Lost in Thought

New Travel Blog

2010-03-16T16:49:00.005-04:00

Pheww, I made it back alive and sane. Panama City to Savannah to Home is a long drive, but it wasn't so bad. I mostly slept. And read. And stared out the window as I tend to do.

As I've mentioned, I've been consumed the last little while with getting my new website up and running, and it's pretty much there. I'm sure I"ll be tinkering with it for months to come, because there will always be something I want to change, but here it is:

www.postcardsandpassports.com

Let me know what you think!

I'll probably be concentrating mostly on that blog for the next couple of weeks until I get a routine straightened out, so ole Lost in Thought might be looking a bit neglected. Such is life.

And that is all! I hope everybody is having the same lovely weather that I came home to today. Spring has sprung and the snow is effin gone! (For now...Lord knows there will be some sort of freak April snowstorm that happens just to bug everybody and remind us that we do indeed live in Canada)

Ocean phlegm and other oddities

2010-03-11T10:51:00.004-05:00

So we are leaving Florida soon, and I'm totally cool with that. I'm over the spring breakers yelling at all hours of the night, stepping over vomit on the beach, and being hooted at everytime I walk anywhere. God I'm old.

I've spent most of my time here working away on my new website. I'll post the link up soon if any of ya'll are interested. I'm finding it to be a frustrating process, but my comprehension of HTML has improved a smidgen. I'm still messing about with colours and whatnot, and annnyways.

I'm driving back to Canada with my parents, and I really don't know how to feel about this. Dreadful? Nostalgic? Excited? Time will tell. I went on a shit load of road trips when I was younger, so this brings to mind those days of yore, when I almost always had a great time. However, 20+ hours in the car? That'll be interesting.

We will be in Savannah on Saturday and I cannot even wait. I've been wanting to check out Savannah for a long time now.

I was going through my pictures that I have taken so far, and to be perfectly honest...there's not a whole lot to take pictures of here, so I have about 100 pictures of sunsets, which are nice and all but look more or less the same. Anyway! I've parred down the pictures to just these few.

It's weird,I've seen deer at home, in fact we have a plethora of then. Why then, was I entirely obsessed with capturing photos of deer in St. Andrews State Park? I have no idea. Wildlife in other places always seems so much cooler than wildlife in your hometown. I also took about 20 pictures of a duck before I was like, "what am I doing???"

I thought this Pelican was cool. These we don't have at home, so I'm allowed to take 20 pictures of it.

This breakfast caused me to never want to eat pancakes again in my entire life. Ever. For some reason, whenever I see something made with pecans, I immediately have to order it. So I ordered "pecan pancakes", which was fine and all, until she brought them to me. There were three pancakes that covered the entire plate, and I wanted to vom as soon as I saw them. I could barely eat one, let alone three. When the waitress came to collect the plates at the end of breakfast, she was like, "I guess next time you'll have to order a short stack honey!". I was like, a) there will be no next time, and b) I didn't even know that was an option, thank you for mentioning that while I was ordering. Never again.

I stared at this jellyfish for a long time before I realized what it was. At first I was like, what is this? Ocean phlegm? Then I got closer and you could see through its body. Still, gross creature. They look so cool whilst in the water, but on dry land? yukkk.

Sunset #1

Sunset #2

And there you have it! Two weeks worth of pictures! I'm off to tackle the wonderful world of websites again!

This?

2010-03-07T14:09:00.003-05:00

Has made my vacation 150% better than it would it been had I never seen it. I pretty much really hate McDonalds...but this commerical makes me hysterically laugh for a long time. And then I sing the song alll day. Never in my life would I actually eat that fish, but I highly admire the effort.

Random Notes from a warmer climate...

2010-03-06T10:56:00.004-05:00

Oh crikey, I'm getting so behind on reading everybody's blogs. I'm trying.

I recently got hired as the local expert for Niagara for Planet Eye Traveler, and it's awesome, but also time consuming. I've also been busy applying for other jobs because I need to find some way to support myself upon my return home. I"m hoping to find something part time and not horrible. Preferably something that doesn't involve sitting for 8 hours a day.

I have a ton of Florida pictures to put up here, but I will have to do it later as we are leaving soon to check out some ghetto garage sales and then go on an airboat ride through a swamp. The boat is called the "Wild Thang". Yesssss!

I've changed my mind about Florida/Beach vacations. I used to be very leery because I'm kind of a jumpy person and I need to be doing something at all times, but I've learned to slow it down a bit here, and it's kind of nice. At home I usually am always stressing about something, but I haven't felt that familiar feeling in the pit of my stomach since being here, and I will love Florida forever for that!

I am endlessly entertained at sitting and watching the ocean. This may make me sound like a complete old lady, but I could seriously stare at it for hours. I am determined to spot a whale or a dolphin. And the sound of the waves? I adore it. The other day I was walking the beach and I saw a jellyfish. It was so cool. And disgusting looking.

Yesterday we went to the loudest bar in existence and I tried oysters. They were always something I thought I would hate as I am not one for really chewy food, but shockingly, I liked them! There are oyster bars all over the place here! And the parking lots are just covered in empty oyster shells. When I first saw that, it made me gag a little bit, because ewww, but I suppose it's better than just throwing them out.

We sat on the beach yesterday for an hour and I ended up with the mother of all burns on my legs. It's weird...when I was a kid, I simply turned brown. Not now though. I should know this by now...I am pale as can be, so I have no idea why I thought I would get this beautiful tan. I am currently lobster red. And I rubbed my forehead when suntan lotion, but only in one part apparently, so I have a giant spot on my face that is white, and the rest is red. It's a nice look!

I also signed up for MatadorU...finally! And I'm the process of setting up an actual travel blog. I am stuck on the name. I stink at coming up with clever names for things. It's the part I dread most whenever I write a blog post/article or whatever.

The accents down here are so cool. Except! I can never understand what people are saying. I love Southern drawls, but I cannot even tell you the number of times a person has been talking to me and I just stare at them blankly, repeating, "pardon?", about three or four times before they inevitably give up, or someone I'm with translates for me. Mostly it's the old men I can't understand, and let me tell you, there's a lot of them here. Everybody is super friendly though; I have had numerous strangers put their arm around me and pat me on the back. It's so jolly here.

ohh and apparently we are leaving RIGHT now...I will catch up with everyone soon!

Annnd I"m here.

2010-03-03T09:29:00.003-05:00

Woah. Yesterday was one of the longest travel days eva! It's kind of hilarious now that I've actually slept...but I didn't think we would make it. Plus...you know how the day before travelling always turns into the longest time ever? Like the time seems to slow down considerably? Ahhh yes, I usually love the nervous anticipation of knowing I"m going somewhere, but yesterday was a bit much. And it wasn't even like we had to sleep at the airport or anything, which I would be really unimpressed with.

We got up at 3am to leave for the airport...we were supposed to fly from Buffalo to Atlanta, and from Atlanta to Pensacola. But Atlanta got a "snow storm", so all flights to Atlanta were cancelled. So for whatever reason, they rerouted our flights so we would now be going from Buffalo to Chicago, from Chicago to Atlanta, and from Atlanta to Pensacola. We sat in the Chicago airport from 3 hours and in the Atlanta airport from 5 hours. It was a lot of sitting. And a lot of eating airport food. I bought several coffees, all which cost me about 5 bucks. Anyway, it wasn't horrible, but I'm just glad to actually be here! The sun is shining today, and although it looks like it might be a little cool....we are right by the ocean and sand and there is no snow!

Also...when we actually got to Atlanta there was not even any snow accumulation on the ground...it was raining. I guess it may have been snowing earlier in the day, but the way everybody was talking I was expecting a total blizzard!

Well, I'm going out in search of hot beach boys that aren't senior citizens! Tomorrow I'll do a post on skeet shooting which I finally got to try and which I highly recommend to everybody! So. much. fun.

My last day...

2010-02-25T15:18:00.004-05:00

and it's odd, I feel kind of...sad. I guess that is to be expected when any era of your life ends. I've been at this job longer than I've ever been at any job, and I must admit that it has gotten real cozy. So cozy in fact that if I didn't shake myself and move on, I probably would have fallen into some kind of boredom induced coma.

The people that I work with are super and nice and have just been so very lovely for the whole time I've been here, but the work itself? I really need to do something that is not only more challenging, but something that I'm a little more passionate about.

I will not miss the mailman though. No person in the history of my entire life has ever annoyed me as much as that guy. He is seriously ridiculous, and I cannot handle him. Everytime I see him, I am left with a feeling of rage that doesn't go away for about 15 minutes. Even just writing about him makes me agitated. annnnd breathe.

So as much as this is needed, a little bit of fear is creeping in, because what if I fail miserably? I'm totally happy about this decision, but the looming future is a little stressful is all. That being said...I'm totally excited!!!

So I'm off to see my dog buds soon, then I'm going skiing tomorrow, then I'm leaving for Florida on Monday night. Florida will basically be a working vacation, and honestly, work will probably be necessary to fill the time. Because I'm not entirely sure what there is to do in Florida beside sit on the beach for extended periods of time. Which is fine...I'll just be doing that like a total nerd with my laptop. As long as there is no snow, I will be happy as can be.

Annnd, I will be able to start actually posting more regularly. Change...it's a comin.

Crazy Dog Lady Strikes Again...

2010-02-23T13:46:00.003-05:00

Hey, if anybody is interested in reading another article I wrote on Canine Profiling, specifically the issue that happened in Brampton with those two dogs being taken away, you can check it out here.

haha, I never get tired of talking about it! And honestly, it's because people still respond in such a ridiculous manner. In one discussion, a guy compared pitbulls to raccoons and was like, "if you think pitbulls can be trained not to be aggressive, let's see you train a raccoon!". And I was like, a) what the hell do raccoons have to do with anything? b) that doesn't even make sense, why would I ever want to train a raccoon, they are creepy and c) you're an idiot.

I think in a lot of cases I'm just preaching to the choir, but I always hope there is that one person out there reading it who just thinks, "huh, I never thought of it like that".

You just never know I suppose.

The things you find the basement...

2010-02-22T20:09:00.004-05:00

Okay, so I've mentioned before that I'm selling a whole bunch of random stuff in order to make some money for a travel writing course. And I'm pretty much there...but I'm totally going to keep selling stuff as long as I can find it because it's hilarious, and the people that have been coming to buy my stuff are interesting, and there is nothing I like better than interesting people.

Anyway, I was in the basement and I came across a giant tote that I hadn't looked through yet. In addition to Beanie Babies, Berenstein Bear books, and a Rosie O'Donnell barbie doll, it also included this:

My Michelle Tanner doll. That talks. Creeped out yet? Do you like the dent in her forehead? Unfortunately, she doesn't speak anymore. I even changed the battery and was going to take a video of her speaking because it used to be so hilarious and robotic, but no such luck.

Phrases that I remember her saying include:
"Don't call me squirt!"
"My name is Michelle"
"No way Jose"
"You got it duuude"

I have no idea why I kept this doll. And now I have no idea what to do with it. I don't really want it, but I also don't really want to throw it out. I'm pretty sure if I put her in the garbage can she will come to life at night and stab me in my sleep.

"My name is Michelle, bitch!!"

Soo yeah, now she's just sitting on the couch staring at me.

Ummm anybody want a disturbing and mute doll?

Two more weeks, two more weeks...

2010-02-17T15:25:00.004-05:00

Two more weeks of this, two more weeks. I cannot wait to be outta here.

I just took a walk to go grab something from the storage area and it is snowing like mad, but wet snow that blows diagonally, so it ends up directly in your face. I decided to stop and get a coffee on my way and a cute boy smiled at me and held the door at the store and it was pretty much the highlight of my day so far. Anyways...I eventually get back to the office and go to the washroom, and heidi ho, my makeup is running all over my face and I looked like I had been punched in both eyes, and I most certainly looked that way when I was in the coffee shop. FML. Anyone know of a good waterproof mascara? Clearly I need to stop cheaping out and buying the $5 stuff.

This weekend was so much fun.

We went to see the movie Valentine's Day and it was at this old school theatre that I loved. The people selling tickets were in actual booths and there was a "refreshment centre". And a preview for Sex and the City 2 came on before the movie...I cannot even wait. They appear to be in Egypt or something which seems odd, but I don't even care because I just miss that show. Valentine's Day was...meh. Way too many characters and different story lines for my liking. Plus, I had to pee so badly for the last half hour that I could not even concentrate. In retrospect, I probably should have just went to the washroom, but I have a thing about not missing any parts of movies. I hate being confused then having to ask people what I missed. I really don't want to be that person.

The drive home through the snowy steep mountains was hella scary, but I white knuckled my way through it. The roads are pitch black, and I couldn't turn on my brights because it just reflected the snow, so I couldn't see any potential deer eyes, and oh my god it was scary.

I found this game at Target called Quelf. I gotta say, it is the most hilarious board game I have ever played and was quite possibly the best $25 I have ever spent. It is seriously the most random thing in the world. And it is the best game ever to play when you are drunk. You basically pick up a card and have to do whatever it says or take the penalty. It's a little bit Girl Talk and a little bit Dweebs, Geeks and Weirdos (ummm was anyone else obsessed with that game??) We sang drunk renditions of kumbaya, take me out to the ball game and for one turn I had to make a halloween mask out of household materials and wear it for the entire game. And the cards always say, "you have to do this without laughing", which really, is kind of impossible. Stacey picked up a card at one point that said something like, "pretend you are a singing, rhyming prison guard, who has no lips, has his knees stuck together, and who is covered in maple syrup and feathers. You must make up a rhyming song about how you got that way". I almost peed my pants. Oh man.

Tubing was good times, and nobody broke themselves. It was flipping cold though. Apparently you are supposed to wear goggles while tubing? Who knew??

One night at around midnight, I got a sudden urge to go play in the snow, and two of my friends were like, 'ummm no", but luckily Sarah came out with me. We did some snow angels, and then made a pretty sweet snow carving. Well, as sweet as it can get when you've drank several bottles of rye/vodka.

All in all a great weekend! It made having to come back here even harder, but I just need to keep repeating-two more weeks, two more weeks.

Tonight, I'm off to the t.dot for a reading. Chuck Thompson, whom I have a huge crush on, and who is one of my favourite travel writers ever, will be reading along with some other authors. Here's hoping I can come up with a coherent sentence to say to him! And also that it stops snowing so we don't need to drive through a blizzard to get there!

Ahhh Weekend Away

2010-02-12T14:39:00.006-05:00

I don't know if it has come through in my blogs, but I"m a leeetle stressed at the moment. Stressed in a good way if that makes any sense at all.

I'm going away with the girls this weekend up to Ellicottville, New York. It's only like two hours away, but it feels like a million miles and I can't wait.

We go every year, and it essentially involves hanging out in our pajamas, a whole lot of drinking and ridiculous drinking games, watching random 80s movies such as The Karate Kid and that's about it. Actually, last year we tried snowboarding, which let me tell you, was interesting. And by interesting, I mean incredibly painful.

There is also a place to go tubing which is just the about the most fun thing ever. You get towed up the hill on a pulley, and then race your friends down a huge ice hill. The potential for injury is high, but the potential for awesomeness is even higher.

ALSO, also, right next to where we stay there is a pub. The grossest, most rednecky pub you can imagine. Like, there is no way in hell you would ever use the washroom there or god forbid eat anything from the kitchen. Even the mixed drinks are questionable. The pub parking lot is usually full of trucks with gun racks. There is a huge sign out front that says "Welcome Hunters".

We stick out like sore thumbs, despite the fact that we in no way look spectacular.

But you know what? The people are nice. Except that one time we almost got our asses kicked by a skanky girl and her huge boyfriend. Apparently we "looked" at her boyfriend wrong, and one of my friends almost got a high kick to the face. Seriously, the girls boot was literally an inch away. After that happened we had some other lady create a distraction by waving her arms all wildly and we hightailed it outta there. I only win hypothetical fights. I can jab, jab, upper, upper with the best of them, but if someone's actual face was on the recieving end I would likely cry.

K, I so need to see if I can find a picture of the pub now....

Classy right? I can't wait.

Happy Weekend!!

Ummm how cool is this?

2010-02-11T16:22:00.003-05:00

http://www.thefuntheory.com/

Okay, I just randomly heard someone in the office mention the piano stairs, then I had to google it. And it is so cool!

Stuff like this makes me almost as happy as flash mobs.

I really, really like the idea of people engaging with their environment. And I really want to walk on that piano staircase.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

2010-02-04T08:58:00.004-05:00

So...I've been having a week. It's basically been a ball of stress.

I gave my notice at my job the other day. I will no longer be employed here as of the end of February. I cannot do it anymore, I just, I can't.

Even the thought of staying until the end of February is enough to get me hyperventilating.

I don't even know how to explain this without sounding like a complete knob.

All I do all damn day is sit at the computer pretending to look busy. I would venture to say that about 1 hour or less of my work day is spent doing actual work. I can almost feel my brain melting. The thought of coming back here day after day after day makes me want to drive far, far away and never come back. It sucks my will to live. I'm not at all trying to be dramatic, that's just exactly what it feels like. I used to think it was the perfect arrangement because I could just write all day. Except that doesn't happen. I start to write and then someone comes up behind me, I have to minimize the screen, then lose my train of though. This happens like 50times a day due to the fact that my desk faces the entire office. It is just not a conducive situation to writing. As a result of this, I just zone out for 8 hours, then go home, then I hate myself because I am being such an unproductive member of society. And so the cycle goes. This job is going nowhere, and it is going there quickly. The last couple weeks, I can't even go home and write after work because the thought of sitting at the computer for any more time makes me want to go insane. As you would imagine, it's hard to try and be a writer when you spend minimal time writing.

Anyways. So yeah. I hate my job, but now I've quit, and the end of February can't come fast enough. I"m sure many people probably think this is a dumb decision, and maybe it is. But I'm okay with that. I've gone over this and over this in my head, and I'm done. I need to start working on some goals, and nothing is getting accomplished sitting here day after day wishing I was some place else.

So I've been blog absent because my brain is drained.

The highlight of my night last night was watching a documentary on TLC about Conjoined Twins: After the Separation. As interesting as it was, it clearly indicates that I need to get a life. Shake things up.

I'm going away with the girls this weekend, and I cannot even wait. I need to be out of this city, and with my friends and laugh and drink and crawl my way out of this ennui.

Anyways.

Oh, and for anybody who was wondering, those two dogs who were due to be euthanized on Feb 5th are still alive at the moment. The case has blown up, and has now gone to court. It's still not certain if the families are going to get their dogs back. Stupid Ontario government.

So! I am extremely excited about new beginnings at the end of February. I am SO excited to move on and just go for it. I'm sure the rest of this month will fly by (minus the actual daylight hours that just drag by. I can actually hear the minutes ticking one by one). Ahhhh.

Back to regular posting soon when I actually have something interesting to write about!! :)

Travel Tuesday-Peace, Love and Paris

2010-02-02T06:00:00.000-05:00

"Jim. Jim. Jim. We need to go see Jim now!!" It was becoming a chant, and the rest of us were starting to get a little annoyed. Jess would not give it a rest.

Six of us. Me, Jess, Laura, Lisa, Rob and Asmir. We were leaning against the cool stonework at the bottom of the Arc de Triomphe. It was a boiling hot day in Paris, and the 284 steps to the top of the Arc didn't help with the sweatiness of the situation. Not that the view wasn't worth it; it was.

"Can we go see Jim now?? We've been wandering around Paris all day, seeing nothing but dumb tourist stuff!!” Jess was verging on whiny.

"Okay, okay, we'll go!" I said. Anything to get her to stop talking. I kind of agreed, because as great as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre was, sometimes you just want to get down deep into a city and away from the masses. Okay, that's a lie; I thought the Louvre was boring. We ran through the museum like we were in the Da Vinci Code, and we were still in there too long. And the Mona Lisa? It's cool and all, but it’s not worth getting elbowed repeatedly in the ribs for as crowds of tourists jostle for the perfect photo. You know what? It looks exactly like it does in pictures, and I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the real and a copy. But hey, but I'm not an art connoisseur by any means, so take from that what you will.

"Asmir, you going to come with?" Lisa inquired. We all turned to look at the new friend we had made in front of Notre Dame that very morning.

"Oh. Of course!” He had wandered up to us as we all gathered in front of the giant church to stare, and he had stuck to us like glue ever since.

"Okay, we'll go. But first, I need to fix my pants somehow, they are driving me crazy." Laura gestured down to one leg of her khaki pants which now had a long flap of fabric dragging on the ground. "I have no idea how this even happened".

"Don't worry, I fix", Asmir crouched down and grabbed the hanging fabric in his hand. "Ready? One, two, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip, oops!" Laura's pants now had a huge tear going from her ankle to just past her knee. We all started cracking up, as Asmir hurried to remedy the situation by tying a haphazard knot so the tear didn't get any bigger.

"Okay then. Thanks!” Laura chirped. Laura was the nicest person on the planet. Always eternally optimistic about anything and everything. "One, two, ooooops" would soon make our way into every conversation we had.

Rob whipped out his guide to the Metro, and we planned our route to our destination: Pere LaChaise in the East end of Paris. Jess was practically jumping up and down by the time we emerged from the Metro station across the street from the cemetery.

We entered from the main gate and didn't bother getting a map. At this point, I think we all thought Jess would be divinely led to Jim's grave. No. The moment you walk into the cemetery, Paris changes. Row upon row of flower covered graves, with row upon row of trees lining the paths, make it a beautiful albeit confusing place to find your way around in. The trees created a shady canopy, blocking us from the summertime heat. It was silent, it was still and it was eerie. We slowed down; heck, even Jess slowed down. We stopped and looked at all the different graves, venturing inside some of the large dark tombs. None of us really knew anything about the cemetery, beyond the fact that it held the body of Jim Morrison, Jess's idol. The cemetery is one of the most popular places to visit in Paris, but as we walked in and out and around the worn paths, we barely saw anyone. It was an environment that forced you to stop and reflect on where you were. We couldn't rush in any direction, because no matter what, we were going to get lost. Better to just wander.

We stumbled upon Jim's grave mostly by accident; we rounded a corner and saw a small group of people in the distance.

Jess let out a happy squeal, yelled, "that's Jim!!!", and took off running, her sandals slapping the ground as she went. The rest of us took our time wandering up to the group, none of us being overly concerned with seeing Jim's resting place. That was Jess's thing. We chatted about what we were going to do afterwards: I was planning on doing some window shopping and people watching, Laura and Asmir were heading to an art museum, and Lisa and Rob were going back to the hotel to rest. We caught up to Jess, who was standing just outside the black iron fence that encased Jim's grave. One group of people were singing, and another group of people were passing around a joint.

"I can't believe we are finally here!" Jess was beyond excited. How great does it feel to be with somebody when they cross something off their life goal list? Pretty damn great.

We all got to chatting with two hippie esque Australian boys. One had long dreads, and the other a long pony tail. They were lounging on the ground by the grave, passing a bottle of red wine back and forth.

"Drink?” one of them nodded at me. I grabbed the bottle and took a swig, passing it to Jess, who also took a big drink. The cheap red wine made its way around the circle, ending with Lisa who gave it back to the dreadlocked Australian. We all turned to stare in silence at the grave of the rocker. Jess slipped off a ring she had been wearing for the entire trip, and threw it over the fence. It landed on Jim's grave with a clink.

"I've been waiting to do that for so long!".

We were all silent for a couple moments longer, linked by wine, pot smoke, peace, love and rock and roll.

Soon after, we said our goodbyes to our Australian friends and made our way back through the winding lanes of the cemetery.

"Okay," Rob said as we walked, "that was cool!"

"I told you!” Jess replied, grinning. "This was way better than any dumb church or museum!!"

And she was right, it totally was.

We found the exit, and stepped out onto the sun scorched pavement, horns blaring, people jostling. With one glance back into the cemetery, we exchanged “byes” and “see ya laters”, then all went our separate ways.

This is one of my favourite days of travelling ever. I almost can't describe how it makes me feel without getting ridiculously sappy, but in that moment, I felt really connected to the people I was with, despite how different we all were. That is one of my favourite things about travelling, because in a moment like that the world shrinks a little bit, and makes you question why people just can't get along. There is almost always common ground somewhere, be it a love of red wine, a love of a dead stoner rocker, or just the knowledge that the moment you are in is special, and will never, ever happen to you again. I tried to make this story as non cheesy as I could, but seen as I feel cheesy and nostalgic about the whole day, it's hard. But, I just, I loved that day and I loved those people, and even though I'm 99% sure I'll never see any of them again, I still feel connected because we were all there living in that moment.

My one dog post per week....

2010-01-31T12:37:00.005-05:00

I don't want to harp on this and drive you all crazy, but I am sunk down deep in pitbulls and breed bans, and the more I get into it, the more I just want to freak out. Because this is what happens:

From the Brampton Guardian:
Rambo on death row as city, owners battle over breeding
Friday January 29 2010
By PAM DOUGLAS
Rambo wasn't hurting anyone.
No one had complained about the young dog, he hadn't escaped 75-year-old Maria Gaspar's Vodden Street yard, and he had never bitten anyone.

But Rambo and his sister, Brittany, are on death row at the City of Brampton's Animal Shelter right now while their owners are embroiled in a battle to get their beloved pets back before they are euthanized. The deadline- Feb. 5.

Both dogs were seized from separate homes on Jan. 13 by city animal control officials who said they believed the dogs to be pitbulls.

Their owners say that's not true, and both say they have proof from veterinarians tracing their backgrounds as boxers/American bulldogs.

The city's veterinarian has a conflicting opinion, according to a letter sent to the Branco family, who own Brittany.

Gaspar is heartbroken. The senior citizen can't understand why Rambo was seized. She said the confusing part is, the city has licensed Rambo as a boxer/American bulldog cross for the past two years. His vaccination certificate from North Town Veterinary Hospital classifies his breed as a boxer cross. And, no one who has seen the dog has ever thought he was a pitbull, according to the distraught Gaspar.

The city told Gaspar that no one had complained about Rambo. He had not escaped the back yard. If anything, he made passersby laugh the way he would jump up onto the roof of his dog house to look over the fence, she said.

But it was that quirky little habit that led to him being removed from his home and held by the city under threat of euthanasia.

A passing animal control officer spotted Rambo on his perch in December, looking over the six-foot fence, and told Maria Gaspar she had to move the doghouse because Rambo could escape. Gaspar agreed, but then the issue of Rambo's breed came up. She was told to get a letter from her veterinarian attesting to the dog's breed, and to have him neutered. Gaspar said she got the required letter, and an estimate for neutering, and gave both to the city.

In response, the city sent a letter telling Gaspar there is no completed certificate from a veterinarian, and that "Rambo has been confirmed to be a pitbull by his parentage as well as the characteristics as defined in the City of Brampton Dog By-law..."

The bylaw defines a pitbull as a pitbull terrier, Staffordshire bull terrier, American Staffordshire bull terrier, American pitbull terrier, or "a dog that has an appearance and physical characteristics that are substantially similar to those dogs."

"It's not, it's not pitbull," said Gaspar emphatically, struggling for the English words to describe her upset. She can't talk about Rambo without crying.

"This problem is like a son problem," she said, emphasizing how important Rambo is to her. "Now, I no have dog, I no have money, I no have nothing... It's not fair."

They can't fight the city because her family doesn't have any money for a lawyer, she said, but Rui Branco is taking on the fight for both dogs.

His family owns Brittany, and they are in a similar predicament. Like Rambo, there were no complaints or allegations of biting against Brittany. The licence for Brittany's father, Tyson, was due for renewal, and an animal control officer went to the Branco's house to collect the $20. She was told Tyson was given away to a friend, but that's when the issue of Brittany's lineage arouse, according to Branco.

He has hired a lawyer who is preparing to file a motion in court to get the dogs back.

"This is an injustice," Branco said, pointing out how ironic it is that he will not only have to pay a lawyer to fight for his family's dog, but, as a resident of Brampton, he will also contribute to the cost of defending the city.

Tyson, also Rambo's father, was also licensed by the city at one time, although Branco said the family did not realize the city had classified him as a pitbull, especially since he was born in December 2005, one full month after the grace period for owning a pitbull. If he was a pitbull, Branco said, the city should not have issued a licence to him at all. But, he says, the real mistake was labeling him a pitbull in the first place.

He has the microchip paperwork for Tyson, and a veterinarian's letter, stating, "He is in my opinion a healthy and well-socialized pet and is a cross between an American Bulldog and a Boxer."

A second veterinarian, Dr. David Kirkham of the Cheltenham Veterinary Centre, has added a letter stating Brittany's mother, Jersey, is "unquestionably a purebred boxer."

"I don't understand why they are fighting me so hard on this," he said. "Brittany doesn't look anything like a pitbull."

The Branco's said the city did not have a warrant to seize Brittany when they arrived on Jan. 13, and Rui's brother, John, confronted the city worker, who then called for backup. Several police officers and other city animal control officials arrived, and, ultimately, the dog was handed over. However, the Branco's argue they were intimidated into willingly turning over their pet and feel proper procedure (a warrant) was not followed.

For their part, the city is considering four charges against the Branco family- owning a pitbull born after Nov. 29, 2005 in relation to Brittany and in relation to Tyson, failing to licence a pitbull, transferring a pitbull without consent of the poundkeeper and permitting a pitbull to breed.

The Gaspar family faces one charge of owning a pitbull.

This just really breaks my heart. I honestly have no words. It needs to stop and it needs to stop soon.

I hope this thing causes a shit storm for the City of Brampton/Brampton Animal Services, because they deserve it. This is not acceptable.

annnnd breathe.

I'll be back next with a non dog related post! :)

Wednesdays Random Thoughts.

2010-01-27T14:50:00.004-05:00

I am sucking royally at this blogging thing lately...I mean I have lots of stuff to write about, but I've been thinking a lot about the direction of the blog and yada yada. I think it needs a more focused theme, because it is just so hodge podge at the moment. This is basically as far as I've gotten with this line of thought. Just putting it out there. I also want to change the look of it, but I have zero graphic design skills and a low comprehension of html and all that jazz. I know how to bold things, link things, annnd that's pretty much where the knowledge ends.

Anyway! There is a lot of exciting things coming up this year...I'm hoping to start Matador's Travel Writing Program in March, when I'll have much more free time. My quest to sell random shit and then use the money to pay for this course is working out nicely. I have big time love for the powers of Kijiji.

Florida is happening in about a month, as is Savannah, Georgia. I have a wee obsession with all things Southern, especially the accents, so I am excited about this. I've mentioned before that I am a total history geek, and Savannah is perfect for this. I've reading Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil to prepare.

You have no idea how excited I am for Dogtown in May. Like, everytime I think about it, I want to jump around. Jump up jump up and get down. I cannot even emphasize how much I cannot wait for that trip.

Pitbulls have taken over my life and my brain space for the past several days, and whether anything will come of it or not will remain to be seen, but I'll tell you one thing, it sure has been enlightening, and I am becoming increasingly frustrated with politicians.

I was at an editorial board meeting last night, which essentially was two old guys talking about history and their newspaper reading routine. I shit you not, one guy spent 10 minutes like, "well, I read the Washington Post in the morning while I"m drinking coffee and eating bran, and then come lunch time, I read the jdkafjdf". I hate when people talk just to hear their own voice and are not aware of the fact that the people they are talking to are not at all listening. Then we went around the table and we had to say what we would like to see more of in the paper. Fine. One guy went on for a long time about the need for more historical stories and he backed up this argument with numerous documents he had printed about...honestly, I don't even know. I enjoy history just as much as the next guy (really), but this man reminds me of my asshole grade 6 teacher, and that's all I can think about when he talks.
Anyways., it gets to my turn and I say, "oh more stuff about events going on in the area. And of course it would be great if you guys could cover the animals at the shelter more". And that's not just crazy dog lady talking! Ole Charlie was at the shelter for two years, he had one article in the paper and within days, he had several people wanting to adopt him. The newspaper can be a powerful medium. I really don't think it's a dumb request. One story a month about an animal that is in need of a home? Seems reasonable. So we get back to the guy who resembles my asshole teacher, and he looks at me, and is like, "oh yeah, I agree with you. More cats and dogs. And maybe more stories on the wild turkey in the North end". Please look up sarcasm in the dictionary, and you will find that precise statement written there. I really, I just really strongly dislike this man. Strong dislike. Even if you think it's a dumb idea, and hey, maybe it is, keep it to yourself! Okay, I just needed to get that out there.

I am going to try and get my blogging act together, I'm just really struggling with the direction. I just need to make it through the month of Feb, because there is a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

Tomorrow night I am going to see Little House on the Prairie: The Musical. My aunt got free tickets. The potential this play has to be bad seems quite high. But it does star Melissa Gilbert as Ma...apparently she was in the original series as...a daughter? I never watched Little House on the Prairie, so I have no idea what it was even about. In my mind it equals Dr. Quinn Medicine Women + The Waltons. No idea where that mental image came from because I never watched either of those shows, but I suppose it seems fitting enough. Show=Children wearing bonnets skipping through fields while horses pull bales of hay past them. Musical=children wearing bonnets skipping through fields singing while horses pull bales of hay past them...while singing. Actually I hope that is exactly what it is. If the play involves a singing horse, I'll consider it an A++.

Anyhoo, this is a sad excuse for a blog post that is basically me rambling about nothing. Though I do enjoy a good ramble, it makes me happy.

That is all.

Happy Wednesday!

A Furry Friday Request

2010-01-22T13:14:00.004-05:00

Phew, this week has been...busy!

The shelter last night was fun, the weather was actually fairly warm, so it was even more enjoyable. Annnd, a lot of dogs have gotten adopted, so that is good. For the last several weeks, the adoption side has been full (30ish dogs), but we were down to half that amount last night.

I don't have any pictures...it was so icy last night that I had to keep my hands available for any sudden crash landings.

I've gotten a fairly good response from my pitbull article from a couple of weeks ago, and now I have found myself on a bit of a quest. I've tried contacting my local MPP Jim Bradley, to discuss the matter, but he has not responded. I've heard from some other people that said they have also tried contacting him to no avail. I find this really annoying. I mean, he is a politician, a provincial politician, a large part of his job is representing the people in his riding. So like, respond dude, it's your job.

Not much annoys me, I'm a fairly easy going individual, but I have to say, this whole thing has gotten me pissed. This pissed off feeling has been exacerbated by the fact that this guy who represents our community in parliament is ignoring me. It is frustrating.

The more I read about the pibull ban, the more I realize just how ridiculous the whole thing is.

I thought maybe I could get the shelter's backing on this, but surprise surprise, that doesn't seem to be happening, which really only adds to the frustration, because I really think it's something that they should be supporting and educating people about.

So, my goal for the next couple of weeks is to organize a letter writing campaign to a Mr. Jim Bradley, in an attempt to a) get him to support Bill 222 (the Bill that, if passed will reverse the pitbull ban in Ontario), and b) educate him. My thought is, if he truly understands the issue, then there is no way he can continue to support the ban. It just wouldn't make any sense.

I am leery of politicians. I have found many of the ones I have encountered a little too big for their britches, and really, being completely ignored by King Bradley isn't doing much to quash that opinion.

You're probably wondering where I'm going with this.

Anyone out there want to send a letter?? I realize most of you don't live in Niagara or Ontario, but the fact of the matter is, it all helps. The more people who write from different cities, the more this guy will have to rethink his decision.

I will have prewritten letters done up if that makes it any easier. I'm going to do up a letter template for pitbull owners, one for concerned Niagara residents, and one for concerned residents of elsewhere.

Ideally, this would be a snail mail letter as opposed to email, but email is fine too. My only concern with email is that they are easy to delete. Multiple letters coming in every day...not so easy to ignore.

When this is all said and done, and the letter writing is underway, I am going to request an actual face to face meeting with this dude, and present him with the fattest of information packages, one which details why exactly breed bans don't work, and why he should support Bill 222.

Honestly, I won't stop badgering him (in the politest way possible), until he sees the light on this. Maybe it won't be as difficult as I think, or maybe it will...either way, I'm putting my faith in the hope that common sense will prevail.

I've seen this law rip too many people apart, and I've seen more perfectly wonderful dogs be euthanized then I ever cared too.

My buds at the shelter mean the world to me, they really do. They never fail to brighten my life on a weekly basis, and I just, I need to do something, you know? It hurts my heart that someone can look at Brooklyn or Carleigh and think they are killing machines. I literally cannot wrap my head around this prejudice.

I always feel like I'm walking the fine line of becoming a crazy dog lady, you know, the one who cares a little too much. I think I'm okay with that now, I can live with that moniker. And hey, this crazy dog lady, she's aiming for you Mr. Bradley. Your prejudices and your uninformed decisions? Going down, one little letter at a time.

Soooo, if you want to help, if you get as fired up about this stuff as I do, or if you just want to know what the hell I'm talking about: email me!

Happy Weekend Ya'll!!

Travel Tuesday-A brief German tour

2010-01-18T22:12:00.009-05:00

Sorry, I've been slightly MIA. I've been consumed with thoughts of Haiti and consumed with thoughts of Pitbulls. My brain has been full.

Anyway! I've been meaning to put up some pretty pictures for a while, and now seems like an opportune time as I don't have a travel narrative in me today. So today I present to you, a photo tour of a very pretty part of my favourite country in the world-Germany.

My ancestors were from Germany, and I've felt a pull towards the country for a while, so I finally got my butt over there this spring. I had been before, on a Contiki tour, but that was filled with Jagermeister and beer and to be perfectly honest that is all I remember from the German portion of the trip. That and buying new Birkenstocks and watching the Glockenspeil like, "this is it??? Really???". Anyway, this spring I went back, alone, and I fell deeply, deeply in love. My travels went through the Bavarian part of Germany, and I didn't even cover it all by any means.

When I arrived at the Munich airport, I was so very proud of myself because I found the train to get into the city, and I got off at the correct stop. When I walked up from the subway stop, this was my view. Directly after this, I proceeded to walk through the streets of Munich for about two hours, pulling behind me the heaviest luggage known to man. Around and around I wandering, stopping in several stores and being like, "ummm where the feck do I go??? Danke, danke!!". I asked cabs, I asked in other hotels, and after several hours I was running on no sleep, and on the complete verge of tears. I opted to stop dead in the middle of the pedestrian area on a random street and kind of spin in bewilderment. Shortly after this, a kindly German man came up to me and pointed me in the right direction.

That giant billboard of a green hand was basically the saving grace of my day. I thought I had arrived at the correct hotel (note-hotel names are kind of similar in Munich), so I walked in, plopped down my stuff, and was like, "phewww, it took me forever to find you!", then the guy was like, "you are at the wrong hotel". Never have I wanted to cry like a small child having a tantrum more than at that moment. But he took me outside, pointed to the hand billboard, and was like, "walk towards that". Which I did, and I eventually found my hotel. All was well.

I am a huge history nerd, so the fact that Hitler used to rally his troops in this very square got me very excited. I spend a good while hanging out on those steps.

Hansel and Gretlish, right?

Another history nerd moment. This is a memorial to the White Rose Movement, which was a group of young adults who tried to organize an uprising against Hitler. Eventually they were caught and executed. But holy crap, if you interested in Germany history at all, check out the movie Sophie Scholl: The Final Days. These kids are my absolute heros. I can't imagine being that brave.

Have you ever gotten that email with all the pictures of the most beautiful places on earth, and you are kind of like, oh my god, if I could only go there, and then one day you find yourself up on a mountain top all by yourself, taking in just the most beautiful view, wondering how you got so lucky? Yeah.

This is my hotel room in the teeny tiny town of Berchtesgaden. I LOVED this little place. When I saw my hotel room, I may have jumped up and down a bit, for there was a window seat and a balcony, two of my absolute favourite things. I was in Berchtesgaden for about 4 days, and believe me, I spent incountable hours on that seat, reading and just looking at the mountains.

When I finally got brave enough to go to an actual restaurant by myself, this is what I got. Story for another day.

How quaint!

Is anybody obsessed with the Amazing Race like I am? Then you might recognize this!!

This is in Berchtesgaden National Park. It was at approximentaly at this point in the hike that I was up on a high path with no guardrail and had to change my batteries in the camera. A German lady came up behind me and started getting positively mad that I was going to fall off the cliff. I pretending I didn't understand because I sure wasn't hiking down without getting a picture of this. Just...wow.

This is a battery operated boat, it moves very slow and makes no noise. You just glid peacefully through the water. The coolest thing was when the boat stopped and the driver got out and played the trumpet. The lake is surrounded by mountains, and the sound just bounced off and echoed.

Eagles Nest! More history nerd moments!

WWII Bunkers with D-Day graffiti.

This was my last day in Berchtesgaden. I was chilling on my balcony when this random parade went by.

Sorry this wasn't more detailed, I have to keep minimizing the window to ensure no one notices what I'm doing. I'm a good employee.

And that's the German portion of my trip! I have about 1 billion pictures, but I tried to par it down for you. Hope you liked it!

Random Wednesday Thoughts

2010-01-13T09:38:00.005-05:00

-Okay, I've noticed a disturbing trend lately, and it is causing me to freak the eff out. I am in no way prepared for this. You see, lately, I've noticed an influx of grey hair. Maybe influx isn't quite the right word, but I've noticed, well, noticeable grey hair. I am in no way old enough for this to be happening! I mentioned this to my cousin who is a nurse, and she was all glib, "oh, mid 20s is when a lot of people start going grey!" I don't think so Tim. Does anyone else have this issue? Is this perhaps a sign that I need to not be such a spaz/worrywart? I got nothing.

-I was watching American Idol last night, and I have to say, I felt like a complete asshole. I never realized how cruel it was before. Everybody's always like, "oh my gosh, the people that try out for these shows need better friends, because nobody told them they suck!". I used to agree with this state of mind, but I got to thinking this morning. I know there are some people that go on there and want to be on tv, and don't really care if they make an ass out of themselves, and that's fine, and maybe in that case we are laughing with them. But there are those people that really, really think they are great. It's their dream, it's their life. Maybe the friends of these people don't tell them they suck, because who wants to be the person who crushes a friends dream? Best to leave that to the professionals. What if the person really, truly thought American Idol was their shot, and one of their friends was like, "dude, you suck ass. Seriously. This dream you have...it's going nowhere". It's hard all around. Anyway, I can't watch this show anymore, because I inevitably find myself laughing when people suck, and that makes me feel like a huge douche canoe.

-There was an article in the paper today about a man that got mauled by his pet tiger in Ontario somewhere. And while that in and of itself is not really funny, because you know, death, is it really shocking? Is it not just a teensy bit ironic? Like what other outcome was there to this situation? Why do you have pet lions, pet tigers and pet cougars you keep in a barn? Why? To top it all off, the article had quite possible the best picture I have seen in a newspaper in a while. Now would have been a good time to put said photo, but I can't find it anywhere. It was basically a photo of a cop standing by his car, and in the background of the photo is a large barn, and in the window of the barn, is a HUGE Siberian Tiger, glaring at the camera. Photographic gold. It's a lot less entertaining when I describe it. Anyway, I think you need to be seriously unbalanced to somehow decide that it would be a great idea to set up a makeshift Tiger enclosure in your backyard. If the Hangover has taught us anything, it's that this will never turn out well.

-I had a phone interview for a writing job last night, which when I think of it now, is kind of weird. Never in my life have I had an interview for a writing job...usually I just send my portfolio + query and hope for the best. I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but I hate talking on the phone, a lot. I don't mind quick phone calls that serve a purpose, but I hate droning on and on, and having to come up with things to say. There is always awkward pauses. Anyways. I can do perfectly fine in in person interviews, and actually usually come off much more competent than I may actually be, but on the phone, I found myself ending sentences with "soooo yeah." Oh my god. I am usually a fairly awkward person, but during that phone interview, I turned into the most awkward person alive. I don't even know what I was saying half the time. Needless to say, my hopes aren't high. I know I could do the job perfectly fine, exceedingly well even, but my sounding like a complete dork might have sealed the deal with a resounding "not so much".

That is all. Happy Wednesday!

Travel Tuesday-Ontario Edition

2010-01-12T10:23:00.005-05:00

If I was organized about things, I would surely have these ready a couple of days in advance instead of just writing them on Tuesday. I mean, that way, I could actually edit them and what not. That will be my goal for next week.

In unrelated, yet related news, I have made it one of my goals of January 2010 to declutter my life. I have so much stuff, and I need...not to. So, I've decided I am going to gather all the stuff I no longer have any use for, sell it on Ebay or Kijiji, and then hopefully make enough money to pay for Matador U Travel Writing Program. This seems like the perfect solution because I have no extra money at this point to pay for it, and all this stuff is just sitting around anyway. We'll see how it goes. So far, I've made $10. So just $340 more. I'm giving myself until the end of Feb.

Anyway! Today's Travel story takes place in my university town, London, Ontario.

The Boler Bump

We both got on the elevator with all our ski gear. We had decided to take the bus to the ski hill because it seemed like a direct route, and neither one of us had a car. It didn’t occur to us at the time that this would perhaps be a hassle both for us and the other people on the bus. People cursed at us as we got on and jostled for space with our bags and skis; and then they all stared at us like we were completely crazy.

After about a 15 minute ride downtown, it turned out we had to transfer buses. We hopped off and trudged over to where the connecting bus was supposed to come. We waited, and waited, and waited. Our eyelashes began to freeze as our eyes watered from the wind, and we became increasingly irritated.

“Do you think the bus is ever going to come?” We whined and freezed and whined and freezed. Just as we were contemplating giving up and taking the bus back home, a lady in a sedan pulled up.

“You girls going skiing?” We stared at her and then stared at our skis. Clearly we were.

“Boler Mountain’s quite a bus ride from here…I’ll give you a ride!”

We hesitated for perhaps 10 seconds before we agreed that this would be a great idea. We followed the lady to her car, and helped her as she packed our skis and bags into the truck. We looked at each other once before getting in the car, as if to say, “well, she very well could be taking us out to the woods to hack us to bits, but at this point, it beats standing in the cold”. She drove us all the way out to Boler Mountain, which indeed would have been an eternally long bus ride. She dropped us off and we thanked her profusely, and then went to get our lift tickets. It was at this point we realized we had just travelled a total of what added up to several hours to come skiing at a place where there was one chair lift and something that barely passed as a mountain. We stared at the hill in disappointment for a while, but we went to ski and that was exactly what we were going to do.

We rode the chair lift up and skied down the hill in about 20 seconds. We repeated this about 10 times before deciding to head in for dinner. As we sat in the cafeteria style room with our french fries and hamburgers, a girl with long blond hair came up to us.

“Are you Megan and Kaitlyn?” she inquired.

“Yes…” Kaitlyn replied, “Ummmm, how do you know?”

“My mom told me!” she chirped, “she said she had given two girls a ride to the ski hill and I just figured it was you! I work here!”

Apparently for some reason we didn’t know, we stood out.

“Oh, well it was so nice of your mom to drive us!! We probably still would have been waiting at the bus stop if she hadn’t!” I smiled at her.

She smiled back, said “nice to meet you”, and was on her way.

“Wow”, Kaitlyn said, “that was random”.

We finished our dinner and went out for a couple more rides up and down the ski lift, before deciding to call it a night. There was only one bus back to town and we sure didn’t want to miss it. We packed up all our gear and headed over to the bus stop. It was frigid out. An hour later, the bus came. We made it downtown to catch our connecting bus, and were standing awkwardly with our skis, leaning against the bus shelter. A man wandered up to us, looking slightly…tattered.

“You guys just go skiing?” he said, slurring slightly. “Where abouts did you go?”

We told him about Boler Bump, and it was at this point that things went slightly downhill. All of a sudden, he was shouting at the top of his lungs,

“I USED TO DO THAT SHIT!! I had money once! Do you think I’ve always been like this, do you??? I used to do that shit! I did!!”

Kait and I stared wearily/fearfully at each other as he continued on his tirade. People passed by in the street and shot us looks that said, “we feel for you, but at no point will we be intervening in this situation.”

As the man continued to yell and get increasingly in our face, we both were just kind of frozen onto the sidewalk. We had our skis leaning on the bus shelter, so it wasn’t easy to just walk away. We shrugged at him. Eventually his yelling turned to disgusted muttering and he walked away from us.

“Wow”, Kaitlyn said, “Just wow…this day is ridiculous!”

We had just started to laugh it off, when we noticed the man was rounding the corner and now coming back towards us. We looked at each other, grabbed our skis and took off across the street for the safer pastures of McDonalds.

“Hey!!!” he shouted after us, “heyyyyyy!!!”.

Clearly we ignored him and huddled down inside the entrance to the fast food restaurant.

“Should we maybe call the cops?” Kaitlyn said, picking up the receiver of a pay phone.

“I dunno”, I said, as I peered out the window at him. “Maybe we should just get on a bus and get the hell out of here.”

We stayed in the alcove until a bus came, and then ran across the street to hop on. Never in my life have I been more thankful to get on public transportation. We sunk down into the plastic seats, and took up two more with all our ski gear. We finally made it back to our residence safe and sound.

That was the first and last time we skied the Boler Bump, but to this day, it remains the most random day of my life.

Fini.

Okay, so it doesn't take place in the most exotic of locations, but thinking of that day now makes me crack up. It was just a series of one random event after another. One of those things that is hilarious now, but was really not so funny as it was happening. Ohhh boy.

Furry Friday-Pupperonis

2010-01-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

Only one more week of adorable, adorable puppies, because they are now all adopted (yay!!), and I cannot spend my Thursday nights squishing them any longer.

Maybe I got overly attached, but aren't these some of the cutest darn puppies you have ever seen?

Now their mommy just needs to get adopted!

Also...I have exciting dog related news guys. Guess where I'm going in May? Kanab, Utah, the home of the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. Holy shit ya'll. My fellow dog walking friend and I have been talking about going forever, and we are finally doing it. Plane tickets booked, hotel reserved and everything. Oh. my. lord. I have been wanting to do this for so long. There is a good chance that I will go to Best Friends and decide to just live there. I'll meet a nice Mormon boy and his other wives and I will be the best of friends. It could happen!

Dogtown!!! Add that to the absolutely insanely beautiful National Parks Utah has...I cannot even wait.

Article on Pitbull Ban

2010-01-06T09:33:00.002-05:00

Hey guys...

If anyone is interested in the plight of Pitbulls in Ontario, my article is in the paper today. This is a matter that is very near and dear to my heart!

Be back tomorrow with an actual post! :)

Travel Tuesday- Joyce Speedy, what a gal.

2010-01-05T14:25:00.002-05:00

The plane touched down at London’s Heathrow airport, early, about 8 in the morning. I got up out of my seat and stretched my body after a long plane ride. I grabbed my overhead luggage, and bid a quick farewell to my annoying seatmate, who thankfully I would never have to see again.

I stepped off the plane and just took it all in. I was here, in England, all by myself. I could hardly believe it. Shortly after that, the elation wore off, and sheer terror set in. My mind became of jumble of anxious thoughts.

What am I doing? Why did I come here by myself? I don’t know anybody! What if I get lost? What if I get homesick? What if, what if, what if? I continued to curse my decision to travel solo, all the way through security and baggage claim. I was living my dream, but I had no idea it was going to be so scary.

I was going to be staying with a friend of a friend, a woman whom I had never met before. I had no idea what she looked like, and had only talked to her on the phone once. This experience was entirely new for me. As I dragged myself sleepily through the long hallway, and down into the greeting area, I scanned the crowd for Joyce, and spotted her almost immediately, as she was standing there smiling, holding a cardboard sign with my name on it. She was about 75 years old, and I immediately liked her, even though I hadn’t officially met her yet.

My luggage trailed behind me as I made my way over to her. I was scared, I missed my parents, I missed my friends, but there I was.

“Hi, I’m Megan!” I smiled as I held out my hand.

“Well nice to finally meet you Megan, would you like a cup of tea?” was her immediate reply.

As a person who never turns down tea or coffee, I agreed, and we made our way over to the airport diner.

“You must be exhausted after your plane ride! You sit here, and I’ll grab us some tea”. She shuffled her way up to the counter to place the order, and was soon back with two steaming cups of tea. I thanked her profusely and slid down in my chair. My body was tired.

“Well”, she started, “I think we should hop on the train, go back to Reading, unload all your stuff, then we’ll do some sightseeing!”

I sat there wondering how this woman could possibly have so much energy when all I wanted to do was sleep, but I liked her plan and we decided to spend the day in Windsor. We took the train there, and spent the day touring Windsor Castle, eating scones and clotted crème and getting to know each other.

As it turns out, Joyce had travelled all over the world by herself, and she still took a trip whenever she had the time. Back in her flat, her fridge was covered, absolutely covered, in magnets from all the places she had travelled too. There was hardly a spot of white left on her fridge. Well, I thought to myself when she told me of her travels, her flight in a Concorde jet and her hikes across Thailand, if she can do it, so can I. Here she was, my travel mentor, all wrapped up in a little old English lady package. I thanked fate for bringing us together.

We spent the next several days touring around London, and she never let me pay for a thing. I tried to pay for her dinner once, but she wasn’t having it. She started to call me her travel good luck charm, because we saw things together she had never seen in her life. The opening of parliament happened to be on the day we visited Buckingham Palace, and we got to see the Queen. A boat was passing through the Thames while we visited the Tower of London, and we got to see the Tower Bridge open. She was telling her friends about our adventures for weeks!

It was soon time for me to leave with a tour group and take a whirlwind trip around Europe. She made me promise to call her when I got back to London so she could come to the airport with me. She dropped me off at my hotel and was then on her way. As soon as she walked away, that familiar feeling of homesickness started to crush me, and I missed her terribly. She was one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life, and it felt like I had known her forever.

My tour of Europe went by in a flash, and I came back to London with new friends and tons of new stories. I rang up Joyce to tell her I had returned safely, and we made plans for her to meet me at the hotel the next day.

The next morning, me, my new friend Jess, and my old friend Joyce set off for the airport. I made the mistake of eyeing two stuffed bears that were dressed up as an English cop and guard respectively, and before I knew it she had bought them for me. They still are sitting prominently on my bookshelf, and every time I look at them, I am reminded of her, and of my first solo trip.

Soon I was back in Canada, and had resumed my normal, “boring” life. Joyce and I wrote to each other, and I began to think of her as my surrogate grandmother.

Four years after my initial trip to Europe, Joyce came over to Canada to visit. She stayed with a friend, but I went over to visit often. I took her out for Chinese and Thai food, and showed her around my hometown. I was so excited to show her the same kind of hospitality she had shown me. She was here for about a month, then she went back home to England.

A couple years after that (and countless letters in between), I found out that Joyce was sick, and she was not going to be getting better. She had no children, but tons of friends, so she was well taken care of. Joyce died last year after getting diagnosed with cancer, and there is no doubt in my mind she went flying straight up to heaven.

Joyce was one of those life changing people for me. She was a kind soul, and you couldn’t help but like her. She had a total lust for life, and it was contagious. She fed my love of travel, and she encouraged it.

It is because of her that I know I can go anywhere by myself, and be alright while I am there. I don’t think I ever thanked her for giving me that confidence. If I didn’t have her as a role model, I wouldn’t have seen half the things I have seen in my life. She remains a wonder to me, and I will always think of her as the person who almost literally gave me wings.

So now my fridge is slowly starting to become cluttered with magnets of all the places I have been, things I have seen, adventures I have had. It is my little shrine to her, my jet-setting grandma.

Hold on, one more time with feeling

2010-01-04T14:20:00.004-05:00

I was thinking the other day about fun and anticipation. I was thinking about when I was younger and I just had a really fun day, I would lie in bed that night and just be so sad that the day was over, but at the same time be filled with this complete happiness, because I just had the funnest day ever! I was thinking about how it has been a while since I sat in bed and felt that sad happiness. I mean, I've had fun days, amazing days, but I can't recall a day in recent history where I was just heartbroken it was over. Then maybe I thought, it was just a kid thing, feelings were more intense then. When you are a kid, it feels like the whole world just revolves around you sometimes.

Anyway, I got to work this morning, dreading, just dreading, and I had the strangest feeling once I got here and sat down. It wasn't sad-happy, but it was extreme excitement, that started in my stomach and was wanting to wiggle it's way out of my mouth in the form of a shriek.

I don't even know what I'm so excited for, I just know that feeling it made me happy.

Anyway, I'm not even sure if I explained that in any kind of way that made sense.

I like 2010 so far.

I'll give you some examples of why this year has rocked so far. For weeks now, I've been wanting to watch the movie "Love Actually". I hadn't seen it in forever, and I am in a Hugh Grant phase. When I went to get it at the video store, it was out. So I was sitting there one night thinking to myself, wouldn't it be grand if Love Actually was on tv? And I shit you not, I looked at the tv guide, and there is was, that very night, Love Actually, 9pm on the WTN. HUH!

Then today, as I was walking into work through piles of slushy snow, I very nearly wiped out on the sidewalk in front of a line of cars. Not only did I not wipe out, but I didn't even spill my coffee, which would have pissed me right off. Then, as I was rounding corner, laughing to myself about what a spaz I am, a woman walked by me and gave me the strangest look ever, probably because I was laughing to myself, but the funnier thing was, she looked just like Cloris Leachman ala Prancer. Crazy, awesome. Cloris Leachman! I just right now decided that come hell or high water, I'm going to find myself a t-shirt with Cloris Leachman's face on it.

THEN! I get to work, and after exchanging pleasantries with the boss about how the holidays were, she sat down, face very serious, and was like, "Sorry to tell you this, but we need to cut back your hours." She then apologized for like 10 minutes. All I wanted to do was burst out laughing, because that is amazing. I really could not have planned this better myself. So now I'll have Friday's off to work on writing and whatnot, and that excites me greatly!!

Anyway, we are only 4 days in, and I'm loving it.

My article about Pitbulls is going to be in the paper tomorrow, and I'll link it here if anybody is interested (I'm not actually a crazy dog lady, I just seem that way sometimes).

I'm applying to be a Local Expert with Nile Guides, and so far I've done these:
Best of Niagara
Winter in Niagara

So there's that.

As I mentioned, I've been watching lots of Party of Five lately. I never realized before how annoying Claudia is. I don't think a tv character has ever annoyed me that much, like, I almost want to fast forward through her whiny scenes. I don't know if this was just the way the character was written, or if the actress is just actually that irritating, but GAH.

Anyway.

You know what else has randomly happened in 2010? I bought the new Chuck Thompson book as I mentioned, and I also mentioned that I had been to a reading of his before. I checked out the Harbourfront Reading Series page, and low and behold, who is headlining this years Travel Writer's night? Chuck Thompson! You better believe I'll be dragging one of my friends to that. The tickets are only $8. Best deal ever. Last year, Augusten Burroughs was there, and I freaking missed it, and I've been kicking myself ever since.

I'm working on a travel story for tomorrow about my dear friend Joyce, but I'm not sure it will be done in time. I want it to be good, because she was such a good person. So if that doesn't get finished, I might just do a post/pictures on my favourite cities in Europe. We'll see how tonight goes.

Happy Monday! I've missed rambling in here...

Regrouping. I hate titles....I'm just going to start putting random things...

2010-01-02T17:34:00.003-05:00

Wow...so, that was quite an absence. I have no excuse really. I had 11 days off of work, and I spent it far away from the computer. It's been an awesome holiday though! Christmas! Food! Skiing! Not injuring myself while skiing!

I've read a lot, watched tons of movies, and did a lot of hanging out. I am really not looking forward to going back to work on Monday.

I can't believe it's 2010. Like, where did the last year even go? Where did the last decade go? I feel so old.

I've spent the last couple of days watching lots of Party of Five (umm I totally forgot I had season two on dvd, until one of my friends mentioned season three, and I was like...hey, wait a minute!). I also recently downloaded the Super Nintendo Versions of Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country onto my Wii. This was the best and worst idea ever. Best because those games rocked! And worst because now a scary amount of time during my day is spent throwing barrels at cartoon alligators. Oh nostalgia.

2009 rocked my socks, and I'm uber excited for 2010. I have no idea what is in store, but I just can't wait to find out! Hopefully it will involve lots of travelling! I have no solid plans except for a trip to Florida.

I'll be back to regular posting next week. For the next couple of days I'm just going to continue slothing it around.

In unrelated news...some awesome books I have read lately if anyone is looking for some to add to a 'must read' list:

Geek Love--has anyone read this? Shit is messed up, but I thought it was great. I appreciate authors who have such wacked imaginations. I envy them.

Book of Negros--this book is amazing. Amazing. I highly recommend everyone read this book.

I just got the new Chuck Thompson book today...he's one of my favourite travel writers, and I got to meet him last year at a reading, and I acted like a total awkward dork. haha. oh my.

Alright, I'm off to beat the Donut Plains. See you here next week friends!

Olympic Flame makes it's way through Canada...

2009-12-23T09:39:00.007-05:00

I have always been a big fan of the Olympics. I don't watch any sports usually, mostly because I never have any idea what is going on, but for whatever reason I find the Olympics the most exciting thing ever. Next year, the Olympics will be in Vancouver, and while I am extremely sad that I am not going, I am extremely happy that they will be held in Canada. I'm looking forward to seeing a sea of Canadian flags at some of the events. And believe you me, I cry like a baby whenever a Canadian athlete wins a gold medal and the national anthem plays. Actually, I tear up whenever I hear the national anthem anywhere. Baseball game, school play...it just happens. I think one of the things I miss most about grade school/high school is getting to hear the national anthem every day. It just makes me really...happy.

Anyway, the Olympic torch is on it's way through Canada, making stops in several communities along the way. One of those stops was right here in St. Kitties.

I did have some issues with some things, like the Olympic t-shirts they were selling coming in plastic bags with MADE IN BANGLADESH written in giant bold letters. But all in all, I can look past these things because it was an event that really brought the community, and by extension, the country together.

Canada is a huge country, and sometimes it is hard to feel connected to your fellow Canadians when they live so far away. It's not like being Belgian or something. Events like the Olympics have the ability to really bring a country together, because we are all cheering for the same thing-for the Canadians to beat the Americans at something; at anything. :)

I liked the way the Olympic Torch Relay was organized, because it was made into a community event in each individual community. The Torch Bearers in St. Catharines were people that have made a significant contribution to this community. The man pictured running with the torch, Mike Accursi, is a local high school teacher and professional lacrosse player. Each person in the Torch Relay got to run with the Olympic Flame for 300 metres before passing it off to the next person. Seriously, how cool would that be?? It was really amazing to watch, so I can't imagine the emotion if you actually got to carry it.

Lighting the Olympic cauldron.

It was basically a sea of red and white and flags. Great to see.

Ice sculpture!

Elusive mittens that were extremely hard to come by! I waited in line for a long time, but when I got to the front they were sold out. Then today my co-worker came in and was like, "they had one pair left at Zellers, I got you some!!" Awesome!!

Bring on the bobsled Vancouver, I can't wait!!

Travel Tuesday-New York, New York

2009-12-22T08:00:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time, a young girl named Meg dreamed of going to a place she saw only in the movies: New York. With it's skyscrapers, it's shopping, it's culture, it's history, it's people, it was so very different from the small Canadian town she grew up in. She dreamed about it for years, until one day, when Meg was 15 years old. She was going along with her family on a trip to Florida and while Meg does love the sun, she's not one for sitting on the beach for any length of time. At least she wasn't then.

"But", her parents said, "there's one more thing, "on our way to Florida we are stopping in New York City."

This was quite possibly the most exciting news Meg had ever heard in her 15 years of life. She burst into tears. So this is what it felt like to actually have a dream come true.

You might think that New York could never live up to such high expectations, but it did. That first trip began a love affair that will likely last until my dying days. New York City is hands down, my favourite place on Earth. And I have a lot of love for a lot of places. But oh, that city.

If someone were to ask me why I love it so much, I don't even know if I could put it into words. It's a bit like the love I have for Bette Midler; fierce, yet kind of unexplainable.

It was great to see the city at Christmas time. I mean for a city that bubbles with energy all the time, then it absolutely oozes it at Christmas time. If you go to New York at Christmas and don't leave filled to the brim with Christmas spirit, something ain't right.

So I present to you, a photo diary of my trip to New York City. I love New York, I love New York, I LOVE New York.

I have several hundred more pictures, but I didn't want to go overboard. More stories to follow.

Furry Friday

2009-12-18T09:08:00.004-05:00

Alright, I actually broke out my camera again last night! The runs are pretty much frozen, so we can bring the dogs out there again. And the weather was pretty nice last night, making it much easier to press buttons. I only had one pair of gloves on!

I'll be the first one to admit that Chihuahua's are cute, but I don't think I could ever have one. I would be afraid of stepping on him/her all the time...and really, it wouldn't take much to crush a chihuahua. I don't trust my clumsy self with that. The constant shaking they do is somewhat endearing...but it's like...are you actually cold, or are you just trying to get my sympathy? This wee one is only 4 months old, but I don't imagine he'll get much bigger. He's adopted already, natch.

Does anybody else have this problem with Blogger? Why do the pictures upload sideways when they are clearly the right way on my computer?? If someone could enlighten me as to what I'm doing wrong, I'd be eternally grateful. Anyways, this is the elk hound! He's only 4 months, and I'm pretty sure by the time he's done growing he'll be the size of a deer.

Again with the sideways. Oy. I'm not sure why this dog is back...I couldn't get a sensical answer. But he's getting so big. His body has elongated completely since I saw him last.

The ears!! I'm so obsessed with this dogs ears. Can you imagine being a basset hound puppy? People would just be constantly tugging at your ears. Just like Dumbo.

Ah, they are getting so big! I cannot even handle going in the room with the puppies. I want to pick them all up, and they are constantly jumping and crying, and it's almost too much cuteness to handle. Almost.

All the doggies had Christmas bandanas on last night which was extremely adorable. How is it that dogs in bandanas look 12 times cuter than dogs without bandanas? But it was very festive!

Happy Weekend everybody! There will be a New York related travel post next Tuesday. Cross my heart.

Also...google has just informed me that "sensical" is not actually a word. Huh! And to think of the number of times I've used it in a sentence...

Cloris Leachman and other random thoughts...

2009-12-17T09:31:00.003-05:00

I think my mind was officially blown last night. By Cloris Leachman. I was watching Prancer (aka, one of the best Christmas movies ever!) and Cloris Leachman came on screen, and I was just like...1) Cloris Leachman is awesome, and 2) she's like in every great movie ever, 3) her name is Cloris.

I love the movie Prancer for so many reasons. The drama! "Without Prancer, there's nothing left for me in this town". Ummm okay, 9 year old girl! Dramatic much? I just googled "Prancer quotes", and a movie came up called "Prancer Returns". Starring John Corbett!! How did I go through my entire life not knowing there was a sequel to Prancer??? It has the exact same plot as the first movie, except it's with a boy. I have to find this.

Anyway! Cloris Leachman. Seriously though, she is in like...everything!

-Bad Santa
-Now and Then
-The Ellen Show
-The Beverley Hillbillies
-A Little Piece of Heaven (Anyone remember this movie? Kirk Cameron? I had this taped on videocassette and I seriously watched it approximately 100 times). This is the exact description from IMBD: "Will Loomis is living with his retarded sister Violet, who wants a younger child to play with, so Will 'kidnaps' one (and then another) child from the local children's home. The child is told it is dead and gone to heaven. Will and Violet try to make their farm a little piece of heaven for the kids, while the authorities wonder what has happened to the kidnapped children." Bwahahaha, amazing. I wish I still had that.
-Ferris Bueller
-The Facts of Life
-Young Frankenstein
-plus like 8 million more things.

Wow, I can't believe I talked that long about Cloris Leachman. But seriously, every time I see her, I'm always like, "Cloris Leachman again??" and I'm just amazed.

I think one of my goals for 2010 is going to be to get her autograph. I'm totally adding it to the list. Wish me luck!

I'm going to try very hard to get good pictures of the pups tonight, because some of the dogs there now are pretty great. A little Chihuahua puppy, who needs to be lifted out of his kennel because his legs are two skinny for the grate. An Elk Hound puppy. An elk hound!! A blue tick coon hound puppy!! ahhhhh. I can't even handle it. I'm such a nerd about dog breeds that I haven't seen in real life before. I saw the elk hound puppy and I practically jumped up and down. Commence mocking!

Anyway, my head is slightly clearer today than it has been in a while. I am not going to apply for the job I was talking about earlier this week. I'm leaving this job soon. And I'm really just going to try and go for it. Life that is. I feel good about these decisions, and my head has now quieted some. It's nice.

I don't even know...

2009-12-16T10:23:00.005-05:00

I just gotta say, my posting will be sporadic until next week, when I have 11 glorious days off of work. I apologize for the lack of a travel story yesterday, but I just...I have no excuse other than...this time of year is busy yo!

I'm working on a editorial for the local newspaper on breed specific legislation...that is due next week. I'm working on a travel piece for a contest. I'm also doing an oh so exciting article on Unusual Driving Laws in Canada...it's all great, I love it, but it means I need to take a break from here for a bit. Not to mention all the fun Christmas stuff: eating to excess, visiting with friends, drinking, guarding the Christmas village in case somebody tries to move something, you know! Also the baking. And the shopping...which I have barely even started. I know I will be regretting that, because if there is one thing I hate about Christmas, it's busy malls. One time, when we were shopping at Christmas time, one of my friends started to shout really loud, "oh my god, I'm having a panic attack, I need to get out", and then I dragged her behind me while parting the crowd. It was all a ruse. That's how badly we needed to get out of the crowd. Why am I talking about this??

Anyways. I'll be back. I just wanted ya'll to know I'm alive. I'm off to the shelter now to set up a paw washing station. It's a glamorous life people.

Unfurry Friday

2009-12-11T14:15:00.002-05:00

Well, a plethora of things happened last night which prohibited pictures from being taken. The main issue was that I was wearing so many pairs of gloves, that I could not bend my fingers to hold the camera properly, let alone press a button. Gale force winds plus freezing cold temperatures did not make for a great time. I even upped my shivering in the hopes that somebody in the Tim Horton's line would perhaps buy me a hot chocolate, but nooooo. Bastards.

I went to check on the puppies from last week, and I was going to take more pictures so you could see how big there are getting. But when I took out my camera, my battery was dead. Pictures were just not meant to be last night I guess! Also, I kept picking up and squeezing the puppies only to later discover they were covered in crap, thus covering my jacket in crap. It was unpleasant.

I undid my coat so it wasn't completely obvious that I was covered in dog shit, and as I was walking out, another volunteer was walking in. He showed me a newspaper clipping about Charlie's new home (he's become a local celeb ya'll!! haha, so cute), and then he was like, "it smells like dog shit in here". To which I could only reply, "yes, that would be me". I decided that would be a great time to leave, as being the smelliest thing in a dog shelter is a hard task, but there I was.

I wish I had a fun story about last night, but nothing really happened. I think I might have blacked out from the cold. I was wearing jeans, and I believe that's where I went wrong. I was bundled up like crazy, but my legs were frozen. Next week, I'm breaking out the long johns.

Isn't it weird how long johns can be both an undergarment and a donut? What the what?

I logged on to Facebook today and I had a realization. Facebook depresses the ever living piss out of me. If I see one more status that says "I'm engaged!!! <3", I am going to rip shit. I love feeling like everybody's life is just moving along, and I'm stuck here. Thanks for nothing Facebook. These are usually people I'm not even actually friends with, so I'm not too sure a) why they are on my list, and b) why I even care, but whoomp there it is. I dunno, I just had a very "I hate Facebook!!" moment today, and I thought I'd share.

Are these stream of consciousness posts working for anybody? I'll get back to actual writing next week, but this is honestly sort of fun.

I signed up for a Pet First Aid course on Sunday. Pet First Aid!! And it starts at 9 o'flippin clock in the morning. I'm sort of excited, but also sort of apprehensive. There is a lunch break. And in my experience, there is not much that is more awkward than eating lunch with a bunch of strangers whom you were thrown together with during a one day course. You would be surprised the number of times this has happened to me. I'm an awkward person to begin with, so I'm really not looking forward to that. In regards to what Pet First Aid will actually entail, I have no idea. Maybe I'll get to use a scalpel? Or at the very least, a thermometer?

This work day feels eternal, and I'm starting to feel a little giddy.

I really want to go to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I'm thinking May or June. My goal this weekend is to get the application done. Is anybody as obsessed with Dogtown as I am??

Anyways. Happy weekend!

My Eternal Question

2009-12-10T10:21:00.005-05:00

I'm at a bit of a crossroads right now. I've mentioned before this whole stuck feeling, and it is still driving me crazy.

I've been thinking lately about settling, and at what point a person should give up on their dreams. Here's the thing-there is this job coming up that everybody thinks I should apply for. It's full time, 9 to 5, doing communications, which is what I went to school for. I think I would have a fair chance of getting it. It would be an okay job. The pay is good and there are even benefits (omg, benefits!). But still, I waffle. I mean, this is clearly all hypothetical at this point, because I don't have the job, but I just can't help thinking, "what if". If I did apply for this job, and I got it, I would have to put all my plans on the back burner. On the one hand, I think I would be settling.

Is it irresponsible of me, to say "to hell with benefits, and large gobs of money, I want to work with dogs for a living. I want to travel, see the world, and I want to write about it." Would it be more adult, more responsible of me to just say, "Yes. I need to buy a house, get married, settle down. Save enough money for retirement. That'll be enough. You can travel when you retire".

But. I don't want to be 80 years old, staring out the window, thinking of all the things I could have done, but didn't.

The money for this job is extremely good, and everything I want to do costs money. More money than I have now, and more money then I could ever make at this job. So, I think to myself, perhaps it would be wise to really try for this job, and just save money. But then I fear I would become stuck and comfortable.

I just don't know you guys. Life is short. There's a big world out there, and while I've seen a lot, there is still so much more.

Maybe I'm making it too big a deal, being slightly too dramatic. I just can't seem to figure out at what point do I stop dreaming so large. A big part of me says never, but there is a little part in there that is just saying, settle down already. I love where I live, but I don't want to be stuck here. I can't be stuck here.

I dwell on these things so much, that everything gets all tangled. Responsible me and daydreamy me are duking this one out, but no one's winning yet. Sometimes, I really wish I could turn off my head.

I meant for today to be a New York post, but that'll have to wait until Monday or Tuesday. My computer at home is trying to kill me with it's slowness. I have no idea what is wrong with it, but I sure can't afford a new one. wamp wamp.

I hope I don't sound whiny or anything in this post, I just honestly dwell on things way to much, and it is nice to put it out there once in a while.

On a completely random note, how great was Glee last night?? So many lines made me laugh hysterically.

"She's the one they made me talk to when they found out I was keeping that bird in my locker."

"Okay. I'm just gonna come out and say it. This is a singing competition. I don't know how those deaf kids got in. They weren't singing, they were like honking and everyone was crying and I was like, "Get off the stage. You're terrible and you're making me super uncomfortable."

"You'll be adding revenge to the long list of things you're no good at, right next to being married, running a high school glee club and finding a hairstyle that doesn't look like a lesbian."

Bwahaha. It's like the only show I never miss.

Anyways. This is the last quarter life crisis post I'll write for a while. Back to puppies and travel stories!

And I'm back!

2009-12-09T12:31:00.004-05:00

I'm back, but I can't say I'm happy about it. New York at Christmas is a blast. New York is always a blast. Must live there one day. The only famous person I saw the entire time was Krysten Ritter. Does anybody actually know who she is? Because nobody I was with did. Anyway!

This will be brief, as I have a million things to do. I will have pictures/stories from New York tomorrow hopefully!

When I got home, I found out that Charlie has been adopted!!! I'm sure you all know how happy this makes me! All he needed was a little publicity! Wow. I just feel so great. He's got a home for Christmas ya'll. Tear.

I have many blogs to catch up on, and I will resume commenting soon. Hope you all had grrrreat weekends!

Furry Friday

2009-12-04T10:10:00.004-05:00

Today is a good day in dogland guys!! Remember my Christmas goal of finding Charlie, the beauty of a white shepherd a home?? Well today, guess who got on the front page of the paper?? Mr Charlie himself. I am hoping, hoping, hoping, that someone out there will read the story and just have to have him. Keep your fingers crossed for him!! A forever home for him has been a long time coming.

Anyway, I again apologize for the quality of pictures...basically until it snows, we have to walk all the dogs on leash, and what with all the lunging and pulling, and general not walking on a leash very well, tis hard to take good pictures of the dogs with one hand. Anyway! I think you'll enjoy this weeks pictures because they are full of PUPPIES!!

Ummm there is not much that makes me happier than bunches of puppies falling all over each other. These guys are 5 weeks old, and holy crikey they are cute.

Bah!! I could not stop picking them up and snuggling them. Also, my favourite part of this picture is the dogs trying to eat each other in the background.

No idea why this is loading sideways. I'm not computer savvy enough to fix it either. Welps, turning your head slightly is worth it for the cuteness!!

A 9 week brown, standard poodle puppy!! Yes please. I tried for a very long time to get a picture with the dog looking at the camera, but it just wasn't happening. Also, in half of them you couldn't see her eyes. SO CUTE.

Poodle again! This dog was so fluffy it was hilarious. Her fur seriously made her look twice as large as she actually was, but when I picked her up, my hand completely sunk into the fluffiness.

That's it, that's all for today! Remember to send out good vibes for Charlie!!

I'll be away until next Wednesday, so probably no posts until then (unless I have absolutely nothing to do today and I can write a Travel Tuesday story!! Honestly, it very likely will happen).

Happy weekend!!

NYC in T-minus 3 days..

2009-12-02T14:53:00.004-05:00

I really cannot put into words how much I love New York City. The first moment I set foot there, it sucked me in, and it pretty much hasn't let me go since. I adore the hustle, I adore the bustle...I just love it more than any other place I have ever been. I will jump on any opportunity to go there. One day, and hopefully one day soon, I want to go there for like a month and just really sink into the city. I can't figure out a cheap way to do this though. Leasing an apartment for a month in Manhattan is hella expensive. Help.

I've always wanted to go to NYC at Christmas time, and it has been on my life goal list for as long as I can remember. I'm pretty sure the first time I saw Home Alone 2, I was insanely jealous, even though Kevin was all by himself, making friends with homeless people and getting chased by criminals. MARV!

So finally. Finally!! I will be flying to NYC on Saturday, bright and early in the morning. And I will come back on Tuesday night, full of Christmas spirit, and hopefully with a knock off designer purse on my arm. I cannot even wait. I am going to pack as much as I possibly can into these three days-window displays, museums, shopping, Central Park, Strawberry Fields on the anniversary of John Lennon's death, ice skating, drinking, dancing, theatre, Christmas, and lots and lots of photos. Also...I'm finding Carrie Bradshaw's stoop if it's the last thing I do.

I'm getting itchy feet, so I'm glad this little trip is coming up soon. Sometimes, I just need to be somewhere that is not here.

Tonight is the Christmas Party for the Humane Society, and this is always good times because it involves all you can eat Chinese food from the Mandarin. They basically rent out a giant room and all the staff and volunteers go. Mmmm Mandarin. I never usually go, because it's expensive and I can't eat enough to justify paying $25 for dinner. However, free? I'm all over that!

Also, I just found out about this The Best of 2009 Blog Challenge, and I'm going to give it a go. And by give it a go, I mean, do it when I feel like it. As much as I would like to say I will post every time, there is no way in hell I will post every day. I'm just not interesting enough. Basically there are prompts for everyday, but some of them I know I am going to have absolutely nothing to say about. Welps, we'll just see what happens. Pretty much, I will use these prompts when I can't think of anything else to write about. Nothing like half assing it!

Without further adieu (I'm a day behind):

December 1- Trip. What was your best trip in 2009?

Best trip of 2009....

I have only taken one so far, but it was a great one! I went to Europe and went though Munich, Berchtesgaden, Salzburg, Prague, Olomouc, Krakow, Zakopane, Budapest and Vienna. It was pretty damn great. Favourite cities? Munich and Krakow for sure. Munich is probably my favourite city in Europe (that I've seen so far), and Krakow was just so much more amazing then I was expecting. I was expecting, I don't know....grey and boring, and it was absolutely the complete opposite. It is beautiful, and there is an incredible amount of interesting history there. Munich! What else can I say about Munich other than, if you ever go to Europe, don't miss it! It is an amazing city. Amazing.

City that did not meet my expectations? Prague by far. I mean, it was beautiful, don't get me wrong, but it was just not at all what I was expecting. I think what turned me off was the sheer number of people. You couldn't even turn around without walking into somebody. Nothing like being carried across the Charles Bridge in a wave of people. If I go back to that area, I'm going to opt for Cesky Krumlov.

This trip was incredible, and I met a ton of amazing people that hopefully I'll keep in touch with forever. Rheana and Yolanda (otherwise known as Deanna and Leslie in my travel stories), are both awesome and it was so much fun to hang out with them. The British boy, who I haven't talked to in forever and despite certain circumstances, was a totally cool guy and so fun to hang around with too! One of the best parts of travelling is definitely the people you meet along the way.

December 2 Restaurant moment. Share the best restaurant experience you had this year. Who was there? What made it amazing? What taste stands out in your mind?

Ummmmm, honestly, nothing is standing out. In anticipation of tonights dinner, I'm going to say, my favourite restaurant moment is going to be tonight at the humane society Christmas dinner. Really amazing people + unlimited Chinese food=win

Alright, we can all see how good I'm going to be at this blog challenge!

Travel Tuesday-An Adventure in the Mountains

2009-12-01T10:08:00.002-05:00

Today’s story is a short tale of my horse riding adventure in Poland. This would be much better with some pictures, but I suppose I just need to work with what I’ve got here. I’ve adapted this story from my travel blog which I wrote while I was away this Spring. I’m thinking I’ll leave this one pretty much exactly as it is in the journal. This story is a slightly different format than the others! Enjoy!

“Okay, the farther east I get, the more wonked out the computer keyboards get. Please excuse any grammar or spelling errors!! It is allll the computer.
Zakopane is a very cute little city…right in the Tatra Mountains. Everybody is friendly, there are cheese and bread stands filling the streets, and it just smells…fresh.

Today we went horseback riding, which I was totally looking forward to, because yay horses! When me and Deanna initially signed up, we told Carlos our tour manager that we were beginners, because while we have both ridden horses before, we could in no way be considered good at it. But he was like, “if you say beginner, you will have to just stay in the pen area, so I am going to write you down for advanced.” Warning sign one. But we were just like…okay, that’s fine, we will deal with it when we actually get there.

So we got into a car (we being Me, Deanna and Nikki), with this polish woman,who drove us to the horse farm. It was beautiful. We get there, and standing before us were three of the most effin huge horses I have ever seen in my life. I was like…ummm do you have one half this size?? I cannot emphasize enough how large these horses were. We may as well have been riding elephants, although that very likely would have been less scary. Anyway, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Giant horses-warning sign two of impending death. Instructor that does not speak english-number 3. horses that only understand polish,number 4. Can you see where this is going?? I mean, I love horses, and these horses were absolutely beautiful, but holy shit, I could tell this might not turn out well. The guy working there had to actually lift me onto the horse. The stirrup was so high that I could not physically boost myself up. The instructor told us that the word “volo” means “slow” in Polish. “This is all you need”, she assured. We tried to tell her that we weren’t expert horse riders, but I really don’t think she understood us.

Off we went. We walked through the woods, and at one part we had to let go of our horse and move branches out of the way. Hmmm get your eye poked by a tree branch or dangle precariously off your giant horse? What to choose, what to choose. We went down rocky slopes; we walked on bolder covered paths. We went through the river (which was awesome). Deanna’s horse fell on some rocks at one point, but she managed to right herself. We did all this while walking at a nice pace. It was leisurely, and the scenery was beautiful. When I picture riding horses, this is basically what I picture. Giant open fields filled with wildflowers, mountains in the background, all while walking at a slow and non life threatening pace.

W eventually get to the end of the one road , and the instructor said to me, “you want to try trotting?” In my mind I was like, well no,not really. But then she yelled,”KICK YOUR HORSE!!”, which I did, but he did not move. SO THEN, she gets out this whip thing, and just slaps my horse on the ass, and he takes off like a bat out of hell, all while I was clinging to his back for dear life. I screamed at the top of my lungs, and I’m pretty sure the whole of Zakopane heard me, because my scream ricocheted off the mountains. The instructor was behind me yelling, “STOP, STOP!!!” Which…I had no idea how to get my horse to stop. I was pulling reins, I was yelling an increasingly panicky “Volo! Volo!! Volo!!!!”, but my accent must of been off, cause horsey did not stop until we were up the road and around the corner.

The instructor trotted up on her horse, stopped beside me, and proceeded to yell at me, because I had grabbed that little handle on the saddle instead of the reins. I was like, “lady, I thought I was going to die, I had to grab something!” She just stared at me. Nikki and Deanna came riding up, hysterically laughing. “That”, Nikki said, “was hilarious. But you are doing a really good job!!”

Deanna and I trailed behind for the rest of the ride and chatted about our horror of a horse riding instructor, and our complete dumbness in thinking this was a good idea. We made it back to the farm in one piece and to get off the horse, the man again had to lift me off while I slid down the horses side. I was the very picture of grace. I backed away slowly from the horse, all while thinking I would not be horse riding again anytime soon.

So concluded our horse riding adventure. It is funny now, but at the time, I was certain death was coming to greet me in the form of a giant Polish mountain horse.

And I haven't even gone near a horse since!!

Furry Friday..sorta

2009-11-27T15:50:00.004-05:00

Well, unfortunately I don't have any pictures today. The runs at the shelter are under construction so we need to walk all the dogs on leash, which is fine, but it puts a serious damper on my photo taking ability. I actually got one cute picture of the giant rottie Malcolm by getting him to follow the light that the camera was casting on the ground, then I quickly snapped his picture...but alas, I have left my camera at home.

I'm hoping to get some cute pictures this weekend, because this weekend is PET PICTURES WITH SANTA!! (plus a bake sale). The concept of Pet Pictures with Santa is hilarious to me, and I cannot even wait. So cute! Also...we are giving free bandanas to all the animals that have their pictures taken with Santa, so this means we have made teeny, tiny little bandanas, because if someone brings in their guinea pig...they are getting a bandana god dammit! Please stop a moment and picture the chaos that will likely ensue during this event. Hilarious yes? I can't even wait.

I baked up a storm this week, so hopefully all my goodies actually entice people to spend money.

I have mentioned before that the shelter is right next door to a Tim Hortons...the line up for the Timmies stretches right along the back outdoor run, and there is a patch of grass in between. When I walk the dogs outside, I usually walk them through this patch of grass. Last night I was walking this Catahoula Leopard Dog mix, who is just cute as a button, but he's huge and strong. He kept stopping, and I could not for the life of me move him. Of course he chose right by the Timmies line to be ornery. It's embarrassing. Then he decided it would be a great time to roll around in the ditch. This is usually the point where people start yelling things from the drive thru line, and I have to shrug my shoulders, like, "welps, not my dog, what can you do??" Most of them walk pretty well, but you get the odd one that just drives you insane.

What else, what else....a TON of the dogs are adopted and this makes me veeery happy. But Charlie still needs a home. I planted the seed in the assistant managers ear that maybe they could pitch a story to the local newspaper about Charlie, who has been at the shelter for almost a year now. People love a good sob story, and honestly at this point, I'm not above milking the situation a little. Charlie needs a home, and this is all I'm asking Santa for this Christmas. *Hopefully* something comes of the paper thing.

A couple disturbing things happening here in Canada regarding animal rights.

First off, over 100 neglected sled dogs found tied to trees in Quebec. The kicker?? Because this jackhole willingly surrendered the dogs, he won't get charged with anything. The laws for animal abusers need to be way tougher in this country.

Second, several employees at the Toronto Humane Society have been arrested on animal cruelty charges. This includes the General Manager, the head vet, the president and two others. I pretty much have no words for this. These people are supposed to HELP animals. They work for a HUMANE society. Jessssus. I was looking through some of the pictures that animal cruelty investigators took, and they are fucking appalling. Don't even bother clicking on the link because your faith in humanity will pretty much be out the window.

Thankfully, those huskies are getting a happy ending...a lot of them have already been placed with foster homes or adopted.

The Toronto Humane Society has over 1000 animals in their care. That is a huge responsibility, and god, you hope that when you have an organization like a humane society, that they would treat the animals, you know, humanely! Lord love a duck.

I hope karma gives these people a swift kick in the ass.

Anyway, happy news! Guinea pigs in christmas bandanas! Cats looking unimpressed at sitting on Santa's lap! Dogs barking for hours on end! Cupcakes!

I'll try to post some cute dog pictures if I can.

Happy Friday!!

Randomness and Blog Awards

2009-11-26T10:28:00.005-05:00

Okay, I am sitting at my desk and the bosses are having a meeting. They are discussing a new publication that the office wants to put out, but the problem is there is nobody to write the editorial. Except that there is. Me. I went to school for journalism. I write for several websites, a magazine and a newspaper. They know this. I want to burst in there and be like "ummmmmm hello, am I really THAT invisible??? I can write!!" It's just...it's really frustrating and it makes me a little bitter. Why would no one think to ask me? Seriously! And yes, I could just volunteer myself, but I am in a place that is so frustrated and stuck, and I need that validation that comes from somebody saying, "hey, I think you would be good at this." It's like...the more they sit and ponder who is going to write this thing, the more I want to scream.

Do you ever have the feeling of being stuck in some sort of box and you are pounding on all sides, but you just can't get out? You go to school, you do well, and you leave expecting that your hard work is going to pay off in some respect, but then you end up in a job that you are horribly overqualified for, but you stay there because you need the money and there is nothing else. Is it just me??

It's not like I don't try...practically every moment of my day is spent visualizing and planning an exit strategy. I grew up thinking, knowing, that when I got older I needed to be doing something that is making a difference, that is putting good vibes out into the world, but I'm just not there yet. Not as much as I want to be.

Yesterday, I googled imaged "doink the clown unmasked", and although it is a valid question...who was doink the clown anyway? It's not a productive use of my time. That is not a piece of information I really need to store in my brain. I don't want to sum of my work day to be, "So, what did you do at work today", "well, I spent an hour researching WWF wrestlers from the early 90s, and then seeing where they are now. Did you know the Undertaker is now a preacher in Alabama?".

I don't mean to get all angsty and whiney, but sometimes I just get overwhelmingly frustrated and I need to vent it out. I just, I feel so positively stuck sometimes. Maybe it's me, maybe it's the city, maybe it's just a combination....all I know is, I really need to get out of this box or I will actually go crazy. Seriously, I will go mental and very likely have to be institutionalized.

Anyfrigginghoo, it's time for Blog Awards! I've received a couple of blog awards in the last couple of days, and it is time for me to pass them on.

The hilariously funny Carissa over at Carissa Jaded, gave me this award:

Carissa is a hilarious, extremely honest blogger, and you should definitely check out her blog if you haven't already. I never miss a post! Love her, she makes me laugh every day, which is always appreciated!! Thanks Carissa!

I'm suppose to hand this award out to four bloggers, so here it goes! Some of these people don't even read my blog, but I am going to say "Thank you for blogging" anyway, because I love their blogs just that much. Also, seriously, how cute are the little pilgrims on this award??

First off, one of my favourite blogs of all time is 2birds1blog Meg is hysterically funny. There are numerous times her blogs have made me laugh out loud at work, then I have to pretend I'm coughing, and it's just awkward. This blog seriously makes getting through the day a little bit easier, and a whole lot funnier! If you don't read this already, you must!! I'm extremely grateful for this blog.

Second, the Novelista Barista, is one of my fav bloggers. She updates all the time, manages to make her blog really interactive, is honest, funny and just seems really nice! Very cool blog.

I just came across The Travel Nerd, the other day. It's a great blog if you like travelling and are interested in travel writing. She doe a lot of interviews with travel writers, which I find extremely interesting.

Annnnd, last but definitely not least, Candice over at That's Tangly, is an awesome blogger. She's funny, loves travelling and is a great writer. I love reading all about her adventures in St. John's, as well as her travel writing career. So great.

This next award was given to me by Jen at Life, Love and Wine. Thanks Jen!! This is another blog I never miss! Check it out please!!

I'm supposed to write seven random things about myself...here goes:

1) Okay, this one is not about me at all, but I found it hilarious so I thought I would share. Some guy just walked in here, picked up a blank piece of 11by17 paper and said, "what is this, a map of the city?". The paper was blank, absolutely nothing on it. My reply, "no, it's blank paper". WTF???

2) One of my best friends in absolutely convinced I have ADD. Apparently I fidget constantly, and jump from one sentence to the next when things are completely not related. I prefer to call this, "bored easily".

3) I've wanted to be a writer since grade 2, when I wrote a story and got chosen to go to Young Authors Day.

4) I hate talking on the phone, a lot. I much prefer email, texts, or just seeing someone face to face. I would rather walk somewhere and talk to somebody then call them on the phone.

5) I am horrendous at math, and I need a calculator for even the simplest things. Except I know my times tables like nobody's business.

6)I have a deep deep love for Alex Trebeck and Jeopardy, even though I feel intensely stupid after watching it.

7) I love climbing things and exploring. I am still obsessed with tree forts. My dream house would have a huge tree fort in the backyard and a secret passageway, much like Dawn had in the Babysitter's Club.

Well! That was more difficult than it probably should have been!

Now to give the award out! I'm going to stick with 4 people, because.... I want to.

Dave at Mark My Words His blogs always make me laugh/think, and I love when he goes on a rant. I tHiNk hE MIGHT REALLY eNjOY ThIS sEnTENce.

Laura at Tidbits from My Mind I'm pretty sure I've given her an award before, but that's cool, because she deserves it! She always has interesting posts, and I never miss any!

Sami at Herding Cats. I started following her a while ago, and I have quite enjoyed her blog! Check her out.

Annnnd I'm giving the award to Carissa because she's awesome. I've already linked to her above, buuuut I"ll do it again. Check out her blog.

Okay, maybe I really do have ADD because that took me an eternity. And my eye won't stop twitching and is driving me slightly insane. That is all.

Happy Holidays!

CA-NA-DA

2009-11-25T10:07:00.004-05:00

So, I got this email forward the other day that was supposedly about questions people around the world have been asking about Canada, since so many people will be travelling to Vancouver for the 2010 games. (Why am I not going to this?? I irritate myself.) Some of the questions in this email are ridiculous, and I definitely question their validity. I tend to think people, especially people who clearly have access to the internet, would send in any of these questions to an International Tourism Organization. The email never says which International Tourism Organization, and a google search for "International Tourism Organization" brings up nothing.

If this forward is actually valid, I can understand why people ask some of the questions. I don't really expect people to know everything about every country in the world, Lord knows I don't...but at the same time, I have basic knowledge about most areas in the world.

What do you guys think? Do you think these are actually real? The answers are sarcastic replies, but the questions are supposedly real:

Q: I have never seen it warm on Canadian TV, so how do the plants grow?
( England )
A. We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around and watch
them die.

This might be a reasonable question if the person wasn't you know, from England!

Q: Will I be able to see Polar Bears in the street? ( USA )
A: Depends on how much you've been drinking.

You know what? I can see how this might be a valid question if you don't really know anything about Canada. I mean, it's the same with Australia right? I'm sure people wonder constantly if there are kangaroos hopping around the streets. Kangaroos=Australia, Polar Bears=Canada. Now, never in my life have I actually seen a polar bear in the wild, but then again, I suppose I can see how some people would think they just roam around up here.

Q: I want to walk from Vancouver to Toronto - can I follow the Railroad
tracks? ( Sweden )
A: Sure, it's only Four thousand miles, take lots of water.

This one had to be a joke right? Right? If not, I just, I can't comprehend!! Basic world geography!! Most people in the world know that Vancouver is at one side of Canada, and Toronto is in the middleish? Right? Can you imagine asking a question like this? Google Maps people! Save yourself from embarrassment!

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Canada? ( Sweden )
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes.

Huh?

Q: Are there any ATM's (cash machines) in Canada? Can you send me a
list of them in Toronto , Vancouver , Edmonton and Halifax ? ( England )
A: No, but you'd better bring a few extra furs for trading purposes.

Again, I suppose this can be a valid question. If I'm travelling somewhere, I want to know if I am going to be able to use my debit card. But the question says this person is from England, and that is what boggles my mind.

Q: Can you give me some information about hippo racing in Canada ? ( USA )
A: A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe
Ca-na-da is that big country to your North...oh forget it. Sure, the
hippo racing is every Tuesday night in Calgary. Come naked.

WTF? USA? Some Canadian had to have made up this entire email...

Q: Which direction is North in Canada ( USA )
A: Face south and then turn 180 degrees. Contact us when you get here
and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Again.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Canada? ( England )
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

The question makes sense I suppose. It's not like they asked, "Do they use cutlery in Canada?". Perhaps they bought someone a nice cutlery set and want to know if it is going to make it over the border...who knows right?

Q: Can you send me the Vienna Boys' Choir schedule? ( USA )
A: Aus-t ri-a is that quaint little country bordering Ger-man-y, which
is...oh forget it. Sure, the Vienna Boys Choir plays every Tuesday
night in Vancouver and in Calgary, straight after the hippo races.
Come naked.

hahaha, come on now.

Q: Do you have perfume in Canada ? ( Germany )
A: No, WE don't stink.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Toronto and is milk available all year
round? ( Germany )
A: No, we are a peaceful civilization of Vegan hunter/gathers. Milk is
illegal.

This question made me laugh a lot when I first read it. Come on Germany!! Half of my brain is taken up with random German knowledge!

Q: I have a question about a famous animal in Canada, but I forget its
name. It's a kind of big horse with horns. ( USA )
A: It's called a Moose. They are tall and very violent, eating the
brains of anyone walking close to them. You can scare them off by
spraying yourself with human urine before you go out walking.

"Big horse with horns"=best description of a moose ever.

Q: Will I be able to speak English most places I go? ( USA )
A: Yes, but you will have to learn it first.

You know what, I can give you this one USA! The English/French thing would probably be confusing to someone who doesn't live here.

Real? Fake? Mixture?

Happy Thanksgiving Tomorrow to all you Americans! Enjoy the holiday and all the yummy, yummy food!!

Travel Tuesday-A Ride on the Bus

2009-11-24T07:00:00.001-05:00

A Ride on the Bus

I’m always a big fan of taking public transportation when I travel, because a) it’s just cheaper, and b) it is way better to see a place the way locals do. I am completely directionally challenged, and have found myself lost on foreign public transportation more times than I can count, but as a means of getting place to place I still prefer either walking or taking the subway/bus.

I was in Dublin with my parents and we decided we would go take a tour of the Guinness Factory, which is about a ten minute bus ride from the city centre. Luckily my parents agree with my “no taxi” philosophy, and we hopped on the bus to go down to the brewery. It was crowded, and it was standing room only. We made our way to the back of the bus and stood next to a woman with a small boy in the stroller. Nobody was really talking for the first couple of stops, but one of us must have made eye contact, because suddenly the woman was our new best friend.

There were no introductions, no “where you from”, her main mission was to impress us with her toddlers anatomy knowledge. The woman was clearly intoxicated, and she stumbled and slurred her words.

“Ssssshow the family where your poo comes from!!” she directed the child in a thick Irish accent. The child stared at her with a look I interpreted to mean “mother please, you are embarrassing me.” Personally, I think two years old is a little soon to be mortified of your parents, but in this case, I was totally on the kids’ side.

“I said, show them where your poo comes from!!” she said again, louder this time. My parents and I exchanged awkward glances with the other people on the bus, and they smiled back in that way people do when they mean to convey their sympathies at your situation, but have no intention of getting involved.

“Ohhhhh, he knows this!” the lady said to my mother, “show them where your poo comes from!!”

“It’s okay” my mother said, “he’s probably just being shy”, trying to alleviate the situation.

“No. No. Fine then!” throwing the child a fiery glance, “SHOW ME WHERE YOUR POO COMES FROM” she hollered. Everyone on the bus turned around and stared. It seemed to be taking forever to get to the brewery.

“Hey!!” she was suddenly shouting, pointing towards the front of the bus. “It’s our stop now!!” A small child started making his way from the front of the bus to the back where we were standing. The three of them got off at the next stop. Once they were off, everyone shuffled kind of uncomfortably.

“Yup”, one man finally said, “she’s on the bus with them all the time, every day, always drunk”. The situation was comical in one way, slightly tragic for the children in another.

We finally made it to the brewery, and hopped off the bus.

“That was pretty much the best bus ride ever”, I remarked as we made our way towards the entrance. We laughed about it, and then continued on the tour of the brewery. We came back from the tour with bags full of Guinness related items. Hats, mugs, chocolate bars-we had ‘em.

Standing at the bus stop, waiting for another bus to take us back to the hotel, it had started to rain. Large puddles had formed on the road, and we huddled under the bus shelter. A man came staggering towards us, walking partly on the road, partly on the sidewalk. He was clearly intoxicated. A car drove by him and splashed him with a huge amount of rain water.

“HEY!!!” he screamed, “You fucking wanker, come back here!!!” He started to run drunkenly after the car, but realized soon enough he was never going to catch it. He came stumbling back over to where we were standing. Being the only three people at the bus stop, he stopped and stared directly at us. His face was a mess; he had clearly been in a fight as his nose look broken and bloody, and his eye was blackened.

“Good day,” he said, directing his words towards my mother and I. “I’m very sorry for using such language in the presence of ladies.”

My mother and I stared for a minute before she said, “it’s okay!” He went on his way.

The bus came shortly after, and once again it was packed. We made our way towards the back, the crowd trying to make room as we went.

“Hello!!!”, we heard a familiar voice call out. “He’ll do it now. Show them where your poo comes from!!!”

And that is why I will always, always, choose public transportation to get me places when I travel.

Where exactly does the weekend go??

2009-11-23T09:57:00.006-05:00

Geeeeeez, the weekends fly by way to fast for my liking. Every Monday morning I wake up and I feel like poking my eye out.

Anyway, this weekend was pretty super! It involved playing in an arcade, dance dance revolution, caesars, gossip girl, musicals and lots and lots of baking.

First off, has anybody seen this movie?

I had never even heard of it before, but it caught my eye at the video store, and I'm so glad I rented it, because it was so cute. Seriously, see this movie. I now have the hugest crush on John Krasinski ever. Plus, the soundtrack is so good. Must get.

My friend K and I went to hang out on Clifton Hill in Niagara Falls on Friday. Living so close to Niagara Falls for most of my life, I have to say that Clifton Hill is a place I avoid entirely in the summer. Well, I try to, inevitably, I find myself there at least once. But it is so much more pleasant and less "get the hell out of my way" in the winter. For those of you who have never been to Niagara Falls, Clifton Hill is quite possibly the tackiest place on earth. Its juxtaposition right next to the actual Falls always struck me as rather poor planning, but I suppose I have grown to love it. I mean, here is this street filled to the very brim with haunted houses, fun houses, mazes, arcades, souvenir shops, candy shops, restaurants, rides, a total sensory overload, and then just down the street is one of the "wonders of the world", a sensory overload of a different kind. It's two completely different worlds. It's just so odd. Kind of great, but odd.

Oh, and this year they have built this new attraction called "Rink at the Brink", and it is an ice skating rink right next to the Falls. I cannot even wait to try it out. We were laughing because when you walk anywhere near the Falls, you get soaked by a very fine mist, so we were wondering how this might work in the winter whilst skating. We decided that it would be fecking freezing, but worth it. Niagara Falls in wintertime is one of the most beautiful things you ever will see. Everything freezes because of the mist, so benches, trees, lamp posts, etc are all covered in a layer of ice that is pretty damn magical, I must say. I've seen Niagara Falls approximately 1 billion times in my life, but it never gets less awe inspiring.

Anyhoo, that went completely off track. We hung out in the arcade for a while, playing guitar hero, dance dance revolution, skee ball and all those other wonderful arcade games. I believe I collected about 90 tickets, and for this I got a sticky hand, trick gum and some fake tattoos. Win! Afterwards we decided to go in the Funhouse, because as I remembered it from when I was 8, it was the coolest thing ever.

As we were entering, the lady at the entrance was like, "the exit is broken, so you can play your way back up to the entrance to get out". Blokay!

I have no idea if it has changed since I was eight, or my eight year old self was just impressed really easily, but the Funhouse is, well, it's shit. Don't get me wrong, we had fun, but it was just not worth the $10 it cost to get in.

Let's go on a little tour...you enter through a large spinning tube, step on a spinning disk (which stopped spinning when we stepped on it...guess we were too heavy), go over a moving bridge, then head downstairs. The first room you get to is a mirror room. I can tell you that this is the highlight of the entire Funhouse. Seeing yourself as a midget, extremely tall, fat, skinny, it never gets old. We stayed here until the girl brought the vacuum down and started cleaning. The universal signal for "we are closing now".

You then head down a hallway which is lined with doors, none of which actually open. Then you cross a rope bridge, and get to a room with 3 giant blow up balls in it. The floor is hard as rock, so you can't even jump on them without risk of injuring yourself. Then you crawl through a tunnel and come to a crooked room, then a black light room, then a room with a rope net. People, I could have built this thing in my basement, and it would be ten times better. Even children would go in here and be like "who came up with this crap???". I'm hoping it has changed drastically since I last went there, or else my 8 year old self was way to easily amused!

Anyway, I just wanted to warn ya'll in case you were in the vicinity of Niagara Falls and were enticed by the seemingly fun looking "Fun House". Don't do it.

Yesterday, I went to Toronto to see a musical called My Mother's Jewish Lesbian Wiccan Wedding. It was so good! The songs were catchy, the story was well told, and it was just one of those plays that make you happy. Well, all musicals make me happy, but this one did in particular.

I baked up a storm on Saturday for the bake sale coming up next weekend. All I need to do is make some more brownies tonight, make some cupcakes on Thursday and I'll be done.

I need to start writing more seriously. I'm thinking of signing up for some travel writing classes. They are pricey, but I think it might be worth it. I'm feeling massively stressy about money right now, so I keep flip flopping.

Anyway, this week is a leetle intense, but I will do my best to post a couple of times. (Travel Tuesday and Furry Friday for sure). I'm going to start working on my Travel Tuesday right now. Tune in tomorrow for a story about taking public transportation in Ireland!!

Happy Monday!

Furry Friday

2009-11-20T11:19:00.006-05:00

Last night was like heaven for me. There were puppies galore. I walked in, and there was a husky puppy behind the front desk. A HUSKY PUPPY! I about died, because husky puppies are the cutest! I have no idea who he belonged to, but I think one of the staff. As soon as I saw him, my immediate reaction was, "oh my, so cute!!!", and the staff member literally looked at me like I just kicked a kitten in the head. It was THE most disgusted look I have ever gotten. I mean, the staff are never overly friendly, but holy shit, last night took the cake. Is there any other reaction to a husky puppy? Google "husky puppy" and I think you will agree.

Although, I always question when staff members at a dog shelter get a dog that clearly isn't from the shelter. Ummm you work at a dog shelter...there are dozens of dogs here that need adopting, not to mention hundreds, thousands around the province, yet you've adopted a purebread, expensive puppy from a breeder (I'm assuming this, but I have my doubts that he came from anywhere else) Buuuut, whatever, it's not my shelter. However, when I do eventually open up my own animal shelter one day, staff must have rescued dogs, because what the shite kind of example is it otherwise? Anyway! I want to work at Dogtown, as the staff there are always super happy, and probably wouldn't make me feel like I'm wasting their time by volunteering. Good thing I love the dogs. Errrm, anyway!

So once I got over the cuteness of the husky puppy, I walked into the kennel and who is there but a border collie puppy and a basset hound puppy. Holy cripes! Puppies are my favourite.

Anyway, it was pouring rain last night so I couldn't get great pictures, but I did my best!

This dog was so long I couldn't get him all in one picture. He was such a sweetie though. Very cuddly. The ears!! Oh my.

Again, horrible photo, but you can kind of see him. So cute. He's adopted already.

This was the little border collie pup, who was three months old, and was a stray. Which is just really odd to me. He's adopted already too.

The smudge on the camera is from his nose, when he kept jumping on me. I was like, "dude, I am trying to take a cute picture of you, and you are making it realllly hard!".

Love this dog. Bax is from Louisiana, and has been at the shelter for a while now. He's adopted, provided he gets along the with couples other dog. Here's hoping! I *think* he'll be okay.

Hehe, I'm such a sucker for scruffy dogs.

And that's all the semi good photos I got! Next weekend is the bake sale, so I'll be baking up a storm this weekend/next week. Hopefully I can make something edible and delicious!!

Random Hump Day Thoughts

2009-11-18T09:55:00.003-05:00

Oh "hump day"...that phrase brought me back to high school!

I don't have it in me today to make one post about one particular topic, so I think I'll go for more of a random thought type of deal. Go with the flow, see where it leads me kind of thing.

I'm not going to lie, I spend 90% of my day fantasizing about either travelling or opening my own animal sanctuary. I just become increasingly bitter every day though, because I snap back to reality, and hey! I'm still here.

Trying to be a writer is brutal. I have enough rejection letters to wallpaper an entire room. It is so frustrating, some times I just want to be like, "screw it!", but then I think of my job, want to poke my eye out, and my resolve comes back.

The other day I went to the dentist, and this was the first time in three years that I had been. I have no dental coverage, don't judge me! Anyway, apparently I grind my teeth at night and now I need to wear a mouth guard at night. Attractive! I've only had it one day, and I hate the thing. But grinding my teeth while I'm sleeping? GROSS. I disgust myself. Apparently, grinding your teeth at night is an indication of stress, but I can't imagine what it is I'm str...orrrr maybe, it might have something to do with not knowing where the hell my life is going. Oh quarter life crisis, I want to punch you in the knee.

In an effort to make up for the extreme boriness of my daylight hours, I tend to try and find the most random things to do at night/on the weekend. Seriously, anything at all will do, as long as it's new. Extra points if I get to travel somewhere (anywhere). This past weekend, I dragged two of my friends to the World Championship of Rock, Paper, Scissors in Toronto. It was ridiculous. Like, I can barely put it into words, so perhaps I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I am trying to get one of my friends to go skeet shooting with me, but NO ONE will go for it. Seriously, anything random with the potential to be fun, sign me up!! Finding random and fun things to do in the Niagara area is kind of hard sometimes because for the most part, there is not a lot of stuff happening. But I found a nearby place to go skeet shooting, and nobody is sharing in my excitement.

Last week I made it my goal to get the autographs of all my favourite childhood stars (Fred Penner, Jeff from Today's Special, Jodie from Today's Special...), why, you ask? Because sometimes, at work, I am just that bored. Plus, having Fred Penner's john henry would be sweet. You better believe I would frame that and hang it on my wall. Anyways, so I was randomly googling "Jodie from Today's Special", whose actual name is Nerene Virgin, and it turns out she is a politician now. It also turns out she is on Facebook. So I randomly added her as a friend, and she accepted. Bwahahaha, Jodie from Today's Special is my friend on facebook. Is it wrong that this makes me so happy? Now I need to figure out the least creepy way to ask her for her autograph, preferably on a picture of her in the pink suit from Today's Special.

Last night, I went to see A Christmas Carol, the 3D version. Has anyone seen this?? I found it very....odd. I thought the setting was done very cool, London looked amazing!! It was some super cool animation. The story? You can't go wrong with the story, it's classic. However, this version was just...odd. First off, there are numerous parts in the movie that are scary. I'm talking oh shit, something just popped out and now I'm choking on popcorn scary. I hate scary movies with a passion, but I really wasn't going into A Christmas Carol expecting to jump out of my seat several times. I DO get easily startled, but this seemed excessive, especially for a movie that seems like it's meant for children. More importantly! What the shit was up with the Ghost of Christmas Past? The head twitch? The bizarre Irish accent? The eyes?? I couldn't concentrate during that entire part of the movie because the Ghost of Christmas Past was such a messed up mofo. Also...whoever made the decision to make the animated characters look a lot like their real life counterparts...wrong choice! It was creepy.

Now, I love Christmas movies as much as the next person, but if you are going to watch A Christmas Carol, stick with the Muppet version! Speaking of Christmas...there is no holiday I like better than Christmas. I am all for tacky decorations, cheer, wrapping presents, Christmas music, family and baking. I try to watch one Christmas movie a week up until Christmas Day to increasingly up my Christmas cheer. Up this week: Prancer. Also, we have one of those miniature Dickens villages, and I LOVE it. I am obsessed with it. Every year, new pieces are added, and I take hours setting it up and making sure everything/body is in a sensical position. We have a train that moves. We have a tunnel. We have a hoopa. If I could Honey I Shrunk Myself into that village, I would do so in a heart beat. I will post pictures of this years village once it gets set up. I cannot wait.

Wow, I was kind of in a bad mood at the beginning of this, but talk of the Christmas Village has made me merry!!

Okay, we are nowhere near this intensity. Yet. If I found a roller coaster and a ferris wheel to go in my village (and an extra room to house the entire thing in) I would die a happy woman.

Anyways, Happy Hump Day!

Travel Tuesday-The Crazy Roommate

2009-11-17T08:50:00.004-05:00

I've been slightly MIA from the blogging world lately because I have been super busy, but I'm going to do my best to continue posting three times a week. The rest of November is still pretty busy, and then I"m heading to NYC at the beginning of December for a couple of days (yayyyyyy!!)

Anyway, enjoy today's Travel Tuesday!! This story took place during my first trip to Europe (different trip than Paul).

“Excusez-moi monsieur, mon ami, ummmmm, she needs to know her ummm how do you say, her exit, no, no, no her, departure gate! Oui, oui.” Jess started off in French and eventually trailed into speaking with a fake French accent.
The employee behind the desk gave us both a weird look, and said in a flat voice,
“It’ll be up on the screen shortly”.
We laughed, said “thanks” and went on our way. Jess had decided earlier in the day she really enjoyed French Canadian accents, and therefore was going to talk in one for the rest of the day. This didn’t shock me; nothing shocked me with this girl.

We were in London, England, getting ready to fly home to our respective Canadian cities of Toronto and Edmonton. My departure gate number finally flashed on the screen, and we slowly made our way to the waiting area. Our gates happened to be right next to each other, so we stalled and talked for a little bit longer. When it was finally time to board, my eyes welled up, and I pulled her into a hug.
“I am going to miss you so much!!!”
“I’m going to miss you too!!” We broke apart, gave each other a weak little wave, and tried to stop crying. I settled into my seat for the 8 hour flight back to Toronto. What a trip.

Three weeks earlier…

“I told you!” the girl shouted, “I wanted a private room in the hostel, not a fucking room with 8 fucking other people!!” I glanced over from where I was seated in the internet café. The girl was a tiny bit of a thing, and she had on a black hoodie with cat ears on top. She continued yelling. Whoa, was all I remember thinking. I left the café, stepping as far away from the girl as I could, then wandered back to my hotel and got ready for bed. I had to be up at 4am the next day to meet up with the tour group. We would be leaving at 5am sharp, and for the next three weeks would be making our way around Europe.

I got up in time, and although I wasn’t looking so hot (it was 4am, what do you want?), I was beyond excited to get the adventure started. I got to the meeting spot with the group after dragging my luggage down the street, and boarded the bus. As I got on, I recognized her, the girl in the cat hoodie, which she was incidentally still wearing. Yeah, friggin, right, was all I remember thinking. I sat far away from her, in a seat by myself, and shortly after that, the bus was en route to Dover, where we took a lengthy ferry ride across the English Channel. After that, we were back on the bus, and would be arriving in Brussels within a couple of hours. The girl in the cat hoodie had become a mere blip on my radar; there were so many people on the tour, I could likely avoid her the entire trip.

We made it to our first hotel and the tour manager gathered us all in the hotel lobby, where she would call out our roommate situation for the rest of the trip. Numbers dwindled until it was only Cat Hoodie Girl and I.

“Megan and Jess, you’re together!” Lou smiled brightly at the both of us. You have got to be kidding me, I thought.

We made our way up to our room making awkward conversation. She talked all about her boyfriend, and then she told me about all the boys she intended to sleep with on this trip. Her speech concluded with “What happens in Europe, stays in Europe.”

I was less than thrilled to be stuck with this girl as my roommate; I couldn’t imagine spending the next three weeks with her. It soon became apparent though, that I would be the one that was going to have to adjust, because she clearly wasn’t going to.

We had a break through in Amsterdam; up until that point we hadn’t really hung out. We saw each other at night obviously, but during the day we went our separate ways.

“What are you going to do today?” she inquired the first morning we were in Amsterdam, as we were getting ready.

“I’m going to go check out the Anne Frank House for sure”, I said, my inner nerd jumping with complete joy and excitement.

“Anne who?” she said, “Mind if I tag along?”

I was kind of floored she had never heard of Anne Frank, but I said of course I didn’t mind. Four hours later we were making our way out of the Anne Frank House and she was bawling.

“That was fucking amazing. Thank you!” she said.

That night our tour group was taking a group outing to a sex show (Hey, what’s more awkward then watching live porn with people you just met two days prior? Not much!) This place seemed pretty sketchy, but looking back, I’m pretty sure it was tame considering what could have been. At one point, some of the performers wanted members of the audience to get up on stage. Who was the first and only person to volunteer from our group? Jess. The audience volunteer portion of the show started with people eating a banana out of a ladies vagina and ended with a masturbating gorilla. The lights went on, and we all got up with the same sort of shell shocked look on our face. Except Jess, she was ecstatic.

That night I was slumbering away peacefully when Jess came into the room, stumbled on my bed and drunkenly slurred, “hey, do you have a condom??” I did have one, but I was pissed she woke me up so I pretended to be asleep. Eventually she went away. Then she came back an hour later, shout-whispering, “I totally just had sex with a random guy on a park bench!” The pretend sleep continued. My brain was saying, lalalala, so don’t want to hear this!

By the time we had made it to France, I was used to Jess’s antics. I loved the girl to death when she was sober, but when she was drunk, look the hell out. She was hilarious, she was always up for anything and she was just as excited to be travelling as I was. But she woke me up every single night of the trip; inevitably I was always in bed before her, no matter how late I was out. Sometimes when she got back to the room, she would grab the phone and proceed to have the longest, loudest conversations with her boyfriend in Alberta. She fell drunkenly onto my bed more than once. She fell down and smashed her head on more than one occasion, and I heard about way more rendezvous in random European parks then I ever cared too. She danced naked on our balcony in Nice, waving and screaming at cars while touching herself (I shit you not). I made a fast exit from our room and went and found my other friends.

“Jess is dancing naked on our balcony!!!” I told them. They just nodded and laughed, and told me I could totally sleep on the floor of their room if I wanted.

I could handle all this though, I mean, she really wasn’t hurting anybody. She was annoying the shit out of me, but it made for some pretty amusing phone calls home. There was only one time I wanted to throttle her. We were in Italy, just outside of Venice, and by some miracle we both ended up back in the room at the same approximate time. We were just going to sleep when we heard the door open. She was drunk and sleeping topless, and was completely out of it. I shot straight up in bed, and called out weakly, “who’s there?” I could hear people approaching the beds. I flicked on the lights, and standing before us were two Italian men in their underwear. One in boxers, one in briefs.

“Ummmm”, I stuttered, fearing slightly for my life. This is not how I want to die!! I was inwardly freaking right out.

“Did you want something??” I continued. They came closer still, and one of them bent down and picked something up off the floor. Jess’s bra. Around his chest it went, and he fastened it shut. He proceeded to dance around the room with her bra on. I think this was the one point of the trip where both Jess and I were equally shocked at something that was happening. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry (I laugh now, because that shit is hysterical!! But while it was actually happening? A little bit scary!)

“Who the hell are these guys??” I hissed at Jess out of the corner of my mouth.

“I think I met them in the bar…maybe they followed me up??”

“You think?? Jesus...” I trailed off and turned back to the men.

“Could you leave now? Please? Please leave!!” my voice became higher and more desperate with every word I spoke.

Naturally they spoke little to no English. The word they did know? Kiss.

“First, we must have a kiss”, one of them said, the other one nodding in happy agreement.

I folded my arms across my chest and glared at Jess. Go for it. She wrapped the blanket around her chest, and jumped out of bed, pecking them each quickly on the cheek. Then they left. I barricaded our unlockable door with my suitcase. Jess was snoring away by the time I got back in my bed.

The trip ended shortly thereafter, and somehow, Jess and I had become friends. We soon found ourselves at the airport saying a tearful goodbye. I wouldn’t miss sharing a room with her, but I would miss her. Sober her. Despite all the sketchy situations, I am glad we ended up roommates, and I can honestly say, I haven’t come across anyone quite like her since, and I highly doubt I ever will again.

Furry Friday

2009-11-13T12:58:00.005-05:00

I had such good intentions of being a good little blogger this week and posting more than three times, and I even had a post all written out for yesterday, but then I didn't publish it, because it was slightly questionable, you never know who might find this and I should probably err on the side of caution.

Anyway! It doesn't matter because I'm here now!

I was presented with a conundrum while trying to take photos last night. What with the clock switch and all, by the time I get to the shelter it is dark, and this seriously ruins my pictures of the dogs because they get "red eye" (except it's not red, it's blue, or green), and look possessed. Last night I was like, "pshaa, I'll just edit them!", but then I discovered today that this computer does not in fact have a program which easily edits out red eye. I mean, I'm sure I could figure it out if I wanted, but reallly, I don't have a huge amount of time. So! Please enjoy these pictures of possessed looking (but cute) dogs! You may think a viable solution would be to just take photos of the dogs inside, however, I have a theory that all the dogs look way too sad and pathetic in their kennels. It's not true, but they appear that way what with the walls and general blandness. I will demonstrate this by putting up a kennel photo. I don't like making people feel sorry for these dogs, because I think in some ways that puts the dogs at a disadvantage. Most of these dogs are normal, happy dogs and should be treated as such!

See what I mean? She looks SO sad. But when she was outside? Happy!

Beagle/Chihuahua mix!

This is Charlie skulking down and checking out the drive thru cars(still working on the Christmas goal of finding him a home!)

Bulldog!! So cute!!

Taking good pictures of dogs is so hard, half the time I just settle for ones where I can at least see their face. Like, every Thursday the majority of my pictures are blurry, of dogs looking away, or just jumping off the table. It's comical/extremely annoying.

Anyway, tonight I will be helping out at an adopt a thon, so hopefully some of my friends will find some new good homes!

A couple dogs that have been adopted that I think I have put up pictures of before are: Portia (the black and white beagle), Lewis (the cute little shepherd mix from Louisiana), Malcolm the giant (but sweet) Rottie, Scruffy (the terrier mix that looked like a muppet)! yay!!

Have a good weekend!!

Travel Tuesday-Part Three

2009-11-10T08:30:00.001-05:00

If you have missed them, you can read part one of this story here, and part two of this story here.

The bus drove away, and I slowly broke away from the group hug.

“Well, I feel dumb!” I said

“Don’t even worry about it”, replied Allison.

For someone I had hated with an intense passion the night before, I sure was glad she was there now.

The four of us (Me, Allison and two other girls) walked back to our hostel. We decided we would meet up later and go explore Budapest some more.

I wandered up to my room, which felt extremely empty now that Deanna was gone. I stared for several minutes, then went and hopped in the shower.

In about an hour we all met downstairs and made our way over to the Budapest Castle, stopping for lunch first in the market. As we walked along the dusty streets, weaving between crowds, we chatted about Paul.

“I knew it”, said Allison, “I knew it the night we had dinner in Zakopane!”

“Yeah, you guys were like, oblivious to the world”, chimed in Mel.

“I wish something like that would happen to me! I’ve been travelling for months now, and nothing!” said Jen.

“So, what are you guys going to do after??” Allison said.

I knew they meant well, but all I really wanted to do was to tell them to please stop talking because I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t really think there was anyway to have an “after”, so thinking about it just made me feel worse. On the rest of the walk to the castle, I heard countless travelling love stories. About how so and so met so and so in Australia, but one of them had to go back home, but months later they were reunited and got married. Stories like that. And believe me, everybody has one, or so it seemed.

By the time we made it to the castle, talk had drifted to other things, like how the hell we were going to climb that hill in such heat, and how badly we wanted to be at the top of the mountain. We eventually found the elevator which brought us up to the castle. The Budapest Castle is weird; it is like an entire village unto itself. Winding streets lined with shops, restaurants and statues everywhere. You wouldn’t know it from the bottom, but Budapest Castle was huge! For some reason, we decided it would be a great idea to go explore the Labyrinth. Just a forewarning to anybody who is going to Budapest, don’t go into the Labyrinth unless you can somehow scam the student rate, otherwise you’ll be pissed. It’s basically miles and miles of long tunnels and huge cavernous rooms that were used as bomb shelters in WW2. There is one area that says “enter if you dare”, which ended up being just a series of pitch black rooms. You walk in, the door shuts, and you can see absolutely nothing. The only way to get out is to follow a rope which winds itself all the way around and through the rooms, finally leading you to the exit. The whole time in there I thought I was going to shit my pants because I was expecting someone to jump out and scream, but no, we just followed that damn rope for a good 20 minutes. I have never been so excited to leave a room in my life.

Anyway! The day continued as such. We went out for dinner, hung out on the patio of our hostel with some wine, and went to bed relatively early. I was in my bed, just falling asleep, when the phone started ringing. I immediately panicked, as one does when the phone rings late at night. I jumped up and grabbed the receiver.

“Hello???”

“Megan?” crackle, crackle. “It’s Paul!” crackle, crackle, crackle. “I hunted your new room down!!”

I was filled with an extreme amount of happiness. “Oh my gosh, it’s so good to hear from you!!”

We discussed how depressing the bus scene was earlier that day. He told me all about Bled, which is apparently the most beautiful place in the world. I was so bitter to be missing it. I told him about our wanderings around Budapest and about a random cat sanctuary we found.

“You are not walking anywhere at night by yourself are you??” he questioned.

We chatted until his phone ran out, and I told him I would call him soon. I went to bed happy.

The next morning, Allison, Jen, Mel and I decided to meet and go to Hotel Gellert for the day. We were all dying for some pedicures. My last day in Budapest was so much fun, and we were all giggly and happy, and it was one of those moments that was just…perfect. I caught the train to Vienna that night, and when I arrived, quite late at night, I was hit with extreme loneliness. I was absolutely alone again. The trip had gone full circle.

It was pretty late, so I caught a cab and went straight to my hotel and went to bed. I woke up the next day ready to whip out the German language skills I had acquired in Munich and Salzburg and explore. And explore I did; I walked for hours every day. I was in Vienna for four days, and during that time, Paul and I exchanged a flurry of emails. It turns out he was going to be in Austria the day after I was leaving. I finally got ahold of him on his cell phone the night before I flew home and again we chatted until my phone card ran out.

I left for the airport the next day with the feeling that I would probably never see him again. It made me sad, but it just was what it was.

I got back to Canada and slowly got back into my routine. I got random phone calls from him, but I never managed to catch them. One of them was from 11 o’clock my time, which was about 5am his time. I finally got him on the phone one day as I was walking to work…I inquired about the 5am phone call.

“Oh yeah, umm, I was out with my friends, and missing you, so I called. I didn’t wake you did I?”

We chatted until I was at work.

That was the last time I ever spoke to him on the phone.

Now let’s fast forward two months (does this story ever end, you’re all wondering?? Well, I reply, I hope so).

I had basically moved on at this point, and I honestly did not expect to ever hear from him again. Like I said, it just was what it was. Then one day I signed on to MSN, and a message popped up “Paul has added you as a contact”. Interesting, I thought. Over the next several weeks, we chatted several times, often for hours. Then randomly one day he said, “so, how far are you from New York City?” To which I replied, “Fairly close by plane, and about 8 hours by car.”

He went on to tell me that he was thinking of going to New York this fall/winter, and maybe we could meet up there. He wanted to rent an apartment and really spend some time exploring the city. He was looking into places to stay, yada yada, and I said of course I would visit him. I didn’t even hesitate because 1) New York City is my favourite place in the world without a doubt, and 2) I wanted to see him.

A couple of days after this New York conversation, I decided to try and look up his blog that he had mentioned in passing, during one of our conversations in Europe. It was so easy…all I did was type his full name plus “photo blog”, and it popped right up. And what was right there as the newest entry? Pictures from a recent trip he and his girlfriend had taken to Amsterdam. Yup, his girlfriend. I went back further in his archives, and low and behold, this was the same girlfriend that he had back in April, pre Europe trip. The one that he told me he had broken up with.

I felt like the biggest moron on the planet, and quite frankly, like a huge sucker. For a while, I tried to justify it, thinking maybe that they had broken up before he left for Europe and got back together when he got back. But that wasn’t true, and I knew it.

I emailed Deanna after I made this discovery, and her reply: “what a massive tool”. And I guess it was true.

It’s been, oh, about a month now since I’ve “spoken” to him, and I still don’t know what to think about the entire situation. Aside from the obvious douchy behaviour, he is still one of the cutest, more charming boys I have ever met. And I guess it just is what it is. Or was what it was rather. Part of me wants to send him a slurry of emails telling him off, the other, self preserving part of me wants to just let it go.

What I do know is that next time around I need to be extra careful about the cute ones with accents.

So that concludes this three part series! The next travel Tuesday will involve no cute British boys!

Just Another Manic Monday

2009-11-09T11:39:00.003-05:00

You know what has been making my mornings really great? The sesame street themed Google logos. I could be having a crappy, crappy morning, but I'll get to work, turn on my computer, see this:

or this

And I'm instantly happy. Especially with that Count one, because it reminded me of this:

and then that reminded me of this:

Holy crap, how awesome was Sesame Street?

Anyway, this train of thought eventually led me to think back to all my other favourite shows when I was a kid, and of course to try and find them on youtube, because I apparently have time for this.

Was anybody else obsessed with this show? I never missed it, and it led to me being slightly creeped out by mannequins for the rest of my life.

I was also partial to Under the Umbrella Tree, Sharon, Lois and Bram and of course the quintessential Canadian children's program:

Anyway, this isn't really a post so much as a trip down memory lane, fueled by my ADD tendencies while browsing youtube. Also, I'm incredibly happy that I now have all these clips on one place so I can watch them every day. Is Fred Penner still alive? Returned from Google. He is in fact still alive and is 63 years old. Excellent. Finding out Fred Penner was dead on a Monday morning would have totally ruined my week.

Well, this post is indicative of my state of mind at the beginning of any given week. Sporadic and fairly pointless.

Tune in tomorrow for Travel Tuesday!

Furry Friday

2009-11-06T14:34:00.004-05:00

Wow, am I glad it is Friday. This week has been eternal! Every so often I get stuck in a "what am I doing with my life" funk, and I can't bring myself to do much of anything, let alone blog. Bahhh, the stress of it all. I tell ya. I think the problem is there are so many things I want to do in my life, and I start to panic because what if I never get to do them all? So many places to go, so many things to accomplish! Then I get lost in a pit of worry and woe is me, and it is just not pretty. However, I just have to keep on truckin' I suppose!

My doggie pictures from last night kind of suck, because I was attempting to take them while walking the dogs on a leash, which is apparently kind of hard! So I've thrown in some other random pictures for your amusement (?)

Also! I would just like to relate the following incident that happened about half an hour ago:

Setting: elevator in an office building

So I'm in an elevator going up to an office because I needed to check on a phone number, and there were two men in the elevator with me. All of a sudden, another guy came running through the front door of the building, doing the frantic waving that happens when you want someone to hold the elevator for you.
I stared at him a while, then pressed the "open" button, and so he got in the elevator, looked directly at me, and said: "6th floor please". Then I just stared at him some more until he pressed the button himself. Whoa buddy, first of all, don't say thank you or anything for holding the door, and second of all, I'm not the effin elevator attendant! I'm not wearing a top hat and a cumberbund, what exactly do you think this is, and where do you think you are, The Plaza Hotel??? It's not like I am even slightly dressed up right now...I'm wearing jeans and boots with tassles. Seriously, who does that?? After it happened and he pressed the button for himself, I just stood there laughing like a crazy person, sincerely hoping that he felt dumb.

Anyways, dogs! And other random things!

Ummm probably the farthest thing from a dog ever, but you have no idea how proud I was of this pumpkin. It took me hours, and then it promptly collapsed within days. You can't see it in the photo, but I totally made another carving in the back of this pumpkin which cast a shadow of gallows onto the wall. I was hardcore about the pumpkins this year! It had to live on somewhere!!

How big of a nerd am I that I actually wear this hoodie places??

Oh. my. god. Do you guys recognize? It's Brooklyn!!! Holy shit. It was like she rose from the dead or something. Somebody told me she was done for because she got into a fight with another dog (not her fault), and I just accepted it as fact because it happens all the time. Well last night, around the corner I go, and she's sitting there in her kennel. I about cried. I smooshed her face and took her for a nice long walk. Apparently she was just in quarantine this whole time. Oh my, you have no idea how happy I was to see her. Also, she's wearing the muzzle because it's the law here in Ontario, not because she's a vicious beast!!

This dog totally sat on my lap, and it cracks me right up when big dogs do that. Love.

What else, what else. We are organizing a bake sale for the shelter at the end of November, and that coincides with Pet Pictures with Santa. Hahahaha, I can only imagine the hilarity that will be that event. And next Friday I'm helping out at an adopt a thon...should be fun!! That's all the shelter news for now.

Happy Friday everyone!!

Travel Tuesday-Story Time

2009-11-03T10:19:00.003-05:00

Alright, today the story continues, last week we left off in Zakopane, Poland...today, we travel on into Budapest!

If you missed Part One of the story, you can read it here.

We left the restaurant and followed our group to a bar on the main strip of town. He bought me a drink and we continued to chat the night away. On the way back to the hotel, trailing behind the rest of the group, I told him how in university I took astronomy, and I pointed out different constellations that I remembered.
He replied, “you know what I always like about stars and the moons and all that? No matter where you are, it always makes you feel closer to the ones you love, because you know they are looking at that very same sky”.

Was this guy real? Never in my life had I come across someone quite like him. His next question came out shyly, like he was all of a sudden a small high school boy again.
“So, who do you normally sit with on the bus?”
“No one really, whoever has an open seat”
“Me too.”
“So, did you want to sit together tomorrow?”
And thus plans were made. We both went to our separate rooms, and I continued down the hallway with my two friends, Leslie and Deanna.
“Oh my god you guys, I love him!”
After they finished mocking me for a couple of minutes, Leslie said to me, “you know, he has been asking about you”
Swoon. I stopped briefly to think that I shouldn’t get so attached.
“We are sitting together on the bus tomorrow!” I squealed and headed off to my room.

I woke up in a panic. Oh my fucking god, I slept in. I’m not going to get a seat on the bus, and we won’t be able to sit together. Our tour group had become known for getting up extra early just to get a good seat on the bus. It was practically impossible to get a seat with someone you wanted if you got on the bus after 8am. I booted it out to the bus, and just as I suspected, everyone was there already. Silently cursing, I climbed on. I heard, “Megan!” from the back of the bus, and there he was, saving a seat with his photography bag.

We talked the whole bus ride, which was a good 7 hours. Through the bumpy backroads of Poland and on into Hungary, we talked. Every once in a while one of us would point at something out the window: “A poppy field! I’ve never seen a poppy field!”
You can cover a lot of ground in 7 hours.

Budapest is beautiful at night, it is in fact one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen. Paul was snapping away with his camera, and I was enjoying the free drinks provided on the boat cruise with the rest of my tour mates. When we got back to the dock, we all decided to walk together to a bar to experience some of the legendary Budapest nightlife.

Upstairs at the bar, one of the girls from my tour, Allison, was all over Paul. I felt irritated at her, but more irritated at myself for getting irritated at her. He wasn’t mine, he wasn’t my boyfriend, not even close. He was a guy that I had just met, who I happened to really, really like. Deanna told me to not worry about it, but I couldn’t help watching Allison. To his credit, Paul looked like he was completely trapped. With one arm over each of his shoulders, Allison had him completely encased. Her neediness made me cringe.

“So”, I heard her slur, “are you allowed to hook up with people on the tour?” My stomach knotted, and I felt something that I have never felt before, at least not so intensely: complete jealous rage. I wanted to run over to her, pull her hair, and scream, “hey bitch, that’s my man!”. But THAT would have be ridiculous on a number of levels, so I just told Deanna that I had to leave. As we walked past Paul, I said, “we’re going now, night!”, and he said, “I’ll come with you”, and he ducked out from under her arms. As we broke out into the Budapest night, Paul whispered, “okay, walk faster, she might chase me”. We hightailed it back to the hotel.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” I asked him
“Wandering probably, talking photos”
“Me too.”
“Want to wander together?”
“Yes, I’ll meet you anywhere”.
Silly girl. Silly, silly girl.

I spent the entire next day with him and it was one of the most amazing of my whole trip. We wandered around Budapest for hours, going from one end of the city to the other, stopping for lunch, and stopping for ice cream twice. We played in fountains, saw the worlds biggest egg timer, took photos, met famous Hungarians and explored castles. We talked about meeting in Austria in a couple of days, and made a map of our travels. Because of this day, Budapest will always remain one of my favourite cities in the world: how could it not?

The next day, the bus was set to leave. Half the tour group was continuing on to Slovenia, half the group was ending the tour in Budapest. I was staying, he was going. Me and the other girls not continuing on the tour walked to the bus to see our tour mates off. Everybody hugged and told each other to keep in touch. I hugged him, and all I could think to say was “well, email me.” His reply, “so lovely to have met you”.

The bus drove away, and my eyes teared up. I missed Deanna, I missed Paul. I hated myself for getting in this situation, but I was just so sad. I was engulfed in hugs by the girls left over from my tour, and Allison, the one I was so irritated at the other night, simply said,
“Wow, you really like him, don’t you?”
I nodded yes and continued to cry. She had no idea.
Standing there on the bustling streets of Budapest, crying like a complete fool, I ached.
Silly, silly girl.

Okay, tune in next week for Part Three and the conclusion of this travel tale!

C'est L'Halloween

2009-10-31T14:24:00.004-04:00

That is for all the countless people who continue finding my blog by searching for "C'est L'halloween french song".

Ahhh takes you back eh? Good ole French class.

Happy Halloween everybody!!

Also, just for old times sake:

Furry Friday

2009-10-30T09:39:00.004-04:00

Thank you baby Jesus, it's Friday!! I'm way more excited about this Friday than I normally am about other Fridays...it could be because tomorrow is HALLOWEEN, and I love me some candy and costumes. And pumpkins! And dancing at the bar!

Anyway, it's puppy time!! Last night was a fairly typical evening at the shelter, tons of dogs, not enough time. My arms got mauled slightly by a american bulldog/boxer mix, who was one strong mofo. I couldn't even get a picture of him because he wouldn't stop jumping on me. There was also a giant, like the most giant Rottie I have ever seen in my life, who I did not take out, because well, he umm scared me a bit. He was HUGE and barking and strong, and sometimes I just don't have the strength or willingness to get knocked over and jumped on by huge dogs. Plus I had to go somewhere after the shelter, and didn't want to be toooo covered in mud. I've had to work the past four Thursday evenings, so I haven't been able to be at the shelter as long as I would have liked. Next Thursday, it's back to my regular time slot!

Anyway, this weeks models:

Scruffy again. Just cause he's so cute, and I like to squeeze him. His adoption is pending, so they are probably doing a yard check. Hopefully works out and he gets to go to his new home soon! He is such a good dog, and he does that hilarious small dog thing when he just tears around the yard. So funny.

Charlie. He is such a love. He's been at the shelter since last winter, which makes me sad. He got adopted, but then the new owners brought him back because they couldn't afford him. I can't even tell you how irritated that makes me...like, how dumb are you? Dogs are expensive! People should realize this from the get go. But soooo many don't. So many of these dogs are up for adoption because their owners "couldn't afford them". Anyway, I'm doing up the newsletter for the shelter soon, and I think I'll feature Charlie as the dog of the month. And this picture cracks me up! I would like to find him a good home before Christmas, I may make this my personal mission.

Who's not a sucker for dogs with a patch covering their eye?

Awwww Rottie puppy, so cute. This dog's gonna be huge!!

Oh animal shelter...I wished I worked there. Can you imagine what a dog overload I would have if I actually did? I would have to refrain myself from posting dog pictures everyday of my life. I need to constantly remind myself that not everybody is as obsessed with dogs as I am. So far I have managed to contain it to Fridays!

I hope everyone has a great weekend!! And a Happy Halloween!!

On International Days of Weirdness

2009-10-29T09:54:00.004-04:00

So I was reading the paper yesterday and there was a recipe inside for some chocolate brownies. This recipe, according to the paper, was printed in celebration of International Chocolate Day. Immediately after I read that, I was just like, 1) how did I not know about this, I need some chocolate stat!, and 2) who comes up with these things, and maybe more importantly, why?

Every day is chocolate day for me! Or at least hot chocolate day! But when I googled "international chocolate day", several different days came up, so I'm thinking maybe some random people decide they need an excuse to eat copious amounts of chocolate in one day, thus International Chocolate Day was born. Yeehaw!

Then I got to thinking....what other random holidays am I missing? There is probably a plethora of exciting days that pass by unnoticed by me every year, when really, I could be partying it up!

So I looked some of them up, and indeed I was right...I can't believe I've been missing some of this stuff year after year! That ends now!!

So these are the holidays I will hence force be celebrating!

January-
National Clean off Your Desk Day
Someday We'll Laugh About This week
I'm Not Going to Take it Anymore day
Appreciate a Dragon Day
Squirrel Appreciation Day
Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day

Out of these, I have to say Appreciate a Dragon Day is my favourite. What does one do on Appreciate a Dragon Day? How exactly do you Appreciate a Dragon? I'm thinking...I'll watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Oh, and maybe sing Puff the Magic Dragon a couple of times.

February
National Tooth Fairy Day
At first when I saw this, I was all, awesome! Tooth Fairy! Then I thought about it and remembered the Tooth Fairy used to creep me the eff out. My friend told me a story once about how after she lost a tooth, she put it under her pillow that night, and woke up to find a large black man in her room! Which led us to conclude that: 1) The Tooth Fairy actually was a large black man, 2) Her house was getting robbed, or 3) It was actually the shadow of one of her parents. Either way, that scared me off the Tooth Fairy for good.

March
National Open an Umbrella Indoors Day
Awkward Moments Day

Truthfully, every day is Awkward Moments day for me, because I am a highly awkward individual. I've accepted it, it's just the way it is. If there is a way to make something unintentionally awkward, I'll likely do it!

April
Blame Someone Else Day
Avoid the Post Office Day

I love the post office like woah, so I'm not sure how that day would go for me. You mean I can't browse the new stamps? Ahhhh. Blame Someone Else Day? Yes please!

May
International Respect for Chickens Day
Limerick Day

Both of these are awesome! Chickens are awesome! Not when they are within 5 feet of me and getting all pecky, but I do like to EAT chickens, and I respect them for that. And Limerick Day??? Nothing would make me happier than if everyone in the world abides by this. Except maybe if there was an Pretend You Are in a Musical Production Day.

June
Hug Your Cat Day
National Handshake Day

I don't have a cat, but I'm sure I can find one to hug. And I'm sure I'll get clawed to death. National Handshake Day doesn't seem so sanitary, especially with all the H1N1 brouhaha going around, but I'll make sure to stock up on hand sanitizer for this one.

July
Compliment Your Mirror Day
Be A Kid Again Day
International Town Crier's Day
Embrace Your Geekiness Day
Take Your Houseplants for Walk Day

I LOVE ALL of these. Be A Kid Again Day??? Amazing. I also am slightly obsessed with Town Crier's, like I want to be a Town Crier, so I can totally get behind that day. I wonder if there is a Town Crier Festival anywhere in the world? Note to self-look that up.

August
National Mustard Day
National Underwear Day

I hope everyday day is Underwear Day, but hey, it happens I guess!

September
Be Late for Something Day
Talk Like a Pirate Day

Ahoy matey! Arrrrr. Shiver Me Timbers. Swashbuckler... Ummmmm, whoa, I would have very limited conversation skills on this day!!

October
International Moment of Frustration Scream Day

Yes please. They should time this simultaneously around the world...I'll like to hear what that sounds like!

November
Cook Something Bold and Pungent Day

Okay!

December
Gingerbread House Day
Cat Herders Day

I love making elaborate Gingerbread Houses, so this is perfect!!I have an excuse to spend hours upon hours of Gingerbread House decorating!!

This is only the tip of the iceberg people! Just imagine the possibilities! Hi ho, look at this: http://www.mydayregistry.com/ ....want the perfect gift for somebody? Create them their own day! Again, the possibilities are endless!!

What random holiday can I create??? Ideas??

Travel Tuesday: Story Time!

2009-10-27T12:09:00.005-04:00

I went away on vacation to Europe last May/June, and I honestly had the time of my life. I went by myself, and it was probably one of the greatest things I have ever done for myself. I have tons of stories, as you can imagine, so I'm going to start writing some and posting them on here. I need to get them down somewhere before I forget. Here goes! Some will be fact, some will be fact mixed with fiction; I'll leave it up to you to figure out which is which.

The first time I saw him was an early morning in Prague, way to early to be thinking about making a good impression. He’s cute, I thought to myself, as I walked past him on the bus. I picked the seat across and one down from him, not so much because I wanted to sit by him, but because that was one of the only seats left. As the bus started chugging away from Prague, our tour group slowly relaxed and began talking to one another. It was the usual awkward, getting to know you stuff, but I find people move past that quickly when travelling; you have to. Everybody bonds over the excitement that is found in discovering a new place and embarking on an adventure.

I was craving human interaction. This bus tour was happening on the end of a long, solo journey through Germany and Austria. Weeks had gone by where I barely talked to anyone. Maybe that’s a lie, I talked to people, but as it happens when you are travelling, people flit in and out of your life, and sometimes you can walk around with them for a whole day, have pictures with them and have no expectation of ever seeing them again. One minute they are there, and the next they aren’t. Perhaps that’s one of the best things about travelling, the ability to make fast friends for a day with a complete stranger. You learn about their life and where they come from, and you make a connection that would take months or years to forge at home. Regardless, after about three weeks of hoofing it around Europe by myself, I was ready to meet some people, and stay with them for a whole week.

I wasn’t expecting him. Little did I know, this decision to travel in this particular group, with this particular company, would leave me feeling completely, well, lost.

He was on our tour as the companies official photographer, and for the first couple of days, that was all he was. He was the cute British boy taking photos; he was working. I barely exchanged two words with him as we toured through Olomouc, Kutna Hora and Krakow. Our interactions were limited to simple polite exchanges: “have fun on that rafting trip”, “lovely weather today isn’t it?”

We were at a restaurant in Zakopane, Poland and he wasn’t even sitting beside me at first. I’ve thought about this moment, the catalyst for when everything changed, and I wonder if I would do it all again? Of course, despite the "what ifs" that still pass through my mind, months after I’ve returned home.

He switched spots with my friend Leslie so that he could have easier access to the giant plate of meat that was being served up on our table which was your typical Eastern European fare: meat, meat, more meat and some potatoes. All of a sudden, there he was sitting right to the left of me our arms practically touching.

“Hi, I’m Paul, I don’t think we’ve officially met”
“I’m Megan, nice to finally talk to you!”

After that it was all over: my heart had swum up out of my body and was whirling around in happy little circles above me. I wasn’t thinking rationally, I was only thinking about this gorgeous British boy talking to me.

We talked all through dinner, it was like nobody else was even there. I told him all about my life back home and he told me all about his photography, his cats, his family. Never, not in my 26 years of life, have I ever connected with someone so instantly, so completely, I mean, I felt like I had known him forever. Like he was the guy who lived down the street from me, and we used to play together in the summer, running barefoot through the ravine in search of rattlesnakes. That’s how it felt. But I had just met this guy, this Paul.

to be continued...

On Thrilling the World

2009-10-26T11:13:00.004-04:00

So I participated in Thrill the World on Saturday night, and I don't believe they know yet if we broke the world record...but I'm thinking probably yes! However, it was fun times! Group dancing while dressed like zombies? Yes please! My friend K and I went to the dance workshop on Friday night so we could learn the dance, and we got it pretty down pat. Although when we actually attempted to do it in a large group, it was significantly harder because some people didn't know what they were doing and it became slightly confusing. Also, there was this random small child behind me...not sure who she belonged to, but she was about two, and I almost ran into her like 12 times. It still went well though, there was 91 people registered and pretty much all of them were dressed up like zombies. We danced in a pavilion in a park which was definitely the perfect spot. It was freezing, so the roof of the pavilion blocked the wind a bit. Plus, the floor was wooden and it made the most awesome clomping noise when people starting dancing in unison. So fun.

I think K and I did pretty well with our costumes. I found this scar putty stuff that I was obsessed with, and it actually worked pretty well! We also bought this "tooth out" black wax stuff, but as you will probably be able to tell from the pictures, it wasn't so great. I definitely spit it out after it being there for half an hour.

And besides all the fun-ness, this was a great way to raise money for charity! It was an all around win.

We had one reporter take our picture, and he was like "pretend you are strangling her!"...which I did, but I did so while hysterically laughing, so we'll see if that makes it to print. I couldn't keep a straight scary face to save my life. We also told the reporter to put our ages as "392" and "396", but he wasn't haven't it. Oh reporters with no sense of humour. Anyways! Oh, and I also randomly won a Michael Jackson cd...not too sure why, but some girl just came up to me, and was like "here you go!"

I can't believe I'm actually posting these on here!

Not sure what this pose was...I believe I am trying to look scary though!

After getting ready! Happy zombies!

Mid dance.

I'm definitely going to do it again next year! Fun fun.

Bringing back the randomness

2009-10-23T12:43:00.002-04:00

Okay, remember when I disappeared for a week? Sorry. I'll do my best to sum up my past week into fun and not so fun categories. And hopefully I'll resume regular posting next week.

Yay: Seeing Joel Plaskett live last Friday night. The venue was small, and the music was great. I love me some Joel Plaskett.
Nay: Drunk girls at concert who of course were directly behind us and proceeded to shriek like they were at a Backstreet Boys concert circa 1998 for the entire show. Shut. the. eff. up. Not the time, nor the place for shrieking. Everybody within a five foot radius of them wanted them dead.

Yay: We raised over $7000 for shelter at the walk a thon. WOOHOO!! It was a fun day and there was nary a problem. I'll put some pictures at the bottom. Dogs in costumes make everybody happy.
Nay: Finding out about the unfortunate demise of my buddy Brooklyn. Can't think about it, will cry. All I can say is, I will be wearing my "Ban the deed, Not the Breed" sweatshirt loud and proud, everywhere I go, until the stupid ban is reversed. Brookie did not get a happy ending. And that my friends, is why sometimes, spending so much time at a shelter is slightly emotionally crippling.
But yay: $7000 for my other buds. The money will be put to good use!!

Nay: Beginning my Monday morning by smashing my knee off the corner of my dresser. I literally woke up, got out of bed, moved one foot, and smashy smashy. I don't enjoy when my entire week begins like this.

Yay: Learning the Thriller dance! My friend and I are participating in Thrill the World tomorrow night, and we are going to be doing so while dressed like zombies! I am excited. I just need to learn the actual dance. Tonight we are going to a workshop to learn the dance!

Yay: Thank the good LAWD it's Friday.

Yay: On Sunday I have nothing officially planned. It has been a while since that has happened, and I am going to love it.

Nay: So much work to do. I mean, besides actual work, there is other work, articles to write, newsletters to write, wedding photos to edit.

Nay: My outfit today. I got to work today, looked in the mirror and I was just like, what the hell am I wearing? It's like I was drunk when I got dressed. Seriously, if you met me for the first time today, you would probably slowly back away. It involves a dressy blazer and a t-shirt that says "Deutschland" on it. Why Megs? Why???

Yay: It's almost Halloween. I looooove Halloween!!!

Nay: One day I actually might kill the mailman. Right now I've opted to ignore him, but I seriously want to punt him across the world. He think he's hilarious, but he's not, and he is one of those people that are always like, "cheer up!", "smile!". It's like, I was in a perfectly fine mood until you came in here and annoyed me. I detest when people tell me to smile. Go away. He'll do this thing where he pretends to hand me the mail, then pull it away, then hand it back and pull it away, till I'm all, you better seriously hand me the mail now, or I'm stapling your hand to your thigh. Give me the fecking mail.

Yay: Dancing! Last night I went to a fundraiser which was Sex and the City themed, so it involved dancing and fun drinks. And trivia! I love trivia because I am amazing at it. I won a dvd, which I already had so I gave it to my friend, but none the less...I won! Also, the dancing! You know how the cheesiest songs are always the most fun to dance too? YMCA? Yes please! Come on Eileen? Let me Clear my Throat? It was a string of great songs, and my feet hurt, and life was good.

Yay: Glee! I love this show. As I have mentioned before, I would basically be in heaven if people just sang like they were in musicals all the time. I think this show is about as close as I am going to get to that.

Nay: The oncoming saga of the quarter life crisis? Is this thing meant to last for years on end?

Nay: This computer is effing up large, so I can't make links or anything fun of that nature. Wamp wamp. I'll have to put up dog picturs later.

Nay: I missed the shelter last night due to aforementioned fundraiser. Will be going there Sunday though to visit my buds!

Ahhhh, that was surprisingly cathartic!!

Furry Friday

2009-10-16T09:31:00.004-04:00

Carter, the lovely brown lab. It didn't show up in the photo, but the fur around his eyes is a totally different colour brown than the rest of him. Weird. Carter has a bit of a sad story, not horrible by any means, but still enough to make you hate people a little. He was taken by the OSPCA because his owners did not provide any vet care. At all. He's a sweet dog, but who ever takes him in is going to have to be willing to spend a bit at the vet. He has really bad skin, and he is allergic to everything. Poor Bud.

Scruffy! This dog is aptly named. He is part yorkie part schnauzer, and he is a total sweetie. After running around like a maniac, he just sad on my lap and shivered, but I'm pretty sure he was pretending so I would cuddle him, because it wasn't that cold. His act worked of course, I cuddled the shite out of him!! So cute. He will be gone by next week, I can feel it in my bones.

This dog is a cutie, with one of those barooooing barks I love so much.

Another lovely Husky, but this one has pretty brown eyes. The dog was a little unsure of life, and he was not a fan of that camera, so he looks like a bit of a grumpo. He's still adjusting to the shelter life. Oh, and I am happy to report the beauty husky with the blue eyes from last week got adopted. Woooot!

Here is my bud Brooklyn again. Someone needs to adopt this sweetie very soon. She's been at the shelter for a while now, and she is soooo good. She hates other dogs, but other than that, she is a love. She however loves to play tug-o-war and just about broke my arm yesterday. She is one jacked dog. I've written before over my concern about Pitbulls, so I don't want to rehash that, only to say, I'm always extremely worried about who adopts them. I wish the shelter would look into it more. It is SO important for the breed as a whole, that all pitbull owners are responsible. The public has a very distorted view of "pitbulls", and that is mostly due to irresponsible/criminal owners. Pitbulls are lovely dogs. They can be deadly, don't get me wrong, but so can many other large dogs, if they are trained to be that way.

I was chatting to one of the workers the other night about whether they screen people more when they want to adopt a pitbull....and they said no, not really. Which I think is a wee bit ridiculous, but it is not my place (not yet anyway) to say anything about that. Personally, when people go to adopt a pit, I think they should get the shite screened out of them. This is nothing against the people, and most of them are probably responsible, but it is all about weeding out the assholes. It would break my heart if somebody came in to the shelter, adopted one of my pit buds, then trained them to be aggressive/fight other dogs, thus perpetuating the problem.

Oh, apparently I am going to ramble about pitbulls. Sorry! It just makes me so mad. And one of the pitbulls at the shelter Homer, a complete sweetie, got adopted! Yay!!

As I have mentioned, the big Walk a Thon is coming up at the shelter this weekend. Wish me luck guys, and pray for no rain!! I have never been responsible for an event of this magnitude before, and I am a leeeetle stressed. I have loved every minute of planning it, no doubt, but ohhhh boy, I hope we raise a goood amount of money and everything runs smoothly.

We are having a dog costume contest at the walk a thon, which I can't even wait for. What's cuter than dogs in costumes? Not much! I'll post pictures! But I thought it would be nice if some of my shelter buds would have a costume so people can ohhh and awww over them. I found this vampire cape at the dollar store. And I wrote on it in masking tape. Is it just me, or is that hilarious? hahaha. Ohhhh boy.

Blog Action Day

2009-10-15T10:42:00.003-04:00

Blog Action Day is a really cool idea. One day, thousands of bloggers all writing on one topic that affects us all in a huge way-climate change. I don't profess to be any kind of expert on this topic, and my science skills are slim to nil, but I do know the issue concerns me in a big way. Aka, it scares the crap out of me. I really don't understand why it isn't a bigger deal for politicians. I mean, do something and do something quickly!

I have deep love for Al Gore and even deeper love for David Suzuki. Can I just tell you a little story about David Suzuki? For those of you who don't know who he is, he is the man who should be running Canada. Older Asian men don't normally do it for me, but David Suzuki is a god, and I would pretty much marry him. His mother used to live down the street from us (or so the rumour went), and I would see her all the time. I would watch her walk her grandkids to school every day, and just think, "today is the day I am going to go talk to her", but I never did, because I suppose that would be slightly creepy and what if she wasn't actually David Suzuki's mother? Anyways. I met David Suzuki one time in university, when I somehow managed to volunteer to be backstage at a presentation he was doing. My duty was to guide David Suzuki through the hallway onto the stage and make sure he didn't trip. He didn't trip, but I'm pretty sure I did. I trip so you don't have to Mr. Suzuki. Holy lord was I nervous. David Suzuki ya'll! I met him, he was nice, and ever since my love has only grown stronger. Thus I give you, David Suzuki tips for how to help slow climate change through things you can do in your own home:. At work.. David's nature challenge!. Food issues!. Have I mentioned that I love this man? He is pretty much the King of Canada. Give him the Nobel Peace Prize!!

I read an article recently on the top 100 effects of global warming. This shit is grim people! Here are some alarming effects:

-No Christmas Trees-The Pine Bark Beetle, which feeds on and kills pine trees, used to be held in control by cold winter temperatures. Now the species is thriving and killing off entire forests in British Columbia, unchecked.

-Cultural Landmarks Disappearing: The World Monuments Fund recently added “global warming” as a threat in their list of the top 100 threatened cultural landmarks. “On Herschel Island, Canada, melting permafrost threatens ancient Inuit sites and a historic whaling town. In Chinguetti, Mauritania, the desert is encroaching on an ancient mosque. In Antarctica, a hut once used by British explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott has survived almost a century of freezing conditions but is now in danger of being engulfed by increasingly heavy snows.”

-No more really cool creatures: Scientists recently revealed a “lost world” of marine life off the coast of Indonesia, including 20 new species of corals, 8 species of shrimp, a technicolor fish that “flashes” bright pink, yellow, blue, and green hues, and sharks that “walk” on their fins.However, marine biologists warn the threats posed by global warming means millions of other crazycool sea creatures may become extinct before we ever discover them. Sharks that walk? That is afreakinmazing!

-More mosquitoes: Get ready for more mosquitoes. Mosquitoes like to live in drains and sewer puddles. During long dry spells (brought on by higher temperatures) these nasty, stagnant pools become a vital source of water for thirsty birds ... which provide a tasty feast for the resident mosquitoes. At the same time, these dry spells “reduce the populations of dragonflies, lacewings, and frogs that eat the mosquitoes.” I hate mosquitoes.

-Species Extinction: The latest report from the World Conservation Union says that a minimum of 40 percent of the world’s species are being threatened ... and global warming’s one of the main culprits. That is devastating to me!

-Grey Whales: Save the whales! Global warming is thwarting majestic gray whales’ struggle to recover from their endangered status. In recent years, more gray whales have been washing up on beaches after starving to death. Culprit: Rising ocean temps, which are killing off their food supply.

-The World is Shrinking: In 2005, a giant chunk of ice the size of Manhattan broke off of a Canadian ice shelf and began free floating westward, putting oil drilling operations in peril.

-Great Barrier Reef: According to the U.N., the Great Barrier Reef will disappear within decades as “warmer, more acidic seas could severely bleach coral in the world-famous reef as early as 2030.”

Okay, and these are just some!! I've neglected to mention all the we are all going to die bits.

I've written about this before.

It's weird, I think the average person is aware of just how big of a problem this is, and would do whatever it takes to help solve it. The problem is that the people who actually have the ability to make large changes happen need to get off their asses. Some people may say it isn't that easy, but I think when the entire fate of our planet hangs in the balance, it should be that easy.

I find the entire situation frustrating.

My Very First Award!

2009-10-14T13:25:00.003-04:00

Woot! When I found out I got an award from the lovely and very funny CarissaJaded, I was super pumped. I always see these random awards on other people's blogs and I will admit I was a wee bit jealous. But now I have my very own award and all is right with the world. If you haven't visited Carissa at CarissaJaded, get your butt over there because she will crack you up. Seriously, I laugh out loud at least once during every one of her posts.

First, I am going to pay it forward with this award and give it too...dum, dum, dum:

Erinific
Where's My Piece of Cake
Tidbits From My Mind

I just recently started reading all these blogs, and I love them all! They are all part of my daily blog reading. Check them out!!

Now for 7 random facts about myself:
1) I am a huge history nerd. Right now I am very into WW2 history and read every possible book/see every possible movie I can on this topic. I believe this fascination started when I was going through my grandfather's old photos and found a random snapshot of Hitler.
2) My favourite city in the world is New York City. I would so love to live there one day. My favourite country is Germany and I would love to live there one day too.
3)I spend a large portion of my days thinking about where I want to travel to next. My travelling list is overwhelmingly long, but that never stops me from adding more places to go.
4) I want to write a book someday.
5)I am an only child. While I was never lonely growing up, I wonder all the time what it is actually like to have a sibling.
6) I love Canada, and I am extremely proud to be Canadian. I think it is an amazing country and I'm irritated at myself for not yet taking the time to fully explore it.
7) I daydream constantly, hence my blog title. There are so many times every day I find myself just staring off into space, then suddenly snapping back to reality hoping nobody noticed. It's a problem.

Okay, that's it!
Tonight I am going to a "Laughter Club" with one of my friends. I have no idea what to expect, but I imagine it is going to be pretty great. My friend thinks it is going to be, and I quote, "a lesson on how to laugh in different ways." To that I said, "what???" Because that would be ridiculous. "Laugh like a British person", "Belly laugh". Ummm no. I"m thinking it will be more along the lines of making other people laugh. Lame knock knock jokes and such. I will see soon enough! I have a great joke up my sleeve just in case!

Happy Wednesday!

Thanksgiving Adventures

2009-10-13T14:16:00.005-04:00

Do you ever have one of those moments where you absolutely must go somewhere, anywhere, or else you might burst? I don't know if it is just my city or what, but sometimes I just really need to get out of here. It doesn't matter where to, as long as it isn't here. The city feels cagey sometimes, everything repeats itself, everything is the same, and I must get out. I mean, I live in a city where a crazy wild turkey routinely makes the newspaper.

I felt like that this week, thus this weekend was spent up in beautiful Western New York where luckily my aunt has a place. Ellicotville is more well known for it's amazing skiing, but in the Fall, it is equally as great. Nestled right in the mountains, Ellicotville, Great Valley, and surrounding areas, can literally take your breath away in autumn.

Fall Festival was happening, which meant the streets were full of vendors, every possible kind of food imaginable was for sale and apple cider was of ample supply. They also were having chair rides up one of the ski lifts which was pretty cool. They had a bbq and a band on top of one of the hills. We decided to walk down the hill after riding up, which in theory was great, but in reality was actually kind of painful. My knees were confused. And I almost wiped out approx. 8 times.

Another day we spent some time in a state park at a place called "Little Rock City". After driving for a good while far, far into the woods we finally came across it. It was basically giant rocks that you could walk on top of, walk in between and in general just marvel at. They were all covered in moss, and it felt a little bit like a different world. So cool. My aunt at some point decided it would be fun to mention the bears that live in the woods, which made me entirely unnerved. Getting mauled by a bear is not how I want to leave this world! In any event, we saw nary a bear, or any other kind of animal for that matter and it was a lovely hike.

I love fall, it is without a doubt my favourite season. The colours, the crispness in the air, the smell, Halloween!! I could live in fall year round. I love walking down the sidewalk and hearing the crunch of leaves, and I love bundling up and just being outside.

Photos don't quite do it justice...

Furry Friday

2009-10-09T10:50:00.003-04:00

Baxter!

Duke! This dog never gets less amusing for me. He is just so...cartoonish.

Isn't this dog gorgeous?

Bailee. She's adopted already, which is unsurprising because she is sooo friggin cute, and seriously one of the fluffiest/softest dogs ever. I could not stop squeezing her, she was so teddy bear esque.

Carleigh. This is a dog I'm very close to taking home, because I ADORE her. She has some major issues, but I just...love her. I am going to tell the shelter I would be willing to foster her if need be, which could be a slippery slope, but I don't think the shelter environment is helping her issues (she's terrified of men, and does not like other dogs). Anyway, she's a sweetie.

"Lefty" who I think I put a picture up of last week...well, he's a huge brat, but last night he was all kinds of amusing. Someone had bought me a coffee, which I had set out on the picnic table in the run. I was just finishing removing my jacket and purse from the area because I knew the dog would be allll over that, when I turned around the grab my coffee and there was Lefty up on the table. She grabbed my cup between her teeth and proceeded to run crazily around the yard spilling coffee everywhere as she went. Then she stopped and drank the rest of it. It was kind of hilarious.

On a random note that is still slightly related, I just saw somebody walk by the office window walking two dogs, and one of them was a dog from the shelter. I am constantly on the lookout for dogs that have been adopted from the humane society, because I like to know how they are doing, and because I have a creepy ability to recognize them. Anyway, this dog that just walked by- Cosmo, was the craziest dog I had ever met in my life. Like, he was just insane all the time and it took forever to get him adopted. We have this board on the shelter where people can send in stories about dogs/cats they have adopted, and it's just nice to see. There was recently a story sent in about Cosmo, and when I read it, I stood in the shelter and cried like a fool, because I get overly emotional about dogs, and it was such a nice letter. Cosmo is doing so well in his new home and they love him. They have another dog who has probably been a great role model for Cosmo and calmed him down some and yada yada, the whole thing makes me soooo happy. Being at a shelter so much, I hear my share of sad stories, brutal, sad stories, so when I hear a happy one, I grab on to it and live in it. Not much can brighten my day like a nice happy ending for one of my buds.

Walk A Thon is coming up soon....in approx. one week. I *hope* it goes well and we raise a decent amount of money. It is the first event I have ever planned, and I am so excited/stressed! Woot!

On the time I almost got fired...

2009-10-08T13:21:00.003-04:00

As I have alluded to before, I have had many jobs in my day. Flipping burgers, folding clothes, serving tables...basically, you name it, I've probably done it. But I have never actually gotten fired from any of these jobs...I did however come close one time.

I was working in a photo studio. Initially when I started the job, I was like, this is going to be great, I get to use a camera, do some editing, which no. The only part of that thought that was true was, I get to use a camera. I did not take into consideration the camera breaking constantly, crying children, posing giant groups of people in a small studio, crazy parents and ummm crying children, oh and the whole trying to make children smile thing. I refused, like absolutely refused to do anything stupid to make a child smile. Like, I would pop out from behind the camera and play peek a boo, but that was pretty much my limit. Some of my co-workers would go in the studio and just go insane and be like, "lookie here, here's a puppet!! smile!!! here's a dog!! cootchie cootchie!!" all while jumping all over the place. To that I said, no thanks.

You may say that was part of my job, and I would probably say, you're right, but for the 8 dollars an hour I was getting, I sure wasn't willing to make an ass of myself. Most of the time I would tell the parents, "if you want your kid to laugh, you are going to have to go behind me and do something funny" because a) I've never met your child before and I have no idea what they find funny, and b) I really don't want to appear creepy. Most of them complied.

The props we had at this photo studio were hilarious. Giant bears, giant flowers, all sorts of randomness. On my very last day of work one of my coworkers and I got out every single prop, pulled down the christmas background, and set the timer on the camera and posed it up. Those pictures still make me laugh hysterically. Our friend in the photo lab developed them, and nobody was any the wiser.

I digress.

It wasn't all children whose photos I took. Sometimes it was awkward teenagers, and sometimes it was just awkward people. One time I took a photo of a man and his fiance, and the man had a huge growth covering one half of his face. As I was snapping pictures he said, "every time I look at a photo of myself, a bit of my soul dies", and I was just kind of like, I am so not equipped to be handling this. Do I smile sympathetically, do I...what do I do??

Another time an old man came in with his daughters and his grandson to get their picture taken. I sat gramps on the stool in the middle. He was sitting there, legs apart, waiting for the camera to roll, hanging out. Literally. He had a huge hole in his pants and his penis was actually hanging out. Neither of his daughters noticed, and I was suddenly in an insanely awkward position. If the earth could have swallowed me up at that very moment, I probably would not have minded. Why, why did the man have a hole in his pants and no underwear? How could nobody notice this? Why was I suddenly the one who had to alert his daughters to this unfortunate incident? I'm pretty sure my face was bright red, and I was just like, "ermmmm, ummmm, ermm" gesturing towards the old man's crotch. The daughters eventually saw and obviously were extremely embarrassed. They started fighting about who was supposed to dress dad. I also need to add that grandpa had no idea what was going on the entire time. One of the daughters finally just decided that they would pose the grandson in between grandpas legs. Luckily this kid was little and will probably have no memory of this, otherwise it would likely scar him for life. I took those photos so fast, jumped up from the camera and was like, "ok, let's do this!". I am retroactively mortified when I think of that moment.

ANYWAY! So the time I almost got fired. One of the hardest parts of this job was not hysterically laughing when a photo popped up on the screen and the person just had a horrible look on their face; their eyes would be closed, smile would be dumb, something. You know the type of picture I'm talking about. I never quite mastered how to stifle this laughter, and on more than on occasion, I literally sat at the editing table with the family whose photos I had just taken, and laughed until tears were streaming down my face because of the way one of them looked. It was entirely inappropriate, but I seemed to have no control over it.

One day one of my coworkers and I decided we would go through all the old photos and pick out the worst ones and make a book. We entitled this project, "Ugly Baby Book". Personally, I found this hilarious. It wasn't really that the babies were ugly, it was just the facial expressions. Anyways. This took place over several weeks. One day my boss found a copy of one of the photos in the garbage. She was like, "why did you order this?" Me "Ummmm"...I figured there was no point in lying, because I am one of the world's worst liars, so I just told her "I was making an ugly baby book". Her face actually twitched and I could tell she wanted to laugh, but at the same time she wanted to kill me. I got a warning, and she didn't speak to me for two weeks.

I still have the book. I must say, it's just as hilarious now. Totally would have been worth getting fired over. I quit about a month after this incident, because I just couldn't take it anymore. But looking back, it was an interesting 8 months.

On Wild Animals in Captivity

2009-10-06T14:28:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I read about the new TLC show My Monkey Baby on another blog, and frankly the show sounded hilarious. People with monkeys who treat them as though they are children. Funny on the one hand, batshit crazy on the other. I had the pleasure (?) of watching this show yesterday, and oh my god. It is quite possibly one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen on television. Ever. In my life. And I'm counting all future programming in that. One part showed a lady putting makeup on her monkey, because the monkey apparently likes it. Does she? Did she tell you that, crazy lady? Does she also like wearing that mini wedding dress? My word.

These people are clearly delusional, and while I am sad for these people, my inner animal activist is outraged for these poor monkeys. And at TLC for putting such crap on the air, and probably encouraging people that buying a pet monkey is a good thing to do. Maybe I'll adopt a monkey and get my own show. Maybe I'll adopt a giant fucking hippopotamus and keep him in my bathtub, even better! It was bad enough they saddled the world with Jon and Kate, but now this? TLC, the learning channel? Please change your name.

I just, I don't get the need some people have to have wild animals for pets. Seriously. The other day I read an article about a woman who was killed by her pet bear when she went in to clean his cage. HER PET BEAR? It's tragic no doubt, but come on, why do you have a feckin bear as a pet to begin with? Get a dog, get a cat, get a turtle, but how about not getting one of the deadliest animals on earth? How it is in any way a pet, and not a sideshow? Do you walk your pet bear? Do you play fetch in the backyard? No. You keep him locked in a cement cell where he probably was slowly going insane. That is not a pet.

And remember the story from about a year ago about the lady that got attacked by her neighbours 200 pound chimp? Again...why does someone have a giant chimp who clearly belongs ummm not in a house as a pet? The chimp attacks the owners neighbour, and then the chimp ends up getting shot by the police. This completely boggles my mind. These animals are not meant to be pets; they are dangerous and aggressive. (don't click on that if you get queasy easily). They belong in the wild with other primates.

Apparently 15000 people in the United States alone have monkey's for pets, most of them buying them when they were babies. a) What happened to all the mothers of these little monkeys, and b) could you possibly use that $5000 you paid for your pet monkey for something constructive that will benefit society in some way and not make you appear mentally unstable. c) it's a monkey, it is not a child. As much as I love all my shelter dogs, I know that all they will ever be are dogs, and thus have to be treated as such.

I can only hope this show will open up people's eyes to the issue of having wild animals as pets. I am hoping people will become duly outraged by this, and act accordingly. Click here for more info. The crazy needs to stop.

Something that drives me insane...

2009-10-05T08:30:00.000-04:00

I hate dumb commercials and billboards, HATE. Like, I find some commercials are so stupid that they insult people's intelligence to an alarming degree. There are so many commercials that just make me go what.the.feck?, and then consider throwing stuff at the television.

So I present to you, commercials that annoy the piss out of me:

-The latest one that irritates me to no end is the Quizno's one. I can't find it on YouTube or else I would post it, if only to show you just how dumb it is. Anyway, there is a guy sitting on a couch and beside him is an oven. Then the oven says "So and so, I know how hard it must have been for you to have an oven as a mother, but at least I can make you toasty subs" (not exact words, but it's so stupid it doesn't matter anyway). First of all, what does that even mean? An oven for a mother? Were the makers of this commercial high when they came up with the concept? Who agreed this would be a good way to sell subs? Cause I can tell you, this commercial ensures I will never ever eat at Quizno's regardless of how good their subs are. If I ever meet the maker of the commercial I am stabbing him/her in the ankle with a pencil.

-Maltesers:
That goddamn commercial where the couple is lying on the couch and the girl asks for a malteser and the guy hands her one. WITH A STRAW. He sucks it onto the end of the straw and drops it into her mouth. Feck. 1) just hand her the bag dumbass! It would take way less exertion and be way less creepy 2) this seems like a really good way to make someone choke. And then they sit there and giggle and laugh like the hugest dorks on the planet. So annoying. I like me some maltesers, but what what is up with all the annoying commercials?? Also, when I tried to find a youtube link for this one, all that came up was approx. 45 videos on people doing a parody of this commercial. Also, there is a group on facebook with 868 members that is called "I hate that maltesers commercial". ahahaha, these are my kind of people. I'm joining, even though I haven't seen that commercial in months. But it retroactively annoys me just to think about, that's how bad it is. Whoa, and guess who just spent way too long reading posts on this groups wall? That shit is comedy cold. My favourite wall quote regarding this commerical: "OH man do i EVRE KNOW!!!!!!

my EX bf loved it and I was like GAHHHHH we are breakin up then we broke up

but it wasn't becuz of the commercial but it was party well kinda but GAHHH
I HATEIT!!!!!!!!!" What? That's almost as annoying as the commercial itself. There is some serious built up rage all over the world for this commercial.

-Any Old Navy commercial with the talking mannequins. Especially the new one where they are at the airport, and the one mannequin is missing her legs and the other mannequin is randomly British. Gah. The only place I want to see talking mannequins is on Today's Special.

-Chantal Kreviazuk hair commercial. I"m not sure why this commercial bugs me so much, but whenever it comes on I want to rip shit.

-The cat food commercial where the cat in the commercial is played by a male human. I can't remember the cat's name in the commercial, or even what product the ad is for. I think the cats name was Norman? or was it Frank? Regardless, it's so irritating. He's all in the corner licking his "paws", and the lady is like "ohhhh norman". die norman, die.

There are many more commercials that irritate the hell out of me, but these are the main ones that are guaranteed to always make me change the channel and likely never buy the product ever. Well, except Old Navy, because I enjoy their cheap ass clothes. Falls apart in one day? Not a problem, it only cost me a dollar!

Perhaps I shouldn't get SO irritated with stupid commercials, but I just can't help it. It boggles my mind wondering what people were actually THINKING when they made them. Don't they realize how much they are annoying people???

Furry Friday

2009-10-02T13:25:00.005-04:00

What a cutie. This dog seemed to understand when I said "high five", because he did it every time. Coincidence? Perhaps. Extremely cute? Yes.

I know Duke was on here last week, but he cracks me up way to much. Doesn't he look crazed? Granted, he is a little crazy, but that makes him all the more charming. He reminds me of Santa's Little Helper. The episode where Bart took SLH to dog training class, and he never learned anything. But then randomly just when he almost had to give him away SLH suddenly learned the commands. Same thing applies to Duke except all he understands is "sit". He was going absolutely insane moments before I took this photo, running around all crazy and jumping and play biting and generally being a nut. Then I said "sit" and he stopped dead and sat. So hilarious.

Yesterday was like Staffie day or something because there were several of them. I love Brooklyn to pieces, and she has been at the shelter for a good while now. She has had a little cast on her back foot for several weeks now, because she got hurt, but she was all healed yesterday so she could run around again. I love when dogs do the sticking the bum in the air, play stance. I hope she gets adopted soon! There was a lady looking at her yesterday and I tried to talk her up big time. We'll see how that goes.

Lefty is adorable, still very puppyesque though. He would not stop biting and jumping, and chewed on my hand for a while. Also, at one point he managed to get all the little poop bags in his mouth and then ran around the yard, chewing them. I had to run after him, picking them up as they fell. It was fun. Then he chomped on my puffy vest and I had to run after him while he dragged that around. Also fun. Then he grabbed my purse, but I managed to catch him before he spilled everything out of there. Good thing he was cute!

And also:

Here Lefty is in his cage after going out to play. Zonked out. Sorry for the jail like picture, but I didn't want to wake him up by opening the kennel door.

The shelter runs have some really unfortunate placement as they are right by a drive thru. Back in the day when the shelter was build there was absolutely nothing around it, and now a freaking cornucopia of big box stores surround it. The Timmy's drive thru is right next door.

People that go through the line can see everything that is happening. Which is good on the one hand because they get to see the dogs, and ask questions. People are always yelling out their window. Always. Is that dog up for adoption? What kind of dog is that? How old is that dog? What is that dogs name? Where did he come from?? Some ask questions I can't possibly know the answer too. Anyways!

Last night I had a German Shepherd puppy out...he is at that age where he wants to hump everything. Including me. Like, for 20 minutes, I was just pushing him off me. I wanted to be like, "Dude, people can SEE you right now. Stop!". Whatever, it's what dogs do, but geeeez. There have also been several instances where I completely wipe out in the yard, because I am running around like a fool, kicking a soccer ball, when all of a sudden I step in a hole and I'm down. That would be embarrassing enough if I were alone, but in front of a drive thru line full of people? No thanks. I also have a special knack for going to kick the soccer ball, completely missing, then just spinning/tripping instead. I never did make the soccer team! Last night I went to kick the soccer ball and it went flying over the fence pretty much into the drive thru line. The dog was totally like, youuuu asshole, I can't get that!. But then a kindly lady left her car and went and got the ball for me, and the dog was happy again.

And that was my night last night! Love. Where exactly did September go? Seriously. Oy.

On Concerts

2009-10-01T11:04:00.006-04:00

So I went last night to see Pink, or is it P!nk? I never know. In any event, it was grrrreat show! I always forget how many catchy songs she has, and then one comes on, and I'm like, "oh yeah!", and then rock out. It was a very colourful show and was circus themed: there were acrobatics, giant slides, and at one point she got lowered beneath the stage and came back up soaking wet, and then dripped all over the audience. I found that kind of...icky, buuuut whatever, I'm sure if I was a hardcore Pink fan, I would be like, "yes, please drip your sweat/water on me". She did several covers, one of which was Queen. You can't ever go wrong with Queen can you? She also sang "I Touch Myself" while writhing around on a couch with all these arms coming out of nowhere rubbing all over her. That part was a little too Madonna/Like a Virgin esque for me.

The Ting Tings opened up for her. For some reason I thought this band consisted of two girls, but it is in fact a guy and a girl. I *think* I like them. I found the girl to be extremely screechy in some songs, to the point where I thought I was going to freak out because it just wouldn't stop, but then other songs made me want to buy the cd. So we'll see. "That's not my name, that's not my name, that'snot my...name". That's one of those songs that is extremely irritating, yet somehow it is still on my IPOD. Anyway, they are British, and I generally enjoy all things British.

We had pretty good seats, but as you can see from my pictures below, we weren't overly close. Also, my camera doesn't do well with the whole "zoom" thing. I have to be incredibly still to get a non blurry picture. Someone can exhale loudly beside me and it will pretty much ruin things.

There was this couple in front of us that were drunk out of their faces. The guy had his hat on sideways and his pants basically around his ankles, and he kept yelling out "PINK ROCKS!", which made my brain go: does not compute. It was kind of hilarious. He kept turning around and saying stuff, and everyone had the same look of, I have no idea what you just said, on their face. It may as well have been Finnish it sounded so foreign. There were actually three people in the drunken group, but one of them was a blond girl/third wheel who was not nearly as drunk. She probably wanted to be though. At one point, Pink was singing a slow song, with a really lovely piano melody to go along with it, and the blond girl was making a video. Then in the middle of her video, her drunken friend randomly sticks her face in front of the camera and just yells, "bajdklfjjkjkjjjdfakdjfdjfkdjf". hahaha, way to ruin the video! It was probably her friends favourite song, which she was clearly trying to preserve the memory of, and it is now tainted by a drunken close up shot of her friend screaming. Video bomb! It was funny because it wasn't my video.

I am getting wayyyy to elderly to be going to concerts on weeknights. How sad is that? I didn't get home until 2am, and now I am basically useless. Need.more.coffee. The train ride home was unpleasant as I had to stand the entire time, and try not to awkwardly stare at people. You know when a train is so full, and you are just kind of like, where exactly do I look? I opted for the ground. Ugh, crowded trains.

All in all, it was fun night! I need more concerts in my life.

Crappy concert photos (in some you can actually make out that it's Pink):

On the appeal of living in a video game...

2009-09-29T10:23:00.004-04:00

As I was walking down the street to work today, the most random thought just popped into my head: wouldn't it be cool to have a Game Genie for life? I mean, that would be so amazing. I was thinking about it, because you know how sometimes men just stare, and you want to be like: what????? what are you looking at???, and I just thought, if only I could randomly turn invisible for moments like these. This obviously led to the Game Genie thought. How great was game genie?? And how wicked would it be to be able to randomly apply these codes to life? I had the Super Nintendo Game Genie, and I used it pretty much exclusively for Super Mario World. And really, so many of those cheats could help in day to day situations:

Super high jump: I mean, this would just be cool for a variety of reasons really! You could jump up into trees and on top of buildings, and generally just see the world from a completely different perspective. It would *almost* be like flying. If you had to make a super quick getaway, this cheat would be extremely useful, provided you had something high up to land on. Then you could just wave to whoever or whatever down there on the ground, all see ya lata sucka, and then jump off on your way.

Extra lives: I wouldn't necessarily want to apply the "infinite lives" code to my actual life, because the thought of never, ever dying while the people I care about drop away is just something that is not appealing to me. However, I think the extra lives code would be useful, because say there was something you wanted to do, but it was super dangerous, like climbing Mount Everest, or bungee jumping...right now, with my one life, I wouldn't necessarily be apt to try to climb Mount Everest because that is not how I want to perish. But if I had a couple of spare lives? I would totally be up for that, because if I were to a) freeze to death or b) become deprived of oxygen, I could use up one of my extra lives, slid down the mountain, and continue on my way.

Start on whatever level you want: this would be great, provided it was okay to go backwards, as well as forwards. How neat would it be to be able to visit yourself at say, age 50, you could be all, yeah, everything is going well there, then zap yourself back to age 6 when you got your first puppy dog and give him a squeeze, then fly on back to the present, age 26, where you can then be pretty happy about not only where your life is going, but where it has been.

Anything with Yoshi: basically it would just be cool to have a pet dragon. Was Yoshi a dragon? Or a dinosaur? Irregardless, it would be cool to have a pet dragon/dinosaur to ride around on and eat enemies for you, but probably also play fetch if you wanted.

Anyway, this has given me an extreme desire to buy a Super Nintendo, because I so want to play Super Mario Land now. Ahhhh what a great game. Am going immediately to check Ebay.

Furry Friday

2009-09-25T11:31:00.003-04:00

Isn't Beau handsome? I love older dogs, but they also make me extremely sad sometimes because it often takes a while for them to get adopted. I know Beau came from a family that loved him a lot though, because they left a two page essay with pictures for whoever adopts him. That's so sad, because you know that this was probably a family that didn't want to give up their dog that they obviously loved, but had to for whatever reasons. Anyway, I am happy (so very very very happy) to report that Beau has already found a new family! I just wanted to post his picture because he's so handsome.

Duke. I love this dog. He's the biggest goof, and he cracks me right up. He runs around the yard, going completely insane, and I'll call out "Duke, sit!", and he'll stop and sit all pretty like this. It's hilarious. He's so gangly and deer like, and is always tripping over himself. Whoever ends up adopting this dog is going to have an endless source of amusement.

We have two runs side by side, and they are separated by a fence. Sometimes if you get two of the right dogs out there, they'll run up and down and play with each other. Which is so great to watch. I mean, sometimes they try to kill each other through the fence, so the playing is obviously much more preferable. I *wish* we were allowed the let the dogs play together, because some of them would love it so much, but it's just not safe. They are not even supposed to touch nose to nose. But it makes me so happy when they play like this.

Sam is a super soccer player. I could not make out what breed he was, shepherd cross of some kind...? He's adorable though.

Ahhh Carleigh, this dog is so sweet. She's from Louisiana, and is terrified of men, which makes me angry because you just know that somewhere along the line, some man did something horrible to make her have that fear. But she's perfectly fine around women, and is so adorable. She is extremely well trained, and I found out last night that she can roll over, which is like my favourite dog trick ever. I find it so cute. I randomly said it to see what commands she knew (sit, stay, lay down, shake a paw and roll over). The right family needs to get this dog.

There are so many dogs at the shelter right now, and I'm not too sure why. We got a lot of dogs from Louisiana (14 of them), but many of them have been adopted. The kennels were almost full last night (there are 20+) kennels, and the stray kennels were also full last time I went in. It takes an extremely long time to get all those dogs out and loved, so it's great that the shelter has such a dedicated group of volunteers. I can see that my fellow volunteers love those dogs as much as I do, and I'm grateful for that.

On Boards and Meetings aka, Why does that one person like their voice SO much?

2009-09-24T11:28:00.005-04:00

I recently got chosen to be one of 12 people to write opinion pieces for our local paper, which is pretty cool. I mean, I need to pretty up my portfolio. Part of this deal though is you need to attend meetings of the Community Editorial Board, a board which discusses, umm, community editorial related things.

The first meeting was last night.

My experience with committees in the past has been that they are pointless. A bunch of people get in a room, talk, talk, talk, then you leave, and nothing ever happens. There are always one or two people who like to hear themselves talk for the sake of talking, and they do nothing but that for the entire meeting. You know, the people that have an opinion on everything. ON EVERYTHING.

The first thing we did last night was go around in a circle and introduce ourselves. Personally, I think it would have been more fun to play two truths and a lie, because then people actually listen to what you are saying, but instead they opted for the "Hi, I'm Megan, and I'm an alcoholic, errr I mean, I'm a writer" bio type of stuff. Which is fine, whatever, I know nobody is really listening to me anyway. I've never been around so many people that I have absolutely nothing in common with. Like, never in a million years will they get me, I just know this. Just like I don't get them. There are approximately 5 people that I think are pretty cool, but I dunno, I can see this getting tedious. This has a lot more to do with me, then it does with them, cause you see, while I am very easily amused, I also get bored extremely quickly if you are talking about towers or hospitals or zzzzzzzzz.

I'm not a big fan of debating for debatings sake. People talk, talk, talk about issues, but then don't do anything about it. I get in a very why are we still discussing this mood. I mean, I understand the need for debate and conversation, but sometimes it just gets to the point of silliness. We can sit here and argue with each other when we are essentially agreeing with each other, but what are we going to do about the actual issue? Anyway, there are a couple of people on this thing that irritate me...I will perhaps be able to better articulate why after I spend more time with them.

That being said, I think this board thing might be really cool in that I'll get to learn how a newspaper works, and pretend I'm an extra in His Girl Friday.

At one point an older lady was mocking how "kids these days" talk, and went on a rambling sentence inserting the word "like" after every word. I don't know about you, but I say "like" all the time. Not nearly as much as I used to, but it definitely still peppers my speech, along with "um" and "err" and all other kinds of non words, but I don't think that indicates I'm dumb by any means. Like is the verbal equivalent of a comma. Anyway, I was afraid to speak after that for fear that I would use the word "like" too much and be silently judged by a board room full of people. Bah, I say to that.

One lady was also talking about how she despises blogs, and basically how she thinks they are crap. Which fine, whatever, she's entitled to that opinion. However, I don't see how she can on one hand be all "opinion pieces from the community published in the paper are great" and all "blogs suck" on the other, because aren't they essentially the same thing? Aren't blogs just several opinion pieces from one large community? Does an opinion suddenly become more valuable and trust worthy if it is written in print? I tend to think not, but I suppose some people, mainly older people, would disagree with that.

ANYWAY! I think this community board will be a good thing/bad thing, which I suppose most opportunities in life are anyway.

Updates

2009-09-23T14:09:00.007-04:00

My poor little neglected blog...I haven't posted in a while! At least it feels like it's been quite some time.

The month of September has been a leeeetle insane. Like, stuff going on every night insane. Which, on the one hand, I don't mind, because it's usually all fun stuff, but on the other hand, some nights I would rather just sit home and watch My So Called Life.

These are the things that have been taking over my life:

I'm helping organize this, and who knew organizing such an event would be so time consuming? I like doing it, I like organizing, and lord knows I love my shelter friends, but it is very time consuming. I think it's going to end up being great though! So much fun.

It makes me really sad that hardly anyone knows who Regina Spektor is. She's so good! I love her voice, I love her songs. I went to see her show last week. I seriously asked so many people to come to this concert with me, and they were all like "who???". I dragged my friend S with me, and I'm pretty sure she is a R.S. fan now! I was really not crazy about the venue (The Sound Academy), but the concert itself was good.

Ziplining! I came across this new Eco Adventure place that is about an hour and a half away from St. Catharines...it's in Turkey Point area. So I basically signed myself and my parents up for a ziplining tour, and also convinced my aunt to go with us. My aunt was looking rather ill beforehand, but it ended up being so entirely fun! Even my mother who is afraid of heights enjoyed herself. She only had one moment, okay two, moments of sheer terror, one being when we were on the tallest platform in the forest, which wasn't very wide, and there was 8 of us of huddled on it. She was actually hugging the tree for dear life. There was also a point at the end of the tour where you have to rappel down from the platform, which was very cool, but a little frightening to start off. The first thing you have to do is step off the platform and swing your right foot around so you can steady yourself, then you can begin lowering yourself to the ground. I tell ya, that initial step off the platform almost made me shriek in terror. It's all good once you are actually rappelling, but that first bit...gah.

Last night we went to a Blue Jays game, which even though they lose all the time, is still fun. Except last night they friggin won! But we didn't get to see it because we left early to catch the train. We thought all hope was lost, but when I got home I found out they had actually managed to pull out the win. In extra innings too! As if! Baseball is pretty much the only sport I enjoy watching. This could be because I actually know what is going on.

And coming up this weekend in St. Kitties, is an event my friends and I hold very dear to our hearts. GRAPE AND WINE. Regardless of what the organizers of this event want you to think, this entire thing is a big drunk fest. It's like St. Catharines version of Oktoberfest. Let's call a spade a spade here...Grape and Wine is usually a shit show for everybody involved, and we wouldn't have it any other way. It is SO FUN. You start drinking at the parade at approx. 11am, then you continue doing so for the rest of the day. The whole day is spent drinking and dancing, and really, there's not much better than that!! Also, you can wear ridiculous necklaces and tams, and nobody says anything because it's Grape and Wine time ya'll! Bring on the steel drum bands. Grape and Wine could totally be St. Catharines' biggest tourist attraction if they just marketed it for what it actually is-an excuse to get drunk and dance and have a ton of fun. For serious. Also, the mascot for this event is a giant grape, and his name is MR. GRAPE. 3 points for originality! My Grape and Wine goal this year will be to get a picture of myself with Mr. Grape.

Needless to say, September has been quite the busy month, and it is flying right on by. I'm having a great time though!

The weather has been perfect and the other day I saw a hummingbird. It hovered one foot in front of my face for like 30 seconds. That moment has been making me happy for a week now. Over'n'out.

Furry Friday

2009-09-18T11:17:00.004-04:00

Okay, I wish I had gotten more pictures last night, because it was effin hilarious. The dogs all needed a bath, so we got a swipe card to the "dog wash" that is conveniently located across the parking lot from the shelter. I volunteered to bath some of the dogs, because well, wet dogs are cute. I started off doing it by myself, which was extremely difficult, because none of these dogs are used to getting bathed. They were all basically like, what. the. eff. is. happening? I started with a tiny beagle, because I could lift her, then I did a skinny german shepherd puppy who I could also lift. By the time I was done those two, an hour and a half had passed, and a lady showed up to help me. This lady was a professional groomer, so I was therefore demoted to the role of bringing the dogs back and forth. Which, I guess is fine because the dogs needed a bath like anything, and it was probably best that they get it done by a professional. They got their nails clipped and their ears cleaned, and they all came out smelling nicely.

I stopped taking pictures once I was joined by the groomer lady, because ummm, I don't think she would have taken to it too kindly. She was very, let's get errr done, and me snapping pictures of dripping dogs probably would have been a hindrance to her agenda.

At one point she was giving me some tips about dog grooming, and was like, "I expressed this ones anal glands", to which I said, "oh, that's nice"...but what I was really thinking was, oh shit, that was something I never needed to hear about, because a) ewwwww, and b) what the hell?. Then I couldn't stop thinking about it. And as if I said, "oh, that's nice"...but what even is an appropriate response to somebody telling you that they just expressed a dogs anal glands? I realize this is an important part of the grooming process, and is healthy for the dog, but the whole thing makes me a little gaggy.

Anyway, sorry. Beyond that bit, it was an amusing evening. All the dogs kept trying to jump out of the tub. The dogs from Louisiana especially did not know what the hell was going on, because I doubt they ever had quite a thorough bath before.

By the end of the night, my shirt was soaked, my bra was soaked, and the front of my jeans were soaked. Loved it.

Here at the pictures I managed to get:

I like to think this look on Elly's face is a nice mixture of fear and contempt.

Cute!

I am going to eat you. Oh Lewis, also cute!

I could never step too far away from the tub because they would keep trying to jump out and I did not want them to choke themselves. It's like, can you not feel the collar tightening around your neck, why do you keep trying to get further out of the tub? Crazies.

Anyway, the dog wash is a great little invention! When I get a dog, I'm installing a sweet set up like this in my basement or something.

A Look Into My Mind

2009-09-17T15:12:00.003-04:00

I spend an awful lot of my time at work walking around, counting various things, stopping in places, dropping stuff off, that kind of thing. Today as I returned from wandering, I started to think how funny it would be if I could see someone else's stream of consciousness as they walked by. If my thoughts are any indication, this could be an entirely hilarious situation. I'm not sure how the thoughts would appear, but a thought bubble with words seems to be the most logical way.

See, if my thoughts during my 30 minute walk today were used as an example, this is what people would see (picture a scrolling thought bubble):

Ahhhh, it is so nice out today! Hmmm why is that car parked that way, god people are so dumb. I hope nobody jumps out of that dumpster and scares me. Oh my lord, bathing the dogs tonight is going to be hilarious! I'm going to get soaked. Good thing it is September and it is so very niiiiicccceee out (sing songy voice). Why would they not make this street two way? Now it is just confusing for people. It smells like vinegar here. Why, why would it smell like that? I wonder how many minutes a day people save by walking against the light? It's just dumb to stand there like a knob when there are clearly no cars coming from either direction. Wow, that is a whole lot of people on the sidewalk. That is SOME shirt lady. Why are they selling elephant ears and funnel cakes at the farmer's market? Is that really necessary? Oh, I totally gave that lady the wrong directions yesterday. Oops! Five minute thought break while I go inside a building to drop some things off. We have the loveliest courtyard at the library, to bad it is always filled with crazies. Like that one guy who talks to himself, constantly and walks towards you like he is going to engage you, then veers off at the last minute. That guy looks like a normal size oompa loompa. I would totally sit in this courtyard all the time, if I wasn't worried about getting stabbed. Ohhh man, remember that time S was sitting in the park and the random homeless guy asked her out? Classic. Go into library and pick up movie that was on hold. Hmmm do I want a coffee? Nah. Oh my god, St. Catharines is totally a place where I just look at random people and think, yeah, they could totally beat me up, and they might do so unprovoked. Don't look at her in the eye. HEY! There is the saxophone busker, but he is wearing a suit today and doesn't have his saxophone! So cute. I like how I always think sunglasses make me look incognito, but it's clearly me! Ewwww I hate when people hack in public places. Why, why are you doing that you nasty old man? Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit he just spit on the sidewalk too, I am so unbelievably disgusted. Why does he not know how gross that is? Holy crap, it smells like vinegar here too! What is happening? A squirrel! I never see squirrels downtown, that's so random!! Does that guy ever sit anywhere else but this patio? Seriously, what is your job? I cannot wait to watch this movie! ooohhh, they put new planters in!

Then I'm back at the office, thoroughly exhausted from the non stop thinking, and it just occurred to me, that it would be hilarious for someone else to see! Maybe not even hilarious, maybe just interesting, because the thoughts that pop into your head sometimes are just so random. It would be like Facebooks, "what's on your mind" section, but way better, because I hate that stupid section of Facebook.

On Movies

2009-09-15T14:01:00.003-04:00

I have been waiting for this movie to be in stock at the video store for sometime now. It was finally in the other day, so I finally watched it. It has been a long time since I've been so disturbed by a movie. It ended, and I literally sat there staring at the screen for like ten minutes. It's a good movie, really good, but oh so disturbing.

I think it is hard to approach the Holocaust in a way that hasn't been done before, but this movie did a great job of that. Now I don't know how plausible the scenario actually is, but I thought the movie did an amazing job of showing the experience through a child's eyes. The kid in the movie Asa Butterfield, is an amazing little actor. When I was watching it I was trying to think back to my 8 year old self and was wondering whether I would have understood the situation. I'm not sure. To Bruno, the main character in the movie, the whole idea of the concentration camp is that it is like a big game. He's jealous of his friend Schmoll (on the other side of the fence), because he gets to play with other kids on the "farm". Bruno never quite comprehends. The whole thing is so innocent, and I guess it really shouldn't be any other way.

God...it is so hard to comprehend what was done to these people: I mean, they were not seen as human! I just, I can't fully get it. The mother in the movie, she eventually finds out what is going on and while it is clear she doesn't believe in it, she never does anything to stop it. She worries and frets over her own children's safety, yet in her own backyard is a place where other people's children, other people, are suffering, are dying, and somehow she draws a line.

The end of the movie is so tragic, so disturbing, yet there is a little part of me that was kind of like, see, that's what you get Nazi father! Brunos father is the soldier in charge of the concentration camp, and he backs his country fully; he thinks nothing of gassing rooms full of Jewish people on a daily basis if that is what the Fuhrer wants. Yet when it hits home, when someone close to him is affected, it suddenly becomes clear. I just don't know why it took such a horrible occurrence for him to realize that what he is doing, what his country is doing, isn't right.

Anyway, it was a good movie. I'm going to keep flashing back to it for a while now though, especially the last scene in the gas chamber. When I went to Poland a couple months ago, I stood in one of those very gas chambers. I honestly cannot even put into words how that makes me feel.

Furry Friday

2009-09-11T17:44:00.004-04:00

It has been quite a week, quite a week in my mind. Today, I got heckled by children riding on the short bus. The. short. bus. And my life has come to this. Yesterday we were walking back from lunch and we had to pass this man in a wheelchair with no shirt and no shoes (he had shoes, they just weren't on)...the man said "Hello", and I was the only one that said "hello" back. I don't effin care what he looks like, he's being perfectly polite and nobody needs to look at him like he is a leper. Just say hello. Anyways, it's been one of those weeks where everything annoys me, and life in general is just blah. The bright spot, as always, were my furry friends, because they never heckle me (they do occasionally bite though), and they don't judge. Ever. They love everybody.
Anyways. Happy times.

Ahem.

Elly is a jack russel terrier/beagle. Scruffy with a capital S. She could jump ridiculously high. At one point I was doing that side to side movement, then pretending I was going to chase her like I always do with the dogs. She then ran straight towards me, jumped, and literally launched herself off my chest. I am not a short person. I tried to get her to do it again so I could try and catch her like they always do in the Superdogs show, but she wasn't having it.

Duke. No dog at the shelter has ever cracked me up quite as much as Duke. He is hilarious looking. He has wonky eyes and the longest tongue, and is just so peculiar looking that he's cute. I literally just look at him and crack up. He's also a huge spazz that constantly runs into things and is just generally awkward. Much like myself. He is the real life version of Marmaduke.

This dog. This dog with no name. He made me soooo proud last night. Remember the dog last week that was scared of life? This is him, and I am happy to report he is doing so much better. He was much more well adjusted, and he came and sat with me on numerous occasions. He still had moments of fear, like when the dog in the next pen kept barking at him, and you could tell his face was just like, ummmm what exactly is it you want?? Anyway, it was good to see that he is doing so well.

Beautiful blue eyed dog got adopted, as did several others, and that makes me happy.

On Bucket Lists

2009-09-10T12:30:00.000-04:00

I was feeling very Bitter with a capital B this morning, for a variety of reasons really, one being that people in this city drive so very horribly, but anyway when I got to work there was a funny email from a funny friend, and just like that the bitterness dissipated.

These last two days I've discovered that two things invariably cheer me up all the time: listening to old school Hanson and talking to funny people. Firstly, can anyone really remain bitter while listening to "Where's the Love"? I think not. Secondly, I'm mostly referring to people that I know, but as I am finding more and more, random encounters with often crazy people can go a long way in boosting ones mood. To an extent, I mean, there is a line of crazy that can be crossed and if you cross it, I really don't want to talk to you.

Where the hell am I going with this?

Right. It is time to start shifting my priorities again...getting off my ass, and gettin er done. I often go to my bucket list, or "life goal list", when I feel I need a swift kick to get me moving again. Some of my goals are ridiculously lofty, and some of them are just ridiculous. However, every time I get to cross one off the list, I get way too excited about life.

So here I present to you my bucket list...with some edits. I made up some of these things when I was like 12, and really have no desire to do them anymore. It should be noted that these are in no particular order, I just add things randomly when I think of them.

1) Swim with the dolphins I still really want to do this, but I have misgivings, because I really do not want to support a lot of the facilities that offer swimming with the dolphins. I don't want to swim with captive dolphins, I want to swim with free dolphins. I want to swim with dolphins that want to swim with me. Dolphins choice. If the dolphin wants to swim off to dive with his friends in the ocean, I don't want to hinder that desire. I'm thinking this one will never get crossed off.

2) Live in New York City I have big love for New York City, and I really want to live there one day. Not long enough that I'll end up hating it, but long enough that I can really get in there.

3) Write a book. This will happen. I don't know when, but I friggin know it will.

4) Backpack Across Europe This one is a little redundant now, because I've been to Europe three times, and none of those trips involved carrying a backpack. I've concluded that perhaps I'm just not the backpacking type.

5) Make one of those English guard guys laugh This one is going to drive me insane until the day I die. Those guys crack for nothing! One time in Ottawa, my friend S and I were doing everything but stripping for one of them, and we got NOTHING. We took pictures with him, we danced, we told loud jokes two inches from his face. I can tell you one thing, I would SUCK at that job.

6) Milk a cow Why can't I find a place around here where I can just go randomly milk a cow? Seriously. This one should be so easy to cross off.

7) Ride in a hot air balloon

8) Go ziplining in Costa Rica

9) Have my own library with a moving ladder I'm thinking the Beast's library in Beauty and the Beast is totally what I need to have.

10) Own all the Sweet Valley Twin books And I am thisclose I tell ya.

11) Go to Thailand

12) Go to Australia

13) Travel around Canada

~~14) Go to Graceland~~ I went to Graceland a couple of years ago and it was amazing in all it's tacky, tacky glory.

15) Be a travel writer

~~16) Volunteer at the humane society~~I've taken crossing off this goal to a whole new level.

17) Go Sky Diving

18) Stay overnight in a castle

19) Go horseback riding on a beach Although I have had recent experience that tells me this may not be such a great idea.

20) Help build a house

21) Go to Argentina Really, I could just sum all this up in one goal: go to every country in the world. Minus some in the Middle East because I am a huge chicken.

22) Write a book about the history of St. Catharines I ummm, really have no desire to do this anymore. At all.

23) Go in one of those giant plastic balls from the Amazing RaceDoes anybody else on the planet know what I'm talking about?

~~24) Write for the Standard~~ Done and done.

25) Be in New York in Strawberry Fields on Dec 8th. This could potentially happen this year and I am SO excited.

26) Ride a camel

27) Hold a monkey

28) Go on an African Safari

29) Have a photo published

30) See Idina Menzel in a broadway place Gah, how I love Idina Menzel.

31) Learn to play the guitar My serious lack of an attention span and my tiny tiny hands tell me this is never gonna happen.

32) Go to Baja to see the grey whales migrate

33) Learn another language Thanks for nothing French classes grades one through 11!

34) Fly a plane No, nooo 12 year old Megan, why would you write this?

35) Swim across a lake Again little Megan, why???

36) Learn to juggle

37) See Polar Bears in Churchill, Manitoba

38) Have a ball room in my house I said it when I was 12, and I'll say it again now, this would be amazing. I'm not talking let's do a waltz, I'm talking giant room filled with those multicoloured balls that you can jump in. I want to have an entire room filled and be able to run down a long hall and take a running leap into some plastic balls. Like at McDonalds, but minus the...McDonalds.

~~39) Visit Auschwitz~~ And the memory of the horribleness will last a lifetime.

40) Do the polar bear swim No one will agree to do this with me!!

41) Go to Mardi Gras

42) Be in NYC for New Years

43) Ride on a motorcycle

44) Be in a parade

45) Work at a bookstore

46) Learn to spin a pen in my hand Hey, they can't all be big dreams! Also...I hated in high school when people around me would spin their pens, and I just couldn't feckin do it.

47) Do the trapeze

48) Watch the Silence of the Lambs I am a huge chicken, and I want to watch this so badly, but I"m scurrrred.

49) Be at the Olympic Games

50) See the Northern Lights

51) Try Surfing

Anyways! These are just some of them, as in less than half. Some are ridiculous and some are just cheesy and for the sake of not having the longest blog post known to man, I didn't put them all here. But seriously...I need to get going on these, and pronto.

On Hindsight

2009-09-09T12:09:00.004-04:00

I hate how everything always looks so clear and obvious in hindsight; it makes me feel like such a dumb ass. Then I get mad at myself for being such a dumbass, like...why didn't I just see it then and save myself the aggravation?

I go over every situation and conversation, and there is suddenly a large, neon sign flashing everywhere saying "wake the eff up!"

It boggles my mind that people can be so thoughtless. Deliberately. It is something I just can't wrap my head around.

Anyway, I'm being cryptic, but it is for my sanity. It is good to know that I am done though. So long, farewell, nice knowing ya, I can't do this any longer, d.o.n.e.

Wow. I am Angela Chase dancing to Blister in the Sun. Good day.

Time Warp Tuesday

2009-09-08T09:00:00.001-04:00

Okay, so I mentioned last week about all the photos I have to scan into my computer---copious amounts! I also mentioned my fear of looking at a photo and not remembering. Forgetting who is in the picture with me, what I was doing on that day and who I was with. It's clearly not realistic to remember everything about one's life, because there are certainly photos I look at and have no memory of whatsoever. But there are some that I have vivid memories of, memories that I don't ever want to forget or to fade, so I am going to start posting some pictures/stories on here. They are not going to go in any particular order, just a pick of whatever I managed to scan in this week.

My love of dogs started at a very early age: Shadow was the first dog that was in my family and I adored him. This clearly was in the late 80s early 90s because, hello haircut and random neon clothes. And I am pretty sure my big wheel is in the back of that picture.

Shadow the cockapoo. He was my first dog; my best dog. I got him for a birthday present when I was six. My whole family sat outside on the deck in a circle and watched me open my gifts. Saving the best for last, my uncle carried in this huge cardboard box from his car, and I stood there staring at it for a good five minutes before I opened it. I finally peeked inside, and as you can probably tell from the "WTF" look on my face, Shadow was a big surprise for me. I lifted him carefully out of the box and just carried him around, showing him off to everyone. Then we ran around on the grass, up and down the hill; we became fast friends.

I am an only child so Shadow was quite the playmate. My whole family loved him, cause, well, he was a great dog. He got his name because he followed us everywhere, even into the washroom. We were buddies; he was like my little dog brother. He wasn't perfect by any means, every damn year he would run through one of the screen doors, every year. Eventually we started taking pictures of him with the broken screen, and a sign that said "Screen of insert year". He was such a cute dog; scruffy and friendly, my favourite kind. He walked horribly on a leash, barked like crazy at the smallest things, and jumped in the air like a kangaroo. He loved to swim, and he would float around the pool all the time on a raft. He played a mean game of fetch, and he just loved to be wherever we were.

One year we were on vacation, about two hours away from home. My aunt and grandma were watching the dog. We were about halfway through our vacation when we got a frantic call from my grandma saying, Shadow is sick, he's at the vets, you have to come home now if you want to see him. It broke my heart, and it actually still makes me tear up when I think about it. God, I loved that dog. We drove back home, the only sound being me sobbing quietly in the backseat.

We arrived at the vets where Shadow was being kept: it turned out he had a liver condition, and he was going to die. We had to have him put down the day after we got home. I can honestly say that part of the reason I don't have a dog right now is because I know first hand (it happened to me twice) how horrible it is when they are gone. Shadow was such a huge part of my life, then he just wasn't there. I was a little bit broken.

Shadow was my first experience with death and loss. I was 13 when he died, and I hadn't at that point had to go to any funerals of anyone close to me. I was hurting. My mom decided we were going to have a wake for Shadow, which crazy as it sounds, helped immensely. Everybody, family and friends, came over to our house, and shared their favourite memories of my dog. Most were funny stories, and it made me feel a whole lot better. I couldn't tell my own story, because I was just too sad, but hearing everybody else's...well, it was extremely nice of them to do that for me. For my family. Anybody who thinks, it's just a dog, has never had a dog.

The day I got Shadow is a favourite memory of mine because it was the beginning of a great relationship. He's the reason I love dogs so much now, and I will never, ever forget what a great little guy he was.

Canadian National Exhibition

2009-09-06T15:52:00.007-04:00

Every single summer, my friend N and I have a tradition of going to the CNE. It's weird, we both have a love/hate relationship with the CNE, but we just can't quit it. Even though we spend most of the day wanting to yell at people to stop walking so slowly, there is just something so summery and fun about it. Since N lives in T.O, he is very good at maneuvering around crowds of people, he just weaves in and out, but I constantly get stuck. Part of the fun is the people dodging.

I drag N to this every year, which is hilarious because the show is the exact same thing every year. It's basically like dogs racing against each other and jumping over high posts. The Superdog announcer is kind of like Bob Barker, but way less cool. But the Ex just wouldn't be the Ex without going to see the Superdogs.

Sand sculptures! I definitely admire people who have the patience for stuff like this! I can just imagine it collapsing randomly and having to start over...arggg.

Butter sculptures! Star Wars ones! When you watch the people make these sculptures, they are all decked out in winter gear because they are basically inside a fridge with windows. The sheer volume of butter was a little gross, but impressive none the less!

I'm always very careful about the rides I go on at carnival type events. Rides that can be disassembled in a day make me slightly uneasy, so I tend to avoid them. The Zipper is a ride I would never in my life go on, and it wasn't helped by the fact that this particular ride had a huge sign posted on it that said "this ride has been shut down for your safety". Okay then!

As we found out last night...deep fried mars bars are basically one of the greatest inventions ever. They were so unbelievably good. We were dubious at first, and were a little frightened that we might instantly have heart attacks,because the whole idea of a deep fried candy bar is a bit much, but hey, it's the Ex! Also, just a note...the booth across from this one was selling chocolate covered bacon. For reals yo. EW! I'm so going to try it next year.

We always, always ride the ferris wheel. Once during the day, and once at night. The midway looks amazing all lit up, and you can see pretty far. During the day when we went on, the Air Show was also happening so we got to watch some of that. The air show was 4 hours long. Never could I sit for so long in one spot just to watch some airplanes do tricks in the air, no matter how cool that may be. The air show is kinda freaky to watch too because the planes fly so close together (or at least it appears that they do from the ground), and I spend the entire time worrying about what to do if they crash. They always look like they are about to crash too, because one of the tricks involves the plane spiraling straight down. You watch in amazement, just kind of wondering, is that supposed to be happening?? and then even if it is NOT supposed to be happening, there is nothing you can do to stop it anyway. Air shows freak me out.

One of my favourite parts of the day involved waiting for the train. I was by myself, so I guess I looked approachable. This lady came up to me and asked me what time the train came. The conversation then evolved into life stories. Which really, I didn't mind, she wasn't crazy and we had a while to wait for the train anyway. But then she started telling me this story that she thought was hilarious, like so hilarious she couldn't speak anymore and tears were streaming down her face. The story wasn't funny....at least not to me. I was trying to get out a laugh because what else could I do besides stare at her? She laughed for the longest time ever, but then just abruptly stopped the story with "so, yeahhhh". It was kind of great. Then the train came and we almost got trampled getting on, so I didn't get to sit with my new found friend on the train. Anyways.

All in all, it was a great day. I didn't win any giant stuffed animals, but I guess there is always next year! Goodbye summer!