You know how you go into a public rest room and the integrity of every stall has been compromised so you have to pick the least disgusting one? That's how I feel about dating......

So Kalyn and I decided to go on an adventure into the unknown realm of speed dating, and I am talking about the epically classic girl-sits-down-and-boy-changes-tables-every-five-minutes scenario. We did a little hunting, found a business in the city that does this and signed up for the event.  How it works is that you go to the event, meet with some guys (in this case I met 20 different guys) and after 4 minutes, they change tables.  After the event, the people email you a link where you go on and say if you are interested in a guy or not and if you are, and the guy is interested in you, the company will tell you and you go from there.  The venue was actually pretty nice - we were in our own little room in a restaurant and it had a relaxing atmosphere to it.  We met a little bit ahead of time to have a drink or two for some liquid courage, got our name tags and sheet to write down names and information and then sat at our tables and waited for the shitshow to begin. 

First off, 4 minutes can seem like forever or like 30 seconds, depending on the person.  However, I think that somewhere along the lines, they started speeding up the 4 minutes as I was not the only one thinking they were going faster, and not in a "connected" sense.  Right when you were getting into the good part of the conversation, the bell would ring.  A couple of guys actually lingered to keep talking, which kind of felt nice hahaha.  Some guys were big into the high-five's - there was one guy that I kind of watched and he would high-five the girl almost every time.  I got a high-five from him, I can't remember what I said to illicit it from him.  I learnt that in that type of environment, there is no room for shyness or it is awkward to sit there in 4 minutes of silence or forced conversation, but also arrogance can dominate easily in 4 minutes.  Eye contact was kind of interesting to observe - I was wearing a top where you couldn't see my cleavage, I was quite well covered up, but I still saw guys looking down at my breasts.  Some would maintain eye contact and never break it, others would not keep it at all.  And the questions - I was trying to come up with unique, out of the ordinary questions to ask as I mean, come on, meeting over 20 people, repetitive questions are going to be the death of people.  Sadly, most of these men were not that creative.  I think almost every guy asked me "where are you from?" and "what do you like to do for fun?" and with only having 4 minutes, that is the conversation.  I would try to ask the first question, something like 'what adjective would you use to describe yourself' or 'are you a sports fan'.  Something out of the box.  One person said he heard a hint of a Canadian accent, after learning that I was from Canada.  And I would highly suggest for anyone thinking of doing this, do not drink 2 pots of tea beforehand because if you do have a break inbetween boys, 4 minutes (or their version of 4 minutes) is not long enough to get to the bathroom and back refreshed.....just a head's up........So, come along the ride with me as I describe some of the people I met during my night of speed dating - all of their names have been changed for anonymity sake. 

First up, and what a way to start the evening off, was Accent Boy.  I asked him where he was from and he got me to guess, and I guessed Scotland.  He said I was right, but that he could also do an Australian and an American accent.  He has the ability to change it whenever he wants to.  Right.  Made me think of Frank Abagnale Jr. which is not a good thought when trying to select a potential mate for a relationship. 

Then came Sigh Boy.  I think in the 4 minutes were were talking, he sighed about, oh, 17 times, at least that is how many ticks I marked down.  He was late because 10th street was closed and he had to go all the way around (when I asked him about just hopping over the barricade and walking down the street, he looked at me like I asked him about shooting a room full of grandma's or something) and then he wasn't even going to make it to the event because he just wasn't feeling into it but then he thought he should . . . I started playing Mahna Mahna in my head by this time.  This is why I do not want to counsel people.....hahaha. 

Oohhh next up is Porsche Guy.  Now, admittedly, Kalyn and I saw him when he first came into the room to sign up and then watched him go to his car - a Porsche.  He was probably the hottest guy we saw there as of yet, so we were pretty excited.  Up close and personal, however, not so much.  It was disappointing.  Thankfully I could hold a conversation with him around the book called The Game by Neil Strauss (http://www.amazon.ca/The-Game-Neil-Strauss/dp/0060554738).  And he snowboarded, so he actually enjoys being around snow.  But he seemed like he was trying way too hard to look, act and be cool. 

 

Suit Boy sits down and just looks at me, so I start the conversation, asking how his day has been going. He was very hard to talk with and very serious. And would just stare at me. Almost like 'impress me. You aren't impressing me'. 

 

Question Boy soon got to my table.  I was watching him while he was going around the tables as there wasn't enough men to women so every once in a while, I would have no boy at my table and I would be able to people and behavior watch, and this boy, he was quite fun to watch and converse with.  It was like he had a list of questions he had to get out in those 4 minutes - he would start to ask a question and when I would respond, even before I had finished my answer, he was onto the next one.  And questions like 'are you close to your family' 'what are your ambitions' 'what is your favorite color'.  They were crazy. 

Marriage Boy was quite funny - I am still on the ropes with him as he may be a little too intense for me, but maybe it was nerves.  I don't know.  He asked me how I would describe myself, so I used my never failing, usually conversation invoking answer of Fearless.  He liked it.  He then told me to go more into it, and I quoted him Dr. Suess.  He also liked that (in fact, he said he was going to google the quote - not sure if he believed me or wanted to verify it, I don't know).  He then proceeded to tell me that I was the coolest chick he met there.  Score one for me.  So then I ask him what his word would be, and he says honourable.  As in 'when I look you in the eye and shake your hand, I will do what I said I would do'.  He is driven, knows what he wants, is ready to settle down, he *is* 28 after all and has all his shit in order.  That's when the marriage mentality started to show its colors I think. 

The last guy was probably the best.  "Triple Threat" boy.  I was kind of hoping he wouldn't want to sit down as the event was done, but he had wanted to meet all the women there, so when he asked if he could talk, I did not want to say no.  I should have said no.  All this guy wanted to do was talk about his accomplishments - he was in a movie (he never told me the name of it), he is an artist and likes collecting pieces and he is a wonderful cook.  So, his ambitions - to be in more movies and become famous and get "Emmys" (I didn't correct him that Emmys weren't for movies), he wanted to open his own art gallery with his own pieces in it and open a restaurant that will be filled with reservations for months on end.  He dubbed himself a "triple threat".  Does he have a ambitions and dreams? Absolutely!!!  Did it attract me? Not at all.

Out of the evening there were a couple of good ones that sat down.  There was one who used to live in Memphis and when he saw my Elvis purse, well that dictated the conversation for the most part.  He is also a lawyer, so when I told him I used to be a legal assistant, he apologized for all the rude and mean lawyers I ever had to work with hahaha.  Then another guy who liked sports and penguins.  Another one who was in psychology as well and just seemed so sweet and young in a way.   Probably out of the 20 there, I will say that I would be interested in about 4 or 5 of them.  The rest were not my type at all.  However, I will probably go to another one because it is fun and exciting and something different to do.  Who knows, maybe one time I will meet a guy who likes going to the zoo, can cook, will listen to me talk about my school and watch Disney movies with me and knows how to country dance and is taller than me and doesn't smoke and has a job, a car and lives close to me and is happy with life........buuuuuuuut I am not holding my breath. 

What would your story be?

A song that is perfect for this theme for your listening pleasure:  song got famous after being aired on Grey's Anatomy Be warned - this blog is more on the pensive/serious side of the spectrum.  Maybe my old age is finally catching up to me........hahaha

So, for school, instead of writing a huge exam or having to do a dissertation/paper/thesis, we need to do work experience, which is awesome because it is hands on and is exactly what I want to do, but I never thought of the process of obtaining that experience.  When I went for my Legal Assistant Diploma, we had to do a practicum but I don't remember the process being this stressful or intense.  I was "cleared" to send out my resume to nine different practicum sites and each one needed its own cover letter.  I tell ya, I wanted to smash my head through a glass window every time I sat down to write one of those.  In one paragraph, I had to somehow tell the company about my experience and how I would benefit that company - what I would do for them.  I am not that good at talking myself up to begin with and to do it in one paragraph is freaking intense and stressful.  I wish I could have just written in the letter that I have experience working with difficult people, I can portray professionalism and I will benefit your company by just being myself as that tends to work just fine.  Oh quote Pooh as he seems to have the answer for everything.  It got me thinking though about myself, who I was, what I was doing, stuff like that.  Although this will sound very morbid, if you had to right your own eulogy, what would it say?  What would you want people to know about you? 

Kalyn and I went to the Portrait Gallery on the weekend and it was kind of funny as there was an exhibit of Ben Durham who does text portraits.  He got mug shots of childhood friends and their arrest records and drew a picture from text, a recounting of everything he could remember or have been told about that person.  They were really interesting (the picture is a picture of the painting that is made out of words).  When you got up close and personal to the picture, you could see the writing - lots of it wasn't legible but you could see letters and words.  It was such a unique was of creating a picture that it got me thinking again about a person's story and what makes up their past and present.  There was another exhibit where the paintings were based off of automythography, which is the process of identity formation that combines the real with the self-invented.  So here is another question for you to ponder - what would be your version of automythography? What would it look like? 

 

On a brighter note, instead of doing something American, I had an Indian experience.  The group of us girls went to an Indian Restaurant called Zaika and man it was so good.  Thankfully we had Riya (we probably would not have been there if she did not come to begin with since she spearheaded the outing) to order the food and get us the VIP treatment.  We had Aloo Papdi Chaat and Vegetable Samosas for appetizers, Chicken Tikka Masala, Paneer Makhani and Naan for entrees and Mango Kulfi and Kheer for dessert.  Such good food.  Definitely going back there again.  The waiters made sure we were always doing good, the manager kept coming by our table and even the owner came over to make sure we were doing good.  Beyond great service and food.  A very wonderful experience and outing with the girls. 

Got booked for criminal mischief, found out that I wasn't a Missing or Exploited Child and watched Harry Potter play basketball

Oohhh look - I am actually writing something after I have done it!!! New Years Resolution in effect!!! Hahaha.  So to commemorate this occasion, and to go with the theme of the Crime and Punishment Museum, here is a wonderful song for you:  get those hips swivelling

First up is our trip to the Crime and Punishment Museum.  Sadly, this is a museum that you actually have to pay for (all the other ones I have gone to and will go are free) but we got our tickets through Groupon so they were cheaper than usual, which rocks.  This was probably by far one of my favorite museums so far as it just rocked.  The exhibits, the information, the hands on things, so much fun.  And I mean, its crime and punishment - how much more fascinating can you get.  Especially when one makes a fool out of themselves like I did.  Surprise surprise there hahaha.  So when you first get to the museum, there is this really creepy looking wax figurine of a guy being held up by shackles and whatnot.  Now, if you know me, my imagination goes bonkers, especially around things like this because I imagine a hand moving, a head turning, something on that wax figurine moving and scaring the living bejesus outta me.  Thankfully, this wax dude did not move, but it still played on my mind.  The first part of the museum is old school punishment, like the Shrew's Violin, Finger screws, head cage, things like that.  I would not have lasted back in those days oh my goodness.  There was one sign that said "in most colonies it was against the law to swear, be caught in a state of public drunkenness, not attend church services, inappropriate behavior on the Sabbath, and unacceptable conduct between members of the opposite sex".  Well I am fucked.  Hahaha.  And you did not want a person who had no concept of paying attention dishing out some of the punishments with things like the Baker's Baptism, which happened when the baker's bread did not weigh enough - the baker would be dunked in the central fountain in a cage-type device until the punishment administer thought that the baker was out of breath.  There was no standard amount of time - it was left up to the person operating the device.  That sucks.  I wonder if they could interview potential punishment administers......

 

So then after the old school punishment, we move onto the Wild West.  Things like Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  The good stuff.  Lots of guns.  Oh, watching Riya and Kalyn shoot the guns at the old west saloon was pretty funny - they need to come out to the farm and practice on some gophers hahaha.  There was a picture of a real hanging where the guy's head like snapped off from the force of the hanging - how cool is that??? I just kept thinking back to the movies like Tombstone, Young Guns, American Outlaws.  I still think I was born in the wrong era - to be one of the saloon girls would have been a kick ass job - I wouldn't have minded wearing the dresses they wore as they were quite sexy and purty.  And then when they break out into an occasional song and dance number, how can that be topped (ie The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas style).  If you don't know what I am talking about, check out this clip:  how could life get any better than this?? I think this is where I make a fool out of myself (no, not by showing you that clip, but at the museum).  So we are standing around, looking at things from the era of Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Ma Barker, the likes of them folks, and we are talking about the show The Following, telling Riya how much it was pretty good and that it didn't scare me so she should be able to watch it.  Well, at that moment, I just turn to look beside me and there is this guy standing there, reading something, but looking awfully still, like wax figurine still, and he seemed to appear out of nowhere.  What do I do? I scream and jump.  Have a heart attack.  Laugh till I cry.  Those types of things.  I don't know what it was that made me so scared of seeing him but I just thought he was fake and came outta nowhere.  The funny thing is that he didn't even acknowledge it so I wonder if it happens to him a lot.........Riya and Kalyn were laughing their heads off about it every time they saw the guy though.  Glad I can amuse them.  It would have also been pretty cool to live back in the era with Bugsy Siegal and the Flapper Girls.  I would have made a kick ass flapper girl, except they were so classy looking.  I don't have that classy look to me.  More saloon type of a look for me I think.  I don't think flapper girls were as chesty as I am. 

Then we get to the good part - the serial killers part, the assassinations, things like that.  The likes of Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, The Unibomber.  Sadly, that part of the museum wasn't as big as the other exhibits, but it was still exciting to see.  I would have loved to be one of the people who were around us when we were in that part of the museum as we would talk about the different killing methods or what each person did, their signature, etc etc.  I can tell you this though - John Wayne Gacy's fascination with clowns, that should have been an indicator right then and there for people.  Clowns are creepy, end of discussion. 

 

We get to the booking process part of the museum and now that I think about it, I shouldn't have been "booked" for criminal mischief as it was probably a ploy on the governments part to get our fingerprint (you scan a fingerprint and it prints off a "fingerprint record" of what one supposably gets booked for).  I scanned as criminal mischief.  Riya got prostitution.  Kalyn got kidnapper.  I got the boring one.  But I will say this - the mug shot of Frank Sinatra.....ohhhh weeee he was a looker.  Even in his mug shot.  Saw a representation of Al Capone's jail cell - that guy lived in style, both in and out of prison.  And, if anybody wants to know, I got the procedures on how to properly hang a person, participate in a firing squad, pull the switch on the electric chair, subject someone to the gas chamber and lethally inject a person.  Oh the knowledge one gains from the museum!!!!  Learnt that I cannot make the police force as I cannot do 2 pullups (pathetic, I know, but I blame the weight of the boobs).  But Riya and I did participate in a swat training exercise - I took down two perps (thats the short term for perpetrators in case you didn't know). The CSI lab was pretty cool but it was almost too sciency for my likings, but I kicked ass at fingerprint analysis, comparing bullets as well as dental comparisons.  The final part was the set of America's Most Wanted and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, which I learnt that none of us were part of.  Which is a good thing since a) I never grew up in the States so I shouldn't have been there and b) if I was in that database, one would have thought that going through customs something should have showed up, saying I was missing or exploited......but no, they were more worried about me going to school down here.....hahaha.  Overall, the museum was kick ass.  I would definitely go back in a heartbeat as there is so much stuff to read and take in for everything that is there. 

 

After the Museum, we headed off to a Washington Wizards v. Chicago Bulls game:  Michael Jordan's acting debut.......  None of us who went were hardcore basketball fans; I had a very short lived basketball career - I hated the unfair calls and kept getting fouled out and whatnot but watching the game made me remember playing it and hating it hahaha.  I am pretty sure my teammates liked it when I decided to quit halfway through the season (more like the coach basically said that the sport was not for me).  Who knew I disliked unfair calls and had a predisposition of getting back at people...... If it rained, we would have been the first to know as our backs were against the wall and our heads were hitting the roof.  They were still pretty decent seats though in the long run.  And cheap.  Even better.  Riya was hilarious as the only thing she could think of was Harry Potter, seeing as he was a wizard, the Washington team is called the Wizards....you see the connection.  So every time something exciting happened (which, in basketball means really nothing), she would shout out a characters name from Harry Potter.  The one time she yelled out Hermonie Granger......I told her that calling the players a girls name, not a good thing hahaha. 

During halftime we got to watch the chinese version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.  The sad thing is that Kalyn and I were singing along with the theme song.....The Wizards ended up winning the game (woohoo) but I don't know what that means in the grand scheme of things for them hahaha.  I can now knock off going to an NBA game off the to-do list, although I don't think it was ever really on the list to begin with.  Not sure what is next on the to-see list, but stay tuned for it. 

 

If I Didn't Have Bad Luck, I Would Have No Luck At All.......

Well, in case y'all were wondering, I arrived safely in Washington.  The trip, however, was adventurous and full of drama.  I really, really hope this isn't going to be a common theme every time I head home.  To offset my bad luck, here is an upbeat song for this posting, it is from the movie Pitch Perfect, a movie that Mom and I watched while I was home:  a good mashup of songs

My flight left Edmonton at 7am, meaning we had to be at the airport by 5am.  My dad and stepmom truly loves me for waking up at 4am to get me there by 5 hahaha.  I had thought that getting through security and customs at 5am would be easy peasy....how mistaken I was.  Got to my area and approached the ticket agent.  I get the comment, yet again, about how many flights I was taking that day (next time that will not be the case whatsoever).  I get all my tickets, check my baggage and off to customs I go and holy schnikey the line up was massive for customs; turns out the airport is pretty busy at 5 am (but at least customs was open).  Get in line for customs and wait, wait, wait some more, but thankfully the line up was moving pretty fast.  I get up to the customs agent, hand him my passport, F1 paperwork and SEVIS.  He asks me what all the paperwork is for and I tell him that I am on a student visa and they are my subsequent paperwork.  He glances through the papers and asks me where my I94 form is.  Now, when I first came down in August and cleared customs in Houston, Texas, I was told that things have changed and an I94 was no longer needed so they stamped my passport, stamped my F1 and let me go.  That was Houston.  Edmonton - totally different story.  So, when Edmonton asks me for my I94 form, I tell him that when I flew through Houston, they didn't require one and let me through with my paperwork as is.  Well he didn't like that answer.  So I had to go get the form, fill it out, and then, thankfully he said this, I could go to the front of the line and see an agent.  So I do that.  I get up to the line and go see another customs agent.  I get up to see him, give him my passport, F1 paperwork, SEVIS receipt and newly filled in I94.  He looks at the I94 and asks me why it isn't stamped and I tell him that I just filled it out and proceeded to tell him the Houston story.  He didn't seem to agree or like the Houston story, scanned my passport and then told me that we had to go into the security area for him to verify that I am in the system and all that jazz. Get into the security area (had to go through 3 locked doors for this place) and I sit and wait for him to do whatever it is he is doing to make sure I can get on a plane.  By this time, I am looking at my clock, seeing that I only have 45 minutes left to make my flight.  Finally he calls me up and tells me that everything is good; he proceeds to lecture me about not losing my I94, at this point he is stapling said document into my passport to make sure I don't lose it.  I thank him, tell him to have a wonderful day, and he answers "I shall try" (yeah, cause dealing with me was the most horriblest experience known to man and I clearly look like a national threat).  I make it to my flight and we sit there, and sit there, and sit there while we are getting deiced (I think I listened to about 3 Meatloaf songs which gives you a rough guestimate as to how long we were waiting to be deiced/cleared for takeoff).    While we are sitting there, about 4 vehicles with some sort of flashing lights pulls up to our plane - my imagination goes haywire, thinking that they were not going to allow me into the country and all this jazz.  But as we all know, my imagination gets the better of me most times so this didn't actually happen, obviously.  We get cleared to take off and we are up in the air.  Chicago is the first pit stop. 

Get to O'Hare and low and behold, we deboard the airplane while still on the tarmac. No red carpet or anything like that rolled out for us, but it still felt both exciting yet 'what the hell is this' at the same time.  Get into the airport and I am quite happy that I do not have to go through security again or anything like that - finally an airport that I like.  I get to my gate and my luck runs out - there is a sign saying that my flight, which was to leave around 1pm was delayed and wasn't getting in until 1:30pm.  I instantly think of my flight in New York and how that was going to affect it, but I had about a 2 hour layover in New York so I should be okay.   Go get a quick bite to eat since the morning flight didn't have any food and sit and wait for my flight to arrive.  Waiting, waiting, waiting some more.  Everytime I saw a plane arrive, I got happy, thinking it was my plane, but it wasn't.  And they weren't because I was watching the wrong bloody gate hahaha.  Eventually, closer to 2, we board the plane and get on our way to New York.  Now it is quite funny, flying over New York, it looks like those 3D puzzles - very fake in a way but very awe-filling. 

Get to La Guardia, and I am going to say this now - I am never, ever, ever going to fly through La Guardia ever again.  I would highly suggest you avoid the same thing.  It is not a fun airport to make your way through at all.  Especially when one is trying to make a connecting flight without missing it.  Also, when you fly into a terminal in Gate C15, and you fly out of gate C27, they are not necessarily in the same terminal, much to my dismay.  So I get to my terminal, go through security (at which point in time I ask the guy to scan my luggage receipt to see if my luggage is at La Guardia/on the plane and he tells me that he doesn't do that - okay), glance at the time, grab my boots and whatnot from the xray and run, in my sock feet, to my gate to get there in time.  Yep.  I ran through La Guardia in my socks.  Probably not the first time they have seen that and won't be my last time of doing that (except for in La Guardia as I am never flying through there again).  I get to my gate and ask the agent to scan my luggage receipt to see if my luggage is on the flight/at the airport as I had this sinking feeling that my luggage isn't going to go with me to Washington.  She tells me that my luggage will arrive at my final destination - I then try to tell her that I started in Edmonton, stopped over in Chicago and New York was my final flight to Washington, my final destination.  She tells me again, kind of snarkily, that my luggage will arrive at my final destination.  I guess to her credit, she never did tell me when my luggage would have arrived, just that it would have arrived at my final destination.  I get on my final plane, hoping that my luggage is with me. 

Arrive in Washington - woohoo!!!!  Make my way down to the luggage carousel area and watch and wait for my luggage.  People start grabbing theirs, seeing loved ones, leaving the airport; I am still there.  I give it time, wait, and finally decide to go see the luggage agents.  I tell them my travelling day and she scans my luggage receipt.  Scans it again.  Manually enters the numbers in.  She says 'your luggage isn't even logged into our system'.  Oh, wonderful.  Okay then.  What does that mean?  She asks was airline I flew with before getting to New York and I tell her so she phones down to them to see if, for some reason, they have my luggage.  I don't know what was said on the phone but the gist of what I was getting was it was a blaming war - airline 1 blaming airline 2 for not transferring my luggage over or something like that.  Not sure.  I don't care.  Just get me my damn luggage.  So I fill out the paperwork needed for them to bring me my luggage and all that jazz.  So, yet again, I fly into a city without my luggage in tow.  If there was a way for me to have gone a month and a bit on just a carryon luggage, that will be my next travelling mode.  I arrive home and promptly crash. 

So the biggest thing that I have done since being back is the 57th Presidential Inauguration.  My original plans were to hit both the Swearing-In Ceremony and the Parade, but that totally didn't pan out.  The swearing-in was scheduled to happen at 11:30am; I left my place around 9am and yep, it is a good thing I did.  I had scoped out the entire map and plan before leaving to make sure I knew what I should be doing - that all went out the window.  I got into line to clear through security for the parade/mall - I stand in line for about half an hour and suddenly people start getting out of the line.  Whispers were saying that the line was now only for parade route only people and that for the National Mall, we had to go to the 17th street security station.  I was on 12th - 5 blocks - easy peasy.  Wrong again.  Because of the parade route, they had closed basically everything off.  A 5 block walk turned into a 45 minute hike to get to the Mall, but I finally did.  I found a good spot in front of one of the jumbo trons and prepared myself for the wait, the brisk air and the people.  This was the first time I have ever actually watched a swearing-in (in person and on tv) and being in that environment was amazing.  The people were so proud to be American and cheered and booed and just, it was amazing.  I will say that I felt a little patriotic at some points during the speech hahaha.  If you want a full reading of Obama's speech, here it is:  Obama's 2013 Inauguration Speech He was such an amazing speaker; classy, eloquent and hit home with people.  And I realized that even though it wasn't as big as his first Inauguration, this is the last time a black president will be in office until who knows how long, so it is still something for the ages.  He was smiling and just loved it.  Same as Biden.  I like him.  He seems like a good character.  I know nothing about him - but I like his face......hahaha. 

After the speech, I met up with Colleen and Anthony; I had wanted to stay for the parade, but then when we started walking towards the security checkpoint for the parade, they had closed it down and were telling people to go to another one.  We decided to kybosh the parade then and decided to meet up with Stephanie.  We get to Federal Triangle metro station, and the line up to get into the station was probably over an hours wait.  No dice.  There was a pizza restaurant right around there so we thought to go get some food and then the metro line will die down and we can get on.  3 hours wait for a table in the restaurant.  No dice.  So then we decide to walk to L'Enfant Station as it is huge and should be no problem getting onto a train (we couldn't walk to Stephanie as we were on opposite sides of the parade route so metro-ing it was our only feasible option).  We get close to L'Enfant Station and it seriously felt like we were walking into a riot crowd, a mob of some sort, who knows.  People freaking everywhere.  Everywhere.  No matter where you turned you saw people.  And the crowds in front of the metro stations were enormous.  By this time we were starving, sick of people and tired.  There was one point where we were standing in the middle of an intersection, just looking around, and I was about to curl into the fetal position until we got some help or something because it was just so overwhelming the amount of people and the fact that we were stuck.  We stood about an hour in line for a hotdog as that was our only choice/chance for food.  While waiting in line, I get the tweets about L'Enfant Station, Federal Center Station, Foggy Bottom Station and Metro Center Stations all being closed due to a broken down train.  Well that makes sense then about the herds of people standing outside the stations.  By the time we got our hot dogs, the stations were open.  We finally meet up with Steph, get some drinks and food and head home.  What an experience, one that I never have to do again hahaha.  I was slightly sad that I didn't stay for the parade, but by the time the parade actually started (it was an hour late getting started), I probably would have been the grumpiest person around.  But I am happy to have gone. 

 School has started and these classes are going to be a tad more intense than last semester. Ethics, Objective Methods in Personality Assessment, Research Methods and Forensic Documentation, Report Writing and Testifying are my classes. Some more interesting than others, but overall, a good mix of everything. I also started playing volleyball on a city league which should be pretty fun and something to get back into. I bought myself a waterproof case for my ipod so swimming should be getting more routine (but as of today, I haven't swam once since I have been back hahaha). But I tell you this, being away from my routine for over a month makes it hard to get back into.  Next up on the adventure list is going to the Museum of Crime and Punishment as well as a Washington Wizards basketball game!!!!  The fun never ends.  Love you all!!!

All the food food food!!!!! What a wonderful Holiday!!!

Happy new year one and all!!!! It is 2013 - not sure what that really means except for the Mayans were wrong (but people probably cashed in on the panic they created), the world did not end (as they usually predict it seems like every year) and it is the year of the Snake.  If the world really did end, this is how I would hope it would go (you need to watch this, not just listen to it):  the end of the world.  And it is a new year because hockey is finally going to be up and running and starting!!!!  Some pissed off fans, some happy fans - I am just happy that I don't need to be watching/hearing more about basketball and football with hockey now starting up.  This is my happy dance hearing that news (again, you need to watch this hahaha):  shake shake shake

I write this while sitting out at my brothers place - looking out the window, seeing all the snow and wonderfulness the country has to offer.  Sadly, I have not been able to look out the window and see a herd of deer or moose kicking out in the field, but it is still gorgeous nonetheless.  It is going to be a weird feeling landing back in Washington and seeing grass and tank top/flip flops weather hahaha.  I unpacked all my winter clothes to just repack it when I get back.  Oh well - it was absolutely wonderful to have winter as much as I could.  I could not imagine being anywhere that didn't have snow for Christmas, let alone winter.  I am pretty sure my parents are guaranteed to see me at Christmastime from here on out hahaha; well as long as I am somewhere that won't have snow at Christmas. 

Between my mom's, dad's and brothers', this trip has been packed full of relaxing, laziness and family.  Over at Mom's, we watched Hallmark Christmas movies, regular movies, baked, ate, ate, ate, cross stitched, decorated cookies, ate some more, watched more movies and she knitted me two winter headbands. And I got to see my Kitty, who is going to live to be 102 just to spite mom we think hahaha.  I went through my trunk that has is in the attic and the memories that came flooding out of there were awesome - my cast from when I broke my arm when I was 4, Elvis stuff, my cabbage patch kid, my stolen textbook from high school and much much more.  The funniest was this little play thingy I found (one of those emails that got sent around where you plug in certain information and it creates a story) - it certainly fortold some of my future....hahaha:

The Shrine of Insanity Presents....Springer!!!!

Jerry:  Okay, okay.  So , let me get this all straight....Ashley is married to John who Candace has secretly been in love with for years and years.  Now Candace has recently become engaged to Kyle who was recently spotted kissing Ashley in Italy.  Now, on top of this, Dustin has just admitted to being in a sexual relationship with Candace. 

John:  That's right Jerry.

Jerry (looking sternly into the camera):  It is times like these that one has to wonder, whether or not these people are aware that they are quite clinically insane. Perhaps we should be spending more on psychiatric health funds in this country, perhaps we should just an Vegas to cut down on impulse marriages.  Perhaps I should get a new job.  Thanks for watching folks; it's been great but for now.....it's good night. 

Over at Dad's was more eating, hanging out with Hank, watching Bumper Stumpers and cross stitching.  We had smoked moose burgers one night....holy crap were they ever good.  Like uber good.  To good to describe in words good.  Had a Daddy and Me day when I went to Lloyd with him to go get some work stuff - we stopped off at Dairy Queen and got some buster bars in memory of Grams.  Same thing with my brothers - watched all the Harry Potter movies with my sister in law, cross stitched, ate, ate, ate some more (my brother is probably one of the bestest cooks that I know) and just relaxed.  I am pretty sure this whole trip I have gained over 10 pounds hahaha.  Thankfully I ordered myself a waterproof case and headphones for my ipod so that swimming pool will be seeing a lot of me in the near future. 

It is the new year and as such, the age old 'new years resolution(s)' must be stated.  Now I normally never do them because I have never stuck to them, but this time around, I think I will stick to them because they are feasible hahaha.  The first one is that I am going to blog more frequently than normal (and then they won't be as long as they have been in the past).  Ohhhh, which reminds me, if you want to get emails to say when I post a new blog, over on the side, close to the top, you will see a little box that says "Sign up to follow my blog" - put your email in here (it does not get traced anywhere, nor can I see this) and you will get an email whenever I post a new posting.  Easy peasey lemon squeezy.  So that is a resolution.  Another one - to get a picture of every animal at the National Zoo.  And to get a picture of every gargoyle at the National Cathedral.  And probably more as the year goes on hahaha. 

Well, wish me luck on my travels back to Washington (I am not looking forward to the 10 hour day, that is for sure).  I hope it is not as eventful as the trip to Alberta was hahaha.  I am thankful for all the people who take time to read this blog and I wish you much more interesting and fun reads in the future!!! This holiday made me realize how much I love and miss my family.  Take care and love you all!!!!

The Girl Who is Going to 26 Cities!!!!

Merry Christmas Eve everyone!!!!  Now this posting is just about the first portion of my Alberta trip - stop 1:  Calgary!!  The next posting will be all about my actual being at home for Christmas trip, so be prepared for that one!!! So for your listening I pleasure is a song that I had listened to multiple times during the day since I knew I was coming home for the holidays:  good old Paul Brandt  The zoolight pictures you see scattered throughout are the ones from the Calgary Zoo!!! 

 

Well getting to Calgary itself was quite the rigamaroll.  I get everything packed up, make sure things around my place will be fine for the month+ that I will be gone, talk to the leasing company and talk to the neighbours to watch things for me.  Perfect.  Get on the metro and start getting all excited about getting on a plane and going home.  I arrive at the airport and panic sets in - what did I do with my house keys?  I hunt and can't find my keys - oh shit - did I leave them in the front entry part when I put the note on my mailbox?  Not good.  So I hunt around in my bag everywhere and still can't find them.  I phone the leasing company, panicked, asking them to head over there and see if they are sitting there.  Nothing I could do about it at the moment so I proceed into the airport.  Everything there is mostly self service, so I check myself in and proceed to the baggage helper person to get my luggage tag, and he announces 'I'm looking for the girl going to 26 cities', meaning me.  He wishes me luck on my trip and I am off on my way.  Board the plane and go all the way back to the last row (issue for later on) and get comfy at my window seat.  I do that whole 'oh please sit beside me' when seeing a hot guy come up the aisle, but alas, no hot guy sat beside me.  We start to taxi and I am watching, waving Goodbye to Washington, but then the plane starts doing a u-turn and suddenly I am seeing myself waving Hello to Washington.  I listen to the pilot who says that we will be detained in Washington for 30 mins due to weather in New York.  I start to slightly panic as I only had 1.5 hours to make my connecting flight in New York, but I am still sitting at 1 hour to make it.  Doable.  We are sitting there and sitting there, 30 mins goes by and we haven't started to taxi again, and then eventually the pilot comes back on 'excuse me ladies and gentlemen but it appears as though we will be delayed another 15 to 20 minutes'.  Not good - I am officially going to miss my connecting flight.  I flag down the flight attendant, who already seemed to be in a cantankerous mood due to people not listening to her many announcements regarding luggage in the overhead bins, and ask her what would happen once we got to New York for connecting flights - she asks me who I am flying with when I get there and I tell her Air Canada.  Her wonderful response 'since it is not US Airways, I can't help you'.  So now I have about an hour and some to sit there and stew and panic about missing my flight.  At the end of the plane.  Needing to wait for everyone else to get off first.  Even worse. 

 

We finally get to New York.  I come running off the plane and start looking at all the boards to see where Air Canada flys out of as I need to get my tickets changed.  No Air Canada listed on any of the boards.  Crap.  Stop and ask a worker dude at the Airport 'excuse me, I am looking for the terminal that deals with Air Canada - do you know where it is?'  He looks up, thinking, a lost look on his face - 'Air Canada.....Air Canada.....I have never heard of that airline before.  I don't think we have that here.'  I quickly say thank you and keep running through the airport, trying to find a more helpful person.  I stop and ask another person where Air Canada is, and they tell me Terminal D.  Okay, way more helpful.  Perfect.  I start moving again and realize I don't know where Terminal D is or how to get there, so stop and ask another person how to get to Terminal D.  'What airline are you wanting to get to?' 'Air Canada' 'Oh, that is in Terminal B.  Go outside and get into the line that is for the Bus route for the terminals'.  Okay, so Terminal B.  Gotcha.  Head outside.  There are lines everywhere and for what? who knows as there are no signs anywhere.  So I just start asking people in line - excuse me, where is this line going?  Somebody asks me where I am trying to get to and once I tell him, he proceeds to tell me what line I want.  Perfect - a very helpful person.  I was about to hug him but then remembered where I was and decided probably not a good thing.  I get into the line (after asking the person ahead of me if this line was for the Bus Terminal route) and phone Ma, freaking out about missing my flight and if I was needing to spend a night in New York I was not going to be happy and yadda yadda yadda.  I get off the phone and the person behind me asks me where I am trying to go and so I tell him Terminal B.  He tells me that the line I was in was for Grand Central Station.  Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!!! Are you shitting me!!!!!  Not good at all.  So this wonderful guy takes me to the right line and I finally get to the right terminal.  Go stand in line.  Wait. Wait. Wait.  I see no Air Canada ticket agents.  I ask the lady in front of me if there has been anyone there and she tells me that she has been waiting 30 minutes.  I don't have 30 minutes so I head over to the 'priority/important person' line - I get up to the agent and tell her the deal and she starts typing and tells me that she can hook me up with the next flight that is leaving New York to Toronto and then the next flight from Toronto to Calgary, with the caveat that I only have an hour in Toronto to get through customs, security and recheck the luggage.  I tell her that come hell or high water, I will make that flight so just book it for me hahaha.  She does her magic, prints me off two new boarding passes and I am on my way.  I get up to the gate and go talk to the agent there - telling them that I missed my last flight and that my luggage will need to be on this flight.  She types in her computer and tells me that they were already advised and my luggage was already on my plane.  Sweet.  Love this - things are finally working out.  I ask her if it was possible to get a closer seat to the front of the plane - she did some typing and said yep.  She took my boarding pass, ripped it up and went to print my new one.....but it didn't print.  So I had to go to a different line (a long lineup) and get them to reprint my boarding pass - by this time I have about 20 minutes to get on the plane.  I stand in line and wait and wait and when I am 2 people from the front of the line, they announce over the PA that the following people are able to go to the front of the line as they are waiting for stand by tickets....my name is not announced so I wait and wait some more. I finally get my boarding pass and get onto the plane.  We are sitting there, about to taxi to the runway, and the pilot comes on, telling us that we will be delayed about 15 minutes......I keep my nerve somehow and just turn the music on louder hahaha.  We finally take off - good bye New York!!!! 

 

We pull into Toronto and I am flying (hahaha pun intended) off the plane, trying to get to Customs as fast as possible.  I am on the escalator, heading down and what do I see above/in front of me, this sign.  I did not take this picture as I did not have enough time to stop, dig out the camera and take the picture so I googled this one hahaha.  But it was a wonderful feeling.  I get through Customs with a wonderful 'welcome home' from the customs agent, run to security where I got a pat down since I didn't take off my boots or anything like that (the most action I have seen for 5 months I might add), got to the luggage carousel, grabbed my luggage, rechecked the luggage, and ran to my gate.  In my running, I passed a Davids Tea!!! Another warm feeling that I was home!!! I get on the plane with about 5 minutes to spare and was advised that I got a free meal with my ticket -thank you ticket agent chick in New York!!!! I didn't even realize that other than the airplane munchy foods I didn't eat something since about noon.  The flight was quiet and long - but an uneventful and kind of relaxing one, which was nice.  I was finally in Canada!!!  We pull into Calgary and I am looking outside, seeing the wonderful snow and feeling ever so happy of finally making it there (I think I was only an hour and a half late than my scheduled arrival time).  I go and stand by the luggage carousel.  I wait and wait. Wait some more.  Finally a guy walks over and asks me my name - I say yes, I am.  He says 'I am so sorry but your luggage is still in Toronto'.  I kind of figured as much.  So we go and he puts in a request for it to come on the next available flight in the morning and will bring it to where ever I am staying.   Very helpful.   Shannon was there to pick me up and after a very long day, seeing a wonderful, smiling and happy face was very muchily needed. 

 

My Calgary trip was a whirlwind of seeing people and covering the city getting from point A to point B but it was a good trip. I was staying everywhere - Shannons, Aly's, Sam's, Sonya's - basically anywhere that had an available bed for me hahaha. The Saturday I got there I met up with some friends and we went and played Name That Tune - I totally kicked ass and won our team a $50 gift certificate to the pub.  It is how I roll…hahaha.  One night Aly and I went to zoolights as that is a tradition of ours (3^rd time we have went).  It was pretty awesome – I swear that there are more lights this year than there has been other years, although the musical lights section was a little disappointing, but the rest of the lights were pretty spectacular.  Another night we went to Ranchmans and got our line-dancing on.  It was pretty fun – you can’t go wrong with country music, cheap Budweiser and laughter.  Met up with my cousins and uncle one night and that was good to see them – talked to my cousin about her wedding plans and all of that. It was a very good trip - seeing friends and family was something that I needed very much and it was a good way to start the Christmas season!! I miss all of you Calgary peeps and wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!!