I am Sasha: Kung Fu Bratz Princess

Christmas Day - Awaken to sounds of mini explosions. Yes... James Bond - the spirit of Christmas :P

The day was pretty uneventful until I showed up at my sister's place with Christmas dinner. Dad out-did himself again, not only did he watch the James Bond movie, he also cooked a big turkey and ham dinner and had it packaged up by 4 p.m. I heaved the box of food into the house and found... the kids playing a computer game. Agh! How was I supposed to influence them if they're playing games and ignoring me? :P

Well, things got better. The computer was turned off, and I played my Nelly Furtado CD (thought Sarah Slean and Ella Fitzgerald might be a bit too heavy... then I realised that there were swears in the lyrics, ack!), while we flipped through National Geographic magazine (super cool!). We ate dinner, played half a game of Monopoly Junior (attention spans too short for a full game) and moved to dolls.

Celina doesn't like Barbie. I'm glad since I've harboured a dislike for "her" for ages, and was cheering when I read that it was "normal" for children to destroy their Barbie dolls (as opposed to being proof of agressive behaviour). The alternative: Bratz. I'm not sure they're sending the right message either. The basic Bratz doll has an oversized head sporting big eyes and lips, and long flowing hair (o.k. it's pretty cool hair, some even come with elaborate braids). The tiny body has double jointed shoulders (increased arm flexibility and range), a relatively realistic figure (as compared to Barbie), and removable feet for when you want to change shoes (a commentary on high heels and other impractical footwear if I ever saw one :P). But the outfits... Britney Spears-esque? O.k. if you're a latin dancer? Too much turkey to really argue about it - just as long as Celina doesn't start wearing clothes to match.

My Sasha doll earns her Kung Fu title soon after battling Kevin's rabid robotic rabbit, and excuting a double reverse back flip - in stilletos no less. I think with Kevin as a brother, things will even out. She wants to be a doctor / rock star. He wants to be a shark. I think it works.

To support her music aspirations, the next day I went to her Christmas Concert / Piano recital. Never before has "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" given me such anxiety. But she did a great job (despite nerves), and managed to sit still for the next 30 or so odd performances following. Um... Kevin... not so much. He looked like a minature gentleman in with his silver vest and bow tie. But he hopped from pew to pew (we were in a church), kept reshelving the Bibles and Hymn books in the slats, and making laps back from his dad to his mom. He looked so cute! I was quietly laughing - his mom was not. At least the antics were quiet (other kids were making a racket)... - I'll be the stern one next time. Really.

Happy Winter Solstice!

Longest night of the year passed yesterday without too much trouble. The days are subtlely getting longer. Yay! And then this weekend is Christmas. Happy Christmas everyone! Hope to see you soon.

"Aren't we forgetting the true meaning of Christmas? You know....the birth of Santa..." Bart Simpson

Sunset on Saturn

Life is short – make fun of it.

Only a day more of work before heading into a lovely, lovely 4 day weekend. Can hardly wait. Sleep!

Another work week that’s been fairly quiet. I’ve been running more errands for Christmas related stuff (delivering treats to clients, picking up gifts for employees). At least I’m still here!

I glossed over Chris’s birthday party, thinking I would write about it at a later time. But Chris insists it wasn’t that important – probably was worried that I would write it into something trashy like a Harlequin :P Well, I won’t go into too much detail, but there was an EXTREME game of Pictionary going on, while another group watched the hockey game. The baby did steal the show for the first half… and then… yes… there was karoke. Liz indulged me by singing “Barbie Girl” as a duet with me. Thanks guys for being patient – with two cameras in hand, the “Lanarazzi” was in full force (really, really hope the pictures turn out).

Margarita Monday! My first ever! And it tasted like cough syrup. But Anne was very nice and traded my Sunset on Saturn with her lime. The rest of the night was a good catch up with the Circle K gang. I had missed them so much. And I remembered exactly how silly we can be all together. Star Trek trivia was flying around Steph’s apartment as we tried to find out who was the “geekiest” of us all. Val and I left the apartment thinking we should start a board game – GQ: What’s your Geek Quotient? :D

Found this wonderful blog online: http://sherrypg.blogspot.com/ I have no clue who she is, but she’s brilliantly funny. Here was one of her ideas:

Post a comment with a completely fictional memory of you and me. It can be anything you want– good or bad, silly or stupid, believable or not – but it has to be fake.

So, what false memories will you plant in my head? I'm looking forward to it! Oh, forgot to mention – mystery revived! Val denies being the Phoenix… so who’s our next guess?

The Furry, the Fuzzy, and the Decapitated...

Hello peoples - the Christmas season is here! Can hardly wait to see you all!

Please forgive my slightly tipsy state. I've once again consumed way too many brandy beans after almost no food. The world is friendly, and I have so much tell!

Thursday was my day off and yes Andrea and I got to meet up to get measurements done for the bridesmaid dresses. Unfortunately neither of us were too energetic - she had just finished a whole day being on call. But she's almost done! (Good luck girl!) Very surprised to actually see my measurements on paper... but that's another story.

Everyone seems to be a new mummy! Machaela got a golden retriever puppy in the past week. We were all gathered in reception talking about it. She's so happy. I can hardly wait to go and play with it. The conversation shifted to the Golden Doodle and the Labourdoodle - cross breds with poodles, which have the benefit of being non-allergic. So now what we need is to cross breed the poodle with some cats so that I can consider having a non-allergetic kitty.

Bug though did try to solve this allergy thing by getting me a "Perfect Petzzz" siamese kitten for Christmas - it's battery operated! And is curled up in a sleeping position all the time (which the brochure insures is perfectly normal, and that the cat is active when the owner is sleeping). Sweet idea. (I got him fuzzy pink socks... bonus points if he wears them!)

The cat got me some attention on the LRT. One gentleman thought it was real. Another lady started talking to me about cats... then about her children... and then I found out she had her Masters in Library Sciences. What luck! Someone who could let me know what it was really like! But her only advice was: Don't do it. O.k. something more to think about.

Friday was great - I headed to the mall half asleep and bumped into Amanda. Together we wandered and tried to cross off a couple more items off my Christmas list. She was so fun to shop with! Both of us loved feeling out all the different kinds of fabrics. I think I have met my match in someone who gets distracted by fuzzy and or sparkly things. And she loves singing songs from musicals!

Yikes have to head out for formation practice! Going to be late. Hope everyone had a good weekend. Bye for now.

N.B. The other mummies in the list include Liz who got a real kitty and Namah who brought her baby to Chris's birthday party. So cute! Sure hope the pictures turn out. (Thanks Chris and Liz for letting me have free reign on the cameras!)

Oh, almost forgot the decapitated part - I've been doing Christmas wrapping for the Bissell Centre at the Bay downtown City Centre. If you have something that needs wrapping come down and Circle K'ers will do it for you. So that's the plug. The decaptiation part - I had to wrap a purse that was in the shape of Elmo's head... I hope there won't be more of those. What's with disembodied heads and Christmas? (I guess I'll have to rant more about that at another time).

Last Day?

Maybe I had it all wrong, here when I thought gargoyles were desirable, what I should have been seeking were pooping reindeer! Well, thanks guys, you've given me a good clue for your Christmas presents :)

Well, I'm again at work and yes, I'm allowed to return for another day! Jennifer the temporary receptionist has likened my stay to Wesley's experiences on the pirate ship in the Princess Bride: "Good work, good night, I may kill you tomorrow." Or something like that. But really, it's nice. I have a good home base at the moment in which I can get calls from agencies, all the while having precious connection to the internet!

I spent most of the day filing and packing up boxes to be sent out to Winnipeg. Lorena said she had started a rumour that Ryan and I were "making out" in the file room. (I'm going to miss her so much! She's such a fun boss. ) In reality though, Ryan was trying to teach me the proper technique on how to put together the cardboard storage boxes. (I of course was doing it all wrong.) And then when I got the hang of things, we got competitive. All in all a good day.

At lunch I got to see Stewart McLean! The host of Vinyl Cafe is on tour and he's in Edmonton. He gave an interview on CBC (right at the station downtown), and I was part of the audience. He seemed really cool, despite using works like "dig"... as in he would see seven-year-olds and 70 year olds at his concert, and everything in between, and they could all dig something in his show. I found it funny that he said he's been getting letters from high school teachers asking about "symbolism" in his stories. He said to forget all that "high school crap", his stories were for entertainment, not for analysing :P

Andrea had called last night (good luck with the on-call). Yes, we're finally going to start on the bridesmaid dresses. Her fiance's sister is helping us make them. After tomorrow, I should finally know my measurements! *gulp* Being a medical student must be trying, but trying to fit a wedding into things too! Amazing.

Anyway, tomorrow I get a day off and then back to work here on Friday. And then... well, I guess we'll see. Bye for now.

Wanted: Gargoyles

Welcome back to Canada, Anne - hope you're doing well! And it's a birthday weekend - Happy belated to Chris and Nick!

Another crazy busy weekend. Friday was the office Christmas party - Catherine dahling accompanied me as the superior date, and we ate lots of good food (Thanks for coming with me, Catherine!). Saturday some of the old Sorefeet gang got together for dinner and a gift exchange. Highlight of the night must have been Amber's gift to Grace (this is where it gets surreal peoples): a pooping reindeer. Yes, we're mature people... that's why a plastic reindeer that felled brown jelly beans when you press down on it lead to uncontrollable giggling / laughing for about 5 minutes straight. Clarence has it on video somewhere. The look on Trevor's face though was probably the most priceless: incredulous and questioning (our sanity) :D

Sunday - that's when I realised I wanted / needed a gargoyle. If the Hughes could have 5 stone griffin / garoyles perched on her house, I think I should be allowed one. Maybe not so big... maybe not in the front of my house... but definitely something. This was another surreal moment, driving past all these modest homes and coming to a cul de sac to find this rose marble and glass monument (?) of a house. It was stunning. Stepping inside only increased the feeling that we were in some fairytale / Hollywood mansion. Big chandeliers, a whole wall made up of windows, marble and hardwood floors, a baby grand piano in corner nook with professional piano player and jazz singer, a little terrier dog following behind people's heels, huge flower arrangements, and lots of artwork.

Christiana and I sat in front of the wood burning fireplace sipping champagne (me) and punch (her), while chatting to other ladies from the dance club. The occassion that we gained entrance to this other place? Delphine's bridal (lingerie) shower. It's my first bridal shower ever, and Christiana said I better make notes, because this is exactly what she wants for hers :P We had tea (yes Chris, it was all about the goodies, yum!), played a game with Delphine (she had to take shots of tequilia for every wrong answer she had for questions about her fiance Chris), she modeled one of the lingerie pieces we collected for (Holt Refrew no less), and then to more chatting, and singing Christmas carols.

Before the mesmer wore off, we headed out. This time to formation practice. Followed by our TA Christmas get together. This again was giddying fun. We had a gift exchange that involved a lot of "stealing" from other people... somehow we started offering Cheryl as one of the prizes... and then realising that "licking" it meant it was yours... you know where this is going. That threat didn't seem to stop people from stealing Bug's gifts, it seemed like everyone was against him, but he took it good measure. Darren was good natured too when I took his Moulin Rouge CD (Thanks Darren!). Eventually though, our fun had to end, and we all headed out. And face the consequences of the next day - food poisioning! Ugh. I wasn't just me. Big email went out to all the TAs. Hope everyone is recovering quickly.

Oh, and Ryan says I just have to mention him in the blog - guess he hasn't made an appearance in a while :P

O.k. I've got to head out. I'm still at work right now - and they decided not to kick me out just yet. So I have another day to pack, boy do I need it!

Triple D

... Daring dos, Depressing news, and Dinner...

Got hair cut yesterday. Finding head so light it feels like it will float away (Space Cadet indeed). Also developed uncontrollable urge to turn head so that hair swishes around as in shampoo commercials.

Discussed again with finality: Last Day. Made final push to Lorena so that I have the weekend to continue with de-nesting. Monday is it. This is sad. Practically lived here for the past year and a half. On the plus side, I didn't realise I had this much candy stashed away.

Also yesterday, shared another meal with Bug. Surprisingly less nervous than previous attempts at eating within eye contact, despite increasingly personal questions as topics of discussion. But also getting more confused.

Brain tired.

I Don’t Do Pyramids

Darren and I were sitting in the car after last night’s formation practice… and we decided that fundamentally, we had to get back to the fundamentals… I guess for me, that means: I don’t do pyramids. Especially if it means I’m at the bottom – which is where D & D decided to put me for our ending in the Paso Doble. Not that I’d be comfortable at the top either… squishing the other girls wouldn’t be good… Zug. Must remember that pain means we’re actually doing something. (Hm… another part of the TA brainwashing, Chris?)

But most of this aching I know is because I’ve been bad again, and had way too much planned for the weekend. Friday was the NLC Volunteer Appreciation at Jim & Theresa’s. Darren picked me up after work and we headed to the place that our cravings were calling us: McDonalds. I know! It’s so bad! But we loved every moment of it… right up until Lana decided she had to check the paper placemat for the nutritional breakdown of our meal. My favourite Filet O’fish sandwich had 400 calories! Ack! When we got to Jim & Theresa’s, found that they had amazing munchies for us, including celery, and baklava. Much more eating later, (with someone trying to convince me that wine would improve my dancing), we headed downstairs to watch highlights from the competition and the promo we did on City television. First time to see myself dance – not a good moment. But all in all a really fun night.

Early Saturday was about preparing for the winter UADC social. Andrew and I went over to Amy’s house, cut up a lot of fruit – this time without injury. And then we arranged cookies and chocolates on trays. After much effort on Danny’s part in separating all the chocolate balls, and Hershey Kisses into different colours (all the while keeping me away from eating them), Amy dumps everything together for the natural mixed look. *laugh* They make a good couple, oui? In the next couple of free hours I manage to do some Christmas shopping. And then it was off to St. John’s with a very big surprise. Can you guess? The result was much cell phone use in the next hour while we sat inside our cars in the parking lot, trying to find a last minute dance venue on a Saturday night. It had a happy ending as the executives pulled through. We headed to Dance Central to convert our usual practice space into a party. A mirror ball makes all the difference :D

Meanwhile back in another dimension, Rosario’s was heating up with the TAs’ get together. I got carded! And then instead of starting a riot, we waited patiently for the hockey game to end. But really, who cares about hockey when we could be karoke-ing?! But we made the best of things – lots of pictures, and we got plenty of time with the song binders. Not that that helped in my case – they didn’t have any Sarah Slean! :P Anyway, I don’t usually sing crowd pleasers (and I can’t make a decision), rather it’s those depressing numbers better left for the bus stop. But I made sure we got up to dance. Dominic can definitely “rock it out”, but Delphine can hardly hold a tune! But she grabbed all the girls up for a rendition of “Don’t Cha” by the Pussycat Dolls, probably knowing that eye candy was the important part to karoke ;) Darren and Christiana sang Elvis’s “Are you Lonesome tonight”, Albert got us dancing with “Let’s Twist Again”, and someone from another group sang “Rock Lobster” – what a bizarre song.

Sunday was definitely not a rest day. I did sleep in, but then I rushed back to work to start packing some stuff, and to find directions to St. Albert from Dance Central. My first drive out there by myself! Um… it didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. Sure I had the directions, but I was also tired from formation practice, and it was dark… and yeah. I missed my turn off. But it was all worth it since when I finally got to meet up with Chris, Steph G., Simony, Steph L., and Josh, they fed me and made me laugh. It felt really good to see all of them again. (Welcome back again, Stuffy, and thanks guys!) I guess I should have guessed from the way we sat (girls on one side and guys on the other – with Lana in the middle :P) that some taking of sides would happen. But considering we were eating large amounts of candy… I don’t think we were making much sense… The guys were just trying to provoke the girls into an argument of the “yes it is” and “no it’s not” variety. *shaking head* University graduates can be so peculiar.

O.k. rambled way too much this time. But I still have side notes! Ryan pulled up all the blinds in order to battle S.A.D. not sure if it’s working, but I’m going to miss the view so much! Bug might be trying to learn Cantonese. Can hardly wait for the weekend… though Friday might be my last day… things are still up in the air. Keep warm peoples!

It's Month End...

... And I feel fine!

Friday and the accounting department is very quiet and slow. I'm working on a cut and paste project, while people are zooming by me... wait a sec... it's month end! I flipped the calendars without really even thinking about it. And you know what? It feels good :D

No more late nights... actually being able to make plans after work... but no more taxis either! That's one of the luxuries of working late that I think I will miss the most. I have ridden in only a couple of Canadian taxis before starting the job. And all of sudden it seemed every month end there would be 2 or 3 chances for me to sit back while someone else drove, and I got to snoop (though without touching anything).

I had wondered if the stereotype of taxi drivers - immigrants with degrees and or professions in their home countries - was true. Many of them told me they were originally from another country. One of them was a computer programmer (who we tried to get to apply with our company.) Then there was the older East Indian looking gentleman who suprised me by (very loudly) listening to club pop / dance music and dancing along at the stop lights. I always smile when I recognise the driver is listening to CBC Radio One. I watched as a little book on a chain swung from the review-view mirror - the driver told me it was symbolic of the Koran. And then there was the sweet Polish gentleman (he seemed like the fatherly type), who had a travel brochure of Europe in the front seat with him... it was probably close to one o'clock in the morning, and before my credit card authorized, told me to "hurry, get home and get to bed".

Well, at least people at work are getting into the "Chris-mas" spirit (despite the gloom from more layoffs earlier this week). Darlene from design and Machaela Dahling got us together for some major decorating around the office. I went all out tacky :D Darren's been complaining about the Christmas music that's been blasting through the malls for the past 2 weeks. But now it's December - it's expected!

Yikes, better head off it's another fun and busy weekend ahead of me. Again, peoples stay warm!