Wednesday, May 30, 2012

At 2:01 Tuesday I was...

Making a difficult decision.

I'm having a hell of a time, actually. See, we Kayes are having a family portrait taken. I'm trying to find the top that encapsulates me perfectly (no black) while not being too trendy. You know, no patterns, stripes or dolman sleeves (no matter how slimming they are). Can you imagine looking at a perfectly good photo 5 years from now but you are wearing the 2012 version of Hammer Pants? No thanks.

So at 2:01 yesterday, I was grinding my teeth in frustration at Old Navy. Naturally I left empty handed.

Sigh.

kxx

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Best. Manicure. Ever.


Yesterday at preschool it was Teacher Appreciation Day. The children and our fearless director secretly planned a wonderful day for us teachers that included massages (the children rolled toy cars on our backs... so funny), "soothing" face masks where I ended up having mud pack in my ears that I only found once home (after grocery shopping all afternoon) and the above-mentioned manicures. I kept telling them to make sure the polish "went on the pink and not the brown" as they wielded those lacquer laden brushes toward every part of my hand. It was amazing. I was invited to a party last night and instead of taking the polish off, I put a coat of long-lasting topcoat over it and wore that polish proudly. I was eager to talk about my fabulous pamper day to everyone who noticed my wacky nails.

We got flowers, got to sit in streamer decorated chairs and had our drink orders taken. The kids gave us home made cards as well. In my career as a teacher, I have never ever felt more appreciated. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love this job.

kxx




Tuesday, May 22, 2012

My first 2:01 Tuesday blog



A while back I had a photo blog called "At 2:01 Today I...". I chose that name because that's the time I was born and I thought it would be interesting to see what I was doing at that time every day.


I had hoped I would be doing fascinating and interesting things but in reality I was always shopping, eating or watching tv. I was a jobless creature of habit.


I figured now that I'm working and potentially doing more things with my day, I'd try it again. Not every day like before but weekly and call it "2:01 Tuesdays".


Unfortunately, today I'm doing something just as boring as I would have been doing back then. Heh. At 2:01 today I was reading a magazine, recovering from a long weekend and a busy day. I'm hoping for a more action packed activity next week but for now...



kxx



Wednesday, May 16, 2012

I love the human brain.

I'm assuming this happens to everyone... if not, I love my brain. I blogged about this before but I think it's cool so here's another one.

I was listening to one of my favourite Morrissey albums and I had a flash of memory during one of the songs. In my memory I was still living at home with my parents and I was walking to my bus stop, head down with my nose in a book. I was listening to the song -- the album, actually-- on a loop. I even remembered the name of the book and the name of the main character. When I told this to Scott, I was able to recall the basic plot as well. Funny thing is, this memory had to be over 20 years old so those facts couldn't be right, could they?

To the internet! I googled "Long Dark Night" (the name of the book) and tada, there it was. And the name of the main character (Boyd Ritchie) and plot was dead on as well. To my knowledge, I'd only read the book the one time and I've never seen or thought about it since. But it was seared into my memory because I'd read the whole thing cover to cover with the same album "soundtrack" playing the entire time. How's that for a trained brain?

Of course where is that ever trusty brain when I can't even remember my kids' names or my own wedding anniversary? Which, btw, is a week from today. But don't ask me to remember how long it's been. My usual answer is "Since 1993. You do the math". Because I can't do it anymore.

kxx

Monday, May 14, 2012

Ottawa's first Comic-Con

I'm sorry for to those of you who don't want to read a long photograph bloated blog about Ottawa Comic-Con so if you fall into that category, I apologise and invite you to skip this one and read again tomorrow. For the rest of you, Comic-Con was fricking  AWESOME!!!  (notice that along with the exclamation points, that word is bold, underlined and italicised). There was not one minute of the hours and hours I was there standing  in lines or walking around (thank you comfy Converse) that I was bored or frustrated or regretted paying the money I spent on the tickets.

Okay... how to blog about this without breaking the internet? I'll just post a few of the photos I took and explain them. Plus I'll add a few things that I remember that I was too excited or just plain forgot to photograph. Excuses in advance for the quality of the pictures. I was using my iPod and while it's super convenient, it has no flash.

Let me start by saying this whole thing was super well organised. So many times we'd approach a mind-boggling lineup for anything from a panel to an autograph to a taco. Each time the line was quick and orderly and we'd arrive at our destination faster than expected and without it feeling like a time suck. I think I'll email the organisers about that after I write this.

So Patrick Stewart was supposed to be a guest but he had to cancel last minute (he did not make it so). In his place they got the illustrious William Shatner. What joy! Then the disappointment hit when I noticed that I had tickets to Sunday and he'd only be there Saturday. Damn. Note to self: next year, go both days.

Turned out it was okay because we still got to see some fun and funny Star Trek Stars, namely John DeLancie and Brent Spiner. They were both self-effacing and self-aggrandizing and a joy to listen to. There was also a panel I would have liked to see with Adam Baldwin (star of Chuck and Firefly) but I had to skip it because I was so hungry that my stomach thought that my throat was cut.

A quick couple of stories from the food court: I saw a Black woman with a haircut like mine. We turned to each other and exclaimed "I love your hair!" and burst out laughing. She waved to her husband to get the camera... she wanted us to take a photo together! How fun. Unfortunately I was too overwhelmed and excited to take one with my own camera to so there's no evidence.

Later at our second stop there (we were at the Con for over 6 hours) I turned from the concession and saw a scene that made me laugh. With so many people in costumes eating, it looked like the very last scene in The Avengers where the team is just having shawarmas in silence. It was so cool.

Then there was the costumes. So much hard work went into people's costumes! There were people dressed like every superhero imaginable, as well as pop culture icons and comic book heroes. Although I though I love this stuff, even I'm not geeky enough to get all of the costumes. Note to self: start working on next year's steampunk costume now.

People were so eager to pose! If someone was wearing a costume, all you'd do is just go up to them and ask "can I take your picture?" and they'd not only stop but post in an appropriate stance. A guy dressed as Thor was even directing a shot saying to the guy: "okay you pretend that my hammer is too heavy to pick up and I'll point and laugh". Some came as a group and posed together. That was cool. Am I saying cool a lot? It's because it was.

What else? It being both Mother's Day and Elliott's 16th birthday, we pretty much just gave each other the gift of geekery and promised to do it up right nest year. Although Elliott did get me a TARDIS heat changing mug and Scott bought me a t-shirt so Mother's Day wasn't a complete wash. What am I saying?

Comic-Con + Mother's Day = BEST. DAY. EVER.

kxx

Pictures! Get your red-hot pictures here...

This is Elliott's friend James dressed as Tom Baker... the Doctor people who've never seen Doctor Who would recognise. People were taking his photo all day.


The Delorean from Back To The Future.


An example of some of the comic book art you could see (and buy).


Some posers "fighting". This group of 6 were together and they didn't fight, they stayed in a tableau two at a time for a few seconds each time so people could get a good shot.



 Back To The Future. His proton gun has lights and sounds!

The stars of a Quebec based Canadian superhero web series. The woman was quite errr... pneumatic.


From what I've heard, it isn't a Con without a slave Leia


The car from Starsky and Hutch. I couldn't care less but it sure was shiny.


A guy in a costume. No clue what he's dressed as.


These ads used to crack me up and I was delighted to see these guys in person. See? Not only nerds and sci-fi dorks. People obsessing over commercials can have some fun too.



 My friend Sean. He's playing a henchman from the Venture Brothers. I looked after his baby son last year and his wife is one of my oldest friends. See? It takes all kinds to make a Con.


This is the costume style I want to try for next year. She's in Steampunk attire which is a mix of Victorian chic and sci-fi gadgets. Lots of leather and lace, gears and ray-guns. Gorgeous.

Boba Fett.

Cat Woman, The Joker and Poison Ivy.

Star Wars guys.


This man's pirate costume came complete with a bizarre little lizard bird thing whose head he controlled with a wire.


How could I resist a fellow Whovian (that's what we Doctor Who lovers are called)?


Captain America!

 No clue. If I didn't know who they were, I was too shy to ask. I felt like I should know.


Look! It's Data from Star Trek! He was so funny. He talked a lot about working with his favourite actor... himself when he got to be Dr. Soong, B4 and Lore in various episodes. And he did such a dead-on impersonation of Patrick Stewart that I didn't miss Jean-Luc at all.


Here's John DeLancie who played Q in a few episodes of Star Trek. I loved when a fan asked a specific question and he said something like, "asking me that is like asking you to describe a dinner party you had 25 years ago. But please recall every minute detail all the way down to shopping for the food".


This is Adam Baldwin. He played John Casey on Chuck and the reason he was at this Con, Jayne from Firefly and Serenity. I didn't see his panel but I caught this while he signed expensive autographs.


Okay, that's all folks! Now to fire off that email so the organisers do another one of these next year. Otherwise I'll have to take my steampunk dream to Montreal....

k

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I'm so lucky

I used to run every weekday but since I hurt myself, it's down to only Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I have a treadmill but I much prefer to run at my local park. This is why:


Want to try to convince me that Monday mornings suck?

kxx

Monday, May 7, 2012

Meet me on Monday!

Questions come from Java at Never Growing Old:

1.  I wish _________
I wish I was independently wealthy. I'd still work at my awesome job but I'd have my own sweet little Smart and more designer shoes and handbags than I would ever need. Le sigh...



2.  If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?
I'd love to tell you that I'd want to witness something great like the first time man walked on the moon or something tragic like the sinking of the Titanic but really, I'd just love to see the Oscar telecast live. And walk the red carpet in a kick-ass dress. What can I say? This is me in all my glory.




3.  Do you like to cook?
No. But don't get me started on baking. That's my thing. I made this:



4.  What do you like to do to get exercise?
I love to run, bike and my most favourite, dragonboat.



5.  How tidy are you?
Not very. Cleaning up is for company. As you may guess, we rarely have company. I'll start worrying about it when I start storing my own poop in plastic bags that I strategically hide around the room.


kxx

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Look at me I'm a pin cushion!

I've been having trouble with my knee. Starting about last fall, it was harder and harder to run every day. When it comes to body aches and pains, I never know whether to rest it or grit my teeth through the pain. I'm never sure whether to apply ice or heat. So I did what everyone in my position would do. I ignored it.

So fast forward to this spring when I couldn't walk without a limp and running was completely impossible. With dragonboat season looming, something had to be done. I made an appointment with a physiotherapist and she started treatment right away.

When I say I was poked and prodded, I'm not exaggerating. She gave me a great and thorough (each appointment was an hour) exam and diagnosed me with IT band syndrome. Supposedly it's a muscle or tendon or some such thing that extends on the outside of your thigh from your knee to your hip and if it gets stiff it wrecks your gait which wrecks everything which is why my knee was so sore. 

After just 5 appointments I'm nearly normal. She gave me acupuncture (see photo above), massage (you'd think that would be soothing but if you saw me holding back the tears, you'd know different) and a whole bunch of exercises to follow (did you know that working on your core muscles helps your, well, everything?). Oh and apparently the way I've been walking for 43 years is wrong wrong wrong so she had me correct that as well. 

Anyway, the short version is that physio = good. She's got me running again (but only 3 times a week) and I have been fit as a fiddle for dragonboat practices. Yes, it's a bit expensive but it's completely worth it. 

kxx