Lazy Daze

Well, I am glad that the holidays are over because I feel ready to go back to school. I am also excited about not having to feast every day, although I know that it is a luxery that no everyone can enjoy. I'm sure this will all change next week :)

On a more serious note, if you still have some extra dough after the holiday rush and are still feel generous, you might be interested in donating to the help with the aid in the wake of the South and SouthEast Asia Disaster. If you donate to any of the following organizations before Jan 11, the Canadian Government will match your gift: Canadian Red Cross, World Vision, Doctors without Borders, Oxfam Canada, CARE Canada, UNICEF Canada, Development and Peace, and Save the Children Canada.

This past week has been quite busy (or at least it has felt really busy). Monday night, Geofford and I went to Ryan's house for a potluck. We couldn't get our butts in gear, so we ended up getting there later then we wanted, but I did get to see my friends for a while, so that was nice. After dinner we both played in Derek Alexander's annual holiday tournament, which started at 9pm and ran until 3am. The first game was highly anticipated because Geofford's cousins Cassie and Eliza were playing on the other team - White, and Pierre - Cassie's boyfriend was playing on our team Blue. During Christmas dinner there was a lot of slagging happening, although most of it was between Geofford and Pierre, but in the end team Blue was victorious (although some of the players that were supposed to play on team White never showed up...but whatever we won) It was also fun because Geofford's cousins: Charlie and John showed up to cheer. We taught them how to slag properly at Christmas dinner - using the requisite phrases - "Not a Thrower" and "Crowd wants a hammer", but we couldn't hear any of their slags because the music drowned out their slags. We were guaranteed three games that night, but our team managed to win all of our games, and during our bye before the Semis, I decided to pick up with purple to help them out, which ended up quite badly, as I layed out and ended up scraping my leg, which at the time didn't feel too bad, but got worse over the holidays. Team Blue ended up losing to Team Purple (I should really check to see who I will be playing for before volunteering) in the semi final, which was good because it was 2am, and most of us were cold and very, very tired.

Tuesday lunch time, after not getting enough sleep, I met up with some Shad friends - Adrienne, Allan, and Xavier for dim sum. Betty, Allan's fiance, noted that it was interesting that we were all so close considering that we only spent a month together over 10 years ago, but I guess Shad really brings people together. Tuesday night, Geofford and I went to dinner at my Godparents' house with my parents and some friends of family. As usual, there was too much good food, so I was quite full. We tried to have an early night as we were going snowboarding the next morning with the team (seVen). I ended up not having a very good night as the scrape on my leg got quite bad and kept me up most of the night.

In the end, I did not snowboard on Wednesday because I was too sore and I was afraid that I would end up falling and opening up the wound more. I did accompany Geofford to Edelweiss and was a "Snow Bunny/Mom" in the chalet the whole day. It took Geoff about an hour to get his lift ticket, and he only got in a couple runs before lunch when he was going to meet Marcus. Fortunately I was there, and Geoff ended up spending a few more minutes inside - instead of rushing back out to the hill, so he ended up meeting up with Marc and his girlfriend Leanne, and they were able to board all together. I ended up finishing Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix that day and also got some ideas on how to paint things. So I thought that was quite productive. That night, we met the team at Lonestar and there was a pretty good turnout considering it was during the holidays, which is generally a busy time. Afterwards, Evan, Marcus, Leanne, Geofford and I went to MacLaren's to play pool. Leanne and I found out that the hot brown cow, is not bad considering the waitress could only heat it up by microwaving it, but it didn't stay too hot for too long, which was unfortunate.

Thursday the 30th turned out to be a pretty lazy day. I was still pretty sore so I decided to bail on curling, and Geofford was also sore, but from snowboarding, so he also didn't attend. From the sounds of it, curling was pretty one-sided so I don't know if our presence would have made a big difference. We ended up going to Luke's place in the evening so the boys and the brave girls could play Halo 2. It was a pretty cool set-up with 2 PS2s and 2 TVs going, and usually 7-8 players yelling at the tvs. Although I didn't play the game, I got to play with Catherine, and I also got to knit. In the end, my 3rd attempt at knitting a purple hat didn't work out so well. When unravelling that hat, it turns out that I could have fit the hat around my waist...so it might have been a little too big :)

New Years was quiet, which was nice. Although we were invited to Mike and Arlene's for a "fancy" party, we ended up just going to my Aunt Anita's for dinner with my family - it was nice to see my mom after she was away for a few weeks in Hong Kong, and then Damian, Geoff and I went back to my apartment to watch Kill Bill: Vol 2 with a brief pause around midnight to see the ball drop on Times Square.

I have finally finished my 4th attempt at my purple hat (finished it last night) and it fits perfectly (well it fits well enough that I can sew a band of fleece in to make it warmer and fit a little better :) and now I am getting ready to go back to school on Thursday...

Hope everyone else had a fun holiday season! And if you get a chance, come to Ottawa - it's not as cold here as you think ;)

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to everyone who reads this! I would say Merry Christmas, but since that was a couple of days ago, it doesn't really apply now. So judging from my number of posts, I have been quite busy in the month of december, and I hope to be caught up with everything by the time that school starts again on the 5th (but technically 6th since I don't have any classes on Wednesdays).

This past month has seen me:

• taking pictures of Santa Claus and his visitors at Place D'Orleans, which has been a lot of fun since well I love taking pictures, and kids are a lot of fun to be around. My co-photographers were a lot of fun as well, and I have learned to juggle again, but just need a lot of practice.
• finishing my paper for my Research Methods class, which should have been done on December 9th, but due to the fact that we got an extension to the 22nd, I was really busy with the aforementioned job, and busy with the holiday festivities in general, I didn't get it done until the 20th...which only left me with...
• 4 days to do all of my Christmas shopping, which I managed to do, so that was quite good :)

This holiday season has been quite filling due to the fact that I have a dinner party practically every night, which makes it fun because I get to see a lot of family and friends that I have neglected this past semester while I have been studying and working.

Well, I hope that everyone is having a happy holidays and that you don't have to work too hard (if you are working)...and you don't party too hard (which should be expected for this time of year)...

Hope to see all of you soon!

Geofford and I with Santa

Geofford's Birthday Dinner

Geofford turned 28 yesterday so now he is older than me again...until it is time for my birthday...and then we will be the same age again. I know it's hard to tell because I seem so much more mature. hee hee.... Well, after ultimate last night, we met some of his friends at Bravo Bravo for dinner (because it was close and it has pretty good food).


Geoff's Birthday present...is himself?


The boys at dinner


The girls at Geoff's birthday dinner

It's Snowing!

It's snowing today, which makes me very happy :) Although I got very wet from the snow on my walk to school and I was dripping because it was such a wet snow, I'm happy because it makes it a lot prettier outside and it means that I might be able to go boarding soon. It also puts me in the Christmas spirit (although you'd think taking Santa Claus pictures at the mall would also do that, but it doesn't feel like Christmas until the first snowfall).

I guess the snow this morning put me in a better mood because the past two days haven't been great. Monday was the day that Shanna moved to California with her husband Leigh. Although Shan and I don't talk every day or even every week, she's someone that has known me forever (well at least since we were 8, which is almost 20 years now...) so it's hard whenever your friends move away. But when they do, you realize how much you took for granted their presence. I felt the same way when Rachel moved to Guelph, which wasn't that far away, so I was still able to visit, once in a while. Now that she is out in Thunder Bay, it is even farther to go for a visit. But in the end, it makes our time together that much more special. I can't wait to see both of them in February at Rachel's wedding, which should be a lot of fun.

Tuesday was rough because it felt like we were living a police state downtown. I didn't have class until the afternoon, but I kind of wish that I did, because then I wouldn't have had to walk through one of the Bush protest rallies. There were people with placards and people were shouting. There were media filming the event, and there were police officers everywhere. All I wanted to do was get to school for my class. But I guess the shouting and hooplah drowned out the helicoptors, as I only noticed those on my walk home. The streets had emptied out (although the buses seemed to have problems and were quite backed up, and were even taking detours) around my walk home, and all I could hear were the rotors (is that the right word?) of the helicoptors that were circling overhead. At one point, it looked as if a helicopter was going to hit the DND building it was flying so close. Oh well, it made me really appreciate how lucky we are to live in Canada where this is more an exception to the norm than the norm.

Anywho, back to the snow, I'm glad that it's snowing, even though it makes for yucky driving conditions, but now that I am a student, I don't necessarily have to drive as much, so that's good :)

I can almost see the end!

Phew...I have exactly one week left of school - and only three assignments left (each probably weighted about half of my school year...but whatever...only three left!). School has been a lot busier than originally anticipated (which is probably normal), which is why there has been an absense of posts and also contact with most people. For those of you who haven't spoken to in a while, I am also working part-time (but pretty much full-time starting next week) until Christmas taking pictures at the Santa Picture Pavillion at Place D'Orleans which is a lot of fun. My employers are Japan Camera who have been awesome and are a pleasure to work for. Santa is also a lot of fun, and as André (one of the other photographers) said best "Our job is to make people happy." And it's true, working doesn't feel that bad because you are smiling all day and people are generally in a good mood.

Anywho, I can't wait for the Christmas holidays even though my mom will be away in Hong Kong visiting my grandmother who is in the hospital and her brothers and sisters who will be in Hong Kong. Hopefully my grandmother (who is 93) will have a short stay in the hospital and will make a speedy recovery. But other than my mom being away, it will be nice to not have to worry about anything for a week and a bit :)