Big Things I have Seen

HAHAHA, sorry, the title does seem a bit dirty, but that's not how I meant it at all! lol. I was talking about the World's Largest (WL) Roadside Landmarks of various types and thinking about ones I have seen. I made a list, most of the ones I've seen are in Alberta:

1)WL Mallard Duck- Andrew, AB
2)WL Beaver- Beaverlodge, AB
3)WL Dinosaur- Drumheller, AB
4)WL Pyrogy- Glendon, AB
5)WL Easter Egg-Vegreville, AB
6)WL Tomahawk- Cut Knife, SK

Random things I've seen that aren't the WL, but still worthy of mention:
1) Labatt Blue Beer Can- Edmonton, AB
2) Giant weird horse bone thing somewhere in Sask.
3) Ukrainian Sausage- Mundare, AB
4) UFO Data Pad and Landing Centre - St. Paul, AB
5) Big Buffalo- Wainwright, AB
6) Tiny Church- Drumheller, AB
7) I also saw a really big Tipi somewhere in AB or SK.

And, b/c my blogs have been kinda text heavy lately, I have a few pics of these rockin' places for you all:


Itty bitty Church

Big Buffalo

Ryan taking a pic of the Tomahawk

Largest Dino, Drumheller

Beaverlodge, AB

Things I thought about today

I feel kinda chatty today. So I will let you in on some of the things I remember thinking about today:

1) 3 cups of coffee in a row was a bad idea.
2) heels are super impractical for pretty much everything, but wearing them to go for a walk takes the cake.
3) a dog carrying its leash neatly folded in its mouth looks a lot cuter than their tool owner, who is too lazy to carry the damn leash.
4) Germans are just as inefficient as the rest of us and people are dumb everywhere.
5) the perfume Mom gave me for my birthday last year smells really good.
6) I should just give in and buy some slippers.
7) hitting an elk with your car has to be just as scary as hitting a moose.

Picking up the Gauntlet, Part 1

As challenged by Kirsty, I am picking the gauntlet up. Also, this has been insanely popular on Facecrack lately and I am all "intense" and stuff about following the group -here we go. I've just gotta say though, that despite thinking about this for the majority of the day doesn't necessarily mean that my 25 will be well thought out and not lame.

1) I have been in Germany for 5 months and my German is still crap. My accent is better but I still have the vocab of a 5 year old.

2) I love pastry beyond all reason, especially those awesome chocolate croissant thingies.

3) I have had the same teddy bear since I was 13. And I bring him everywhere still. Including my trip to Germany. I also got all original and named him Teddy.

4) If I am too cold when I sleep then I will always have nightmares. I have a lot of nightmares anyway. I also have a lot of recurring dreams. I believe that dream catchers do help with nightmares, but I never think about getting one 'til after I have a nightmare.

5) When I dream it usually somehow involves the last thing I read or watched. My dreams were way messed up when I read the Twilight series. Last night I dreamt about Pineapple Express. It was even more messed up than Twilight; I have never seen so much weed in my life as in that dream.

6) I make fantastic homemade soup and Manda has invited me to cook for the coffee shop she is eventually opening :)

7) Everytime I see someone running for fun, I almost always feel the urge to punch them in the back of the head. This is especially bad if they are wearing those creepy spandex outfits. *shudder*

8) I have dreams about my dog, Nora, getting old and dying and it scares the crap out of me. It's stupid b/c she's not even two years old yet. When I had her fixed, the paperwork that said she might die terrified me. I spent the day before she went in for surgery taking pictures of her in case something went wrong and she died.

9) I am a crap planner, but not planning something to the last detail scares the crap out of me too.

10) If I could find a decent job in Camrose, I would prolly never move out of the basement suite I currently rent there. I would prolly just eventually end up buying the damn house.

11) My drink of choice is Malibu Coconut Rum in Coke. Courage in a bottle usually leads to an eventful walk home through the park. Andy and Manda are most often my partners in crime when it comes to dumb things done after drinking.

Picking up the Gauntlet, Part 2

12) Mom's opinion and advice are still incredibly important to me. Even when I go my own stubborn way and ignore it, it still makes me feel good to know that Mom still cares enough to offer her wisdom to the situation.

13) I have owned (and almost constantly worn at home) the same hideous grey sweatpants for the last 4 or 5 years, despite Manda's repeated attempts to get me to never wear them again. I brought them to Germany too.

14) I am such a weak-assed nob, that yesterday after having Kidney (the world's most repulsive, grossest, most disgusting, chewiest food and something that I completely detest) sprung on me (and by surprise) at supper, I chowed down super fast just to get it off my plate. I then said something to the effect of it was kind of an interesting experience when my host mom asked me how I'd liked it. She knew I had lied, and I knew she knew that I'd lied, but pride was satisfied all round and she let it drop. In a country of super direct people, I still couldn't just out and out say I didn't like it.

15) I am a terrible story teller. I talk in circles and a 5 minute event can take an half an hour to tell. All I've got to say is that background is everything to the story. I would like to think I would be a funnier story teller if I could just get the story out before people get irritated and lose interest.

16) Sometimes after a particularly frustrating day as a teaching assistant I feel the strongest urge to run up and down the halls at school, yelling "Contraceptives are a GOOD thing" and handing out condoms.

17) I am a negative person. My glass is half empty, so bugger off already. I always feel the urge to throat punch people who tell me to be more positive (unless they are family - cause that would NEVER fly). I received a coffee cup that has the words pessimist's mug on it with a line that shows where half empty is. It is AWESOME.

18) I freeze as soon as I sit down and stop doing things. I am freezing and shivering right now. This means that my living room at home usually has 3 or 4 afghans kicking around within easy reach of my TV watching spot.

19) I am crap at making new friends. I find it really hard, with very few exceptions. But I would like to think that once I have made a friend, I will make the effort to keep them for life.

20) I drink herbal tea like most people drink plain water. My current fav is raspberry-vanilla.

21) I have no dress sense-I hate dress clothes. They are uncomfortable and I am incapable of coordinating them. Naomi gave me a written list that has colours and accessory ideas that "go" on it. I use the list all the time, but I don't think I am really getting it right. I tend to look more and more like a second hand store reject, the harder I try to get it right. Thus my motto- If jeans and a hoodie are not good enough then I am not going.

22) Sometimes I wonder if the only reason some people listen to me talk is to hear the next dumb thing I am going to say. Sometimes, when I talk to these people, I see how far I can reach into idiocy before they realize I am just messing with them.

23) I think the lyrics to most Pop songs are garbage and totally demeaning, but I love the beats and like to dance to them. I am a crap dancer though, with the exception of the time Meg and I managed to Cadillac Ranch to techno. That was awesome.

24) One word: Socks. Wear them people!

25) So far, my best purchase in Germany has been the world's warmest sleeping bag. It's super handy for visiting people. I named him Hector after Bee's "boyfriend" (the skull from the dig in Turkey) in Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2.

Wow. long winded, eh? now you know. I hope I answered the challenge adequately :D

Where have all the good movies gone?

I love movies. they are fun and escapism is the word. But the movies i have watched lately have all been crap. what is with that?

For example, Wanted. It deserves a giant -15/10. It was that bad. not even that sweet scene where Jolie flips that red car around with the door open and picks the guy up can redeem the movie. There is basically no plot and a lot of people who get shot in the head. Also, the idea of weavers discovering binary on a loom over a thousand years ago and figuring that Fate WANTS them to kill people-it seems more than just a bit over the top. I really just want to know who would examine the weave of cloth that closely in the first place? and then do it repetitively. It makes no sense. Also, the movie was filled with random characters and crap dialogue.

Next up- Appaloosa. I like a good western. They always move slow and the plot takes a while to develop but it works for me. I did think that Ed Harris and Viggo Mortenson did a decent job playing rough, tough lawmen, but Renee Zellweger should just stop. There is just something about her voice- like nails on a chalkboard to me. She also earned my enmity by playing a terribly flawed character in the movie and Ed Harris just keeps coming back to her and basically that side plot takes over the main plot. Redeeming feature: Frustrating to watch but not your usual super cheesy western. I'd give it a 6.5/10

I have a few more to watch still, hopefully they restore my faith in the movies on 2008.

Things I Did Today

Today was pretty laid back. I hung around in my jammies and made some homemade soup. It was tasty :D

I also spent some time with my friend Wikipedia. I know it is not an academic source, but I do kinda enjoy the random things you can learn off it. Like today, when I started by looking up Steven Strait and 10, 000 BC and ended the session by reading about the Dionne quintuplets. It was an interesting afternoon for sure.

I plan to spend this evening watching movies and possibly Skyping. So if you need me, you know where I'll be.

The Wave

It's a book. My grade 10s are reading it and in order to keep up with things that the teacher is talking about, I've begun reading it as well. The thing is though, that it is kind of a terrifying book.

It begins with a question asked by a student in a history class in high school- Why did no one try to stop the Nazis? The teacher decides to try an experiment on the class: He wants to show them why the Nazis were able to take power. From there, things go down hill at such an incredible rate. At first no one sees what is happening: not the students, not the teacher conducting the experiment, not the parents.

The experiment explodes out of control. People start to get hurt. It becomes a replay of a totalitarian society but in small town America. And that is what makes the book so scary- because the author shows just how fast and easy it is to fall into that trap. Which then makes you re-consider Germany's actions and see how easy it would have been for them to fall into the trap. Which then might cause you to stop and think.

It could have happened anywhere.

This book was based on the real life teaching experiment The Third Wave, conducted by Ron Jones in Palo Alto, California at Cubberley High School in 1967.

Names

1. YOUR SPY NAME (middle name and current street name):
Jessica Jean Rose-Street

2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME (grandfather/mother on your mom's side and your favorite candy):
Martha Haribo

3. YOUR RAP NAME (first initial of first name and first three or four letters of your last name):
E-Bru

4. YOUR GAMER TAG (a favorite color, a favorite animal)
Blue Dawg

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME (middle name, and city you were born in)
Jessica Jean Tofield- hmmm. clearly based on the awkwardness of this name, I am not cut out to star in the soaps. darn the luck

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME (first three letters of your last name, last three letters of mother's maiden name, and then the first three letters of your pet's name)
Bruyck Nor

7. JEDI NAME (middle name spelled backwards, your mom's maiden name spelled backwards):
Acissej-Naej Kcyd - wow, that's pretty intense. I guess that's what two middle names will do to your Jedi name :)

8. PORN STAR NAME (first pet's name, the street you grew up on)
Jake RR201. I think this classifies me as having the least popular stripper name ever. Although I could get lucky and start a trend with it. Move over Candi and Bambi--> Jake RR201 is coming through.

9. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color and the automobile your mom drives)
The Blue Impala- this one is pretty sweet. i wonder what my super power would be though?

10. YOUR ACTION HERO NAME (first name of the main character in the last film you watched, last food you ate)
Juno Gouda. seriously random

Classics

I was feeling kinda sick this afternoon, so I spent it wrapped up in blankets watching classic movies. First up- X-men 3. not so much a classic but i enjoyed it anyway. After that I watched Adventures in Babysitting, which was one of my favorite movies when i was younger (please no Twister or Jurassic Park jokes!) I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed it.

Another movie I watched this afternoon was Juno. I know it's not really old enough yet to be considered a classic- but I'm pretty sure given time it will be. I think Ellen Page does a good job and I also think the dialogue is pretty funny. What I didn"t realize is that Ellen Page is also in X-men 3. Interesting and random. Just thought I would point that out.

Now all I need is some popcorn :)

Did You Seriously Just Ask That?

I would just like to point out that when someone comes up to me and asks me what I am doing when it is completely obvious,they usually get the You're-an-idiot stare of death.

However, this morning I was so taken aback by it, I couldn't even form a sentence.

As I was midway through cleaning the bathroom, Quentin came in and said, "So you're cleaning the bathroom this week?"

No dumbass. I just thought I would come in, do most of it and then not finish. *sigh* That child is clearly suffering from a bad case of Captain Obvious Syndrome.

Mad Skillz

I just thought I would take a moment to brag about my mad skills for a second here.

Yesterday while riding my bike, with a backpack full of groceries and another bag of groceries hanging off the handlebar, I managed to pull a mitten off and dig my pop out. I finished my pop, put the lid back on and managed to balance all the groceries and myself as I continued riding and reached out for the garbage can I was passing. I then neatly dropped the bottle in without stopping OR falling.

Did I mention that this was accomplished in the semi-dark too?

I shit you not- no way could I even make this up. Also, I'm not going to lie- I felt kinda like a superhero. Thinking about it now however, I wonder what my superhero name would be based on this? Maybe the Balance-anator or Mad Skillz? Any ideas?

Fantastic

At the time of this post I had:

28 Days, 15 Hours, 23 Minutes remaining until I am at home (according to my Facebook countdown)

Also- this is awesome because apparently the countdown clock keeps ticking :D
Fantastic. I will see you then.

Ikea in Cologne

Last week Meg came to visit and we wandered up to Cologne to visit Elise. Most of our day was spent at Ikea. We wandered and took a bunch of pictures and saw some stuff in the store. i think our favorite part was the kids toys :) We went to Elise's house afterward and she shared some of the really tasty muffins she baked. We then wandered down to the train station to catch our ride home.

I have some pictures, but i can't make them work- so i will again later.

Getting It Out

I am a bit angry. Mostly at my blog. Thus, no posts for over a week.

The purpose of this blog is not to write stories that are only humorous and lighthearted for the folks back home to read. This blog is to tell you about what I have been up to and new things I've seen and done. This blog will also be used to rant.

Dear reader, if you don't want to take my bad stories WITH the good- don't read. It is that simple. Do I tell you what to write? No? Funny how that works, isn't it?

Thanks for letting me get it out as passive-aggressively as possible. Have a nice day.

Only Average

Just before Christmas, I wrote an English exam with one of my grade 10 classes. It took me substantially less time- but, in the end- I came out only average :( Ironically, it is apparently quite possible for me to fail English.