugh out loud EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. And? Did anybody think it was really weird that that brontasaurus has six toes? Do brontasauruses (brontasauri?) even HAVE toes???

GREAT NEWS!!!!!

OH MY GOODNESS! You will NOT believe it. An incredible event occurred tonight, one never before seen by human eyes (erm, or by any type of eyes). An event not previously thought possible. A spectaular feat of co-ordination and dexterity, with no resulting disatrous effects. The crowds were shocked. The crowds were awed. The crowds didn't know what hit them. Well, nothing hit them, actually, which wouldn't have been the case previously. It truly was a glorious, heavenly event. Mm, I do believe I heard angels rejoicing. So what was this incredible feat worthy of such an introduction, you ask?

I, Hillary, ate an entire meal with chopsticks and didn't have to guiltily and apologetically ask for a fork even once!!!

Take THAT, friend who gave me "cheater chopsticks" for Christmas, which were glued to either side of a spring loaded clothespeg.

Oh yeah, baby.

Oh.

Yeah.

Maybe this should be my New Year's Resolution...

Catchin' up (part deux) - New Years

As usual, I had left my planning till rather late in the game. But still, my friends came through. I ended up having five friends over, plus myself, for a quiet evening of nibbles, drinks, and scategories. OK, I love that game. I haven't played for a long time, but it was fun! (Right guys? It was fun! Right??? Hee hee.)

Best entry? For "Things in a park" that started with G, my friend Brad wrote "geriatric gentlemen." DANG! Double points for alliteration... AND awesomeness!!

Some of you have been asking about my New Year's prediction. Well, here's how it all went...

We counted down to midnight, then a hurredly passed out all manner of loud things - a gourd shaker intrument thingy, metal mixing bowls, pots and pot lids, and various ladels and wooden spoons. I took out my djembe drum. At midnight we all busted out of my door, a cacophany of clanging and shouting and banging and general hilarity. There was no co-ersion necessary. My friends (who are AWESOME, thankyouverymuch) were unstoppable. And by unstoppable, I mean that, as soon as we exploded out of my door, I remembered the four children all under the age of three who were no doubt sound asleep no more than 20 feet from the clangingbangingscreaming rowdieness that was our celebration. So down the walk between the two houses I ran, after my friends, whisper-yelling, "Guys! Babieees! BABIEEEES!!!!" But alas, it was no use. I was pretty much laughing too hard to be taken seriously, and the group was already halfway down the street running and banging and yelling HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! into the night. I think we scared a passing bus driver. Buah ha! It was great! And, despite my friend Brian's best efforts to make it happen, no men in white suits came to take me away! (Nyah nyah!)


And THEN... I learned a new method of opening champagne bottles, as we made our way out into my back alley for a New Year's toast. Why the back alley, you ask? Oh, becasue this champagne-bottle-opening method involved SLICING OFF THE TOP OF THE BOTTLE WITH ONE BIG SWACK OF A GIANT KNIFE. Not just the cork, people. The top of the entire bottle. It's supposed to be done with a sword, but a big-a$$ knife was all the guys had, so we did it with that. (Someone asked me afterward if I wasn't worried about little chunks of broken glass in my champagne. Hum. I hadn't really thought of that... I'm gonna go with believing that the force of the knife makes a clean, shatterless break. Yeah. That's it.)

So we toasted in the back alley, under the glow of someone's backyard New Years fireworks. It was a perfect way to ring in 2007!

"Paper Boy" update

This is a follow up from this post.

Just before Christmas, my brother, who is working in Stanley Park cleaning up all the downed trees after a mega windstorm a few weeks ago, was talking to one of the swarms of media in the park about the destruction that the windsrotm caused. The guy told my brother that he was waiting for someone to walk by so he could take a shot, but nobody had come along, and would he like to be in a shot. My bother jsut shrugged his shoulders and was like, eh, sure. So the guy snapped the picture and then Brendan asked, "So, who are you with, anyway?" He thought it was pretty cool that he was from the Globe and Mail, so decided to pick up a copy of the paper the next day and thumb through to see if he could find his picture. Turns out it was on the FRONT PAGE!

CeCe suggested I blow up the photo and give it to him for Christmas. BRILLIANT! Now I was just going to get a copy of the paper and cut out the picture and frame it, but it turns out my pernts had a similar idea. My mom did some detective work online for me (during my internet-less stint) and found the photographer's email address. She emailed him and asked if it was possible to buy a copy of the photo. "I know you can't see his face, but still, that's my boy!" Hehe. Moms. Anyway, the photographer emailed her back right away and said that yeah, he had remembered talking to my brother, and it was Christmas, so he just attatched the photo. Within about two hours of my mom emailing the photographer, a blown up print was ready and waiting for me at the developers. Score!

I'm going to have the print custom framed for him, perhaps with the Globe and Mail header on top. It totally went over well, yippee! Thanks, CeCe for the awesome idea! And she was totally right. My brother said that he SO would never have thought of doing that for himself.

Here he is with his photo. (Click for a larger view)

Catchin' up (part 1)

Christmas was great, but over far too quickly, as usual. Six weeks of lead-up and then poof! It's over. But it was still good. I went to my parents place on Christmas eve and finally felt I could relax. We went to the Christmas Eve service at my parents church, which was in the gym of my old high school. It's always so strange to be back there. Though, kind of a sad thing, over the whole evening I kept thinking about Buff, who was a special ed aide and coach extraordinaire at my high school, and the crossing guard at my elementary school before that. The last time I saw him was at last year's Christmas Eve service. He comitted suicide a few months ago - he jumped off a bridge - and I just can't seem to shake a really sad feeling about it. I barely knew him, but he was such a warm hearted, loving guy - a real presence in the community, too - just someone you always expect to see around. Like at the Christmas Eve service.

Anyway, after the service we went back home and took part in our regular family traditions, like leaving out a snack for Santa. Yes, we still do that. And in the morning, Santa had come and had left a mess, as usual. I love it!

My favourite Christmas tradition in my family has to be the anual reading of the letter from Santa. How that man gets to every house AND has time to sit down at the computer and write a big long heartfelt letter to our family, I have no idea. But well, he seems to manage. (tee hee)

Every year, my dad reads the letter, a section devoted to each of us, telling us how proud he is (he... do I mean dad? Santa? We never can tell!) of us, talking about what we've been up to in the year, and reminding us that he (again, was that dad or Santa???) is praying for us and loves us very very much. My dad is pretty much the biggest softie in the world and I love him for it.

Gifts were exchanged, turkey was eaten, and fun was had by all. My favourite gifts would have to be a sweet ski/boarding jacket from my brother, a day on the mountain with my sister, and a camp stove and gift certificate for outdoor gear from my parents. Yeehaw!

It was nice to just chill out at my parents for a few days, too. Kind of like my own little mini vacation.

I honestly haven't been doing too much over the holiday. I've spent some time with friends, cleaned out some black holes in my house (yesss!) and spent a lot of time sleeping! Um, I decided to spend all of New Years day in bed. It was glorious! I lounged, and read, and slept, and didn't feel one ounce of guilt. Not-a-one.

Ah yes, which leads me to New Years. Well, past, actually, but well, you get the drift. :) But you're just gonna have to wait till tomorrow for that story...

FINALLY!

Da da-da daaaaa! Back online, baby! I know that's exciting to no-one but me, but, well, there you have it.

I'm here (kinda)

I'm still getting acquainted with ye ole library computing system. Arg. Though today I learned that I can book the first available computer and not have to wait an hour or peer over people's shoulders to see how much time is remaining on their login time before I choose the computer to line up behind. Woohoo my life is so exciting.

I honestly don't know what the HECK is taking SO LONG for this dude to fix my machine. Though, I suppose it's been good to not have the computer as a distraction while I've been on holidays. I have gotten a lot done - a big overhaul in my house, cleaned out my storage room, and now I'm working on getting caught up on all the marking I was so behind on before Christmas. It's been good, too, cause I've had lots of time to think and work through some personal stuff that I needed to work though. Perhaps God knew I needed to be computerless for a while? Hmmm....

Though I HAVE missed ye ole typical year-in-review blog post type thingamabobs, and the requisite declaration of all that will be new and shiny in 2007. Or something like that. Sitting and writing that out takes some thought, and it's not exactly what I wanna be doing at the public library (with all those people peering over my shoulder to see how much time is remaining on my login time before they choose the computer to line up behind!!).

I've missed reading all your blogeroonies. I basically just check email and a little bit more while I'm at ye ole public access workstation. I'll have some serious catching up to do once I get my machine back.

Apparently I have some obsession with old English type writing today. I've said "ye ole" thrice (THRICE!) without even noticing it. Huh.

Thanks for all your New Years wishes! I've been wishing them right back at you, if only in spirit!

Tootlieoodles for now! Hope to be back soon!