As Per P's Request

Patience complained that I don't blog enough for her liking, and went as far as to suggest a topic, so here you go Poo!

I love my name, it's very unique and I think it suits me pretty well. It is somewhat of a conversation starter (aka:TIME WASTER) when all I wanna do is order pizza or get a coffee. Those times, I use a fake name, usually Katie or Sara. The other day I tried Maggie on for size, but the store keep thought I said Meghan. So I guess it happens with normal named people too. 

A few years back, I was starting to get really tired of talking to people about my name. I'd quickly bark back the answers to the questions I knew were coming and roll my eyes. I say that only because every single person I've ever met asks the exact same questions.  "Oh what a beautiful name! Where does it come from? How did your parents choose that name? Do you know what it means? It's just so unique! Blah blah blah!", and I would feign interest and flattery. 

So now, if I don't lie about my name to the barista, I lie about the background of my name. It's a lot more fun for me, and it's really funny to see what new stuff I can make up and what people believe. Last Sunday my name was Ukrainian and my mother was an immigrant, from whom I got the name. Yesterday, to the shoe guy, I was a Native girl from the Sawridge tribe who chose not to obtain my status. Even though I'm whiter than snow, I quite often have people believing I'm half South American/Native/insert your favorite culture here. But I get my fair skin from my Scottish father, of course. Now when I have to talk to someone knew, I'm genuinely interested. I wanna see how the heck this story ends just as much as they do! 

I suggest you try making up stories about yourself. You might just find yourself much more interesting and ethnic.

Sleepy Sunday

Last night I attended Debbie's 50th birthday party, which was so much fun. She is the secretary at our school, and I always share my baking with her in turn for first pick of clients. Not crazy, booze filled, can't remember anything the next morning kind of fun, but fun nonetheless. She had some family over, and a neighbor, and there were great amounts of spicy Indian food with meats of unknown delicious origin. I wanted to ask what kind of meat it was, but I thought that might be rude, no? I arrived around 6pm, but we didn't start eating until 10:30pm, birthday cake even later. I think this may be part of the Indian culture. Children were present, and I overheard the parents mentioning that said children, ages 3 and 10, had napped earlier in the day so they could come over. 

Long story short, I got home much later than expected and slept through my alarm. I had previously arranged for a ride from a boy, and had to cancel. In my sleepy state, I agreed to go over later for lunch with his family and a Family Ties marathon. Now this boy is nice enough, but I have zero attraction or interest in him that way. For me to meet the family over traditional French Onion Soup Sunday and participate in marathon watching of the beloved childhood memory kind would just be misleading. Right?  To be fair, I did have an assignment to tackle, and I would like to think that I would commit myself to my homework even if I were interested in him (but who I am kidding). I feel like a total b word for bailing over txt message, but wouldn't it be worse if I went over with a 'let's just get this over with' attitude? 

Must be more assertive. Scowl more, smile less.

Level 3 Clinic

Bear with me while I stress about all things that are required of me in the next 6 months. I am by no means complaining, just making a list so that I can start to visually attack things.

 - 3 Minimal Cases ( 1 with Rads )

 - 2 Perio Cases ( Both with a FMX or Modified FMX ) No Panorex here, just old school PA's and     BW's which is so very time consuming...we're talking 18 pictures of your teeth in one sitting.

 - 2 Senior Cases ( 1 with Rads ) While I love my senior clients, they are by far my most reliable,    everything must be slowed down to their pace. And that pace is very, very slow.

 - 1 Child Case, between the ages of 6 - 11

 - 1 Adolescent Case, between the ages of 12 - 17 ( either adolescent or child with Rads )

 - 5 coronal polish

 - 2 air polish (this one is fun...I spray baking soda at very high speeds in your face)

 - 2 IntraOral Camera ( I like to do before and after pictures with the air polish for a 'wow'         effect to remind my clients why they committed to spending 6 - 24 hours with me in the first place )

 - 10 radiographs attempted, 7 of which need to receive a grade of 80%. Does that make sense? Just some background, if you make ONE mistake on one film, for example overlap or too mesial, or your obnoxious patient moved his big fat head, you get 60% which is a big fat FAIL. 

 - 2 Nutritional Evaluations. Client must keep a record of their diet for 5 days, I write a paper about it.

 - 2 Medical History Evaluations. In order to qualify, client must have a disease or condition and I ask them lots of personal questions about it. This one is tough, because often, our instructors feel that the client is not 'diseased' enough. Well I'm sorry that I don't have cancer patients with mitral valve relapse, diabetes mellitus or Paget's disease knocking at my door.  Although last semester, I was able to get an eval from a child who wet the bed. The teacher wanted to see my ethics in action. 

 - 2 Oral Hygiene Evaluations. Last week I signed up for an eval and barely passed because apparently I 'lost control of my client' because he was brushing too fast. I mean really, it's not like he started busting caps in people's asses. 

 - 2 impressions. Clients phone in and talk about what an impression I have left on them. Kidding. 1 sportsguard and 1 whitening tray. We're only just learning alginate right now and it is trickier than candy making. Spatulate, spatulate!

 - 5 UltraSonic and 5 Instrumentation tests. Must be done on a client with heavy deposit, you sign up that day, and if you're lucky, the instructor might feel like testing you. They did not feel like testing me today.

 - 4 Sealants. Please don't salivate when you get these done. 

 - 30 Deposit Removals. Someone like myself or Eve is 1 removal, Dad maybe 3, heavy smoker man who hasn't seen the dentist in a few years is a juicy 5 or 6. 

 - 1 six week re-eval. I convince you to come back in 6 weeks so I can nag you even more about flossing. 

 - 1 paper about a disease. Crohn's was taken, so I'm still undecided.

 - Out of all the clients I see, I choose one to make a 'case study' and do a big paper and presentation and study models for. I'm thinking of using this one client who has 3 decayed roots ( no crowns left! ), a denture she removes about every leap year, one premolar that's hanging on for dear life and a Class 3 furcation involvement. That is when so much gum and bone has been destroyed that you can see the space between the roots, it looks like a little window. French for window is fenetre, which is the root of furcation. I just say that to myself though, I'm not sure if it's actually true. 

 - 2 Long - Term goals, related to clinic, one of which is research based and one which is a personal goal, and we give bimonthly reports on our progress of said goals.  I think my personal goal will be to have a regular bowel movement schedule. 

 - 2 placements at either a Pedo, Perio or Ortho office, all of which have waiting lists.

 - 1 afternoon with school aged children nagging them to floss

 - 1 afternoon in the community talking about oral hygiene or denture care or sportsguards, something of that nature. I'm thinking about teaching the Firemen...

I think that's it for now. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. Now come visit so I can clean your teeth!

Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

How weird is this? Some religious guy promoting tanning beds? 

I suppose it's one thing for the Rev to proclaim his love for the rays, but it's a completely other ball game when he gets a team together to mock up some posters and distribute them to tanning salons. Is this a church trying to reach out to a new demographic, or is it the tanning salons trying to attract a different kind of customer? Wait...maybe tanning salons and Reverend Carl are co-conspirators and skin cancer is the new blue kool-aid!!!!!!!! Eeeegaadd! 

Not Fair!

Pharm was my most challenging course this past semester (besides Clinic, but let's not get into that).  One of the last questions on our 130 multiple choice final was:

128.  Which one of these statements is incorrect?

a) ASA is not an anticoagulant*

* Okay, so I don't remember what b, c and d were, but that's only because I only needed to know the one correct answer.

I don't think teachers should be allowed to abuse double negatives in final exams. After 127 questions about parasympathomimetics, HMG coA reductase inhibitors, ACE inhibitors, barbituates and nonbarbituates and  carbamezipines, Dr. Mohanta's use of these negations nearly caused my brain to spontaneously combust. Which is just the sort of thing she gets off of, I'm sure.

Point - Counterpoint

Point

You are good to me. We can talk for hours with no effort at all. You help me study, you buy me birthday presents, you take me out for breakfast. You introduce me to your friends, and everybody you know knows my name, even though they've never met me. You have very nice teeth and gorgeous blue eyes. You take me to the airport and pick me up when it's raining. You call me to let me know when the cheese I like is on sale. Your very beautiful condo is always impeccably clean, no cleaning ladies involved. You bring me veggies from your mama's garden. The second you first saw me I could see your eyes light up, and they still do every time.

Counterpoint.

You only just moved out of you parents house as you entered your 30's. You're kinda bald, although I suppose that's not your fault. Everything you eat is composed of butter, red meats, bleached white flour and high fructose corn syrup. And rye, yechk. You take a lot of medications...again maybe that's not fair, but meds just weird me out. How about cutting back on the buttered meats before popping the Lipitors? You tell me about your money troubles (we all have them), but then you buy an Audi? You won't come to my school so I can clean your teeth. You don't floss. You snore. You shave your chest (WHY on earth do men do this? For the bikini shoot that's coming up? I don't get it.) You use Pert Plus. Back to the Audi thing....you place too much importance on these things. A cottage, condo and a luxury vehicle are great, but why not live within your means and not be a gazillion dollars in debt? You would never honestly appreciate a (hypothetical) dinner I'd cook for you. You won't let me clean your teeth the second time I asked you to come in when a client didn't show for me. 

So maybe I'm being incredibly picky; and I probably just revealed a whole lot of my own  shortcomings. But I still can't stop thinking about him. Le sigh.

Flexitarian

I've often referred to myself as a 'flexitarian'. Although I wish I could say I was clever enough to have created the phrase on my own, I read it in a random magazine at some random time and I think it is a term that describes my diet well. 

I can go probably a month without eating meat and not even realize it. I feel like my meat preparing skills are lacking, and am always shocked when I  compare a can of beans ($.79) to 2 chicken breasts ($8). 

But from time to time, I absolutely CRAVE meat and will stop at nothing until my hunger is satisfied. Here are my favorite meat dishes. If it weren't for them, I could be a vegetarian in a heartbeat. 

Rare Beef Noodle Soup (Pho) - Especially good served satay style sprinkled with peanuts, and with lots of basil, bean sprouts, fresh lime juice, hoisin and hot sauce. This delicious soup will cure you of any cold or sinus thing you got going on. You know the place is authentic when you write your own order down. You see, with the Vietnamese, their Pho making abilities decrease with the more English they speak. Its a fact. 

Greek Lamb - A lot of people don't seem to care for lamb, something about the smell. I, on the other hand, love it very rare, with any sort of oregano/mint seasoning. If I were on death row, my request for my last supper would be lamb, pita bread, tzatziki, kalamata olives, a fresh cuc and tomato salad and lemon wedges. Drool. Incidentally, that would also be my meal of choice for a Tuesday.

Sushi - Sushi? Sashimi? Regardless, I love em both. BBQ eel, yellowfin tuna, California rolls with real crab, no fake crap...mmm. Recently I discovered that I enjoy the little guys that have the fish eggs in them. I know it sounds so gross, but they crackle in your mouth 100 times more than rice crispies ever could! And they look like pretty, shiny jewels. I love how sushi doesn't weigh you down, and how it takes so long to eat. On the other hand, it drives me crazy when your friend, maybe someone from school, says "I LOOOVVE sushi, my boyfriend is  a quarter Japanese so we like, have sushi all the time" and then when you to MakiMaki they order tempura vegetables, edamame ( which she absolutley drowns in high sodium soy sauce ) and teriyaki chicken. YOU my friend, do not love sushi. 

I like leaving these tasty, meaty dishes to the pros who know what they're doing. So when my iron levels are getting low, this is how I indulge. What are your fave meat dishes?

Marco freaking Polo

I like kids. I really like the ones that belong to my sisters. I generally like other people's kids, and always smile or make funny faces at them in the elevator. 

But when all I here when I'm doing homework is "MARRRRCO POOOOLLLLOOOO" for 2 hours with increasing intensity and volume, it makes me want to build a gingerbread house, and, well, you know the rest of that tune. 

The Little Kid Table

When I was a kid, I always lamented the fact that I had to sit at the little kid table. It was so not my scene. Between bites of mashed potatoes and roast beast, I would glance over at the grown up table and dream of being included in their intellectual conversations, which were no doubt about the economy and foreign trade policies. Year after year of holiday gatherings I sat in those plastic chairs, with those plastic cups mocking me after every sip. I can drink orange juice out of a glass cup without breaking OR spilling damn it! 

Yknow what made it even worse? There was no set age at which one graduated from the kid table to the grown up table. It was completely subjective! As the teen years arrived, I would say to myself, "This is it, Nawana. This is the year, I can feel it!". I think because I stopped growing around the ripe old age of eleven, it threw things off for me. 

And to add insult to injury, ( salt in the wound,  pickle in the sandwich, whatever adage you prefer), after I got a couple Christmases and Easters under my belt at the grown up table, all these 'husbands' started showing up at our house. Before you knew it, I was demoted to the kiddie table! Well screw you "brother-in-law"! You can't just show up at OUR house and expect your male grown-up status to trump the bond of blood! I knew these people before they reached sexual maturity! 

I think there should be a brother-in-law table where you guys can all sit in the plastic chairs and talk about how miserable your existence was before you were honored to meet my sisters. And when you come to the big table to get an extra jug of O.J. we'll all glare at you for being such an annoyance. 

I'm not bitter, not at all. 

 

I Heart Scarves

I am home alone this long weekend, and can only look at so many pictures of diseases of the mouth before I needed a break. So I decided to catalogue my scarf collection and wanted to share it with you. Yknow, for insurance purposes. Here are all the scarves I own, in no specific order, each with a story of its own. 

This is my most recent addition, from my San Fransisco-Eve visit. It doesn't have any fond memory associated with it yet, its still just a baby love scarf. And that is my kick ass name tag. It makes me feel important.

This was bought from a vintage shop in Camrose, and I adore the silk and paisley pattern. This scarf is purely decorational. When Bunny recently visited, we were just out the door and I said  "Wait, it might be cold, let me get a scarf", and returned with this one. She scoffed. 

This scarf is in the top 3. It is warm and pretty. Me and my good friend Jill waited in line outside the Edmonton H&M on opening day, and when they opened the doors and released us hungry wolves inside, it was one of the first things I grabbed. It has lots of coffee stains on it, and I also wore it at Patience's Winter Wonderland Wedding.

This scarf is ok. I bought it on sale at the Jacob Outlet. 

This scarf is the one that started it all! Patience went to Paris for a few months and returned bearing gifts, and in doing so, marked the beginning of my addiction. I don't wear it a lot, to be honest I'm not crazy about the dusty-rose shade, but love it because it was the first. A girl always remember her first.

This is my hippy love-child scarf, and I usually wear it in my hair like this. I rocked this look when we were in Nice when I had ugly-salty-ocean-sunscreen-my-north-american-styling-tools-do-not-work-in-Europe hair. It has a certain smell to it.

I bought this scarf in green for Bunny. I wore it in my hair and went camping with some Camrose friends, but left it in while I slept and almost choked.

Hey, I forgot I had this one! Will incorporate it into my look this week.

This is for when I'm feeling royal.

This scarf is ugly but very warm. I wish I knew how to quit you.

I really love this one. I've always been drawn to this mustard-yellow shade. I left it at Betina's once. It was a lonely couple of months full of uncertainty. I wore this scarf last night and scored myself a client, woohoo! Way to go yellow scarf.

This one is from Paris. Okay, okay, it's from the Zara's in Paris, and I'm sure that in the Summer 2006 season that Zara's the world over had this scarf in stock, but I don't like to think about that.

Boys always kiss me when I wear this scarf. Its the most magical thing I own, but as we have all learnt from Harry Potter, magical objects with a mind of their own are not to be trusted. 

I wore this scarf to a Gwen Stefani concert, but unfortunatley, I ate and drank and was very merry in the pre-concert jubilee and had to go home before Gwen even made it on stage. Just ask Serinda for the details. 

This is a classic black scarf from American Apparel. In their ads, they have emancipated girls wearing it as a dress or a tube top, but I just stick to wearing it this way.

*Author's Note - I also have a beautiful golden scarf from Ethiopia, but it is cut in such a way of which I'm not familiar, so I drape it over a tupperware bin and ta-da! Nightstand!

Friendly Umbrellas

I left the house yesterday quite early, while the sun was still shining. 12 hours later this was not the case, and me any my cute outfit got completely soaked in the heavy rain. 

Then at the crosswalk, with my cashmere cardigan I got on sale and love lots and lots over my head, the cutest Filipino lady motioned for me to huddle under her umbrella with her. She even went a couple blocks out of her way to walk me to my bus stop. This put a huge smile on my face for the rest of the day, as it was so kind and simple and sweet. Thank you so much for your act of kindness Umbrella lady, it was very much appreciated and made my day!

Tough Love

At Betina's request, here is a taste of Nunu's tough lovin' as of late...

Friday night with Boy:

N - "Thanks for taking me out, friend, I had a good time."

Boy - " You always call me 'friend'. I'm not your friend! You say it all the time just to put up this wall between us and remind me that I'll never have you! "

N - " I could call you pal, if you like. "

Saturday night, Boy took me to an unnecessarily violent movie with a weak plot, no character development, and a lot of pointless killing and close up shots of heads being blown off. I was covering my eyes through half the movie and growing more pissed with each shooting. While walking to the car...

Boy - " Thanks for sitting through that, I guess I owe you a couple chick flicks now. "

N - " Mmm hmm."

Car ride home...

Boy - " So its supposed to rain all weekend "

N - " Mmm hmm. "

 

11 minutes and 26 seconds later...

Boy - " There were a lot of recognizable face in the movie "

N - " Mmm hmm. "

Then he asked to take me out for breakfast...

N - " I'm pretty sure I'm still pissed "

The day after that...

Boy - " My weekend was terrible, I really wanted to take you out for breakfast. Please let me take you out again, if I could be so lucky! "

N - " Hmm."

Betina likened me unto Anne Boelyn with my bittersweet brand of tough, Nunuliscious lovin', and that I had better be careful, or it might just be off with my head. 

Coconut Chickpea Soup

Now that I have three weeks of blissful nothingness ahead of me, I can finally spend more time experimenting in the kitchen! This soup turned out to be delicious...maybe a little spicy for the kiddies or PopPop, but do try it, it's very tasty, I promise!

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp cumin

1 grated nubbin of fresh ginger

S n P as you like

Saute these ingredients in a bit of olive oil in your favorite soup pot, until onions are translucent. 

Then add:

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can chickpeas

1 tomato can-ful of broth or water

Let this simmer for about 40 minutes, then add the star of the dish

1 can coconut milk

Ahhh...this made my soul all warm inside on a rainy Friday afternoon. As you drink in each spoonful, think about how much you spent:

1 can store brand diced tomatoes               $0.79

1 can store brand chickpeas                         $0.69

1 can coconut milk                                         $0.99

Onion, spices                                                  $ Probably no more than 50 cents 

This makes it taste even better!

Teeth chat

A snippet of a conversation I had yesterday that made me laugh...

Boy: " So, you're in dental hygiene? You must have nice teeth."

Me: " I guess, although I do have mild generalized fluorosis and my mandibular second molars                  are rotated mesially."

Boy: " I thought you were gonna say that."

My Vice

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

Sometimes, I walk through the mall to get to the bus terminal to look in my favorite stores. I breathe in the scent, stop blinking, and touch the fabric, all while walking very quickly so that I do not spend money I do not have. Some of you probably think I'm kidding, but I'm really not. Serinda knows this addiction of mine is no joke. After living with her for about a year, I wonder how long it was until she started to notice my 'shame shopping'. We have never spoken about my closet addiction, (mind the pun) but I know she knows. 

I would go shopping, back in that time of my life when I had time and money, at least once a week. If I just bought one or two items, I could usually stuff them into my purse so she wouldn't notice when I came in the door. More often than not, I would have six or seven items, so when I returned from work at 2am, I'd just bring them inside them. On Mondays, when I had the house to myself, I would dispose of all the shopping bags and take out the recycling. Serinda was too kind to ever call me on it, although her adorable, observant 4 year old usually blew my cover with something like this:

 Abby   "Auntie, is that a new dress? I've never seen that before!"

Nunu    " Oh, this old thing? No...besides it's for work! "

Abby    " No, I don't think so. I've never seen it before "

Nunu   " Well it was on sale for $ ( insert real price - $40 ), so I had to! "

It's been very, very hard for me to stop the shopping thing since I've become a student. Luckily, school keeps me very busy and away from temptation. And it has made me realize that it can be superficial and unnecessary. But oh, how I miss it; how my heart aches.

I think when I start waxing poetic is a good time to stop. 

Enjoy!

Sabba, fabulous roommate of the year, had recently been training for a show. A show, as in eat a lot of protein shakes, go to the gym twice a day and oil up your muscles. For reals. After about 4 weeks of this silly behavior, the smells of my peanut butter cookies finally brought her back to earth.  And the past few days have been full of celebration, tonight's being goat cheese rolled in herbs. It reminded me of Paris, sigh. 

And so here is a picture of Bunny and I, walking in the gardens of Versailles. Who, incidentally, does not eat goat cheese. Enjoy! 

P.S. I think I often sign off with 'Enjoy' after serving tables in restaurants for 2 years. Can't help it. 

The Difference Between Having a Fat Bum and Being a Fat Bum

One of the great things about living in the GTA ( Greater Toronto Area ) is the cultural diversity. Having grown up in Small Town, Northern Alberta, the only other ethnicities I ever really saw was the single black family in town and the really nice Chinese family that have ( I stand corrected, 'had' ) a monopoly on the Sawridge Plaza food courts. 

Now, I am usually the only white person wherever I go. It is very cool to be able to put a name and face to countries that I would have otherwise just referred to as 'somewhere in Euro-Asia'. These wonderful, multilingual, international friends of mine bring with them the traditions of their country, of which I am so grateful. For instance, the $3 eyebrow thread of the Indian people. And the $2 falafel of the Middle East. I love them all!

Today as I was walking to my bus stop, a gentleman, in all seriousness, asked me to explain to him what a 'fat bum' means. He had to be at least 35, and was wearing a business suit, and just wanted some help because his English wasn't very good. I couldn't stop laughing, I kept looking for cameras to zoom in on my reaction or something. I then had to explain the difference between ' You are a fat bum ' and ' You have a fat bum '. And I also defined the word 'bump' for him, and to not confuse it with 'bum'. Apparently some juvenile delinquents had yelled this at him earlier, and he was unfamiliar with the slang. After he finally ended the conversation, I looked like a complete idiot on the bus ride home trying to quell my laughter. 

Now, I'm home, and I can fully let my laughter out and share it with you!

This is such a funny comic, based on a real group of guys living in Toronto. They're always featuring local haunts, and it is updated every Thursday. So after reading Betina's TTT, check out butternutsquash.net for a good laugh and a subtle dose of Canadiana. This is one of my faves!

Dreams

I've been dreaming more often lately. Or at least, I have been remembering my dreams more often than I usually do. Here's a taste of my subconscious from the past week. 

- One of the girls from school, I can't remember who, ate the rest of my peanut butter. My organic, delicious, chunky peanut butter that I had forgotten about and discovered in the back of the cupboard just a few days earlier. I gave random girls at class the stink-eye the next day for their dream crime. Just kidding.

- After studying occlusion and crossbites all week, and how oral habits such as tongue thrusting can affect them, I dream about my teeth being horribly misaligned and wake up convincing myself that I can't be a dental hygienist with bad teeth. Because sometimes if I'm nervous, I chew on my tongue. I know it's weird and gross, and I'm trying to stop so that it won't affect my bite. 

- I dreamt that I was an RA at Augustana, and my partner RA was Rudi. It was a crappy dream, because it made me think about ex-boy for the first time in a long time. And cafeteria food. 

- These dreams are usually set to a steady beat of a female voice saying " X-ray " over and over. And over. 

I like it better when I don't remember my dreams. It really weirds me out how what happens to you in real life can squeeze in there. I much prefer a peaceful, undisturbed and dreamless sleep. 

Home Alone

This week has been oh so quiet. Sabba was gone on a business trip for a whole week, and Emilia is always gone anyways, so I was home alone for the whole week. I mean, of course I went to class and saw my friends at school, but my evening hours were spent with the man who takes up most of my time - Dexter. Me and Dexter always do cool things together. Like x-rays and scaling. I've scaled Dexter's posteriors and anteriors more times than I care to think about. He is a very lucky man. My favorite part to scale is Dexter's quad 2 Buccal. I could scale that quad in my sleep, baby. He sits with me on the bus, and doesn't mind all the radiation I expose him to. You're a good man, Dexter. 

So on Friday, when I was doing my hair to go out with the girls, I was a little disappointed when Kristin and Sara called to bail. I was really looking forward to getting some time away from Dexter. ( Sometimes he gets on my nerves ). And then boy called. 

* Aside. This is not the same boy as previously blogged. 

Now, I kid you not, but it was only the day before that I spoke to boy about how I don't think it's a good idea for us to do something this weekend, how I do not want a boyfriend, how I don't want to lead him on, so on and so forth. And then he calls me the next day as though he woke up with his memory erased. "Hey, what are you doing tonight?".  Well, it turns out that ignoring uncomfortable conversations with someone is a pretty successful technique to get them to go out with you again. Cause I did. But it was only a movie. And I just did my hair. And I was dying to talk to/see someone outside of school. 

And now, Sabba is back home, thank goodness. She usually stops me from doing stupid things like that. I made her a yummy welcome back dinner of George Chicken, brown rice with tomatoes, and leftover vegetable drawer salad. And homemade strawberry shortcake, of which we ate plenty. With Sabba home, this week should (hopefully) be more successful in thwarting off boys of little interest. 

Back to Reality

Just got back from P's wedding. It was so much fun, and I'll admit I got a little teary-eyed watching Patience and Dan being all googly with each other. For the entire Payne clan to get together, it takes a lot of work, especially now with all the kiddies in the picture, so when it does happen, it is monumental. And so much fun.

Although it may have appeared that this wedding was the main event of the weekend, I am here to correct you. The real reason Patience and Dan got married was so that I could meet the much talked about boy. Margie and Eve definitely had their own agenda for me and this boy, and I was but a puppet with my strings being pulled. Not that I minded. Except when boy made me late for the reception. Payne's are NOT late! It was very hard for me to concentrate on looking beautiful while my eye was twitching and my blood was boiling with the anxiety of being late for family pictures. Worse than me, I can only imagine Papa Payne's eyes bulging out of their sockets at the thought of me being late because I am alone with boy in car. It ended up being totally fine, as it always does, and I suppose it was a good exercise in trying to keep my cool. 

And now, after a fabulous weekend of being whisked away to wedding parties and playing with the kiddies, I have to come back to my reality of sitting on the bus and going to school with no boys to speak of. Sigh. 

Another complaint about the weather...

Well, not just the weather, but more that I have to trek through the wet tundra of the greater Toronto area to get to school. And the fact that the City of Mississauga recently cut it's budget, and decided that clearing sidewalks is not a priority. So, when there is a snowstorm, like there was this morning, I really have no choice but to walk on the road. Hopping through the 2 feet of snow on the sidewalk was simply not an option for me. I suppose every choice has a consequence, and today, that consequence for me was that this ate me for breakfast:

Also, on the bus this morning, a very pregnant woman with long nails was picking her nose very slowly and deliberately. She would then proceed to wipe her boogies on the kleenex in her other hand. Could you please do these sorts of things in private, and not on public transit? Thanks. I'd appreciate it. 

I'm It!

Alright, do I really need to repeat the rules? List 6 random/unusual quirks about myself, you know how it goes. I have no blogger friends outside of the sisters, so that rule does not apply to me. 

1.  I LOVE stand up comedy. I have not yet had the chance to see any live shows. The opportunity just hasn't presented itself to me yet. And, I am a little worried that it might ruin it for me, and that would be oh so tragic. One of my recent faves, although he is no longer with us, the very sarcastic Mr. Mitch Hedberg. Search him on YouTube, and you will not be disappointed. One of his best jokes: " I find that a duck's opinion of me is strongly influenced by wether or not I have bread. The fact that a duck does not have the ability to get bread for himself is the biggest joke on the duck ever. Like, if I owned a convenience store, and a duck walked in and grabbed a loaf of bread in his beak, I would let him go." Do yourself a favor, and check out his stuff, cause it's all in the delivery. 

2. I am a very good speller. Ever since I was...well born, I suppose. ( Just kidding ) I can remember my older sisters asking me how to spell things when I was 7 years old. Unfortunately, this skill does not amount to much in this technological age, and has yet to earn me an income. Also, Patience used to ask me for help with her theory homework. Mrs. Jardine was always such a stickler. 

3. I can clean a kitchen in the blink of an eye. Always put food away first, do the dishes, wipe the counters, sweep, and wipe up any spills with a wet rag. Mop only if necessary. Always in this order. Don't even think about it, just do it. 

4. I have only recently discovered the deliciousness that is almond butter. I don't know why I've never tried it earlier, I just never got around to it. It is so freaking good. I buy it now instead of  Nutella. While it's just as equally fattening, I argue that it's not as bad, because there is no sugar. I like it best with rice crackers. Mmmm.

5. If you ever sit down or place anything on my perfectly made bed, I will clench my teeth and veins will pop in my forehead. That is, unless, I feel I know you well enough, and then I will scream in disgust at the horrendous thing you have just done. I'm sorry, I know it's completely insane, it's just my instincts. 

6. I really like boys, and I wish I didn't. It would be so much easier if I just didn't care. 

Little Tortilla Boy

Whenever you're feeling a little sad, all you need is a dose of stand up comedy. Here's one of my favorites. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou3-sSIXkkg

Torrential Downpour Blues

I have still not completely adjusted to life in Ontario. I know that it's still a province of The True North Strong and Free, but it feels much, much different than the plains of Alberta. For one thing, did you know that they sell milk in bags here?!?! Eecchhh! I'm not a big on the cow's juice in the first place, but this packaging they came up with just turns me right off. And the weather! I mean, there's snow, but the grass is still green. And it rains. All. The. Time. The second I step into the shower, my fingers start to prune. Before, this would only happen during the last 10minutes of Monday Night Family swims. Last night, we were experiencing what I thought was a gentle, calming winter rain. My room was rather stuffy from my Christmas absence, so I opened my window ever so slightly so that I could fall asleep to the pitter patter. ( I like to pretend I'm Bambi sometimes ). Little did I know this was just the prelude to today's symphony of torrential madness. If I didn't have my pre-clinic manual and set of fake teeth weighing me down this morning, I honestly think that I'd be tangled in some Atlantic-Eastern current which would have spit me back out at the Bermuda Triangle. 

Side note - I carry my instruments and teeth in a see-through container. This is constantly bringing me a lot of 'she's a total weirdo looks'. My favorite is when someone has to sit by me on the bus and I get the ' Oh great, why do I always have to end up sitting by the creepy tooth girl' look. I try to make sure to fall asleep on those people. 

Here's to hoping tomorrow is dryer and doesn't knock me down!