It is something like 30 degrees Celsius here, with humidity the temp is closer to 38 (according to weather network). Hot. Sticky. Yet, Tuesday night ultimate Frisbee nights, tonight being the playoffs, we are still out there, ready to go. Somehow trying to make things seem better by saying "wow, it's much cooler than last week" or, "hey, there's even a little bit of a breeze". Despite the fact that we are already drenched in our own sweat before we even begin playing. Somehow you really don't notice that much. Once you are drenched, you are drenched! It certainly isn't something to talk to your teammates about.
I love the team sports though. How much fun is it to be able to yell and cheer and not feel like an idiot? You instantly have a smile on your face. High-fives are a great self-esteem builder. I honestly love it. Even though I'm not great, it is just so addictive. Plus we have a great team, so that helps too. Nice that at least 4 or 5 of us go for drinks after the game each week - tonight it was the whole team. So fun.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
I'm MELTing!
Yeh, so the hot is here again. But my house is actually not bad (considering we have no air conditioning and I live on the top floor of an old house). I have been trying all the flavours of a local sorbet company. About a pint a week. This week is strawberry. Last was mango and the week before lemon. very very good stuff.
Yesterday I had the best streetcar driver. Leaving the east end at about 11pm, i was running towards the stop (in my flipflops) when I gave up, realizing the streetcar was too fast and I was too slow. So the streetcar stopped for me! and the guy let me in. So nice. He was one of those uber friendly types who was having a conversation with about 5 of the people sitting around the front of the car and I joined in. Nice public transit experiences are always a treat.
Feeling stressed about how quickly time is going and how soon I'll be on the road again. It's everything... the stress about all i have to do to prepare, plus all the things I will be facing upon my arrival. When I think rationally, I know that everything will be fine. But the problem is that I often am unable to think rationally. I start to panic... thinking of all the major life decisions I have in front of me. Thinking... aghh! Will I ever be able to relax!?
Someone asked me to be a mentor for an internationally trained professionals mentorship
program. Darn, I really would like to do that... but I had to explain that I am leaving. I think I will give my notice in a couple weeks. Really, my last day of work will probably be August 10th. That is so soon. (enter knots in stomach) Is it weird that I am more stressed than excited?
Yesterday I had the best streetcar driver. Leaving the east end at about 11pm, i was running towards the stop (in my flipflops) when I gave up, realizing the streetcar was too fast and I was too slow. So the streetcar stopped for me! and the guy let me in. So nice. He was one of those uber friendly types who was having a conversation with about 5 of the people sitting around the front of the car and I joined in. Nice public transit experiences are always a treat.
Feeling stressed about how quickly time is going and how soon I'll be on the road again. It's everything... the stress about all i have to do to prepare, plus all the things I will be facing upon my arrival. When I think rationally, I know that everything will be fine. But the problem is that I often am unable to think rationally. I start to panic... thinking of all the major life decisions I have in front of me. Thinking... aghh! Will I ever be able to relax!?
Someone asked me to be a mentor for an internationally trained professionals mentorship
program. Darn, I really would like to do that... but I had to explain that I am leaving. I think I will give my notice in a couple weeks. Really, my last day of work will probably be August 10th. That is so soon. (enter knots in stomach) Is it weird that I am more stressed than excited?
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
I don't wanna be a witness!
(Cindy Lauper song reference, by the way)
So you know when you take those tests to see how observant you are... and you have to view a scene and then it goes away and you are asked like 20 questions about the scene? Well, I always do very very poorly at those things. I remember stupid details but over and above forget half of what is going on in the photo. I am not a detail-oriented person.
So we won our ultimate Frisbee game and were in 2 cars on our way to a restaurant for beers & snacks. Boys in one car and three of us girls in another. Driving through a moderately sketchy area and suddenly we notice this guy running down the sidewalk with a car chasing him down - on the sidewalk too! The guy frantically cuts across the 6 lanes of traffic (nearly getting hit by a truck) and keeps running with a very frightened look on his face. I think he was heading towards the nearby Red Lobster. Maybe he was craving some surf & turf? No, then there was this other guy who hopped out of that car and starts chasing him on foot, with one of his hands stuffed under his black hoodie. Hmmm. Strange that he would do that... no? We are in the car watching this all go down and K is the smart one and decides to call the police, just to alert them to the situation. Shortly after she reaches for her phone we hear a "POP" noise. So she talks to the police and answers some questions (apparently they are already aware of the situation and have some po-lice on the move to save the day) and K keeps asking us (driver & me) questions and we are terrible at answering. Terrible. And did we think to jot down a license plate #? NO. Ugh. Did we think to look and see what type of car it was? NO. Did we SEE a gun? NO.
So they direct us to some nearby coppers who take our statements and we are off on our merry way. The boys also saw most of the same thing (and even knew what type of car the dudes were driving - I guess that is one thing guys are really good at) but they went straight for the nachos and beer. I myself wouldn't have thought to call right away. Bad, I know. Good old K too more of a proactive role in preventing crime in our community. Good on ya K! I think I am just afraid to call 911 because it got drilled into my head as a kid that you get in a lot of trouble if you call 911 and there is no real emergency. So it would take some sort of crazy ass emergency to make me automatically think to call. I guess that nearly witnessing a hit is not a crazy ass emergency in my head? I'm not sure. Anyway, the only thing I could think of when giving my statement was that I wanted to warn the cops that I am terrible at such things. That I see red cars when they are really blue and what not. I hope they catch the dude. And I hope they don't call me to do one of those line-up things. Although that would be kind of cool I am just afraid I would pick the wrong dude.
Ok... things that fascinated me today:
I used to shake my eyeballs all the time as a kid to freak people out. It was my party trick until my vision started to get worse. I can still do it but it hurts too much. Link here.
Have you heard about the 5th type of taste bud... UMAMI? Mmmmm Savoury! Sounds good to me! Link.
This is just stupid. Guy suing dry cleaners for losing his pants. But he is suing them $52 million dollars! People like that should be thrown in jail for being such assholes. That just makes me sick. That guy has got to have the worst karma in the universe. Link.
So you know when you take those tests to see how observant you are... and you have to view a scene and then it goes away and you are asked like 20 questions about the scene? Well, I always do very very poorly at those things. I remember stupid details but over and above forget half of what is going on in the photo. I am not a detail-oriented person.
So we won our ultimate Frisbee game and were in 2 cars on our way to a restaurant for beers & snacks. Boys in one car and three of us girls in another. Driving through a moderately sketchy area and suddenly we notice this guy running down the sidewalk with a car chasing him down - on the sidewalk too! The guy frantically cuts across the 6 lanes of traffic (nearly getting hit by a truck) and keeps running with a very frightened look on his face. I think he was heading towards the nearby Red Lobster. Maybe he was craving some surf & turf? No, then there was this other guy who hopped out of that car and starts chasing him on foot, with one of his hands stuffed under his black hoodie. Hmmm. Strange that he would do that... no? We are in the car watching this all go down and K is the smart one and decides to call the police, just to alert them to the situation. Shortly after she reaches for her phone we hear a "POP" noise. So she talks to the police and answers some questions (apparently they are already aware of the situation and have some po-lice on the move to save the day) and K keeps asking us (driver & me) questions and we are terrible at answering. Terrible. And did we think to jot down a license plate #? NO. Ugh. Did we think to look and see what type of car it was? NO. Did we SEE a gun? NO.
So they direct us to some nearby coppers who take our statements and we are off on our merry way. The boys also saw most of the same thing (and even knew what type of car the dudes were driving - I guess that is one thing guys are really good at) but they went straight for the nachos and beer. I myself wouldn't have thought to call right away. Bad, I know. Good old K too more of a proactive role in preventing crime in our community. Good on ya K! I think I am just afraid to call 911 because it got drilled into my head as a kid that you get in a lot of trouble if you call 911 and there is no real emergency. So it would take some sort of crazy ass emergency to make me automatically think to call. I guess that nearly witnessing a hit is not a crazy ass emergency in my head? I'm not sure. Anyway, the only thing I could think of when giving my statement was that I wanted to warn the cops that I am terrible at such things. That I see red cars when they are really blue and what not. I hope they catch the dude. And I hope they don't call me to do one of those line-up things. Although that would be kind of cool I am just afraid I would pick the wrong dude.
Ok... things that fascinated me today:
I used to shake my eyeballs all the time as a kid to freak people out. It was my party trick until my vision started to get worse. I can still do it but it hurts too much. Link here.
Have you heard about the 5th type of taste bud... UMAMI? Mmmmm Savoury! Sounds good to me! Link.
This is just stupid. Guy suing dry cleaners for losing his pants. But he is suing them $52 million dollars! People like that should be thrown in jail for being such assholes. That just makes me sick. That guy has got to have the worst karma in the universe. Link.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Can't Get You Out of My Head
Bombing in Nairobi, Kenya. Got some images from the scene taken on someone's camera phone. A familiar place. The pictures were terrible... someone lying there with his clothes blown off and his skin burnt looking. People just standing around watching and some trying to carry him to a car. People taking photos with their cell phones. Then, in searching for more information on the incident, finding out about a recent slew of matatu driver beheadings. Funny, this is the first I've heard about it.
When I was in Africa, and reading the local papers, they would report these type of things. And similar types of things that were happening all over Africa. Not just western news (although there was a lot of that too). There were even stories about Asia. Stuff that I knew the western press didn't cover.
I understand why they don't publish the stories. Because these things happen in a world that people can't comprehend. And people don't want to read these stories because they are depressing. People are willing to read depressing stories if they have to do with something they understand, or because they are happening near by. But there has been a line drawn, between the west and the rest and it is like there are two classes of human beings. It is a lot easier to block out terrible things happening to Africans and Asians and even South Americans, than it is to block out bad things happening to Europeans and North Americans. Because we can relate to the western people. But it is hard to comprehend the non-west others and their lives. So we choose not to.
But I think the press should print these stories because it is important for people to know what is happening. Yes, it will make people uncomfortable and upset but I really think that they should be.
I've been reading celebrity gossip non-stop for the past few months. Just lightly browsing the international sections. Concentrating mostly on local news. My own backyard. Now I feel guilty. I don't know why I feel the duty to know what is going on. Even though reading this stuff and knowing upsets me so much. It's just important to me. I just wish more people were aware.
When I was in Africa, and reading the local papers, they would report these type of things. And similar types of things that were happening all over Africa. Not just western news (although there was a lot of that too). There were even stories about Asia. Stuff that I knew the western press didn't cover.
I understand why they don't publish the stories. Because these things happen in a world that people can't comprehend. And people don't want to read these stories because they are depressing. People are willing to read depressing stories if they have to do with something they understand, or because they are happening near by. But there has been a line drawn, between the west and the rest and it is like there are two classes of human beings. It is a lot easier to block out terrible things happening to Africans and Asians and even South Americans, than it is to block out bad things happening to Europeans and North Americans. Because we can relate to the western people. But it is hard to comprehend the non-west others and their lives. So we choose not to.
But I think the press should print these stories because it is important for people to know what is happening. Yes, it will make people uncomfortable and upset but I really think that they should be.
I've been reading celebrity gossip non-stop for the past few months. Just lightly browsing the international sections. Concentrating mostly on local news. My own backyard. Now I feel guilty. I don't know why I feel the duty to know what is going on. Even though reading this stuff and knowing upsets me so much. It's just important to me. I just wish more people were aware.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Have I Given Up?
No. I haven't given up on the blog. But very nearly. I am just trying to continue, slowly, bit by bit, until I head to school where I will be able to see the need to blog again. Right now there is so much going on, but I feel weird blogging about it. Once I start the whole school thing it will turn into a "keeping in touch with people and sharing my experience" thing than this is.
Sorry.
Waitressing has actually been fun. I dread it when Saturday night comes around, and Sunday morning am in a terrible mood waking up early and walking over to the restaurant. But once I'm serving and talking to people, it is kind of fun. Exhausting, but nice to have that interaction with people and physical workout. It feels more like you are working when you are physically exhausted at the end of the day, rather than just mentally and emotionally, as it has been with other jobs I have. :)
I saw a great old cabaret show the other night. It was very cool. Ran into a girl I knew from the theatre I used to do in my hometown. She was one of the servers in the "tavern". I felt bad because I introduced her to Paul as "Sarah" and called her that later in the night to get her attention and she pulled me aside and said, "I'm not sure if you know this, but I changed my name a few years ago. It's Fava now." I felt a little bad, despite giggling internally. I did know that. She seemed genuinely upset. I remember that she changed her name to Fava (after the bean) because she felt she had experienced a significant growth. Hmm. Ok. I guess I can respect that. But Fava? Not my favourite bean. Garbanzo, now THAT would be a great name.
Sorry.
Waitressing has actually been fun. I dread it when Saturday night comes around, and Sunday morning am in a terrible mood waking up early and walking over to the restaurant. But once I'm serving and talking to people, it is kind of fun. Exhausting, but nice to have that interaction with people and physical workout. It feels more like you are working when you are physically exhausted at the end of the day, rather than just mentally and emotionally, as it has been with other jobs I have. :)
I saw a great old cabaret show the other night. It was very cool. Ran into a girl I knew from the theatre I used to do in my hometown. She was one of the servers in the "tavern". I felt bad because I introduced her to Paul as "Sarah" and called her that later in the night to get her attention and she pulled me aside and said, "I'm not sure if you know this, but I changed my name a few years ago. It's Fava now." I felt a little bad, despite giggling internally. I did know that. She seemed genuinely upset. I remember that she changed her name to Fava (after the bean) because she felt she had experienced a significant growth. Hmm. Ok. I guess I can respect that. But Fava? Not my favourite bean. Garbanzo, now THAT would be a great name.
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