Just Call Me Popeye

This weekend we had my sister, brother-in-law and kids over for Easter. I was playing with my 3-year-old nephew, Drew, when he curled up his arms, with his fists by his ears, and said "Feel my muscles!" So I dutifully squeezed his teeny arms and told him how strong he was. Then he wanted to feel mine, so I did the Popeye thing. He reached out his hand and squeezed my elbow, very impressed, saying "whoa, Kelsey's got hard muscles!"

Before I Die

Out of boredom I pulled out a list that I made as a grade 10 English project of 50 things I want to do before I die. I love doing things like this, sorting through old papers or computer files, I guess, and being confronted with your younger self. The most obvious things are the outdated ones, like wincing at bad jokes. There are some things that are very immature, like wanting to be on the Oprah Winfrey show, swim with dolphins and have a holiday named after me. Some stuff I'm just not interested in anymore, like living with an aboriginal tribe in Australia (I would in a different place), speaking Italian and winning an archery competition.
Some stuff, wierdly, happened that I didn't expect. The first thing on my list was to receive a bouquet of roses from a mysterious stranger. Well, I didn't receive roses but I did get a bouquet of flowers sent to me from a stranger a couple years ago while I was on holiday in Brazil. For three weeks it drove me crazy, because I didn't know who sent them. Turns out it was the family of a boy I'd helped that summer at my cabin, which I don't think was exactly what I had in mind when I wrote my list, but it counts.
Some of it, I still want. I want to talk to a ghost, see every picture in the Louvre, travel in the Middle East, and it would be fun to discover a new planet although I would NOT name it after myself. I still want to make a full-length film. Most of all, though, after friends and family, I want a library like the one from "Beauty and the Beast". That's it. That would fill me up.

I Heart Daniel Handler

I'm in the middle of reading an interview with Daniel Handler, author of the Series of Unforetunate Events books, and I just had to post this quote.

Q: The series' anti-marketing irony level is so high, with the author, the dust jackets, and the merchandising constantly emphasizing, "Don't read this, don't buy these, they're awful." So you've never had any resistance to that approach from people who don't get the joke?

DH: I love meeting people who have absolutely no sense of irony. It's really fascinating to imagine what it would be like to go through life without understanding even the most basic of ironies. It's sort of like trying to imagine what it's like to walk around without a torso. I find such people sort of charming, even though they usually don't like me.

Horoscope Party

So today is my birthday, and I am now some multiple of a decade. Which is a little crazy. Had a relaxed-ish morning, though I shouldn't have. My day has gone a little like this: Woke up to Sufjan Stevens' "The Avalanche" (hmm didn't get that reading done last night). Hmm, does this skirt look better with a pink top or green? (you only have two hours to do work before you need to leave). Read with many cups of coffee until far too late in the morning (so, what are you going to do about that essay?) Ooo, Greek food! (you lazyass procrastinator. what happened to doing all your work on the weekend?)
On a side note, a wonderful friend of mine found me some horoscopes for my birthday, which I luuuuve. So I am posting them so we can all laugh together.
1)You are either about to take a giant step forward or a giant step back. Which one it is depends entirely on whether you have the self-belief to follow up on an idea you had around the turn of the year. Don't look back years from now and wonder what might have been.
2)You're even more popular than usual this year. You fit right into any group you want to be a part of. March brings an opportunity to travel. April makes over your finances and May does the same for your physical self. You hit it off famously with Virgo and Taurus. Your lucky numbers are 9, 24, 53, 48 and 13.
3)The Moon in your 5th House of Romance makes for sweet times on Thursday and Friday. Have your fun then since you may have work that will keep you busy for the rest of the weekend. Showing that funny, quirky part of yourself attracts the brainiacs you like and pushes away the wimps that you don't.

Thank you, Danica! On the P.S. side, the thing I said yes to fell through, but instead I am going to be Nature Intructor at camp this summer. I'm pretty excited.

The Love Seat Saga

So after ages of coveting some more seating for my room, I finally just started dragging things around and made space, and then directed my father and brother where to put the love seat I stole from our living room. This was overtop my dad's floating comments such as "You're taking the love seat? I didn't know you were taking the love seat. I was just getting used to the love seat. Why are you taking the love seat?" So now I have a bamboo-patterned sofa, which is excellent. The down side is that I of course shoved a bunch of things into the middle of my room to clear space, and then immediately lost all drive to rearrange furniture. It's still there. I can't actually get to my computer, and I feel like my junk mysteriously multiplied while my back was turned. Which is just plain mean, in my opinion.
On the p.s., I said yes to something. Don't know if it'll happen yet, but I'll post when I know more.

I'm Friends with a Genius

So I just received wonderful, wonderful news that my german exchange partner won this amazing oportunity. She was selected from 140 other students all over Germany to be eligible to win this huge national scholarship. You can't apply for it, but have to be recommended by certain institutions, like your high school if it's the highest level of education (gymnasium). But Lara wasn't only chosen out of the mediocre pond water of her school, but by the Academy that hosted 140 exceptionally gifted students last summer, Lara of course being one of then. I am so amazed and proud of her. Especially because it was all secrets and confusion when she found out and there's so much pressure on young people to succeed academically and now she has the chance to interview for this amazingly prestigious scholarship and that is so fantastic. It's genius! She's a genius! And she's moving to holland, on a side note. Congratulations, Lara, you deserve it.

Be Happy! It's New Year's!

So things have calmed down a tad. I am enjoying my last day of freedom before classes start, wow, tomorrow. I didn't quite realize it was that close. So I've enjoyed my weeks of relaxing--haha, yeah right. I mean working. But it's been nice. I have been cleaning my room, as I usually do when I want to do something productive but my procrastination monster rears up. Yesterday, instead of working on an assignment that is due Friday, I spent two hours ripping CDs onto my computer and typing in the songs titles since the computer doesn't recognize them. Important work yes, but damn that procrastination. I wrote today a short story about a dress that attacks my main character, based roughly on my New Years working at the restaurant. I got dressed up in blue satin and the house gave champagne to the staff that was still there at 12, which was nice of them. I also had some tequila shots out of rammiquins, the little dishes used for serving sides of horseradish, with the kitchen staff. Though I would have preferred to host the New Years party at my place again, or at been with my friends at midnight, it was still fun. I had to drag one of the younger girls away from polishing the cutlery so she would hang out with us in the kitchen and enjoy the last few minutes before the hour struck. Afterwards, at Dustin's, we ate lots of biscotti and quiche, drank a lot of coffee with Frangelico, and watched a lot of Grey's Anatomy until 6 o'clock. I'm fond of this year already. Be Happy! It's New Year's!!

The Hand

So that merry time is coming, where stress-levels reach Everest heights and exams loom. I now only have two exams left, but the one on Monday will be tough. I simply, literally, did not do any of the reading for the course throughout the entire term. That's hundread of pages to scan in the next five days, and I am going to both work places today, so it's really just thursday through sunday. Bless you, the fourteenth, when all this crap will be over. It doesn't help that I am working all the time, though it's nice that the restaurant likes me well enough to rely on me and extra cash is good, but I worked about 46 hours last week and between two jobs I haven't had a day completely off work in three weeks. The two-ton Hand of Doom is pressing down on me, slowly, inescapably.

Happy (?) Hostess

So I had my first shift hostessing last night. It was kind of an emergency hostessing, because the other girl was sick and my manager called me three hours before my shift. Of course, I didn't have any shoes so I had to run (well, speed walk like hell) downtown and buy some that bruise my toes but look nice and don't fall off. Anyway, the night was a little stressful because of the reservation system on the computer, but taking peoples's coats isn't exactly difficult. I found it most interesting how people treated me differently because I was dressed up instead of in boring foodrunner garb. One man, as I was taking his coat, took off his bowler hat and put it on my head. (Oh ha ha, funny. Or not.) When it was crowded, another guy slipped his arm around my waist to ask me in my ear where the bathroom was, and later a guy did the same thing, smelling my hair, before asking me to get his coat. None of it was overtly sexual or anything terribly insulting, but, um, what are you doing? I'm more annoyed thinking about it now than when it happened, because they let me go right away and then I went on the next guest. And I don't particularly like being called sweetie by strangers.
But that was only three people out of over a hundred that I met that night, and other than that I liked chatting to people and sincerely wishing them a great evening, especially because so many people who come in are here for a special occasion. It makes me happier to constantly be in a good mood for the guests. One of the guys that works there caught me laughing to myself over something and told me that I was a very happy person. But, I'm sure one of these days I'll go to the restaurant ready to strangle someone and then, smiling might not cut it.

Hallowe'en

Erica is valiantly defending herself, Jess is ready to beat someone to a pulp, and Danica has fangs. Man I really love posting pictures. They make my blog look so much more colorful and intriguing.

My Nephew No. 1

Here's a picture I took of my oldest nephew at his third birthday party. He's such a funny kid and I love him to shreds.

The Tyler Stitch

Right now I am avoiding writing my due share of my Nanonovel, but I should update this thing once in a while, I suppose. I think I am obsessed with lists. I updated the "Movies" list on here and I started to get an almost maniacal urge to keep bolding, and bolding, and bolding more, and do more things so I could cross more things off, and go keep reading my book, so I can cross that one of my list of books to read, and I am containing myself. Listening to The Park by Feist to calm my nerves. Bought a black sweater to unravel and make into a scarf for a friend. Yesterday a couple of friends came over and we had a mini-crochet party in my basement. Then my friend who showed me to crochet once last year took a closer a look at my crocheting. I was almost done my third crocheted scarf ever, just putting a border on. She couldn't understand my I had such a hard time counting my stitches, and I couldn't understand how she could crochet just by dipping her needle around, without pulling some of the loops over with your fingers. Turns out I've been crocheting wrong this whole time! I made up this hybrid of knitting and crocheting that makes a very tight crochet weave. Basically I pull the needle around an extra loop than I needed to which made the weave thicker and imposible to do without using your fingers. No wonder. While yes, it will be a bit easier now that I know how to actually, crochet, I'm rather proud that I made up a new stitch. I hereby call it the Tyler, after my godmother, whose scarf I was making at the time.

P.S. It's my 19 and 3/4 birthday today.

New Favourite

This is my new favourite Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. I cut it out and glued it on my folder for my Aboriginal peoples class.

18th Century Harry Potter

So for my Neoclassical and Romantic Literature Class I had to read a most boring book even by my standards--Pamela, by Samuel Richardson. It's marketed as being all about sexual intrigue, etc. That is a lie. The first half of the book, yes, she servant girl is trying to get away from her master that just wants to sleep with her. But she is so virtuous and so sweet and so gentle and so pious and everyone just automatically falls in love with her because she is just so, and halfway through the book the gentleman decides he loves her so much that he will stoop to marry his mother's waiting-maid. And, wonderful, Pamela discovers she loves him after all. And she is happy. And he is happy. And her family is happy. His is not, but soon comes around and then they are happy. And the servants are happy, and...this is the last third-to-half of the novel. But turns out, this was the most popular novel of the 1700s, and people all took sides, and everyone separated into Pamelists and Anti-Pamelists. It was also published in installments, so the popularity grew over a long time and when it was finally published that Pamela and Mr. B. got married, all the church bells tolled in London. It was the Harry Potter of the 18th century! It got parodied a lot, as well, so basically this was the birthplace of fanfiction.

List of Movies to See

This is a list a friend and I came up with, because I love lists and we both love movies. Some of these are for fun, some are because I am pop-culture illiterate, some are fantastic movies we need to see again, and just ones that look interesting. We've already seen a few (bold), and we'll add on as needed because that is the fantastic type of list this is.

Movies to See:
1. Disturbia
2. Hide and Seek
3. The Amityville Horror (original)
4. The Squid and the Whale
5. Nanny Diaries
6. John Q.
7. I'm Reed Fish
8. The Darjeeling Ltd.
9. It's a Wonderful Life
10. Life is Beautiful
11. High School Musical 2
12. White Christmas
13. Hitchcock (8 tracking shots)
14. Kill Bill
15. The Science of Sleep
16. Hercules
17. Everything is Illuminated
18. The Wedding Crashers
19. King Kong (both)
20. Shrek II
21. Dracula
22. Music and Lyrics
23. Notting Hill
24. Hostage
25. Cellular
26. Driving Lessons
27. Hairspray
28. Hocus Pocus
29. Citizen Kane
30. United States of Leland
31. The Sure Thing
32. Half Nelson
33. The History Boys
34. Newsies
35. Venus
36. Feast of Love
37. Meet Me in St. Louis
38. Dan in Real Life
39. A Streetcar Named Desire
40. Being John Malkovitch
41. The Stepford Wives (original)
42. All About Eve
43. Akeelah and the Bee
44. Billy Elliot
45. Thelma and Louise
46. Fracture
47. The Sting

My Own Interpretation of Klimt

Here's a painting I did for a friend's good-bye. I was using a lot of Klimt because it's her favourite, and through this I realized what a gorgeous painter Klimt really is. As for this piece, it's the shortest relationship with a painting I've had by far. I enjoy that some of my mistakes due to late nights and long hours turned into things I really like. I'm thinking of you, Marilee.

Klimt's Trees of Life

Beck in a Coke Commercial

It's October and my last post was about geese. It's been a while. I am back from camp; I had a great time. I worked all summer long and it was exhausting but quirky and I did some different things than I normally do. I got closer to some of the campers and staff, I realized that Yes Drama is the best activity to lead ( well, I only really did Arts and Crafts). I started to look differently at the whole process, and I wanted to get a bigger picture of it all so I succeeded in my goal that way. Some things I realized I'm not sure if I will ever really enjoy as much as I used to, like Rec, but some things have to die I suppose. I'm at school now and my one prof (whose name sounds like Anne Murray) has the loudest, most abrupt laughter I've heard next to Dustin. Today people reacted positively to my creative writing piece! I hate that's it's such a relief in some ways, but it is. One girl just kept saying how she really, really, loved it and would keep it and read over it, that she would read a whole book like this. Wow, it's just so nice to hear that your own opinion of your work isn't total crap and biased like hell. I learnt about muties as well today. And Eponine, from Les Miz. I'm in a complicated process of re-organizing my room now and romanticizing small rooms, but oh well. And in love with the first half of "Shh" by Frou Frou. Funny how not only do you go incycles in what you listen to, but that even songs by an artist you love can fly completely under your radar though you've heard them so many times before, and then one day, it suddenly hits you that this is a great song! Oh, and a guy from my writing class wrote about a song he played with his girlfriend in the car and everyone started bobbing along in other cars, and it was this Coke commercial moment. Someone asked what the song was, and he said Beck's "Que Onda Guero" which I of course know and love, and completely surprised me. I love connections. Now I wonder if I can post pictures?

Surprise! It's Geese!

So today as I was biking to Workplace No. 2, I was minding my own business when the river rudely interrupted me by flooding my path. Not like, Oh here's a puddle to make things interesting! No, the that bend in the path was now a little pond, complete with geese. There was a couple of adults and a bunch of teenagers by the scruffy look of them. But they were still pretty cute. Besides the fact that they made me late, I thought it was funny. The younger ones kept sputtering around, like they kept inhaling water through the wrong throat pipe, and at one point the goose (I guess they might have been ducks, who knows) who was first with the kids pecked furiously at the other good-for-nothing, who was off preening in some sun.
I took some pictures with my phone and for once, the damn thing came in handy. Proof of a first time for everything, I guess

Haha Zero Time

OK so I want to call people up and be like, let's go play pool! Let's run! let's hang out in as many Tim Hortons we possibly can in one evening! But I can't cause I've been driving driving driving in the evening and it's actually not that much into hanging out time but it's still till 9 00 ish but it's still a late start and I feel guilty about calling people and then asking them to drive ME around (although I guess I've been doing that for years) plus getting up early for work, different people at different times so yeah! I have to leave right now to go practice some more driving. Hope to have a life again soon.