We took the kids to Granby Zoo last Sunday, thanks to my Mum, who provided passes for us. Traffic was a prime pain in the ass, so it took us ages to get there, but once we were there, we picnicked on the lawn, basked in the sun, and had a great time. We each chose one “must-see” animal beforehand, so no one would be disappointed – we knew we couldn’t possibly see everything. Colin chose lions, Dr. T. chose some obsure Scrabble-word animal, Robert chose penguins, and I chose tigers.
The lions and tigers were not a problem; however, the penguins didn’t actually exist, but Robert was a happy camper nonetheless. As for the weird Scrabble animal, we didn’t see one, but we did see an agouti. Woohoo.
Anyway, on a crappy, rainy, Frances-inundated day like today, please enjoy these sunny, happy day pictures.
Oh, all right. Sheesh
Via Clare:
Last Cigarette: 205 days ago! Yay, me!
Last Alcoholic Drink: last night (Moosehead).
Last Car Ride: Yesterday afternoon, to Canadian Tire and back.
Last Kiss: last night
Last Good Cry: honestly, don’t remember. There have been many movie-induced tears, however.
Last Library Book checked out: Jack Maggs, by Peter Carey. I didn’t finish it.
Last movie Seen in Theatres: Spiderman II
Last Book Read: Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown (author of The Davinci Code. Currently reading The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency.
Last Movie Rented: 13 Going on 30.
Last Cuss Word Uttered: Fucking. But I blame our misadventures with our dishwasher.
Last Beverage Drank: Breakfast shake – OJ, slimfast, whey protein and peaches.
Last Food Consumed: ditto
Last Crush: Football players practice outside my office window. I’m fickle.
Last Phone Call: The Gazette, to cancel my subscription. They must have known, because they didn’t answer.
Last TV Show Watched: Scrubs
Last Time Showered: in just a few minutes, I swear.
Last Shoes Worn: Clarks wedgie sandals.
Last CD Played: “Me & Mr. Johnson,” Eric Clapton
Last Item Bought: Dish rack and drainer – hence Canadian Tire, and the conclusion to the dishwasher story.
Last Download: Flash, in order to play live video of new dishwashers. It’s like appliance pr0n.
Last Annoyance: Sour milk.
Last Disappointment: No coffee, given the sour milk
Last Soda Drank: Gingerale.
Last Thing Written: Comments on student papers.
Last Sleep: Last night.
Last Weird Encounter: My friend’s dog, who made very interesting sounds and puffed fur at us for no apparent reason. We tried food, belly scratches, water, out, in… it turned out what he really wanted was our hot chocolate.
Last Ice Cream Eaten: Don’t remember – yay, me, again!
Last Time Amused: Just now, because Colin is taking the verb quiz I gave my students on Friday – and he’s doing better than they did.
Last Time Hugged: last night, by a sleepy Robert.
Last Time Scolded: Yesterday – apparently I overreacted to the fact that our $%#$&^# dishwasher is $%#$&^# broken.
Last Time Resentful: Aside from the usual resentment at skinny people and bad drivers, I can’t really remember.
Last Chair Sat In: couch.
Last Underwear Worn: White thong.
Last Bra Worn: Peach-coloured Body bra from Victoria’s Secret. Really.
Last Shirt Worn: blue and white t-shirt.
Last Webpage Visited: http://hermitclare.blogspot.com/
You know, that guy from Scrubs
In case you were wondering “whatever happened to Bea Arthur” (of course you were. Just be a (wo)man and admit it.), it turns out she’s dating Zach Braff.
You know, the guy from Scrubs.
His Garden State marketing people have convinced him to get blogging, and he’s funny (that’s haha, not strange). He claims to read all comments, but every post generates hundreds – some of the commenters are just as funny and twisted as Braff – but it’s like shopping at Winners. You have to be prepared to wade through a lot of mundane stuff to find the perfect pair of pants. There are usually several comments rejoicing the fact that the commenter is first! second! top ten! – on the other hand, the prevailing sentiment is one of happiness, appreciation and humour, so it’s a good thing.
Monkey with a tin cup
This month’s monkey – “Tell us something weird about yourself that involves music.” Ah, where do I begin?
As many monkeyers have confessed, I too find myself tormented by songs that are not necessarily on my top 100, shall we say. For instance, last week’s radio-in-my-brain song was I Think I Love You by the Partridge Family.
But here’s the weird part – not only are these RIMB songs more often than not terrible, terrible songs, they are also incomplete.
I find this particularly annoying because I usually have a really good ear for lyrics, so I can listen to a song once or twice and then sing along loudly- but correctly – each and every time the song is played on the radio (not the brain radio). But the RIMB songs, the ones I don’t actually like, are not songs I’ve really listened to, given that I don’t like them. So last week, for instance, my brain radio played the following:
I think I love you
So what am I so afraid of
…
da da da, a love there is no cure… for(?)
…
I think I love you
…
(repeat)
My other musical confession* is that I like pop and disco. Abba. Blondie. Shania. Now, granted, I’m sure there are plenty of closet pop fans out there – but beat this:
In college, I had a friend who I used to invite over so we could dance. Just the two of us. To Madonna’s Immaculate Collection. Get into the groove, boy.
I knew it was wrong. I even planned our rendezvous around my then-boyfriend’s schedule, to ensure we were never discovered. Oh, the shame.
*Spanish Inquisition – the Musical!
Good morning
Two more medals to start your day.
G-roovy
Six gmail invites up for grabs, if anyone’s interested.
Are you there, God? It’s me, Maggie.
Please get the following out of my head:
I think I love you
So what am I so afraid of?
I’m afraid that I’m not sure of
A love there is no cure for
I think I love you
Isn’t that what life is made of?
Though it worries me to say
I’ve never felt this way
It’s been several days now, and I’m thisclose to getting on ebay to find a David Cassidy poster. Help!
Go !
Athens is not going to be a landmark Olympics for us, but we’re chugging along, with seven medals so far, and more to come.
Perdita Felicien, after running so well in the preliminary and semi-finals, fell in the final of the women’s 100m hurdles. Felicien was expected to win, so the miss is heartbreaking – but the outpouring of support for Perdita is beautiful, and makes me a thousand times more proud than the medal would have.
Back at work (or something like it)
First day of school. Three classes, each the usual first-day abbreviated version. I know, I know, it’s a rough life, but some one has to shape the leaders of tomorrow – or at least their speechwriters.
Highlight of the day: I made everyone in my second-year course explain why they chose this course (Canadian Women Writers). One student said “because everyone said you’re an awesome teacher.”
And everyone must be right – there are 10 students in that class who are with me for the second or third time. So either there is an interestingly high number of masochists in our student body, or they like me, they really like me.
😀
GOLD!
Kyle Shewfelt has just won Canada’s first ever medal in men’s gymnastics.
Update: Montrealer Chantal Petitclerc has also won gold, setting an Olympic record in the 800-metre wheelchair race. The medal doesn’t count toward the Canadian tally, because the race is a demonstration event. But woohoo!! nonetheless!