7 Things, as per Kristen

Since my sis tagged me, I'll buckle down and give 7 little known facts about me.

1 - I ate two black olives the other day and didn't completely hate them. I normally hate olives. Maybe I'll like them soon.

2 - In the morning, my eyes water so much that it looks like I'm crying. Normally it's only one eye at a time.

3 - I really HATE being cold. I also severely dislike being too hot.

4 - I love having an excuse to dress up, but I get sore when I wear heels. I always say if I wore them more often I wouldn't get to sore, but it's hard. But I love dressing up. LOVE IT. (Only if I have something to wear. I'll let you in on what happens when Kristen and I don't have a outfit and are forced to dress up: We both get cranky. VERY cranky. And we storm around like rhinoceroses trying to get ready. Then I feel bad for making my parents mad so I try to make Kristen less cranky by doing something stupid. Sometimes it works, sometimes it makes her more mad. Moral of the story? Plan outfits far in advance.)

5 - I would like to be more caught up on current events. I should make more effort to watch the news, since I don't get the newspaper.

6 - As much as I love my job, I know I have more to offer the world. I would not be satisfied if this was all I did, unless this job allowed me to do something else at the same time. (And I don't think people who are flight attendants their whole lives haven't reached their potential, but for ME it's not right.)

7 - I know that technically, money doesn't bring happiness, but I don't think I'll ever be completely happy unless I'm a little (or a lot) more than comfortable financially. I like entertaining, traveling, wearing nice clothes (as read above), dining out, and buying gifts. I don't think I can do this unless I have cash. And I like sparkly diamonds. Call me superficial. Go ahead. I dare you.

That wasn't easy. And I'm pretty sure Kristen knew a lot of those. Oh well. I tried.

I know I didn't tag anyone but I think others will tag enough for me as well.

Maybe the girls think they work at a Spa

Today I had a fitness test at my gym in order for them to set up a fitness program of some sort for me. When I signed up for the gym I got this for free, but never did it. They realized this now, just nine short months later, and told me I should get on it. So I did. Well it started out with all sorts of measurements, then a body fat analysis type thing, then the hardest five minutes of my life, then flexibility and push ups. It probably took 25 minutes for the whole thing, and so I feel like perhaps it's hard to judge one's fitness level in such a short time, but whatever I'll roll with it. So apparently I am the highest you can be in every category except flexibility, (which I can understand since I never stretch), where I am "fair". Now This surprises me quite a bit, since I'm not the greatest person fit wise. The hardest five minutes of my life were on the bike. It was set at the highest resistance ever and I had to just keep pedaling. Man on man I thought I was going to die, and the pedals were seriously going one turn every 10 seconds, then when it all stopped, the results popped up and said "elite". I was like "um, sorry? I just almost died and now my fitness level is elite??". After that, I had to do some kind of flexibility test which wasn't fun, then do as many push ups as I could possibly do.

After all this, the trainer told me that the body fat test was very healthy, and the only thing I need to work on is flexibility. As much as this is nice to hear, it's a) hard to believe since I have extra weight that I KNOW is there, b) not very motivating and c) just plain weird.

Anyway I guess I'm getting some kind of program made up for me that I'll throw in with the half marathon training and we'll see what happens from there. To be fair, I'm pretty sure the people who work at this gym aren't all trainers, so for all I know this girl was just following some kind of chart and maybe looked at it upside down, so I'm not taking this to heart. But really? That's just weird.

Sushi wushi

The other night, Matt and I made sushi. I was pretty nervous about it, since I've had some good and bad homemade sushi before, and it looks pretty hard to do, since the rice has to be just so, and the rolling technique doesn't look easy as pie, but I thought it would be fun to attempt it. (That was a terribly bad run on sentence. My brain hurts too much to fix it. You'll understand at the end of the post.) (I'm pretty sure "terribly bad" isn't really great grammar either. Oh well.)

So, I bought some short grain brown rice, made it with a little extra water so it would be stickier, just like someone told me to do, and then I made a bit of a rice vinegar/sugar mixture, and added it to the rice after the rice was done cooking and stirred it around really well. Let that mixture cool off for a while, and then just cut up some veggies to put it. We had sweet potato (that was cooked with some bread crumbs so it was a little tempura esque), red pepper, avocado, cuke, and what else? Can't remember. Matt and I had a blast making these rolls, and man o man did they turn out perfectly. The first one was good, and then the rest were just fantastic. I kept saying "really? are these really this good??" and I took a few pictures because they looked so damn good, but I can't find my camera cord right now so those will have to wait. But seriously, make sushi. It's fun and easy. I just had the best time ever.

Right now the weather here is really nice, but the sad and unfortunate consequence is that I have probably the worst headache I've had in a LONG time. It's bad. So yay to chinooks, nay to chinook headaches.

Time to rest!

I unexpectedly got to Hawaii. Yes. Hawaii. I was sick for a day, so I didn't work one of my scheduled pairings, but then I was healthy, so I was on reserve for three days. They called me in the afternoon, gave me a pairing for the three days, and oh wait look! A pairing to Honolulu! I have been itching to get a Hawaii overnight. They are practically impossible to get, and I've been bidding for them since I started, and never got one. Then, I'm on reserve, and they call me in for one! Someone must have been on their death bed to call in sick for a Hawaii, but I'm not too upset about that since I GOT IT! So you work all night to Honolulu, get in late late, we had a couple of drinks at the pool side bar, then went to sleep for a few hours, got up, had a beautiful buffet breakfast on the beach, then went and had a little nap on Waikiki beach, had another nap in my hotel room, and then got up to work all night back to Calgary. It was incredible. I was surprised that Waikiki beach was so small... I imagined it to be huge, but it was very small and PACKED full of people. Either way, it was the beach, so there wasn't much to complain about. I was ecstatic.

From now until after Christmas, I'm only working a tiny bit, so I'm happy that I get to spend time at home and rest. And I'm pretty much done my shopping with the exception of two gifts. Seriously. I love it. I even have a bunch wrapped!! I'm feeling great about it.

It's pretty cold around Canada these days. Every city I've gone to has been colder and colder than the previous one. People are getting stranded in cities because planes can't fly out due to the snow, and we're delayed almost every flight because of all the de-icing. Arg. Oh well, I don't have to deal with ANY of the pre Christmas flying stress. Hallelujah! For all the rest of you? Suckas!

On a side note, Ellen has this new game on her show. I can't remember the name, but man it's hysterical. Someone gets up on this podium, and there's a ball pit behind them, and a moving wall coming towards them with a shape cut out of it. The object of the game is to make your body the shape of the hole in the wall so that the wall passes through you. If you aren't the right shape and you can't fit through the wall, you fall into the ball pit. It's way too funny. I pretty much die laughing every time I see it. You should all try to see it. It will make your day.

Amazing. Simply amazing.

I'll update real things in a minute, but first, I amazed myself today. This morning started out VERY early, and around 6:20 this morning, I was watching Breakfast Television and making tea and oatmeal, when suddenly the microwave stopped working, the kettle stopped boiling, and the TV stopped working. (The tv is in the other room.) So I walked around, wondering if my power had gone out. But some lights were still on. The storage room light, the living room light, and then the tv, microwave and other outlet in the kitchen were out. So OF COURSE, I think "well someone has cut some of my power out so that they can come in and kill me." Since not ALL the power was out, but more than one fuse was, obviously there is a serial killer/rapist outside. I took my flashlight into the storage room to look for the fuse box, on the slim chance that I was not in mortal peril but that a couple of fuses went out, but I couldn't find it. I know I stare at that fuse box (is that even what it's called?) often, but I couldn't place where it was. So I ate my semi warm oatmeal (which was disgusting, by the way), and waited in case the power just miraculously came back on. Then I looked in the storage room again for the box. Then I sat for a while longer, and finally got the nerve to open my back door and check in the hall for the box. (I thought maybe they were out there, but in case the predator was out there I brought my flashlight with me to hit him with.) Well it wasn't out there, so then on a whim I looked int he cupboard above my stove. Well lo and behold there it was. I knew that when I got my cereal in the mornings, a little piece of that fuse box peeked out at me as I put my box back in. So I flipped the one switch was that half way on to "off" and then "on", and voila! my tv turned back on and the microwave started blinking. So my question is how this one fuse controls all those things in all those different places! But I was quite impressed with myself. Tomorrow maybe I'll re-wire a broken lamp.

So lately, I've done lots! I've been to Orlando twice, one time to shop, one time to ride roller coasters, both times with work. Oh yes. I ride roller coasters at work. And buy shoes. It was also Matt's birthday. And we celebrated. A lot. We went to the Drum and Monkey on Saturday night, his actual birthday, and then Sunday, despite the laws of common sense, we headed up to the mountains to snowboard. We had a great time! Here are a few photos of the festivities.
I think that about covers it. Maybe I should mention I'm close to finished my Christmas shopping. HA!

Snow

I like snow because I can go snowboarding, but I don't like it because I have to drive in it.

Matt and I went to Sunshine last Thursday for their season opener. I was really fun, even though the angel chair and goat's eye weren't open. Instead, we went on lifts that we wouldn't have normally given the time of day. I made a thai style peanut soup to bring with us for lunch, as well as veggies, sandwiches, and other goodies. We had a great day and a great pic-nic.

Now there's more snow, so maybe the whole hill will be open this weekend for Matt's birthday, but unfortunately I have to drive around the whole rest of the week all slippy and slidey.

More good news? I don't work Christmas OR New Year's!!

Ch-ch-changes

I've recently decided to make a big change in my life... in terms of my diet. I was sick and tired of eating badly, feeling crappy, getting zits when I never had them before, and having my extra weight on my belly. I just didn't really know what to do about it. Yes, I exercise. Yes, I try to eat healthy, but when you can eat everything and know that you shouldn't, it's hard to say no. I love ice cream. I love taro flavoured bubble tea. I love chocolate. I love vanilla lattes. I love candy, chips, steak, poutine... the list goes on. I know these things are bad for me, but I love them so I eat them less often.

Well that wasn't really working for me.

So last pairing I read a book called "Skinny Bitch". It made me think about things that I already knew, but chose to ignore because I liked food too much. The way it was written really "got" to me, and it finally drove me to make the changes I knew I had to make in order to feel healthier. SO, I decided to cut out animal products, processed/refined sugar, and pesticides out of my diet. For over a week, I've been doing pretty well. I ate quiche one day because my grandma made it for me, and I didn't really have to heart to refuse something made for me by Granny. Then I had a small bowl of home made ice cream on Sunday at my aunt's house because I needed to be able to say good bye to it properly. I had a bit of sugar in some salad dressing last night at Kristen's house (who is, by the way, mad that I didn't tell her before so that she could have made me more food because she felt like a bad host for not having something already prepared... crazy lady), but other than that, I've been pretty good. It's hard to buy all organic things because they're expensive and hard to find in some cases, but when I can, I will. It's also not really possible to just throw out all the things I already have and buy all organic ones... that just doesn't make sense, but I'll slowly get more and more things.

Yes, it's hard, and yes it's not super convenient, but it's kind of interesting, and I feel healthy. I'm not saying I'll never have animal products again, because I love reese's peanut butter cups blizzards way too much to NEVER HAVE ONE AGAIN, and I couldn't live my life if I knew that a piece of salmon sashimi would never touch my lips again. If I go to someone's house and they cook something for me, I'll eat it. I'm not going to be "that guy" who can't eat anything and is pretentious about it. But in my every day life, I've giving this a go. I'm trying. I need a strict diet to follow, otherwise I make excuses for eating terrible but delicious things. So I'm trying. And it's going pretty well.

Coffee will be the absolute last thing I give up. I've given up the sugar and drink soy, but I can't give up the coffee. I'm just not ready.

It's Christmas!

(at Starbucks). So all yall who love those red cups, today's the day. Go "pass the cheer" (which I wrote on all the chalk boards as "pass on the cheer" and was too lazy to erase the "on" so it's wrong all over our store.)

Happy Birthday!

Today is Kirsten and Katie's birthday! So happy birthday to you both.

I'm off to work again today, but thankfully I get a later check-in... I'm sick of waking up early. I worked at Starbucks this week, early both days, and for anyone who cares or might be curious (ahem Kristen ahem) the Christmas launch is November 8th. So Christmas will once again throw up on Starbucks the night of the 7th, and when you walk in on the 8th it will be all Christmas all day. Red red red everywhere. (I always describe Christmas at Starbucks as "Christmas threw up all over Starbucks" because seriously, there is Christmas paraphernalia* EVERYWHERE. The signs, the shelves, the cups, the floor, the machines, just everywhere. And don't even start on the music.) The "soft launch" is on the 2nd I think, so technically you can order the drinks on the 2nd, and we should have all the ingredients, but in Ottawa, doubtful. Kristen remember that time that dude gave me major attitude for asking for the Cinnamon Dolce before the date? "Next time don't ask a manager to give you something early". Idiot.

This pairing is exciting for me, not because I'm looking forward to it at all, but because when I get home, Matt will be HERE! I get home Saturday, and so does he. I can't even tell you how excited I am... Not only to have him around, but to FINALLY not be in a long distance relationship, something I swore I would never do again. I hate long distance, I hate everything being over the phone, I hate who I am in this stupid long distance relationship... It's all dumb. Here's a little example of how I'm totally ridiculous. Today I got frustrated because I couldn't hear him properly over the phone and somehow that threw me into a tizzy. And then he called me on it, and then I got even more mad because I realized how stupid I was for being mad because I couldn't hear him but even worse he told me I was being stupid even though he didn't call me stupid but in my head he was definitely calling me stupid and blah blah ahhhh I'm so mad.

So that's pretty much who I am in a long distance relationship, and it's a wonder he's even coming back at all. I just can't wait to relax, not be lame and be a real human being again. (Just in my defense, I'm not like that ALL the time. Sometimes. And sometimes a little more often than sometimes. But I usually admit it at the end that I'm just being stupid. Usually.)

Next month, just get ready for this... Are you ready? Ready? I have three whole overnights in Orlando. Yes. Orlando, where Mickey lives, where it's hot, where palm trees flourish, and where everything is dirt cheap. Oh yes. The month before Christmas, I get to go spend less money for more stuff. I just can't even wait. Hopefully it will be stupid cold here, and I can pack my shorts and dance around in the sun while buying cheap things. Doesn't that sound fun? I'll try to get someone to take a picture of me doing that because it will be funny.

I should probably stop dinking around and maybe take a shower or pack my suitcase. Even though I have a late check in, I still actually have to go to work.

*I don't think I knew there was an "r" in "paraphernalia". Actually scrap that, I knew. I just forgot.

Weekend Update with bonus pictures

The weekend in Ontario was great. The wedding was great, the relaxing was great, and the whole thing was just great. (Do you think I need a thesaurus?)

On Friday, Matt, his brother Kurt, Kurt's girlfriend Bethany and I went to a snowboard show in Toronto. It was one of those conventiony type things where you pay to get in and then there are fabulous sales on all sorts of things. So Matt really wanted to get boots, and then when I saw all the cool new boot features, I had to get some too. In my defense, my current snowboard boots are the first ones I ever owned, which I got probably 7 years ago, and they completely suck and give my legs bruises, so it wasn't like I bought new boots even though I had perfectly good ones. I found some great half price boots with cool wire laces so you don't actually have to lace them up, you just pull the laces and they lock into place. That made me quite happy. Unfortunately the place was super busy and I wasn't quite in the mood for enormous crowds, so I was really ready to leave about two hours before we left.

The wedding was fun. I didn't know very many people there, but it was fun none the less. The bride looked great and it looked like they both had a great time.

Matt had to work on Monday and Tuesday so I lazed around the house and just chilled out. I went and visited him at work and brought him snacks, learned how to replace the nozzles in sprinkler heads and enjoyed just hanging out with him outside. I relaxed, just like I had hoped.

Probably the most dramatic event of the weekend was that Matt shaved his head. It was CRAZY!!! I've never known him without long-ish hair, so it was a huge change. Allow me to elaborate through photographs.

First, when we met:


Secondly, the day before the shaved head:


And lastly, post haircut.
Also, the third photo shows his incredible dancing skills. You really can't go wrong with hip pointing!

I'm so cultured

I'm home! I can't even tell you how happy I am to be home. Too bad I leave again tomorrow. But I'll get to chill out, watch tv on the plane instead of work which will be great. (I'm sure now that I said that I'll be on a plane without tvs). I get to hang out at Matt's place, then dress up all fancy for a wedding on Saturday! I love dressing up... any occasion where I can wear a skirt and a pair of killer heels, I'm happy. (Did I just say "killer heels"? Who do I think I am?)

Tonight was great. A few months ago, I asked a friend of mine to make me a print. Well tonight, I got it. And I love it. You can check him (and the print) out here. I feel so honoured to have this piece, since it took him SO long to do and also because he said it was his favourite one yet. He even has done a piece inspired by this one, so the fact that it hangs in MY house is pretty cool. One day when he has his own gallery in New York or somewhere important, I'll still have this piece and say "well I knew him when he was no one" and feel like I helped him get somewhere, when really I had nothing at all to do with it.

That was a slight tangent at the end, but I'm back now. Time to pack all my fabulous outfits and killer heels.

I have no life

All I do is work. That's what it seems like. I'm having a bit of a moment today... I'm just sick of working and being home for one short day, and then working again. It's almost over... One more four day starting tomorrow, and then home for not even a day and off to Ontario for a wedding. Hopefully I can chill and relax there, because then I have to come back and work again!


I'm happy Kristen and Jordan are here, and also that I got to see Spencer! That kid, SO CUTE. Kristen was saying that after those three adorable chitlin, the rest of us don't really have a chance! Our kids will be gremlins compared to them. Oh well... Maybe they'll have great personalities or something. (Usually when someone says "well they have a great personality" it means they're ugg-o, don't you think?) The problem is the mini Lobbs are cute AND have great personalities, so we're screwed.

ANYWAY. I'm missing having a boyfriend who lives in the same city as I do. I'm not really loving the whole talk on the phone relationship thing. He'll be here soon enough, but man it's shitty in the meantime. I'll suck it up. I feel like I should perhaps be happy I have someone who wants to move across the country for me.

I'm off to the Tronsgard's for Thanksgiving tonight. It was really nice of them to invite me (and move the whole dinner so I could come), and I'm excited for some turkey and stuffing. And some pumpkin pie. I like pie. And whipping cream.

I'm a fake aunt again!

Since we all know I'm not going to be a real aunt any time soon, I'll steal some of Kristen's aunt thunder and be happy for Kirsten and Chris on their third (are they crazy? Yes.) child! Even if I wasn't a fake aunt I'd still be happy, but you know what I mean.

I'm lucky to be able to have Kirsten, Chris and kid times three in my lives, even if it's only a couple of Tuesdays a month. I can only hope I'll be as happy as they are when I'm married and as good a parent as well. And hopefully the ice cream drawer in my freezer will be stocked as well as theirs too.

South America: Part 1 of 25

Just kidding, I'm not going to tell you every story that happened in South America, all the stories will come out in good time.

I'll give you some Final Thoughts if you will, a la Jerry Springer.

• Bathrooms in South America suck. You have to pay, they rarely have toilet seats, no toilet paper, sometimes they flush, no soap, and sometimes a sink. Fun fun fun. Oh and you can't flush anything ever.
• There are very few cars that aren't taxis or buses. Taxis drive around and honk at every person walking down the street to see if they want a taxi. So 25 taxis on a road at any given time, and maybe 20-50 people walking make for a lot of honking.
• It's really really really cold when the sun goes down, especially at the higher altitudes. Hostels don't have heating, normally have a huge open area in the middle where they chose not /couldn't afford to put a roof over, and showers are normally cold, so all that mixed with drinking lots of cold beer makes me COLD. I would sit in my hostel drinking with every piece of clothing I owned on. (But I would never sacrifice the beer for tea or something... no drinking is too important.)
• People are generally friendly. If I asked them a question, they would tell me the answer even if they didn't know it. So I did a lot of walking back and forth sometimes.
  
• Bus companies, on the other hand, sometimes not so friendly. They generally blatantly lied to my face, so unless I was going on a more expensive bus from a very well known tourist company, I came to expect the opposite of what I was told.
• Beer is cheap.
• Food is also very cheap, but not that great. In Mancora, Peru, the greatest place on earth, the food was incredible, fresh seafood, delicious Mexican (I know, kind of weird) and all cheap and accompanied by even cheaper beer. Other than that, a great meal was rare.
• Vendors and taxi drivers are very persistent. It's sometimes hard to say no to vendors if you're actually looking to buy something and they are trying to sell you something more. Sometimes it all happened so quickly that I'd end up with two of something or a drink as well or a calculator or a bathroom scale when all I wanted was a snickers bar. Taxi drivers were easy to say no to. I definitely told off my fare share of drivers when they'd ask me if I wanted a taxi as I was getting off a bus after a LONG night. They would say "come on, how come you don't want a taxi" and then I'd swear at them. Ooops.
• Every town and city seems to have some kind of attraction. It's strange. You can see everything in South America. I saw cars decorated with flowers be blessed by a priest and 36 man-made-out-of-reed islands floating on lake titicaca.
  (And people STILL live on these islands!)
• Men hiss at you instead of whistling at you. And lots and lots of hissing occurs. Arequipa was the worst, though it may have been because I wore a tank top during the day there instead of two sweaters and a scarf.

That's about it for now, I'll think of some more soon.

I kind of forgot to blog

I´m not sure why but I totally forgot to blog on this trip.

Thanks for the birthday wishes! I spent it on a bus watching ¨she´s the man¨ and some movie about what to do with the jewish people in the concentration camps during WW2.

The earthquake was crazy. But I am fine.

Peru was really cool. Bolivia is also very cool. I´m in La Paz in a rut because it´s fun here but I think I should do more thank get drunk at Toga parties and walk around the markets. I will do something soon.

I´m loving traveling and could definitely see myself doing it a lot more. I am so tempted to just travel for a long time and work along the way. Not this trip, but sometime. It´s so much fun. Traveling alone is a different experience but it´s cool that I don´t have to make decision based on anyone else´s ideas. The bad side? I stay in La Paz and get drunk instead of seeing things.

I have posted lots of pictures on facebook so if you have it go check them out.

I´m blog when I get home, I promise.

Speed Bump

So I'm NOT in Peru.

I am in Fort Lauderdale. At the Days Inn. I think technically I'm in Hollywood or something, but I thought that was in California. Anyway, I'm in Florida, not Peru.

I was having amazing luck yesterday. I made it on the flight from Toronto to Orlando by the skin on my teeth... Three people got stuff in customs so I got one of their seats. Had they made it (they were travelling together as well) I would have been stuck for a day in Toronto.

I get to Orlando where I'm supposed to sleep in the airport because the flights were full going from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale to Lima, but I decided to meander to the Spirit Airlines desk and see if there was space. And lo, there was. I handed in my pass, got a boarding pass for Fort Lauderdale AND Lima, paid the fare, checked my bag, went through security and waited to board. The rest of the people board, I am in the midst of being handed my boarding pass for the flight and someone says "HEY WAIT! You can't fly to Lima. There is a restriction for standby passengers until August 27th". I almost threw up, punched the guy and swore really loudly all at the same time. Luckily I did none of those, and calmly asked "WHAT????"

I won't get into the whole next bit of the story and all the details, but yes, apparently 10 people overlooked this teensy tiny travel embargo, messed up my entire trip, and I was stuck in Orlando with nowhere to go.

Blah blah blah I cried a bunch and then figured out what to do. I would fly standby to Fort Lauderdale and then buy a ticket to Lima from there because there was a seat sale. But wait, that flight already left today, and Monday's flight is sold out so I had to buy for Tuesday.

So I'm in Fort Lauderdale. At the Days Inn. (Thanks Papa and Kevin and Mum). Until Tomorrow at 5, when my flight leaves for Lima. On Spirit Airlines, aka the spawn of the Devil. (I don't really mean that. But right now I do.)

(And yes, I made sure I could get HOME on Spirit travelling stand by, and I was guaranteed that it would be possible, and if for some reason it's not, I'm calling the President of Spirit Airlines or even of the United States and telling him to GET ME HOME. And give me more room in my seat because man, they're uncomfortable. And free snacks. Yeah, snacks)

But hey, I'll have a great story to tell. Cause wow that's funny. Can you see how hard I'm laughing. So hard. Oh wait. I'm not laughing. Not at all.

I guess things can only get better. Right? RIGHT???

I'm actually going to South America

I can't believe it's here. I'm leaving so soon. I'm a little nervous, but very excited. I don't know what else to say really, but I'm excited, I'm going to have loads of fun, and just do everything I can.

I'll hopefully be able to give a few updates when I'm gone so you can stay up to date on what I'm doing. Maybe I'll be able to put a few pictures too.

Have a good month!

Ear*

It's hot in Calgary. It's getting a little more bearable, but when I have air conditioning in my hotel rooms on the road and then have to come back to the sauna that is my bedroom, it's tough to sleep. I like the sun, don't get me wrong, but it's getting pretty apparent to me that I should not live in a place where it's hot all the time. In the winter, I bitch and complain about the cold, and in the summer, I bitch and complain about the heat, but at least I get both. If I lived in a hot place all the time, I think I'd slowly melt.

I'm leaving, once again, to work four more days, then I'm home for one day, then I'm back on the road for four more. THEN, it's two days to get myself into gear and then off to South America (with a brief stop in Ontario)!!! It's getting closer and closer! I still don't feel ready, but oh well, what can I do really. If anyone has any last minute tips, I'm all ears. I'm trying to figure out if it's worth taking ridiculously long bus rides and save a bit of cash, or take short little flights that cost way more. I'm thinking that I'll do a little bit of both, but it's a matter of deciding when to do which one. I'll have to play it by ear.

I had a nice but short little visit with Kristen when she made her way back from Paris. She seemed to have had fun! I can't wait until I can go to Europe and have all sorts of europy fun.

I'm watching some kind of real world inferno show, and it's ridiculous. I can't even explain how, but it is. My ears are hurting from listening to stupid people talk about stupid things. Change the channel? Never. It's too addicting.

The time has come to pack up my suitcase and get ready to go. Blech. I wish I could have one more sleep in my own bed!

*I seem to have said "ear" more than normal in this post. I thought I would bring that to everyone's attention.

EAR!

Help!

I'm just listening to The Beatles Love album, and I like it. The song I happen to be listening to is Help!, that's why I wrote that title. I don't actually need help, though some would I'm sure, beg to differ.

I'm in Montreal on a long layover, which will repeat tomorrow as well. All day in Montreal, then two quick flights, one to Toronto and the other back to Montreal, and then the same thing tomorrow. My life is so hard, I know.

I slept in today, walked over to the mall, avoided H&M because I really don't have the money to spend on more clothes, bought a hat for my trip, ran into another flight attendant on my crew, then we walked to the grocery store and got a few things for the next few days. Now I'm in my hotel room, listening to some beatles, and waiting for 6:30 to come when I have to work. Fun times, I know.

On Sunday I had a pre-birthday dinner with the fam since Kristen was in town. It was the last one in my dad's house before he moves into his condo! That's a bit sad to think of. It was weird to receive gifts and a cake that said 23 on it more than two weeks before my birthday, but I've had birthdays in October before, so what's July right? I got an italian charm bracelet from my mum, something I've been wanting for quite a long time, so that was nice, then Kristen got me a skirt that I can bring traveling with me, and my dad and Kevin got me a new camera since my old one just stopped working for no reason. It's a pretty cool camera so I'll be guarding it with my life on my trip. All in all it was a nice dinner (lobster!) and family gathering.

Well, I guess I should head off and do something. Oh wait, I have nothing to do. Maybe I'll iron. That always kills a bit of time.

What do all you can eat tacos, margaritas, beer and wings add up to?

Indigestion. Bad.

Last night I went for all you can eat tacos at this Mexican restaurant that I didn't know about. Apparently it's the best in the city. I beg to differ. Not great, though maybe I shouldn't judge on an "all you can eat" night. Regardless, I had a bit of acid reflux/indigestion before I went, and after tacos and sickeningly sweet margaritas, I felt a lot worse. This morning I woke up thinking my esophagus had eroded away in my sleep, and it just got worse as the day went on. What's the best cure for acid reflux? Wings and beer, duh.

I think I might have to take a page from my dad's book and stick some phone books under the head of my bed so that I sleep somewhat upright and won't have to feel like there's a little man canoeing* in my throat. Maybe tomorrow I'll go lip-synch some kereoke.

*Is that how you spell "canoeing"? The spell checker wants me to write "canoing", but that just looks like "ca-no-ing" to me. Not that the other way looks very much like the pronunciation either, but still. I was sure there was an "e" in there somewhere.

Stampeeeeeeede.

So Stampede is (almost) over, and this year wasn't too bad! Matt and I went down one afternoon and walked around, saw the sights, watched some superdogs, chucks and had some free food (provided by Mum). Friday was our "big day" at the Stampede, where Matt and I, joined by Tyler from Montreal, Jess and Vanessa watched some rodeo, which I haven't done in a while, and went to Nashville North. Between the two events, Matt and I snuck off and rode the big ride you have to pay for, I think it's called the Sky Scraper? The big one that spins around with you in little things on the end that spin too. It was kind of pricey, but totally worth it. I giggled the whole time, and Matt just kept saying "wow!". It was awesome. Nashville North was a good time, but it was SO HOT. The tent was like a sauna, and I was just hot the whole day. It was kind of intense.

The rest of the week wasn't too bad, but I have never wanted a fan more in my entire life. It's hot in my room.

I've realized that my trip is coming up really quickly, so I need to start getting ready. I should head down to MEC soon and get a couple of things, and make sure I have some kind of plan for the first couple of days at least. I'm getting really excited. A little nervous too. But excited.

Life Update

I have been a terrible blogger. Sorry.

The last half of the month has been very interesting. I've been working a lot, I went out to a friends cabin in Vernon for a few days, and I've been "getting in" my last few days with Matt. Working has been super fun for the most part, since I've had pretty good crews, and Matt even came on an overnight to Abbottsford with me, which was pretty cool. We went to the batting cages at Castle Fun Land, and walked around the highway... And he even saw me working twice, which was interesting. He sat right up front and saw everything I did, it was pretty weird to know he was watching me!

Vernon was great, aside from the fact that my sunglasses ended up at the bottom of the lake (which wasn't even my fault), but I rode on a boat lots, sea-dooed once, tubed, and drank the whole time.

This last little while has been just trying to figure out my love life, not that there's much to figure out, more like trying not to think about the fact that Matt was leaving. We have had the greatest time together lately, and it's pretty sad that it's pretty much over. Oh well, if we are supposed to be together, it will happen. Enough about that.

I'm trying to get organized for my trip, though it isn't happening. I don't know why, I'm just in limbo. Maybe I should get my ass into gear. I'm excited for Kristen to go to Paris, though I'm super jealous since I've never been. I can't wait to hear all about it.

Yesterday I spoke with a tattoo artist for the second time, and I finally have enough ideas so that he can start to draw something up. How stoked am I?? Next Friday I'm supposed to go see what he has, and then we book an appointment for the real tattoo or another viewing if we need to morph a few things in the drawing. Eeeeeeeeeee!

I'm working today until Wednesday, and after that I don't work until the twenty somethingth of July. I have ALL my days off in a row, so I get to Stampede it up, and then chill out and have fun. I might make a little trip out to Ontario (I know I know, not a healthy move, but it seems only fair since Matt's coming for Stampede, I should go see him ONE MORE TIME and then say see ya), and then I guess I need to get ready for my trip to South America!

That's it for now, hopefully I'll be a little more regular with the posting.

I'm sick of looking at you, flood post.

No more floods. (Well I hope not, but since there was a rain fall warning for Calgary last night, I might not be so lucky.)

I just got into Toronto from Vancouver and it's 7:36 in the morning here. What is the first thing I should do when walking into my hotel room after working for 8 hours overnight? Turn on my computer, of course! I'm lame.

A few things are floating through my mind in this sleepy stupor;

• I need to get shots soon (read: NOW) if I'm travelling in South America in two months. I didn't really think about that until now.
• I should probably find some kind of backpack and supplies. Sandra, I'm looking at you when I say this.
• My boyfriend moves back to Ontario in two weeks, for good. That's kind of lame. Back to being single I guess... maybe I should re-read those posts from six months ago about how I didn't want a boyfriend.
• I'm going to Vernon on Tuesday to party at a cabin mansion with friends. I'm very excited. I think I'm going to ride a sea-doo for the first time. Fun!

That's all, I should sleep. (The first time I wrote "sleep" I wrote "slepp". Somehow, that's hysterical.

Flood?

Yes, my apartment flooded. You can read all about it here, and I owe Linda a lot since she cleaned it all up before I could even come home from work. I just had to de-dullify the floors, which isn't the easiest task, but will hopefully work. But yeah, Linda cleaned a lot, she's the best, now we need to figure out how to get swampy smell out. Oh, and clean my room. There's stuff everywhere.

On a side note, does anyone know if a TV will work if it was sitting in three inches of dirty water? I'm scared to turn it on.

Judging by your reaction when I got my first tattoo, Mum, you probably shouldn't read this.

I'm slightly obsessed about getting another tattoo.

I was casually talking about how I'd like to add on to the lady bug on my back with a flight attendant the other day, and I was telling her how I'd like it to come up my back a bit and over my right side, and how I'd like it to be some kind of plant/vegetation/organic thing but I have no idea what I actually want, and she was all "we just got profit share, go get one!". Since then, I've been obsessing. I want it. NOW. I just don't know WHAT.

I've been looking on Flickr at people's photos, and I'm thinking I should find some things that I like, bring them in to a tattoo artist, and see what we come up with. My problem is that I know what I don't want, just not really what I want. I wish I could draw well, that way I could just doodle for a while and eventually what is in my subconscious would come out on paper. But that really isn't going to happen. So I just don't know. I want something artistic, that looks really cool, and that I will love forever.

A little background on the ladybug: I went to Montreal in grade 11, and my friend and I thought we'd be super cool if we came back with tattoos. So we got tattoos. I like ladybugs. Lower back isn't visible to chaperones and parents, so why not a ladybug on my lower back. I still like it, and I know it's not some major work of art or anything, but it's the memory of getting it and how rebellious I felt, and how rumours flew around the school while we were still in Montreal that we got penises and skulls on our boobs, and when we came back everyone asked us to see our tattoos and were so disappointed when they weren't penises and skulls on our boobs. (I, on the other hand, am not disappointed that I don't have a penis and a skull on my boob.) I don't want it covered, I just want to take the memory, and turn it into a really cool (and big ish) tattoo that I can look at and say "I have a super cool tattoo". (I've said super cool at least twice this post.)

Anyway, I'm going to continue my search for something that's along the lines of something that I want. So far I've really narrowed it down, can't you tell?

We did it!

Well the race is all over, and I'm pretty happy about it. But we did great. Kristen and I finished in an hour and one minute, me running in two seconds before her, only because I got a "second wind" and figured that if I slowed down at all I would fall so I kept running. She definitely ran a better race than me, in that she wasn't cursing the world for the majority of it. After the first kilometer my knees and ankle were hurting quite a bit, and I was getting pretty discouraged, but there's something about running in a big group that makes you keep going and not want to look like an idiot. Kristen and I mostly ran together except when I thought it would never end, lagged behind, then realized we had one kilometre left and just ran and ran and ran. I had missed the route marker for 7k, and then people started saying "only two kilometers to go!" and I was thinking to myself "what a cruel joke, we haven't even gotten to 7 yet!" Then I saw the 8K marker, got a little happier, then booked it for the last one and was very happy when it was over. It felt really good to finish though, and with a pretty good time too.

Jordan ran his marathon today, and he did incredibly. He beat what he was going for by quite a bit, and if it wasn't for Matt spotting him out of the blue we would have totally missed him. I'm so proud of him! And of us! Yay us for following through on this. After running the 10k, I think I want to try for something more. We'll see.

I can't stand up

Why? I am so incredibly sunburned on my legs. It hurts to stand. Ridiculous. I sent my sister a pretty funny e-mail describing how it all happened and how it took me a few minutes to walk down the hall at Matt's house while holding the wall to keep steady, but I'm feeling uninspired at this moment because I'm worried that I won't be able to run my race on Saturday. Or go to Wonderland tomorrow. I'm thinking I'll just suck it up and go, and suffer through the pain. Is it bad that my bones hurt?

I didn't really get burnt anywhere but my legs, because I put sunscreen everywhere but my legs. Why? Because I thought they could use "a little sun" since they're so pale. "A little sun" turned into a touch more than anticipated, and my legs are seriously more burnt than I've ever seen. Or felt. It's horrible.

That is all. I don't know what else to say about that.

H and M? (blogger isn't letting me put the "and" sign... not sure why)

A store with my initials HAS to be fabulous right? Right. It's awesome. In Montreal, in Toronto, and probably a lot of other great cities. Do you know where is licks testicles? Calgary. Yep. Sucks.

I went in today after hearing from two different sources that it was bad. I kept a positive attitude, decided I would find out for myself if it was good or bad. I had a pair of fabulous jeans that I got in the one in Toronto that I wanted to exchange for a different size, and I thought instead of waiting until I go back to Toronto, I would do it here, since YAY we have an H&M here. Well, it was bad. Very very bad. It is sort of like Le Chateau. So not great. And they didn't even have the jeans I had.

I walked around, looking for all the cool print t's and the graphic hoodies, searching for all the things with skulls all over them and super trendy clothes that can't be found anywhere else. There were none. NONE.

I found a cute tank top and decided to buy it. When I was at the till I decided to ask the worker why it sucked so very badly. He informed me that they only carry a few of the lines that H&M has. So the super cool line with all the super cool clothes? Not at this H&M. BUT, there are supposed to be two more H&Ms opening within the year here in Calgary, so they will have more of the lines. But for now, extreme disappointment. I told him that it was a tragedy, and he looked at me and said "sweetie, you're telling me. I'm stuck wearing a bad american eagle button up knockoff to work!" and I giggled, and felt slightly better since he hated it too.

So now I'll have to resort to eastern H&Ms with more tax until Calgary decides we can be cool too.

Weekend? In Toronto? Yes, it's true.

I know it's almost next weekend, but I'm posting about my last weekend. Matt and I went to Toronto to spend the weekend with his family and friends. Technically he lives just outside Toronto, in a little town that's pretty quaint, yet so close to the city. It's quite convenient.

We flew in pretty late, and I should add that that was the closest I've ever come to not making a flight before... We were literally the last two people on the plane, and not because we were late, but because they didn't think there was room for us. I basically kept harassing the CSA and finally he told us there was room for us. Yay!

We went out to a bar that night, had some fun, drank a beer, and then went home. The next day we slept a lot, then went out to see one of Matt's brother at the golf course that he works at, kind of far away but nice. Then that night we went out in downtown Toronto to this super cool giant pub called Madison, and as a side note I saw Matte Babel from Muchmusic and we're best friends now. Then the next day we went downtown during the day and walked around and saw a bunch of things... We went back to his house, I gave his brother a mohawk, and we went to bed. The next day Matt was working at his job from last summer, so his mum and I went to this warehouse perfume sale. I kind of bought a few perfumes, but they were super cheap so I couldn't resist. After, I went for a run and then cooled off by swimming in their pool. Seriously, my boyfriend ('s parents) has a pool!!!!!! I was like a little kid, so excited that someone I knew had a swimming pool. No one but me and Matt's little brother would go in so early in the season, so the two of us had somersault competitions while everyone else thought we were crazy for swimming in the cold pool. Then on Tuesday morning I left for home, and that's about it.

I had a really great time, and I definitely like Toronto, but I won't compare it to Calgary even though everyone there asked me "so it's better than Calgary hey??". They're just way too different. I'm super excited for the long weekend because we're going back to Toronto, and then near the end of the week we're going to Ottawa to visit with Kristen and Jordan and for the big race!! Eeeps it's coming up pretty soon!

Carts, carts, and more carts

Yesterday was the first day of carts. Carts for pepsi, carts for pretzels, and carts for pringles, licorice and the chicken ciabatta sandwich. It was very different. But not all that bad. Though I really do have to watch for that transition. It's a toughy.

Wherein I use the F word, but I'm just quoting someone else so don't get offended, and also say Open a can of whoop ass, so feel free to make fun.

I haven't been so tired in ages. I just got back from four long days, each one more interesting than the next. And by interesting, I mean shitty.

I had a great crew. I can't complain one bit about that. We laughed, hid maxi pads in various spots throughout the galley, and laughed some more. Good times.

But the guests. Oh my god the guests. The first day wasn't anyone's fault... A guy (an employee actually) had a mini seizure. The lady next to him rang the call button, said "there's something wrong with this guy", and the guy was all spaced out and shaking, and then he snapped out of it and had no idea what had just happened. We were 25 minutes from landing. Hectic. The guy was fine (well as fine as you can be when you've just had your first ever seizure), we landed, got him some medical attention, and that was that. Day one over.

The next day was just really long. LONG long. Across the country twice long.

The next day, we were in the back galley when we heard someone scream "WHORES! FUCKING WHORES!!" We looked around at each other, almost to wonder if we had imagined it, but no, we hadn't, since we had all heard it. I was ready to whip out a can of whoop ass, since I just finished my self defense training and was all eager to test it out on someone, but alas, I didn't get to. We found out who it was, and realized that the guy in fact had Tourette's, and wasn't actually verbally abusing us. I was super awkward though, and it made for an interesting flight.

Today was the weirdest. A girl travelling alone (but who was over the age of unaccompanied minors so had no real care from us) basically spilled her guts to me after I asked her "how are you today?" and told me that yesterday she ran away from home, called CSI on her dad because he said someone was dying and she thought it was him and now she's going to meet her brother who she doesn't know (and doesn't know what he looks like but don't worry he knows what SHE looks like) and stay with him till this thing blows over. (Those are her words). I was obviously concerned that a) she was running away now and her dad didn't know she was flying somewhere and b) that some creeper was going to pick her up and it wasn't her brother and she would get raped and murdered and it was all my fault. It was a huge long ordeal that I won't get into, but in the end we contacted the dad, found out she had behavioural problems, he has health problems and can't deal with her, and her brother who is an adult with his own children is going to help with the situation for a bit. We got the info of the brother, and decided we'd go down and meet the brother with her and check his ID. I basically felt horribly uncomfortable through the whole ordeal, desperately hoped that this guy was going to be a decent human being and that I wouldn't get the "NO!" feeling when I met him. It was ALL good in the end, the brother had two adorable children of his own, thanked us for bringing her down, and I felt really good about it. I just really really hope this girl will turn out ok. She was obviously lacking attention from the adults in her life and needed some guidance. I hope she gets it.

I was so emotionally exhausted by this situation, I just wanted to come home. Lucky for me I got to. So I'm home. And I'm happy about it.

Edmonton is lame.

Sorry to the Edmonton folks, but I just spent two days in Edmonton, and I feel pretty sad about it. I won't get into all these details, but Edmonton, blowy snow, crappy hotel, rainy, and all around blech.

I got home yesterday to glorious weather (ooops) and came home, napped a bunch, got a blizzard for me and Vanessa and we watched the game whilst enjoying delicious ice creamy treats. It was pretty great. And plus we won the game, so really that's great too.

This weekend, not too much is happening. Well, I have to do my taxes (!), and then leave on Sunday for four days. My life is boring.

I got some new running shoes the other day, and so far they're making quite a difference. My runs are long now, and they are harder. Much harder. It's tough. But I'll push it.

That's that.

Go Flames Go.

Weekend Update

It's less of an update of the weekend, and more an update that's occurring on the weekend. But I'm still calling it a weekend update.

This week I had all my annual training, which went quite well. I only got one question wrong on my exam, and my evacuation drills went flawlessly and I had no missed criteria or teaching points. The instructors commented that I was surprisingly loud and shouldn't have a problem getting my voice projected above all the mayhem. (Are we surprised, really?) Oh and that I portrayed confidence in my eyes (aka am bossy) which would lead to compliance. (Again, surprised?) So when I'm screaming for you to cross your arms, jump, and slide, you'll do it damn it. NOW!

Last night I had a little shin dig at my place, which was mainly me and Vanessa, eating, drinking, and painting our nails. To be fair, other people came soon, like Katie, we drank some more, then Matt, his brother, James and their friend came, we drank some more, then we went to Molly Malones in Kensington. Yvette met us there, THEN we went to Amsterdam Rhino, drank some more, and partied our little hearts out. Well I partied my little heart out the whole time really. My friend Andrew came and met us at Amsterdam Rhino which was cool, I hadn't seen him in a while, and all in all it was a good night. This morning, however, was NOT a good time. I haven't felt this terrible since, oh, Montreal in the summer... I honestly thought I would die of head explosion and nausea. I finally crawled out of bed at 3:30. Yes. 3:30 pm. I feel like death.

Tomorrow, I am SO excited, I am going to the Banff Springs Hotel for brunch. I am fasting for the rest of today so I can eat enough tomorrow to last until Monday. This brunch, if you haven't been, is phenomenal. Food as far as the eye can see, and anything imaginable. I am known to eat, ummm, a few cherries jubilee, that is made at a station all fresh and delicious. Anyway, lots of food, good food, and I get to eat it all day tomorrow.

My plans for the day involve sitting on the couch. So I better get back to that. All this typing is making my head hurt.

Sick...

What kind of normal person gets sick three times in three months? Oh right, the kind who is in contact with 500 people a day, breathing re-circulated air. Gross. I feel like death.

On a lighter note, the W network has started playing Veronica Mars. That's always good.

Ouch?

So snowboarding was awesome, but the day ended with be biting it hard on the ski-out at Sunshine, slamming my head on the ground, almost getting my face slashed by a brand new snowboard, and feeling all around like death all in one fellow swoop. I got distracted, did some kind of spinning fall which resulted in impacting my ass, knees, elbows and head all at once. Then Matt skidded and almost hit my face with his board and we both just kind of sat on the ground for a while reflecting on what had just happened and being thankful that my face wasn't slashed open and that I still had the use of my legs and arms. I'm still stiff in the neck and have bruises, but it was so worth it because everything leading up to that was incredible. The weather was great and the snow was awesome, and we had a total blast. I boarded really well (except for that fall) too so I was excited.

Anyway, my weekend after that was pretty alright, I got a free breakfast in Regina (hotel), a free dinner in Ottawa (mum), so that makes it nice. I'm off now for a long while since I have my annual training starting Monday. I just finished four out of the five homestudies, so I'm well on my way. I also got to do a seriously wicked awesome homestudy on our new cart service that included videos and how-to's. I swear I have never wanted to barf more. "Of course", says the sickeningly sweet flight attendant in the video, "we would never deny a guest the use of the lav during cart service, so back your cart into the galley, wait for the guest to pass, and resume service. Oops, careful of that transition!" (referring to the lip on the floor that separates the plastic floor and the carpet. Seriously, it was cheesier than anything I've ever seen. Oh well, I got a laugh.

I also did a homestudy on good body mechanics and wasted one hour of my life learning how to bend my knees. I realize it's important, but seriously. An hour? Give me a break. It was slightly humorous to be doing the homestudy while thinking about how much my neck hurts from snowboarding though... And while slouching on my mum's medicine ball. Maybe I should re-read some of those points...

Tired?

I'm pretty tired. I had a long four days even though they went by quickly... I'm not sure how that works out, but it did.

I think I'm going snowboarding tomorrow afternoon. That excites me.

I have to work again on Saturday for four more days. BLAH. But then I get a whole shwack of days off, so it makes me happy.

How's everyone else doing?

I'll just come out and say it...

I am petrified of anything first aid.

I am trained in first aid, CPR, defibrillators, and all things aidy, and I still am so scared of having to deal with any kind of situation.

I have personally never dealt with too much... The other week there was a small girl choking in the middle seat. Her father was a)hitting her on the back, b)shoving his hand in her mouth to remove the item causing her to choke, and c)grabbing her neck and shaking her. The first two things are what they tell us to NEVER do, and the third one, well, I have no idea what would drive someone to do that but oh well. I stood at the aisle, yelling and the dad to stop it. Well, actually I said "stop! STOP! STOP!!!!" without giving any other instructions than that. After realizing that me yelling stop wasn't really an effective use of my skills, I reached across the dad to grab the girl, and I imagine my idea was to start doing abdominal thrusts when she coughed and what looked like a litre of water came out of her mouth. I stared at the girl, then looked at the dad and said "are you ok now? can you talk?" which is what my mum does any time someone is coughing/choking, since if you can talk your airway is clear, and the dad just said "yeah she's fine." I asked the girl "can you talk? what's your name?" She answered me, so I decided she was ok. Then, I looked at the dad and said "don't DO that!" and walked away. Since that experience I have learned that a)I need to be a more effective communicator in emergency situations, since "stop it" and "don't do that" don't really make my message clear, b)I should trust my instincts and act a little more quickly, and c)some parents have no idea what to do in those situations and just do anything they think might maybe help. Panic I guess?

So this brings me to someone dying. We have things we're supposed to do when someone dies on board, and that article on Kristen's blog really isn't far off. The only thing I would have done differently is perhaps INFORM THE GUEST SITTING NEXT TO THE DEAD BODY AND NOT JUST LET HIM WAKE UP AND FIND IT!!!!! Are you freaking joking me?? There must have been some kind of miscommunication between the flight attendants, that guest, and perhaps the media, because there's no way I'd sit a dead lady down and walk away with no further instruction. We DO have to "secure" the corpse, because if we just left it lying the galley or aisle for example, if we needed to evacuate they would hinder everyone else's evacuation. We're told to be as discrete as possible but really, carrying a dead body isn't easy or discrete. Hopefully they have just died in their seat, because then we can leave them there and call it a day. If someone dies while we're performing first aid, we have to continue until EMS comes to take over since we can't pronounce anyone dead. SO, we have to continue CPR until we land unless it's deemed too dangerous by the captain to do so. (This slightly contradicts the whole securing the body so it doesn't hinder an evacuation, but in that situation we would, and I'm going to use my own words here, huck the body out the door before initiating the evacuation. Or at least that's what I would do.) I've worked with several flight attendants who have had guests die on board, and it's never a good situation, but you just have to deal with it. I would hope that the people sitting in the first row would get up and move so we could put the dead person there since there is more room. I don't think anyone has the right to be mad or upset or judge the crew in the situation from the article, because honestly, how on earth are you supposed to deal with it?? Yes, they should have told the person who was sitting next to the corpse, and I highly doubt they really just plopped her down and left without any explanation, but if they did, well oh well. At least that guy is still alive! That's just me. I wouldn't be exactly rational in a situation like that.

On a more positive note, I'm up for my first aid re-certification, so I'll learn all the new first aid (since it's changed this year) and hopefully become a little more confident. On an even more positive note, every month we get our statistics on medical emergencies on board, and in almost 90% of all situations there is either a doctor or nurse on board. So they can at least help us. We also have a sat phone that is a direct line to a hospital, where they will give us instructions on what to do and we can even administer some of our crazy medical supplies we have in a secret compartment. And we have a defibrillator. So if you get sick on the plane and need an IV and your heart stops, we're prepared.

iPods and ponytails

I've been a blogging slacker recently.

I very much enjoyed the three nights that I got to spend with my sis and Jordan last week. We just hung out and had a good time, saw 300, ate some good food, and just had fun. I miss that.

I went to Puerto Vallarta for an hour. I was really nice out, and I was super jealous that I wasn't staying there. I won't talk more about that. I'm a bitter, bitter person.

Yesterday was my mum's birthday. We gave her an iPod shuffle... Today I have to go give her a tutorial on how to use it. I hope she finds it easier than checking her voicemail on her cell phone, because I've had to give her instructions at least four times on how to get her messages.

I start my annual training soon for my job... I can't believe that I've worked there a year already. Insanity.

This is kind of lame... Sorry my big comeback post is so terrible.

I missed the big St. Paddy's day parties this weekend. I have a Guinness with Kristen, but when everyone else I know was partying hard, one beer isn't really sufficient. I talked to Matt a few times that night, and each time was significantly more hilarious. The highlight for him was being able to fit his hair in a ponytail and looking like an irish fighter. I know you're all wondering how I ended up with such a sexy guy who has hair that can fit in a ponytail, and I wonder the same thing every day, don't you worry.

I will come up with something better soon.

Outside

It's harder running outside than on a treadmill. I miss only having to run upwards while the ground moves under me.

Oooops. And by "oooops", I mean "F@#$ this f@#$ing s%&*".

So I was supposed to arrive last night at 8:40. Well, things didn't really go according to plan, and we sat in Hamilton for a while waiting for the reverse thrust on the right engine to be fixed. I ended up getting into my house at 12:30am. I set my alarm for 6, since I had to work at 7. Well, I woke to a light knocking on my door, to which I said "hunh, what? My mini bar doesn't need to be changed thanks*", but REALLY it was Linda telling me it was 6:58. So I said "oooops", which was actually a little bit stronger than "oooops".

I shot out of bed, threw on clothes, and got to work. Whatever, no biggie, but it just sucks to be late since I hate being late.

*So when I was in Moncton yesterday, I was napping in the middle of the day after some waffles from Cora's, not wearing pants, when I woke to a soft knocking at my door. I walked over to my suitcase, to find pants, which couldn't have taken me more than 5 seconds, when I heard the keys in the door and the lock opening. I grabbed a towel from the floor, threw it around my pantsless self, and opened the door as it was opening from the outside. It was a guy, and he asked "oh, I was just checking the mini bar and wanted to know if you needed more stock." I just stared blankly at him and finally said "ummm, no, it's fine." and closed the door. Who does that??? Knocks, waits five seconds and then opens the door??? What if I was just walking out of the bathroom after a shower? What if I was getting ready for work? (Which I normally do in undies and a tank top to cut down the polyester wearing the most possible) It totally freaked me out. Anyway, this morning's knock brought back memories of that and I even checked to make sure I was wearing pants before going to the bathroom.

Exciting day for someone... I don't know who, I think you know them very well...

Tomorrow will be a very exciting day for SOMEONE I know... Not me, but someone. They maybe, just maybe, will be getting their very own brand new toy delivered to their office, providing that* nothing irregular happens in my flying schedule that is. They should bring an appropriate bag with them to work, so they can bring all the bits and pieces home with them.

*Is it "provided that" and "providing", or did I do it right? I can never remember.

I heart cooking

I decided I'm lazy. I never cook anymore since I think "oh well what's the point of cooking for one?" Also, on the road I live off granola bars and hummus, so why shouldn't I at home? Well, I'm sick of eating miscellaneous snack items for every meal or ordering out, so I'm cooking again. Two nights ago, I made some Thai turkey burgers that turned out really well, though the tomato on my bun was slightly mealy. They were tangy, juicy, tender, and all sorts of other delicious things. Last night, I decided to make tofu parmesan. The description of the recipe says "a delicious alternative to the family favourite" or something like that, to which I said "what the hell is ____ parmesan? I've never had anything like this in my life". So apparently whatever-it-normally-is parmesan wasn't a favourite in my family. In any event, I made it. It had tofu slices in bread crumbs and parmesan cheese, baked for a bit, then put in a casserole dish with some pasta sauce (that happened to have a nice kick in it, which, in my opinion, made the whole dish) and then topped with more sauce, mozza, parm, parsley and the leftover bread crumbs. Baked for a while, then broiled for a few minutes, and voila. It was really good. As I was making it, I thought to myself "you know, I don't think I'm going to like this", and the whole reason I chose to make it was because I had some tofu, and wanted to get rid of it before it went nasty. But in the end, I liked it a lot, and so did Matt. It's really nice to date someone who's slightly adventurous in their eating habits, since I am as well. One of the things I like the most about eating is trying new things, going to different restaurants, eating "ethnic" foods, and cooking with different ingredients. He pretty much likes anything, and basically just appreciates that he has some kind of food to eat, so he likes it when I cook too. (And by "likes it when I cook", I mean the whole two times I've cooked since I've known him).

I'm leaving for the weekend, get back Sunday at midnight, and then leave again on Monday for three days, so I'm going to be tired. And it sucks. Oh well. I love my job......... right???

Don't even go there Angela*

I totally fell off the running wagon, but I'll get back on it, I promise. I was sick. You can't run when you're sick. I also have this weird pulled muscle/fake hernia in my lover stomach that happened as a result of coughing and now hurts me a lot every time I move basically. I'll ignore it and hope it goes away.

I flew to Phoenix and back yesterday. That's really all I have to say about that.

Today I worked at Starbie's, and had a pretty good shift since there were a few people whom I LOVE that I got to work with. One is a girl I just met, who is hysterical and weirdly knows some people I went to high school and junior high with. Another is this guy who is from Vancouver and worked at Starbucks there before moving here. Whenever he messes up he just says "well in Vancouver we did it this way" in a super holier than thou voice (on purpose) and wears women's size zero skinny jeans and glasses with sparkly be-jewels on them. You would think automatically that he's gay, but he's (according to him) not, and despite repeatedly getting hit on by guys at work, I will believe him. I'm not going to ask him flat out "are you suuuuuuuuure?"... I won't go there. But he's awesome.

OK so that was written yesterday, and then I had to go and didn't have time to post it. Now I have time to post it, so here you go.

*Did anyone watch Jonovision on CBC? In the commercials for it when it was first coming out there was this chick that said "Don't even go there, Angela" in this weird voice, and to this day I say that on a semi-regular basis.

I'm bored.

All this sitting around has made me SO BORED. I can't seem to sleep lots, which tells me that my sickness isn't really all that bad. Normally when I'm super sick all I do is sleep. I'm just woozy, coughy, snotty, achy, and sleepy without being able to sleep.

I have some major cabin fever today too. I'm on the verge of being better, so I'm able to stand up without falling down and have noticed that I look like crap, unlike yesterday when I didn't even think about what I looked like and walked around all day with clumps of snot and drool on my face. (Well I don't think there were actual clumps, but it felt like it). I'm thinking about working tomorrow, since I only will have to work the one day, and then I won't feel as bad about having to call in sick. Why do I feel bad about calling in sick? I HAVE NO IDEA. That's a problem in my opinion, since I shouldn't be made to feel bad about it. And I don't think anyone really has made me feel bad about calling in sick, but I have the guilt. Oh yes, the guilt is there. I should work on that.

I'm sad that I was sick this pairing because I missed three overnights in Ottawa. Oh well, next pairing I have three more overnights in Ottawa, so not all is lost.

I got a new ring tone today. Life is exciting.

I don't think I'm going to Orlando in March anymore... Some of the little details kind of fell through, so it's (hopefully) postponed... Maybe we'll be able to make the trip a little later. I could use the extra time to save some money anyway, so I'll take it as a good thing in disguise. As a few people have pointed out, I'll have to find another occasion to wear my sweet bathing suit.

I got woken up this morning by a bunch of people working outside my bedroom window, hammering incessantly. Forever. Non Stop. I wanted to kill them. The hammering is still going on, actually. The inability to sleep is actually making quite a bit of sense now. See, I must be getting better... My brain is working again.

Grey's is on at 7 tomorrow instead of 9. I thought I would share that information.

I think I'm going to take a walk or something. Anything to get me the hell off this couch.

Ow.

I'm home. Sick. I tried to work yesterday, and I made it to Vancouver and had to come back home. I am all stuffed up and coughy and gross. To top it off, my whole body hurts from snowboarding, so as I'm coughing up a lung, I'm cringing because it hurts my abs and back. It sucks. Boo. Make it stop.

OK so I DO know that Jordan's birthday was on the 10th... I'm not totally crazy. I was all mixed up with what day it was currently and so that's why I seem like I'm on crack. Jordan's 27th birthday = February 10th, 2007. There, it's settled.

I got home yesterday from a great four day... I laughed a lot and had a great time with the FA's. It's very refreshing to have good genuine laughs with people for four days. Also, some kids that were travelling yesterday brought us presents! One girl gave us bracelets all packaged in a little box with confetti inside, and the other ones gave us candies and valentines!! It was the cutest thing ever, especially since they were all travelling to go to a funeral. I had some Spiderman valentines and another FA had some Strawberry Shortcake ones, and we had received some valentine candy from the CSA's in Montreal, so we gave the boys the spiderman valentines and the girls the strawberry shortcake ones with some candy and they were really excited. The parents were really appreciative too, and it felt good to be recognized and then make the kids feel good too!

Speaking of Valentine's Day, it was yesterday, and yes this is the first Valentine's with the new boyfriend gentleman caller. Nothing really special was planned, but we made some dinner and then I fell asleep since I had woken up at 2:45 am. Valentine's Day is pretty lame in my book, so I don't need a big fuss made over me. It was no McDonald's date though, like what Kristen and Jordan did.

This weekend will hopefully be a good one... The Lethbridge crew is coming in for reading week, so big parties to follow. I'm going snowboarding on Sunday with Matt and his friend James and James' girlfriend from Toronto. I'm really excited, but nervous because I haven't been in about 5 years. I'm scared I'll make an ass of myself. Oh well, I'm not too worried about it. I'll just make an ass of myself and that's that.

My running training is going pretty well so far. I'm doing it, which was the biggest challenge. The actual running part isn't that hard, just getting my lazy ass to go was what I was most worried about. Kristen and I are making sure we stay on track though. (Well actually she is making sure I go, not so much the other way around.)

That's about it. Oh except I got a sweet argyle sweater and purse at H&M in Montreal. Love that place.

Happy (belated) Birthday!

I missed it yesterday, but in my defense I flew across the country (and the one south of us) and couldn't get to a computer. Happy Birthday Jordan! You're old. There. I said it.

Things I purchased on my last pairing:

• A large Tim Horton's coffee and a yogurt and berries
• A sweater from Le Shithole
• A kick ass bikini
• Capri pants from Aritzia (on sale by the way)
• A grande half sweet vanilla non-fat extra-hot latte and a reduced fat mandarin loaf from Starbucks (I suggest you try that loaf as well as the apricot thumbprint scone. They're delish.)
• A birthday card and some candy for Jordan's birthday
• Two cab rides from Kristen's place to my hotel (too cold and too late to walk by myself...)
• A small decaf mocha at the coffee shop Jordan frequents
• A cup of coffee from Second Cup
  

Five days worth of purchases. Not too bad...

Damn you PST

So I found a bathing suit. SERIOUSLY.

It's adorable. It's not really as supportive as I was looking for, but it was honestly way too cute to pass up. It fits, I have a different size bottom than top piece, and it is flattering. I looked for a picture of it to show, but apparently it's last season's suit so it's not on the company website. It's a bikini, mainly black with different colour skulls (yes skulls) on it. It's not an all over design, but on one boob there are smaller skulls, then on the other boob there's a larger outline of a skull in stitching. On the bottom there are the same smaller skulls on the ass part. It doesn't sound really that adorable but it is, just you wait. I saw it and instantly knew I HAD to have it, and then when I tried it on it fit well and looked good, so I bought it. I ended up getting it at Bikini Village, in Ottawa... I guess in the end what I spent on PST I saved in gas, since the only Bikini Village in Calgary is at Southcentre, way far from my place. I'm very excited that I finally found something.

I'm happy to be here with Kristen and Jordan... Yesterday I came over and ate their food. Today I came over and napped on their couch and will probably eat their food again. I'm such a great guest. I did come bearing gifts of coffee, so I don't feel so bad.

Kristen revealed her big secret to me I think a day or two before the internet, (only because I sent her my feb sched) and I'm very proud of her! It's a huge thing to decide to run a race and start training etc. She asked me yesterday if I would consider doing it with her, to which I replied "ummm, errrrrr, yeah why not!" which in my head meant "well, I am kind of lazy, and I've been trying to get into shape, and it would give me an excuse to get a cute new running top, and would make me follow through on some kind of goal, and perhaps would force me to get off my lazy ass on the road and use the gyms instead of watching soaps and old Trading Spaces re-runs, so yeah why not!" So, I am hoping to run the race with her, in May, before Jordan runs his big ole marathon. I told her she had to kick my ass and make sure I didn't quit after a week. Today she asked "so did you run?" to which I replied "yep" to which SHE replied "for realsies?" in an I-think-you're-lying voice, to which I replied "yes, for realsies", which is the truth, I did run today, 1.5 miles... Aint no thang! So we'll hopefully keep each other motivated and run this thing together.

I guess now that I wrote it on the internet I kind of have to do it hey?

That's it... I'm home tomorrow, thankfully. I have worked hard, and it's been super cold everywhere I've been and it's nice in Calgary. Damn you all who got to spend the day outside in plus nine while I was in Winnipeg at a crisp minus 40.

I can't help but notice that Kirristen and Jordan's pen holder in their office is a pint glass from the Kilkenny that I, ahhhh, acquired. I've been looking for that glass.