Charmed, charmed, charmed...

"Boycott shitty culture!" ~ Sarah Slean with more on Paris Hilton

I'm still on a bit of high from the concert. I'm listening the CD (Universe) and in a great mood. Part of it is the music, the other part... *big smile* I talked to Boy on the Bus! Yes! I finally did it... um... o.k. maybe he talked me to first. We made eye contact, there was the smile, and then he said "Cold outside, isn't it?" :D Maybe not the kind of conversation that predicts a long and happy life together... but it's a start. He even has a name! Question: Who are you? Answer: Adam. We shook hands. He gave me a closer look and asked if I worked at Shoppers Drug Mart... (Thinking to myself: I have twin out there?) I go to pull out my card and remembered that I don't carry them any more since the information would be out of date in a couple more weeks. Dang. Oh, well. Contact was made, and I wasn't too, too awkward (I hope). Must catch him again on the bus and... actually tell him my name? I can't remember if I told him *smacking forehead*. But I was practically skipping to the elevators.

I must be delerious. Despite yesterday being a rest night, I didn't get that much rest (again). Finished reading "What Casanova Told Me", and started up with "Steel Beach". The book is so interesting that I completely skipped out on working on my scrapbook. There's the weekend... maybe.

Body is feeling a little bit better. We had a very intense formation class on Monday. This new section boasts a little "test of trust" between the dance partners. There is a little bit of falling involved in the move, and the guy has to hold on to the girl's hands, while her head is extremely close to the ground. Yikes! Nigel hasn't failed me yet... but I'm still nervous about it. I was gripping his hands so tightly that my hands hurt afterwards. But I'm getting all tingly about trying it again. It looks so cool! (At least when D & D demo it ;) ).

For Anne - hope you're feeling better soon. You definitely had an eventful weekend. annabeth.diaryland.com
For the rest of us - stay warm! And stay amused: www.virtual-bubblewrap.com/popnow.shtml

Age of Aquarium!

Congratulations to Jazzy girl on her UFE pass! She has acheived competency - which we suspected all along :)

It's been another weekend filled with dancing and I'm going to be surprised if I can get out of my desk here without cringing. So glad that I took Friday off to just sit at home and not move.

Saturday was when UADC invited Jean Marc Genereux to come into town for workshops. I think I can describe him as a cross between Pepe Lapeu and Robin Williams. :D He made car noises as he demonstrated proper "driving" action in Standard. He told us "lovely young ladies" that we had to be like a "ferrari" in tango; in rumba the man was our "superman" so we can do our thing and be sure he'll be there for us. There was a lot of physical humour. But it made sense - he described the body as 4 packages that had to be stacked a certain way or else the whole pile would topple over. I was imagining vector lines as he was moving across the floor and describing the moves. I might be in science withdrawal. Anyway - it was overall very enjoyable. I just hope some of this technique sticks!

Sunday was OPDS practice. I managed to fall in the first 10 minutes of arriving. Not while dancing, rather while trying to get revenge on Slywester for tickling me. Ah, I should have known that no good would come out of trying to get back at someone. Big bruise now on my knee. But Vienna made sure to make him feel guilty about it.

After OPDS a group of the TA formation team went to Tim Hortons across from Dance Central (our current practice site). We started talking about karoke. Sylwester belts out "Aquarium!" *blink, blink* I start laughing hysterically, the others had puzzled looks. Wow, Lana knew the pop reference! Anyway, then we headed off for formation practice. Bug managed to ram his face into Mel's foot. I bunny hopped backwards knocking butts with Nigel. And more people ended up on the floor. This is getting to be a lot more painful and dangerous than what any of us thought. Finally about 2 hours later we decide to call it quits and start packing up... and we find Grace had locked herself into a closet!

Darren and I then zipped over to Amber's place for a "Photo swap" party. Can't believe how young we all looked less than 3 years ago. And we tried to place exactly when each of us met. This was "pre-Darren" and this "after-Darren" (something like that). There were pictures of Mark when he at least looked happy... Brad in his coconut bra and grass skirt :D... ah the memories.

Must head out for TA class. Happy Monday peoples!

Lucky Me!

Tired and achy, and feeling like I spent too much money – but it’s all worth it! Yesterday Chris and I went to Sarah Slean’s concert at the Myer Horowitz theatre. Didn’t get home until close to 12:30 in the morning. And yes, Mom was waiting for me. But I didn’t care, my head was still buzzing from Sarah’s amazing voice and her commanding piano. Definitely, definitely have to see her live again. I was completely mesmerized. To think of it, she was faerie like… tiny over all with large piano hands, barefoot, big blue eyes… anyway, methinks I’m totally hooked – I even bought a CD there. Her music delights me, and makes so sad at the same time. So, the song Lucky Me describes the “existential wasteland” left in the gap between science and faith… and Bank Accounts is a protest against Paris Hilton (she got the audience to do the trumpet solo part)… I’m just in awe. Visit her site: www.sarahslean.com/main.html and look under "Vitamins" for her inspirations and things she loves.

The side show was also interesting. Chris bumped into a friend of a friend – James. James came and lined up with us with his (possible) date, Liz. Craziness ensued when I recognized her as the girl on the bus who Boy on the Bus was smiling at. When I brought it up, she immediately recognized who I was talking about! And things got even weirder… such as the fact that she’s from Rocky Mountain House (she knows of both Anne and Margaret’s families). James proved to be a lot of fun and full of musical knowledge. And for some reason, he likes talking to people in the washroom… Chris nudged me when ever something noteworthy came up in the conversation – and I dutifully wrote it in my trusty notepad. This was happening to the point that James remarked – “Why get a palm pilot? I need to get me a Lana” :P He was cute – I don’t think I would mind sticking around to be a scribe.

Other items that ended up in my notepad that night – lyrics from the opening act “Chad” (just Chad). He was a one man band who played guitar (or banjo), had both feet on pedals for drums, and employed the occasional song with harmonica. I had to laugh when in the middle of a couple of his songs he stopped, and said he was going to start over, or that he had a better song for us. Notable lyrics: “Chew me like a stick of gum, I want to loll around your tongue all day”, “He got reincarnated as a Corvette, drove himself crazy looking for the perfect driver”, “You’re going down the same track, never coming back again. You left a lot behind, most of it in my mind.” I think I was mostly puzzled by him – he sang a song about 100 year old beer… and another about people hooked up to a blood machine located under a city.

All in all a great night. Though there was an awkward moment. Saw Mark while buying dinner in SUB. I waved and smiled – he half-waved and turned away.

More dancing this week. I think Friday night will be my rest night - can hardly wait.

To Cede... or not to Cede

A very busy and exhausting weekend. Starting with going over to Bug's on Friday to hang Christmas lights, followed by Winter Waltz on Saturday, another meeting with Bug on Sunday, and big news today. My nephew has decided to cede from the family. I believe I'm in shock... though in a way it makes sense. I think we all wondered for a while about things - me constantly being worried about being disowned... while he was almost always enraged by Chinese family expectations. I'm also a bit baffled - is it for real? Is he just in the rebellious stage of something? I can't imagine my parents not telling me if it was for certain... And in the big picture - what would it all mean? He'd still be my nephew, right?

In work news - I have become a case study and George is back from Vancouver sporting his "brand new technology from BC that is all the rage." Um, yes... this "hot new technology" is a regular sized monitor and computer tower set up on a trolley. As he put it, it's so much easier to read and type in than a palm pilot, it has a multiphasic power distributer (a power bar), and it's portable! :P Very, very quiet here in the accounting department. I am literally an island surrounded by empty cubicles. Almost makes sense to just yell to talk to Ryan, rather than using MSN. And with D and Z gone, I have to know stuff again! And I find, I don't know what's going on.

Winter Waltz was a beautiful affair. It was different working with this new Social Committee. I'm again amazed by how fun it is to work together - and what ideas that they came up with. Thanks guys for helping me out with centre piece ideas. In the end, the director came up with a poinsetta flower arrangement. A little disappointed that my design wasn't picked. But I made up for it by being extra creative with my little jar of silver sparkles - if it wasn't sparkly, it needed sparkles :P I think that worked. Photos off of Darren's camera. I had 3 with me... but of course, I'm still awaiting the film results.



Left: Linda, Ryan, Dexter, and Brian

Below: Darren and the girls :D (Christiana, Lana, Amanda, Linda)

Below: Clarence (with centre piece), Kelly, Eric, Kristen, and Maria

Watch the Dust Bunnies Run!

Ingredients for some afternoon fun: motivational meeting from boss, pictures of co-workers' super cute babies, stickers, and a can of pressurized air. Oh, and of course a good dose of green tea.

I'm super giddy right now after all of those things coming together in the last hour. Ryan and I went on scavenging mode when we saw Jordan and John cleaning out S's old office. (I think we'll go into that mode again come Monday since D will be starting a new job, and Z is going on mat leave - all factors that mean Ryan and I have to stay motivated at work.) Who knew he had cool stuff like stickers and pressurized air?! O.k. technically that stuff is called "Pressurized Duster" - and there's a warning label on it. But I'm having fun using it to chase the dust bunnies on my desk. Hm... guess that motivational meeting didn't quite work the way L had wanted it. But morale is up!

Or maybe this is just a whole bunch of nervous energy? Less than one hour before I head out to pick up my project with my mark... *biting nails*

Atleast Paso turned out o.k. last night. Very glad that Delphine started the class by telling people that we had just learned it! Managed to "fake it" for the demo. And of course burst out laughing once the music stopped. Didn't manage to get the ceiling shot I had hoped for. Next time I guess. Must remember camera for this Saturday's Winter Waltz!

The Edmonton Sun's cover story: Woman Jailed for bizarre, obsessive stalking of man she met on a bus. (Sigh of relief from everyone that this wasn't me? :P)

Mary Kay Hands & Goji Goodness

Looks like I’ve been found out on my “little” fib. But despite that, Stephanie has returned. Welcome back! And for Anne – Happy Birthday!

I’m with anxiety again. *big bite out of chocolate bar* Just got an email from Nora – the very nice professor that was administrating my BC2 project – saying that she had marked it and I could pick it up this Thursday. Ack! I was trying to repress the whole thing. Two weeks of not thinking about it was really nice. And now, this anxiety is only blanketing the anxiety I have for tonight’s Paso Doble class. O.k. start deep breathing… everything will be fine… *deep breathing*

Well… at least I have soft hands. Turns out Charles at work sells Mary Kay. He’s having demos in the boardroom today and now I have sparkles on one cheek, super soft hands (let’s see if it’ll handle a washing), and an arm that smells floral with a vague hint of musk. I guess the Avon lady inside of me should have put up a fight. But everyone knows I have no brand loyalty (it’s the “free” gift that matters, right Catherine? :P) And when it comes to makeup and beauty, I figure natural is good – but “If it Makes You Happy – it can’t be that bad”. As long as it helps people feel good about themselves. Might be why I didn’t do so well at that interview with the cosmetics counter at Sears… they actually want me to sell stuff!

I guess my mother’s right… again. Scary thought. Along with the Mary Kay products, there was also a lady there promoting a juice made from “Goji”. These little, tear-shaped berries may have originated from Himalayans and part of the Tibetan longevity secret. But they’re the exact same berries that used to grow on a bush in the back of our garden. Mom and I crouched under that bush and scrambled around trying to harvest the berries before they got too ripe and burst. I got nasty mosquito bites, scratched by thorns, and had to navigate around bees. And the reward was the soup that these berries were made into. Mom made me drink it because it was good for me. How good? Well, the lady’s brochure says there’s “34 reasons why you should drink Goji juice every day”. Among them are better sleep, improved memory, and alleviation of anxiety and stress. Hm… I seem to remember being less stressed and sleeping better when I was younger (or is that selective memory? :P ) I guess this means I should take more of what Mom says to heart. Her current advice is that I need to eat more, sleep more, and rest more. It’s a thought…

Spectacular, Spectacular!

Mom and Dad have taken the next plunge in technology. They own a DVD player. Wow… our side of the family has always been slow to adopt technology (I still have Siew Chui’s old computer and my dad is still listening to cassette tapes). But my sister Angela brought it over thinking it would be a good idea. I’m not so sure yet. All of a sudden I’m fumbling around with a new remote controller trying to figure out how to work the thing so that Dad can watch his James Bond movies with Chinese subtitles. Not that he really needs them. It’s James Bond after all! The explosions and the sex scenes speak for themselves. :P And he didn’t need them when he watched them in the Hong Kong theatres with Sean Connery acting / being the part.

So I returned home from what felt like a disastrous TA class to find Dad getting his dose of pop culture, while Mom was fuming. Great. At least they’re not angry at me this time. The nice surprise in the chilly reception was finding that Margaret wrote! (Thank you Margaret!) I read her letter while trying to use more of that muscle rub. Agh! It hurts! It was the second choreography night for the TA Formation Team. Our theme is Moulin Rouge and our main goal is to have something of performance quality ready for Top Hat and Tails of 2006.

The girls have put a foot down on wearing lingerie as our costume (though having La Senza as a sponsor would cut down our costs…) Delphine assured us that she won’t make us dress like whores… instead she’ll be making us look like “high-class whores”. The difference of course is in the “class”. *shaking head* What did I get myself into? *laugh* And we probably gave Dominic a migraine when we weren’t getting it together. And he decided that one of our poses was “not sexy enough” and now we have a new pose. New muscles are being used and they are not happy!

I realised that I made an error in my last post. (Chris had told me that if we keep telling people how cold it is in Edmonton, no one will want to come back!) So, Lindsey and Stephanie, global warming has caused water levels to rise so much that the whole province of BC is now no more. Alberta is now the coastal province… and this stuff that I think is snow… well, it’s actually sand from our sandy beaches. I get those mixed up all the time :P Must be the scarf tied too tightly around my head… oops.

Back to Monday

I was informed that I might have broken a record for no updating – a whole 7 days! This is further testament that I’m not living at the office anymore. Instead, I’m going home (or to dance) at the appointed times, and the weekends are all to myself. Well, actually I have been trying to post some pictures from the competition throughout the week, but blogger keeps giving me errors. Oh, well.

It's Monday after a fairly satisfying long weekend. I enjoyed some guilty pleasures: Having lunch with Bug (he now knows some of my weirdness towards food, and I found out he just as bad - Char you're not alone on the tomato thing :P); I got a roll of film developed and I have even more photos (which I can't post here); McDonald's lunch with Chris; Book club meeting with Shauna and Catherine; and more dancing :D I also broke my over 6 week spell of not driving by zooming around the city getting lost - surprisingly therapeutic once I stopped fantasizing about car accidents.

Unfortunately I return to work today apathetic and aching (new appreciation for models who have to hold poses for a long time). I do not envy the team in Winnipeg that is picking up our work load. Not only does it sound like they're understaffed - there's no real process right now for how things should be transferred to them. D and I have small (and growing) "things to send off" piles that we're holding onto until they figure out who should be getting it on the receiving end. And here I thought I would get the release of burning all my excess papers... the pyromania will have to wait another day :P On the baby side of things - C gave birth to a healthy 7 pound boy! He remained nameless until the parents finally decided to compromise with "Evan Matthew". Baby, baby, baby... O.k. got that out of my system for now.

Been lurking on Moo! again. I miss the people so much that when I read the posts I feel like crying. Another snowfall... predicted low for tonight is minus 17. Winter is... here? Put batteries in new camera - hope to have pictures of ceilings to post here. Time head out for TA class. Paso Doble... eek!

Photos from NLC 2005

For that awesome Saturday at the Nisku Inn, we also had some great friends on site taking pictures and cheering us on. Big thanks to Clarence, Amber, Dianna, Maria, and Brad. Here are some of the photos from Darren's camera (Thankyou Darren for uploading them so soon).

Left: Rong and Mel. Delphine met up with us newcomers very early in the morning (my appointment was at 6:45 a.m.) and she did us up all proper in makeup and hair. She said we're her "mini-Delphines".




Right: Christiana and Dexter in their first competition together. They're looking good and they made the Standard Newcomer finals - with only 6 hours of practicing together!


Left: Slyvester, Vienna, Lynn and Albert take a break during the social dance portion.



Right: Dominic and Nigel

D&D did marathon dancing that day. Their students (Jeff and Marie) competed against each other in the ProAm categories. They each did over 62 dances - and didn't even break a sweat!

Left (photo that I can't seem to post): MelMel and David, Lana and Darren, Amanda and Brian - Adult Newcomer Latin - TA Lockout

Brian had predicted that the TA's would take the Newcomer Latin category... so the deck was a bit stacked (there were only 2 non-TA couples with us), but we were still happy with the results.

It's over?

Darren probably described it best - now that the last Jive has been danced and the whole floor pulled apart... it's over. The Northern Lights Classic that was our first big competition - is part of the past. I think I'm suffering from what people feel after the Christmas and New Year's rush. The January blues, but in November... doesn't help that it started snowing yesterday too. But there is some good news from this. Darren and I did well :) We placed 3rd in Newcomer Standard (Waltz), 2nd in Newcomer Latin (Cha-Cha), and made it into the finals for Bronze Standard. There must have been some cosmic forces supporting us - we were couple 42! I hope to have pictures soon (and you can play "Find the mini-Delphines"). Thank you so much all of you who wished us luck and cheered us on. And as Jim Jenkins said - we've caught the bug. We want to do another one, and soon.

But before that my body definitely needs some time to recover from all of last week. I fell asleep at today's meeting / training... Ryan did too :P Lorena was nice enough to say "Must have been the projector fan bothering your eyes." And D says the most exciting part of the whole thing was watching the two of us doze off :P I hope I wasn't twitching *blush* Really, what I need is more sleep and less thinking.

The office feels so empty now. C went on maternity leave, and there was as tearful goodbye on Friday. Lorena the sweetheart got us all gifts as "the beginning of the end" kind of idea... I'm now the puzzled owner of a beanie baby (I still don't understand the craze, but he is sort of cute). C promised she'd tell us the truth about labour when she comes back to visit. I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle it...

For Steph, Chris, and Char - Thank you guys so much for your resounding support of me not growing up :P I am feeling better this week. So, what's next? (Aside from guilt-free eating of Hallowe'en chocolate?)

I'm looking forward to dancing tonight. And then going bed. Bug was trying to tempt me with clean sheets. And my sister was tempting me with a trip to Beijing. I know they're both teasing... but they both sound very delicious... probably means it's time to change my sheets.

Fire Escapes and Hockey

Ryan and I were waiting at the bus stop, when I noticed a flicker and a lot of smoke coming from across the street. "Um... is the garbage can over there on fire?" Both Ryan and the other guy waiting there said "Yes." So what does one do when a garbage can is on fire in the middle of the downtown? We called 911. So this was the excitement. Technically there wasn't an emergency... but there was more and more smoke billowing out, and what if there was something explosive inside? We got on the bus and craned our necks out of a window. Not long after we saw a firetruck stop, firemen climb out and poke at the bin for a while, and then taking the whole bag with them, they drove off.

Moments later: "The only thing worse than being a woman is being a shy guy..." this was Ryan dispensing some grandmotherly advice and explaining to me why he's glad he's a man in the dating world. Women may have wait until the guy gets the hint (knock on the head) to ask them out. But the shy guy... he suffers from "100% of the shots you don't take don't make the goal" (I probably misquoted - the original is from Wayne Gretsky). So where are the woman in this hockey analogy? "She's the goalie... *big smile* her job is to make sure no one scores until she's got a ring on her finger..." *laugh* O.k. hockey more sense now. Maybe the dating world too... I hate playing goalie.

25 going on 21

Had a sobering epiphany on Monday. Finally acknowledged that I can't go back in time and change the way things were, and that I should grow up and stop thinking I am 21... And 2 days later I said to heck with that. (Ryan, are you groaning?) Yes, the smart thing to do is to start thinking about settling down, and making some real decisions. But I don't feel like I can give up having fun... it seems like I just started. It feels as though I just recently got to stop worrying / panicking about where I have to be right now in order to be where I want to be in 50 years. I can be the brat I am... I can be silly. It feels a bit like relief... And it's most likely avoidance. I know I'm good at that. I just don't want to feel panicked again... and it makes me so sad everytime I have admit that not everything is possible. I don't like where my brain is heading with this... maybe this week is taking it's toll. Will update later.

In the meantime semi-inspiration quote included with our daily office newsletter. Makes me miss volunteering.

It is not enough to be busy... the question is: what are we busy about? ~ Henry David Thoreau