Phone Calls

Last night, I made the last phone I needed to after an awesome weekend. I knew that I had to share the news with these brothers and sisters who have been there for me, supporting and praying for me for a long while - some over ten years!

I find that phone calls have lost their value and appreciation with the advent of technology. Seriously, teens these days don't seem to know how to have face-to-face or voice-to-voice conversations anymore, it's all through email, instant messages, text messages, wall posts, twitter and probably some more that I don't even know about!

But breaking awesome news is just not the same in electronic form. Last night it seriously took me over half an hour to get the drivers installed, the hardware set up, and the software up and running, but it was totally worth it for Em! We talked for almost half an hour, I've timed it, it seriously takes that long to tell the entire story in detail - like on Sunday when I told J, it took almost the entire car ride to church! The fact that you can hear the other person's emotions, happiness, shock, excitement has been lost with technology.

I loved that I was able to share the news with phone calls to dear friends.

[edit] : sharing the news with someone who is at the library is quite fun ;)

Construction

So, as the old Canadian joke goes, "There are really just two seasons in Canada: winter and construction."

With the way this past "summer" shaped up, it's no longer a joke, but a reality!

For the most part these days, I can not get from point A to point B without encountering some form of construction. This is compounded by the fact that the two most accessed roads for me to go north are BOTH under construction at the same time. Who does that?! And now 2/3 more accessible routes to head west in Mississauga are now under construction or are being primed for it. Like seriously?!

*sigh*

Bleeding Edge

For those that were at BR last night - Richard wasn't making stuff up. I had to look it up to see what nonesense he was talking about. And it's an actual term that I read about here.

I love how 4 of us those just try to play it off as leading edge until I actually asked him. Do we really give Richard that much credit in terms of his linguistic abilities. =p Just kidding!

Kids Say the Darndest Things!

Today during play day I was partnered up to follow around a kid in my class. He is such a sweet boy, but cognitively is functioning really low. But today, after a small mishap during one of the actvities he says: "My arm is out of commission."

That made my day. *heart*

Crazies!

I don't know whether it has been the mind-numbing days of EQAO testing, this tedious book review that I have had to do in chunks, the little tasks required for my course, the anticipation of job postings in a few days, or the fact that I have not had any contact with my hunnie for 6 days now, that my mind is making me go crazy the last couple of days.  I was seriously like cabin-fevering it yesterday.  I resorted to uploading pictures onto fb.  And now I'm at that point again tonight.  My mind is just so incredibly bored and needs some stimulation!

Go Jays Go!

Two weeks into the season, the Jays are red hot!  They have never started out the year like this, not even during the '92 and '93 seasons when they won the World Series!

I wouldn't say I am jumping on the bandwagon with the Jays becuase I don't think I ever jumped off! =p  I may have just been near the back of the wagon. ;)  But I still remember those years, 15 years ago! *sigh* This definitely dates me.  (sidenote: last year working at the camp, the other teacher and I were talking about when the Jays won the World Series - and the grade 6 kids we were teaching had no idea what we were talking about - we did some quick math and realized that they were not even born when they won!  Oh, how we felt so old!)  But those days were exciting remember watching the '92 and '93 seasons and both the World Series - so many random things - Devon White's catch at the wall, Kelly Gruber's "triple play," Joe Carter - amazing! Roberto Alomar at 2B, John Olerud's helmet, Dave Winfield's power at DH.  Only 2 weeks into the season and at Cito's helm, the Jays are back! =)

I found this picture in the Mississauga News a couple of weeks ago.  Love it!  And I love how there are 3 different Jays logos through the years! I think I still like the original as it appears on the foam finger =p  Enjoy!

((c) Steve Nease, 2009)

And it will ALWAYS be the Skydome!

Curiosity

Based on an incident that happened outside my home today, it made me think how curious we are as human beings.  In addition, language expands this curiosity even further as it adds additional information that other animals do not have.

There was an accident that occurred outside my house this evening.  By the time I had noticed the flashing lights outside, the car that had crashed head-on into the tree had been moved onto a tow truck.  The occupants of the vehicle seemed to be doing okay and the police had already finished their initial investigations.

When looking out my living room window, I wondered in my mind how in the world the driver was able to crash into the tree.  He must have been going at high rates of speed around that bend as there was no percipation and the ground was not compromised at all.  I see my neighbour across the street observing all that was going on.  I wanted to go out and ask him what he had learned from his observations, but I got lazy and decided against it.  However, I waited around to see the damage the tree had done to the car and after everyone had left, I went outside to survey the damage.  It still boggles my mind how the driver got himself into this predicament.

As this was going on, I was thinking about how curious I was about seeing the damage to the car and finding out what actually had happened.  This led me to think about how curious we are as humans.  We always want to know what is going on, about people, places, and events.  For the most part, we want to be in the know.  We do not want to be left out.  We see this obsession with the likes of modern technology, like facebook and twitter.  However, there is this danger to curiosity, our need to know, with the devestating effects of gossip could have.  The stories get skewed, information is added or omitted, events are exaggerated or emphasized; but all in all for the most part, it usually never good.  And seriously, do we really have to know?

Exercise

There has definitely been a lack of it coming from my end this year =p  But that could be why I've gotten sick 3 times this winter.  Alas, I think I have to climb back onto that dreaded treadmill and burn some calories and build my immune system back up!

Spring!

Monday = -20 degrees w/windchill

Friday = +16 degrees w/sunshine

Oh, how I love Canada! =)

Spring is in the air!

Sore

I don't believe that I am that out of shape (refrain from your comments =p).  But yesterday's gym day of dodgeball and volleyball has definitely destroyed me.  I was already feeling the effects of it last night during the TC rally where I could not get comfortable sitting in any position in the pews.  My back and leg muscles just felt really tired.  Then my soreness gets worse after I come home and fall asleep.  I am actually awaken by the soreness in my legs when I rolled around in my bed.  Man, today it was pretty bad going up and down stairs, even walking and getting up after sitting down in particular positions for long periods of time. If only I could know that I had a great workout without feeling the effects of it afterwards!

Dumb

Last night I went out with Ruby and Jeff after the TC rally.  I didn't want Jeff to just go home by himself on his birthday so I suggested we go out for some food and fun, and Ruby agreed!  We went to BR and had some interesting and funny conversations!

We somehow got on to the subject of some of the dumb things we did when we were younger and in our high school days.  When I think back upon high school I definitely realize now how dumb some of thing I did were!  The one incident that sticks out in my head is piling 9 people into a Dodge Neon and actually travelling some distance, at least 10 minutes, on city roads where people could definitely see us!  That was quite dumb.  Found out some funny things about Jeff and Ruby as well, but I guess you'll have to ask them yourselves.  It's crazy how our thinking is when we are 16 years old, we are invincible and on top of the world, no one can stop us.

Behind

Bah!  I feel that I am behind in so many things.  And I forget to write them down, which makes it even worse when I finally remember to do them, because I have written other things down to do already!  This week has been hectic!  I knew I should have finished my marking 4 weeks ago! >.<

The last few days have been cold, extremely cold, like -30 cold, I don't think that has put me in a good mood.  Plus, I have come to realization that I have extremely poor circulation.  Bah!  I need another vacation.

Compliments

Am I just weird or is it just the Chinese in me that whenever I am offered compliments or praise I find it very hard to take and to accept it.  I have been thinking about it for awhile, ever since some of my kids' parents thanked me for coming into their homes to help their children.  However, in these two particular cases, I feel like I am fighting a futile cause.  It's not that I do not see potential in these kids, but I think to myself sometimes, how much impact can I make in these kids with 1/2 hr, 1hr, and 1.5 hour sessions, respectively, one time a week.  I have not been able to see the fruits of my labour.  In fact, it can be quite frustrating.  Alas, that is another can of worms.

Back to my apprehension and hesistation in accepting compliments.  I do not know what it is in me, I am able to provide compliments to people, I do it for a job well done and to acknowledge that fact.  But when it comes to me, it seems so strange and I do not know how to react.  Like when my kids' parents told me, my response was quite awkward, because in my mind it was just a job, and I'm doing what I am hired to do.  In another case, I find that when offered compliments, I am just doing what I believe is right.  I think I'm just weird. =p

Tired

Not enough sleep.  Fighting illness.  Tutoring in the mornings.

Results in a very tired girl that just wants to sleep.  Maybe I will take a nap when I get home.

Seriously?!

This post is kind of random and a lot less heavy from what I have posted of late.  It is mainly talking about stupid people... ugh, they are the bane of my existence!

First, there has been a person who has been calling my house looking for Loblaws the past few days (with the help of caller ID I know it's the SAME person).  We get these phone calls often because our phone number is very close (only off by one number!) to the Loblaws number.  However, you would think that after calling 4 times in the last 3 days you would get the hint that you have the wrong number!!!  Like after the second time, I went to look up on the internet again to see what the number actually is and I was able to find it.  You would think that this person would be able to do this also!  Seriously?!  It took me 30 seconds!!!  I am really tempted to just tell him the number if he calls for a fifth time!!!

Second, a couple of days ago, my dad receives a letter in the mail informing him that he had won in the "Spanish Sweepstake Lottery."  Ummmm, can we say SCAM!!! Like seriously?!  Like the first time I looked at it I could tell it was a scam.  First of all it is printed with an ink-jet printer that needs to be replaced and/or aligned properly!  Secondly, there are spelling mistakes--that is another can of worms for me, I despise spelling mistakes anywhere!  (Okay, not anywhere, my students can have spelling mistakes, however, they are less than 14 years old--it is more so with adults that I get more annoyed)  Plus if you are trying to run a successful scam you think that you would at least go through the trouble of spell-checking.  But yes, it tells you a whole bunch of stuff and the sad thing for me is that some people may actually believe this in a time such as this, where the economy is where it is at and people are in desperate need for money =(

Lastly, yesterday it was a little dicey on the roads because of the weather, but stupid people make it even more dangerous by not cleaning off their windshields!  Seriously?!  You are making the roads even more dangerous because you cannot see out the back of your car, and you have limited peripheral vision!  I saw at least 5 cars that had not cleaned off their windshields before driving yesterday morning.  It doesn't take you that long to clean off your windshields if you adequately warm up your car.

So yes, this is my rant of the stupidity that I have come across the past few days!

CRC

Nope, it has not arrived yet, or I would be rejoicing!! Ugh...

I called the Peel Police headquarters and they said that it would still be at least a week, they are processing CRCs from on and before September 27th.

Thus, I can not do anything until then.  I just have to hold on to God's promises for me.

Cold

Coming home yesterday I realized how unready I am for winter.  I don't really mind the snow, it is pretty, I loved watching it fall last Wednesday.  However, I am not ready or wanting to drive in the snow, as per my previous post.  I am also not ready or really wanting to embrace the COLD!  It is so incredibly cold!  As I get older, I feel like this feeling just gets stronger and stronger each year! =p  I think it is also signalling another year has passed and I am getting older! haha... However, this year had definitely been a good year, a blessed year indeed.

Tree

So after posting my previous entry, I go back to my Gmail account to be totally taken aback because it looks so weird. And I message Kev and Richard in a fury because I'm wondering if their accounts changed as well. This is when I find the info box on the top of my screen!

I come to find out that Google has just introduced "Themes" to Gmail. I got excited when I realized because they have so many cool and cute designs!! Some were weird, but for the most part the designs were really fun!

Richard and I went through most of the themes rather quickly, and I think both of use decided on using the "Tree" theme! I think it's the coolest and cutest one of all! They ask for your location, and based on your location, the background adapts to the weather conditions outside! And since it's snowing in the GTA, I have snow in the background and there is some snow on top of my message boxes! We only found this out because he thought it was for marketing purposes so I changed my location to Beijing, and there was smog in the sky! hahaha! And then I changed it to Puerto Plata, and there was rain because it's raining there now! I think that is too cool! Don't you think so?!

I know, small things amuse me, but now it's so pretty!

Salt

Driving today was crazy to say the least. And I know how bad salt is for the environment, seeing as I have a geography background, but on this first day/night of snowfall in the GTA, with some form of accumulation, I was very thankful for it!

Driving to my second session tonight was pretty bad, took me about twice the time to get there than usual. And then driving to prayer meeting from there took about 40 minutes, using all city streets. There was only 1 incident where I had to pump my brakes, but God got me to prayer meeting and then he got me home. Getting to prayer meeting was probably the worst part in terms of driving, since it was a long distance, and my side of the road did not have salt yet! I got upset at the fact that the other side had been salted!

I am glad that I went to prayer meeting, even though I wanted to go home because of the weather. Had some good talks with people and good time of prayer.

Mail

It's been almost 6 weeks since I handed in my criminal records check to volunteer at the school my AT works at now. I can not start volunteering until I have it. I am turning into a mad woman checking the mail each day to see if it has arrived! I want to start volunteering ASAP, but without it there is no chance of that happening, the quicker I get into the school, I can learn more, and buddy up to the principal! =)

Based on a dream I had last week though, I just need to hold on to God's promises for me once again. That dream left me with a smile on my face. God is good!

The CRC has not arrived yet =(