A New Posting - Finally!

Hello all! I'm finally updating my blog. It turns out that my life is much busier than I otherwise think. I think I have this boring, non-busy life, but for some reason I'm deluding myself with those thoughts. Man, tonnes of stuff have happened since my last posting:

Work continues to go really well, and my first real paycheck is this friday! I can't wait to have actual money! On the fabulous side - SG was on holiday the whole week! FREEDOM! I'm getting my super bitch face ready for Tuesday - hehehe!

We saw Dad, Pat and Chey (sp?) yesterday for coffee at Block 1912. They were up for a wedding. It was awesome to see them and catch up for a few hours. Hopefully, we'll make it out there sometime this summer!

Ben and I watched hockey at Fayne's house last weekend. It was fun, the Oilers won, and we stayed up really early (4 am). For me that is unheard of! I have problems staying up till 1:00 am, especially when I haven't recovered from school yet! It was fun, and we also house/dog sat for a guy on Ben's soccer team. It was fun, but stressful at the same time. I really just wanted to be at home vegeing - even though it was a busy weekend, but they entrusted Ben and I (among all the other soccer players) to look after their house and dog for the weekend, so we did it! I decided that I really like our house, even though it's usually really messy! It's really open and large! They have a dog named Emma - a border collie - she was crazy! She needs constant attention and way more exercise than what we gave her! We're lazy!

It was also mother's day that weekend. On early Sunday afternoon we went over to Steve and Cindy's house (Ben's Aunt and Uncle's) to have brunch. It was fun and super tasty. That evening we had my Mum and Grandma and sister (Corrie) over for a BBQ. Grandma brought meat, desert, and bread, Corrie brought salad, and Ben and I supplied the vegies, cooking, desert, and cleaning up! It was super tasty. I love BBQ steak! Yum! It was a nice treat for Mum and Grandma - no cooking, no cleaning up, etc!

This week I read the Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. It was a beautifully written book with an emotionally stressful, emotionally involved story about a disfunctional family. I highly recommend it (and Tessa, when you're ready for more books, I'll add this to your pile!).

On Friday Ben, Yannick (an engineer at Ben's work) and I went to th e Boston Pizza by our house and watched the Oilers win! We went down to Tessa's work afterwards where Ben was the doorman protecting her and her young, female co worker from the hordes of rabid Oilers fans! She walked to our house afterwards, on the way to hers.

This weekend was fabulous, and it's still not over! Yesterday we slept in, read, veged, went grocery shopping/ate sushi - and walked home in the rain.

This morning I slept in (yeah!), watched Sunday Morning with Evan Solomon and Carole MacNeil - my most favourite show ever, that I never get to watch. It had a super fascinating segment on adult illiteracy in Canada. You all should check it out online - the link to the show is on the side. We cleaned dished (yuck), mowed the lawn, then made and ate sushi (yum). We went on a walk, read on the lawn, and now we're drinking wine and watching the Oilers.

Life is good! TTFN!

Oh yes, I forgot

Ben and I recently discovered a new band. They kick ass: they are a small Finnish band named Hevein - I just gave the CD to Tessa conditionally - she must support them at some point down the road. They've never played a gig outside of Finland and they're going to play in Moscow in June, I think. Anyway, I'll put the link on the sidebar and you absolutely must check them out!

TTFN!

A New Post, Finally...

What an exciting week or so since I last posted. Work is going great! I got a raise on my second day, which is crazy because I'm now making more as a summer student (doing brainless summer student things) than I did as a psychology coop student! It's crazy. I love the people at the Excel Society! It's great to be back there! The only problems at work is this guy, we'll call him SG (stapler guy - from Office Space). SG and I have a previous history of boundary issues. Now I'm back, and in even closer proximity than ever. I'm on the same floor as him and occasionally I share the same office. I thought I wouldn't be able to handle it but I underestimated my uber-bitch capabilities. Usually I'm the farthest thing ever from an uber-bitch. Some of my colleagues even doubted my abilities to be one. I have been an uber-bitch and it's been working well and it's super satisfying! I think I've got SG a little bit confused because I used to be so nice, but I realized that the policy of being super nice didn't work, so I've resorted to this. It's nice, and I've even got an official stamp of approval on my uber-bitch policy! It's great and it's fun being an uber-bitch!

On another subject, I've seen some super-fabulous movies lately. On Tuesday night we rented "Howl's Moving Castle" (Link is on the sidebar). It was excellent. Corrie (my sister) and Tessa both recommended it to me and Ben was up to seeing it (it's not a Ben-ish movie). It was awesome. There were a few kitchy moments, but it fit with the movie, and I absolutely adored the world that the creators invented. It was so imaginative, so perfect! I recommend it to EVERYONE! I'm going to read the graphic novel once I can get my hands on it! Loved it!

Last night, Ben and I saw "Lucky Number Slevin." It was awesome as well. Ramzi and Damien (who I volunteer with at the Canadian Blood Services) both saw it and enjoyed it. Had they not recommended it, we probably would never have seen it. It was sneaky, stylish, cerebral (but not too much), and a great story. I highly recommend it. Tonnes of famous people are in it as well - Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Josh Hartnett, Ben Kingsley (who I love!), and Morgan Freeman (who is excellent, as usual, in this movie). It was an excellent movie, and I didn't regret for one second paying regular-theatre prices to go and see it!

Life is fabulous now! I'm done school, I'm working, I'm seeing Ben (which is a miracle!), and I'm actually looking forward to watching tonight's Oiler's game!

On another note, I've been reading "V for Vendetta." It's an amazing book. I would recommend seeing the movie, then reading the book, or you might get mad at the movie. The movie was excellent but I don't think I would have liked it as much if I would have read the book first. The book is awesome, but it's weird reading a graphic novel - I have to keep remembering to stop and look at the pictures! It's weird, having pictures right in the book!

Anyway, 'till the next exiting episode in my life! *Are you happy Tessa? - I finally updated it!* :)~

The Da Vinci Code

Ok, so the new Da Vinci Code movie is coming out. Apparently Tom Hanks is Dr. Langdon (sp?), which I never really pictured, but at least he's a super good actor. I think it's a great thing that this book came out and created so much controversy and discussion.

I believe (and I may be totally wrong) that in the past, Christians have taken the bible at face value a bit too easily. I think it is important that people realize that Jesus was a historical figure and that what we know about him has been filtered down through many source, and as well, the church has controlled his image to a certain extent. Now, obviously, his death managed to stir up a lot of emotions in Judaea at a time in which many Messiah's were dying exactly like Jesus.

This book/movie has successfully intrigued the Christian world (or at least the Western/European Christian world) enough to allow people to have an intelligent dialogue about it. Today at noon on the news I saw a paster from one of the huge anglican churches here talking about the Da Vinci Code during his sermon. He also thought it was a good thing that the book/movie has challenged people's faith and how they digest the information.

So despite how nauseating this whole phenomonon/trend is, at least it created a stir, and challenged how people, including Christians look at the Bible, Jesus and the Church institution. I don't think anything in recent memory has done this for the church and it's good if it, specifically the Catholic church, wants to adapt and change for the modern world.

I'm Free!!!!

I finally finished all school related shit today. I handed in that paper for Classics 354. I feel so much better even though I am brain dead. I totally needed to have school end. That paper was one of the hardest I had written just because I was so burnt out.

It was a really interesting topic, though. It was on Roman sexualities. I learned a lot about it and learned that it is way more interesting than what I thought. Usually people think of ancient Greek sexuality as more interesting and multifaceted but the Romans were so rigid and hierarchical, and their social system (and even their political system) was heavily reliant on how their sexuality was constructed. It all revolved around the status of the Roman male citizen (singular - vir; plural - viri). He asserted his dominance and status over others by sexual penetration. He could acceptably penetrated all other non- viri: women (not other vir's wives), slaves, non-citizen male youth (though this changed around 100 BC), foreigners, and non-citizen males. I find it incredibly fascinating that social hierarchy revolved so much around the idea of sexual penetration. It is so very different from our construction of sexuality, which is very much focused on the gender of the sexual partner. Romans really didn't care about the gender.

Anyway, I need to stop talking about this topic. I've been eating, living, writing, reading, and even dreaming about it! It's done! Whoohooo - and I'll get my marks back on friday, hopefully.

It was so relaxing to be able to walk down Whyte ave and see all the pre-hockey craziness without an iota of guilt! I had nothing to do, and I did alot of nothing! I took myself out to a fabulous coffee shop/cafe place called Block 1912. I had a super-yummy turkish coffee and read my fun-book! What a novel concept! Then I went to Tessa's work and browsed the bookshelves - which is highly illegal for me without supervision, but I managed to not buy a book! I'm getting better! It was fabulous!

Tomorrow morning I start work and I'm pretty excited! I love the people there and I can't wait to be a summer student there and not have to worry about having to think too very much. Last time I worked there I was the psychology co-op student and I had a pretty mentally challenging job. This is going to be a bit of an adjustment! I'll let you know how it went tomorrow after work!