Time takes time you know.

Gah besmirch! There's an election coming up. My MP was already at my door tonight telling me she'd like to keep her job. She seemed pleasant. Last week, when they were swacking about the possibility of an election, Peter Kent from Global TV was standing outside my subway station with a sign for the Conservatives. Guess he's running in my riding.

Anyway, I hope the only time that I use the words "Stephen Harper" and "Prime Minister" in the same sentence is when I say "Thank God Stephen Harper did not become Prime Minister."

Let's switch the topic from things I hate (Stephen Harper) to things I love (Stephen Colbert). Every night I tape the Daily Show/Colbert Report and watch them as I eat dinner. I love both shows, although I admit I'm really liking the Colbert Report since it's still a novelity.

Well, I'm gonna go meet up with TB tonight for coffee. We never met up last night because it was gross and rainy and neither of us wanted to leave our apartments. At this time of year, I'd perfer snow to rain.

Don't it feel like sunshine after all?

I always feel so much better when Monday is over. The kids were all loud today. I commented on this to my first period class and one student replied "Of course we are loud, Miss. We had an extra day to rest." I hope they tired themselves out today.

Anyway, I had a great time visiting my friend F in Whitby. I think we shopped for 7 hours straight. I'm still kind of tired.

Check out the fun watch I got at the Pacific mall in Markham. (It's a fun Chinese mall - I also got lots of Pingu stuff there.)



One of our stops was the Sandylion Sticker Warehouse in Markham. I stocked up on 3 rolls of my favourite science stickers:

I can't remember what mall we were at when I bought myself a new pair of boots but here's a picture. I wore them today and they're super comfy.

We had dinner at Swiss Chalet (yay Festive Special!) and then when back to F's house to exchange Christmas presents (yah, I know early, but it's hard to co-ordinate times to meet up.) Look it all the loot she got me! I swear, I get more from this girl than I do from my parents!

F went to Australia with me and the gift is sort-of-kinda Australian themed. The "Pleasant as a Platypus" bag is self-explanatory. Cheater is a card game. We played a card game or two while we were in Australia. She got me the Bill Bryson book because I made both my travelling partners read his book "In a Sunburned Country" before we went. I love that book. Anyway, I haven't read "A Walk in the Woods" before. Oh, the last gift is a "Nightmare Before Christmas" cell phone holder in the shape of a coffin. It will match my wallet! Hee-hee. Anyway, it's Australia related because I got the phone after I got back from Australia. So that's the fun theme gift I got.

(I also got her an Australia related gift of a Zoppini Australian flag charm and some Australian scrapbook stickers.)

Tonight I have dishes to do, stuff to mark and lessons to plan. Fun. I might meet up with TB for coffee and to mooch some Christmas CDs from her to put on my beloved iPod.

Lata!

ps Oh my. I can't believe that I had no problems posting my pics. What's wrong with Blogger right now?

Smiled and said "yes I think we've met before."

Okay, I'm totally going to have to use April's favourite saying: Woo-hoo!! Last night, I found out that Stars added two more shows in December, and I immediately bought tickets online! So now I don't have to pretend that Stars are NOT playing in Toronto. Oh man, I'm gonna totally lose it when they play "Your Ex-Lover is Dead" which is still the most listened to song on my iPod.

Anyway, I survived p/t interviews - I did 31 in 3 hours. I think I'm pretty concise. Even though I had so many, I processed them pretty quickly so I never really had a line-up. Most of the interviews were with the students who are doing well, so those are easy but I did get to meet with the parents of some of the weaker students in my courses. Unfortunately, a lot of the parents of some of the slackers in my period 4 class did not attend. Oh well, that's what the phone is for. Although, I really do like meeting the parents in person. It gives you insight into a different aspect of the student. It's cool that a lot of the students come along with their parents. I think it's very good that they hear what I have to say.

So today we had a PD day addressing students at-risk and ways to improve student success at our school. I have an educational assistant in my periods 3 and 4 classes. She was also in one of my classes last year, so she knows my teaching style well. Anyway, she totally warmed my heart when she came up to me at the end of the day and said "I was totally thinking about you during all of the presentations today. You're the best! You already do all of the stuff they were talking about." I know that I'm not perfect by any means, and I have a lot to learn at this point in my career, but I do feel that I work really hard to help my students acheive success and that I am having a positive impact in their lives.

This evening I ran to the Eaton Centre to get my pal F's Christmas gift. TB and I are meeting up with her in Whitby for our annual Christmas get together. (A little early, I know, but we have hectic schedules.) I got her an Austrlian flag charm for her bracelet, since she went to Oz with me in the summer. When I got home, I hung out with my roomie and we had some deep discussions about life and religion and politics and whatnot. It's really nice hanging out with my roommate; we're rarely home at the same time and we don't hang out as much as I think we'd both like to.

I think I'm at such an amazing time in my life; I have a totally awesome roommate, great friends, good family and I love the school I'm at and I really love my job. I'm always amazed at how things have fallen together for my in the past year. I don't know why I'm so lucky but I'm thankful for all that I have.

Okay, now that I've gotten all mushy, I'd better go to sleep. Hanging out with F in Whitby means power shopping, so I need my energy. Have a goodweekend everyone!

Questions, questions, questions...

Right now I'm finishing up the grade 9 reproduction unit with my classes. Here is a taste of some of the questions I've been fielding for the past couple of weeks:

"Miss, what would happen if a monkey and a human... you know...?" (Actually, this question was a good way to discuss the concept of species.)
"Miss, can a girl get pregnant before her first period?"
"Miss, what happens when a person is born with two different... things?" (This is a popular one.)
"Miss, omigosh! Did you know you could be allergic to sperm?" (Someone came across that one today while researching fertility drugs.)
"Miss, are flowers he-shes?" (Technically they are, but we use the word hermaphrodite in science class.)
"Miss, can a virgin get pregnant if the sperm gets near her?"
"Miss, is ecstasy a fertility drug?"

I'm so looking forward to the end of this unit. The test is next Wednesday.

Today my infamous period 4 class had me in stitches. They had just completed a project where they had to create an ecology board game. (Ecology - what a nice tame, sex-free topic.) I gave them some time to play the games today. They were totally into this one game that was totally impossible to win because there were many "Go back to the Start" spaces on the board. They wanted me to play, which I did, and they were quite impressed that there was a board game that even the science teacher could not win, despite her text-book perfect answers to their questions.

So, tomorrow is parent-teacher interview night and I'm booked solid. This means I'll be talking for 3 hours straight. I really should be in bed right now resting up. Luckily, we have a PD day on Friday to recuperate, which means that we can shuffle into school a bit late and sit through many meetings and brainstorming type sessions and whatnot. The lack of teenagers will make the day restful.

Good night and happy Thursday!

Baby I'm a lost cause.

Well, I'm not feeling very creative and nothing overly interesting happened to me today, so I pulled up an old survey email from a friend and pasted it in just for heck of it.

1. What is your full name?
- I go by Christielli in blogland. (One name just like Cher or Madonna)

2. What colour pants are you wearing?
- Dark blue jeans

3. What are you listening to right now?
- The iPod gods have chosen "Lost Cause" by Beck for me at the moment

4. What was the last thing you ate?
- Peanut Chicken from the Green Mango and ju-jubes

5. Do you wish on stars?
- Not since I was a teenager. I guess university made me cynical.

6. If you were a crayon, what colour would you be?
- My red crayon was always the first one used up, so I'll say red.

7. How is the weather right now?
- Freaking cold and windy. (Check the weather pixie for exact temperature.)

8. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
- My mom

9. Do you like the person who sent this to you?
Yuppers - it was the friend I went all the way to Stratford to hang out with this weekend.

10. How old are you today?
-25 years 10 months and 7 days

11. Favourite drink?
- Chocolate Milk

12. Favourite sport?
- Well, I was a big baseball fan as a child and can still hold my end of the conversation with boys who are into that sport, so I'll say baseball.

13. Hair Colour?
- brown

14. Do you wear contacts?
- No, I have pretty good vision.

15. Siblings?
- None. I'm a spoiled brat.

16. Favourite month?
- December

17. Favourite food?
- hmmm... organic baby carrots or chocolate

18. What was the last movie you saw?
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!!!!

19. Favourite day of the year?
- Christmas Day for sure.

20.What do you do to vent anger?
- Hang out in my room and grumble to myself.

21. What was your favourite toy as a child?
- My She-ra dolls. I had all of them except Bow, the only male.

22. Summer or winter?
- Summer, except when it's really humid.

23. Hugs or kisses?
- Depends on my mood (and the giver of the hug/kiss)

24. Chocolate or Vanilla?
- No question - chocolate!!

25. When was the last time you cried?
Hmmm... had to think about that, but most likely when I finished reading the Kite Runner last week.

26. What is under your bed?
- Dust

27. Who is the friend you have had the longest?
I've been good friends with my crazy pal Mel since grade 7 and met her when I was in kindergarten.

28What did you do last night?
- Saw Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire!

29. What are you afraid of?
- I'd have to say getting really sick and being in pain and not being able to do things.

30. Plain, buttered or salted popcorn?
- The microwaveable stuff with butter and salt.

31. Favourite car?
- VW bugs

32. Favourite flower?
- Don't have one.

33. Number of keys on your key ring?
- Work keyring = 3, Home keyring = 5 keys + 1 keycard

34. How many years at your current job?
- My one-year anniversary at my current job was November 1st.

35. Favourite day of the week?
Friday at 2:50 pm

36. What did you do on your last birthday? Worked, then had dinner with a bunch of my TO friends at the Madison.

37. How many provinces have you lived in..name them?
Only 1 - Good old ontaryaryary-o!

Okay, I feel kind of self-indulgent after answering 37 questions about me but hey, that's what blogs are for, right? Shortly I'm going to go indulge myself in some tv! Good night and happy hump day tomorrow!

When they say every flavour, they mean every flavour.

Harry Potter was great!!! I comment the screenwriter for being able to effectively cut down a mammoth book to a 2 and a half hour movie, without missing any key parts. Although I could have gone with a longer World Quidditch Cup.

I think my favourite little scene was when Filch dances with his cat Mrs. Norris.

TB and I had planned on getting some Harry Potter candy to go with the movie. She originally wanted to get Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans. Have you had them? They are crazy. They have flavours like vomit, earwax, booger, and sardine. I suggested we get more pleasant candy like Fizzing Whizbees or Chocolate Frogs. I had seen them in Toys R Us a couple weeks ago. I went after work to pick them up and they were out of everything but the jellybeans. We tried to eat them but some of them were just too gross. It's better to eat them in the light, so you can at least pick out a good one to wash down the disgusting ones with. Anyhow, I plan on serving the remainder of my gross jelly beans at my next party to unsuspecting guests. Shhh... don't tell.

Well, I gotta go to bed. Have a good Tuesday!

If you wannabe my lover, you gotta get with my friends.

Well I am home safe from my lovely weekend getaway from the city. But I'm very very glad to be back in the city now.

Anyhow, my weekend was super relaxing. When I arrived home on Friday night, I had dinner with my parents and made a quick trip to Zellers to get some wool to start on a new scarf. It's for me this time! Anyway, I just knit in front of the TV on Friday night.

Oh gosh, I can't even really remember what I did on Saturday during the day. Oh, I went to the mall in search of a new pair of shoes. A totally silly thing to do in Stratford since the mall's really tiny and really doesn't have much in the way of shoe stores...

Then Saturday night was our big girls' (and two boys) night out. It was very fun! We started at Molly Bloom's, which is supposed to be an Irish pub. We managed to annex a large section at the back and had a great time being loud and rowdy. Discussions centred around the marriage pool - i.e. who is going to be next and apparently some people have their money on me of all people. A couple of my friends have decided I'm going to meet a doctor/scientist, have about a 3 month relationship, get married super fast and then live in a big house. Hmmmm, I wouldn't object to this. Of course, the marriage/baby pool has a tendancy to be way off. When it came to kids, my friend T was last on the list for having a kid and she ended up being first.

Oh the live music at Molly Bloom's was priceless. The singer decided that he stomach was a great percussion instrument and pulled up his shirt and started drumming on his bare belly during a cover of "Mr. Brightside".

After a few drinks, we decided to changed venues. Which is a hard thing to do in Stratford since the bar scene is very, very, very pitiful. We wanted to go somewhere with a dancefloor, which lead us to pretty much our only option - Classics (also known as Divorce Court) which attracts a high proportion of Stratford's redneck/cougar population.

We weren't there for 20 minutes when a fight broke out a few feet away from us. As my friend S said "Apparently that guy's Ford was better than that guy's Dodge." A few minutes after the fight, quite a few older women thought it'd be a great time to table dance... There was one chick who was up there for an hour. We were totally impressed with her stamina. To quote my friend C "One redneck bar fight, 3 table dancing cougars, and a whole lotta fugly.... priceless. For everything else there's Mastercard."

So yeah, I totally dug being at the seedy local bar for the irony of it. I don't think I could handle going there anymore than every three years.

What was totally depressing is that there were actually two wedding parties that ended up there, complete with bride and groom. What a way to set your marriage off on the wrong foot! We've always referred to the bar as Divorce Court, since on most nights you can see quite a few marriages breaking up. Don't these people have honeymoons to go to?

Anyway, I've had enough small town colour to do me for awhile, but it was totally fun hanging out with my pals. I totally forgot to bring my camera, so I don't have any pictures. Argh!

Hope ya'll have a good week. I'm off to have some supper, watch the Simpsons and Desparate Housewives and do some work. Oh - and I'm totally psyched 'cuz tomorrow night TB and I are going to see Harry Potter at the Imax screen at Paramount.

ps Yes, they still play Spice Girls at Stratford bars, hence the title of my post.

Coffee, BMWs, and Chocolate Macaroons

I owe TB a coffee.

A couple years ago, we got a ride to the subway from in my friend's boyfriend's friend's BMW. We found that exciting so we made a pact that whenever either of us rode in a BMW in the future, we'd owe the other a coffee.

Last year, she got a ride in a crappy BMW and paid up.

Last night, I got a ride home from school (after the staff book club meeting) from a colleague who has a BMW and lives near me. Anyhow, this colleague is my emergency ride to school in case of TTC strike or other calamities. Glad that there was no TTC strike last year or I would have been buying a lot of coffees for TB.

I finished off the Kite Runner and immensely enjoyed the staff book club meeting. TB, my roommate and my pal A have started a book club of our own. We're reading "The Lovely Bones" as our first selection.

Can you believe I'm *not* seeing the new Harry Potter movie on opening night? Gasp. I know. Tomorrow night I'm taking the train to Stratford to visit the 'rents and hang out with my high school gal pals. I really love the train ride to Stratford. I'm totally looking forward to sitting on the train, listening to my iPod and doing some knitting.

Tonight's project for me is to make some chocolate macaroons for the staff potluck lunch tomorrow. My roommate is in shock - I usually keep my distance from the culinary arts. But every now and then I feel that I must prove myself and not be the person who volunteers to bring the bread to a potluck.

So off to the kitchen I go! Have a nice weekend!

Ba-ba-ba-ba-bup-ba, love just leaves you bruised.

So I stood up Pride & Prejudice tonight. I gotta finish re-reading The Kite Runner for the staff book club so that I don't look like a goof. Turns out that I forget more about it than I thought I did.

Rain = yuck.

Taking a far-too-long break from reading to phone friends, read blogs and blog. Talked to my friend T from high school for a bit. Discussed how my group of high school friends seems to be a little slow on the relationship/marriage front. Out of 9 of us, 1 is married, 1 is getting married in April, and 2 are in pretty stable long-term relationships. That leaves 5 single girls. (T and I being in the latter group.) Anyhow, I'm sure that when a bunch of us get together this Saturday night, we'll continue the endless of analysis of the states of our lives.

Okay, time to finish off the book. Laters.

Thank God Monday is over! (at least the hard part, anyway...)

Oi! Getting back into the swing of things after lazing about and sleeping for 3 days is definitely a hard transition. But, I survived. Actually, all of my classes, including the dreaded period 4, were really good today. There were some kids in other people's classes giving me headaches, but at least mine are well-behaved.

Nothing too eventful to report. On Saturday, I ventured out to do some Christmas/roommate's birthday shopping and ended up buying myself a new winter coat (Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!). The Christmas/roommate's birthday part of the expedition was far less successful.

I have a pretty busy week ahead of me. Tomorrow night I may go see Pride and Prejudice with TB, roommate and another couple of pals. I haven't totally committed yet. I'll betray my gender by admitting that I'm not the biggest Austen fan and I may not got because there is a very good chance that I may fall asleep. However, the social aspect of the outing may be fun.

On Wednesday, the staff book club is meeting. I must finish re-reading The Kite Runner tonight. I was a bad girl this weekend and read non-book club books...

Thursday night we have a staff meeting. Which means I get home 1.5 hrs late with a splitting headache.

Then on Friday, we have a staff potluck dinner. I'm considering borrowing TB's recipe for maccaroons, but I suspect by Thursday evening I'll be more in the mood to just go buy some freakin' maccaroons.

Then Friday evening, I'm hopping the train to Stratford to visit with the 'rents and some friends.

Yeesh, I get tired just thinking about all the stuff I gotta do!!

Have a great night!

Edit: I totally forgot to mention the tragic occurrance of my weekend. TB and I tried to get Stars tickets and all four show are sold out. Oh the humanity!!! I am having a really bad time lately getting tickets. Oh well, I'll just mentally convince myself that there are NO Stars shows in December whatsoever.

Mmmm... I just saw a commercial for President's Choice Pumpkin Cheesecake. That sounds too good.

My Mariah Carey Theory

I have a theory that I'm being stalked by Mariah Carey's greatest hits of the 90s. When I was in Sydney, we took a bus trip out to the Jenolan Caves in the Blue Moutains. It was a pretty long bus ride. Anyway, for 85% of the trip, the bus driver played a tape of Mariah's hits from the 90s. The first time he played it I thought "Okay, this is kind of fun. Reminds me of when I was a huge Mariah fan when I was eleven." However, on the second to fifth times he played the tape, the nostalgia wore off pretty damned quickly. He was playing it very loudly too, so it was hard to drown it out with my own music.

Anyhow, Mariah's 90s hits have followed me back to Canada. Whenever TB and I meet up for coffee at the 24 hr Second Cup near her place, they are also playing 90s Mariah. It happened again tonight! What the? TB frequents there far more often than I do, and she swears they only play the Mariah when I'm there. Mysteriously scary.

Oh, if you want to have fun dressing Mariah or other celebrities go to www.paperdollheaven.com. It's hours of fun! I spent too much time on there today.

Another fun internet toy I came across today was The Gender Genie. You can paste in a sample of your writing, be it fiction, non-fiction or blog, and the genie uses an algorithim to determine your gender. When I pasted in my blog enteries for October, I was almost gender neutral. However, I've been more feminine in my writing for November. I also pasted in a couple of stories I've written and they were quite high on the girly scale. I wish I had some essays from university on my computer. I lost them all in the post-university hard drive crash - I only have hard copies stored somewhere at the parents' place. It's be interesting whether to see if my academic science-related essays would score as male. The authors of the study did say that they used female writing from scientific journals to create their algorithm. I'd like to see if my science writing would identify as female... Since I don't have any of my essays, I tried I some work-related writings (tests and assignments) and they were very male. I wish that I could read the Nature article about the Genie, but I'd have to pay money for that. It's pretty interesting stuff. Incidentally, I wrote an essay about gender differences in language usage for a first year anthropolgy paper. I remember none of it. ;)

By the way, I'm feeling much better after my lazy day. Although my voice is still a bit scratchy. I should be all mended and ready for action on Monday. We'll see if I get any nasty notes from the supply about my classes.

Edit: I ran this post through the Gender Genie and it scored as male. I think overally my writing is pretty gender confused. Oh, I just read that the scientists predict that the Genie should be right about 80% of the time but stats on the website say that it's been right 58% of the time. So maybe it's the scientists are confused. Although I would suspect people probably report when the Genie is wrong more often than they report that it's right so I highly doubt that the website's statistics are very reliable...

I have a headache, I have a sore back, I have a letter that I can't send...

Yesterday I was losing my voice and just felt crappy overall so I decided to stay at home today. I slept 'til noon and I've been hanging out on the couch ever since.


I really like the new Sarah Harmer CD. I think my fave song is a cover of a Dolly Parton song ("He will be waiting for me" or something like that...).

Happy weekend to all!

Dear Mom and Dad, please send money...

Argh! I was just at April's blog and now that song is stuck in my head! If my pals from high school knew that I had a country song in my head, they'd all have heartattacks. I'm the girl who professes an intense dislike for country music and complains if we go somewhere if they dare to play it. Good thing none of 'em bother to read my blog...

On a related note, I just bought the new Sarah Harmer CD today after work. It's supposed to be rather blue-grassy.

A couple of my friends from high school, who both work in the education system, and I are thinking of going on a mini-holiday to somewhere tropical the week after new year's. School gets out really late in Decemeber (on the 23rd), so we go back rather late. It's looking like we might go to Cuba. I'm liking the thought of lying by a pool and drinking for a few days.

I'm exhausted. I spent 2.5 hours entering marks and report card comments after school, but thankfully, they're done now.

Tonight = Martha's Apprentice. Will crazy Jim be let go this week? He would frighten me in real life.

Have a good Thursday.

ps Oh look, blogger is being co-operative right now. So here's my Ben Lee autograph, thus completing my Ben Lee concert odyssey posts.

We're all in this together...

Okay, I really don't know if my post from last night made any sense but here are some accompanying pics:

Here's Ben singing. You know a concert's gonna be fun if there's a disco ball. Note the lovely flowers decorating the mic stand.

Here's Ben playing the acoustic guitar and singing sans microphone at the very end of the show.

Here are the daisies from the mic stand that TB wrangled for us. I thought they were white when we were in the club, but when I walked outside I exclaimed "Hey look - these are yellow!" All the people on the sidewalk laughed at me but another girl was like "I said the same thing when I walked out here." So I felt a tad less uncool.

And here is the signed CD insert (hence the whole flower thing). Oh freakin' heck. Blogger isn't allowing me to post pics anymore. I'll add it later... Have I told everyone to go buy this CD yet?

Oh yeah, and of course, I won't post the pic of Ben, TB and me because: a) TB would kill me. I can't even use her name in my blog; and b) I look really horrible because I was very tired and it was hot in there. But, I will honour any requests...

So, today I was back to the drudgery of work and not play. Although, I survived today okay considering I was functioning on a deficit of sleep. I had to go to a safety workshop during P4, so my day was considerably easier without having to put up with that lovely class.

And then tonight I had a thrilling night where I holed up in the Second Cup marking for two hours. Report card time is upon us. TB was nice enough to join me so we could debrief the concert a bit more.

Hope you all had a tolerable Monday!

In the 7/11 of my soul, you're the red slurpee.

Okay quickee post.

But Ben Lee was AWESOME!!!! Ahh!!!!

It was such a small show and he was amazing and he got into the crowd at one point. At the end of the show, he sang a song with just the acoustic guitar and no mic. It kind of made me feel like I was just hanging around with a talented friend who was jamming in your basement (that was filled with 100 or so friends).

The mic stands were decorated with flowers (like his CD cover if you remember that from a previous post). At the end of the show, TB asked a band member for some so now I have a nice handful of yellow daisies.

Also, Ben was signing CDs at the end of the show. I didn't bring mine, but TB bought one so she got the case signed for herself and the insert signed for me. We also go our pic taken with him! Yay.

Well, I'll post some pics tomorrow. I need to go to bed so I can survive tomorrow! Lata!

Sugar we're going down swinging.

Yeah, I really like that Fallout Boy song, even though they're playing it tonnes on MuchMusic, which indicates that it's probably quite un-cool of me to like it. But, can I be bitter towards a band whose name comes from The Simpsons? No.

Last night I saw the movie Crash. It was good, I guess. I found it a bit draggy, but sometimes that's more indicative of my mood rather than the movie. There was a part that made me cry very hard though. I won't say what it was in case you haven't seen the movie. Anyway, I did get quite a bit of scarf knitted during the movie. I'm halfway finished Christmas present #2!

Oh here's the big dilemma in my life: on the weekend of Nov. 19th, one of my friends from high school, who is living in North Bay now, is going to be in Stratford for the weekend. I think the girls are going to go out the night for a beverage or two. Now, I am thinking of going home for a weekend in November, but I was thinking of going the weekend after the Nov. 19th. Don't forget that the new HP movie is coming out on the 18th and I was planning on seeing it opening night with TB. Also, there's a "knitting mittens on two needles" class that I was thinking of taking on the 19th. But, honestly I can see Harry Potter a couple of days later and I could take that knitting class in the winter, since it's not like I'm going to have time to knit anyone mittens before this Christmas. Everyone can get mittens next Christmas. Plus, I just remembered, she had said she won't be home for Christmas, so I won't see her then. So I think I will go home that weekend. Yay! Sometimes blogging about my indecisions helps me decide. What a practical reason to blog.

So anyway, TB and I are going to Sephora this afternoon. It's a totally overpriced beauty store but I loves it. I am currently out of my favourite overpriced beauty product, so it's time to replenish.

Hmmm, since I've been good and I'm actaully "up and atom" (Simpsons reference anyone?) so early, I'm gonna treat myself to a bagel from Timmy's.

Happy Saturday!

And you can spell anything and I've got a magic ring...

Yay to Aaron for correctly getting the brain teaser. If you add a line to one of the plus signs to make it look like a four, then 1 + 1 + 1 = 142!

I ordered "The Truth (with Jokes)" by Al Franken on Amazon and it arrived today. I can't wait to read it. I love my *slightly* biased political humour. As long as the bias is the same one that I have, it's all good to go. I also got a book for my Dad for Christmas (so that I'd qualify for free shipping). It's called "The Know-It-All : One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World". It's about a man whose goal is to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Anyway, my dad once tried to do this. When I saw the book once in Indigo, I knew I had to get it for him. Anyway, it looks pretty good. There's a favourable quote on the front from Jon Stewart (who I have a huge crush on, of course). Anyhow, I'm totally going to read it when he's done with it. Or maybe even before I give it to him. Now, before you say that's horrible, I'll tell you about how I always knew what books I was getting for Christmas because I'd see my dad reading them a week before. So it's totally fine to read any book you're gonna give my dad.

Not that I have time to read it. I have to read "The Kite Runner" for the staff book club. I actually read it in the spring, but I need to re-read it so I can wow everyone with my brilliant insights. ;)

Did I mention I'm seeing Ben Lee in 3 days? Well, I am and I'm excited because I haven't been to a concert since the beginning of September. That's far too long for my tastes.

I saw a poster for the new Harry Potter movie on the subway today. I'm very exited for that. Only 2 more weeks!

Tonight is Survivor/The Apprentice. I'm not very into this Survivor but it sure beats doing stuff.

Happy Friday!

Commet allez-vous ce soir? Je suis comme-ci comme-ca. Yes a penguin taught me French back in Antarctica.

Yesterday I did something silly. I went grocery shopping after work and then stopped off at the mailroom downstairs to check my mail. Anyhow, I get up to my apartment and notice I'm missing a bag of groceries. I look around my apartment; thinking maybe I put it down somewhere illogical. So, I had to go all the way downstairs to the mailroom and I found the missing bag right underneath my mailbox. I lucked out because no one was there to see me pick up some strange bag. I would have felt cool. Oh and I'm pretty sure that no one poisoned my groceries while I was down there since I'm feeling fine today.

I had a sort of easy day at work today. Well, it was different. It was "Take Your Kids To Work Day" so all of the grade 9s were gone. That means I should have had a couple of free periods, but there was another event going on so I ended up covering some other classes. In one of the classes, I decided to be super-bitch at the beginning of the class and I heard some kid say "Whoa, she's strict." That actually warmed my heart! They never think I'm strict. Woo! Of course, by the end of the period, I reverted to my fun self and did brainteasers with them.

Ooh. Perhaps I can entertain my blog audience with one of my favourites. Okay, add one line somwhere to the equation below to make it true. (No, it's not the "does not equal" line.)

1 + 1 + 1 = 142

I'll give y'all the answer next post.

So tonight I was digging around in my "special stuff box" and I came across I couple of fun cartoons that I'd clipped and saved.

This one used to hang on my fridge forever:

And I cut out this one meaning to stick it on a chemistry test sometime:

Here's a picture of my "special stuff box" which in itself is actually one of my prized possesions. I painted it and podgied old ticket stubs to it. That was a couple years ago and now it's filled with lots more ticket stubs.

So tonight I plan on reading a bit, knitting a bit, and watching Martha's Apprentice to see if crazy Jim gets fired. Have an enjoyable Wednesday evening and a fun Thursday!