Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Six - A Roller Coaster's Hyperactive Cousin

I've always really enjoyed roller coasters/thrill rides [we shall not speak of that which terrifies me, such as ghost mansions and ferris wheels]. In particular, when I was growing up I thought Canada's Wonderland was just the cat's ass. Trips to Wonderland would be planned with meticulous care months in advance [down to who would sit with who and order of rides]. The night before I would be sick with excitement and sleeplessness. These days Wonderland is met with a lot less fanfare. Also, I've been to other amusement parks and I see all too clearly the flaws with Wonderland and their painful, painful rides. To say nothing of the summer I spent working there - that kinda damaged the love [but not killed - it's still a magical place!]. But yes, in almost every way Cedar Point is superior to Wonderland...but now Wonderland is owned by Cedar Fair and the improvements/changes are already obvious.

[here is where I would be putting a picture of the most obvious improvement, Behemoth...but while I remembered the camera I forgot the memory card...ooops...I was too ashamed to tell Joseph this...please, Google "Behemoth roller coaster" to see our new baby...]

Today I rode Behemoth [twice]! It is the tallest and fastest roller coaster in Canada [I realize this isn't saying much as our selection is rather weak] and...Wonderland did indeed get this one right. It runs smooth as butter. Finally! A purely enjoyable roller coaster at Wonderland [okay, with the exception of the double helix @ the end...seriously - who thinks that's a good idea? sample conversation: engineer #1 "looks like a great ride...except it's missing one thing" engineer #2 "yes, the rider won't feel like their head is being crushed for several seconds" engineer #1 "let's add this pointless g-force inducing double helix @ the end instead of anything fun" engineer #2 "hooray!"]. It reminds me a lot of Magnum XL-200 @ Cedar Point, except that Magnum has tunnels with slightly dopey special effects and less hills. I loved the hammerhead turn on Behemoth and all of the airtime generally. The second ride was better than the first as we were in the fly-out seats in the back. Additionally, the seating gives Behemoth the edge over other hypercoasters - it's just a lapbar [and a funky one @ that] - no seatbelts, no over the shoulder restraints of hate. It really gives you a sense of freedom...and yet...because of the unique seating...Behemoth cannot accommodate persons over a certain weight/waistline. So, ironically...Behemoth-sized people can't ride Behemoth.

[besides two rides on behemoth we only went on three other rides. we are getting old. but not too old to stop wonderlanding and stop eating gigantic cookiewiches.]

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Five - Pod Person

Ricky Gervais has been making the rounds on all of the late night chat shows this week - promoting what looks to be a rather resoundingly horrible film [I don't get it - how such funny people can choose such decidedly unfunny projects - the money must be great.]. On Conan and Jimmy Kimmel he mentioned his podcast, which is available for free on the iTunes. Well, you know me - I'm always hip to the new technology, so I decided to check it out. I downloaded a podcast. Yes, it's my first one. And yes, shut up. Until very recently I didn't know what a podcast was - if indeed it was anything. Much like how I thought having a blog made you special [it doesn't] - I thought podcasts were extra special and that you would need something special to play them on and to download them. I am so dumb. Me and John McCain are *right there* on this whole internet thing.

Anyway, as it happens I did have to download iTunes, which broke my unofficial not having Mac/Apple things for no specific reason. This was all pretty painless and even my dear fussy Vista didn't kick up too much of a fuss [rage! rage against the machine! you...machine!]. Searching proved a bit more difficult, but I think that was because of my own blindness...after I brief detour to the UK iTunes [which apparently is not the same thing - I mean, iTunes is not just one universal thing] I found the podcast and downloaded it and listened to it. That's some funny stuff right there and I do highly recommend it. My next step will be putting podcasts on to one of my MP3 players. I'm really moving on up.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Four - Shoot The Moon

Eventually last night I found my way to bed...but didn't get the opportunity to sleep in very much due to morning noise...as a result I spent the day feeling groggy and out of it and barely managed to feed, bathe and clothe myself before heading out to the museum for my evening shift. Brought myself home an entire pizza, but found that it didn't make for great company and with Joseph still away on business I was feeling a bit lonely. Solution? Internets. Obviously. But how? Tonight I played a game online with strangers. My game? Hearts. Apparently I'm pretty hot against the computer...but real people are much more cunning.

The truth is that I'm feeling a bit antsy over having not completed about 200 things on my original ET list with just over a month to go [and I have considered extending the project on an unofficial basis and updating when I do something new, but not daily]...and playing a game online was actually one of the things on my original list - as dull as it may seem. It was easy enough to jump into a game [apparently sorted by skill level/points], but I couldn't figure out how to give myself a nickname and everyone knew where I was from [but I couldn't see that information on them]. For the most part, the games went quickly and when someone left the game or was taking too long a computer/bot would take over to keep things moving, which is really helpful and reduces frustration [in Mario Kart when people aren't winning they just quit and it sucks]. There is also a chat option and much to my shock everyone was really polite [if not freaked out by my Canadian-ness], although I think the whole notion of chatting is counterproductive. Just play your trick! And yes, I lost every single game I played...quite miserably. Must practice more to defeat faceless internet opponents.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Three - Mulligan

Today's thing is really like a milion things and is my main raison d'etre @ work...so - here we go. Today I attended a golf tournament. No, I don't golf and technically I didn't even step foot on the actual course...but I was there...all day [I was up @ 5am and returned home around 9:30pm, intent on celebrating my job well done with a drinky-poo, instead I passed out on the sofa immediately following the Blue Jays game, where I remained until almost 5am, when rudely awoken by Anderson Cooper]. Now, I don't know much about golf at all...I had to do a lot of research so that I could accurately describe some of our auction items semi-intelligently and so that I would understand the flow of the day. To be honest, I've never had any use for golf - it's boring to watch and takes up a lot of time on TV and it drove a wedge between me and my ex [though we did not have any shortage of wedges in our brief relationship] - he was very into this activity and I believe still works in golf. However, after today I can say that I do kinda get it ["it" being golf] - I still don't think golf is for me [though I love mini-golf obviously], I have a greater understanding of its appeal.

Anyway, today I spent pretty much the entire day in the main clubhouse of the golf course. It was spacious and luxuriously appointed with art and dark wood and big leather chairs in the bistro. The staff were all dressed in little tuxedo-y outfits and were ridiculously attentive. That always makes me nervous - to be treated like I'm someone...because I'm most definitely not [they most likely earn double what I do]. Also, it was a beautiful day today - lots of sunshine, but without the oppressive city heat...outdoorsy but not uncomfortably so...yes, I get why people golf [I still think it's elitist and a waste of the environment/farmland, but that's just me - also, I am too wussy to carry the golfing sticks around]. Other highlights of the day include: attending a live auction and a silent auction and meeting someone named Mitzy [seriously! so country club!]. Sadly, I did not get to ride/drive a Turf Buddy/golf cart...they zip along pretty quick, so there might have been an incident. No photos as I was way too busy...

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-Two - Admiral Ackbar

So. We have a bit of an incident here. I have been a bit complacent in minding the fruit fly situation and now we have a real situation. They be everywhere. They are fond of many things that are not fruit related, including [but of course, not limited to]: the bathroom mirror, lemon-scented cleanser stuff and one particular wall that really has nothing to do with food. On occasion they will land on us and attempt to eat us? Or do whatever it is that fruit flies do. Something weird with tongue, to be sure. So tonight I decided that something must be done. I attacked ground zero with some alcohol in a spray bottle [that's when I discovered that I really like the smell of alcohol...ummmm, yeah] and then I constructed fruit fly traps. Pictured below.


The first one is a simple bowl trap. In the bowl is balsamic vinegar [red wine would also work, but I don't drink it]. Stretched tautly over the bowl is cling film with fork-holes poked into it. As you can see, the fruit flies are clearly mad for it. The second trap also features balsamic vinegar. On top is a lovingly hand-made funnel. The fruit flies fall down the funnel and there they stay. So yes, I would recommend either of these traps - cheap and effective.

[and please don't lecture me about killing fruit flies. i dont kill much else. so really, i think this is okay.]

Day Three Hundred and Twenty-One - That's Unpossible

Although art is my passion, I am definitely not much of an artist. Even as a kid I dreaded art class. I would envision these great works of art [not real ones, just things my brain would dream up] and then, since I knew I could never represent them in any way I would just sit there and not do anything. I'm not a big fan of failure, so I tend to just not try things that I know I won't be good at doing [part of this project was an attempt to get over this - at least a little bit]. I tried doing some abstract and/or really simple concepts as a kid, but this caused my teachers to believe that I was a little strange [and I have the report cards to prove it - thankfully, we were not graded in art class. As a teenager I enjoyed mucking around trying to design different fonts and symbols [seriously - I had legal pads full of such things - it was a good time-filler for the baseball off season I reckon]. But yeah, that's about it. On Wikihow I've seen plenty of articles referring to how to draw various things, but I'm a firm believer that following steps will not make you a grande artiste. To prove my point, tonight I drew an impossible triangle. And here it is:


I think it looks pretty neat-o, although it's harder to appreciate and see the illusion when you have created it yourself. A few nitpicks - I really should not have used lined paper for this task - it disrupts the illusion. Joseph was initally impressed that I was able to get everything so even in appearance, despite not using a ruler [I used a baseball ticket stub to keep things straight]...but upon closer inspection, things aren't really that even at all. Also, I suck @ shading.

Day Three Hundred and Twenty - If God Is A DJ...

When I first met Joseph I was incredibly shocked to see his CD "collection." I say "collection" because it was all of eight CDs. At the time my CD collection was well over two hundred and growing on an almost weekly basis [despite having no money, I always found money to buy CDs]. I questioned him about it and found out that some of his collection were gifts - so maybe he wasn't particularly interested in that group/musician [and now I count some of his CDs in my collection as I like them more than he does]. It seemed beyond bizarre, but Joseph was just not interested in music. Huh. Whenever people are asked to list their interests - inevitably music is in the top few. Or people make claims about music - that it's "their life" or in some fashion extra meaningful [please note - you might really enjoy music, but that in no way makes you special]. Joseph is way more of a weirdo for genuinely not being too bothered about music [and I say weirdo in the most loving of ways - it's a compliment]. And honestly, over the past few years I've become a lot less interested in music - mostly because I'm some old fuddy duddy who is only interested in older stuff.

Joseph and I both have shiny new Zunes [and they really are shiny]...and mostly Joseph's has sat on one of our bookcases. Well, he is going away on business this coming week so I decided it would be nice if he had some entertainment with him [in addition to Nintendo DS of course]. So tonight I uploaded music on to someone else's MP3 player. At the moment I have no idea what Joseph thought of my selections, but I did load on over 225 songs, so there is a good mix [including some incredibly girlie music, so I hope no one was listening too closely to his earphones while on the plane]. On my own MP3 player I'm constantly changing things so I load on entire albums. With Joseph's I mostly avoided whole albums [with a few exceptions - David Bowie, older Garbage and older Pulp] and added selected songs. Thankfully with Zune it's *so* much easier to do this than with my other MP3 player - also, it's super fast.

Day Three Hundred and Nineteen - Leftover Salad

Today is my 10 year anniversary with Joseph. Yes, I know that we are living in sin and unmarried, but we still celebrate anniversaries and even if we ever do get married I'm not starting again from zero! Anyway, we aren't much on gifts or anything, but we do like to treat ourselves to an expensive and very likely out of our price range meal once a year [and as I'm turning 30 next month, it's very likely we will do this twice this year - stuff like that doesn't happen all the time, yknow]. So off we went to Tutti Matti, my favourite restaurant in the city [though honestly I was a bit disappointed this evening, but part of that is my own stupid fault]. The good folks over on Chowhound [one of my favourite websites/message boards] would categorize this restaurant as a regular Tuesday night dinner out type of place, but for us, it's definitely earth-shattering special due to its prices.

So, we had ordered and drinks had arrived...but not so much the complimentary bread [and I am a girl who loves her carbs, so I was getting a bit peeved]. Then, something special arrived - it was an amuse bouche, compliments of the chef. I ate panzanella. For those not in the know, panzanella is a bread salad, originating from Tuscany [Tutti Matti is a Tuscan restaurant]. It is typically prepared in late summer - I think because of the abundance and awesome flavour of tomatoes. I have seen recipes for this in my cookbooks, but I was always kinda grossed out by the idea of soggy bread [I don't even put tomatoes on sandwiches for this reason]. However, this panzanella was free and prepared by a competent kitchen so I ate every last bite. It was incredibly garlic-y [so perfect for an anniversary dinner] and prepared with an outstanding olive oil and featured cherry tomatoes in all different colours and spring onions [and maybe other things, but the restaurant is very dark]. I didn't take a photo because I can't bring myself to be bold enough to take pictures of things in restaurants.

Day Three Hundred and Eighteen - Mismatched

When I was younger one of my best friends, Jennifer, wore mismatched socks on purpose all the time. I was always incredibly envious that she thought of this first. Not only did it mean that she didn't have to sort her socks out of the laundry, I decided it was perfectly quirky. However, she did think of it first so I couldn't copy her. I think you'll have to admit that I have some pretty amazing style icons littered throughout my past. Then, I read about fellow thing-a-dayer Colette wearing mismatched shoes to the gym...and I thought - dang [because I have to say dang because of the whole swearing thing] - that just steps up the game! And, I do love trainers - they are my favourite type of shoe to buy as they are generally more available in my size than fancy shoes. So tonight I wore mismatched shoes. The bottoms of the shoes are very similar, but Joseph noticed right away [he's pretty quick - I can't pull much over on him].


I was going to wear the mismatched shoes to work all day, but then decided to dress up, even though it's ultra casual Friday. Also, I was worried that wearing mismatched shoes might be bad for my ankles/knee and I didn't want to frak anything up as I'm in the final week of preparing for our main annual fundraising event and I so need my walking ability. To my surprise, the shoes I picked [because they are my current two favourites - red Converse for obvious reasons and blue Airwalks with cute skulls] felt identical on my feet. If someone put these shoes on my feet and I was blindfolded or something - I would never know that I was wearing different shoes. I think a lot of my trainers are this style of shoe, so I'm quite delighted. I can now start wearing mismatched shoes on a regular basis.

Day Three Hundred and Seventeen - Unfastened Buttons

I do enjoy a good conspiracy theory. However, there are some parameters. Either it has to be so outlandish, so crazy, so unbelievably awesome...that it becomes unspeakably silly and therefore fun. I can't think of a good one right now, but I do love the moon landing conspiracy. I've joked for so long that I believe it...that I think I kinda do [I know, I know - SpaceCamp would be so disappointed in me]. I think I'm pretty aware of most of the major conspiracies regarding politics, celebrities, etc. - although I can't say that I buy completely into any of them. I like to take a bit of the official story, a bit of a conspiracy theory and then make up my own story. But, as someone who likes to dig, to investigate...to get out on the hunt...gaining more information [even if it's faulty] is always going to peak my interest. Sometimes even when I don't want to...

A well-known film on the subject of 9/11 is Loose Change. They have released several versions of this film, but I haven't watched it. I think it's because - while other conspiracy theories seem to be from a different era - a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. So I guess that makes them easier to digest. And while I have no personal connection to 9/11 [aside from being a human and a North American]...it was a difficult time in my life because of the connection in time to my father's death [just over two weeks before]. I was emotionally fragile, but also really angry and wanting to lash out...not to hurt people, but certainly for people to feel hurt...as I did. A lonely, confusing and all around bad time. And then...this...it was overwhelming and I instantly regretted all of my bad feelings. But, it felt close...that's what I'm trying to say.

But tonight I decided it was time and I watched Loose Change. The main thing I'm impressed with is that so many people would put so much effort into this. Overall, their conspiracy theory is not very comprehensive. They just keep suggesting things...making dots...but not finalizing or connecting things in some total way. What they are suggesting is not only unbelievable [but not in a fun way - more in a "you really can't believe this"], but it suggests that so many of the people involved are really incredibly evil. You can call me incredibly naive if you want...but I don't, can't and WON'T believe that incredible evil like that is so widespread.