All over facebook today, people are moaning about how it's only 5 degrees, or how it's raining on their first day of spring. I would like to point out, with the windchill here today, it is a mere -47. Yeah.
Today I'm writing entirely as a procrastination project. I have a paper due tomorrow, a critique of an article, and as soon as I catch sight of said article, my vision gets all fuzzy and I find myself looking for something, ANYTHING, to focus on that has nothing to do with a randomized study.
Good news: the movie theatre re-opened a few days ago. I guess the tantrum ended.
Further good news: my darling ordered a birthday gift for me, that came in the mail this week, and even though it's a month til my birthday, gave it to me anyway. My darling gave me a diamond necklace. I am the luckiest.
Just over 3 months til my summer vacation! At which time, I'm sure I'll bitch about the heat.
The Hunger Games movie comes out this week. Yeah, ah, I'm pretty psyched about this. Read the books if you haven't already. I haven't read anything this good since Harry Potter.
May the odds be EVER in your favor.
The Help
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Aaaa, March in the North
So after writing that moany moany (heh, I just realised what I did there. It stays) post the other day, I had several friends text and email, commiserating with me my misery. It's like I forget this time every year.
It happens in our fair city every year around this time. People are SICK TO DEATH of winter and start getting a little frayed around the edges. See for us, there has been significant snow on the ground for 7 months. It has been hovering around -40 to -50 for about three months. A lot of people have about hit their limit, and it's starting to show.
But soon, soon, we will have the sun all night long, and people will be able to take their parkas off. Soon we'll be able to walk around without fear of our skin freezing in chunks. Take heart my friends, we're almost there.
Every year in April, around my birthday, I throw this party, called the Messy Dressy. Every year, I'm completely blown away by how many people show up, and how thoroughly people participate. Last year I stopped counting at 70 people in dresses and suits, and there is always a flurry of emails when the date gets announced.
I do not fool myself into thinking that it's because of my birthday - it's because around the time that the Messy Dressy happens each year, people need an out. Ladies need a reason to shave their legs, dudes, a reason to shave their beards. It is such a pleasure to see everyone in their finery, forgetting about work and school and coming together in the oldest way known to man - drinking our faces off.
Also, and most importantly, I have a sparkly dress.
The Help
It happens in our fair city every year around this time. People are SICK TO DEATH of winter and start getting a little frayed around the edges. See for us, there has been significant snow on the ground for 7 months. It has been hovering around -40 to -50 for about three months. A lot of people have about hit their limit, and it's starting to show.
But soon, soon, we will have the sun all night long, and people will be able to take their parkas off. Soon we'll be able to walk around without fear of our skin freezing in chunks. Take heart my friends, we're almost there.
Every year in April, around my birthday, I throw this party, called the Messy Dressy. Every year, I'm completely blown away by how many people show up, and how thoroughly people participate. Last year I stopped counting at 70 people in dresses and suits, and there is always a flurry of emails when the date gets announced.
I do not fool myself into thinking that it's because of my birthday - it's because around the time that the Messy Dressy happens each year, people need an out. Ladies need a reason to shave their legs, dudes, a reason to shave their beards. It is such a pleasure to see everyone in their finery, forgetting about work and school and coming together in the oldest way known to man - drinking our faces off.
Also, and most importantly, I have a sparkly dress.
The Help
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
The dark side
Nope, there's not even any cookies.
I'm in a mood here today, some might even say a pissy mood. If you don't want to hear about it, or are gonna judge me for it, please, feel free to stop reading.
This mood is for a couple of reasons - I couldn't sleep again last night, my finger hurts totally bad, and I'm having one of those days where I HATE living here.
A list:
1. The one movie theatre is shut down. I have heard of two reasons for this, and I believe both. Reason 1. so few people turned up to the crappy selection of Saturday night movies, the proprietor had a tantrum and shut 'er down (this has happened before, in my tenure in this city). Reason 2. Apparently a movie theatre owner in Yellowknife tattled to whomever regulates movie theatre viewings that "The Iron Lady" wasn't playing in enough time slots, and see above re: tantrum. The reason behind the shut down is not my concern. My concern is that we, as grown ups have 2 options - bars or movies. I don't have the emotional energy for bars these days.
2. There's this tradition here, that artists/carvers/seamstresses can go table to table at restaurants and in hotel lobbys etc to sell their wares. Most of the time, I think this is good - it cuts out the middle man, and the artist gets all the money instead of a chunk of profit, plus you get your pick of interesting and beautiful art. Wonderful. Maybe I'm a bad guy, but I would LOVE to have one meal that isn't interrupted every three minutes. I know, I know, it's tradition, who am I etc.....I'm tired is who I am. Just today, for example, I was having lunch with my darling, and I surprised us both by breaking down crying during a conversation we were having. And still, sitting there with tears running down my face, there is a man trying to convince me to buy his carving. Just give me five minutes man. Just give me a break. Please.
3. Sometimes you wanna go where NO ONE knows your name. Just yesterday, I had a bit of a runaround. A good, dear friend wrote a congratulations in his blog to some friends who had recently gotten engaged. The wording was a little mixed up, so it sounded like he was congratulating ME on getting engaged. Minor mistake right? Small stuff. Yes, true, small stuff, except I had no less then SIXTEEN people call/text/email about it. Some were quite upset that they had found out via electronic medium that I was getting married. I am not getting married. At least not that I'm aware of (and that seems like sometime I would be aware of). Poor, dear friend was mortified.
Theres more, like a lack of bookstores or make-up counters, no place to hold a dear friend's stagette, but those are the big ones. The movie theatre shutting is a devastating blow.
I need a drink.
The Help
I'm in a mood here today, some might even say a pissy mood. If you don't want to hear about it, or are gonna judge me for it, please, feel free to stop reading.
This mood is for a couple of reasons - I couldn't sleep again last night, my finger hurts totally bad, and I'm having one of those days where I HATE living here.
A list:
1. The one movie theatre is shut down. I have heard of two reasons for this, and I believe both. Reason 1. so few people turned up to the crappy selection of Saturday night movies, the proprietor had a tantrum and shut 'er down (this has happened before, in my tenure in this city). Reason 2. Apparently a movie theatre owner in Yellowknife tattled to whomever regulates movie theatre viewings that "The Iron Lady" wasn't playing in enough time slots, and see above re: tantrum. The reason behind the shut down is not my concern. My concern is that we, as grown ups have 2 options - bars or movies. I don't have the emotional energy for bars these days.
2. There's this tradition here, that artists/carvers/seamstresses can go table to table at restaurants and in hotel lobbys etc to sell their wares. Most of the time, I think this is good - it cuts out the middle man, and the artist gets all the money instead of a chunk of profit, plus you get your pick of interesting and beautiful art. Wonderful. Maybe I'm a bad guy, but I would LOVE to have one meal that isn't interrupted every three minutes. I know, I know, it's tradition, who am I etc.....I'm tired is who I am. Just today, for example, I was having lunch with my darling, and I surprised us both by breaking down crying during a conversation we were having. And still, sitting there with tears running down my face, there is a man trying to convince me to buy his carving. Just give me five minutes man. Just give me a break. Please.
3. Sometimes you wanna go where NO ONE knows your name. Just yesterday, I had a bit of a runaround. A good, dear friend wrote a congratulations in his blog to some friends who had recently gotten engaged. The wording was a little mixed up, so it sounded like he was congratulating ME on getting engaged. Minor mistake right? Small stuff. Yes, true, small stuff, except I had no less then SIXTEEN people call/text/email about it. Some were quite upset that they had found out via electronic medium that I was getting married. I am not getting married. At least not that I'm aware of (and that seems like sometime I would be aware of). Poor, dear friend was mortified.
Theres more, like a lack of bookstores or make-up counters, no place to hold a dear friend's stagette, but those are the big ones. The movie theatre shutting is a devastating blow.
I need a drink.
The Help
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Word(s).
Do you have words that you love, or hate? Do you think that there are words that sound perfect together? There's a movie, called The Good Girl, I think (which is possibly the best thing Jennifer Aniston did since Friends) and the young guy in the movie said that the most beautiful phrase in the english language is "cellar door". I do not happen to agree. I think the most beautiful phrase is "you win". Just kidding (or am I?).
I love the word caress. Lily. I love the phrase (is it a phrase if it's only two words?) cherry blossom. Rock machine (I read that in a book once, it was the name of a biker gang, and I thought it couldn't be more perfect; menacing and blunt).
Words I hate: youngster (someone called me a youngster as a child once, and it sounded like such an insult, I have hated the word ever since. funny huh?), I hate stupid words that are a combination of two other words. We're doing it too often, and when we're all sounding like Rachel Ray, we're giving away what a bunch of dumbasses we are (fantabulous!).
I dislike the word boyfriend. I never really had a problem with it, or even thought about it until I met my darling fella. I had a boyfriend when I was 12, what I have now, it is far too important for a word that I shared with the first boy I ever held hands with on the bus. "Boyfriend" is not enough to describe him.
But then, of course, we get into the problem of "partner". There are so few people who can carry off saying "my partner" without sounding pretentious (not including our gay friends). I raise my eyebrow to you, oh caller of partner.
And maybe, just maybe, I'm a picky bitch. Heh.
The Help
I love the word caress. Lily. I love the phrase (is it a phrase if it's only two words?) cherry blossom. Rock machine (I read that in a book once, it was the name of a biker gang, and I thought it couldn't be more perfect; menacing and blunt).
Words I hate: youngster (someone called me a youngster as a child once, and it sounded like such an insult, I have hated the word ever since. funny huh?), I hate stupid words that are a combination of two other words. We're doing it too often, and when we're all sounding like Rachel Ray, we're giving away what a bunch of dumbasses we are (fantabulous!).
I dislike the word boyfriend. I never really had a problem with it, or even thought about it until I met my darling fella. I had a boyfriend when I was 12, what I have now, it is far too important for a word that I shared with the first boy I ever held hands with on the bus. "Boyfriend" is not enough to describe him.
But then, of course, we get into the problem of "partner". There are so few people who can carry off saying "my partner" without sounding pretentious (not including our gay friends). I raise my eyebrow to you, oh caller of partner.
And maybe, just maybe, I'm a picky bitch. Heh.
The Help
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
You can take your shades off
We all know that I have a certain not-so-secret fondness for gossip blogs. Lately, they've been kinda of turning my stomach however - all this fuss over Whitney Houston's death. Really, really, before she died, when was the last time you thought about her? If the most interesting thing a person has done in the last ten years is to up and die, shit ain't good.
Maybe I sound a little heartless....whatever. Talk to the people who put all the pills in her hand. Look at the doctors who wrote the prescriptions to a WIDELY known drug addict. Fame. Kicks normal people between the eyes.
Then look at this Snooki creature! This child, this orange moron, is pregnant. Do you think there will be reality tv cameras in the delivery room? Probably. Dear Jesus, if it were possible, she'd probably shove a camera up there to record the baby's view coming into the world. I weep for the future.
The Help
Maybe I sound a little heartless....whatever. Talk to the people who put all the pills in her hand. Look at the doctors who wrote the prescriptions to a WIDELY known drug addict. Fame. Kicks normal people between the eyes.
Then look at this Snooki creature! This child, this orange moron, is pregnant. Do you think there will be reality tv cameras in the delivery room? Probably. Dear Jesus, if it were possible, she'd probably shove a camera up there to record the baby's view coming into the world. I weep for the future.
The Help
Sunday, March 4, 2012
You know, there's times that I'm quite happy to be living in a small place. While Iqaluit is the big city in Nunavut, we still have a pretty small town feel - everyone knows everyone, and there's no such thing as a secret (which is not always great - I mean, what if you get herpes?? Gah!).
This week was one of those times that I'm proud to be Nunavumuit. There was a terrible, terrible fire here this week. I'm sure you heard about it, or saw pictures, or smelled it in the air.
The apartment that my darling lived in before he moved in with me is gone.
I had a debate with myself about talking about the fire, and the conclusion I came to is, I'm not going to talk about the tragic side, I'm going to talk about the wonderful things. Everyone knows about the tragic stuff, the deaths, the losses, the horrifying aftermath for those who lost everything. But there is so much good to this story, it couldn't be looked past.
I happened to be in Ottawa when this happened. My friend and I took the urgent need list, went to walmart and bought out the place, and by the time I went to donate it, I was turned away. What a wonderful thing, to be turned away because they have so much, so many people gave, and gave (I just donated the stuff to other people in need - the ones that never stop needing).
My dear friends at the Iqaluit fire department made us all so proud. These people stood, and worked, and fought in -50 for 15 hours, some for longer. Have you ever done anything for 15 hours, let alone something so hard? I know I haven't. These firefighters, these friends of mine, make me proud to be a friend. One woman, a friend in the nursing program, told me about how she almost fell asleep sitting on the fire hose. Imagine how tired, how drained she must have felt to be ABLE to fall asleep in those conditions.
A man named Pierre Wolfe walked in circles around the fire site for 24 hours, in an effort to collect money for the victims. He raised over $3000 on his own.
A large group of musicians held a benefit concert, that was put together in haste by a wonderful, caring human being name Jason Devries. They raised over $5600. I also understand the roof may have been raised on that one (see what I did there?).
How lucky are we, those who have so much?
The Help
This week was one of those times that I'm proud to be Nunavumuit. There was a terrible, terrible fire here this week. I'm sure you heard about it, or saw pictures, or smelled it in the air.
The apartment that my darling lived in before he moved in with me is gone.
I had a debate with myself about talking about the fire, and the conclusion I came to is, I'm not going to talk about the tragic side, I'm going to talk about the wonderful things. Everyone knows about the tragic stuff, the deaths, the losses, the horrifying aftermath for those who lost everything. But there is so much good to this story, it couldn't be looked past.
I happened to be in Ottawa when this happened. My friend and I took the urgent need list, went to walmart and bought out the place, and by the time I went to donate it, I was turned away. What a wonderful thing, to be turned away because they have so much, so many people gave, and gave (I just donated the stuff to other people in need - the ones that never stop needing).
My dear friends at the Iqaluit fire department made us all so proud. These people stood, and worked, and fought in -50 for 15 hours, some for longer. Have you ever done anything for 15 hours, let alone something so hard? I know I haven't. These firefighters, these friends of mine, make me proud to be a friend. One woman, a friend in the nursing program, told me about how she almost fell asleep sitting on the fire hose. Imagine how tired, how drained she must have felt to be ABLE to fall asleep in those conditions.
A man named Pierre Wolfe walked in circles around the fire site for 24 hours, in an effort to collect money for the victims. He raised over $3000 on his own.
A large group of musicians held a benefit concert, that was put together in haste by a wonderful, caring human being name Jason Devries. They raised over $5600. I also understand the roof may have been raised on that one (see what I did there?).
How lucky are we, those who have so much?
The Help
Saturday, March 3, 2012
The Great Facebook Debate
Raise your hand if you hate facebook. No one is going to judge you (out loud) if you love it, but my goodness, I'm sick to death of it. The people forever moaning in their statuses, or worse, quoting one of those angsty teen girl songs. And what fresh hell is this? Timeline? I don't want it! Leave me alone facebook, why do you continuously fix things that ain't broke??
I remember in the early halceon days of facebook, when it was still a novelty, seeing on a "friend's" (who I barely know) status: "Amy (name changed) kissed a girl and she liked it, the taste of her cherry chapstick", and I am so uncool, I had never heard the song, so my first thought was, hey, good for you, experimenting in lesbianism. Sigh, so deeply uncool.
I follow people who I find interesting, or who have adorable children (that may be my biological clock making that call). I keep in touch with a few friends from home, and some family too, but mostly I use facebook as a vehicle for people to easily read my blog. Like, thats it. How very narcissitic of me, I know.
I hate the drama that comes along with facebook. I used to say that facebook didn't cause drama, people did, and it was just a medium for revealing said drama. I don't buy that anymore.
So many people use facebook to get back at someone. To announce to the world how unhappy they are. To use the relative lack of privacy against others. To bitch and bitch and bitch.....it stresses me out man.
I know, you can block people's statuses from your feed, but I'm down to like 3 people now, cause everyone was pissing me off and/or making me sad.
So what do I do? Stop visiting? I don't really go on that often anymore (which in turn pisses people off because I don't get back to them fast enough for their liking). Cut the people who drive me to drink? I know, for sure, that doing such a thing would create more drama. Shut it down? While I don't actually go on that much, I still live very far from my friends and family......it's frustrating non?
The great debate; unsettled.
The Help
I remember in the early halceon days of facebook, when it was still a novelty, seeing on a "friend's" (who I barely know) status: "Amy (name changed) kissed a girl and she liked it, the taste of her cherry chapstick", and I am so uncool, I had never heard the song, so my first thought was, hey, good for you, experimenting in lesbianism. Sigh, so deeply uncool.
I follow people who I find interesting, or who have adorable children (that may be my biological clock making that call). I keep in touch with a few friends from home, and some family too, but mostly I use facebook as a vehicle for people to easily read my blog. Like, thats it. How very narcissitic of me, I know.
I hate the drama that comes along with facebook. I used to say that facebook didn't cause drama, people did, and it was just a medium for revealing said drama. I don't buy that anymore.
So many people use facebook to get back at someone. To announce to the world how unhappy they are. To use the relative lack of privacy against others. To bitch and bitch and bitch.....it stresses me out man.
I know, you can block people's statuses from your feed, but I'm down to like 3 people now, cause everyone was pissing me off and/or making me sad.
So what do I do? Stop visiting? I don't really go on that often anymore (which in turn pisses people off because I don't get back to them fast enough for their liking). Cut the people who drive me to drink? I know, for sure, that doing such a thing would create more drama. Shut it down? While I don't actually go on that much, I still live very far from my friends and family......it's frustrating non?
The great debate; unsettled.
The Help
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)