strange occurences

merry christmas! can't believe the holidays are upon us again but it's been great these last few days. today is boxing day and it was a nice day full of interesting things. chiefly among these events worthy of mention was a little trip elisha and i took out to the local conservation area to have a little...christmas cheer:) anyway, we were just about to pull out when this older lady walks around to come and speak to us. she wanted some help lifting full water jugs, so we agreed to help. soon, the jugs were full but we got to talking and before we knew it these two little, harmless ladies were explaining that they were mormons. the younger of the two did most of the talking, but she was practiced and didn't leave room for us to interrupt. at one point, i couldn't help but laugh at the situation and felt an almost uncontrollable urge to scream out "This is absurd! Run for it Leesh!".....next time for sure.

another sort of unusual thing was we were sitting and watching t.v. when all of a sudden the lightbulb from an overhead light dropped out of the socket and fell onto my dog's body while she was lying in her bed. it didn't shatter or anything, but i also can't explain why that would've happened...it made me laugh, but scared my fearless dog because she hasn't set foot in her bed again.

just sort of a strange day and thought i'd share.

christmas rush

with only 2+ plus weeks left before christmas, i have to say i'm getting swept up in the spirit. there is something in the air that seems to be looming and building intensity, just waiting for the right moment to release the downpour of the holidays. though it may be commercial and kitschy, i am still happy to be a part of it this year.

one thing is that i forgot just how expensive it can be! my measly writers' salary is hardly going to cover it, but it will ensure that i can cross all the names of my list. just have a few more to go and then done...hopefully i can finish next weekend before the christmas party...the mall is such a brutal place on the weekend in the lead up to christmas...madness, utter madness. definitely the side of christmas no one really wants to see...people hurrying to and fro, picking through things and checking every store to make sure they got the best deal...and my personal favourite...the HUGE lineups.

the holiday pitfalls aside, many good things come with the holidays. great food, picking out a tree and decorating it, listening to christmas music, seeing friends and family, time off! and least we forget the presents!!! oh man, i can't wait to see what people got me and for me to see the look on their face when they open my gifts...such an exciting 15 minutes before it's all done for another year....a gratifying experience nonetheless.

and to top off this festive, holiday mood i'm in we also have plans for NYE many, many, many weeks in advance which is new and thrilling. the karaoke/bad-taste theme we've thought up allows for a variety of tacky items in a multitude of distasteful manners. there are going to be lights and balloons, a stage, disco balls, prizes, a champagne fountain, and lots of other goodies. it should be an evening of special magnificance.

cold enough fer ya??

winter is in full swing here in canada and although i may have forgotten what it feels like to live this wacky weather, i certainly haven't forgotten just how weather-obsessed canadians are. everywhere i go these days, people are talking about the weather. current conditions, future forecasts and even past weather woes. i guess what i want to know is, why is everyone so g.d'd crazed about it?is it enough that we have to live, work and just plain try to get through it?? do we really need to point out every slight temperature drop or quote the probability of precipitation??? yeesh! give it a rest already.

what is really interesting is how the knowledge of weather patterns gets around. it's a lot of heresary and gets passed around mouth to mouth, but quickly becomes a "big fish" story as people add or modify the details. the forecast might be calling for 10 cm of snow, but after it gets told from about 5 people, suddenly we are having the worst winter storm in years!

batten the hatches, secure the doors and children, everyone hunker down 'cos we're going to be stormed in!

it also amuses me about how much people looooooove to be the first one to give information on the weather, especially if they can be the harbingers of bad news. weather sadists if you will.

"We're supposed to be getting 80 cm of snow, each day, for the next 7 days."

"Guess I better cancel my life for the next little while. Thanks for telling me and here's your gold star for being such a good little weather watcher."

My point to all of this is can't we find something more interesting to talk about than the weather? I mean, there must be hundreds, if not thousands of things to discuss...current events, politics, movies, books, sports just to name a few...why not talk about that in lieu of endlessly debating what the weather may or may not do?

i hope you'll take some time to consider what i've wrote...at least inbetween forecasts.

reconnecting

there have been many things which have been difficult since returning to canada. adapting to the food, the prices, and the weather making up the short list. surprisingly, there is one area which seems to be most problematic for me and i'm unsure of what to do. this would be personal relationships, namely my friendships. while i thought i did a good job of staying in the know with everyone back here, i find myself struggling to have the ease that i once did with some of the people in my circle. i know that with some of my friends 20 years could go by and we could pick up right where we left off, but there are a few with whom i thought i had a stronger friendship. at first, i believed it to be a problem with my friends but at the moment, i'm not so sure.

let me give an example...the other night it was a friends' 30th birthday party...i attended the dinner and the bar afterwards but i found myself speaking with the same people i had all night. i just didn't feel up to the task of working the room so to speak. but why? these people are my friends and i should be able to speak to them about any and everything...shouldn't i? this is when it dawned on me that it isn't they who have changed, it's me. when i mean change, i don't mean fundamentally...i still speak and act and look the same, but there is a small difference which i can't put my finger on just the same.

maybe it's the travel, maybe it's a simple as i was gone for a long time but whatever it is i don't know if i can get it back to the way it was...i feel disconnected, like i don't fit in anymore....but maybe that's alright. i've always said that trying to relive an experience is never a good idea because it will always fall short of the previous experience. instead, we should always strive to create a new experience so we can grow and learn from that experience. i guess i should heed my own advice on this point as now it appears that i am trying to go back 4 years ago and expect my friends to be the same.

i'm honestly not saying that i don't or won't continue to be friends with anyone....that said, i feel like i need to stop kicking a dead horse. some new friends, or strengthening the friendships i do have might just be the ticket.

toothache!

for the last 3 days, one of my teeth has been throbbing like a sonuvabitch. it all started about 2 years ago when one of my fillings fell out and because it didn't cause me any pain at the time, i did the usual out of sight, out of mind thing and put off having it fixed. now here i am, 2 years later with no benefits in a land of expensive dentistry, suffering. tooth pain is a horrible bitch goddess and i find myself thinking of ways to remove it myself. well, come monday it looks like i'll be begging local dentists to pull this mofo out of my jaw so i can get on with my life again.

the choices i've made.

i've been putting off writing this for a while but here goes...
so, after living in taiwan for the last 3.5 years i have finally returned to canada. the last few months here have been full of up's and down's. initially, it was great to be back because it felt more like a vacation. that has changed. reality has finally set in and i've got to say that it's not what i had hoped. things haven't exactly fallen into place as i had hoped they would. the plan was to A) be settled in toronto or B) set off for another country and C) worst case scenario. as it happened, option C ended up being the best option. let me expand on what the worst case scenario is. living in hanover, with my parents, working at some job which was taken in the meantime. welcome to my reality. however, this drastic change in lifestyle does has one advantage and that is that i can have time to focus on what i really want to do next. chiefly, get the hell out of my present circumstances by saving enough money to allow the freedom of choice. thus, i've decided to keep a blog about my experiences over the next 8 months...stay tuned for more updates.

moment

here's a moment from the present situation that i thought i would share...
...medium rainfall, 11:40pm, monday night @ elisha's parent's place...throwing our cigarette butts under the back porch and making the obligatory clunk sound as our wrists hit because of our throws...ahhhh....an excellent monday night thus far.