call me maybe

It's a good song in theory.  Catchy and simple.  Its evilness lies of course in the fact that it is grammatically incorrect, was played non-stop all summer and that it encourages you to do stupid things like actually give someone your number in the hope that they will call you maybe.

I bring this up now because a few weeks ago I went out with RB, MZ and KF.  I would like to say that it all started off innocently, but RB and I hadn't had a night out together in awhile and I had spent 2 weeks in Prince George (don't ask) so we were both looking to go out on a rippy tear (my mother's words).  But it quickly went off the deep end when I had 2 strong margaritas from Ox and Angela before food arrived.

We ran into some friends of mine, one of whom is a man about town and so I blame him for everything that happened that night.  And by everything, I really mean only one thing.  That one thing being that we ended up at a bar, where a DJ I sort of know and kind of have a crush on, was playing and for some reason (those reasons of course being tequila, RB and man about town referenced above) I decided to write my name, my number and the words "I'm all shook up" on a napkin and give it to said DJ.  I promptly ran out of the bar as quickly as possible.

Needless to say I have not heard from him and I will never return to that bar.

a list for the 100th Stampede

Sheriff Buddha

Ok, so Stampede is almost officially over.  I say almost, because it's currently 5:32 am MST on Sunday July 15th and technically Stampede doesn't end until after the fireworks tonight at 11 PM MST.  Why am I awake at 5:32 on this summer sunday morning you ask?  It's not because I'm an early riser - it's because I have not yet slept after a night out.  That's right, the sun is coming up, it's not Vegas and I'm still awake.  I made the mistake of having 2 "shafts" which is some kind of concoction at the Living Room that involves espresso.  Did I mention that it was my birthday last night?  I'm now 36 - the crisis that this event is bringing about will have to be explored in another post.  Instead, I will just make a list of all the things that happened during this, the 100th anniversary of the Calgary Stampede:

• We crashed one party.
• I ripped 2 pairs of jeans.
• I went out 7 of 11 nights.
• AZ found out that "Scott" is not actually divorced (he is separated, but she lives here, not in another country as he previously stated).  Oh and he has a child that he passed off as his nephew.  It's a long involved story, but needless to say that relationship is over.  And now the Chanel bag has new meaning - trust your gut.  When you think someone might have a wife, they just might.
• We got kicked out of our infield rodeo seats - we were squatters, but still, it was embarassing.
• I didn't eat any beef on a bun (this is a rare feat, let me tell you).
• I spotted 2 CBC personalities (Strombo and Brett Wilson).
• I relived my high school days watching the Tragically Hip at a massive outdoor concert.
• Apparently this scene from last year happened again - I wasn't there so didn't witness it, but SS won stampede again this year as there may have been another YHG hookup. 
• While "Cory" didn't puke on the street, he did turn on his sprinkler when he got home from the bar and had a quick 45 minute nap on the front porch while he drowned his lawn.
• We went to Nashville North and partied with people who could legitimately have been our children.
• I didn't wear plaid once (another rare feat).
• On one of the nights that I didn't go out my soccer team actually scored a goal.  We still lost the game.  Badly.
• We have been forever spoiled by the fact that courtesy cars exist for Stampede sponsors and that they are often driven by age appropriate successful men who ask you if the air conditioning is comfortable.  I may never take public transit again.
• I had really good cab karma.
• HC and her boyfriend J broke up.  This had nothing to do with Stampede and more to do with the fact that she's moving to Toronto. Like next week.  My go-to plus one and emergency contact is leaving.  It's kind of a big deal.  But far too emotionally impactful to get into at 5:30 am on a serious lack of sleep.
• Wearing a sheriff's badge is a great conversation starter.  Too bad it's only really acceptable to do during Stampede.  So 'til next year my official badge will just stay with Buddha here on my bookshelf, as pictured above.

So that's it - I think that's all the happened.  At least that's all that I remember.  Another year done.  My liver worked hard and I survived.  Thanks Stampede.

counting the things I've done

So look at that - I vowed to blog twice a week and now a month has gone by without an update. Shocker. I blame my dirty condo. Not because I've spent all my writing time actually cleaning mind you, but because I think to myself that if I have enough time to write a post, I could spend that time cleaning. So in order to avoid the dreaded vacuum cleaner and organizing the guest room, aka "the place where things go to die" I also avoid hitting up the old blogger website. Instead I do important things like bake banana chocolate chip muffins and watch Gossip Girl. So even though it's November, I think it's about time I went over all the fun things I did this summer. I feel it's appropriate because now that we've "fallen back" and there is snow on the ground, I'm pretty confident that summer is officially over and I can make a full and complete tally of all the things I did. Here it is, in no particular order and with no particular explanation as to why these were important things:

• Wakeboarding - and not only did I learn how to wakeboard, I got up my second try. My history as waterskiier might have helped, but I was pretty impressed with myself. I also had good instructors (thank you AH and TS). But I will say that the next day my forearms were so sore I could barely squeeze the shampoo out of the bottle.
• Biking - I biked to work almost every single day. You would too if you had the awesome red cruiser pictured above (yes that is my actual bike).
• Zumbaing - I Learned to zumba. Okay, "learn" might be a bit of a stretch. But I went to a zumba class, danced my ass off and had one of the best laughs I've ever had.
• Getting old - I turned 35. The less said about that the better.
• I only went to one wedding! This really is exciting. And it was a fun one too. Extra points for the fact that butter chicken was the main course.
• I went home to Ottawa for 10 days. SS and HC came with me. We played croquet. Bet you didn't know that official croquet has over 30 rules. Needless to say we didn't follow any of them.
• Vegas! Now, normally this type of trip would garner it's very own blog post, but it really did happen a long time ago (September long weekend) and I have no photographic evidence as I lost my camera (while totally sober I might add), so it's almost like it didn't happen. Luckily I have my credit card statement to remind me about the trip. One thing I do remember is that I stayed up past 5 am two nights in a row, which really is shocking when you consider my age (as noted above). It was an impromptu trip, celebrating, among other things, the fact that Christie quit her job and AH's son turned one. While he was at home celebrating with grandma, AH was wearing a tie on her head chatting up a former Saskatchewan Roughrider named Big Earl.
• Running - Like an idiot, I went ahead and signed up for this stupid run again. And this year they changed the route to make it even more hilly and more difficult. But I finished. And once again it was a beautiful day, with great friends, and post-run burgers and beer. No hat stealing this year though. Although it should be noted that this past Sunday, HC, SS and the acquaintance who threw that post-bar party last year all ran the NYC marathon. I cheered HC and SS on from my couch and then went and ran 4.2 kms in honour of the fact that they were running 42 kms. Pretty much the same thing, right?
• Superhero - I rescued an 8 month old from a locked car. With my own two hands. Oh, and my phone. It was quite funny - I went to Gabe for Thanksgiving (you know, with the usual suspects, KM & Lily) to visit BB and TT. On Saturday afternoon, TT and I were out touring the galleries on the island, and TT accidentally locked her adorable infant in the minivan. Yep, they have a minivan - don't worry, we mocked them endlessly. Luckily I had the foresight not to leave my phone in the car, we called BB and he arrived from the other side of the island with the other set of keys to let the poor child out. I could not stop laughing. TT was somewhat frantic. Needless to say, we teased the poor woman for the rest of the weekend. Mother of the year that one.
• Ryan Gosling - well I didn't actually "do" the Gos, but I did see 2 of the 3 movies he was in this summer. You know I have a love for Dirty Dancing, so was a total sucker for the scene in "Crazy Stupid Love" where he shows off his "move." And ever since seeing Drive I have been somewhat obsessed with '80s synthesizer euro-pop. My two current faves are "A Real Hero" which is on the soundtrack and M83's "Midnight City" which I'm super bummed is now in a Victoria's Secret ad. Boo. As I basically wrote this whole post to this type of music, let's end on the video shall we? Because while I'm sure I did other stuff this summer worth noting, I think this list about covers all you need to know.

it's the little things pt. 4

On Thursday I came home from work to a belated bday card from KM (for a full description of my actual birthday click here). This card was a welcome laugh on an otherwise boring day. And while the card might have made me smile, the little present inside made me positively giddy. It was a magnet with the words "shithead" on it. For those who know me well (i.e. KM), they know that shithead is my favourite insult. Mainly because I like the visual – someone with a normal body, but instead of a head on top, there is a big ball of shit. It’s juvenile, I know, but it makes me laugh. And so the fact that KM saw this fridge magnet and thought of me, well it just means so much. It really is the little things.

The magnet in question is pictured here. This is my actual fridge. To the right and slightly above said magnet is a Globe and Mail clipping - my one and only letter to the editor that made it into the actual paper. Unsurprisingly it was a letter commenting on the ridiculousness of a Harper policy. On top of that - two fortune cookies fortunes (you may recall this post). Then to the left is a picture of my old roomates from university (including KM, she of the awesome magnet) taken in an apple tree in the Annapolis Valley. It was taken at the beginning of May 1999 - so the blossoms were in full bloom, just in time for the world famous Apple Blossom Festival. Below the magnet is an autograph from Orland0 Bloom, written on the back of a coaster from the Four Seasons in the Bahamas. My parents were there for a conference and Orly was staying there whilst filming Pirates of the Caribbean (part II I think). My dad worked out with him for an hour having no idea who he was. My mom spotted him later and got the signature. I'm not a huge fan of his or anything, it's just kind of a nice memento and a good story.

And finally, below and to the left is my newly purchased membership in the Progressive Conservative Party of Alberta. Shocking I know, given my leftie leanings. I was actually a member once before, back in 2006, when I was part of the stop Ted Morton movement. People like me are known as "temporary tories." There's been some backlash, but this is the way the system works. And seeing as the PCs have been ruling this province for 40 years, if you want to have an actual say in who is running the government, taking part in the leadership election is the best way to do it. So I voted. And guess what? My vote made a difference and my choice won. It really was the best 5 bucks I spent this month! There have been a lot of surprising political victories this year - Nenshi, Layton, and now Redford. People talk about how uninteresting politics is and how apathetic the electorate has become. But then stuff like this happens and it gives us hope. Now I'm not about to get all "yes we can" on you - let's face it, the conservatives are still in power and I had no other plans on this particular saturday night - but the fact that I stayed up way past my bedtime last night to follow the #pclrd hashtag happenings on twitter and woke up actually interested in the results should mean something to someone. So now there will be a general election sometime in the next year and we'll see how Redford fares with those people unwilling to pay 5 dollars to have their say. And you can bet everyone of those 5 dollars that I will be calling more than one of the politicians running in that election a shithead. Good thing I have the magnet.

a very long Stampede recap

Good news! All that talk of nothing exciting happening, went swiftly out the window on the Friday of Stampede at the rodeo! There was much drama and intrigue, including a stand-off between one set of exes, a friendly meeting between another, and a Spansede hook-up with a familiar face. A few weeks have passed and the alcohol has finally worn off, so I feel I can write a proper summary of the events.

So it all started off innocently with lunch at Cilantro. Very classy. Cheese plate, salads and only 2 bottles of Australian Sauvignon Blanc. Then we went to the rodeo. Also started off classy – infield seats, more wine, was all good. Then we switched to beer. Then we went to the infield beer garden where we had more beer. So many plastic cups full in fact that AH and AZ needed help carrying the beer from the bar to the place we were standing a mere 10 metres away. So they recruited some helpers. Turns out, one of the helpers was Yankee Hat Guy! (yes, this city is really that small). He was almost unrecognizable in his sunglasses and cowboy hat – seriously he carried the beers over to us before we realized we kind of knew this guy and his friends. We probably would have figured it out eventually - his winning good looks and extremely white smile gave him away. Plus when SS arrived from another party, he immediately turned up the charm. Much witty conversation ensued. It did almost go completely awry when SS’ ex-husband (let’s call him DB, which may or may not stand for douchebag) showed up, along with the originator of “Spansede", HC’s ex. But both fought through it. When talking to a random 3rd person who asked HC and Mr. Spansede how they knew each other, he very politely replied “we dated for awhile.” 3rd person was impressed at their friendliness. While SS was talking to Mr. Spansede her ex was standing about 5 metres away with his back to her. As I don't have a picture of the event here is my attempt at drawing it - stick figures are about as artistic as I get.

After the back to back standoff, SS decided to be the bigger person, went over and said hello, have a good stampede and off we went. I think he was in shock. SS = 1. DB = 0.

Off we went to Cowboys, the “legendary” tent which has been missing for the past few years in Calgary. More tomfoolery ensued. Ran into RB who was rocking the cowboy fascinator, and who has no recollection of when she and Ryan did the Dirty Dancing lift in the smoking area. AZ’s Norwegian crush LT showed up in fully Stampede regalia, danced like a maniac for an hour, and pulled a houdini, cementing his status as a foreign enigma. Yankee Hat Guy was there, but missing in action, save for his very cryptic email to SS which said, and I quote, “wanna make out?” So then the dance played out and eventually they left … together. I won’t sully my friend’s name by publicly declaring whether or not she was a good hostess, but let’s just say that after day one of Stampede, the score was SS = 2. DB = 0. It should also be noted that while some of my friends tried to claim that they “drank themselves sober” one of them threw up before going to bed and another slept on the hardwood floor in the living room while her husband and cousin looked on and laughed. Oh and Cory threw up on the street.

On Sunday night I went to the Chucks. No horses were harmed, but whoever produced the evening show should probably be. The performers did their best, and I appreciate all the work the Young Canadians put into it, but the attempt to provide a narrative thread (in this case it was the “garden of imagination”) to a mishmash of performances was completely pointless. The Chucks were awesome as usual. In another life I would like to be an outrider.

Tuesday night was the CBA party, which surprisingly doesn’t have any crazy stories, but was still fun. We saw threesome guy, who uncharacteristically kept grabbing our asses. Made us wonder about a potential substance abuse problem. Good news is that we saw him again the next night and he was quite sheepish - I think he was just quite drunk. I saw this guy from back in the day – he was not as alluring as he had been a year and a half ago, but still a nice guy. I did facebook stalk him the next day and confirmed that he has a gfriend. Oh well, like I said, not as endearing as previously thought. DB was standing at the entrance talking to some friends and saw us. Within 3 seconds he had moved further into the party. I think we can now say that SS has the upper hand. SS = 3. DB = 0.

On Wednesday we hit up the Stampede Round-Up. This night was memorable for many reasons, not the least of which is that I finally got to see the band that sings the one country song I know all the words to – “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy).” I don’t know that I ever needed to see them live, and to be honest I was too busy drinking free beer and stalking Yankee Hat Guy (of course he was there!) to actually “watch” them, but I appreciate that they were playing in the background. Later on we got to see some equally cheesy pop music when we went the ultimate boy band concert – NKOTBSB! But back to the Fort Calgary party. Oftentimes we are scrambling to get tickets to this event, but this year they magically appeared courtesy of SS and AH. So yes, YHG was fairly easy to spot thanks to his winning good looks and very white smile. His smile is so perfect that we were considering changing his moniker to CC – which represents both the short form of Cheshire Cat and his actual initials – but it seems a bit too obvious. So we will stick with the much more creative YHG. There was much too-ing and fro-ing about how to approach him (even though SS had run into him at another party on Monday night …as I wasn’t there, it’s not included in this very official Stampede summary). Eventually contact was made, but things got a bit awkward when his ex-gf, who is now engaged to someone else, came up to say hello. It should be noted that as the world is so small, his ex used to be friends with SS and was actually invited to SS’s wedding to DB. She didn’t come and they aren’t friends anymore. There’s more drama to the story, but frankly this is getting a big long, so let’s just say, it was uncomfortable for everyone involved and YHG pulled the plug soon thereafter. As a result, SS didn’t leave with him, and came with us to the NKTOBSB concert as planned. We have a friend who is on a first name basis with the NKOTB and actually gave them the cowboy hats that they wore at the concert. She also got us great tickets that enabled us to get this close to the BSB resident bad boy AJ:

The concert was a hoot (I sound like my mom) and we danced and sang along with the boys in all of their cheesy glory. I'd also like to point out I've had "I want it that way" in my head for the past 2 weeks.

So now we find ourselves at Thursday, which also happened to be my bday. Now I’m not really a big birthday person, but for the second year in a row, my birthday happened to fall during stampede, which means everyone is out, so it’s natural to have a party. The problem in this case was that my birthday was at the tail end of stampede (so everyone is tired of going out) and I was super busy at work (I know … who knew?) so it was kind of a pain. But I soldiered through. I managed to sneak out of work to hit my company party, which unsurprisingly, was kind of lame. Then headed to my previous employer’s party, which was actually quite good – helped along by the fact that I’m good friends with many of my former co-workers and there was free booze. Then we wandered over to Cowboys (again), where other people bought me drinks, mostly shots, and I proceeded to get somewhat drunk and belligerent. But this was not entirely unexpected as in the weeks leading up to my big day, when discussing plans, I had sent out an email inviting people to come meet me, but with a qualifier indicating that “I will be drunk and belligerent as I come to terms with the fact that I am the oldest person I know.” That my friends, is a direct quote. And a prophetic one at that. A bunch of peeps were there – all at various stages of drunkenness. Luckily AH and SS had been triple fisting beer and wine at the rodeo and some of my former co-workers had done shots along with me, so while I was still the drunkest one there, at least I had some friends along for the ride. After eating a bucket of mini-donuts that substituted for a cake, I raised my hand, thanked everyone for coming, and declared my birthday to be over. So even though I was home by 11, my 8am meeting the next day was a rough one, and I made it through thanks only to the extra-large fountain pop I picked up at Subway. Needless to say I got a few looks from my colleagues as they sipped their coffee and silently judged me.

And so Stampede was finally over. YHG seems to have disappeared into the ether - if and when he surfaces, I'll be sure to let you know. Either way, I think we can all agree that SS won Stampede this year.

December 10th-19th

A quick gander at my dinner choices for the past 10 days. And I wonder why my pants are too tight.

• Friday - frozen pizza while babysitting adorable 11 month old named Gibby.
• Saturday - vietnamese noodles while dogsitting devil dog Shasta.
• Sunday - lovely pasta with italian sausage and fennel, homecooked with love by SS.
• Monday - tomato and pineapple pizza with HC and aforementioned devil dog.
• Tuesday - Life cereal.
• Wednesday - defrosted turkey burger (originally made by me) and salad.
• Thursday - lamb flatbread at Thompson's before going to see A Christmas Carol.
• Friday - lovely roasted chickens with vegetables and scalloped potatoes courtesy, again, of the lovely SS.
• Saturday - mushroom and prosciutto pizza with SS after plan for risotto fell through thanks to false labour (don't worry, not mine or hers).
• Sunday - Christmas burger dinner at District with JM and KA.

There were other things too. On Sunday I made 7 dozen chocolate chip cookies for a cookie exchange at work. I think I ate at least 6 on my own. Then I got six dozen cookies to bring home with me. Because that's exactly what I need. I also re-attempted the prize winning pie to go with Friday's chicken dinner. Once again the pudding did not set and I had to freeze it. Recipe is obviously flawed, but it still tasted great. Friday was my goodbye party at work. It involved wine and cheese. I discovered something called black truffle cheddar. Dairy goodness indeed. Brie and figs. Yum. Oh, and the wine of course. You can never go wrong with wine.

Did I mention that it's not even Christmas yet? This does not set a very good precedent. Good thing it's almost 2011 and I can make some resolutions.

addiction and 90s tv

Anyone else watching Celebrity Rehab this season? I've already mentioned my love of Dr. Drew, which is one reason I watch. The other reason of course is that I love a good trainwreck. On this season, the size of Rachel Uchitel's lips intrigue me. I'm not sure how she can talk really. I also call bullshit on Jeremy London's story about being kidnapped. Not sure why he's still sticking to his guns. It's quite sad really as I used to love him on Party of Five. I so wanted to be Julia Salinger dating Griffin . I loved Party of Five period. While it was a good show on it's own, my love of it probably also comes from the era in which it was broadcast. It was on while I was at university and along with Felicity, it was appointment viewing - first in residence and then in various living rooms off campus, always with a group of girlfriends who loved it as much as I did. In fact, I think the only reason I stuck with Lost through all 6 seasons because of my love for Charlie Salinger aka Jack Shephard aka Matthew Fox.

my famous friends

Remember Lily? Well, not only does she look good in hats, she also does good deeds. And now she's famous! Check it out:

http://change.outpostmagazine.com/2010/11/16/mans-best-friend-strikes-again/

aloha

My apologies loyal reader(s), I have been out of the loop. First because I was in TO at a wedding (more on that to come) and now because I am in Hawaii. Through a variety of circumstances, the main one being the direct result of this event, I am sitting pretty in Waikiki. The weather has not been fabulous, but the beaches are awesome, the company is great and the maitais are tasty. So that's what counts, non?

a modern romance

How's this for a modern tale of romance, with the requisite life lessons:

Boy and girl meet at Christmas staff party in Toronto. Boy and girl fall in love. Girl spends a few months working at the Olympics in Vancouver. Boy visits often. Girl goes back to Toronto. Boy gets transferred to Calgary. Girl stays in Toronto. Boy and girl date long distance, travelling back and forth or meeting in various cities in between. Families are introduced. Girl spends time at boy's family farm. Girl seeks transfer back to Calgary. Boy and girl make plans to build a house together. Boy and girl get in big fight in Invermere because he has ridiculous friends and is apparently very stubborn. In late September, boy goes to Toronto for work and stays with girl. For 4 days everything is fine and then they discuss said housing situation while watching Glee. It doesn't go well. So during a commercial break, because boy does not know how to handle an adult relationship with all of its various nuances, breaks up with girl. Two weeks later they do the ritual exchange of stuff. Five days after that, girl's friend's co-worker shows said friend (that would be me) her eharmony matches. One of them is boy. Yep, the same boy. This really happened.

So the question is, does girl have the right to be pissed at boy? On the one hand, they are broken up and so in theory he can do whatever he wants. On the other hand, eharmony? Really? This is how you're moving on? Go on a date. Meet some random at a bar. Don't go shopping for a replacement girlfriend, 10 days after you've just broken up. And don't think she won't find out about it.

So in this modern tale of romance, there are no winners. There are however valuable lessons. One - boys are dumb. Two - breakups are never easy. And three, as shown time and time again, the world is just too damn small.

no turkey, but still thankful

Today is Thanksgiving Monday. I could not be happier to have the day off. For that I am thankful. I am thankful for many other things too ... here is an incomplete list of other things I am happy for, right now, Monday October 11th at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon (I specify the time and date, because what I am thankful for changes at an alarmingly fast pace):

• my parents (obvious, but true) - they live far away and I get annoyed with them on the phone, but they are the most generous, well meaning people in the world and I could not have asked for a better mother and father.
• my friends (another obvious statement) - both near and far. I have been lucky enough to have travelled and lived in various cities and I have friends in all of these places. And I got to spend some quality time with a few of them, both new and old, this weekend, so that is wonderful.
• alcohol - this might seem weird, and mean that I have a drinking problem, but it's true. I'm thankful for the great bottle of pinot noir that SS and I shared last night over a pork loin dinner (no turkey for us), and while I was super hungover on Saturday, I'm thankful for the vodka sodas on Friday night (and from a few weeks ago at the Drake) that allowed my friends to get ridiculously drunk and provide hours of entertainment and great stories to last for years. But I promise that I don't drink alone (well not excessively) and I know when to stop. So please don't be freaked out that it's listed third here.
• BBM - I've mentioned this before, but really I think it's my favourite new technology.
• music - a soundtrack to my life makes things much more interesting.
• photography - along with the music, the images of my life that I wouldn't otherwise remember, remind me of all the good times I've had.
• the pathway system - I love that there are pathways dedicated to walkers, runners, cyclists, rollerbladers, etc that run through some of the most beautiful places in the city and that on sunny fall days like this past Saturday, people take full advantage of them.
• the Saturday newspaper - I do love the interweb and all the things you can find online, but there is still so much to be said for reading an actual paper full of stories from all around the world. Ideally with multiple cups of coffee.

There are obviously many more things that I am thankful for ... this is a list that could never end. But sometimes it's nice to stop and highlight a few.

good news/bad news pt.2

good news = this past weekend was a getaway to the mountains with 4 of my favourite girlfriends

bad news = the weekend was rudely interrupted by a 10K road race, for which I did not train - at all

good news = I finished said race

bad news = race included a 1.8 km uphill, at altitude, meaning I walked at least 1.8 kms, making my time ridiculously slow

good news = race was followed by beer, burger, hot tub, sunshine, more beer, birthday cake, wine, chips, cheese, wine, pasta, wine, dancing, vodka, oh, and more vodka

bad news = hangover

no ducky's

I woke up Saturday morning with this on my hand (sadly it's not a guy's phone number). Here is the backstory. There is a bar here in town. Well of course there are many bars, but this post is about one in particular. It's a karaoke bar. Karaoke, which of course was quite fashionable at one point (i.e. the 90s), and now, not so much. Yet this place remains popular. And not really in a kitschy, retro kind of way, because it is neither of these things. Nor is it trendy or classy. In fact it is really quite trashy. It is the dive bar of dive bars, yet somehow it has become one of our standbys. Almost our local. It doesn't really make sense. You never meet hot guys, rather you get hit on by men with moustaches (in a non-ironic sense) who can barely walk. And the music isn't particularly good. It's karaoke, so it's old faves (and not so old faves), too often ballads, sung by sad drunk people. The drinks aren't very good. To be honest, they are actually quite bad. The cheapest vodka and dodgy draft beer, so as a result the Ducky's hangovers are legendary.

The Ducky's stories are also legendary. Important events happen here. Milestones really. A few years ago, for AH's birthday we started off with a classy wine tasting at The Cellar. All went well still we started drinking full bottles rather than one-ounce tastings. This then turned into a trip to Ducky's. It went quickly downhill. She puked in the bathroom. On yet another occasion, she had her first dance with her now husband (and father to her recently born child). After SS moved into her first place after leaving her married home (aka empty tomb of a marriage) she ended up there with her mother - Sue loves to karaoke. Once we got cut off singing "Don't Stop Believing" at 2 am (before it became a popular song thanks to Glee). We went there on the first friday of Stampede a few years ago. I only remember this because there are pictures. And I'm in them. Finally, there was one particular night that HC and Christie had such a big night that they vowed not to end up there again. Hence the handwriting on my hand in the picture. It was to remind us not to end up there again. And all signs tonight pointed to us not going there. First we went out for a great meal at the hippest new gastropub in town. All signs pointed to a dignified birthday celebration. It really was quite a classy. Then someone ordered more wine. Six hundred dollars later, we ended up at Ducky's. Yep, that about sums it up.

my younger self

On my recent trip to "home" (where my parents live), I found a couple of diaries, hidden in plain sight in my bedside table. Am guessing my mom has probably read them, which is pretty embarrassing because the diaries themselves are somewhat mortifying. Running intermittently from September 1997 to December 1999, they are an account of my inner most thoughts as well as the events and travels that happened when I lived in France in 97-98, back in Halifax for my last year of university in 98-99 and then back to France for a year of teaching in 99-2000. I was a young 21 year old ... I was always thought I was quite mature for my age, but looking back, not so much. Naivete is a good word to describe my mindset. Although it's interesting because the majority of the entries happen as I'm taken far out of my comfort zone, living on a different continent, speaking a different language and meeting people from all over the world, so I probably shouldn't be too hard on myself. A few gems are below, as well as what they mean to me now are below (there is also plenty of introspection, but I think I'll keep those entries to myself for now):

• October 11, 1997: "Last night we had so much fun ... our wine only cost $4. Then we went to Bugsy's and everybody was there. We got a beer and hung out but we decided we wanted to dance - so we went to Honky Tonk's to bust a move." Um, everybody? I have no idea who would be considered everybody. Nor would my 34-year old self drink $4 wine. And what kind of town has bars called Bugsy and Honky Tonk? Although I do still use the term "bust a move."

• November 11, 1997, discussing a boy I had a crush on: "I broke off our relationship, not that we really had one, but after the events of the weekend, my crush has faded, although I still like flirting with him - he is a great friend even though he's a slut." A little harsh perhaps? Also, I love that I broke up with him even though we weren't dating. The funny thing is that we are still friends. I wonder if I should tell him how mean I was.

• November 23, 1997: "Last weekend we hopped on a train and went to Barcelona. Wow - it was so much fun. I couldn't believe how many people were out on just a random Saturday night - 8PM looked like Ottawa on Canada Day or general admission at a U2 concert. Shopping was like the last hour on Christmas Eve - absolute chaos. But I got some new boots and a sweater." I'm guessing we also saw all the Gaudi architecture and went to a few museums, but I obviously wasn't that interested. And I still own those boots.

• December 21, 1997: "We went to Paris and KM peed on the eiffel tower." I laughed out loud reading this entry. In her defence, she has a very weak bladder and I was probably taunting her.

• January 23, 1998: "Wow, it is so beautiful out right now. I am sitting on a park bench - it is 4:30 in the afternoon, in the middle of winter, I am wearing only a sweater (well, pants too), the sun is shining, there are people and dogs frolicking in front of me, I'm listening to that cool Bjork song and wishing I were in a movie." Cool Bjork song could be any of her songs really, I'm gonna go with "It's Oh So Quiet."

It goes on and on, but is really only funny to me. So let's just leave it there and ponder the all important question: what the hell ever happened to Bjork?

on lists

I realized that this blog was named after a list, but since then I have not really provided any additional lists. Today is the day I remedy that situation. Last weekend I went to Lake Windermere (pictured at right ... this is the actual sunset on Saturday night) with a group of people - some of whom I had met, some of whom I didn't know - and it was quite the interesting little getaway. Herewith is my top 5 list of memorable moments from the weekend (in no particular order):

1. walking into the cabin after having spent Saturday afternoon at the beach to find our living room had been invaded by 4 random girls in full makeup and onesies drinking our sangria. no explanation as to who they were or where they had come from. the boys tried to tell us they were 29. we disagreed. they were 23. tops.


2. playing pictionary and hearing Braeden guess "it's the bug that blends into the tree. goddamn it, what is it called?" the answer of course was praying mantis.


3. HC distinguishing between two songs both named "crazy" - one by Britney Spears, the other sung by Patsy Cline.


4. when the boys played this song for the millionth time, I realized that it's the perfect step aerobics song ... luckily HC used to be an aerobics instructor, so she was able to guide my routine perfectly! grapevine, repeater knees, and around the world were performed to perfection.


5. girls sangria = 3 bottles of red wine, 12 ounces of cointreau, the juice from 4 oranges, 1 cup of orange juice, 3 sliced oranges, 3 sliced lemons, 2 sliced limes, frozen strawberries as ice cubes, and ginger ale as mix. boys sangria = 12 cans of beer, a bottle 1.1L bottle of absolut vodka, 1 can of pink lemonade concentrate mix, garnished with lemons and blueberries. surprisingly, they were both really good.

mondays suck

The brouhaha of Stampede was fun while it lasted, but it was time to take a break from the beer and cowboy hats and head to the lake to detox. I use the term "detox" in its broadest sense ... there was still alcohol, just no more cans of Miller Chill or Sleeman's Light. Instead we had Oyster Bay Sauvignon Blanc and Margaritas. Plus we got to sit around reading magazines and discussing the latest gossip, while enjoying the sun and the lake. It was awesome.

a beautiful day

So while last Wednesday was not a beautiful day, this past Wednesday(i.e. yesterday) was. The reasons for this were as follows:

• sun
• patio at the Ship
• early ditching of work
• beer
• very tasty chicken sandwich
• a full afternoon with JM and KM, which hasn't happened in a while
• team dating (more on this to follow)
• more sun
• more beer
• good people watching (including a guy with a maori tattoo across his face - random)
• nachos
• the fact that it was the day before an extra long weekend, so while it was only Wednesday, it felt like Friday!

all aboard

There has been much debate about high speed rail in Alberta ... there are multiple reasons why a fast train linking Calgary and Edmonton would be awesome:

1. the avoidance of gasoline alley in Red Deer;
2. going there and back in 3 hours instead of 6 makes a work-related day trip that much more palatable;
3. it's much easier to bb message while sitting on a train seat than it is while driving 130kms an hour with mack trucks speeding by;
4. the whole reduction of CO2 emissions thing;
5. going to see shows that can't play in the Saddledome because of the stupid roof (i.e. Justin Timberlake) would be that much easier; and finally,
6. I love my Edmonton peeps and it would be fun to see them more often.

I'm sure there are other reasons (i.e. integrating the economy, ease of doing business, cool looking trains, etc, etc), but I recently discovered a new, much more important one while travelling from Montreal to Ottawa on the train this past Sunday: there are hot men on trains. Seriously, there were 3 very attractive, age appropriate men in my train car ... gives a whole new meaning to "riding the rails."

dbag central

On Friday night I met the girls for an apres-work drink at what is supposed to be the new cool downtown bar. It was definitely not. For one, the hostesses have to wear horrible pink outfits. And secondly, it's in the mall. I mean really. But it apparently has a huge rooftop patio ... too bad spring has not arrived in Alberta so we couldn't test it out.

On two separate occasions, completely unprompted, two of the ladies labelled it "douche bag central." For no reason really, except that it was filled with well dressed, corporate Calgary types. When seen in packs of 2 or 3, these men really are quite attractive, but for some reason, when seen in bunches of 10-15, you begin to question their motives. And so the dbag comment. It got me thinking that it's so weird that all of the sudden this insult is back in everyday usage ... so of course I googled it and found out that it crossed over from hygienic medical term into a pejorative name in the 60s ... http://www.drbilllong.com/SpellersDiary/Interlude.html. Who knew?

And as a postscript, as we were leaving the bar, who should walk by, but the Gaz (HC's ex) on his way to meet SS's ex-husband. Dbag central indeed.

I believe ...

So the Olympics have arrived and I am firmly on my couch, in luge position, watching everything and anything. I know I've already mentioned my love of curling, but the Olympics brings this obessession to a whole new level. It helps that our Canadian teams are both doing so well. Even Gretzky was impressed (they interviewed him at one of the round robin matches this week ... he's a big fan apparently. Randomly so is Carl Lewis. Yes, the sprinter). Moving on from curling, I am equally obessesed with snowboard cross, ski cross, moguls, skeleton, bobsleigh, xcountry skiing, downhill skiing, the list goes on and on. It also helps that I got to go to Olympics this year as they are just a hop skip and a jump from Calgary. Last week I was lucky enough to see the cauldron and take in a few hockey games ... plus I got to see some of my fave people in the world so that helped to. So, below a list of my favourite Olympic moments thus far - both official game moments and just me and my friends hanging out during the Olympics. We are at day 12 already and I haven't posted anything yet, so this is an incomplete list, in no particular order and will be added to in the next few days):
1) Jenn Heil wins silver ... she was expected to win gold, but I don't care, silver is still amazing ... the speed, the steepness and the size of the bumps is insane and the fact that she is so good, is so incredible
2) Alex Bilodeau wins gold ... the big story is about his brother, but my favourite moment was on the NBC feed when right after they finished interviewing him, his girlfriend arrived, they started making out and Bob Costas deadpans "I think it goes without saying that it will be a great Valentine's Day for Bilodeau"
3) the orcas at the opening ceremony
4) while I think it was a bit ridiculous that Wayne Gretzky rode in the back of a pick up truck to light the outside cauldron, I loved the crazy waiters running beside him
5) watching the Opening Ceremony while BB messaging with KM in Fredericton ... sometimes technology is just awesome
6) the hug between Clara Hughes and Kristina Groves when they realized she had won the bronze medal
7) the fact that Jon Montgomery has a turtle on his helmet
8) Jon Montgomery drinking a pitcher of beer walking through Whistler village
9) Tore Vikingstad's hat trick at the Switzerland - Norway game (it helped that I was there to enjoy it in person!)
10) our awesome seats at the US - Norway hockey game
11) my friend MM hailing us a limo to get us home after dinner at Chambar last Friday night ... oh and the fact that there was a limo traffic jam in front of her house.
12) Anja Parson of Sweden winning a bronze in the super combined after a horrific fall at the women's downhil..
13) the pants of the Norwegian curling team
14) my new Norges Ishockeyforbund (Norwegian ice hockey federation) hat
15) sitting in the sun on the steps of the art gallery watching people zip line through downtown Vancouver
16) high fiving the random American at Hub in Yaletown after Sid scored the winning shoot-out goal against Switzerland

17) MM saying "the russians are coming" when a group of russians took our table at Yoji's sushi
18) Virtue and Moir's free and original dances ... both were beautiful
19) any type of slow motion montage put to music
20) Tom Brokaw explains Canada to Americans

And finally, not really a favourite moment, but a memorable one - the fact that Joannie Rochette skated a clean short program 3 days after her mother died. She's in 3rd place right now. Amazing. That girl has guts ... the expression on her face as she finished made me bawl.

And I can't believe it, but I am not sick of the CTV "I believe" theme song yet ... in fact, I seem to hum it all the time. Who knew it would be catchy instead of annoying? Here is a picture I took of the cauldron - just to prove I was actually there.