Movie Weekend

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to see 2 movies that were complete opposites of each other. The first is In Bruges where two hitmen are told to take a break in the small town in Belgium and are to wait for further instructions. One enjoys the small town charm and history while the other dislikes it completely and prefers the city life much better. It has a dark humour about it, but it was also very bloody.

The other movie I went to see is The Other Boleyn Girl where we encounter the life of the Boleyn sisters, Anne & Mary and their lives in the England court with King Henry VIII as they both compete against each other to obtain the king's affection.

To Kill A Mockingbird

I recently took a little break from the book The Sea, The Sea to read To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It is one of those great American Classics, and I absolutely loved it!

I am interested to see the 1962 film and see how well Gregory Peck plays Atticus Finch. He was my favourite character in the novel, because he showed so much class and dignity and was not afraid to stand up for what he believed in.

The story takes place as Scout Finch, Atticus' daughter, narrates her views about growing up in a small town with African-Americans being treated unfairly. Her father, a lawyer, has been ordered to defend an African-American man for a serious charge where, if found guilty, the mandatory punishment is death. Scout ends up learning what is right and what is wrong with the help of her father and her older brother. She learns to face her fears and to be kind to everyone, despite what the people in the town tell her.

I am currently reading books from the "Rory Gilmore Book Club" where Rory Gilmore was a character on The Gilmore Girls that I admire and am fascinated with the books on that list.

But, I am always open to any other books that I may come across (or that have been given to me as gifts). I am now back to reading The Sea, The Sea and will keep you updated on my status.

Snow!

I love snow! I love watching it fall from the sky! I find it very magical and enchanting to see snowflakes outside. I'm not a skiier, or a snowboarder, I just like snow. I like it much better than rain, which I'm sure we'll be getting lots of this spring. There's no snow puddles, and snow doesn't make you drenched when you're outside for 2 minutes.

Lately we have been getting a lot of snow and it seems that everyone is frustrated and sick of it. I don't think we'll beat the record snowfall in one season (which currently stands at about 444cm from 1971) but we are pretty close. After last night's snowfall, we are now at about 358cm, which is now 2nd place.

It's been forecasted that we are to be hit with another big storm all the way from Texas and some meteorologists are predicting that we could get 50cm of more snow in a 36-48hr time period.

It must be pretty chaotic being someone that works in the snow plowing business, or who works for a major city as they have no time to rest before the next snowfall comes in, yet again.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I have just finished reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey and found it very entertaining. I loved how one character could change the views of so many people inside an asylum and forced them to become independent again.

Next book: The Sea, The Sea by Iris Murdoch

Winter Weather

This is a map, as per the Environment Canada website, indicating weather warnings in different parts of the country today.

The red part means there is a warning, and the beige part means there is no warning in effect.

The weather has been so crazy lately with super-low temperatures in the Prairies, to ice storms in the Atlantic.

Luckily, we've had mild-like weather here in Ontario, and I've appreciated it. I'm now bracing for the 20cm of snow we're about to get tomorrow! I'm so excited about it!

Happy 50th Birthday LEGO!!

Australia

I had just heard on the news this past week, that Australia's foreign affairs had issued a warning to travellers coming to Canada. They were warned by posting a 'proceed with caution' list:

- risk of a terrorist attack

- pick pocketing

- earthquakes

- avalanches

- spontaneous forest fires

- extremely cold weather (wind chills)

- heavy snowfalls/ice on the roads

- wildlife watching

- demonstrations/protests

Every country is unique. You can't dwell on the negativities when contemplating visiting another country. There is always a risk in safety, no matter where you travel. It just seems a little over the top as to how many warnings have been said about a country like Canada.

The Bell Jar

I have just finished reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (her only novel written). The story is about a girl named Esther who is put through many different emotions, and is eventually sent to an asylum to help her to get some sleep and to stop her from wanting to commit suicide. She describes her insomniac depression as the feeling of being trapped under a bell jar, struggling to breathe. I love how the story ends in a quizzical way, leaving the reader to determine what should become of Esther. The book ends with Esther walking into an interview room where it will be determined whether or not she needs to be in the asylum anymore.

I recently learned that the book is semi-autobiographical and has many similarities to the author's real life, excluding the names of people and places.

Next book: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

The Secret Life of Bees

I have just finished reading a book I got for Christmas. The Secret Life of Bees is a story about a girl who is faced with hard times and has to make some tough decisions while learning about her past, and enjoying being a beekeeper at the same time. The book takes place during the time of the Civil Rights Act in South Carolina and forces the reader to deal with the controversy that people were facing at the time.

I love this book and I loved the main character, Lily, as she was led down certain paths, meeting really nice people that helped discover who she was.

Next book: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.

Christmas

I have been finding it hard to get into the Christmas spirit. I don't know why. It's not like the weather last year where it was sunny and green everywhere.

We most definitely will be having a WHITE Christmas this year!

I'm not the type of person that buys presents in October, nor do I buy them Christmas Eve, but this year I just can't get myself in the mood to go out and shop. I keep thinking there's lots of time, when in fact - a week today is Christmas Day!! Plus, I'll have to wrap everything in time also.

It just doesn't feel like it's the right time to be doing all this. Maybe I'm just focusing on all the snow and everything that has been going on the last few weeks. I think I'm just distracted from what I need to get done.

Hopefully (and I know that Steph is thinking this too) I'll head out the next few days and finish everything off in one big swoop so that I'm not stuck in a store with lots of people and line-ups and full parking lots with aggressive drivers. And then I'll lock myself away for a few hours to make those presents pretty and inconclusive to the recipient.

I will be spending lots of time with family and hope you will too. Happy Holidays!

Journal

I've been debating the fact about whether or not to keep a journal. I'm not sure what it is I would write in it, but I suppose it would contain how I'm feeling at the time. I'm unsure of whether or not this would be helpful as I'm dealing with several mixed emotions. I'm afraid that when I write something down and I look back on it - will it make me more sad? more mad? more confused?

Do you think it would be a good idea??

Frisbee is done!

Well the season is over for the "grape" team and we had a fantastic season. It took us a few games to get used to how each other played and to learn the rules (in my case). It was so much fun!!

Last night was the coldest we've had to play in, and the latest at night. We were actually really lucky with the weather this fall and didn't have to cancel any of our games. And we only had to play in the rain twice.

In the picture, you can see me straining to reach for the frisbee. In this photo, I wasn't successful in the catch.

Pushing Daisies

I've started watching a new show which is very different, but very interesting. It's called Pushing Daisies.

It's about Grown up Ned who puts his talent to good use by touching dead fruit and making it ripe with everlasting flavor. He opens a pie shop. But his gift leaves him wary of becoming close to anyone, as beautiful waitress Olive Snook finds out.

His life as a pie maker gets more complicated when private investigator Emerson Cod finds out about Ned's secret. Emerson convinces the cash-strapped Ned to help him solve murder cases (and collect the hefty reward fees) by raising the dead and getting them to name their killers.

Then Ned is handed the case that changes his life forever. His childhood sweetheart, Charlotte "Chuck" Charles, is murdered on a cruise ship under strange circumstances. Her death brings him back to his hometown of Coeur d' Coeurs to bring Chuck back to life, albeit briefly, and solve the crime. But once reunited with Chuck, Ned can't bring himself to send her back.

He helps her escape after her grieving aunts, former synchronized swimmers Darling Mermaid Darlings, think they've buried her forever.

Chuck becomes the third partner in Ned and Emerson's PI enterprise, but she encourages them to use their skills for good, not just for profit. Ned is overjoyed to be reunited with Chuck, the only girl he's ever loved. Life would be perfect, except for one cruel twist -- if he ever touches her again, she'll go back to being dead, this time for good.

It's very witty and different than any other show I've watched.

The Memory Keeper's Daughter

I have just finished reading The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards.

It is such a trivial book about a new father making a difficult choice for the better of his family. He kept a secret from his wife, and hadn't told her when he died.

He lived vicariously through photography thinking it would fill the void and make him feel less guilty. He attempts to live his life helping others and fails to help his own family from destruction all because of his quick decision making one snowy night.

Next book will be determined when I can get my library card to work!!

Sports

Will & I signed up to do sports games once a week, until December. Every week it's a rotation of 5 different sports. The different ones are dodgeball, volleyball, basketball, floor hockey and indoor soccer. Last night we played volleyball and it was so much fun! It was even more fun when we won, but this is a non-competitive league. I must say we did much better than last week when we played dodgeball, but it's a different sport, and some people are better are one over the other. Next week, I believe, is floor hockey, which is pretty intense with all the flying, whacking sticks going around, so hopefully I don't get too beat up.

Hiccups

I find myself encountering several situations where I am caught in a hiccup and it ceases to stop. I try multiple methods, but I always manage to hiccup between each one causing me to start all over again. After several minutes, it manages to hurt my stomach with all the jumping of air. I've learned some techniques given to me by the people around me at the time:

1. Drink while plugging your nose.

2. Hold your breath.

3. Count backwards from 100.

4. Swallow a tsp. of sugar.

5. Eat an ice cube.

6. Have your right hand push on your left arm.

I know there are so many more remedies that I could try, but I guess willing them away doesn't help too much, nor does getting angry at them help. My new desire is to learn how to prevent from getting them.

Ottawa International Animation Festival

I had the pleasure of being invited by my sister and her husband to see some screenings from the Ottawa International Animation Festival for the short film competition.

Their motivation for going was a film called Madame Tutli-Putli that was mentioned in my aunt's blog about a friend of hers being involved in the process of the film.

We also got to see several other films and they were quite amusing. One of my favourites is Lapsus (seen above) about a nun discovering the danger of the dark side. It was created by Juan Pablo Zaramella from Argentina.

It was very interesting to see all these artistic talents of animation in several different genres.

Caption from: Lapsus [2007] Juan Pablo Zaramella JPZtudio Argentina 3:30 Canadian Premiere

Richmond Fair

Last night we headed to the Richmond Fair that is pretty much in my sister's backyard. I went with my sisters, brother-in-law and Wills. By the time we all got off work and drove over it was around 6:30pm. We decided to get some dinner at the chip wagon down the street and head into the fair afterwards.

We arrived just in time to see Celebrity Pig Racing (which also included ducks, a goose and goats). I think our team got gypped by managing to get the larger, slower animals of the groups racing.

While some people shopped, some went on rides where I squished my sister to the edge of the seat and I felt really bad about it. She was laughing the whole time while I was screaming my head off, so we balanced each other out.

We played a few games, and some prizes were won and then went on the ferris wheel where it was moving faster than I had wanted it to. I was really brave and went on this tall ride that just goes in circles like a clock, and even managed to convince Wills to come too!! He didn't open his eyes during the whole ride, and I was mostly alright with it.

We rewarded ourselves with some good ol' fashioned BeaverTails and decided to call it a night.

The Lovely Bones

I recently finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. It is such a tragic story of a girl who is already in heaven as she follows her killer's next moves. She watches her family grow up and they learn to live without her. It is a story of breaking a family apart and bringing it back together with the common bond of the girl that died.

Next book: The Memory Keeper's Daughter

Frisbee Update

So, the first day of frisbee did not go as well as I had planned. I hadn't a clue what I was doing, and I was afraid they were going to kick me off the team. I always felt like I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I even managed to strain my knee. Our team lost 15-4.

Luckily, they kept me on their team and I went back for game #2 last night. The field wasn't as nice and we were short a few girls, which meant only one of us was off at a time. I found this team liked to run more (longer passes) which tired us out. We had a great first half but then I don't know what happened afterwards, but we just couldn't pull it out. We ended up losing 15-6.

I'm still a little sore today, but that's probably from the lack of exercise that I've been procrastinating. I'm still glad that I joined the team, and hopefully over the next few weeks I'll learn to maneuver and throw so fast and get us lots of points!!!