At 2:01 Tuesday I was...

getting a refresher course on CPR. It was my first day back at work and my co-workers and I were just about to hang out with a bunch of dummies. This week we are setting up our classrooms to get ready for the big show on Tuesday morning.

Of course we managed to catch up on our summers and laugh. A lot. It's going to be a really good year.

kxx

I can't believe I'm going to say this.

Scott and the kids have gone camping until Thursday. They left early this morning. I went for a run after they'd gone then came home and showered. I spent a bit of time on the computer and then watched some stuff I had on the PVR that Scott hates. Then I.... ummm.... tried on shoes from my closet and walked up and down the hall like a catwalk model (I tend to do that from time to time. I know how it sounds). Then I read a book. Then... I can't believe I'm going to say this but...

I'm bored.

They're all out of the house and I'm left alone and I'm bored bored bored. I want to bake but what am I going to do with 2 dozen cupcakes? Besides piggishly eat them all myself? I could clean but really? No thanks. I'd go for a drive but they took the car. Going on a bus ride is out of the question. There's no place I feel more homicidal than on a city bus and wasting my "mother's time-out" in a jail cell, albeit an interesting way to stave off my boredom, would not be the optimal way I'd want to spend it.

Thank goodness I have to work in the morning. Plus I have a chiropractor's appointment and a dragonboat practice so I'll be busy all day and most of the evening. But right now...

I'm bored.

kxx

Summer is time to catch up on the classics

I just got done reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I'd only ever seen the movie and thought I'd pick up the book. It's different. And by different I mean wordy. Oscar's motto seems to be: Why say two words when you can say 50 instead? I mean really.

Oscar Wilde came up with a lot of expressions that we use today. Like "I can resist anything except temptation" and "Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing". I think this book was just an excuse to spout off his way of thinking. He used the sympathetic characters to say the more PC of his thoughts and the evil ones to say what would have been shocking in his day. My favourite quotes were: "Her dresses looked like they were designed in a rage and put on in a tempest" (oooh... burn!) and "I'd do anything to bring back my youth except get up early, take exercise or be respectable" (you and me both, brother). What a writer.

When I read this book, I realized that he was a bit of a misogynist and an egotist with a touch of xenophobia thrown in for flavour. And so hilarious. This is supposed to be a "horror" book but it was so talky and clever that I couldn't help but look past the scary bits. Which, for a book that was written in the 1890s, wasn't really all that scary to begin with. So I recommend that you read it. I was surprised by how many times I laughed out loud. If you read it, be prepared for some flowery language and some meandering around the plot but you'll enjoy it.

kxx

Speak only when spoken to

I've heard this advice many times and often directed at children. Thank goodness it's rarely used nowadays because I recently learned that it is virtually impossible. Well, impossible for me, that is.

I thought I'd test the do-ability of this hoary old piece of advice at dragonboat practice. Initially I thought I'd try it for a whole day but I realized right away that as the mother of teens, I'd never be able to get my quota of nagging in. In fact, I probably never get to say a word. So I thought I'd try inflicting this on my unsuspecting boat-mates.

After answering many questions about whether or not I was "okay" (apparently I make my presence known the second I enter anyone's vicinity and not doing so made people suspicious) I realized that this is no fun. At all.

But I learned a lot about myself. Here they are in no particular order.

1. I talk a lot. (I kinda knew that one already)
2. Waiting for people to talk to me is annoying
3. I'm not a fan of conversational silences. I apparently fill them up with inanity
4. I occasionally have interesting things to volunteer
5. I'm a stealth chatter. My ordinary modus operandi is to join an already in progress conversation and throw in my own bon mots until I'm in control. I couldn't do this so I just smiled and nodded. Smiled and nodded and mentally screamed  for someone to address me.
6. I'm not doing this again.

Speaking when spoken to also can be pretty impractical, especially in a learning environment. I had to break it several times when I needed clarification about stroke rate or race plan. It was impossible, if I followed this rule, to ask questions about things that were going on in the boat. In a classroom (because again, this advice is usually given to kids), how are they supposed to learn if they can't freely ask questions? Plus, there were times when I needed to give an instruction and couldn't do it. So it wouldn't work as an instructor. Or nagger as I learned earlier in the day.

I think you should try this if only for a little while. I'd love to hear your experiences good or bad. Even though this was no fun for me, it was a pretty neat and harmless (except to my ego) experiment. I'm dying for someone to document trying it at a party. Cuz I ain't doing it...

kxx

At 2:01 today I was...

Shopping with Audrey. We had just taken a break and gotten a drink at David's Tea. Hers was birthday cake flavoured (ick), mine was "main squeeze", a citrussy concoction that makes me very happy.

We do a lot of bonding while shopping and I have to say that it really works for us. We talk a lot more at the mall than we do at home. Here her nose is always in her iPod or she's locked in her room. It's weird to say but I miss her a lot when she's here. At the mall we talk about hair and clothes and laugh and really get to know each other. We don't have to spend any money (but we do... did you really think we didn't?) but we have a really good time every time. Even if it's a short trip for a necessary item like this was.

I hope she remembers these little forays to the store forever. I know I will treasure them since in a few months she'll be in high school and I won't be able to pay her to spend time with me at the mall in case someone sees her.

kxx

Wonderland fun!

I had to tear myself away from the Olympic coverage to celebrate my birthday. We decided to head to Canada's Wonderland... the Disney of the North. I guess. I've never actually been to Disney. Anyway, it's a 6 hour drive from here so we had to miss Canada's last bronze in kayaking and the closing ceremonies but that's neither here nor there.

After an uneventful drive we arrived at the cadet camp to pick up Elliott. He looked as happy as he gets (embarrassed half smile-- shoulder squeeze hug) to see us whereas I had to refrain from crying and kissing his face all over. Hey, I hadn't seen the kid in 5 weeks.

So we pick him up and whisk him away to the hotel. After a nice pub meal (new cider discovery... Somersby=YUM), we headed to bed since we'd have to make an early start in the morning. Saturday was, well, the only way to describe it was shitty. Cool and rainy with frequent showers.

We threw on our tsunami gear and headed to the park anyway. What could we do? We'd prepaid and driven for hours. When we got there we realized what a perfect amusement park day it was. We walked onto rides with no lines nearly all day. Once we were even able to ask the operator to run a ride again with us all on because there was no line waiting to get on. At one point Henry and I were waiting around for the others who'd gotten on a roller coaster and realized we were sitting on a bench in front of an empty ride. So we just got on and waited in style. Fantastic. A couple of times the sky opened up and we got completely drenched but generally, the day was worth it.

By the end of the day our clothes had dried, the sky had cleared and we even went on a flume. That was the end of the fun for us though. We hadn't realized how uncomfortable it was to be wet until we got dry. The flume spelt the end of the day for us. We got pizza back to our hotel room, bubbled in the hot tub for a bit (I guess we weren't done being wet after all) and went to bed.

Next day Elliott needed some things to bring back to camp (candy and Yu-Gi-Oh cards... whatever) and a haircut. He claimed the camp barber had one eye and terrible depth of field and he worried about his ears. We said our tender goodbyes (I misted up while he shuffled his feet uncomfortably) and we made the long drive home.

All in all, a great and short family road trip. Elliott's due back for good on Saturday so it looks like summer is really over. And believe it or not, I'm looking forward to going back to work!

kxx

At 2:01 today I was...

having a meta moment and blogging. Okay, I wasn't really blogging but reading other people's blogs and watching Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion out of the corner of my eye. How enjoyable is this piece of fluff? It's going to be a real adjustment when I have to go back to work and forgo these afternoon movies. Although to be perfectly frank, I'm home most days to watch them. Spoiled? Me?

kxx

At 2:01 today I...

Was just completing stage one of chocolate cake duty (during another intolerable athlete retrospective during the Olympics). And why was I making rich, delicious chocolate cake? Because it is my husband's 50th birthday today! Of course I never need a momentous occasion like this to bake a cake but when your spouse turns a half century, you break out the beaters. Well, you do if you're me, anyway.

kxx

Olympics.

Olympics olympics olympics olympics olympics olympics. Olympics olympics olympics olympics olympics olympics!! Haha! Olympics, olympics olympics....

Olympics.

kxx

***translation***
Won't Can't blog... Olympics are on.