A Lisa Simpson retrospecticus

I've never tried to compile a year's worth of opinions and impressions all at once before, but this year I've decided to give it a go.  It's the last year I'll be in my 20's and able to get away with being fairly insipid.  This is by no means a "best of" list, it's more of a "I like the most of".  I don't want angry emails challenging me on cinematography and musicology and why scientifically my picks don't represent the "best". 

So with no more ado, here they are.

Best Movies I Saw In '11
Bridesmaids
Fast Five
Friends With Benefits
No Strings Attached (2 movies about casual sex! What a banner year!)
Born To Be Wild 3D  (Seriously. See this if you get the chance)
Twilight Breaking Dawn

*Honorable Mention: Insidious was hands-down one of the scariest movies I've ever seen.  It was super well done, but I'd never want to see it again.

Worst Movies I Saw In '11
Dream House (thanks a lot Vee :s)
The Dilemma (Was this even meant to be funny? It was just awful)
Your Highness (Godawful. Perhaps the worst of the bunch)
Gnomeo & Juliet (I was so sad that this wasn't better!)
Our Idiot Brother (Just the worst kind of hipster crap)

Best TV Shows I Bothered to Watch in '11
Parks & Recreation
Criminal Minds
Modern Family (Getting a little weaker over time though)
Game of Thrones (Oh. My. God. So. Amazing)
True Blood
New Girl (despite my rampant annoyance with Zooey Deschanel's "quirkiness")

Best Book I Read in '11 (but wasn't actually published this year)
My Custom Van: And 50 Other Mind-Blowing Essays That Will Blow Your Mind All Over Your Face by Michael Ian Black.  The only book I've ever read and actually laughed out loud while reading.  Profusely.

People I'm Sad Died in '11
Jack Layton
Elizabeth Taylor
Harry Morgan
Heavy D
Peter Falk (Oh I love the Princess Bride!)

People I'm Not Sad Died in '11
Moammar Ghadafi


2011 was the year the world got angry.  Mother Nature did, in Japan, in New Zealand, in Brazil, and here in Manitoba.  Ordinary citizens did as well, in Greece, the U.S, Southern Sudan, the Middle East, and Vancouver, Canada, to varying effect, for things as noble as the struggle for democracy and self determination, to things as petty as a hockey team losing a game.  Where a lot of this anger will lead is largely yet to be determined.  But with it, in most instances, has come hope.  Hope for change, and hope for the better.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed.

Big News Stories of '11 (by no means comprehensive, just ones I paid attention to)
New Zealand earthquakes (February)
Japan tsunami/nuclear crisis (March)
The "Arab Spring" uprisings in the Middle East
The Royal wedding (whether anyone likes it or not, this was apparently a big deal)
The city of Vancouver embarasses itself hard in the wake of losing the Stanley Cup
That unbelievable massacre in Norway
Osama bin Laden (maybe) dies
The Jets come back (I for one couldn't care less if I tried, but other people seem to)
The U.S repeals DADT and the world manages not to implode
Occupy Wall Street
Steve Jobs dies (again, not a big deal to me, but other people seemed quite upset)
New Zealand finally wins the Rugby World Cup.  Flawlessly.
Europe continues to kind of.....fall apart.
Winnipeg is back on top as the murder capital! Take that Abbottsford!

If I think of anything else between now and the end of the year, I'll get back to you :)

Onto some other miscellany.

Is the purpose of Rogers TV spots to convince you that every single person on the Rogers network is a complete tool?  Gosh I hate advertising.  The 2 genuinely clever and/or cute ads you see per year really don't compensate for the thousands of idiotic ones you have to be subjected to to get to them.

Elizabeth Taylor's jewellery collection went to auction at Christie's in New York this week, and wow.  Richard Burton was THE man to be married to back in the day.  Everything truly stunning in the collection was something he gave her.  I can see why she married him twice.  Have a look.  It's like nothing you can believe.  The Legendary Jewels of Elizabeth Taylor.

Finally, I would like to take a moment to remember someone special that was lost this year.  Ashley Robinson was the first nursing student I ever precepted, when I had only been a nurse about 7 months myself.  It was a huge learning experience for us both, and I was so proud to watch her become a competent and respected professional, and to hear from nurses on other units what a great job she was doing.  Ashley died in June in an ATV accident at the age of 24.  If there's anything to take away from something so senseless, I guess it might just be to be safe.  Wear your seatbelts, wear a helmet, don't drink and drive, just be careful.  You don't want your family to be the one preparing for their first Christmas without their loved one.

Take care of each other and have a wonderful holiday season :)


"Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the unique, the very special, and the always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way, and never again." - Hermann Hesse

Hand-wringing! Pearl-clutching! Vapors!

This week has been full of ups and downs, and some consequential and inconsequential observations.  Strap yourself in!

People.  If you name your daughters things like Destiny, Jasmine, Crystal, Nevaeh, or Misty, you WILL end up with a stripper.  Don't act so surprised.  If you name your sons things like Tucker, Ashton, Jace, Jayden, or Parker, you WILL end up with a jackass.  Don't act so surprised.  If you're going to give your kids names' bizarre spellings like Kym-br-leigh, Aschyeleigh, or Kaytelynne, they ARE going to resent you someday, probably sooner rather than later.  Don't act surprised.

Has anyone else noticed since Ricky Gervais lost a modest amount of weight, he's not really funny anymore, he's just mean?  He used to be self-deprecating and clever, now his jokes are 90% "Isn't is funny how fat people are fat?" and "Isn't it funny how Charlie Sheen has substance abuse problems?  That's a smart joke that's not been done before right???  Right???"......Ummm....... His humor was sometimes kind of arrogant before, but now it's just....pitiful and irritating and desperate.

There are 2 pseudo-political issues sticking in my craw lately, and I'm going to address one of them this week.  The other one, I haven't decided.  Anyways, I don't pretend to have a deep and abiding understanding of the American political system, OR the American psyche.  At all.  But if media coverage is to be believed, the economy, widespread joblessness, or military involvement in overseas conflicts are nowhere near the top of the list of "Things To Address".  Nope, it's those pesky gays and the reprehensible idea that everyone should have health care.  But mostly the gays.  Somehow, other people's sexual identity is hands-down the most pressing issue facing America today, with most of the Republican candidates publicly appealing "Won't someone PLEASE think of the children?  How can we explain this sort of thing to the children?"  Well, you know what's easy to explain to children?  That everyone's different, and we should all respect that.  You know what's truly difficult to explain to children?  Rationalizations for bigotry and intolerance.  Rick Perry releases ads equating gays serving openly in the military with a "war on religion".  Rick Santorum makes nonsensical, ignorant comments every time he's asked about gay issues (which is all he's ever asked about, it's the only thing that comprises his platform).  And Michelle Bachmann and her husband run a clinic which claims to "cure homosexuality" with prayer and good old-fashioned Christian shame.   I think all of these things are far more difficult to explain to children (who, in the end, are far more understanding than the rest of us) than the simple fact that people love each other.  Why the American people are tolerating their political discourse being constantly steered in this direction in the face of far more serious and immediate problems, I will never understand.  As a little 8-year old boy whispered in Michelle "Pray The Gay Away" Bachmann's ear this past week in South Carolina, "Miss Bachmann, my mommy is gay and she doesn't need any fixing."  And as one of the most conservative people I know once said, "How does it affect me if Frank and Larry down the street want to get married?  Frank and Larry are already gay.  They already live together.  Being able to get married isn't going to make them gay.  How does their getting married affect me sitting here watching TV?  It doesn't"

I have no way of knowing if these are dentures or not, but if they're not, Billy Joel's teeth are exquisite.

And to the people from Russia who seem to be following pretty regularly, hey there!  Thanks for reading!



"Nobody can make you feel inferior without your consent." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Vitriol and sparkles!

As most people know, I’m not a fan of Sam Katz, the mayor of this city circling the drain.  He treats this city with disdain and contempt, and seems to hold his office purely for the purposes of using this place as his own personal cash cow.  I’m not sure if he ever did, but he doesn’t even bother to try to keep up the appearance of caring about his job anymore.  And when faced with any manner of criticism, his response is to basically flip the public the proverbial bird.  Every. Single. Time.  Last year, Sam Katz held a taxpayer-funded Christmas party at a restaurant he owns, essentially funnelling the city coffers into his own pockets.  Unsurprisingly, people were kind of annoyed with this.  And yet he’s publicly doing it again this year.  "When people are busy, I’m able to get a significant discount to save us money," Katz said. "From my point of view, it’s a win-win."  Well….which is it?  Is it that you’re trying to save taxpayers the money (for something they shouldn’t be paying for in the first place) or is it that venues are all booked up?  Were you unaware the holidays were coming this year?  I’m going to go ahead and assume that any of the hundreds of local restaurants or caterers here in the city would have made room on their slate for a city hall function with a normal amount of notice, and would probably appreciate the business even more than Sam Katz’s already overstuffed pockets might.

Anyway, to this end, I emailed my city councillor Jenny Gerbasi, who has a long history of publicly defying Sam and just generally sticking in his craw.  I like this.  I emailed her Saturday morning when the story first appeared (Mayor Tells City To Go Eff Itself) and actually heard back from her on Sunday morning, stating it was she who had alerted the media to this repeat offense, and has refused to attend this function since the mayor started using it as an opportunity for personal profit.  Sam Katz is like Nickelback or the Conservative party.  No one seems to like him, but he always seems to do well….This city is so effing terrified of change, even when changing might mean a more ethical city hall and not existing for the sole purpose of making a rich asshole richer.

For those of you who caught the Victoria's Secret fashion show tonight, can we all agree it was pretty spectacular?  Maybe not the most spectacular they've ever done, but pretty close.  Plus they were without Heidi Klum for the first time, and it was definitely noticeable :(  Sparkly and fantastic though.  My 2 favorite looks were on Miranda Kerr and Alessandra Ambrosio (pics below), 2 absolutely gorgeous women who you would never guess in a million years have both had children.

This bra is apparently worth $2.5 million

 

 

 

 

This was actually much sparklier on TV :)

The only glaring ickiness of the evening was seeing Karlie Kloss' sternum as though you were looking at an X-ray.  You just wanted to make the poor girl a sandwich.

Moving on.....

Our beloved Bombers lost the Grey Cup on Sunday evening.  It was heartbreaking to watch, not because we deserved to win and were robbed, we weren't, this city could really just have used the boost, that's all.  The Bombers really didn't start playing til late in the 4th quarter, and by then it was too little, too late.  B.C, as much as I hate to admit it, played an awesome game.

Friday, November 18, found me and my best gal waiting in line, like so many other silly girls, for the opening night of Breaking Dawn Part 1.  I was satisfied.  Not thrilled, not disappointed, just satisfied.  It was fairly true to the book, and now the final installment won't be out for another year.  It's already been shot!  It's done!  Put it out!  Yeesh!

Things on the ICU front continue to chug along.  I have about a week and a half left in MICU, and as of yesterday, decided to do my 10 week specialized orientation in SICU.  Which means I am in the absolute middle of the course.  It feels like it's been much, much longer than 12 weeks already though.

Take care everyone! 

(Yes, I know the font changes about halfway through, and it refuses to be fixed!)

"It's a hell of a thing, to be able to recognize what makes you happy" - Lucille Ball

Apple of my swollen itchy eye

I find myself really wanting apples lately.  Which is an unfortunate craving since I've been allergic to apples since '03-ish.  It was one of the earliest of my now 6 or so fruit allergies.

I set up a Twitter account this afternoon, not because I really want to broadcast my 140 character thoughts to strangers, but because I felt I was missing out on some Michael Ian Black gems.  And so far, I find Twitter beyond annoying to try to use.  I really don't get the crack-like addiction people seem to have to it.  Facebook yes.  Twitter no.

I was out doing some shopping today when I noticed something.  Parents (many, not all) seem to feel that if they are able to tune out their screaming, crying child that surely everyone else must be too.  This in fact is NOT so.  Shockingly enough, like most problems, ignoring it doesn't make it go away, and it's probably the reason you're getting so many dirty looks.

Heavy D passed away this week at the age of 44.  Being some of the first hip-hop my white suburban self was ever exposed to, Heavy D & the Boyz will forever be straight up good times music to me (and really most other people too).  It's scary to think someone so young can just drop dead of pneumonia....

Watching this it makes you wonder when dancing changed.  Like back in the early 90's, were people really out at the clubs doing the running man and the Roger Rabbit?  It looks like aerobics and like you'd need a fair amount of clearance to get the job done.  I suddenly feel like watching New Jack City....

I may or may not hyperlink the crap out of this post.

With the devastating floods in Thailand, and the earthquake in Turkey, I got to wondering...how exactly does the Canadian government determine who should receive our foreign aid money and who shouldn't?  What causes the government to decide what it will match donations for and what it won't? I had doubts about the decision over the summer to send aid to Somalia, which is essentially a lawless failed state, and has recently overtaken Iraq in the prestigious race for "Least Secure Country In The World."  The average citizen suffers greatly under the weight of political and religious posturing and guerilla violence.  Aid pours in from around the world but is merely a trickle by the time it reaches those who truly need it, hijacked and quartered to fill the pockets of those doing the oppressing in the first place.  It would be really interesting to see what the final actual humanitarian impact of these donations really is, and what responsibility the government and foreign affairs are taking to ensure it's effective dispensation.  Meanwhile, hundreds have died, and hundreds more are missing in Thailand and Turkey, and there's been not a peep from the government about either.  No appeals for donations, no promises to match funds raised, nothing.  When the flooding in Bangkok recedes, it will not be infrastructure that will be most affected.  It will be public health hit by rampant disease and overwhelmed health care services.  This actually makes the provision of aid in this situation much easier and more straightforward.  And it's on a comparitively smaller scale.    There just seems to be no rhyme or reason to the selection process.  And if there is, foreign affairs should be explaining it to the people paying for it (I'm really not a John Baird fan and even less so in the wake of this.)

Does anyone else watch the Big Bang Theory?  Has anyone else noticed what an absolutely heroic amount of take-out these people consume?  Has that kitchen ever been used to make anything but toast?  None of them seem to work almost ever, where does this massive food budget come from???

Also, these McDonald's commercials, where one guy buys a cheeseburger for his roommate, and then tries to hide the flyer on the fridge that shows that said cheeseburger is $1.39.....ummmm....what's up with this?  Is it trying to state that there are people out there who are unaware that McDonald's is cheap crap?  Like the roommate thought he was eating a $7 burger instead?  Doesn't McDonald's theoretically probably have the biggest advertising budge in the whole wide world?  And this is what they came up with?

The Best of Chris Farley SNL special was on this morning and I turned it on to the Chippendales sketch he did with Patrick Swayze, and it was actually just kind of sad.  It was still funny, but the whole time it's in the back of your head that they're both dead now.  They also threw a Matt Foley sketch in, and David Spade giggles throughout.  I have to say, I love the live TV giggle.  Horatio Sanz, Jimmy Fallon, David Spade and Adam Sandler were all terrible for this and I love it.  I miss Will Forte.  If he's not going to do anything else with himself, why doesn't he just go back to SNL??

Aside from Breaking Dawn (which everyone who knows me knows I'm excited for. Yep. I said it. Deal with it.), I'm crazy excited to see the beginning of the Hunger Games trilogy.  It's always tricky when movies are made from books you love, but I'm optimistic. Still not totally thrilled with casting, especially Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss, but it might be fine.  Better her than...I dunno....Miley Cyrus or some nonsense like that.  I still think Saorsie Ronan or Hailee Steinfeld might have been the way to go, but no one asks me about these things. Neither of the guy characters seem particularly good either, given they're both supposed to be fairly strapping and rugged.  I wasn't thrilled about Robert Pattinson as Edward the in Twilight series either, but I seem to have made do lol.  The book series was amazing.  I made it through each one in about 2 days apiece.  I definitely recommend them if you're looking for something engaging to read.

Have a fantastic week everyone :)



"I'm not a hairstylist, I just put new lids on a couple of trash cans." - Homer Simpson

Observations.

Zooey Deschanel: You are annoying.  You are the worst part of your new show and you're the lead character.

SICU: I am very happy with you so far.

Kim Kardashian: Get back with Reggie Bush.  You 2 are made for each other.

Busted elevator in my apartment that forces me to climb the stairs to the 5th floor all the time now:  I. Hate. You.

Herman Cain: If, like Tiger Woods, the women you've associated yourself with negatively keep coming out of the woodwork, I would find it deeply satisfying if that number were to get to and stay at 9.  Thank you.

Egg sandwiches with ketchup:  I cannot get enough of you lately.

November so far:  Your weather is terrific.  Keep up the good work.  Please.



"Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today to make a new ending." - Maria Robinson

Over the river and through the woods.

So I have come to the end of one of the longest, most exhausting weeks of my life.  Successfully.  I made it through my lab testing with (mostly) flying colours.  The parts I was dreading and was so sure I was going to flunk, I aced.  But in the end, I made it through the classroom part of this nursing boot camp I'm currently enrolled in, which seems widely considered to be the worst part of this 6 month slog.  Thank you everyone for all your well-wishes and prayers and good vibes.  A special mention goes to my girl Tracy.  I don't think I'd have made it this far without all her help and support. 

I realized throughout this process though, that I have shockingly little faith in myself.  Everyone around me seemed to be quite confident I'd do well and get through, but the entire time I kept thinking to myself "Oh God, I could fail."  Not the far more positive and plausible "Oh God, I could actually do this."  I have no idea why.

Today was code blue simulation day, where in groups of 6, we practice going through the motions of an actual code situation.  The simulations consist of 5-6 RN's, a respiratory therapist and an ICU physician.  It's run as a real world scenario on a patient simulator (which costs tens of thousands of dollars, and actually has pulses and breathes and talks.  Freaky).  It was amazing.  I've always been apprehensive of codes or being directly involved in them (I've had patients code before, but once the code team shows up, the ward nurse is basically relegated to a go-for role), but I loved today.  I loved the pace and the tension and the excitement.  It kind of makes me think I should consider doing my practicum in MICU (because they run the code team), even though I don't come from a medicine background....Jump off that bridge when I come to it I guess....

Tomorrow is clinical orientation (I'm starting in SI!! Woo!!), and Saturday is sleep-14-hours-straight day.  I've got some biiiiiiiig stuff going on :)

An amusing sidenote I discovered this week for those of you that use Blackberrys (-berries?) When you text a non-Blackberry user the hug emoticon on your phone, it shows up like this:

({}) 

Make of that what you will.

I don't think Jimmy Fallon is funny.  He sure seems to though.

We got to watch this video as part of our code training.  These are way more widely used by the military in the field apparently, but we do use them on occasion.  Kinda gross but super cool:



"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts" - Winston Churchill

My head is like Sputnik.

It's 11:25 pm and I've just returned home from lab practice for my demos tomorrow.  Today was supposed to be the day I had in the bag, tomorrow was supposed to be the day I allowed myself some slips.  I slipped today though.  Kinda hard.  It messed up my confidence for the whole day.  I'm not a "performance art" sort of individual.  I start running through my demos and I freeze up and blank.  There's a certain kind of despair you feel in moments like that that simply doesn't compare to anything else.  In the past week and a half or so, ALL my nervous ticks have come back (pulling at my hair, ripping the ever loving out of my cuticles, drinking inhuman amounts of Coke), all my physical stressiness is present (for some reason my eyelids get super raw, I'm all headachey when I almost never am, my posture is all wrong and tense).  I just keep telling myself when we turn the corner to clinical things will get better.  And that corner is Friday.  I will update then, assuming I'm not hanging from the rafters by then.

Thanks to everyone for the messages of support/encouragement/love.  I'm so blessed.

Halfway up the mountain...

[Note: Much of the following content could be construed as offensive to delicate sensibilities.  Please proceed with caution.]

So I've made it through the 1st month of the critical care course relatively sane and with all of my lives intact.  I know, I'm a little surprised too.  It's been really intense, and we've lost quite a few people from where we started already.  It's unsettling for those of us still left standing.  I have a decent amount of post-secondary education under my belt, and I can say honestly that none of it holds a candle to this, volume OR complexity-wise.  So much of what I learned in nursing school when I did my degree much makes more sense now than it ever did before though.  And for those of you that may still be unaware of this, your body, the one sitting there absorbing this, is doing amazing and incredibly complicated things to keep you alive right now.  Right at this very moment.

I'm going to try to keep this next point brief, as I know it's a drum I bang frequently.  Being a vocal supporter of participating in the democratic process as I am has compelled me to vote in every election I've been eligible for since I was 18.  I've always done so enthusiastically and without reservation.  But this provincial election, I can honestly say I truly don't WANT to vote.  I'm still going to, but I really, really don't want to support the ludicrous shenanigans that constitute the political discourse in this province.  We seem to swiftly be moving toward American-style "politics" where no one has an actual platform or any ideas, but boy do they have funding to take out adspace pointing out all the faults they can conjure up about any other horse in the race.  I'm frustrated with the childishness and I'm frustrated with the re-zoning that's given me an MLA I know nothing about now.  This election was/is the NDP's to lose, and they sure do seem to be working hard towards that goal, somehow legitimizing that erratic crackpot Hugh McFadyen in the process.  His crap about hallway medicine, his pie-in-the-sky idea that he's somehow going to stumble upon a secret cache of thousands of nurses and hundreds of doctors, his idea that tracking sex-offenders with GPS devices is going to make this city a safer place when it's not even close to the top cause of our crime statistics (though still horrible obviously). 

*For the record, the problem with the nursing shortage is a from-the-ground-up one, not one that will be fixed by throwing out a few thousand work visas to foreign-trained nurses. That's a temporary band-aid, not a solution. (This is in NO way a criticism of international nurses, I promise).  Overhauling nursing education is the key to fixing this problem.  There is most definitely enough interest in the profession, but rather than expanding programs and improving accessibility, there are now only TWO nursing programs in the city where there were 4 only a couple of years ago, and the resultant wait lists are the major discouragement to people wanting to enter the field.  You don't need to hire 2000 nurses Mr. McFadyen.  You need to make the educational process miles more accessible.

Moving on...

In an expression of opinion that will surprise no one who knows me, I came across something yesterday that not only enraged me, it made me feel absolutely sick to my stomach. As many of you know, and many of you probably don't, I work at the largest hospital in the province.  It's actually comprised of 5 hospitals (general, rehab, women's, children's and psychiatric) plus research centres and a campus of the University of Manitoba.  Because of the size of the hospital and the number of professionals working there, the breadth of services available there is truly astounding.  One of the veritable thousands of these services is pregnancy termination.  From time to time, and only EVER in nice weather (you'd be forgiven for thinking abortion is only a sin in the summer, go ahead and terminate in -40), there will be the occasional anti-choice demonstrator in front of Women's.  Usually 1 or 2.  It's distasteful but whatever.  Yesterday (Sunday) I was driving past Women's on my way to St. James, and there was an actual hoarde of them.  Like 60 or 70.  Covered in sandwich boards and ignorance.  On the boulevard, on the curb...soooo much self-righteousness. My first impulse was obviously to roll down the windows and tell them all to go eff themselves, but apparently giving them a reaction only makes things worse.  My second impulse was "I should find out where they all go to church and show up there wearing big signs judging THEIR choices."  Someone should really (and just as a stunt obviously, no child actually deserves this) go up to these people with a high-needs baby and say "Here. Go raise this child yourself since you felt my decision to terminate this pregnancy was erroneous and sinful."  See how fast the Christian charity flies out the window then.  Assuming you know what's best for someone else, and in these people's cases, someone else you've never met and know nothing about, is arrogant, ignorant, condescending....I could go on.  I'm also going to go out on a limb and assume none of these are attributes the Bible endorses.  You're free to have these opinions, just keep them out of the faces of people who have enough on their plate already.  And P.S protestors, it was Sunday.  They don't do abortions on Sunday.  Likely you were just annoying new mothers and women with cancer.  Bra-vo.

To finish up, I love, love, love how this man says heroin.

And this here I need to watch asap.  As soon as I can find it anyways lol.  What happened to Mike Meyers' career???

Thanks for hanging in there with me.  I know this was a lot of volume!

"Happiness can only exist in acceptance." - George Orwell

[Insert clever title here]

Thus ends one of the tensest, ickiest weeks I can remember (for reasons some of which will be explained below).  I didn't sleep, I didn't eat, I dragged myself through far too many motions, and unsurprisingly I hit the weekend fairly run down and cranky.  Starting to feel better, starting to sleep again, and hoping the upcoming week will be a little more tranquil.

School is.......well.......dry.  The days are kinda long, and it's shocking how fast I'd forgotten what school's really like.  It hasn't really sunk in yet that this is really IT.  This is life now.  At least for the next 6 months.

As anyone who knows me knows, I am NO fan of the "crazy cat lady" or more recently noted "crazy dog man" musings, especially when they're incessant.  But since mine aren't, I'm going on one now.  Feel free to skip down if it's not your thing.  My cat Hobbes and I have been co-habitating now for about 5 years.  And we've had our ups and downs, but he's basically a sweetheart who loves the crap out of me.  He loves to cuddle and keep me company no matter what I'm doing, and he tolerates my long hours and trips out of town with very little complaining.  However, as he's gotten older, my Hobbes has become increasingly intolerant of leaving the apartment.  He doesn't mind getting into his carrier, he LOATHES getting out of it in a strange place.  It turns him into a vicious, feral, unmanageable nightmare.  So as a result, I don't take him anywhere unless it's absolutely necessary (ie. the vet).  This past week though I had to take him out of the apartment for the day because some work was being done and he couldn't be home for it.  I packed him and his stuff up and took him to my darling friend Amber's before school.  He was unhappy when I dropped him off, but when I went to retrieve him after school he was monstrous.  Backed into a corner and hissing and snarling and in no mood to let me anywhere near him.  Noises you would never expect that a cat would ever be able to make.  I tried coaxing him out with food, his toys, calm talk, I tried throwing a towel over him to wrap him up and put him in his carrier, and ended up bleeding myself.  I called my vet to ask them for advice, and their extremely wise counsel was the following: "I think the best approach would be to just pick him up and put him directly into his carrier."  Wow.  Why I hadn't thought of that, I'll never know.  I called the Humane Society, left a message for their behavioural specialist and talked to a nice girl who suggested that if my cat had become feral, I should consider euthanization.  She then suggested I call Animal Services to help trap my cat, because if the cat had already attacked me I shouldn't try to contain him myself anymore.  I called Animal Services, and they seemed really quite helpful until they told me it could be 1 whole business day before they could help me, and if I agreed to let them trap Hobbes, I was also agreeing to let them take him away.  I was devastated.  I couldn't leave him in Amber's bedroom, but I couldn't get him out myself, I didn't see what other options I had.  I sat there alone in my friend's house and cried.  A lot.  I felt horribly guilty for having put him in this position in the first place (even if there was nothing I could do about it), and now having to consider the idea of having him put down because of it was way too much.  Thankfully Amber came home from work a few hours later with her Dad and the 2 of them came up with a relatively easy plan, and scooched him into a carrier, and I got him home with zero problems.  Let him out at home and it was as though he'd never left.  He was exhausted for a couple of days but quite content.  Poor little boy :(

Apropos of nothing, I have been seeing commercials on the Comedy Network for the Charlie Sheen roast lately, and I have to say, while I don't give a crap about Charlie Sheen, something about this seems vaguely exploitative.  Like roasting a child, or someone with Alzheimer's.  I mean he's obviously got some mental health issues, and even if he didn't, making fun of his shortcomings and follies just seems easy and lazy.

Rugby World Cup has started!!  They're having it in New Zealand this year, and what's great is that the matches are taking place all over the country not just in Auckland.  Canada qualified, but they're in a pool full of amazing teams and won't make it past the 1st round.  So it's the All Blacks all the way to the end :)

Last hurrahs

So in an attempt to wring the last few drops of summery fun out of summer, I spent the weekend camping with my friend out in the Whiteshell (where I haven't been since I was young) and It. Was. Fantastic.  Amber got a campsite right on the lake, the weather was gorgeous, and we spent all our time outside.  I haven't been camping like that in approximately 8 years.  All my camping since then has been in my parents' RV, which has a shower, a queen size bed, a fireplace and a full kitchen in it.  Camping this is not.  We as a family have no illusions about this. But this past weekend we were about 50 yards from the beach, cooked outside, had a fire, sat by the water while the sun went down, it was amazing.  Like Amber said "Stuff like this is good for your soul."  The past few years the summers have been so crappy/rainy/cold/non-existent that lots of quintessential "summer stuff" falls by the wayside, but this year, while I missed out on some of my staples (ie. Folklorama, Fringe Fest), there's been more outside, classically summery stuff this year, like BBQ's, beaching, camping, etc.  I've had a few bouts of heat stroke and I still burn like a peach (even with SPF 60.  Hell, even under an umbrella once), but totally worth it.  Awesome stuff.  Have a great week everyone!

"Remember always that you not only have the right to be an individual, you have an obligation to be one." - Eleanor Roosevelt

A week laden with emotional pitfalls. Or Becca attempts a stiff upper lip and fails.

I woke up, like the rest of Canada, Monday morning, to the news that Jack Layton had passed away.  I will admit to crying. A fair bit. I didn't know him personally (obviously), but I've always liked him since he took over the NDP back in 2003.  I have voted NDP in every election I've been eligible to vote in, and in large part, I feel it's due to the trust he was able to engender from Canadians.  He was a charasmatic, intelligent and persuasive leader and will greatly be missed in the Canadian political landscape, which I worry veers ever closer to American style politics all the time under Steve.  He tirelessly advocated for the idea of looking after each other, and putting the needs of the many above the needs of the few, a welcome and essential counterpoint to the current Conservative government ideology. 

I remember when the 2011 federal election was about to start, my mother and I were watching the news and they showed an appearance Jack Layton was making and we both gasped at how terrible he looked.  Haggard, gaunt, using a cane to get around....but the remarkable thing was, unlike pretty much anyone else on the face of the Earth would, Jack started looking better and better as the election wore on. (Seriously, look at Barack Obama. 3 years in office and he looks 15 years older than when he started)  Like he was feeding off the momentum and energy his party was gaining.  I think his increasingly vibrant-looking public appearances settled concerns about his health, and reassured that he was going to be ok, if he could make it through something so arduous looking so robust.  It's so heartbreaking that he did make it through all of that, leading the NDP to such amazing gains, and then was robbed of the chance to enjoy it.  I worry now, with such a powerful influence gone, that Stephen Harper will take this opportunity to run roughshod over any social progress that might have been made (I'm sorry, I just assume he's evil untrustworthy. His hair NEVER moves. Like it's screwed onto his robot body every morning).  Hopefully the NDP are able to carry on successfully without Jack.  Rest in peace.  Thank you for reminding us all that humanity can and should have a place in politics.

Tuesday night was my last shift on GA3.  I think, to my credit, I only cried about 5 times.  A3 gave me my first nursing job, and showed me what it was like to be part of a family in the place that you work.  To face life and death, joy and sorrow, hope and despair, with a group of people you can unquestionably count on to have your back.  That, contrary to my senior practicum experience, nursing wasn't exclusively populated by backstabbing, negative, petty people who want to see you fail.  I was accepted and supported from my very first day on A3, and I will never forget that.  I wouldn't be the nurse I am today without the fabulous people there.

Just as an aside, may I say how irritating I find Hugh McFadyen's new election commercials.  Talking about how "Greg Selinger promised an end to hallway medicine and now we have more hallway medicine than ever."  I work at the biggest hospital in the province, and we don't keep people in the hallways.  If we're not able to accomodate someone, we send them somewhere that is.  Probably not hallway medicine like they had back when the last Conservative government fired all those nurses....Hey. Hugh. If health care is going to be one of your election "legs to stand on", you'd better make sure it's not made of crap.

"Always remember that the future comes one day at a time." - Dean Acheson

Thursday thoughts mash-up

Celebrities That Should Just. Stop.
- Tom Cruise
- Gwyneth Paltrow
- Everyone on Glee that isn't Jane Lynch
- Katherine Heigl
- Seth Macfarlane
- Jennifer Love Hewitt (Seriously! Give up!)
- Jeff Dunham (Being racist and ignorant through a puppet is still being racist and ignorant)
- Mariah Carey
- Christina Aguilera
- Every single Kardashian there is. Except maybe Kim. I like a nice caboose.
- Charlie Sheen
- Angelina Jolie. Quit saying you're retiring from movies to focus solely on your refugee camp photo ops if you're not really gonna do it.
- Lindsay Lohan. You're such a sweet girl and a good actress but you're squandering it and it's becoming annoying.
- Nicole Kidman
- Jennifer Aniston. Your movies are terrible.
- Those Jersey Shore kids. You've had your moment in the sun(tanning booth). Move along.
- Whitney Houston.  There's no shame in admitting your best days are behind you.

Anybody have anyone they want added to the list? I know you do!

Celebrities I Hope Never Stop
- Michael Caine
- Helen Mirren
- Dolly Parton. That woman warms the cockles of my heart.
- Betty White. I bet she gets freaked out being the last remaining Golden Girl. Like Death may be looking over her shoulder.
- Sean Connery
- James Franco (not because he's "soooo cute" but because he's always doing crazy crap that by rights he shouldn't be)
- Natalie Portman
- Alexander Skarsgard (though what I hope he "never stops" is his shirtlessness)
- Anna Paquin. Cute as a bug's ear.
- Jennifer Lopez. I don't care what anyone says.
- John Stamos. Getting handsomer every day.
- Amy Poehler. She's going to be an adorably crass little old lady some day.

The B Monthly List of Stuff I Like Lately
- Online window shopping
- Tzatziki.  Even more than usual.
- Dill pickle chips
- William and Kate. Yes they're overexposed, but as nice, sweet kids doing a good job of behaving themselves internationally.
- Lettuce-less salads
- Saying what's on my mind with an increasing amount of assertiveness AND tact!
- Jason Momoa (actually guys with long hair generally....that's new...see also: Troy Polamalu)

- Music I listened to in the 90's. I'm feeling nostalgic.
- Gogol Bordello. It's like Prozac, it makes you THAT happy.

- The fact that I've got time off at the end of August to actually spend with my parents who I've barely seen all summer.

- BEACH DAY NEXT WEEK!!! I'm looking at you Norma! And whoever else wants to come!

"When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice." - Saul Bellow

Waves of relief followed by.......

So after much anxiety, hand-wringing and some hyperventilating (not to mention only about an hour of sleep beforehand total), I trotted off to my ICU course interview this morning.  And you know what?  I nailed it.  I don't think I've ever had an interview go so well.  I tend to interview kinda airheaded.  You know when someone asks you a question, and you can tell there's a specific answer they're looking for, but you're not giving it?  Yeah, that wasn't me this morning for a change.  Nailed it.  I'm in.  I start 6 months in the Ninth Circle of Hell on September 6 (the interviewer's words in addition to mine!).  ICU is pretty much the biggest thing a bedside nurse can aspire to.  I always thought I'd do it some day, but I thought it would take me years to feel ready.  I'm kind of nervous but mostly excited.  I want to take a moment to thank my darling friend Michael Yeibio for talking me off the ledge and bringing my voice down several octaves last night.  There's a certain kind of tension I'm not used to an abundance of in my life, and I wasn't managing it well.  Who knew that not remembering the difference between hypercapneic and hypoxic respiratory failure could incite such frenetic pacing and tachycardia??

I'm not enjoying this season of True Blood.  I'm just not.  It doesn't leave me hanging and caring what happens next week like it used to...they're following too many fringe-character storylines no one cares about...the music continues to be great though, like this past weeks title song:

Neko Case also did a really great cover of She's Not There with Nick Cave for the season premiere.  I still like Malcolm McLaren's cover from Kill Bill better, but this one is definitely different:

It's Folklorama time again in Winnipeg, the time of year when we all feel obligated to head out to various community centres, churches and arenas to wait in interminable lines for standing room only to watch some uncoordinated teenagers attempt the cultural dances of their homelands at the behest of their parents.  Having said that, there are a couple of new ones I wouldn't mind checking out this year (Brasil Carnival, Ethiopia, Punjab, 2 of which are at the Convention Centre, so I'll probably actually go).  I think Folklorama is one of those things that everyone in Winnipeg is "supposed" to like.  Like Folk Fest.  No one wants to admit it's tedious, disappointing or insufferable because it's one of the few things this city really has going for it.  Which is probably ok. 

Lastly, congratulations to my friends Steve and Roy on the births of their babies, Steve a little boy named Zach, and Roy a little girl named Annalise.  Finally, gender balance has come to HSC!!

That's all for now, thanks for reading :)

"Do more of what makes you happy" - Unknown

Career planning and medieval intrigue

It's been a weird couple of months.  Kind of disjointed, like I've been asleep for much of it.  My application to Health Canada lurches on, though I believe I somewhat blew the interview the other day (No. I DON'T know any more about babies and I do NOT have anything else to add.)  However, I made a different decision in the meantime.  I put my application in to the Critical Care nursing course, to start beginning of September.  Honestly, once I had made the decision and put my paperwork in, it felt right.  I felt immediately brighter and more hopeful.  I still have to see if I get accepted.  My very dear work brother (from another mother) Cameron is applying too, so at least I won't be out in the stress woods all alone.  Health Canada said should they offer me a position, the orientation can be deferred to the spring, so at least my options may still be open.  I love my coworkers on A3 hugely, and they were the prime factor in my not wanting to go.   They are truly my family, and it breaks my heart when I think about leaving them. But this opportunity is too big to pass up.

After approximately 5 and a half hours of sheer torture, the tattoo is done and healed.  I'm so, so thrilled with it.  Big thanks and love to Carly Montgomery at Soul Survivors.



The proportions of this photo are bizarre.



I recently got super into an HBO show called Game of Thrones. It's based on a series of books (that I haven't read) that are apparently about medieval power struggles amongst ruling families in a made-up kingdom. Before she died, Ashley tried to get me into it, and I kept telling her, I'm not some D&D nerd, I'm not watching that!!  But a few weeks ago, HBO ran the entire first season over the weekend, so I PVR'd it.  I watched the first episode, and literally had no opinion.  It didn't make me want to watch more of it, but it didn't turn me off.  So I watched the second episode, and it completely sucked me in....it's soooooo good.  I think I like that it's a period show, but it's not about dragons (much) and magic and wizards, it's much more political and intriguing.  The thing now is, Ashley is the only person I knew that watched it, so I have NO ONE to discuss it with!  Every once in a while, something will remind me of her, and I have these brief moments of truly profound sadness.  I'll come out to the parkade where she used to park her old Mercedes by my car, and I'll think about how it'll never be there again.  I'll look at the next shift's assignment at work and realize I'll never give her shift report again. It's the strangest kind of grief I've ever experienced, and I realized this week that it's made me feel oddly protective of my current senior practicum student (though I try not to act all mother-hen at her!)  Damn Ashley, you'd better be enjoying yourself wherever you are, my girl, we all miss you.

Petty irritants, turning 29, and a scorched earth policy on my collarbones

So I turned 29 like a big girl on Thursday, and did not, as promised, begin to tell people I'm 26 (a passable lie, I felt).  My friend Amber brought up a good point, that she had spent her entire year being 29 dreading turning 30, and that once she turned 30, it was done and over and she could relax.  I don't want to spend a whole year dreading something, and it's not like 30 is 50, I just know I don't feel that old yet.  I don't feel 18 anymore, but I sure as hell don't feel like I'm turning the corner on 30 either.

The birthday itself was actually pretty great.  My A3 family got together on Wednesday night, and as usual (especially when there's ETOH involved) things got silly, and like 1700 pictures documenting the silliness got taken.  And I woke up in the a.m of my birthday with no hangover!!  Had birthday sushi (Hanabi we love you!) with Katharine, made a trip to Chapters, which I always love, and called it a day :)

However, in between waking up with no hangover, and having birthday sushi, I went to Amber's to retrieve my forgotten wallet, and it was such a gorgeous day that we sat out on her patio in the sun and chatted for what must have been longer than it seemed, because even now, on Saturday, I have raccoon face and my collarbones are on fire.  I had no sunscreen with me, and never really gave it a thought because it was just so nice.  Living in an apartment with no balcony the opportunities for impromptu sunshine are pretty decreased, you have to plan to go out and find a place to get it.  And I should know better.  My collarbones and chest are where I got my sunburn scar in New Zealand. (Fun fact: that was the day I learned that cricket, unlike North American sports does not last 3 hours, but all bloody day, and that the hole in the ozone layer, the one NZ probably had little to nothing to do with creating, sits right above them, so you sunburn in about 3 minutes) Oh the burdens of being Caucasian....

Tattoo is inching closer to being done.  I went to get the color done just over a week ago, and despite what anyone says, color is NOT better than outline.  It was excruciating.  I made it about 2 hours and 20 minutes, but started silently weeping around the 1 hour 50 minute mark.  At 2:20, I asked Carly percentage-wise where we were, and she said quite non-chalantly "Oh I'd say maybe 55-60%".  Meaning there was probably a solid 2 hours left.  Considering she was already going over spots a 3rd and 4th time, spots that were raw and bleeding, I wasn't trying to be anyone's hero.  I threw the towel in, and I'll finish it up mid-June.  It's healing up well, the color is gorgeous and vibrant, I just want it to be done though.

Ouch. That is all.

 

There's still a fair amount of shading left, the parasol, which will be lavender-ish, plus the flowers, which will eventually be pink & yellow.

Anna and I went to see Bridesmaids the other night, and it absolutely lived up to the hype.  It was hilarious, not just "funny for a bunch of chicks who are trying so hard!" funny.  Parts of it were a little raunchy for my taste, but I think that's what happens when you let Judd Apatow season your comedy stew :(  That and Fast Five by far the best movies I've seen this year.  Insidious still the scariest.  Your Highness the absolute most godawful.  And I don't care what anyone says, Fast Five is a movie for women.  There's like 2 hot women and easily a half dozen truly jawdropping men.

 


Yeah, looking at this I think I'll go see it again ;)


Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get - George Bernard Shaw

Thoughts on the royal wedding and tomorrow's election

So while I believe that if I was British, the royal wedding and it's associated costs would piss me off given the current economic climate, as an outside observer without financial burdens towards it, I think the pagentry of the royal wedding was actually kind of neat.  Let's face it, the past hundred or so years have not been kind to the British "empire", but they sure know how to preserve tradition.  And I love, love, loved how dressed up the guests got. I don't care how silly people think fascinators are, I adore the fact that people realize this is a fancy dress occasion and treat it accordingly. Ascots! Mourning suits! Splendid hats! Military regalia! In Winnipeg (and yes I know this is apples and oranges, but still) you could go to the swankiest place in town (where exactly is that??) and see someone woefully underdressed and completely unashamed of same. You go to the Fort Garry for brunch and some schlub has got his gut hanging out from between his ripped up, stained Fruit of the Loom t-shirt and his elasticized sweat pants riding up his ankles.  I appreciate a sense of occasion/venue.  Below some of my very favorite looks. (And yes, the Princess Beatrice hat is controversial)

I personally think the neck tatto ruins the illusion ever so slightly, but chic these two definitely are.  I also enjoy the toothless guy leering at them.

I have no idea who this woman is, but I love her flapper vibe.

I imagine this woman saw this photo and thought to herself, "Yes, it's true. I HAVE got it all together. Even if my husband is wearing pants that are ever so slightly 70's Adidas."

While I'm not crazy about the color scheme of Beatrice's outfit (on the right), I think the hat was a ballsy choice and she pulls it off.  While I like the colors of Eugenie's, the outfit is frumpy and unflattering. Ugh.

While I (like everyone else on the planet, it seems) thought Kate's dress was lovely and appropriate, I was surprised it was as conservative as it was, being a McQueen.  Also I had been hoping for her to do something a little more dramatic with her hair.  Well something at all would have been better.  I thought it was weird that anyone even bothered "critiquing" William's getup, given that it was military dress and he in no way dictated it.  Tradition and rules did.

Final thought on this. Camilla looked hideous.  As she usually does.  And came off like a royal party crasher.  As she always does.

And for my final thought overall, I would like to remind anyone who reads this before tomorrow that it's election day in Canada, and to encourage you to get out and spend the 20 minutes it will take you to participate in the democratic process.  People have and continue to die all over the world for a basic right that so many in this country could seem to care less about.  I hear so many people say things like "Oh I couldn't possibly vote, I don't know enough so it would be irresponsible."  Well guess what?  It would take you 10 minutes to learn the basic principles of the main political parties, and it would be relatively easy for you to figure out which you identified most with.  It's not as though if you choose wrong you get dropped into a pit of alligators and fire. At least you participated. I'm especially disappointed in the fact that younger people vote in such small numbers.  The reason there is next to nothing promised to you in election campaigns is that political parties KNOW you don't vote.  They COUNT on it, so they leave you out if it, and put no energy into courting your vote.  If you want to be better represented, vote and represent yourself.

"I am not interested in money. I just want to be wonderful." - Marilyn Monroe

Everyone's responsible for their own actions. Oh. Unless you have a penis. Then not you.

I've had several discussions and read several articles quite incidentally this past week or so that has loudly illustrated a rather depressing point: Men in our society (and more than likely the whole world) are consistently and thoroughly let off the hook when it comes to their character, conduct, and behaviour.  From the cop in Toronto telling a group of students that if women want to avoid being sexually assaulted they should "not dress like sluts", to the ruling in Thompson, MB that a woman's vicious rape was "a miscommunication by a clumsy Don Juan", women are constantly being held accountable for the actions of men.  Safety seminars and tips on how to avoid violence are constantly targeted at women: Don't dress a certain way, don't get sloppy drunk, never ever be alone out in public, etc.  How about occasionally throwing some advice then way of the fellas?  Maybe along the lines of....hmmmm.....don't rape people?  No means no?  A woman out dressed up and drinking is NOT, in point of fact, "asking for it"?  My cousin shared an article the other day about Joe Biden doing specifically this, and it was heartening to see:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52773.html

It was heartening but notable because it's so rare.  Especially between men.  And this needs to change.  Men need to start being able to expect more of themselves and each other.  It was a man addressing the student's group telling women how to avoid assault, and a man ruling that another man wasn't a rapist but simply "misguided".  It's likely the power structure in our society will continue to skew male for decades into the foreseeable future, and if men are going to continue to run the power structure over 100% of the population, they need to begin trying to understand the half that's underrepresented.  With only 22% of sexual attacks reported to police, and only 4% of THOSE ever receiving convictions, either  swaths of women in our society are malicious liars that go to self-harming lengths to act out those lies to no result, or something needs to change.

"Look, the world gets an F in their treatment of women, but we (America) are getting a C-minus and we're bragging about it." - Mick Foley

Stuff I'm loving right now

So after yesterday's gorgeous weather, today is rather dismal, it's still snowing 4 hours after it started, but it's ok because I know it's not going to stick around!!!

I'm not someone with a load of hobbies, or lifelong obsessions.  I'm really more of a passing-fancier.  I like things for a bit and then abandon them as a rule.  So I thought I'd share some of the things that are passing my fancy lately :)

- Parks & Recreation.  Because I love Amy Poehler, I've stuck with this since Day 1, and it's paid off.  Season 3 has been amazing.

- Kids in the Hall reruns.  They're not even funny about 97% of the time, but I guess I have a soft spot for dorky guys dressed up like middle-aged and elderly ladies.

- V.V Brown.  I dare you to listen to this song and not feel more upbeat than you did before:

- Not finishing the books I start.  Seriously, I have about 6 half-read books strewn about the apartment right now.  I kept feeling like I should finish them, but I've come to terms with it.

- Chubby Indian guys.  Love 'em.  Super hard to find though!  They're like shooting stars, but fat, brown, and on the ground ;)  Which brings me to my next item:

- Aziz Ansari standup.  Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening.

- Tobasco sauce.  I've gone through one of those huge bottles in less than a month.  I put it in chicken noodle soup the other day. 

- The fact that Pizza Hut has filed for bankruptcy protection.  Who's even still been eating there???  Skulk off!

- Carmen Sandiego.  Oh Lord I cannot get enough of this.  I loved it as a kid, but we only had it for DOS, and there was no such thing as Google to help you.  Gosh I feel old when I have to talk about things like DOS.

Hope you all have a wonderful and fulfilling week :)


If you don't like the road you're travelling, start paving a new one. - Dolly Parton

April's Fool's post-mortem

I am not a fan of April Fool's Day.  It usually illustrates the fooler's complete lack of imagination and somehow seems to just end up irritating people.  And this is despite having nice memories of it.  When I was little, I would usually spend part of or all of spring break with my grandparents, and April Fool's Day usually fell in there somewhere.  For years my grandmother would somehow get us to fall for her terribly lame April Fool's jokes (hurry up! come quick! there's a cow walking down the street!)  When I think back on it now though, it was sweet of her to try and make the day fun for us.  And maybe that's why so many people's "I'm quitting my job to trek across Siberia!" or the becoming-all-too-pervasive "I'm pregnant! Gah!" April Fool's jokes don't thrill me.  Because nothing will ever measure up to the cow walking down the street or Mickey Mouse in the backyard.  Or maybe I'm just difficult to amuse.  Lol, no, that's not it :) 

(Warning: as hilarious as I find this, there's some rather strong language in it, consider yourself warned!)

Sunday morning eye burns...

It's quite early for a Sunday morning, my inner clock is off due to working an unusual assortment of nights this weekend...so I thought....what better time to babble off?

Loving that spring is finally here...planning to rub glee in the faces of the select few who talked all winter about how great winter is...you get 6 months of the year in this province winter-dicks, time to pass the torch :)

I'm not loving how the phrase "awesome sauce" is turning up more frequently.  I AM however, loving that Charlie Sheen seems to be going away.  Slowly.

Things in Japan seem to be really standing still at "Bad to Worse" hey?  I thought in the beginning couple of days that people on the west coast of North America were being incredibly self-centered and unrealistic worrying about radiation getting to them, and not focusing on.....oh....I dunno.....maybe the people living right next door to the bloody thing, but apparently "radiation particles" from Fukushima were found in Newfoundland last week....How can they know they're the same??  Are the nuclear materials used at each nuclear reactor unique somehow??  I really don't know enough about radiation evidently (and I mean that non-sarcastically).

I found out my tattoo is going to take 2 sittings of about 3 and a half hours each....wow.  I think I'll make it....my pain tolerance is decent, it's not my first time (although this one is way bigger in scale than the last!).

In the veritable orgy of Elizabeth Taylor news in wake of her death, I heard she had some kind of genetic mutation that caused her to be born with 2 sets of eyelashes!  Like one row on top of another!  I suspect that's the look that godawful Brooke Shields is going for in those godawful Latisse commercials.  Elizabeth Taylor really was stunning in her younger days though, especially circa Cleopatra:

"Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry." - Gloria Steinem