To Anne!

I volunteer at the Bata Shoe Museum  which is a pretty spectacular place if you like shoes, different cultures or religions and spending a lot of money.

I thoroughly enjoy the work because I'm getting retail, costumer service and cash experience while sitting around chatting it up with a fabulously liberal older woman by the name of Anne. She told me a story about how she takes Zumba dance classes and, while talking to her grand-daughter over Skype, said that it's fun but she "sure can't shake her tits and ass!"

But not every co-volunteer is fun to be around. Like every other one I've been with. I don't even remember their names because they left no lasting impression except of course that they pissed me off.

So far I've volunteered with:

1. A girl who said incredibly awkward, morbid things and actually did not let me get a word in edge-wise

2. A girl from Paris who, while she was nice, was quiet and didn't take a very active role.

3. Anne. :)

4. This old lady who said "sort of" and "mind you" like 10000000 times a minute. "If you sort of combine your receipts you can do this but mind you it won't be easy!"

5. This French lady named Gigi who shouldn't be allowed near the computer. In fact, most old people shouldn't ever be allowed near computers because they type, one finger at a time without looking at the screen....multiple times Gigi entered all the wrong information, pressed enter, F9, all the commands to get to the next screen but didn't realize that a message had popped up saying "UNABLE TO COMPLETE TRANSACTION" Fuck.

But I really like Anne and we're able to talk freely and about all sorts of things so I'm really lucky to know her!

It's much easier....

Over the years I've come to realize that I know more about hiding stuff from people than I do about sharing it. There are ____ reasons for this:

1. Superstition: If I tell someone about something that I like or want I run the risk of jinxing it altogether. So rather than tell my parents/friends about a passion of mine (or an action I plan on taking based on that passion) I keep it to myself until the day I'm doing or have done it.

2. Fear of judgement: Wanting a tattoo or being in a noncommittal "relationship" with someone are not things that most parents (specifically) and some friends want to hear so it's much easier to act under the radar. Whatever happens, with that tattoo or the person, happens but at least I've avoided that look. You know the one.

3. Predictable reactions: I could be a rich woman if only I'd bet $100 for every time I knew exactly what a person was going to do or say in reaction to my actions. Why not avoid admitting that you've done something so you can get past the whole "I knew you were going to say/do that!" thing.

Every once in a while I'll tell people something that I would normally have kept to myself but for the most I like living on my own terms.

Zain, I hope you don't think I'm taking 

your Cyanide and Happiness idea....

I just thought it kind of fit with the post.

oooooo ahhhhh oooo aahhhh

I go through a lot of things on flights, apparently. Here are just a few of those that I managed to jot down.

If facebook didn't say how "long ago" someone posted something we'd all spend a lot less time waiting around, perhaps creeping someone else, before a socially acceptable amount of time has passed and we can like it. 

I've figured out what it is about certain people with certain behaviours that really bug me. I couldn't possibly name names and it's really no one that anyone who's reading this knows but this is it anyway: this person is the kind of person who makes everything out to sound like a proclamation or announcement. Like everything they have to say is more or less the most important/significant thing you've ever heard. The look on their face clearly indicates that they think that their words mean a lot more than they do...which is why they say things that are fairly irrelevant without realizing they just sounds plain awkward. In short phrases and with the pout of their lip they makes a statement; they are master, if only for that brief moment.

There must be something about flying that makes me get so emotional. I honestly couldn't pin point the cause because it has to go deeper than something tangible; it has to go beyond the obvious. I don't get weepy because I'm cramped or hungry or tired; I get weepy because of Justin Bieber and the Colorado river (just to use those as examples). I guess flying is just this one thing that really gets to me. It's almost unavoidable but I'm not in the least bit ashamed. Each and every time I'm up there, 30,000 feet above sea level it feels like an entirely new experience, no matter how many times I've flown. It's not like I'm fascinated by the take off or landing anymore; in fact I could do without. But that "being up there" thing transcends any experience I've ever had. I'm in love.

I rode the TTC back from the airport today, in a part-Zombie state of mind and when I got off at my stop you should be up the platform a bit but my own brother, his girlfriend and mom! It was such a coincidence, as they were out for my mom's birthday day and the chances of us riding the SAME subway was SO LOW. It was awesome!

Well, I'm back in Toronto now and it's hot. Missing California and my dad but hoping to go back AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Missed everyone a lot and can't wait to catch up on some serious party time!

My life be like.....

There were quite a few ninjas on the beach today. They must have been having a sort of convention or something but it really was a nice send off! Good-bye Huntington Beach, good-bye ninjas-galore! Although, some of them were not that nice, if I took their comments the right way. Anyway, this won't make sense to anyone but a select few and that's PERFECTLY alright with me.

I'm feeling a little weird right now, like I'm still being tossed about in the waves. I spent a good two or three hours boogie boarding and "swimming" for the last time today and sitting here right...I meaning writing....this entry is an extremely strange experience. I'm going to miss this....I'm not sure what: feeling of being in a moving bowl of jelly? That sounds great.

I think my brain might be a little rattled because this...the computer screen....feels about a hundred miles away. That's what you get for taking in the most of the ocean.....my-my, the disconnect between my brain and the keyboard is astonishing.

I'm about to go have some Olive Garden so I'll keep writing when I'm back....maybe then I won't feel so loopy.

And so we enter another Space Time Continuum!

W-W-W-WELCOME, BACK! Olive Garden was great and the unsettled sensation has spirited away! Now to tell you a little bit more about my adventures here at the beach...

My dad and I rented a car for transportation purposes or should I say he rented a car and has been driving all over town with me in the passenger seat and it's been awesome. Lem's been good to us (Lem being the name of the car, obviously) so it'll feel weird without him (and my dad, hahahhaha)! It would be nice to stay longer but it's been relatively "cloudy" weather the last two days and I can honestly say I'm happy about that. Better to leave during bad weather than to leave during fabulous weather, AM I RIGHT?

So the father figure's pretty upset about me leaving and while it so totally doesn't rock, duuuude, that I have to go I try and stay more or less positive. In fact, just so you get an idea of my philosophy, this is what our conversation sounded like:

Father Figure: I wish that you didn't have to leave. I wish none of this had happened.

Daughter Unit: So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Father, besides the will of evil. I was meant to come to California. In which case, I was also meant to leave it. And that is an encouraging thought.

No big deal.

Well, I'm all packed and ready to go. 7 am flight, 3 am pick up....HERE WE COME!

Jellyman, offspring...offspring, Jellyman.

Today I touched a jellyfish. Yeah, no big deal. Actually: big deal! Jellyfish are a lot more solid than one would think so when I put my (two) fingers down ever-so gently onto the "bell" I was shocked that there was some serious resistance. I'm not sure if the jellies had their stingers removed or if they're a variety of jelly without stingers but let's just say I wasn't exactly looking forward to having my fingers burned off. But lucky for me and the 800 different people who go through the Long Beach Aquarium that the jellies were harmless.

AND THERE I AM!

I thoroughly enjoyed the Long Beach Aquarium but I thoroughly detested the bus ride there...as I detest most bus rides. It's just that when you have to pay twice, take three buses and get there an hour and a half later you tend to get yourself into a bad mood. Just saying. But the Aquarium was interesting and there was no pay an extra $5 to touch the stingrays (ahem, Toronto Zoo).

I'm absolutely loving the weather here but every night is a perfect example of that phenomenon caused by cloudless days. What I mean by that is it's FREEZING. When a day goes by without a single cloud in the sky the heat inevitably escapes at night and in the morning I swear there's frost on the pumpkins!

I SAW A HUMMINGBIRD TODAY, in my cousin's garden and I thought of my mom....I tried to get a photo but the chances aren't likely with something as flighty as a hummingbird. Maybe tomorrow?

I'll write again tomorrow, if some interesting things happen (which I'm sure they will). Perhaps going to dog beach with the cousins but the beach/ocean in general 100%. Going to bed soon, after this baseball game. Let's hope it's not another 16 inning 1 run game.

Much love!

(By the way, Mama, if you sign in with your gmail account/password you might be able to comment on this...try it? Googleaccount?)



Al Pacino and Eugene Levy got their hair done and went to the disco!!

Earlier this morning my dad asked me if I had plans to go to the "disco" tonight. That's upsetting for more than one reason. 1. Because it makes him sound about 800 years old and 2. to go the disco is to go to The Albion on Saturday nights, every once in a while, instead of the disco every night because it's the 1970s and just about everything is "disco".

And no, I couldn't possibly go to the disco alone. Who would I make fun A Very Potter Musical references to??

About 30 minutes ago my dad gave me every reason in the world to wash my hair: a farm girl left her hair up in an up-do for 3 weeks, spraying it with gunk, until some spider mites decided to burrow into her skull, go into her brain and kill her. Only after she had died and eight hundred and twenty-seventh thousand six hundred and fourty-three spider mites poured out of her cut open brain did they realize how she died. I do not want spider mites in my brain or spider eggs in my face (that's another story her told) so I'm going to wash my hair and NOT fall asleep on the beach!

A few nights ago I had a dream that Al Pacino and Eugene Levy were dictators in a post-apocalyptic world in which they controlled everyone with bio-luminescent wands that shot paralyzing balls of light at people. Awesome, eh?

FLIGHT, DAY 1

There was a sign on the wing of the airplane that said "Do not walk outside this area" which I must have read, in no less than 5 minutes, no less than 7 times each time with the same deep concern for what it said. Now that's called boredom. But I suppose it was a good distraction from the take off itself (which I always find hard to handle) and the pangs of hunger in my stomach from the lack of food I've had all morning. I had to go through secondary screening at US customs (IN Pearson) and lost my breakfast...not because I was sick but because I wasn't allowed to take one measly little kiwi into the airport waiting area. Somehow I don't see why I had to throw out a perfectly delicious kiwi at customs but the people behind me (ON the plane) can peacefully chow down on their yummy smelling roast beef sandwich with NO PROBLEM. Couldn't they use their food for the same purpose I could have used my kiwi? That is if my purpose was to cultivate the seeds and by doing so somehow destroy American agriculture.

Originally I thought if I'm going to be going through US customs again in LAX couldn't I just eat my kiwi in Canada, in Canadian air, at the Canadian airport as long as by the time I've landed on US soil all "contaminants" are thrown out UNTIL I didn't go though US customs in LAX and simply walked out of the airport, luggage in hand.

But ultimately it comes down to (or came down to, considering I'm in Huntington Beach at this point) whether or not I vomit all over the inside of this airplane...and if they want any longer with the snacks that might just happen.

By the way, are you as confused as I am about this space time continuum as I am? I'm writing ON the airplane but for the purposes of when I've landed and arrived in HB. So right now I'm in the present but I'm going to post it in the future and you're going to be reading my past. Whoa, it's like a Christmas Carol ALL up in this blog.

MAN, I wish I was privy to the whole Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is so good! thing. But I won't be until TUESDAY night when I go see it. I'm going to have to see it by myself because my dad's going to be playing tennis and that leaves me with no one to make fun A Very Potter Musical references to. I'm ridiculously jealous of Zain for having had midnight tickets (boost!) to see it and is right now, at 8:17 am (again: weird because I have no idea how to handle this past, present, future thing) probably dreaming about being a wizard and shedding a few tears over all the people who died. Instead, I get to watch the Lincoln Lawyer on a tiny screen with low quaity sound hoping that SOONER or LATER food will be in my stomach.

We're flying over land right now (as we have been since the beginning) and I'd give anything to no where we are! To me and from what I can see we could be flying over the same farm land OVER and OVER again because just about everything looks the same. Anyway, off to watch this movie because the longer I don't pay attention the less likely I am to care, to any extent, what it's about.

...a bit later...

As we flew over Colorado I thought to myself "heck, we must be flying over Colorado!". Intuition is my friend today. God, this planet is overwhelming.

JULY 16th

Arrived alived in LAX (July 15th), got picked up by my dad in a shuttle that took us to Disneyland where we got picked up by his friend. Then we drove home, changed for the beach and went down to the OCEAN (how awesome is that?). We had dinner, froze to death (nearly) because it go so darn cold and by the time we got back around 8:30 pm I could barely keep my eyes open. I slept anywhere from 1-1.5 hours the night before my flight and 8:30 pm CALI time is 11:30 pm ON time.

Woke up THIS morning (feelin' like P. Diddy. Ugh, I do that every time.), had some breakfast, fed some turtes (yeah, no big deal) and went to the beach again! Had lunch at IHOP....I guess it's good food but really no different than most breakfast places. Went boogie boarding, swam a bit if that's even what you can call it and now I'm back at the house relaxing.

I'm not going to wash my hair for the week just to see what happens. It might get so matted and gross that I'll have to OR I'll just keep it....natural dreads for the WIN!

Love and Peace! Talk soon!

xoxo