Year In Review

(Very photo heavy - just wait for them all to load please!)

2008

January

Trip to the ROM to see the new dino exhibit

February

Visit to my cottage, where the heat was not working (*brr!*)

Skiing at the cottage!

And, of course, my birthday! (28 on the 28th!)

March

My karaoke birthday party!!

April

Sock Scavenger Hunt!

Trip to London to visit friends
(Sam too, but I promised not to post pictures of her eating ice cream)

May

Hamlet explores the great outdoors

Anime North!

June

Moving (the last move for a long time... I hope)

July

Canada's Wonderland!

Yarn Crawl!!

August

2nd Annual Stitch 'n Pitch

Librarians In Stratford!!

My well-deserved-and-very-much-appreciated summer vacation at the cottage :)

September

Thornhill Village Festival (with biting baby llama)

Gaining enlightenment with Dee

October

In search of braaaaains at Nuit Blanche

Display of books (the librarian's favourite) at Nuit Blanche

November

Saul's wedding and my Ottawa Adventure Weekend

December

Christmas!

12 hour Boxing Day Rock Band 2 marathon
(Unicorn Pants Rules The World!!)

And that was my 2008. I hope 2009 is just as much fun!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Merry Christmas!

Seeing as how it's Christmas Eve and I'll (hopefully) be too busy to blog tomorrow...

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!


and

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!

Seven Pounds

Since I was snowed in at the mall yesterday (darn), Corinna and I decided to see a movie once we had done the majority of our shopping.

(Honestly, people thought I was nuts for driving to Mississauga in a snow storm, but it was the best Christmas shopping day ever. There was barely anyone in the stores, no lines or fights, and I can think of much worse places to be trapped than at Square One. So the drive there and back was a bit harrowing. We all need a little excitement in our lives!)

*ahem* Anyway, we went and saw the new Will Smith movie "Seven Pounds"


Neither of us had any idea what this movie was about, but since Will Smith is so hot such a good actor (and there was nothing else playing) we decided to check it out.

It was... dramatic. Kinda boring at times. Will Smith was good (as he always is) but I found myself wondering what the plot was at times, and whether we had gone on some huge random tangent for a good chunk of the film. Rosario Dawson was very good (and I usually don't like her in stuff... unless I have her confused with someone else. She was the chick on Lost, right?), and I liked the big Great Dane named Duke. He looked like a cow :)

I would recommend renting this one... or wait until the library buys it and get it for free. The end wasn't bad but it was very abrupt, and by the time the explained why this guy was the way he was, the audience had already figured it out from the vague flash backs.

So a resounding "meh" for Seven Pounds. If you must see a movie before Christmas, go see Bolt. It was SO CUTE!!

*tap tap* Is this thing on?

Well, lots has happened since the last time I blogged. Unfortunately, not a lot is interesting... or blogable.

I got my Christmas shopping done... only to tell my family about it and discover that they had already bought some of the stuff I did. So with only a few short days before Christmas (and all my free time booked up), I have to get back to the mall.

I had a really fun Friday evening with some friends, eating sushi and going to see "Bolt". The movie was a lot better than I thought it would be. Very very funny and cute, and engaging. I loved the fanboy hamster!


I've been doing a lot of knitting on my shrug ... but I haven't taken any photos. Nor have I taken the photos from my Ottawa adventure off my camera yet. I swear it's on my to-do list.

Anyway, my family tree is decorated, we celebrated my dad's birthday, and today my sister is giving her phD (PhD? PHd?) thesis defense. Then we're going out for dinner. Good luck Amanda!

See? Lots going on, not terribly interesting. I am looking forward to new years, though.

Partay at the ROM! Woo!

Lack of an Update

Well... I don't really have anything to blog about.

A friend of mine has recently rekindled my interest in the novel I've been writing since 2005... so if you want to read it, just go to my website. The story is called Spirit Saga.

(If you do read it, please email me your thoughts good or bad. I can take criticism as long as it's constructive)

Almost Christmas! Gotta get my last two gifts... ugh.

Have a random LOLcat.

Twilight

I went and saw the Twilight movie last night. After hearing some horrible reviews, I didn't think it was that bad. Certainly, I prefer the book and the glossed over parts and skipped part, but all in all it was good.

A few things bugged me, though.

1. Edward (can you believe I can't find a decent picture??)
Really, not my vision of Edward. I know in the book he comes off as creepy and stalkerish, but by reading it from Bella's point of view, it was kind of sweet. In the movie, it was just creepy and stalkerish. Made worse by the face that the actor who played Edward *looked* SUPER CREEPY for the entire film. Honestly, I was waiting for Bella to get all weirded out, especially with the random mood swings from sullen "we shouldn't be together" to angry "I am a monster!" to jumpy "we're dating! whee!" and back again.

2. Special Effects

The production company must have got a good deal on spinning cameras because I was feeling the motion sickness at certain points. Really, lots of spinning. And pointless scenes of Edward and Bella lying around and leaping through trees. Okay. We get it. Edward can scale huge trees. We don't need to watch it for 5 minutes. They could have spent more time with the fleeing-the-evil-vampires part and less time with spinning cameras and jumping up trees.
(And really, what's Edward thinking? Take the clutzy girl up the tallest tree in the world?)


Things I thought were done well:

1. The Cullens

Edward aside (okay and maybe Esme too), I really liked the casting for the rest of the Cullens. Jasper was little bug-eyed the entire film (he looked like he had recently been electrocuted), but Carlisle and Emmett and Alice were awesome!

2. Jacob Black (and other minor cast members)


Such a cutie! In the first two books, I'm totally on Team Jacob.
Charlie and Billy were done very well too. I felt so bad for Charlie the whole movie. Bella was broody and kind of annoying, but Charlie did a good job of being the awkards what-the-hell-do-I-do-with-this-kid type of Dad.

3. The Bad Vamps


James was scary! Laurent was cool! Victoria was, well, crazy :) Very very well done. I wish they had been in more of the movie...


In conclusion: If you liked the book as a good read and not much more, you'll probably like the movie. If you loved the book bordering on obsession, you probably won't.

Psst...

Hey, Doctor Who fans...



Jealous?

Okay, how about Discworld fans...



Lookee what I have!



Who wants to have a movie night? :D

One Year!

It's my one-year anniversary since I started at the gym :)

Honestly I'm amazed I made it that long! So here's a look back at me about a year ago (I think):


And me now-ish (with the lovely Dee):

:D

Remember

Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world
Had all agreed to put an end to war

I dreamed I saw a mighty room
Filled with women and men
And the papers they were signing said
They'd never fight again

And when the papers were all signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and they bowed their heads
And grateful prayers were prayed

And the people in the streets below
Were dancing 'round and 'round
And swords and guns and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Morning Giggle

I do so love it when I get jokes. This is from the hilarious webcomic The Non-Adventures of Wonderella.

Clicking the image may make it bigger ... yup, it does. I just checked. Or you can go to the Wonderella website and read all her crazy non-adventures!!

In Which I Talk About My Hair

"We brought you some shampoo"
"Because we couldn't find any real poo."
~ Hawkeye and BJ in M*A*S*H


I've always had really dry hair. Every time I got to get my hair cut, the stylist always tells me that I need to moisturize my hair and I always tell them that I do but nothing works.

Well, ladies and germs, I found something that works ... so far.

I've only used this shampoo and conditioner twice, but so far I adore it. I love how thick it is, I love how soft and frizz-free my hair is, and I LOVE the smell. I wish my hair was longer so I could smell it more.

What is this miracle shampoo, you ask? After extensive internet research (i.e. a Google search for moisturizing shampoo), I found what most people-who-post-about-hair agree is the best shampoo:






















The Body Shop Honey Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner. Not cheap, but worth it.

So, dear readers, if you have problems with dry hair, and want to smell like bee vomit, then this is the shampoo for you!

A promise to all of you

I promise, no matter how many manga series' I read, or how many comic books I enjoy, or how many movies I watch, I will never want to do this.

Admiring is one thing, but I still know the difference between fantasy and reality... most of the time.



(Oh, BTW, there's a good knitting-related comic over at QC today.)

NaNoWriMo Update

The second post is at my NaNoWriMo blog, for all those who are interested :)

Not much else to report in other news... enjoy the story!

What I did with my extra hour

Okay, the beginning of "Rex" is now posted ... only 675 words though.

Please take a look at it here.

I think I should make a title image for it out of this picture, just because it suits the theme of boxing/Greek tragedy redo (I know it's actually Minoan. Sheesh)


I'm eager to hear what you readers think of this story. It's my first non-fantasy in a very long time :D

NaNoWriMo - Day 1

Eek! It's the first day of NaNoWriMo and I don't have any time to write anything for my story :(

Maybe I'll jot some things down this evening, when I get home from the symphony (yes, I'm off to the symphony with my family).

This isn't a very good start... I'll have to try and write twice as much tomorrow... before I head off shopping with Dee and Corinna all day... hmmm.

Hope you're still interested in the story! Does anyone know if blogger does text cuts like Livejournal?


EDIT: So instead of posting here, I'll put the actual NaNoWriMo story on this blog and just link when I have a new bit update. That should keep this journal clean and let people ignore my writing if they want.

If you *do* read it though, please comment. If I don't think anyone is bothering to read the story, then I won't bother to post it (although I will continue to write it).

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

Long awaited pictures

I finally got the photos of Nuit Blanche off my camera, so here are the highlights:

Aaah! Zombies!

Pete as a zombie (it was hard to get a clear shot, what with all the lurching)

I felt bad for the statue-kid, so the gang decided to help out

Dee peeking into the wall of books (my favourite exhibit!)

Ryerson duckies!

Big duckie at Ryerson

Sam the Record Man sign, lit up for the last time *teardrop*

.... I don't understand modern art. I really don't.

Nearly a month late, but hope you enjoy the pics!