Februarch

My calendar tells me it's March. I think it's lying to me but my phone tells me the same thing.

*sigh*

Another month down. Granted, it was a short month but it still seemed to fly by. I made the mistake of starting choice to begin a couple of projects in January which, coupled with returning to work, made February a busy, busy month. My fun time was one episode of The Walking Dead a night until I caught up with the series.

My willingness to get over my natural tendency to avoid anything graphic

might have something to do with these two guys.

Love me some Daryl and Rick!

I enjoy zombie movies but I usually enjoy them for the camp-factor. The Walking Dead is anything but camp. In fact, it's disturbingly realistic in its portrayal of decomposing dead (yet ambulatory) bodies. Just debating whether or not to watch the show gave me a horrible nightmare. I woke up three times, once I was crying, and every time I fell right back into the nightmare. I was sweaty by the time I woke up and emotionally distraught over having to shoot a few of my friends in the head. Since I actually started watching the show, I haven't had a single bad dream. Note to self: it's never as bad as you imagine it to be.

February was also the month that I committed to attending the Emerald City Comicon in Seattle at the end of March. Why yes, it is just as nerdy as you think it is. Nerdy and dorky and awesome. I can't wait. Finally, my dream of stalking awkwardly-staring-at-while-waiting-for-his-autograph-because-I-can't-think-of-anything-to-say-meeting Wil Wheaton will come true!

I've read a lot of books lately which I may or may not talk about at a later date, but most recently I started reading Playing with Fire by Theo Fleury. By recently, I mean Sunday. It's good. I can't put it down. For those who are not familiar with Theo Fleury, he's a Canadian hockey player who struggled with various addictions throughout his career. After cleaning up in the mid-2000's, he came forward and spoke out about the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his junior hockey coach. While I've never been a huge fan of Theo's (um hello, he played for Calgary! Automatic 37 strikes against him!), I fell a little in love with him when he posted this on his blog during the Penn State abuse scandal back in November 2011. I made a decision then and there to read his book. So glad I did.

I caught a travel show on Switzerland a few days ago. Suddenly, I find myself looking at flights and googling gondola trips up various mountains. You may find a couple of Swiss photos sneaking into future posts along with trips down memory lane about the proper way to prepare a cheese fondue or what it's like to experience an Alpabzug (bringing the cows down from the mountain pastures for winter). Oh Switzerland, I miss you.

I'm hoping to get back to writing on here more often, but I make no promises. Game of Thrones was just released on DVD today...

I Wrote What?

I wasn't going to specifically write a Year-In-Review post as other than Ireland (which feels like I just finished writing about), I don't really recall 2011 being a great year for recapping. I did, however, figured I'd mention a few moments in my "Hello 2012, I dare you to out-crap 2011" post I'm working of for tomorrow. As I reviewed a year worth of posts, I noticed something: I crack myself up.

I noticed this when I switched to the new timeline on facebook (and had to edit almost five years worth of status updates), and found myself chuckling alone in my apartment at my own willingness to be an idiot. So instead of a recap of "the best of 2011" or "highlights of 2011" or "the amazing things I did in 2011", I give you instead: the posts I most enjoy from 2011.

Don't brush and eat

I judge you based on the movies you watch

I still love you


Geeks need love too!

When I was sweet sixteen seventeen

I'm still younger than the Doctor

This is why I'm not allowed out in public

Then this happened... so I look into becoming a nun

Then this happened... so I look into become a cricket fan

I blame my dad for my whack sense of musical taste

I nerd out about ST:TNG again

I meet a lady who knew my dad when he had hair!!

I nerd out about Pluto having another moon

Canada lost an amazing man

I willingly posted a video of my singing

I need to learn to keep my mouth shut

If I put up pictures of Deanna Troi, I triple my number of page hits (true story)

I'm takin' it back to the old school cuz I'm an old fool who's so cool


Is mise AndreaClaire. Is as Canada dom. Conas ata tu? Pog mo thoin. Slan ge foill! (And that's about all the Irish I know!)

I love Christmas

That pretty much sums up me and it sums up my 2011. I had a late night last night thanks to a friend visiting from Switzerland so after much debate, I'm spending my New Years with a short guitar practice then one serving of ice cream and my Doctor Who DVD. Little Miss Wild-n-Crazy over here!!

Happy New Year!

CMC: Church

This is part of my Christmas Memory Challenge, a goal I set for myself to recall 25 things I love about Christmas. You can also check out Shannon's memories here.

While I am not a religious person, members of my family are and so church, more specifically the Roman Catholic church, has played a part in my upbringing. I have to admit that for all my issues with the sexual abuse cover-ups, the amount of tax free money churches generate, and my blatant disbelief in a higher being, I love to attend a church service for Christmas (or Easter or Ash Wednesday, any of the big ones, really). I love to see the place all decked out for the season with candles everywhere. It's beautiful and calm inside a church at Christmas.

Midnight Mass was the best: no kids making a fuss while the sermon was being delivered and dark enough that no one noticed if I fell asleep in the back row after the first five minutes. Midnight mass in Alberta meant walking back to my grandparents, snow crunching underfoot, while my stepdad picked out constellations twinkling above us. It was the best part of Christmas. The hustle and bustle of our Christmas meals for roughly 30 family members were all done, and it was our moment of calm before the hustle and bustle of Christmas morning.

In Switzerland, I attended Christmas Eve Mass with Michael's family. We merrily stumbled down the village lanes, drunk on joy and wine, towards the tiny 15th century church. From every direction, walkers joined us in the short pilgrimage. The inside of the church was lit only by candles placed throughout the nave. Up by the alter stood the towering tree, decked out with candles and nothing else. It was breathtaking in its simplicity.

As we left the church, we were given short white candles which the priest then lit with one of the alter candles. We walked back the way we came, cheering a chorus of Froehe Weihnachten to the groups of twos and threes who left us along the way to head to their own houses until we were the ones receiving the cheer. Once settled in the house with hot beverages and a roaring fire, we used the candles from the church to light the candles on the Christmas tree.

CMC: Heisse Maroni

This is part of my Christmas Memory Challenge, a goal I set for myself to recall 25 things I love about Christmas. You can also check out Shannon's memories here.

I've known the opening line to A Christmas Song since I was old enough to listen to Johnny Mathis - it's the song that starts with "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire..." - but I didn't know anyone who actually roasted chestnuts. Most people I know collect chestnuts in the fall simply because of the belief that they repel spiders. (Or if you're me and you're eight, you collect them so you can make a necklace which doubles as a weapon against your brothers when mom's not looking). Chestnuts actually roasting on a fire seemed like an old-timey thing, like sleigh rides, a goose for Christmas dinner, or a quiet evening spent as a family.

Then I moved to Germany and learned that while the open fire may be a thing of the past, roasting chestnuts is still very much the thing to do. I also learned that I adore the smell. Oh, the smell is divine. I didn't actually care about eating them, I just wanted to smell them!

In early November (or when the weather turns cold enough), heisse maroni (hot chestnut) stands pop up all over Germany and Switzerland (and I'm sure other countries too, those are just the two I'm most familiar with) and I'd buy a bag of them just so I could walk around smelling them all day. When people ask me what I miss most about Christmas in Europe, it's the smell of heisse maroni... and buying Glühwein at a street kiosk. But mostly the smell of heisse maroni.

CMC: St. Nicholas Day

This is part of my Christmas Memory Challenge, a goal I set for myself to recall 25 things I love about Christmas. You can also check out Shannon's memories here.

I know I said these memories were about remembering the non-gift giving parts of the holidays, but I kind of lied. Eleven years ago, I was attending university in Freiburg, Germany when my boyfriend's parents and sister surprised me with a visit. They arrived on December 6th because it was St. Nicholas Day and they wanted to make sure I got my gifts.

The first time I heard about St. Nicholas Day was in my first year of French class. In many European cultures, that's actually the day that St. Nick delivers presents with Christmas being more about family gifts. My gifts from Samichlaus (the Swiss name for Santa Claus) that year were lebuchen with a picture of the village, the best damn chocolates in the world (also from the village)*, and a Swiss calendar.

This started a tradition in my life. If I want to surprise someone for the Christmas season, I do it on December 6th. When I snuck into my office after hours to put up Christmas decorations without telling anyone, I did it in the evening of the fifth so it was a surprise when everyone walked in on the sixth. When I brought homemade cookies to my favourite coffee shop, I did it on the sixth.

So happy St. Nicholas Day! Now go surprise someone with a little treat!

*If you ever go to Switzerland, please let me know. I will give you money and explicit instructions as to how to procure the best damn chocolates in the world in exchange for you bringing some of them back to me.

CMC: Cranberries

This is part of my Christmas Memory Challenge, a goal I set for myself to recall 25 things I love about Christmas. You can also check out Shannon's memories here.

"What are those," he asks as he points at the floating red berries in the punch.

"Cranberries," I tell him. He looks at me wanting more of an explanation. "Don't you have cranberries in Switzerland?"

He shrugs. Michael had moved to Canada for four months to study English, and he was spending Christmas with me and my family. I was introducing him to what 'Family Christmas Party' meant in my parents' homes, and it was clear there were a lot more cultural differences than either of us had assumed.

"Maybe but I've never had them. Why are they in there?" He squints at the punch bowl as if some unseen writing would appear which would answer his questions. I can understand his confusion, I had just poured us two glasses of punch while avoiding the cranberries as if my life depended on it. Why would you put something in a punch if you couldn't consume it?

"You can eat them, but I only eat cranberry sauce. They're very bitter in their natural state."

"I can try one?"

"If you want." It's my turn to shrug. He picks up a fork from the buffet table and fishes a cranberry from the punch. He smiles at me as his pops it in his mouth. Before he's even finished biting down, the smile is wiped from his face and replaced with the look of a toddler tasting his first lemon. He grabs a napkin and spits out the rest of the cranberry.

"That's horrid! Why did you let me eat that?" I can't stop myself from laughing as he spits a few remaining pieces of cranberry into the napkin before downing the entire glass of punch. "The punch tastes so good but those..."

"Hey, I told you they were bitter."

"Yeah," he agreed. "I had to find out for myself. Maybe our tastes are different, you know?" I nod.

"Come on. Let's get some food to get that taste out of your mouth."

Froehlich am 1. August!

Today is Switzerland's National Holiday. Trying to choose one Swiss story for today is an almost impossible task. Instead I'm just going to share a few photos (in random that's-how-my-computer-organized-them order) from my trip back there in 2005.

Obere Hauptgasse in Thun

Dorfstrasse, Sigriswil (one of two main streets in the village)

View from the Sämi and Susi's main steps

Looking back at Eiger from Männlichen

Across the Aare from Old Town, Bern

Bridge, Thun

Kappelbrücke at Night, Lucerne

The monastery, St. Gallen

 

Sunset in Elfingen