One more day till the weekend, *sigh* Oh well, tomorrow's Friday, yey! For those of you who haven't discovered it yet, DC and I started a Coffee Break site, which we can all use to exercise our creative skills. If you want to join let us know and we can make you a member. Then you can add to our ongoing story. Or, just visit on occasion and read our story in progress. You'll have to read from the bottom up though, there is no way to reverse the ordering of the posts. Sorry, we tried.

Also, no GEMs update this week, we didn't have a meeting last night.

Last night, or rather this morning, I had a very strange dream. Not strange in and of itself, strange in the realness of it. At the beginning I was out shopping somewhere. I returned to the parking lot and got into a vehicle, I believe it was a minivan. At this time I was all by myself. Then my dream sort of morphed into a roadtrip with girls from my dorm my freshman year. I'm not sure where we were going, but as we were driving, the vehicle changed into a full size van. A little bit later, a bunch of kids appeared and my parents too. Then my three kids showed up. Yes, that's right, my three kids. I don't know where that came from. In my dream I don't recall there being a father for them around anywhere. It was just me and the kids. I had a three year old girl and one year old twins, a boy and a girl. The twins were quite remarkable, they were walking and talking in full sentences. Kind of eerie now that I think about it. I remember we all had to sit around a table, I think for dinner but first I had to change the little boy's diaper.

Ever have dreams that felt so real it was almost scary? This was one of those dreams. Not sure where my subconscious was going with this one, but I'm not entirely sure I like it either. I mean why three? And where was their father? My brain comes up with strange things sometimes (and I know that leaves me wide open, go ahead).

I wish IIS would just play nice instead of hogging all the toys. No wonder I couldn't get Apache to install with IIS, IIS grabs all the open ports when it starts up, leaving none for Apache. So dumb. So greedy. Of course this fact is very well hidden and must be turned off in a very convoluted way. Ah well, at least they both run together now...finally.

On the way to work this morning I was listening to my Great Big Sea CD. Some great tunes, which I know DC doesn't like :) But I thought that Ordinary Day was especially appropriate for a discussion yesterday about life and what to do in life, etc. In particular the chorus.

I've got a smile on my face, I've got four walls around me
The sun in the sky, the water surrounds me
I'll win now but sometimes I'll lose
I've been battered, but I'll never bruise... it's not so bad

Chorus
And I say way-hey-hey, it's just an ordinary day
and it's all your state of mind
At the end of the day,
you've still got to say... it's all right.

See that girl on the street, what keeps her from dying
Let them say what they want, she won't stop trying
She might stumble, if they push her 'round
She might fall, but she'll never lie down...

Chorus

It's a beautiful day, but there's always some sorrow
It's a double edged knife, but there's always tomorrow
It's up to you now if you sink or swim,
Keep the faith and you're ship will come in.

Monday morning again. Weekends go by way too fast, especially good ones. Friday my roomie and I had a dinner and games gathering. We made Chinese dishes from my new cookbook. That was fun, and the recipes all turned out pretty good. We played Cranium and Trivial Pursuit, though I think we should have done it the other way around, I was way out of it for trivial pursuit. Way too much to drink ;) so by the time we got to trivial pursuit I wasn't really with it anymore. Now that is a strange feeling. I don't think I've ever had that much to drink in one evening.

Saturday afternoon, after returing home from work (bleh) I called the salon, and set an appointment to get my hair cut. I was pleasantly surprised that they still had a spot open. Amanda cut my hair. I really liked her. I told her what I wanted and she knew exactly what I meant. Nothing drastic, not losing much length, but more body and volume. I got exactly what I wanted and I love it :)

That evening I went to Pete Brown's to listen to Fonnhmor, an Irish band. I liked the music, reminds me of some of the east coast bands from back home. I really enjoyed the male vocals, wish they did more. Bars are interesting places. When we first got there, there was this older guy (like 50s) sitting at the table next to us, Ken was his name. He had a great 'pick-up' line. He pulls out a card about the size of a wallet-sized picture. Then he leans over and says that he wants to show us his pride and joy. He shows us the card and it has a picture of a bottle of pride furniture polish and joy dishwashing soap. Ken proceeds to give us his card (for jewerly and watch repairs) and invites us to go to another bar where he plans to sing (karoke) and buy us a drink, if we come.

The music was great, very fun. Though I was hoping for more of the upbeat lively stuff. Makes me want to go to the UK and visit some pubs. Another interesting guy at the bar was 'Sound Guy'. The sound booth was right next to us, on the shuffle board, and since it was so crowded, the waitress would hand someone at our table the beer and have us hand it to the sound guy. We got to chatting with him a bit, and asked if he was 'Sound Guy'. He said, "something like that". And so he was dubbed Sound Guy. Finally at the end of the night we asked if had another name that he would prefer to be called, besides Sound Guy, Marty he said. Then, Vbijl was done saying his goodbyes to the band, so we started to leave. As we were just about out the door, Marty comes after me and asks me for my name. I tell him and he proceeds to tell me that he couldn't keep his eyes off me all night, that I was riveting and he just wanted to tell me that. Now that was a surprise. He didn't ask for my number, but as a pickup line that was definately top shelf. I had noticed him looking at me from time to time, but never really thought twice about it. That was so strange, caught me completely by surprise. Good surprise though :) Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Sunday was the usual, church then dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. Vegged out in the afternoon, watched Down with Love. A purposefully cheesy romantic comedy mimiced after the old 50s and 60s romantic comedies. It was fun, but I wouldn't want to watch it again. And definately a chick flic.

But now, it is Monday morning, so nose to the grindstone it is...

YES! YES! YES! I'm happy now :) It took me all morning, but I finally got Apache installed and configured to redirect to Tomcat. *breaths a happy sigh of relief*

Grocery shopping is kind of fun. Last night my roomie and I visited two asian stores and good old meijer. I should go to the asian stores more often. You can get all kinds of strange and wondrous things there. Grocery shopping got me to thinking. As I spend more and more time here, in a larger city, I wonder how it would be if I were to move back into the country. At home I could never find some of the things that we bought last night without going all the way to Toronto. I would also miss the bookstores and malls here. For any decent shopping at home you have to drive at least 45 minutes.

On the flipside, when I'm here I miss the quiet of the country, knowing who lives down your street. I miss being able to look up and see the stars, its way too bright at night here. I miss the space and the trees and the animals, at times I feel that there are far too many people and cars and buildings around.

When I go home to visit I thoroughly enjoy myself. But at the same time, I can't wait to get back. I feel torn between the two. I guess I just to find a place that has the best of both worlds. Or perhaps I'm just experiencing the grass is always greener syndrome.

I uploaded some pictures from my trip home to my other website for your viewing pleasure. I have more animal pictures, but I only posted the better shots. My favourite one is the picture of the baby tiger. He was only 9 weeks old...just a kitten. He was in a small cage under a tree, but he really wanted to come out and play. He kept climbing up the side of his cage and roaring his little roar. Too bad they grow to be big tigers, it would be fun to have a baby tiger :)

Belated GEMs Update

Since we left right after GEMs last week for Ontario, I never did blog about it. So that night, lets see, the 8th, was craft night. So I had no need for any bribery cuz I didn't have a lesson to get them to pay attention to. The girls were making mosaics with cement and glass stones. Each girl had a pie plate of cement, into which she could put a design using the stones. The catch is, that each girl wants the stones that another girl has. Lots of trading, stealing, tricking, went on as each girl tried to get the stones she wanted. Cries of "so-and-so's not sharing" arose from various corners of the room. Kids. Reminds me of when my mother would buy us Smarties. She would count out the colours so that each kid had the same amount of each colour. That way we couldn't fight about it.

Eventually each girl was satisfied with her allotment of stones and they set to work on their designs. After the craft, the girls had a rowdy game of tag in the basement. When someone suggested Telephone, I jumped at the chance to get the girls settled down, and organized them to play Telephone. Which they did, quite happily until it was time to go home.

Last night I decided to go out and take a walk. Haven't done that in awhile, since I got my car I haven't needed to walk as much. But it was a beautiful evening and I decided that I should take advantage of the nice weather. Afterall, soon it will be snowing again. So I grabbed my keys, put on my running shoes and a sweatshirt and headed down the road. Down Knapp St, and up Ball St. Did you know that there is an elementary school and a small park on Ball St? I didn't. On the way I saw a girl walking her dog, an elderly couple walking and a person trying to calm down a screaming baby (on her porch). It's nice to just walk around and be alone with your thoughts. Just me and my thoughts, strolling down the street. I have decided to do that more often. I like to explore the neighborhood on foot, you see so much more that way. You see the smaller things that you wouldn't notice in a car.

I'm back to the land of the bloggers. A little tired from too much driving, but otherwise feeling good. Toronto traffic is always awful, not to mention that it was a long weekend. Bleech. Driving in downtown Toronto is interesting, a little scary and not something that I want to repeat soon. I greatly prefer the quiet country roads around my parents' place.

Having to go to work today is kind of a bummer. I want to go outside and enjoy the sunshine and the beautiful fall colours. I think fall is my favorite season...it's a toss-up though, I like spring too, with all the new leaves and flowers coming out. But you really can't beat the reds, oranges and yellows of the leaves in the fall. Makes me want to take up painting, or maybe photography. More about my weekend to come, but for now...back to work...

Only one more day...woo hoo! Tomorrow at this time I will be done with work for four whole days. And after another rowdy evening with the GEMS girls, my roomie and I will hit the open road and head east. I can't wait. I love road trips. I know, a seven hour trip hardly classifies as a road trip, but that's what I'll call it anyways. I hope the weather is nice.

But now I must go home and eat something and pack some clothes, etc, etc. Till tomorrow...

:D Smile everyone, it's Monday! The sun is shining, the birds are singing, it's a beautiful day! Can you see my huge grin yet? Dunno why I'm so happy...slept well I guess, and the pressure is off (sort of) at work. Oh, and I have a short week this week, that could have some bearing on my mood. I'm taking Thursday and Friday off this week so my roomie and I can drive to Ontario to visit my folks, and take care of some business in TO. So, three days and I'm off on a four day weekend, woo hoo! So I'm happy, all is right with the world.

Yesterday was fun. Went to church in the morning, and was actually on time for a change. Went to lunch at the Olive Garden with DC and Guam. Took a nap (gotta love Sunday afternoon naps). Saw Luther with Guam and Vbijl. Good movie, I enjoyed it. The theatre was surprisingly packed...a couple of church groups I think. After the movie went with Vbijl to Kathy (sp?) Cathy and Pat's for dinner, then went to Billy's to hear the Red Elvises. I don't normally go out on Sunday nights, but this group was well worth it. Not sure how I would describe their music style, but it's fun. When you first see the group come out on stage, you know its gonna be a blast. One guy was wearing a gold suit, another a red sparkley suit with 3" platforms and a top hat, another a animal print suit that looked sorta like pjs. The instruments were great too, I loved the accordian, and one guy was playing a guitar that was a huge triangle. Their songs were all sorta wacky and joking around, and you could tell that they were enjoying themselves too. The music was right up my alley :) The only downside is that you come home smelling like stale smoke, but *shrugs* what can you do...you can't win em all.

Another Night of Rowdiness

Just got back from another interesting evening of GEMs. Tonight we had a regular lesson from the Shine magazine. The lesson this week included a story about Josie and Meagan. Josie wrote a really nasty note to Meagan and left it on her locker. The theme this year is about building others up, so tonight we talked about how the things we say can hurt and shatter a person's insides. The girls had lots of fun thinking of mean things that people can say. They were much less quick to come up with nice things to say.

They were just as rowdy as last week, though I have a better idea how to handle them now. They were really quiet while we were reading the story and they all wanted to be involved. They also liked the stickers that I brought so we can keep attendance. Each week that they come, they get to put up a sticker by their name.

Didn't try candy this week cuz they already had plenty of candy. Maybe next week. I think I will try playing a quiet game. The girls have to be quiet when I say and if anyone talks, they get points. The person with the least points wins. I will bring my box of prizes for the occasion, pencils, erasers, notepads and the like. Just the sort of thing that little girls love. I think that will work, though I think I know who will win :) There is one girl in the group who reminds me of myself when I was that age. Very quiet, but happy to just sit back and watch.

They really wanted to play telephone too. I wonder how old that game is...I can remember loving that game as a kid. That will be a good bribe too. If everyone is quiet and we can get through our lesson fast, we can play telephone.

They are rowdy, but one thing is certain, there is never a dull moment with this group :)

o/~ Today is Wednesday, today is Wednesday.
        Wednesday zooo~oooup, all you hungry children come and eat it up. o/~

Don't mind me, just felt like singing :)