Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey... Stuff

It's safe to say that May kind of got away from me. That's okay, though, because once I build my TARDIS I can just go back and write posts closer to the days that I actually think of these topics and you'll all be none the wiser... except then I'll have to erase this post.

Gosh, time travel is so confusing!

Any excuse for a Doctor Who clip

This won't be a coherent post, but I wanted to get a few thoughts down while they were still relatively fresh in my mind. Random? Yes. Important? Probably not. Going to talk about them anyway? Hells ya!

There has been lots going on in my life at the moment. Biggest change? I got a new job. I'm still with the organisation but a new higher-up position. As my brother said when I told him my new title, "you've got 'co-ordinator' in there. Nice!" It's handy when your family are also bureaucrats, they get what titles mean.

Being honest, I love the bathrooms on my new floor!

After my pub board game night with 106 and T, 106 found a Monday night board game meet up here in Victoria. We've been twice and it's awesome! He even bought one of our favourite games from this past Monday and I pretty much had to physically restrain myself from just inviting myself over to play it. It's called Guillotine and it's super simple, super quick, and super hilarious. Also, board games rock. I just wish they weren't so freakin' expensive.

Euro 2012 starts on Friday. That might not mean much to most of you, but it's huge for me. It's the first time in 24 years that Ireland has made it to the Euro. (In fairness, it's only held every four years. It's not like they've missed it 24 years in a row.) The last time Ireland went (which was also the first time, we're a young soccer nation) this happened:

It was kind of a big deal for us. They even wrote songs about it. Never ones to let a moment pass without signing about it, there's an official Ireland song for Euro 2012 as well.

(Snarky me adds a 'unless you score with a handball' at the end.

Yeah, I'm still bitter. Stupid France.)

Speaking of Ireland vs. England, people were chatting in the lunch room today about the Queen's Jubilee when one of them turned to me and seriously asked "you're Irish. Are you excited about the celebrations? Is your family doing anything special?" I was slightly dumbfounded at the question so I just said 'no' and left the room.

I don't have anything against the English, and good on the Queen for sticking in there, but Irish people aren't exactly known for our love of England or the monarchy. In fact, we're kind of known for disliking them. We fought a war of independence over it. The resulting separation of the island of Ireland made a few of the papers. So did the ensuing Troubles. While I don't expect this non-Irish coworker to be able to list names and dates from the last 100 years of Irish history, I would expect that somewhere in her brain would be the understanding that Ireland won't be celebrating this Jubilee. Or any Royal Jubilee.

I'll have to remember to ask her what she's doing for American Independence Day in July.

I have made no secret of my love for Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer. If you love science, you should check out his quote turned into awesome graphics by Zen Pencils. It gives me chills reading it. If you want to get me something nice just because, I'll take a print of that comic. Thanks.

I had a crush on a guy in high school who I always thought was way too cool for me - it was the classic nerd-girl-likes-jock-a-year-older-than-her crush. While I thought I always played it cool, I'm sure he knew. How could he not when I just randomly always seemed to be hanging out in the hall near his locker? Or sitting by the field when he was practicing soccer? He was nicer than some of the crushes I had and politely tolerated me but we had nothing in common. Nothing! Except we both liked 'Ocean Pearl' by 54-40.
While I liked the song, crush-boy loved it. He had all of 54-40's albums, he went to a few of their concerts, and he talked about wanting to meet the band.

This song still gets me dancing.

My crush ended suddenly one day. His friend made fun of him for his geeky hanger-on and his previously tolerant demeanour changed. In front of all his friends, he made me feel about two inches tall. I was devastated.

Skip forward 18 years to this past weekend. My friends, Justin and Ian, played Friday and Saturday night with their recently acquired drummer, Matt Johnson. As in, Matt Johnson of 54-40. It wasn't my first time meeting Matt, but it was the first time we had a conversation between us without Justin or Ian instigating it. Despite friends with him both nights, he made a point of coming over and say 'hello' and asking how I was doing.

As I nursed a hangover of epic proportions on Sunday (more from lack of sleep than the four beers the night before), I thought of that high school crush for the first time in more than a decade. Man, did I ever wish I could tell 14 year old me that some day one of my crush's hero would laugh at my jokes. That would have stopped a few of those tears.

It Pretty Much Went Like That

And just like that, almost two weeks went by...

I wasn't so overly busy I couldn't post, I was just lacking the motivation to write anything. I think I kind of burned myself out on the Christmas posting and just needed a no-guilt break from posting for a little bit. It was well-worth it. Still, life continued on while all was quiet on here so let's glance back.

1. My goal of listing everything each week is still going well... kind of. I got a little overzealous after my last post and wrote a list which was three pages long. Granted, it was a lot of small (but important) tasks written on pages only 20 lines long, but it was still long. Monday and Tuesday, I attacked that thing like McCarthy attacked suspected communists.

Image from Hyperbole and a Half. Specifically this post.

Full disclosure: I love Ali Brosh with all my heart.

Wednesday I looked at the list and did a few things but just couldn't find the motivation to keep it up for more than an hour (plus there was snow to play in!). Thursday, I woke up feeling achy and unable to concentrate for longer than 5 mins at a time. Friday was full flu-epidemic in my world. Dammit.

Monday and Tuesday had taken the list down to one page so I'm clinging to the idea that had I not been incubating a petri dish in my nasal cavities/head/throat/achy back muscles, I totally could have gotten the list completed. And I totally would have cleaned all the things!

2. It snowed in Victoria. It was beautiful. I don't have pictures because a) I had to return the camera to its rightful owner and b) just like you don't bring a knife to a gun fight, you don't bring electronics to a snowball fight.

But it was really pretty. The temps stayed low enough that it stuck around like proper Alberta snow instead of turning into the slushy, icy, deathtrap snow that it usually is in Victoria. Then one night it started raining and when the city woke up the next morning, the snow was gone. That's the way I wish it would happen every year.

3. Season Four of Merlin has started. Yes, I watch Merlin. Judge me all you want, I like it.

It's cheesy fun times with adorable accents and awesome sets. And seeing as Doctor Who isn't on right now, I need something to watch while I enjoy my Sunday morning coffee. Also, James Callis (aka Gaius Baltar from BSG) has a guest appearance on it this week so my geeky heart is just jumping with excitement. I will defend my love of this cheesy, cheesy show. Now, if you really want to judge me...

4. The Challenge: Battle of the Exes has started on MTV. Strangely enough, I don't actually care for 'The Real World' from which this was born. The Challenge is different. I always make an effort to watch it. Judge me. Please. Goodness knows, I'm judging myself for admitting this. The first episode aired this past Wednesday and I was way more giddy about it than any 30+ year old has any right to be.

5. I'm back to work in the office. I've been put in charge of a new project which is both awesome and intimidating. I'm the only person in my building working on it, while all my contacts either work in the other building or work for a different ministry/business partner. It's strange to go from a position where all my thoughts on a program had to go through my supervisor for approval before being signed off at the ministry to a position where all my thoughts go through me and, within my little sphere of influence, the ministry doesn't have to sign off on it.

Check back in six months for my update about how I ran the program into the ground and brought the entire government to its knees with an excel spreadsheet.

Guess where I borrowed and modified this from.

6. Remember when I said I was working on a vlog? Almost done. Just thought you should know that. You know what else is almost done? My final Ireland post with reviews of places we stay/ate/visited. It turned into a book so I'm going back and editing it down to a more bare-bones, less trying-to-be-funny, review post. Strictly reviews/suggestions for other travellers.

7. More judging: I'm going to Underworld: Awakening tonight. Is it going to be crap? Probably. Will I love every crappy moment of it? Definitely. I have an unhealthy love of that series... even the second really crappy one. For all my 'I read science blogs and non-fiction books', I have crap taste in films and have no right to judge anyone's film preferences... unless it's Twilight.

But not the second one. It barely had a story.

8. I got my DVDs of Firefly back from the person I lent them to. Between lending them to three different friends, I haven't had them in over six months. Obviously, I need to rewatch them. I'm toying with the idea of a 12-week Firefly Friday post series. Just giving you all fair warning that it may get really nerdarific up in here!

I've missed my little corner of the Internets. It feels good to be back.

How to Start a New Year

Realise you've had less than six hours sleep three days in a row so opt to be a good girl and stay in.

Make yourself a hot chocolate and Bailey's and settle in to watch the Doctor Who Series Six DVD you got for Christmas.

Decide that as you're taking things easy, you can stay up until midnight, just head to bed very quickly afterwards.

Be halfway through an episode (Let's Kill Hitler by the way) when the new year arrives. Laugh at your cats doing laps around the apartment every time a firecracker goes off.

Once the episode is over, start trolling the internet and find lots of Doctor Who themed pictures.

 

Yes. Yes, it is.

Well, it's mine at least.

Go to bed at 2AM.

Wake up at 7:30AM and curse the addictive hilariousness of Doctor Who fans.

Watch another Doctor Who episode while you potter about the house.

For the first time in the five years that you've thought about doing it, go to the Government House levée, arriving just in time to be the last person in the receiving line.

Sing 'Auld Lang Syne' with hundreds of other people and the pipe band before making your way to the patio to stare across the Juan de Fuca Straight to the snow capped Olympic Mountains. Remind yourself that you live in a pretty freaking beautiful part of the world.

Laugh as the Lieutenant-Governor 'pays the piper' and then cry while he gives his speech. (In this case, 'pay the piper' means to share a wee dram with the piper who led in the head party.)

Vow to make it to the levée in future years. Next time, drag people with you suggest your friends come along.

Write a couple of thoughts as to goals for 2012. Set them aside so you can sleep on them some more.

Go to your mom's for dinner. Receive an impromptu guitar lesson. Celebrate your older brother getting even older.

Curl up on your couch with your cats and watch another episode of Doctor Who before bed. Decided that this sentence will stay on your 2012 list of goals:

Best advice I've been given in a long time.

I hope you've all had a wonderful first 24 hours to 2012!

Winding Down 2011

I'm just going to start this post by coming right out and saying it: Christmas was awesome. After a less than spectacular 2011 (Ireland trip aside because that rocked!), it's ending on a high note and that's really all I can ask for at this point. I had a fabulous two nights up in Nanaimo with my stepmom and Baby Bro, and then I had a wonderful Christmas Day with the rest of my family here in Victoria.

First and foremost, I got a guitar for Christmas! Well, my stepdad gave/loaned me one of his guitars, but the important thing is that I now have a guitar so I can learn to play. I even played my first song today, a very slow, laborious and painful heartfelt and emotional rendition of On Raglan Road. 

My version sounded exactly like that except guitar-only, much slower, with a plethora of mistakes and a voice that sounds nothing like Luke Kelly. But other than those tiny differences, exactly like that. It's not that I honestly expected the song to be any good right away but I just wanted to fumble through one song I'd like to learn so I know exactly how far I have to go. Answer? Pretty freakin' far at this point! It's also helped me set a goal for what will constitute #24 on my 101 in 1001 list as completed: participate in my local coffee shop's Open Mic. So simple and yet so freaking terrifying right now.

I also got Doctor Who Series Six on Blu-Ray!! Except I don't have a Blu-Ray player. ::sad trombone:: I had to do something I've never done before: I went to the mall on Boxing Day. Did you know that most stories won't do returns or exchanges on Boxing Day? Again, this was my first time ever going to a mall on Boxing Day. Lesson learned! At any rate, I now have DVDs which I can watch so, yeah, don't be surprised if I disappear for the next week...

As the year wraps up, I've been debating about whether or not I'm actually going to set resolutions or goals for 2012. To be honest, I set them every year... and then forget about them by February. Perhaps if I made them and put them in a place where I actually see them, I'd have more success. I know me and I know that I will do resolutions (although I prefer to call them goals) because I like making lists, but I'm also thinking I might just make them ridiculously simple this year. E.G. Don't leave house with curlers in your hair. (True story.)

While I was debating this topic yet again this afternoon, a friend shared this on facebook:

It reminded of a post on The Great Fitness Experiment earlier this year about a to-be list vs. a to-do list. I thought a lot about what would be on my to-be list at that time but then I got distracted by, oh, probably by my to-do list to be honest, and I never did get around to actually writing a to-be list. The six habits of happiness list overlapped a lot of my ideas for my to-be list and got me thinking about it again. So while I don't know if I'll formally set resolutions or goals, I will be writing a to-be list for 2012.

At Least Bow Ties Are Still Cool*

I had that moment.

You know, that moment when you realise exactly how old you are.

I’m not deluding myself and thinking that I’m still some young spring chicken who can party until 4am, sleep for three hours and still get up for work at 8am (um, not that I ever did that, any former employers who may be reading this), but I don’t think of 31 as old. Older, yes. But not old.

Then I attended an Alumni Band practice on Thursday night.

There were slim pickings in the Alto Sax section: me, Mike and a quiet girl who answered every question I threw at her but didn’t say much in general. (My apologies; out of all the questions I asked her, I forgot to ask her name.)

She had graduated just the previous June. I did a quick mental calculation in my head: grad’ed when she was 18 in 2011... she was born in 1993. I started high school that year.

This was my grade eight school bus.

We continue to make small talk as we sight-read the first Alto Sax music. Mike and I tell her our grad years (1996 and 1998 respectively) to which she just says ‘wow’.  As the night wears on (and I wear her down) she opens up a bit more and comments on a few of the pieces we’re playing.

Eventually we come to a medley that most of us have been itching to play because it’s a piece of music Mr. Wilson got years ago for a fun audience interactive piece. It contains a couple of dance songs from the late 80’s and early 90’s as well as Y.M.C.A. As Mike said, it was like being at a high school dance all over again.

Yes, I'm talking about this Y.M.C.A. song.

As we wait to begin the piece, the girl leans over and points to a section of the piece that has words we’re supposed to say.

“What song is that?”

I read the words exactly as they show on the page.

“Whoomp! There it is.”

Her face is completely blank as she looks at me.

“Whoomp! There it is,” I repeat, this time saying it as it’s said in the chorus of the song.

She blinks. I feel like the Danny Butterman character in Hot Fuzz: “You’ve never seen Bad Boys II?”

“Don’t you know ‘Whoomp! There it is’?”

She shakes her head.

“You don’t know ‘Whoomp! There it is’?” I am in complete disbelief that someone younger than me doesn’t know this song and before I know what I’m doing, I’m rapping the whole first verse to this girl who was born the year the song came out.

I get to the repetitive chorus and look at her, hoping for some sign of recognition. All I get is a giggle.

“I’ve never heard it but your rapping is good...” her voice trails off and she giggles again.

And that, my friends, is what getting old feels like.

*sigh*

I guess I'll just have to take it back to old school cuz I'm an old fool who's so cool.

*That's a Doctor Who reference in the title. You know, just so we all know exactly how cool I am.

Things I Think Are Awesome: Part Two

Part two of no segues has arrived. (There will also be no segways. We've been over this.)

1. This Photo

For those of you born without the geek chromosome (oh, how boring your life must be), that's Nathan Fillion, Felicity Day, Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright and Anthony Head all in the same photo! On top of that, the photo was taken in the house of Joss Whedon!!

Throw in a Wil Wheaton, and I would have stolen a car and driven to that party... three days late, but whatever.

2. Sleeping masks

At some point this summer, I noticed that I was waking up really early regardless of what time I went to bed. I started sleeping with a shirt strategically placed across the top half of my head and noticed a huge difference. After a conversation with my mom, I got one of their free-from-a-plane-trip sleeping mask and it's love. Well, lust.

I've noticed that it's much easier to fall asleep and when I wake up, I've actually slept the whole night. I'm waking up at 7:00am (without an alarm clock!) feeling completely refreshed. I'm also not waking up through out the night because of various street noises. I'm attributing this to the fact that I'm reaching REM sooner and staying in it longer because the light from the outside streetlamp is no longer affecting my sleep patterns.

Of course, I'm not a scientist, so this could all just be mumbo-jumbo bulldroppings.

But it sounds impressive, right?

The only downside is that the cheep sleeping mask can occasionally get a little hot and sweaty. An upgrade to a higher calibre of mask is on the horizon (although I'll stick with this one for now).

3. Fernwood Village

I felt it was time I threw a little love at my little corner of Victoria. It's a funky area to live in and I don't always give it the props it deserves. When I first moved to Fernwood in 2003, the NRG was pretty much a non-entity,  the George and Dragon Pub was the site of the worst service I had ever experienced in my life (and I was spat on by a waitress in Paris, so, you know, the G&D was pretty crappy), the dark square and questionable 'residents' meant I never walked through the area at night, and the largest building sat boarded up.

I would tell people I lived in Fernwood and I could see that look in their eye.

Flash forward five years and I'm back into the neighbourhood. The NRG is a sizable organisation which has bought and developed the Cornerstone Building (which houses the awesome Cornerstone Cafe), all available building space has been taken up by independent, locally owned businesses, the Fernwood Inn is actually a decent pub with decent service(!!), and the more questionable residents have been 'encouraged' to vacate, leaving behind the fun, funky artist and Bohemian types who make this neighbourhood so awesome.

As a community, we came together for a day and painted the poles. How awesome is that?

The Cornerstone Building is hiding in the background.

From the annual FernFest to small street parties, Fernwood really is about making the neighbourhood a neighbourhood. It's impossible to walk around the area without meeting someone you know from random conversations in  the cafe, the pub, or one of the restaurants.

I'm so glad I moved back to the area and got to give it another chance. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else.

PS. One of the people who makes Fernwood awesome, is Terry.

4. TARDIS Cat scratcher

Doctor Who!

Cats!

Together at last!

My mind = blown!

Okay, so it's not really the first time they've been together. In fact, if google is anything to go by, most Doctor Who fans must also be cat-owners. But my mind is still blown!

Tip of the Catnip to THR for sending this my way. More pictures can be found here.

5. Bakingdom

I woke up to find this announcement on the Bakingdom facebook place:

I pretty much had to sweep up my mind so it could be re-blown.

Fingers crossed she finds a way to make this happen!

6. Munro's Books

In anticipation of possibly going to Guinea next year, I wandered into Chapter's to peruse their French section. I had two goals while I was in there: 1) create a mental list of the type of French books I'd like to take to the school, and 2) check out the selection of sewing books to gauge if there's any with lots of pictures and very little writing.

While the children's section in french took up a decent chunk of space, it was the same eight books over and over and over and over. Okay, so perhaps there were more than eight, but the point is that there was a lot of repetition.

I mentally noted a couple of books and then headed out to Munro's. It will never cease to amaze me that a book a book store that would take up less than half of one floor of our three story Chapters building has a better book selection. Not only did they have more options for children's books in french, they also had an adult section in French, German, Italian and Spanish.

When it comes time to actually think about ordering these books seriously, you'll find me at Munro's (or Bolen's, love them too).

Also, Chapters, you kinda suck. But that's a different post.

Storytime Sunday: Andrea's an Idiot

I woke up this morning trying to remember why I wanted to take my laptop with me to my mom's. She's away for a few days camping so I'm watering her plants.

Failing to remember why I was so "got to remember my laptop" the night before, I set off to the land of free internet my mom's sans technology with plans to water her flowers, make a cup of tea and watch last night's episode of Doctor Who.

Well, I wanted to bring my laptop because it has all my stories on it. Kind of hard to post my writing when I don't have it.

And Space Channel is taking their sweet time getting the new Who up on the site. (I prefer to stream things legally when given the option.)

And there's no milk for my tea (like last time when I brought milk and found some milk left in the fridge) so I can even enjoy a cuppa on the back porch surrounded by my mom's lovely flowers.

So far, this Sunday's been a bit of a bust.

The Dork Diaries

Sometimes I like to try and convince myself I'm not a nerd/dork/geek. I'm just a normal 30 year old with the occasional geek-tendency.

Hey, lots of cool people like BSG!

Although I admit that I would be hard-pressed to call the majority of SG-1 fans cool.

I love both... a lot.

In my defense, BSG had Jamie Bamber and SG-1 had... well... erm... look, it was fun and funny and light-hearted and just a generally enjoyable hour-long escape into a sci-fi world I enjoyed and it had MacGyver Richard Dean Anderson.

But I digress. I like to think I'm cool. I travel, I do the running man, I'm occasionally hilarious mildly funny... I'm cool.

Then, after going for a run in the rain and having a Doctor Who discussion via text message with Darth, I sit down to my facebook and promptly have the following discussion:

Sadly, the only part of that discussion I didn't know off the top of my head was the planet that Armus resided on.

I think it's high time I got my Geek Card laminated.

Also, I should probably start looking for potential future husbands in their parent's basements. Might have better success that way.

Can You Miss an Inanimate Object?

I have buyers remorse and I haven't bought anything.

My friend, Darth (possibly soon-to-be roommate Darth... hmmm, does that make me the Emperor? I like the sound of that. Anyway, back on track...), left for two weeks in Europe yesterday and I agreed to lend him my 'real' camera as he only had his camera phone. I gave it to him at work on Friday.

Everywhere I've looked all weekend, I see something I want to take a picture of. It's as if my world has become one big photo shoot and I'm without my camera.

The light was perfect at my dad's on Saturday and between the uprooted tree, finding a nest of snails (there were five of them, I call that a nest) on the broom* I was attacking**, and a sunny patch on the outdoor tap which took a chunk out of the top of my head (it bled but I'm fine), there were ample photo opportunities.

Yesterday was a walk down Cook St to Cloverpoint and back. Dallas Rd (the part of the walk to Cloverpoint) is a part of Victoria that screams "TAKE A PICTURE!!" (I could be biased but I think all of Victoria screams that, but Dallas Rd looking south to the Olympic Mts. really screams it.) *sigh*

The same walk a year ago.

Darth better take some frakkin' amazing pictures at the Doctor Who museum in Cardiff.

*Snails on the broom? It's the French and Scots banding together to steal an Irishman's land, I tell ya!

**If you ever dare tell me you think broom is beautiful, I will beat you with a branch of it. It is killing the native plants on Vancouver Island and it's next to impossible to truly kill.

Dribs and Drabs

It's been over a week since I last posted and the list of items I want to talk about just grows longer and longer. There is no smooth way to segue from item to item so I'm going with ye olde list option. And because the list is a little on the long (and boring) side, I'm throwing in some random pictures BECAUSE I CAN!

Spring is finally here! Sorta... still a bit cooler than normal but hey! Flowers!

1. I didn't read a single book in March. Not one. It was just not a good month for getting anything done that wasn't 'essential' (eating is essential, bathing is essential, reading is not essential). That puts me at roughly three books behind for my two a month goal, but I know I can make it up because I'm halfway through three books as we speak. I never really was one for reading on book at a time.

That's me getting arrested for not reading.Mounties totally do that right?

Arrest children for not reading enough?

Because they probably should.

2. My Aunt Joan who reads this (Hi Joan!) put me in touch with her friend who is going to Ghana to volunteer. Her friend was looking for information about volunteering. I was hesitant at first because I really didn't think I could be that helpful having volunteered in Tanzania (it's like asking for information about Vancouver from someone who's only been to Toronto). Through our email exchanges, however, I realised that there's a lot of information that I have about volunteering in Tanzania that can be applied to volunteering overseas in general (and especially in developing countries).

As a result of this, I'm going to work on a volunteer page for this blog which will contain this information. It is currently a work in progress and it may be a good month before I actually get it up, but if you have volunteered overseas and have any tips, tricks, secrets, hints, suggestions, or warnings, please share.

This was before I realised his diaper was leaking and he had peed all down my back.

True story.

3. In the same vein, a huge, HUGE thank you to everyone who has supported Matoto in our Ten Days event. We are still collecting all the money before we confirm out total (it's a chicks hatching thing), but we are eternally grateful for all the support we have received. I nu wali.

Education helps level the playing field.

(I really need a drummer to just follow me around.)

(BUT IT'S TRUE!)

4. Shannon started doing OrgJunkie's 52 week organize challenge. I had a few too many things on my plate to start the challenge at the time but kept it in the back of my mind for later. Well, it's later. On Friday, I had to conduct a search under the bathroom sink for *ahem* feminine hygiene products. I'm sure the cupboard under my bathroom sink is like many other such cupboards: plenty of items go in but toilet paper, the aforementioned FHP, and cheap bulk purchase toothpaste are the only items that come out. After five minutes, I finally found some FHP. They weren't mine. I can only assume they were my roommates. She moved out three years ago this June. Note taken; 52 week Org Challenge will start shortly (although I will not be doing the weekly blogging questions, I will occasionally talk about it on here).

Important question: do I organise these alphabetically or by amount of geek-cred they give me?

5. Last year, my old high school started an Alumni Band. We practiced for about six weeks and then opened for the current senior and jazz bands at the annual Mother's Day concert. Well, they decided to do it again and I decided to rejoin. Let this be a lesson for you children: once a geek, always a geek.

I miss band trips. Why couldn't we redo that part of high school band?

Who wouldn't want to be stuck on a bus for 10 hours with

people you barely talked to 15 years ago?

6. Playoffs are in full swing. For those who are not Canadian, I'm referring to ice hockey playoffs. (Seriously? Do the Americans really need to specify ice hockey on their broadcasts? When was the last time they televised a field hockey game on national television?) My boys were doing really well until last night (when they got trounced 7-2 by Chicago but when you obviously forget to show up to a game, that's what happens). Assuming they don't completely choke tomorrow night, expect a few hockey-related, beer-fueled posts on here. Just a warning.

The Canucks' skill level on Tuesday was somewhat akin to these guys.

Still, love my boys. My dad told me to cheer for the underdogs because when they win, it's a sweeter victory.

I have suffered through a lot of bad years and it really has made this year so rewarding.

M dad also told me not to be a damn fool about it which is why I don't cheer for the Leafs.

7. I have to speak German in three weeks. Granted, this lady speaks English but where would the fun be in that? Ich muss Deutsch sprechen!

YAY GERMANY!

Wait, this is the flag of the Swiss Canton Wallis. My bad.

I can't wait until she starts laughing at my Canadian-Swiss accent in German.

Grueesächt! Chuchichäschtli! Chässchuechli!

8. There's more but I haven't been in bed before midnight once in the last week. I might have been able to pull of working on five hours sleep when I was twenty but now it just makes me moody and short-tempered. Actually, it did that to me in my twenty's as well but we were all so sleep-deprived and hopped up on caffeine that we didn't notice each other's foul moods.

8.a. I'm a little obsessed with the mini-series on HBO called Game of Thrones (of which I am currently reading the book--almost done--and am also obsessed with) plus Doctor Who starts up this weekend... I'm just saying that my writing might be a little distracted and/or very sci-fi/fantasy/hockey heavy for the next few weeks/months. I'm sorry but I'm a dork. You all knew this when you started reading this... unless you're new here in which case: hello!

I got chills when I first saw this and not just because Winter Is Coming!

A Geek on Her Birthday

My friends at work made me a birthday card. They followed the tradition I started a few months back of making the birthday card. The first few cards were born out of necessity when we had forgotten two birthdays, but then it became a thing: what crappy card coloured with highlighters would Andrea give you this time? And now I have received my very first crappy work card. It brings a tear to my eye. It was devoid of highlighters but that's okay because it was a Doctor Who picture on the front. You NEVER ruin a Doctor Who picture with highlighters!

As we settled down to start our workday, Lester* came over to my cubicle.

"We found another picture of that thing..."

"It's a Dalek."

"Right, whatever. Anyway, we found another picture and it said "you will be exterminated" and JBobby* was asking me what that meant and I was like "I don't know, do I look like I watch Doctor Who?"

"It's what they say. It's their threat. EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! And then a little blue laser beam comes out of that thing there and they kill you."

"Okay. So, we went with this picture instead and then we gave the card to Darth* to sign, and did you read what he wrote?"

"Hopefully you don't get exterminated."

"Right." She laughed.

I smiled.

"I went over to point it out to him," and it was at this point in her story that I started to laugh. Not because I found it funny for the same reasons she did, but because I found it hilarious that she didn't realise he was just writing what any Doctor Who fan would write on the inside of a Dalek card. It's like having a Friends card with Chandler on the front and writing 'Could I WISH you a happier birthday?'

"...he didn't find it that funny. I was trying to point out to him how funny it was that he wrote the same thing the other card had said but he wasn't really laughing about it. So I said to him 'I guess one things abundantly clear' and he replied 'that I'm a giant dork?'" More laughter from Lester.

I'm laughing at this point but still for a completely different reason than Lester.

"We are both giant dorks," I agree.

I turn to my card with a smile still on my face as Lester heads back to her cubicle. She pauses at JBobby's desk before sitting down.

"Yeah, she didn't find it that funny either."

My non-funny Doctor Who birthday card

(made with love and work supplies)

*Names, as always, have been changed to protect the guilty innocent.

Can I Get a "So Say We All"?

I find dating torture.

There, I said it. Dating sucks. At best, you find someone you want to pursue a relationship with. At worst, you are twenty-five minutes into an hour long hike when he says "I don't really get why people like sci-fi" and you spend the rest of the time in uncomfortable silence. And that right there is the crux of my problem.

If you get this, you just made my heart go pitter-pat.

[Source]

I'm a geek/nerd/dork/dweeb/incredibly-uncool-but-still-somewhat-normal-person. There are no dating guides for my kind. Cosmo has never written an article about when it's acceptable to bring up the Kirk vs. Picard debate, I've never heard any tips on how to get a guy to watch Doctor Who with me, and no one can give me a definitive answer on when I should confess to having watched every SG-1 episode. (Right now, I'm going with 'never' as the answer for the last one.)

Enter the web series Awkward Embraces and all its nerdy awesomeness. Finally, a show about dating that I can relate to!