Random Ramblings

Yesterday continued the "very good days" trend. I managed to help a bunch of students at Dawson, and even had one student tell me I was a "very good teacher." It's comments like that which brighten my day.

I left Dawson and decided to walk down to karate... in Verdun. It was about a 45-minute walk, but the weather was gorgeous and I was happy to have done it. When I reached Verdun, I sat down in a lovely cafe and chatted on MSN for a while, until I needed to be at the dojo.

Karate was good too. I worked with Phil, and we practiced kicks and counters for them. I like working with Phil: he's got a similar balance to mine between serious and lightheartedness. Some people are always serious, some people always joke around; Phil can shift back and forth. I like that.

Finally, Maz. Though the night started off (and indeed, continued) fairly light on people, it was much fun regardless. I sang twice: first, a decent(-ish) rendition of "Kiss from a Rose." The second was "Copacabana." I had a lot of fun singing it, despite the screen going fuzzy for the third verse and my impromptu ad-libbing. For something I needed to create on the fly, it didn't rhyme, but it was surprisingly metrical. I think I actually got more applause from the ad-lib (generally variations on "I don't know the words here) than for the song itself.

Also at Maz, William (the uber-awesome tambourine guy) sang "Zoot Suit Riot." I looked at LC. He looked at me. I held out my hand. He took it. We danced. It was great. It's a credit to LC's phenomenal talent that afterwards, I had at least 3-4 people ask me whether I'd taken swing dance lessons. The answer: absolutely not. I had no idea what I was doing on the dance floor. LC led, and I followed. He's so good that he manages not only to look good himself, but to make me look good as well.

So that was yesterday. Today I saw Spiderman III, and I have no idea what I'm doing tonight. Updates as they occur.

Today's Breadcrumb is about the size of the various Israelite tribes.

So, a brief play-by-play of yesterday and this morning:

- Dawson's Learning Centre: much better than previous weeks. I actually had students and got to feel helpful and productive. I even had a few say that I explained things very clearly. Yay me!
- Met with the head of the humanities department at Dawson. He knows who I am. He has received my proposed course outlines. We'll be meeting in two weeks to discuss them. Fingers crossed!
- The entire metro system was down as I wanted to head out to Verdun. The closest I've been able to discover is that it may have been a communications systems failure. So instead I walked. I nearly got lost, but in the end I prevailed. Yay me!
- Cafe Blue Monday has tasty food and Snow Crash. What more could a girl want?
- Karate: twice in two days! Good class yesterday. I actually learned something new. I like classes where I learn something new.
- Karaoke: Maz was packed with people who didn't need to work tomorrow. Song queue was over an hour. The disc skipped during my song, but I made a valiant recovery and continued regardless. In short, it was fun.
- Late night: Marc came over. What we did is no business of yours.
- This morning: Marc was still over. What we did is no business of yours.
- Preview this evening: Marc surprised me with reservations at O'Noir. I'm really looking forward to it.

Okay, that's it for now. TTFN!

Still no Daily Breadcrumbs. I'll try to write up the next essay today.

It's been about three days since I posted anything substantial. They've been three days full of ups and downs. Among the highlights:

( Behind the cut )

Plan for today: do some work, possibly see Warren or Don or Ian or Marc, figure out stuff to do.

... Ok. So it's not a particularly well-developed plan. No worries. I'm sure everything will come together in the end.

Today's breadcrumb is about the non-disposable culture of the ancient Israelites. Sorry for the delay in posting, everyone. I actually had this one typed up several days in advance, but forgot to post it. Mea culpa.

This is actually yesterday's gratitude journal, but what the heck:

1. I am grateful for Marc, who gave me a lift to work.
2. I am grateful for the resources, both books and people, at the Learning Centre, who are helping me phase into my job.
3. I am grateful for a new work contract.
4. I am grateful for Isabelle, who is at the age when absolutely anything she does is amazingly cute.
5. I am grateful for Nancy, who made me dinner, entertained me, and let me play with her daughter.
6. I am grateful that I performed well at karaoke last night on I Love Rock N Roll.
7. I am grateful for the really fast queue for my first karaoke song -- only 15 minutes!
8. I am grateful for Chris the DJ, who harmonized with me on Mustang Sally.
9. I am grateful to be able to offer people lifts.
10. I am grateful for snuggles. Very, very grateful indeed.

( And now, for something a bit more substantial, but still about nothing in particular )

So that's it for now. Time for a nice long shower. TTFN!

What a phenomenal day! It was so great that ten things just aren't going to cover it. That's right, we're playing double or nothing!

Gratitude journal, the sunlit edition:
1. I am grateful for Bill, Leanne, and Kasha at Dawson's Learning Centre, who helped me get oriented my first day.
2. I am grateful for Alexis at the Learning Centre, whose office I used today.
3. I am grateful for Vivian, the secretary at the Learning Centre, who helped me fill out my timesheet and thus allow me to be paid.
4. I am grateful for the many handouts pre-prepared by the Learning Centre, which will make my job a whole lot easier.
5. I am grateful for vegetarian sushi.
6. I am grateful for Ian, with whom I had a great discussion about religion.
7. I am grateful for Phil and Sensei Don, who helped me learn new stuff at karate this evening.
8. I am grateful for internet cafes.
9. I am grateful for ATM machines that allow me to take out money any time I want.
10. I am grateful for my own ability to be adaptable and learn as I go.

Gratitude journal, the karaoke edition!
1. I am grateful for L.C., who is visiting from Boston and who:
a) makes it look like I can soft-shoe, even though he's doing all the work
b) gave me many hugs and even one or two kisses
c) paid me a few extremely nice compliments
d) is one of the only people who can kick as high as I can on the can-can
e) was the inspiration for an on-the-spot filk song
f) had his picture taken with "the hotness" (read: Kristen and I)
2. I am grateful for Marc, who is and remains the most fantastic boyfriend a girl could ever ask for.
3. I am grateful for Liz, who suggested that I filk a song in honour of L.C.'s visit.
4. I am grateful for my own bardic abilities, which allowed me to come up with a decent filk in less than 15 minutes.
5. I am grateful for Ian, who provided much mirth.
6. I am grateful for everyone who gave me hugs and flirtation.
7. I am grateful for everyone who sang danceable songs.
8. I am grateful that Montreal is the type of city where women can be included in conversations about the hotness of other women.
9. I am grateful for Chris the DJ, without whom karaoke would never happen.
10. I am grateful for green lights all the way home!

G'night all! I hope your day was as good as mine!

Today's breadcrumb asks whether Moses may have invented an Islamic clothing trend.

So. Yesterday.

Karate was good, karaoke was awesome. I did two songs: Zoot Suit Riot, in duet with Mark (not Marc the Boyfriend, but Mark the Tall Guy). I also took advantage of an initially short cue to do Mustang Sally, in unexpected duet with Chris the DJ, to the accompanyment of William the Tambourine Guy. Both went very, very well. I are pleased. Incidentally, there were three "Julie"s at karaoke last night, and therefore I have now been christened "Little Julie." Be afraid, be very afriad. *grin*

In completely unrelated news, there's a good news / bad news situation on the ESL front. Bad news: my hours may be slashed from 5 to 4.5 per week. Good news: if this happens, I'll probably be working only two days a week instead of four. I'm not sure what I'll do with the other three days, but it's bound to be better than four days with one hour of work in the middle, right? Plus, it means that at least for the short-term, I'll be able to go to early-afternoon karate instead of evening karate. Or, alternately, I may be able to get myself a guilt-free 3-days-a-week job until the contract is up. Yay! Updates as they occur.

For now: shower, job hunt, writing more Daily Breadcrumbs. TTFN!

For all those waiting for Daily Breadcrumbs -- sorry. I just haven't gotten around to it. Hopefully tomorrow.

So. Last night I went to karate for the first time in a week and a half. We did wrist-lock submission-holds. It's a wonder my wrists aren't more sore than they currently are. Also, after class, Mark showed me a really nifty move that's both fast and effective. Thanks, Mark.

Afterwards, it was off to karaoke. I got there early enough and stayed late enough that I was actually able to do three songs. The first was Birmingham by Amanda Marshall. I suppose I didn't do horribly, but it could have been much better. I blame the fact that my lungs were being all athsmatic because I'd gone to Ian's place just before karaoke. The second song was Land of Confusion. See song #1 for my thoughts on my performance.

Ah, but song #3... so, Rachel and Liz were flipping through the song book and realized that, sitting there in the middle of a page otherwise filled with dross was a single, solitary Tom Lehrer song. A brief aside: when I was a kid, my dad would play Tom Lehrer songs for us on a regular basis, to the point where, even today, having not listened to them in nearly a decade, I still know most of them by heart. Which song was the one listed at Maz, you ask? "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park." Yes, my friends, it was time to bring the joy of Tom Lehrer to an unsuspecting audience. Liz, Rachel, and I stepped up on stage, and as the title page came on the TV screen, I heard Ian shout from the back of the room, "what?!?" It only got better from there. Furthermore, at least one or two people noticed that I did not, in fact, need to look at the TV screen for lyrics. Remember what I said about having all the songs memorized? That's how I know.

So this afternoon I spent a pleasant few hours finding and downloading Tom Lehrer songs. I don't have everything, but I've got about 30 news songs. Usually I don't download music, but I made an exception in this case. (Quite frankly, I don't think Tom Lehrer would mind.)

I have no idea what I'm doing with my evening. I suppose I should figure that out in the near future. TTFN.

Today's breadcrumb is about a very strange incident in Ex. 4.

My goodness, yesterday was a long day. As I hinted yesterday morning, I went over to my dad's place to watch Lord of the Rings. We watched for twelve (count'em, 12) hours, starting around noon and ending around midnight. We did not, in fact, get through everything. We managed to sit through the first two movies, and the first half of the third. But by the last disk, we decided we'd just watch the new scenes and call it a night. Note to self: if I ever do this again, start at 10 am instead of noon.

LotR has been talked about so extensively that I won't do it much here. I'll only say this: for many, many years, I prided myself on not being the sort of person to get crushes on actors or movie characters. In fact, I don't think I ever had a crush on a celebrity. That changed with the first LotR movie. Towards the end of the first movie, just as the final battle sequence begins, Aragorn raises his sword in salute to the Uruk leader before charging into battle. I got chills watching that scene the first time, and I still do. It caused me to completely crush on a movie character for the first, and only, time in my life. I will note that I do not have a crush on Viggo: I've seen him in interviews and he truly doesn't interest me. But Viggo-as-Aragorn?... melt.

It's all in the eyes. I have a thing for intense eyes. And Viggo-as-Aragorn has intensity in spades.

Enough about that.

Afterwards, I went over to Maz to listen to friends do karaoke and enjoy myself. I didn't sing myself, mostly due to lack of time and because I came in to people doing "my" song, but I enjoyed myself mightily nonetheless. It was also good to get hugs and cheek-kisses after spending the whole day crushing on Aragorn. *grin*

Today, I must go downtown to plan my lesson for Tuesday, and then I've got a game at Loyola. TTFN!

Today's essay on Daily Breadcrumbs is about the first successful deceptions in the Bible.

In other news, my body hurts. I did karate yesterday, and one of the stretches did something to the area around my kidneys. They hurt. On the upside, however, I get to wear my orange belt starting next week. Yay!

I saw L.C. last night at Maz. Yay for L.C. sightings! While there, I sang "500 Miles" and didn't butcher it too terribly. This pleases me.

Today, I must go over to Vanier to hand in some C.V.s. I did the same at Dawson yesterday, and today's my Vanier day. Later tonight is Ian and Yan's LARP - it's at Cegep de Vieux Montreal, and we'll do character creation on-site if we need to. Come one, come all!

Right. Off to breakfast with me.

1. Liz's uber-expensive Settlers of Cattan board is lovely. On the other hand, the "cities and knights" expansion makes the game a bit too complex for my tastes. Maybe I'm just used to playing half-hour Settlers games, but when I sit down to Settlers, I don't want to still be playing the same game after 3 hours. But it's a very lovely board, and I thank Liz for letting us play on it.

2. I love Tainted Love. It's one of my two guaranteed karaoke songs that will make me feel better and give me an instant rush. (The other being I Love Rock & Roll.)

3. Pulmicort works well, but I have now stopped taking it. There's no need in Toronto, since I don't visit anyone with cats. I'll start taking it again when I come back to Montreal, but I'd like to eventually wean myself from it. I don't like having excess drugs in my system. People with more medical knowledge than me (Eric, I'm looking at you) might be able to tell me whether this is feasable or not.

4. I got tagged with a smile card from helpothers.org. I suspect it's from my mom. Thanks, mom! For all those who want, you can order some cards for free off the website and spread the happiness. Go, spread happiness!

And that's it. Today I must renew my driver's license, pack, perhaps do some schoolwork or get together with Dad, and catch a train back to Toronto.