I have a secret......

I have a semi-scandalous secret.... I love The Maury Show. Love it. Here are some points I would like to make about the Maury Show.
-Maury is the best dressed 71 year old in the entire world
-Maury is likely the only 71 year old in the entire world that let's younger people swear that much and talk about all that random sex
-Knowing that there are people out there who don't know who of six guys is the father of their babies, makes me feel better about my life
-You can never get sick of hearing "When it comes to (fill in age here - example: five month old) (fill in name here - example: Lafawnda), (fill in name here - example: Dwayne).... you are .... NOT the father" and "The lie detector determined that that ... WAS a lie"

Now, here are some things to think about before you go on Maury:
-If your loved one is bringing you on Maury and won't tell you why, it's not going to be good
-If your loved one is bringing you on Maury, she just had a baby and it doesn't really look like you, get ready to give your DNA
-If your loved one is bringing you on Maury and she thinks you're cheating on her and while you're waiting in the green room or in the limo on the way to the show, if there is a sexy girl who's willing to make out with you the second she meets you, SHE IS A DECOY. Do not make out with her. And please, like Billy on today's show, do not "expose" yourself to the sexy decoy.
-If you're going on Maury and you're not sure who of these 25 guys is the father of your child, you should perhaps sit down with your day planner/journal and a calendar, look up the reproductive cycle online and try to narrow it down..... just a little bit

in·tim·i·date

On the weekend, a friend of mine indicated that I may, in fact, be intimidating. Not only was I somewhat shocked to hear this from one person, but was reeaaaalllllly shocked to have a few other people confirm this "intimidating" status.

To grasp this whole idea a little more, I asked the husband if he thought I was intimidating. His response: "I don't know.... you're a little intense".

Okay, intense I can handle. The husband then explained that I'm just a bit intense when things are good and bad. Okay, that I can also handle because, well, I am a little intense. But is that the same as intimidating??

I was honestly shocked to hear this. Why? Because I am, in fact, shy. Now I know what you're all thinking... well, those of you who "know" me. NTQ, you are not shy. You're loud, kind of obnoxious, and quite frankly, annoying half the time. But no, really, I'm shy. And awkward. You put me in a group of people I don't know, I won't know what to say. And in order to not trip all over my words, I just stay pretty quiet.

I think the reason I do this is because I know I'm loud, kind of obnoxious and quite frankly, annoying half the time. I would prefer not to be (well, loud I can handle, the rest isn't that great), so I prefer to stay quiet until people decide they like me...... then I becoming annoying.

So, if you're reading this, and know me in real life, please know that I'm not. I'm actually shy and don't know what to say most of the time. Please talk to me..... I promise, I won't be mean! And I am now making it my New Years Resolution to not be intimidating! Whoot! Go me!

Winter driving: Some tips that perhaps you should try to remember

A week and a half ago we were all living in a nice fall world. The weather was cooling off, but the sun was out and the pavement was beautiful, grey and clear.

Then four feet of snow dumped itself on London, it warmed up again and kind of rained and then froze and then it kept snowing. The result: the roads are totally shit-tacular. And the stupid people that couldn't drive when the roads were totally clear, REALLY can't drive once they are covered is snow, ice, slush and water.

I have seen a couple things that have quite upset me while driving and they are my tips for you to remember not to do these things:

1) Do not slam your foot on the gas to do anything when you're on ice or in a bunch of slush. This will result in you: spinning your tires, going further than you want, sliding or hitting a tree. Not productive. With that....

2) Do not pull out in front of someone. Whether it be turning left with on coming traffic, turning right into moving traffic or any other thing involving cutting someone off.... not a good idea because you will likely only accomplish the things listed in #1 AND you have no idea how fast I can stop.... or not stop, as the case may be. This will result in a crash.

3) Do not, I repeat, DO NOT pass another car in a residential zone. Or in any "non-passing" area, including intersections. Yes, you're right, I (or another driver) may not have slammed my foot on the gas to get going (see #1) or cut someone off to get three seconds ahead in my drive (see #2) but this by no means means that you can serve out and around me in a middle of a subdivision. This makes you look like a super douche. And you run the risk of doing #1 and #2 which means you'll likely spin out into a tree and then into another car.

Let's remember this people: we are driving around in metal boxes that are not indestructible and are unpredictable. When you add in slush, ice, snow and uneven roads to zoom along on, it's a messy situation .Think of other drivers, think of yourself and drive safe!!

My new favourite song

Don't you love when you stumble across new music that you love? The type of music that gets you singing loud, dancing in your seat (I'm driving in this imaginative situation) and hitting the repeat button?

A couple weeks ago I was listening to CBC Radio 3 (http://www.cbcradio3.ca/) and they played a song by Scott Dunbar (http://scottdunbar.wordpress.com/). I can't remember which song it was, but I immediately went over to his artist page on Radio3 and started listening. Love at first listen.

I've since downloaded his albums and they're getting a lot of airtime on Jake (my iPod). I strongly strongly suggest that you not only listen to some of his stuff, but check out some video's on YouTube. He's killer to watch perform.

One song really strikes me as being super duper awesome. It's got a killer beat, his voice is super awesome, and best of all, the lyrics rock. These three things make up the perfect music. Anyways, below are the lyrics to "Ain't Mama" (directly from Scott Dunbar's MySpace blog about his lyrics):

Is there a warning sign in the sky overhead?
Well the politicians think we’d rather be fed
Some folks say come 2012 we’ll all be dead
Psychologists say that its all in my head

And ain’t Mama Proud…

United Nations say that we should be ashamed
But the corporations keep on just the same
I got my little white headphones plugged into my brain
Telling me that I should be confused
Man that’s so lame
Cause me and them we’re just the same
But they got me dancin like a pawn in their game
Singin if I only had a brain

And ain’t Mama proud

They kill our prophets one by one
We go to ..Cancun.. and play in the sun
That is just what we Romans do
We build an overpass and drive straight through

And ain’t Mama proud

Now, I have to note that these are not the lyrics in the version of "Ain't Mama" that's on my iPod, which I bought directly off his webpage, so I wonder why he left out some of my favourite lines from the song....? I suppose they are semi-controversial but he doesn't seem the type to censor his music. Guess you'll just have to listen to the song to get the full affect.... because there are some great lines missing from the lyrics above.

Go listen. Go listen now!!

Movember: From the view of a mo-wife

In the event you've been living under a rock for the past 24 days, let's start with what all this "Movember" stuff is all about.
For the real deal check: http://ca.movember.com/
According to Wikipedia...

Movember (a portmanteau of the words 'moustache' and 'November') is an annual month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November. The event was conceived in 1999 by a group of Australian men from Adelaide.

Since 2004, the Movember Foundation charity has run Movember events to raise awareness and funds for men's health issues, such as prostate cancer and depression, in Australia and New Zealand. In 2007, events were launched in Ireland, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

In 2010 it merged with the testicular cancer event Tacheback.

Alright, now we're all satisfied with what the deal is, right. Okay. Second thing to cover: I love facial hair. I think it's pretty fucking hot. For reals. This is a relatively new thing in my life, but I'm happy about the development. However, I don't believe this fact should really matter that much with what I have to say below since, although I love a nice beard or goatee, moustache's don't really turn my crank.

Here comes the real "blog"....
What the fuck is with people complaining about Movember? Complaining about "Movember" is similar to complaining about all the people wearing purple on Spirit Day (October 20) or the people driving around with a pink ribbon on their car in honour of breast cancer. Can you really complain about a charitable event??

There are the people complaining about it going on in general, in which case I have to say, what the hell do you really care if there are more people with moustaches for one month of the year? Is it really effecting your life? Does it some how alter your entire world?? No?? Then I don't see the problem that you have.

Then there are the people who are complaining because someone in their immediate life is growing a moustache this month. On the radio this morning one guy actually said that he didn't think his wife would "let" him grow a moustache for Movember. Let him??? For real?

I am happy and proud that my husband has chosen to (try and) grow a moustache this November. Does it look good? No, not really. Do I care if he looks silly for one month while drawing awareness to prostate cancer and raising money for research on it? Hell no.

Quite frankly, there isn't much I wouldn't "let" my husband do. If he wanted to shave his head for charity, go ahead. If he wanted to wear the same shirt for a month for charity, go ahead. If he wanted to do just about anything he wanted for charity, I'm pretty sure my answer would be "go ahead".

Movember is to bring about awareness about prostate cancer. Here's some awareness for you (straight from http://www.prostatecancer.ca/):

• The most common cancer among Canadian men - it will afflict 1 in 6 men and is a greater threat for those with a family history of the disease
• Often without symptoms in its earliest, most curable stage – making annual testing ever more important
• 24,600 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer this year alone (2010) (in Canada)
• 4,300 men will die of the disease this year (in Canada)
• Rates of prostate cancer in men are comparable to rates of breast cancer in women
• The disease has no symptoms in its earliest, most curable stage

Ladies (and gentleman), before you bitch again about moustaches and Movember, I have to wonder: would you rather see clean shaven guys this month or see your husband, boyfriend, dad, brother, friend or son having a harder battling against prostate cancer because they were less aware and there was less research being funded through charity? Perhaps we should all be a little bit more supportive of the "battle" they're fighting this Movember instead.

Oh man is a giddy thing...

Saturday was the day I had been waiting for.
Saturday November 13, 2010.
The day that I would see Mumford & Sons in concert.

I heard Mumford & Sons for the very first time on a Saturday in June (the 26th if we want to get exact). I was getting ready to go out for the night, had FM96 on (yes I know, shocking - they at one point in time played Mumford & Sons on FM96... I think it was a one time thing) and "Little Lion Man" came on the radio. I made a mental note to look this band up later in my life and went along my evening.

Which involved a play, a bar and a tad bit of drinking (some friends may remember this night in particular as the night when they may have found me wondering around on Richmond Street muttering that "I wannnna go home.... I don't feel well"). Needless to say, I heard probably about 50 or so other songs that night.

The next day all I could remember was some band that was had a family word in it, but I was stuck on "Mom" or "Mother" being in it (perhaps due to "Mumford"). But I also had some song stuck in my head that I didn't really know, but just the one line ".... I really fucked it up this time, didn't I my dear?....". Where did that leave me?

Google.

I love Google.

Up popped "Mumford & Sons". A quick trip over to iTunes provided me the album and my love was born. No really, I love them. Like, a lot. Like, right up there with Pearl Jam and The Futureheads.

Anyways, fast foward two months and tickets are going on sale for their November 13, 2010 show at The Sound Academy in Toronto.

I scoop up two, not thinking much of it. While they're play on 102.1 The Edge has increased, I didn't think they'd reach the popularity that they ended up reaching.

Fast forward another two month... tickets are going on Kijiji for $200+ each.

And finally, November 13, 2010.

Mumford & Sons.

While waiting in line to get in the concert (yes yes, I actually did this for the first time since I was about..... oh, 18), freezing my butt off but being kept slightly warmer by my 'always warmer than a normal human being' husband, we actually heard that tickets were going for about $600 a pop. Ouch.

This is starting to drag on, isn't it? Well, let me just say this. Mumford & Sons did not disappoint. I was slightly worried as I had been looking soooooo forward to the show and had been getting misty eyed on the way there listening to them, but they rocked it. Rocked it, rocked it, rocked it.

The Sound Academy was somewhat of a crap venue as the acoustics kind of sucked and you could reallllly hear the crowd over the band singing and then talking and making noise too, which kind of sucked. But I couldn't say one bad thing about Mumford & Sons.

Friday Mornings.

Yesterday was a bad morning. I woke up, encountered a massive bug in the kitchen, cat messes in the living room and then realized I had forgotten my tea at home once I got to work.

This morning was a wonderfully different story.

It was Friday morning.

I love Friday mornings. First off, my office is generally much quieter on a Friday since the bosses seem to stay away and people are travelling. I like this because it gives me the opportunity to get work done in peace and quiet and finish up the lose ends on many things. Plus it's nice to not be micro-managed for a day.

Second, getting up on a Friday is awesome because it is the last time that you need to get up for work for the week. The weekend is right at your finger tips and there's just nine office hours standing in your way.

This morning was no different. I was up early, had a nice warm shower, did my hair and made it look semi-decent during this awkward growing out stage, had a delicious breakfast, watched some Oprah, left the house early so I wasn't rushing. Perfect morning.

The other thing I love about Friday mornings is how peaceful it is downtown. I got to work a bit early so there was no one else in the office yet. I then was watching out the window as London slowly woke up. Traffic was quiet, there were barely any people around, the sun was rising. A perfect peaceful Friday morning. And tomorrow is Saturday. That's why I love Friday.

Blog Topic Generator: Affordable guitar starter kits

I feel like I've had lots to blog about but don't feel like actually putting any brain power into blogging at 9:34pm on a Monday night. I couldn't even think of anything half decent to blog about. Thank god for my favourite website in the whole wide world: Google.

When I Googled "Random Blog Topic" a "Random Topic Generator" arrived. I hit 'Generate Topic' and was given "Affordable guitar starter kits".

Alright, so about a month or so ago, my friend, let's call her "Nicole" to keep this anonymous, and I headed to the mall with the old guitars that we found in our respective homes to see if we could get the workable so we could learn to play guitar and become super duper amazing rock stars.

Seriously, that was our plan.

We headed off to the mall, let's call it "Masionville Mall" to keep this anonymous, and went to the music store there. The guys working there were awesome because they were:
1) total music nerds
2) not at all pretentious
3) very nice to deal with

After they finished making fun of my guitar (no really, they did) then said that "Nicole"'s was at least workable but mine was essentially a piece of trash. This is where my first experience with "Affordable guitar starter kits" took place.

On the spot, I decided to buy a new guitar. They had a nice little sale/kit thing going where I would get a guitar, a super awesome guitar bag and a digital tuner for the low low price of $209 plus tax. I bought this. But let's keep in mind here that:
1) I don't really have money to blow
2) I have much better things to spend $209 + tax on (a new screen door, the hydro bill, etc., etc)
3) I don't know how to play guitar

Well, what was a girl to do when she didn't have a guitar and was going to become a super duper awesome rock star?!

I've played it about three times.

I can do one scale and two chords.

I think my hands are too small to actually properly play a guitar. And I pretty much enjoy playing the piano.

My thoughts on "Affordable guitar starter kits" - they may be affordable, but likely unneeded and therefore probably a waste of cash.

My "One Week" Soundtrack

In my previous post, I mentioned a song from the movie "One Week".

One Week is a move featuring Joshua Jackson and is super duper awesome for so many reasons. One of them as the feature of great Canadian musicians. I spent a lot of time looking for songs and artists in One Week as it doesn't appear there is a soundtrack to the movie. Here's the "soundtrack" I made for the movie.

Imaginary Bars - Great Lake Swimmers
Hard Road - Sam Roberts
20 Miles - Selina Martin
Calendar Girl - Stars
Reborn - Ged Flood
A Million Dollars - Joel Plaskett Emergency
Blackwinged Bird - Emm Gryner
Weighty Ghost - Wintersleep
The Great Escape - Patrick Watson
Nice Day - The Salteens
Skyway Bridge - Melissa McClelland
Pacifists Anthem - Sunparlor Players
Un Canadien Errant (this was song in the movie by Emm Gryner with Joshua Jackson, I downloaded a verson by Bill Garrett & Sue Lothrop)

Enjoy!! It's a great road trip CD!

Why I have killer taste in music.

I am currently at work (shhhhhhhh, don't tell anyone). And the bosses are currently out of the office. Which means.... (no, not lots of random time wasted) I get to listen to music while working! Don't even get me started on how much better my work is when I'm listening to music. I just don't get as bored as I do when I'm sitting in complete silence. Plus then I'm also not singing out loud to try and keep myself entertained, which is likely a better situation for my entire office.

While I've been sitting here, Jake has been on shuffle (Jake is my awesome iPod - we didn't really get along that great to start, but I know love him... even though he has a massive crack). Jake really kicks ass on shuffle. But then again, he has a pretty killer selection of music to listen to. Let me just list some of the amazing songs that Jake has given me the great pleasure of listneing to today.

Tokyo Police Club - The Baskervilles
this was actually on repeat for about 10 minutes without me realizing... I've listened to it a lot today

Led Zeppelin - Since I've Been Loving You
this is a fabulous song... it's so slow and got this really groovy beat - yes I did just say that... however, I can barely get through a three minute song without changing it... A seven minute song.... yikes

Pearl Jam - State of Love and Trust (live in London Ontario!)
1) I love this song A LOT. Definitely one of my fav PJ songs. 2) It's from their London show. Awesome.

The Tokens - The Lion Sleeps Tonight
This song is perma-stuck in my head. I think it's also my happy song. As in, I sing it when I need to feel happy.

Mother Mother - Touch Up
If you have never heard this song, I demand that you go and listen to this song RIGHT NOW. This song is awesome. It makes me want to dance and sing and dance. Love love love it.

Matthew Good - It's Been Awhile Since I Was Your Man
Many of you know my extreme love for Matthew Good and the former Matthew Good Band. This is by far one of my favourite MG songs of all time. This song makes me want to cry and I love songs that can do that. I hear this song and am immediately bummed out. Hahahaha. Was so pumped when he played it at the last show I saw in London.

Westlife - All or Nothing
I love boy bands. Deal with it. This song kicks ass.

Patrick Watson - The Great Escape
This song is from the movie "One Week" with Joshua Jackson where he finds out he's dying and buys a bike and rides across Canada. This movie is an amazing piece of Canadiana. The music in it showcases the awesome muscians that Canada breeds. This song is fabulous. I'd recommend downloading as many One Week songs as you can (perhaps I will put my One Week playlist on here so you can easily find them).

The Strokes - Someday
Rad beats. That's all.

MGMT - Electric Feel
I am not a huge MGMT fan. I could really take or leave them. However, this song does catch my fancy quite a bit.

Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
I can remember the first time I heard this song (there are few songs that have that effect on me, but this was one of them). I was in love with this song from the get go. I'm not sure what about it is so awesome, but it's awesome.

Stars - Fixed
One of my fav Stars songs. So fun!

Vampire Weekend - Oxford Comma
Vampire Weekend is slowly growing on me. Thanks in part to Just Dance 2 which features A-Punk, which has always been my fav Vampire Weekend.

Then the greatest song of all time came on. And I do mean THE greatest song of all time. The song that is perma-stuck in my head, that I will break out into at any time, that I will never get sick of.....
Cher - If I Could Turn Back Time
.....this is such a great song, I can't even explain it in words. "If I could reach the stars.... I'd give em all to you...... And you'd love me, love me, like you used to do........ If I could turn back time......"

MxPx - Party. My House. Be There.
I still love MxPx.... This song reminds me of highschool, but in a good way, unlike most songs that remind me of highschool!

Eve 6 - Open Road Song
This song makes me want to go buy a piece of shit convertable that's like a boat and get in it and drive through a dessert as fast as I can with the wind in my hair and the sun beating down on me and the music blaring. That's why I love this song.

Save Ferris - Come On Eileen
Alright, we've all heard the horrible old version of Come On Eileen by the Dixie Midnight Drivers (or whatever they're called). Save Ferris is this super awesome ska band with this killer female singer. Their cover of this song is one of my favourite songs of all time. Seriously. Look it up, listen to it, love it, dance to it.

At The Drive-In - Sleepwalk Capsules
My enjoyment of "screaming" music is kind of small. While I do kind of like it, I don't know how I ever heard this song before (I'm thinking from my sister at some point). However, this song has remained for years, as one of my favourite songs... I'm not sure why, I don't know what they're saying... And I don't think I've ever listened to any other At The Drive-In music... Maybe I should.

Mumford & Sons - White Blank Page
I loooooooooooooove M&S. I feel blessed to be seeing them next week in Toronto. I'm surprised it's taken Jake so long to even get to an M&S song... this is def one of my favourite M&S songs, but I could really say that about a lot of them. And I may have over listened to this song on repeat... oops...

Well.... I could keep going because there is so many songs that I love. And I love sharing my love of music with people. Even if you've read this and look up just one song and love it just a little bit, then that's awesome.

What to blog, why to blog, do you care I blog?

I'm sitting here feeling rather frustrated at the world and want to take my mind off of things. I've decided to blog.

But what do I blog about. Nothing... my mind is totally blank. Yesterday I had considered writing a blog about Rolling Stone's Top 100 Beatles Songs of all time. Now that seems empty and lame. Really, they've done it, who cares what I have to say about it. But isn't that the whole point of a blog? Where someone can write anything they're thinking about without cares of whether or not someone agrees, disagrees, will read it or even care?

I then Googled "blog topics". Thank god for Google. I seriously wonder what the world was like before Google. How did people figure stuff out? And don't tell me "the library". If I had to get myself to the library for every time I Googled something, I would never leave the library.

Back to the results of Googling for a blog topic. The most interesting (and likely one of the ones nearest the top of the Google results) was a post from http://chrisbrogan.com titled "100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write". Thank goodness!

But it started off with "People often ask me how I come up with things to blog about, and I find the question strange, because my problem is the opposite. I have too much to blog about". And it's so true. SO TRUE! All day, every day, I'm constantly thinking "I should blog about that". My problem.... I ALWAYS FORGET.

Just this morning on my way to work I saw a girl... I think it was a girl... and she was doing... something. And I thought to myself "I should blog about that". But then remembered that I wanted to write my blog about the Beatles songs. And then I wanted to write an obituary blog for the Brass Door. And what was it that she was doing or wearing that I was even going to blog about in the first place? I have no idea. It has slipped my mind.

But what should I blog about? Shouldn't I use my blog to write something significant to the world? Can anyone actually even manage to write something significant to the world anymore? We're overcome with thousands and thousands of images and thoughts and words and opinions all day every day. You turn on your computer and you see the ramblings of your 200+ Facebook "friends", then you see the thoughts of the 400+ people you're "following" on Twitter... then you may actually read the real news. Turn on the TV. Hear what Oprah and the ladies on the View have to say on every topic "relevant" to our current lives. Turn on the radio and you get to hear some idiot say his views on how things should be.

How often are we not even making our own thoughts and decisions up but simply hearing them from other people? Not to mention, what is even releveant in our lives anymore?

I was thinking if I were to blog about the Beatles top 5 songs or the Brass Door (my favourite bar) closing or my cats, for example, is that relevant. To you, maybe not. To me, yes. That is actually the things that are relevant in my life. Last night while I was driving home, listening to the radio play the top 5 Beatles songs, it got me thinking of what my top 5 Beatles songs are. They didn't match, but of course they didn't. Because I looked at them from my point of view - what the songs make me think of, who the songs remind me of, how the songs make me feel. Relevant to me.

............... So I just re-read this blog because really I feel like this has been total ramblings that don't make any sense. When I realized the point of this blog: When I Googled a blog topic, I was actually looking for what I could write that would be meaningful and relevent to the entire world. But that's not what a blog is supposed to be about. A true blog should be your ramblings on the world. After all, aren't my opinions just as important as all the other people's we have to hear every day?

To follow: Blog about the top 5 Beatles songs of all time........

Why I love my cats more than most people

I have started to realize of late that I actually love my cats more than I love most people. It's kind of sad, but pretty much true.

1) They are very cute. I always thought my cat Chloe was about as cute as you could get in a cat. Then I met Ralph. Ralph is by far the cutest cat in the entire world. I'm not kidding. He has the cutest little eyes that make my heart melt every time I look at him.

2) Regardless of the world outside, the weather, what my day has been like or how I'm feeling, one or both are always at the door to great me. When they sit at the window beside the door and do their "silent meows", my mood is instantly lifted.

3) When you're laying on the couch, bed, etc and they come up and pat you with their little paws, I want to melt. It's the cutest thing ever.

4) When I wake up in the middle of the night and Chloe has decided that my pillow is her pillow because she wants to lay with me, I feel awesome!

5) The fact that I cannot walk anywhere in the entire house without Ralph at my feet (getting kicked half the time) because he needs to be with me all the time. And that Ralph meows when he's gotten "lost" by walking into a room that no one is in. Priceless.

This is why I love my cats more than I love most people. Problem with it? I don't care. You haven't met my cats.

Anxious But Thankful

As Mental Health Awareness Week draws to a close and Thanksgiving dawns on us, I have been thinking quite a bit about both my anxiety/panic disorder and what I'm thankful for.

It's hard to be thankful for something that negatively effects me every day of my life. Why would anyone really be thankful of that?

However, there are things that I'm thankful for that revolve around my anxiety disorder.

I am thankful that I have a husband who will sit up with me at 1am while I pace around the house, rambling about silly worries if I wake up in the middle of a panic attack. I am thankful that I have sisters who will drop anything they're doing to help me work through a panic attack on the phone or in person. I am thankful that I have friends at work who will stand and stare out the window with me when I start to feel anxious at work. I am thankful that I have family and friends around me who have supported me through my darkest and worst moments and positively encouraged me to seek the help I need.

Mental Illness Awareness - what does it mean to me? It means being aware that mental illness likely effects people you know and you don't even know it. It means being aware and willing to help those around you if and when they need it. It means being aware that someone may need help with a mental illness before even they're aware they need help with a mental illness. It also means being aware of mental illness and removing your stigma around mental illness.

Be aware. And be thankful. I am.

I am someone with an anxiety/panic disorder.

Mental Illness Awareness Week is this week. What are you doing to bring awareness and reduce the stigma?
-----------------------------------------

I am someone with an anxiety/panic disorder.
I take medications for it every morning.

I am also....
a daughter
a sister
a wife
someone who loves to dance
a knitter
a friend
a reader
a pianist
someone who loves music
an analyst
a pet owner
a baseball fan
a hockey fan
sarcastic
loud
a sister-in-law
a niece
a cousin
a daughter-in-law
someone who can't eat gluten
a Londoner
a Canadian
an organizer
a perfectionist
someone who loves playing Dr. Mario
a grand-daughter
someone who loves naps
a worrier
a figher
.....
....
...
..
.
.
.

How do you define me? How do you judge me?
Is it by my mental illness?

Wisdom Teeth - What are they good for...? absolutely nothing say it again!

I have had my wisdom teeth removed. Yes yes, some of you who knew me back in 4th year university may say to yourself, but you had those removed in university.

While this is entirely a true story, at that time, my lovely oral surgon said to me "We'll just leave your top ones. If they haven't come in now, they won't come in!". Okay! Bonus. Bottom's only. Bottoms were removed, one week of pure hell was endured, one month of not eating anything good followed and it is all a distant nightmare.

Fast forward, three years... my mouth hurts. What's that thing poking through my gums back there? What the hell? What the fuck? Is that my fucking wisdom teeth coming in??

Dentist: Yes. You should get those out.

So low and behold, I go and have my wisdom teeth taken out.... again. Needless to say, this wasn't actually that bad of an experience. Those of you who know me well, or really just know me at all, are likely aware that I kind of FREAK OUT at dental procedures... and by dental procedures I mean a basic cleaning.

However, I entered into this procedure with grace and dignity. And with taking photos, of course. Funny, the other people in the waiting room didn't seem to find mine and my sister's joviale attitude to be as funny as we did.

Alas - they are gone. And I've lost four pounds. I don't think it's all from the teeth, but more likely from the fact that I have eaten frozen yogurt tubes and pudding for three days straight. YES. Three days off work and four pounds gone.... seems like a prettttty decent deal to me!

Dear Rogers: Thanks for Screw Job

As a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, I have been excited to see the team advancing into a solid group this year. In many discussions I've had this year about the Jays with various people this summer, I've heard over and over again how excited people are about the Jays.


This makes me happy because I think many people have been missing what the Toronto Blue Jays have to offer as a solid Canadian sports team.

My love for the Jays has grown over the past two years to the point where I make sure to check out as many games as I can in person, but living two hours away has meant that I rely on their coverage on Sportsnet for the majority of the season.

The fact that games will be switching over to Sportsnet One extremely disappoints me. I have to wonder what will be shown on Sportsnet Ontario at the times that the Jays games are on Sportsnet One. Isn't that the point of Sportsnet Ontario? To play the games that are going on in Ontario?

I can fully understand the desire to have a non-regional Sportsnet channel. But why would you take coverage that was already covered on your four other channels and switch it to the fifth channel? Why not simply add to your overall package by offering a fifth channel that's offering additional sports to what we currently have??

At first I was simply upset at Bell for not picking up Sportsnet One. However, now that I realize that Rogers has made the decision to take coverage away from what I currently have ticks me off.

I had been seriously considering switching to Rogers cable instead of Bell, if Bell was not to pick up Sportsnet One, just for the Blue Jays. However, now I see this as a cheap attempt for Rogers for a cash grab from Jays fans.

I now will not pressure Bell to pick up Sportsnet One.
I hope Bell and the other cable providers do not pick up Sportsnet One.

I had become a huge fan of the Blue Jays. I had been pleased that Rogers seemed like they finally wanted to invest some money into creating a decent team for the fans. But as they build this team while attendance continues to lag, I have to question why they'd choose to isolate fans they currently have and fans in the future.

Rogers should have been thankful to the fans who were watching Jays games and attending Jays games. Instead they turn around and screw us in the end. Seems like a quick way to isolate your fans.

Don't think that fans will simply stick around for your screw job.
 
There are other options and there are other teams to support.

Welcome to my blog.

In the past I have loved blogging. I want to do it again. Here's the story of my life. What's on my mind, what's new, what's pissing me off. Thanks for having a peek!