Well I'm back. I will upload pictures and share tales for those who are interested, but it will have to wait until tomorrow; I'm too tired today. But let me say this, the first thing I did when I got back into town was head out to the movie theatre to see the movie I have been dying to see for a year now, "The Village". Here's what I actually said to my friend as the credits rolled up: "I think I'm going to have to hunt that man down (the director) and kill him. And then I'm gonna revive him... bring him back to life ...so I can kill him again. And I might have to do that many times". It's safe to say I didn't like the movie. I'd get into more detail but to do so would ruin it for anyone who plans on seeing it, and I'd hate to spoil the joy. Maybe it's my fault for having high expectations, I just don't know. But if I ever happen to meet M. Night Shyamalan I will grab him and shake him violently until my $13 falls from his pockets. Sadly, I cannot regain those 2 hours I lost to the viewing. If anyone else was lucky enough to see this gem, do feel free to share your views with the rest of us. One good thing about the movie? Bryce Dallas Howard is a wonderful actress who should have been onscreen long ago (which shouldn't have been difficult since her dad is Ron Howard, and she looks just like him!). She was fantastic and I look forward to seeing future projects from her.

 
Well, it's bright and early and I am hitting the road; I have a 4.5 hour drive ahead of me, so I'm trying to get an early start. I wouldn't want to be late for grandma's birthday meal!

I am trying to relax about the prospect of being away from a computer for a whole 2 -3 days (I'll be back Saturday night, maybe Sunday morning). Seems ridiculous, I know, but I fear being away from the news mostly. This morning when I got up I checked the news online (as I do *every* morning) and had a bit of a scare as I saw "suicide bomber" as the breaking news headline on CNN.com and thought something had happened in Israel. I was relieved to see it was in Iraq, and then felt horrible for thinking that. It's a tragedy no matter where it is and I should never feel like it's better them than Israel. My prayers are with the Iraqis on this difficult day.

As for me, I must go off and celebrate life; not everyone reaches their 84th birthday, but my grandma is a tough cookie and she deserves a big celebration! She has outlived all her siblings (younger and older), a spouse, 2 of her own daughters and countless friends and family members. And after all that she is not bitter but instead grateful to be alive and able to fish! *grin* And so am I!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA!!!

 
I have one of those special moods going, right now. The kind that makes you wanna tell the entire world to just fuck off and leave you alone. I'm not sure what spawned this craptacular mood, but I'm going to hazard a guess and say it was work. I got myself all stressed out over a project I was working on and then got annoyed when people kept calling me, e-mailing me, messaging me, or just generally distracting me from accomplishing my goal. I guess that's what I get for putting it off until the last minute, so I have no one to blame but myself. Perhaps I should be telling myself to fuck off for being a complacent and procrastinating idiot. Instead I settled for bouts of road rage in which I yelled and gave the finger at every given opportunity, on the way home from work.

I do feel somewhat calmer now that I have baked a cake. How very June Cleaver of me; hey maybe she had something there, ya know? Bake a cake = feel calmer. I made it for my grandma, it's her 84th birthday tomorrow. I also get to take a mini vacation for the rest of the week (and not a minute too soon, obviously). Right now grandma is happy as a clam up in a cabin in the northern woods of Ontario with my parents where they have been fishing since Saturday. I will be making the journey up tomorrow morning to join them, have lunch, eat some cake and open presents, and then tag off. My parents are heading back home and then I am stepping in to spend the rest of the week fishing with grandma (truth be told, we all agreed that though we love grandma dearly neither of us could go a whole week with her in a cabin, with no tv, without strangling her. shh!). It should be a very interesting little getaway indeed. Lots of fishing, lots of card playing and lots of picture taking.

Meanwhile I'm having M&M's and Cream Soda for dinner because that's what I damn well feel like, and then I'm gonna do some packing. If you guys were hoping for something a little more entertaining, may I suggest you go read this; it's one of the funniest things I have ever read. I literally laughed until I wept like a donkey. HIL-arious! (link via Meryl)

 
Allow me let you in on a little tidbit about me; I am a nature freak and an animal lover. Bigtime. I have had all kinds of pets from spiders to salamanders to sugar gliders and I have a hard time killing anything living. If I find a spider in my house I will leave it alone even if it's crawling across my keyboard. At worst I will pick him up (no I'm not afraid to pick these things up with my bare hands!) and escort him outside. There are a few exceptions, and they mainly involve insects who insist on getting in my space (ie: flies and mosquitoes, but bees are captured and released outside). I cannot STAND a fly near my food, and I certainly won't tolerate a bug sucking my blood. Other than that, I have the patience of a saint for most living things. Don't bother me and I won't bother you.

Now then, keeping that in mind...imagine me as I was driving down a nice quiet road in my neighbourhood this morning, on my way to work. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping...it was a beautiful start to the week. As I was driving along I noticed a couple of birds up ahead, hopping around on the road, hunting for crumbs (gee, where could this be going?). As I got closer I noticed it's beautiful pair of gold finches, a male and female (the male is a bright yellow).  As I got even closer I thought to myself...no problem, they'll move out of the way. Birds always do. And sure enough...the female flew up onto the grass. The male did not. I quickly tried to position my car so that if he managed to stay still he would be fine because he would be away from the tires. I heard myself gasp as I passed over him and then my eyes darted up to my rearview mirror to look back.. Much to my horror I saw a little birdie body in the road with a wing sticking up. I was mortified. I slammed on the brakes and turned around to go back; I was going to save him or kill him, if that was the humane thing to do (I wasn't sure yet just how I would bring myself to do that). As I doubled back I found.....nothing. He was gone. It seems he might have hit the bottom of my car when flying up and was maybe just stunned for a moment? I can only assume, since he wasn't there. I was relieved.

But the story doesn't stop there! I continued my drive into work and 30 mins later I was taking the exit off the highway when I noticed something dead ahead on the road. Having the uncanny ability that I do to identify mashed animals on the flyby, I noted it was a duck and thought it was the damnedest thing; what's WITH these birds suddenly being so stupid??  I waited at the lights on the off-ramp to turn onto the street near my workplace and continue on. The light turned green and as I made the turn I noticed ....yes, that's right, a duck sitting at the side of the road. There was a feather sticking up, perhaps a fractured wing, and it's head was up as it sat there facing the wall (it was on a bridge/overpass. not exactly somewhere I can pull over and stop). What? did the whole flock decide to play in traffic or something??

I continued on to work (I was less than 5 mins away at this point) all the while feeling terrible for the duck. Was it still alive? Could I be sure? Am I in the Twilight Zone???  Am I suddenly a magnet for wounded birds?? WTF??
Once I was at work I started feeling guilty about the damn duck. No one was gonna save him, and he was going to die a slow terrible death while people just drove by. Finally I made up an excuse to leave the office...and yes...I went out to look for the damned duck. LOL. I'm a sucker, what can I say? Always a bleeding heart..

So off I went back up the road. And guess what I found? That's right...NOTHING. Ah, I get it now...I'm not in the Twilight Zone at all...I'm on Candid Camera and somebody MUST be fucking with me this morning. *sigh*

Now you may be asking yourself....just what was I planning on doing with the duck if I found him? Well, it should come as no surprise after hearing this story that I know of a wildlife rescue place where you can drop off wounded animals. I am of course familiar with this place after a previous time in which I chased a seagull with a broken wing out into traffic in order to scoop him up and take him there. The chase actually started in a parking lot where there weren't cars zipping by at high speeds, but the little bugger ran away from me and out onto the road. Finally I tossed my jacket over him and nabbed him  and took him to the rescue place. Unfortunately his wing was beyond repair and they had to put him down. But hey! I tried. And I'll keep on trying. :-)

In a completely unrelated note,  go check out my photoblog, Dreaming In Blue; I put some new pics up. This one is particularly cute.

 
What is it about us that we seek out others with whom we can speak with and know we've not only been heard, but understood? Some would argue that that's what friendships are all about, but that's not always the case. I think most of us have different friends for different needs. With some you just want to forget the day's events and clear your mind and have a laugh; talking about serious stuff may never happen. Others may be there strictly for the purpose of unloading all that's on your mind and allowing them to do the same. But many 12 step programs, like Alcoholics Anonymous for instance, rely on the fact that a room full of people can get together, share what's going in their lives, and always be heard and understood by most everyone in the room (and most importantly not feel judged). These groups of people get together because there are common elements and characteristics they share, and they feel comfortable sharing with each other for that reason. In all likeliness at least one person in the room will say afterwards, "I know exactly how you feel!".

On Friday night I talked with an old highschool friend of mine with whom I have re-connected with in the last few years, and we talked about the pain of letting go of close friendships. We discussed how the dissolution of a close friendship can be every bit as painful as a breakup with a boyfriend or girlfriend, and I was SO relieved to find out that she had as much trouble letting go of a friendship as I seem to be having. Although I found it mildly disheartening to hear it took her many, MANY years, I was extremely relieved to hear that I wasn't the only one taking a long time to get over a similar hurt. I went from feeling completely abnormal and not talking to anyone about how healing this wound is taking longer than I would have liked, to sharing every painful bit and having my friend impart her experiences with me. I felt SO good after we talked and wished I had struck up the conversation with her long ago. Better late than never, I suppose. Thanks for sharing and listening, buddy! You're the best!!

Meanwhile you will find that every so often someone will walk into your life and totally shake things up. This person will challenge your comfort zone and sometimes stir things in you that you either thought were long gone or maybe never even existed to begin with. It's defining moments like that in which you will be dared to take a chance or maybe challenged to make some changes in your life. Maybe both. But make no mistake, these people cross your path for a reason and if you fail to seize the moment and the opportunity you may well regret it for years to come.

Boy, I just woke up from a two hour nap and now I'm spouting all kinds of pretentious psychobabble! Maybe I ought to quite while I'm ahead, hm? :-) Hope y'all had a great weekend.

 
I tried out a new "emotional cocktail" today to see what it was like. Here's the recipe if you'd like to try:

1 part excitement
2 parts anticipation
2 parts fear
4 parts anxiety
_______________________

And while this concoction won't actually kill you, it MAY give you what feels a lot like a heart attack and a range of other exciting feelings, from crying all the way to extreme nausea (yup, I went right into the dry heaves, baby!!). I'm not sure I want to be like that ever again, but I suspect it might be out of my control. Give me a week or so, and I'll stop speaking so cryptically and just tell you what's going on.

Meanwhile I decided the best way to handle myself while like that today was to do a mass re-organization of my office, specifically my dump of a filing cabinet. It was very rewarding and had the added bonus of making me look busy. It only killed a few hours though, and the last two hours of work were sheer torture. I just love those days when time seems to CRAWL as if to punish you, don't you?. Maybe it was because it's Friday, I dunno.

So now I'm gonna get together with a friend of mine to rent a bunch of movies and eat junkfood all night. She just broke up with her boyfriend, so I'm gonna do what every good girlfriend does, and I'm gonna help her pig out to get over it. :-) What are friends for?? And hey...maybe it'll help me unwind too.
Shabat shalom!

 
Ok, raise your hands if you remember the 80's family sitcom "Growing Pains" which featured the Seaver family. It starred Alan Thicke, Joanna Kerns (where oh where is she now?), Tracy Gold, Kirk Cameron and eventually a young Leonardo DiCaprio (here's the IMDb site for the show). Ok, now I want you to specifically recall teen heartthrob Kirk Cameron, seen in the pic on the right (along with that young Leo).

Now then, I'm not sure how many of you know whatever became of him, but he recently came up in a conversation with a group of my friends (I believe we were watching an old episode of the show). Someone suggested he had become a super-Christian and was now making his livelihood by spreading "The Word of God". We all seemed somewhat surprised, and then the conversation ended there.

Well, as it turns out he surely is, as I just found him on the local Christian channel about half an hour ago. I was locked into an interview with him and couldn't take my eyes off. More importantly I was *stunned* as he preached that folks like me were going to go to hell because we hadn't opened our hearts to Christ. Now, I'm not one to get offended by this kind of thing....I believe in a 'live and let live' sort of mentality. To each his own, and if that's what makes you happy then I am happy for you. But man alive, the guy was on the show to promote a video he is selling, and his website called "The Way Of The Master". His video actually teaches people how to go out into the streets to approach others in order to preach Christianity (to quote: "The Foundation Course is Step #1 towards leading your loved ones to the Lord. It will teach you how to overcome your fears and show you how to circumnavigate a person's intellect" YIKES!!). He shows ways to talk to people and how to get them to listen to what you have to say about God . And ya know what? I find that damn creepy. I have no problems with Christianity or any other religion, but I don't like when people get in my face to sell me their brand of God. If I want to know, I will search it out. Go ahead, click on Kirk's site and you'll see that the tour starts with him asking if you are a Christian or not. I was brave enough to say I wasn't.

Anyway, I'm not here to bash Kirk or Christianity. In fact, I often watch people like him on tv and kinda envy their extreme faith. My faith, to say the least, is not that strong. However, I don't appreciate his brand of preaching....it's designed to strike fear in your heart (according to him I am going *straight* to hell) and that's hardly a way to win a person over to your religion. On his site he actually says: "Does the fact that you have sinned against God scare you? It should." No, Kirk. YOU scare me.

Let's take an example of a Christian whose program I secretly love to watch (oy, I shudder to think of the reactions I'll get for admitting that). From time to time when flipping through the channels I happen upon Joyce Meyer on the Christian channel. And I don't know what it is about this charismatic woman, but I love to listen to her preach. Why? Because first of all, she doesn't shove her idea of God in your face. She is damn funny, and tells a wonderful story. Her stories are examples of things in life that anyone can identify with, and then at the end she gently ties it back to the Bible, and sights specific examples. Oh, and did I mention? She's hilarious. She tells it like it is with a sharp wit and no nonsense approach. I like her and her style, and she doesn't make me feel uncomfortable and she doesn't threaten me with hell to get me to listen. Now if only she could talk about the Torah for a while, I'd SO be there. *wink*

And another positive word for my Christian friends; there was another time when flipping past this same channel that I stopped to listen to a pair of evangelists discussing Israel. They were promoting tourism and telling Christians to not be afraid of what they see on the news, for it is often overblown. They were telling Christians that Israel needs their support now more than ever, which couldn't be more true. So to those evangelists, I say thank you. Thanks for helping promote Israeli tourism by getting the word out. :-)

Who knows....I may already be in hell. The temperatures here in Toronto were a sweltering 41C (that's 105.8F) with humidity at 70%. (hey, if I wanted it this hot, I'd live in Israel, damnit!!) I can't even begin to describe how nasty that feels...like a big ole wall of sweat when you walk out the door. You're moist as soon as you make contact with the air, and the air is THICK making it murder to try and breath. Blecch. I'm so happy the temperatures are dropping over the next few days.... now if only we could send all this rain to those who need it.

UPDATE: I have checked into Joanna Kerns (mom Seaver) to see where she is now, and as it turns out she will be directing the tv return of Growing Pains (cleverly named "Growing Pains II: Home Equity")!! Seems the cast is coming back and filming began this spring (it looks like it's a tv movie). Perhaps we will see the Seaver family again this fall! The plot outline reads: "The Seaver parents try to sell their house to retire but Mike and his sister Carol try to block the sale. However, Ben needs the sale with his job now as a real estate agent. Chrissy just wants her parents to move so she can become a singer.". Eek! I can hardly wait.

 
Ill tell ya something...I am a girl who is in one FOUL friggin' mood today. Let it be known, and may I advise all to steer clear. I think it all started with me waking up after a rather extended dream about an old friend. It angered me, saddened me and worried me. Seems anger was the emotion that stuck with me though.  Then I had a mild confrontation with a pedestrian while driving to work in which we both flipped each other the bird. While I drove into work I tried to change my mood...breathe deeply and count to ten....listen to happy music and bop along....let go of the anger and frustration. But I must say, that crap just never works for me. lol. My number one worst personal flaw is my inability to let go of something that is eating me up inside. I wish I could, but I have no idea how. I've tried *many* different ideas with little to no success. Years after an incident I can still stew about things, and it's simply not healthy. And just because I know that doesn't mean I can help it. Anyway, then I came into work and the mood is as tension filled as ever. Will our company shut down? Won't it? Ugh, the meeting this morning did nothing to improve my mood. I did finally post a new entry into my dream blog which has somewhat elevated my mood, but I'm really counting on dinner tonight in Princess Blondie's new home to help me forget the day's bullshit. I hope that some dinner with good friends and a few good laughs will help me to relax. Oh, and my back is feeling much better today. Thanks to those who sent me well wishes. :-)

Before I go can I just vent on one last thing that is chapping my ass today? IGNORANCE is pissing me off, and I am tired of Israel having to defend itself against it while trying to defend itself everyday against enemies who would like to see its demise. The news is filled with reports about how Israel is not complying with an order to dismantle their security fence. You know...the fence they are building to stop terrorists from waltzing in to blow themselves up amongst as many Jews as possible. I would like to once again remind everyone that Israel is not the only one to have built such a fence... I have included a picture (thanks to Honest Reporting) that shows other fences in the world that were built for the very same reasons. Come on people, why is Israel being held to a different standard than those other countries? Why were they not dragged into a world court to explain why they are building a fence to defend themselves? (and again, the REASON was never discussed in court, only the results as they pertained to the Palestinians. terrorism was not discussed).
I'm sick and tired of it. GRRR!!!!!

 
I don't think I need to go on another rant about Israel do I? New Zealand is pissed off at Israel. France is pissed off at Israel. Lebanon is pissed off at Israel. Palestinians are pissed off at Israel and each other. It's a mess over there. If you are interested in what's going on I once again urge you to check out Israellycool, Meryl Yourish, Boker Tov, Boulder!, or any of the other fine blogs in my blogroll that discuss Israeli topics (though I suspect if you are interested in Israel you are likely already reading those blogs anyway).

Meanwhile, I have my own grief. In a spectacular move this morning I have managed to put my back out, rendering it difficult to do much at all now. It started with an innocent morning stretch while at my computer reading news and checking my e-mail. Before I knew it I felt a stabbing twinge down the left side of my back and I soon found myself flat on my back on the floor in an effort to stop the spasming muscle. I have a lot of health problems that come and go, but this was a new one for me. Soon I found that I wasn't much able to get up off the floor because everytime I made a move I was gripped by pain. Part of me was laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, part of me was in a mild panic. So I did what many would do...I called my mom. It was not easy to get my phone, requiring a little crawling in order to accomplish the task, and after succeeding I reverted to laying flat on my back. I called my mom at home...no answer. I called her cellphone.....she answered.

"Where are you?" I asked
"I just left my house. What's wrong?" she knows I don't call at 7:30am unless something is amiss.
"Oh mommy.. ..I've hurt my back and I can't get off the floor" (spoken in the most pathetic tone imaginable in order to gain maximum sympathy)
"Do you want me to come over?" (she knows I never call her mommy, unless I want or need something. otherwise I call her by her first name. don't ask.)

Anyway, she came over and got me off the floor and into my lounge chair, rubbed my back, put an ice pack on it and gave me some Robaxacet.
FUN, hunh?? After that I napped for another hour (muscle relaxers have a funny way of doing that to a person) and then eventually I dragged myself into work, 3 hours late. Now I'm wishing I had just stayed home coz it hurts.
*whinewhinewhine*

Speaking of whiners, seems I'm not the only one trying to find my place in the world. Looks like my generation is facing the age old question of "is this it??". Check out the article here. Seems Generation X is still trying to figure out to be when they grow up.

 
I have been putting off mentioning all the crazy stuff going on in Israel I guess because I figure if you are interested in Israel you would already know about it, and if you aren't you probably wouldn't be all that interested in hearing about it. Perhaps that's a bit complacent of me, but I just haven't the strength or energy to write about all the news in great detail.

Things are crazy chaotic right now for a variety of reasons. First, a pair of Israelis were caught buying forged passports in New Zealand. NZ is assuming they are Israeli spies and is pretty pissed off about the whole thing. They have suspended ties with Israel and are putting sanctions in place. This has caused a rise in anti-semitism in NZ and some idiots decided to go ahead and express their displeasure by desecrating a Jewish cemetery while still others vandalized a synagogue in Australia with such choice phrases as "Hitler was right". So as it stands, relations between Israel and New Zealand are tense, at best.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians have been very busy kidnapping the Palestinian police chief and then some French tourists (believing this would draw postive attention from Europe to their plight, if you can believe). They have also taken to burning down the police headquarters to protest the new police chief (the condition of releasing the kidnapped police chief was that he would be fired and replaced. Arafat and agreed and replaced the chief with his cousin. this pissed off the Palestinians, and rightfully so).

Anyway, I am merely scratching the surface and glossing over details. What all this boils down to is a growing crisis in Gaza as great unrest is increasing and Arafat is losing his grip on power. For more insight to all this I suggest you read Meryl's posts here and here, she always breaks it down very well. For a simpler view on it I highly recommend HebrewLion's take on the matter, he sums it up wonderfully. And as always Dave over at Israellycool has info on both the NZ incident and the chaos going on in Gaza. To be honest, I'm almost afraid to toss my two cents worth in on this because this kind of uprising, rioting and kidnapping is never good, even if it's the Palestinians doing it to each other. It still causes instability throughout the region, and that's never good for Israel. Many are figuring this is the beginning of the end for Arafat, and while that in itself would be a good thing, the internal fight for power is not. Not for the Palestinians and not for Israel. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens........

 
how far would you go for love? how much would you be willing to risk for a chance at finding "the one"? would you try a blind date? an online dating service? allowing someone to set you up? or maybe just a bar or party? would you be willing to spend a fair sum of money to fly half-way around the world to meet someone you have talked to online? what if you like him or her? would you move there after only a few meetings? (dating can't be done from afar, afterall)

One of the first blogs I started reading was 2 HaTs. Lorien is an Israeli woman who fell in love with a Canadian man she met online. It moved on to phone calls and eventually they met. I don't recall the details now (I think they met up in Amsterdam one of the first times) but in the end she married him and moved to Canada (Calgary, for those who know where that is. couldn't be more unlike Israel if you tried). She left behind everyone and everything she knew and has built a wonderful life for herself here (I recall one of the deciding factors for why she came here rather than him there was that she could speak English whereas he could not speak Hebrew, but that was just one factor). I remember being absolutely amazed at the risk of it all. Maybe I'm just not a risk taker or maybe I was envious, I don't know.

So? Would you? Would you be willing to pack up your life and leave for something that may or may not pan out? Would you give up your job, home, family, friends and country?
I just got an e-mail back from my childhood friend that I finally tracked down yesterday. Her e-mail was even more unintelligble than mine due to excitement; seems she had been looking for me too. She mentions she had fallen in love with a Swiss guy here in Canada, but his visa ran out so she followed him back to Switzerland. Again, I am amazed and perhaps jealous. Would I do it if I fell in love? Would I be willing to risk it all?
Anyway, they are moving back to Canada this fall so I am VERY excited. I will finally be able to see her again after nearly 9 years. :-)

Today I spent some time with my mom at my parents place, and by that I mean I took my laundry over to their house. I made a deal with my mom.....I fix her computer problems and she does my laundry. So I spent the afternoon fixing her computer up and I got my laundry smelling fresh and clean. Not a bad deal.
After that I met up with my geek boys and we went and saw "I, Robot". It was a very entertaining film. For some reason it didn't totally knock my socks off, but it was pretty damn good. Heh. Robots are cool.
When the movie finished we headed back to my friend's house and played with his baby, visited with his wife, ate dinner and watched tv. Life is good. :-)
Hope y'all are having a good weekend....

 
Yes, I disappeared for a few days; sometimes I just need to do that. After a wonderful two days in school I came back to work re-energized and ready to apply all I had learned only to find out our company has been delivered some very bad news, and our future  has become uncertain. We have been in management meetings every morning, all week, trying to figure out a game plan but things remain tense. That really killed the fine mood I was in at the beginning of the week, and it kinda carried through until this morning. How all this plays out will *greatly* affect my future. Strangely, I am not worried. I get this peculiar feeling deep inside that whatever comes of this is supposed to happen and is part of the bigger plan for me. Perhaps it is to nudge me in a direction that I have been too cautious to explore? Who knows.
 
So the last two days I have been in a busy and tense work fog. Meeting up with various friends through the week has helped to not let me get too low, and a phone call from Oren over in Israel always helps. But this morning, the strangest thing happened...
 
I have been searching online for a childhood friend of mine for years now. We lost touch about 8 years ago, and I have been unable to track her down. It doesn't help that she has always been a bit of a wanderer, having lived in several cities all over Canada. Couple that with the idea that she may have married, and I was really lost in trying to find her.
 
But this morning when I slightly changed my search in Google, I tripped across a page put up by a cousin (?) of hers. And on that page (a site put together for family to get news about each other and share pictures) I found an announcement of her marriage.....3 years ago... in Switzerland!!!!! Wow! Part of me was shocked, part of me wasn't surprised at all. All of me was happy for her, and for finding her.  But wait, it gets more bizarre.
As I read more of the family news I read something about a cousin of MINE on there....it seems that my friend's cousin had married into MY family!!!!  There was mention of a cousin in particular that I had just gone "back home" a month ago and visited with!!  NOW I was surprised. How small can this world get??
 
After looking all over the website I finally found an e-mail address for my friend and I have written to her. I am *so* excited! :-)
I really needed a "win" this week, ya know?  *grin* The lesson for this week? Never give up.
Shabat Shalom. 

 
I am in school all day again today, but I'd like to take a quick moment to wish a happy birthday to a few crushes I've had over the years (who all share the same birthday, amazingly!!!). Harrison Ford (1942), Patrick Stewart (1940) and Bob Crane (1928). Happy birthday, guys! Mwah!!

For more cool and useless trivia about this date in history check out this link.

 
I think all this going to school and cramming new knowledge into my brain is what caused the headache I now have. But as they say, no pain no gain! Class was great and school is a different place when you actually want to be there. My class is comprised of myself and two other students. Nice and small! Perfect for getting lots of time with the teacher and getting an opportunity to ask questions. By gosh, learning IS fun!

But now it's time to give my aching brain a rest, so let me offer you a parting gift: the movie Alien (in 30 seconds, re-enacted by bunnies). It's hilarious.

 
Alright, I am done ranting about Israel now and I can recap my weekend for those interested in hearing about it. If you actually *wanted* to hear my rant about the terrorist attack in Israel today, see my previous post. As my shirt indicates in this pic, I'm crazy, and I am blaming it on the madness of the world around me.

Saturday was a day spent roaming the streets of Toronto with a friend of mine. We checked out the Toronto Street Festival and saw all kinds of street performers, musicians and booths set up all along the street. For some reason I get a strange kick from wandering around on a street that has been closed off to traffic. *shrug*
After walking until we just couldn't walk anymore we decided to take advantage of the Summerlicious event in Toronto and sample a new restaurant. We opted to try a restaurant called the City Grill, located in the famous Toronto Eaton Centre. It was mighty tasty, let me tell ya! I had me a steak and my friend tried the red snapper. For $20 we got a salad, main course and dessert. A great deal!

Anyway, after all that walking around we were in serious need of some rest so we decided to take in a movie so we could sit for a couple of hours. We saw "King Arthur" which wasn't a bad movie. It wasn't outstanding, but it was certainly watchable and entertaining.
After the movie we made our way over to the bar (El Mocambo) to see my brother's band play. Did you know that the Rolling Stones once played there? Pretty cool stuff. It was a fun show and my dad came out to join us as well. After the show my brother's band, my friend and I, and my brother's girlfriend and my dad all went to Chinatown and grabbed some late night noodles (it was about Midnight). By this time I was absolutely exhausted, but man-oh-man..the food was delicious! Noodles and squid...... mmmmmmm.

For pics of the Street Festival and my brother's band go to my photoblog, Dreaming in Blue.

By the time I got home it was after 2am (see previous post) and I was whipped. I finally got to bed by 3am and up again by 10am. I wanted to pay my old neighbour Princess Blondie a visit in her new home. It was good to see her and we spent the day doing chick stuff (ie: shopping). A fun and relaxing way to spend the day. And now I am going grocery shopping! Long live the 24 hour grocery store!!!!

And just to let you know posting may be light for the next two days since I am going to SCHOOL for a couple of days; that's right, the boss is paying to upgrade my skills, so I am working on a desktop publishing certificate. Yay!!! This finally has me excited about my job again. Feels damn good.
Hope everyone had a great weekend too!

 
I just came home, it's 2am, and THIS is the news I am greeted with. Wonderful. Yet another terrorist attack by Palestinians (targeting a bus stop with a bomb, of course). I am too tired to get angry about this, all I can say is....build the fence. Faster, please.

UPDATE: Here is more info on the attack if you haven't already read up on the incident. The woman killed was only 19 years old, and reports put the wounded somewhere between 20 - 30 people. And please remember, wounded can include something as devastating as a limb lost or worse. The bomb was packed with metal shards (likely ball bearings or nails) for maximum damage to anyone standing nearby, as they are sprayed with deadly shrapnel.

And in case you think this isn't your problem because you're not Jewish, let me point out a recent incident in Paris in which a woman and her baby were attacked because they were believed to be Jewish. They weren't. Anti-semitism can affect you even if you're not Jewish, as you can well see (careful, you wouldn't want to be mistaken for one of us!).
Perhaps this is why there has been such a huge spike in French Jews immigrating to Israel. Because it is safer to be a Jew in Israel than in France, ladies and gentlemen. That's why Israel exists, and that's why the fence needs to be built.
Oh, and in case you have ever been swayed by those "peaceful protesters" who demonstrate against the wall being built, have a look at this and think again.

Oh, and btw, to the sick bastard who made up this game...it's seriously not funny in any way, shape or form. I hope that one day karma comes to pay you a visit.

Ugh, I can't talk about this anymore today. I will post later today about my fun yesterday because I am determined to have a good weekend, damnit. Check back later.

 
Well, I intend to make the most of my weekend starting today. I am meeting up with a friend of mine and he and I are going to hang out for the day doing the downtown Toronto thang. We're gonna start by taking in the sights, sounds and tastes of the Toronto Street Festival. Should be a lot of fun and the weather looks good for today; not too hot, not too cold. After that we're going to try a new restaurant, though we're not sure yet which one (we'll see where we end up). Every summer Toronto has what's called Summerlicious in which all kinds of normally expensive restaurants offer a set menu for $10 - $30 (depending on lunch or dinner) giving you the opportunity to try out a new place you might not otherwise be able to afford. It's great food at a great price, and I'm definitely up for that.

After walking around and eating we might catch a movie. Who knows which one yet, I don't know. And after that we're going to go see my brother's band play at a bar called El Mocambo. But that won't be until about 11pm, so we have all day to wander the streets of Toronto. Sounds like fun, no?
What are you kids up to this weekend?

 
I'm far too annoyed about this to discuss it in any kind of rational way, but yes, I am aware the the "World Court" has decided that the security fence Israel is building is illegal. What nobody seems to be reporting is the fact that the court refused to hear from victims of terrorism in Israel, reinforcing the whole reason why Israel is building this fence in the first place. Sounds like a balanced court to me...bring in the two sides and then refuse to allow witnesses to speak. Great.
And how about the fence that is being built between India and Pakistan (to keep out terrorists, of course)? Why aren't they being dragged into International Court? Ucch. Don't even start me on this. I'm just glad Israel is disregarding the ruling and even more happy that the White House is brushing it off too.

Once again, here are some links:
Here is a site that shows other fences around the world, just like the one Israel is building, complete with pictures. If there is one site you should look at, it's that one.
Here is an article on Honest Reporting that discusses the fact that the reason for the fence being built was not even brought up in court. Here is the official stand of the Israeli Government on the matter.

Ugh. I can't even get into it more than that. I was going to offer more links than that, but unless you are Jewish or Arab this probably doesn't matter to you (which is sad, coz as we all know terrorism affects us all, one way or another even if it's not in your backyard). If you ARE interested, check out the links in the right hand column of my page under the heading "Israel" or visit one of these blogs: Meryl, Israellycool, Smooth Stone, Boker Tov, Boulder!, or Allison. They will most certainly have opinions on the matter and generally keep current on what's going on (there are other blogs too, so don't get your shorts in a bunch if I didn't mention you; I chose to mention those that will offer links to news items as well as opinions).
Read more, learn more. That's all I can say. Things aren't always as they seem (or are portrayed).

 
Well, after two hard nights of sluggin' it, it's official; Princess Blondie has left the building. *sigh* My bestest buddy and her boyfriend Bruno have moved out of our apartment building and into their new home. Wednesday night was the highlight of the event as we had loaded up four separate vehicles and had the moving convoy on the road in the pouring (and I mean driving) rain. The only problem was that the trailer that had the furniture wasn't a covered trailer, so everything got soaked. Oops. Not such a good thing for the couch.
The rest of the moving was done last night as we once again filled up all the vehicles and brought the rest of the stuff to the new home. I don't envy all the unpacking that has to be done, but I do envy the laundry room if nothing else. LOL. So the whole thing is bittersweet for me....I am thrilled for them and their new home (they have such a wonderful base from which to build their lives together), but on the other hand the apartment building feels empty without them. It was a bit sad this morning. This is now the third time in less than two years that I have helped a best friend pack up to move, it's really starting to give me a complex. lol. At least this time my friend only moved 15 mins away instead of Israel and England like the other two. Whew. :-) Gotta count your blessings, right?

Ok, let's end this post a happy and fun note. Let me share some sites with you that made me laugh yesterday. First, have a look at this clip of a man making a complete ass of himself by actually recording himself dancing and singing along to a record. Sometimes people shouldn't have webcams (but thank god he did, it's hilarious!!). And here is THE most impressive movie made out of Lego I have ever seen!!! It's a Spider-Man short movie (loosely based on the Spider-Man 2 movie) and it's the most brilliant use of Lego ever! It's fluid, it's well filmed, and well thought out. Go see it, I promise it'll impress.

And if superheroes are your thing (like they are mine), check out this hilarious site that has pictures of grown up men making fools out of themselves by dressing up as Superman for the Superman Festival. What's it like to be so shameless, I wonder?
All this funny stuff and SO much more from the brilliant site: recoil.cc. I implore you to have a look, it's a hilarious site, and you can be sure I'll be putting a permanent link to this badboy in my links section.

And for gaming geeks (be it Dungeons and Dragons or X-Box or whatever) I have found the site for you: mmodating.com. For like-minded geeks to gather and hopefully find love. What could be better??

And I'd really like to mention once again that I have an ongoing love affair with soymilk. I hope I don't make myself sick of it from the large quantities I insist on ingesting each day, but so far soymilk can do no wrong in my world. As it stands, my favourite brand is Natura because it's not as thick as some other brands. Mmm-mm, good!!!! If *only* they didn't package it in such small quantities.. I need more!! I'm telling you, if someone had told me a year ago I'd not only be drinking this stuff, I'd be LOVING it too, I would have told you that you were a big fat liar. Firefox and soymilk, my two new loves. lol

So I am thinking of going to the Toronto Street Festival this weekend. It's this cool event running for three days in which they shut down the main street in Toronto and set up stages for various shows, be it musical, performance, or even movies. It's SO cool to walk around where you normally can't for fear of being mowed down by cars. So much to see and do, and I went last year and had a blast. We'll see.

I also talked to Oren on the phone yesterday for almost an hour. Why oh why does he have to live in Israel? *sigh* The good ones always live so far away... (come on baby, you know you wanna move to Canada! *wink*) Thanks for calling, sweetie. It was good to hear your voice.

Shabat Shalom!

 
You may have noticed I haven't ranted about anything in the news lately; more specifically, I haven't ranted about Israel in a while. Once again, I find myself overwhelmed by all the shit going on in the world, and I haven't felt compelled to comment on it all. Really, what have I got to say that hasn't already been said?

There's the (now) usual attacks in Iraq, this time with a bomb going off at a funeral (which to me is about the lowest thing you can do). Reports put the death toll around 6. This has lead Iraq to adopt "emergency powers law" to try and slow the deteriorating situation there. I really hope and pray for Iraq to get back on it's feet....it's such a terrible situation.

Then there was a suicide bomber in Sri Lanka; a women blew herself up taking somewhere between 4 - 14 people along with her. Yet another page right out of Israel's story....dealing with suicide bombers. Sri Lanka, Iraq, wherever..... It's just unbelievable that this is becoming the norm for terrorizing. How can you fight back against someone who doesn't value his or her own life?

Meanwhile Muslims are killing Muslims in Sudan, and the world seems all too focused on their own "wars against terrorism" to notice that thousands of people are being murdered. Seems the Arab Muslims aren't too fond of the Black Muslims, and are looking to wipe them out. It's a sad state of affairs and it's high time the UN quits sitting on it's hands and fighting over petty issues (like picking on Israel for trying to protect it's citizens by building a fence) and get in there to stop the massive slaughter that's going on. Just what kind of priorities are those??

And don't even get me started on Israel. Sick and tired of Palestinians lobbing rockets into Israel from the Gaza Strip (and killing people recently by doing it), Israel has gone in with helicopters to target terrorists and their locations from which they launch these attacks into Israel. This situation pisses me off because Israel is in the process of pulling out of Gaza, just like the Palestinians have wanted all along, and still they attack Israel. Do you want Israel out or not?? Then quit it!!!!!!!!! Israel has enough to worry about, like convincing the hard core settlers to leave Gaza and West Banks settlements; there are new fears that an Israeli will try and assassinate Prime minister Ariel Sharon in order to "save all of Israel". That's about the last thing Israel needs right about now and let's face it, an assassination in the past by an Israeli against an Israeli (Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin) was a horrible and tragic event. Israelis need to stand together, not turn on each other. If that happens, then the Palestinians win.

There's also the nuclear issue heating up in the Middle East again; Iran seems to be creating a new program, and has never been too fond of Israel (then again, few countries in the Middle East are). So that's a bit worrying.
And don't even get me going on the nasty anti-semitism going on in the Dutch soccer arena. Stop threatening Jews with bombs; it's tiring and it's just not nice.

So all this chaos in the world has me feeling a bit like I'm heading for a news overload. I admit, I am a news whore and read far too much news throughout the day. And it's my addiction to the news that has me feeling sickly and makes me feel grim when I think of the world's future. Instead I will talk about other things to get my mind off what's going on.

For instance, let's talk about Coca Cola 2 (or C2, as it is cleverly marketed). I have been reading a bit about this on Meryl's blog, and most recently Grasshoppa's blog (he has a review of the product since I have yet to try it). Firstly, I am really *quite* sick of the whole "low carb" craze. The fact that a new low carb potato is being developed is really a sign that this is concept out of control. ANYway, the marketing geniuses at Coca Cola are claiming this fine new product has half the carbs and "half the cals" (that would be "calories" for those not hip to the catchy marketing lingo). Perhaps Coca Cola didn't learn from their "New Coke" fiasco in the 80's, but they really should have learned that messing with the formula tends to piss people off. But of course they wish to cash in on the low carb phenomena and so they have tossed their hats into the ring. I may or may not bother to try it when it finally makes it's way up to Canada, but judging by Meryl's scathing review it's pretty awful stuff. I already have an aversion to drinks with Aspartame (as most diet beverages do) so if I try it I'm betting I'll only try it once. Anyone else try it yet?

And only Rat and Solomon seemed to be moved by my very enthusiastic post about the Firefox web browser. I have only come to love it more and more and I *strongly* urge Solomon to stick with it a bit longer to really give it a chance. Like anything else it takes time to get used to. It's all too easy to go back to what you know and are comfortable with, but in time you will be just as comfortable with Firefox. I promise. And if the recent reports about the Internet Explorer hacks don't move you to at least try an alternative, I don't know what will. Here's an article by a guy who lists the reasons why he's staying away from Internet Explorer, check it out.
I have also downloaded the mail client that compliments Firefox, called Thunderbird. It's pretty damn cool in it's own right and had I found this a few weeks ago I might not have ditched my main e-mail account in favour of Gmail (I was swamped in nearly 200 spam messages a day). This mail client handles the spam like a dream and in a way Outlook Express can only dream of. Down with Microsoft!!!! hahaha...

and before I go I just wanted to acknowledge a few new blogs I am adding to my blogroll: Bloghead, a witty and well written blog with a slant on Israel and other Jewish issues (but not exclusively, kinda like me). Yesterday's post was pretty amusing. And Angry Chad, a hilarious blog full of bitter rants. VERY good for a laugh when you need it. Sure feels good to vent, doesn't it?
*wink*

 
Things have been just a bit crazy this week, and it's only Tuesday. Yikes.
I went to see Spider-Man 2 with my geek friends and had a *fantastic* time. I absolutely loved the movie and found it to be a marked improvement over the first movie, which I greatly disliked. After the movie my friends and I got caught in the most spectacular rainstorm I have seen in years, complete with flooded streets. It was awesome, I love chaotic weather (though didn't enjoy sitting in soggy clothes). We all went back to my friend's house and held the baby and took pictures and ate pizza and watched the Simpsons. Life is good.

Monday morning I was honoured to join my friend and his wife for the brit milah (or "bris") ceremony for their new baby. For those not in the know, that's where the new Jewish boy is circumcised. The friends and family gather together to mark the occasion and celebrate. It's an event that makes most people squirm, and I was fine until I saw the look on my friend's face as his baby let out a yelp. He looked so pained for his new baby boy and teetered a bit, trying not to pass out. It broke my heart it was so sweet. Anyway, all ended well, the baby was asleep 5 minutes later and we were all eating bagels (the ceremony was at 8am, so breakfast was served). It was wonderful to be a part of this time in my friend's life.

On my way to work after the event I got a call from my sponsee who is once again in crisis. This has been an ongoing thing since April and it won't be resolved anytime soon. I told her I would meet up with her after work and we would talk about what she's going to do. It was a long night spent in tears much of the time, only taking a time out long enough to eat some pizza. I am quite worried for her, as times are going to get much darker before there's light, and I'm not sure how to get her through this. For now, I can only be there to offer support and love. We will figure it out together.

However, after my sponsee left my evening took a pleasant upturn... I had my first phone conversation with another Blogger! Jonathan gave me a call from Montreal and we talked about life, Israel and politics. It was a nice way to end my evening, and it's always nice to hear from someone you know only from his/her blog. Gives a voice to go with the blog. :-) Thanks for calling, Jon!

And today is a big day..... my very favourite friend and neighbour-across-the-hall (Princess Blondie), takes possession of her new home today. She and her boyfriend Bruno will be out of my building by the end of the week. And while I am absolutely thrilled for them I am also very very VERY sad. Having them live in the building, right next door, has been a wonderful experience. *sigh* I can't even talk about it right now... I just wanna focus on being happy for them. We'll just have to make Survivor night at their new place now. :-)

 
I'd like to wish a Happy Birthday to my brother (how cute is that picture of my brother and I??) and to the United States!

My brother is pretty much one of my favourite people on earth and has been ever since I was a baby. I adored him from the time I laid eyes on him and looked up to him as only an adoring sister could. I followed him around everywhere and wanted to be just like him. Sure we had our stormy years (the teenage years are never the best for siblings) but as we have matured into adulthood I have really come to appreciate and love him that much more. We have a quiet but strong bond and have a great time whenever we get together. Sometimes just a glance in each others direction can set us off into a laughing fit. And there is nothing funnier to watch than my brother watching cartoons (especially the Simpsons). I'll just stare at him as he watches cartoons so I can watch the expressions on his face and hear the laughter that erupts with complete abandonment; it has been like this since he was a child.
Anyway, my family and I got together last night and had dinner in a nice restaurant up the street to celebrate his birthday. It was a fabulous time. *sigh* I love my brother.

In other news, I have been obsessively working on fine tuning the Firefox browser in the hopes of replacing my use of Internet Explorer. There are a lot of great features that I am loving about Firefox; (1) built in popup stopper. Genius!! And it works and has great settings so you can quickly add websites in which you want popups allowed. (2) Tabs instead of windows. That is to say, if you want to open a link in a separate window it will open a new tab within your browser instead of launching a separate browser window, taking up space in your bottom toolbar. So basically, you can have several webpages open within one window and quickly switch between pages using tabs just under your links bar. Friggin' AWESOME. (it's explained better here, in case I thoroughly confused you just now) (3) great quick-links toolbar under the address bar. I can put way more links in, which is fantastic coz I am all about being one click away from pages I visit frequently. (4) Themes (skins) for the browser. I am a sucker for slick looking skins on plug-ins and such, and you can download lots of skins for your browser and quickly switch back and forth to new looks if you feel the need for a change. Very cool. (5) Beside the address bar at the top of the browser is a tiny little Google search window. Me likes that I don't have to open a new window/tab to do a search. Don't like Google? No problem, you can add other search engines and use them instead! (5) A streamlined browser window that lets you see more of the page than any other browser. Coz who doesn't want to see more of the page they are looking at?? (6) I don't know about anyone else, but Internet Explorer crashes on me at least a couple of times a day. Firefox *seems* to be more stable, and isn't susceptible to the new hacker problems plaguing IE lately. That's some scary shit.

Drawbacks: (1) It's a bit of a pain to sort bookmarks, which is a beef with me because I am highly organized with my bookmarks. I have to be, I have hundreds. I had to install a plugin that sorts the bookmarks which didn't take long at all (seconds, really) but still...I shouldn't have to do that. That's ok, I think it's a sacrifice I'm willing to overlook. Now that I have the bookmarks sorted I'm getting over my annoyance. (2) You have to install Java and Flash again. Took me a bit of time to get Java installed properly since I apparently don't know what I'm doing, but if I can stumble my way through it, anyone can. And, admittedly, I like how Java is looking in Firefox. It's way cooler. (3) I hate the way my own blog looks in this browser. How much does that suck? For some reason it makes it look like my entry was written entirely in bold font. That really chaps my ass since I am a freak about my blog looking "just so" and it sure doesn't look like how I want it to in Firefox. Let's face it, I'm on my blog a million times a day and it might just make me crazy that it looks crap in this browser. Hey, not everything is perfect, I'll have to agree on compromise.

I'm sure there are lots more features and benefits to this browser I haven't found yet as I have only been using it for one day and have spent most of that time configuring it. Here is a screen shot that nicely shows the tabs I mentioned (shown under the links navigation bar) and overall look of the browser (all of which can be configured and skinned). That would be a screenshot of MY screen so you can have a look at what my blog looks like with it, and my peeve about the bolded looking font. You can also see my links if you like (ya snoops!). I think Crawler and Rat use this browser, don't you guys? Speak up if you do and maybe offer some words of wisdom on what you have learned.
Did I mention it has a built in popup stopper??? *Dreamy!*

Other than that, today is a rainy, laid back day. I have been up for hours but have yet to eat; I have been too absorbed in my new browser. Later on my geek friends and I (aka: the geek brigade) are getting together to see Spider-Man 2. I am trying not to get my hopes up about how good it is, but everyone keeps saying it's better than the first (including my brother and he's a harsh critic) which is good coz I didn't like the first one very much. *fingers crossed* I'll let you know what I thought......

 
I had a great time up at my grandma's. I headed up early from work and we had dinner and headed out to do some fishing right after our meal. And lo and behold we actually caught fish! I say that because it's been slim pickings in the fish department for a number of years now. We first began fishing in the lake in 1984 and back then fish were a dime a dozen. Over the years however, we have noticed a decline the waterlife of the lake (not just the fish). There are less frogs, crayfish, leeches, turtles and fish. It's been heartbreaking to see my beloved lake suffer over the years.

However, this weekend has brought me new hope. We caught quite a number of fish and although we always catch little fish (sunfish, perch and catfish) it's way tougher to get our prize fish ...bass (and that's bass as in ass, not bass as in base). Back in the day we could bring in 6 or more in a weekend, but now we're lucky to get 6 in a season (and believe me, we stuck to the rules so as to not wipe out the fish population). This weekend we caught a number of bass, and what made me really happy was that we brought in a number of baby bass. We let them go of course, I was just happy to see that there was a new generation of fish. :-)

It's tricky fishing with my grandma though, coz we don't always see eye-to-eye when it comes to how big a fish has to be in order to make it a "keeper". She's a die-hard fishing queen, and according her standards almost anything is "pan size", meaning it's perfect size for the frying pan. I am all about finding a reason to let them go coz I'm a lover not a fighter and I hate the idea of killing them (I can't even kill spiders, ok??). Plus I want to give the lake and fish population a chance to regenerate. Because of this grandma and I have actually had arguments in the boat while I held the poor fish and argued to spare his life. One time when one started to wriggle in my hands during a dispute I let him wiggle right out of my hand and back into the water and played it up like it was an accident. Grandma didn't fall for it, not for one second ("You let him get away!!!"). LOL. I love my grandma to bits, she's my fishing buddy.

Anyway, there were no disputes over the baby bass this time (which stunned me coz they were "pan size" for sure) and so I let her keep her big one (the pic is here). She actually hooked a bigger one before that one but her line snapped and it got away (always the one that got away!). I still did guilt though, and apologized to the fish profusely for his having been caught (and consequently, killed). Yes, I talked to the fish! So?? I felt bad. I bet I'll feel less bad when I eat him though....coz MMMMMMM... fresh bass is good eatin'! At least he won't go to waste.

And now I'm home after fishing all day (we were up at 5:45am!) and I am getting ready to meet up with my family for dinner. I am feeling wonderfully centered after spending some time with nature and am ready to head back to work on Monday. Check out the beautiful sunset pic I took last night. How can I not feel good after spending time in such a gorgeous place? And I saw a bunny....a little baby bunny!! I took a pic of that too, but like a dumbass I accidentally deleted, I know not how.
I hope everyone else is having a good weekend!!!

 
I just found out Marlon Brando died at age 80. I don't know if I've seen all that many of his movies but I still have respect for the man. May he rest in peace.

And I could go on about the Saddam court room hijinx, or the bomb (or earthquake) in Turkey, or the public execution the Palestinians performed in order to make an example of a man that was accused of collaborating with Israel.....
but instead I am packing up to head to my grandma's again this weekend. I will be staying over only one night and then coming back down for a dinner with the family tomorrow night.
Stay out of trouble while I'm gone and have a great weekend! Shabat Shalom!

 
Today is when I go from being a quiet and polite Canadian citizen to a loud and proud homegrown Canadian. I have a flag on my car, on the door of my apartment and tonight as a centre piece on the dinner table. I am having my neighbour Princess Blondie and her boyfriend Bruno over for dinner tonight, and I am decorating everything all white and red for Canada Day. I have balloons, napkins and a tablecloth. I am even serving vanilla ice cream with fresh strawberries sliced on top for dessert. :-)

I am enjoying the logo over at Google.ca to acknowledge the day. Ah yes, the loon. After all, Canada is all about loons, moose, geese, beavers, maple syrup , Mounties and of course hockey. Our souvenirs about say it all, don't they? LOL! For more information on what Canada is *really* all about here is great site put together by our government, including a MAP. Something I think my American cousins should have a look at..ya might learn something (I could probably name all of your States and pretty closely place them on a map of America...could you do the same with Canada and it's provinces? come on, only 10 *provinces* and 3 territories!). Also, I highly recommend checking out this site, Earth Trek, for some of the most amazing photos ever; it's a site in which people submit pictures they have taken during their travels and it has photos from all over the world. It has some wonderful pictures of my beautiful and diverse country including these ones specifically from Toronto....check it out!

Since today is a holiday and I have the day off I have finally had time to do a big apartment cleanup. It's been quite messy since I have been in and out of town over the last month, on top of being sick for a week and a half. Nothing like guests coming over to really inspire you to do some cleaning. I am making a big tasty dinner for my neighbours and then we are going out to catch a movie. Yes, I am going to see Fahrenheit 9/11 again. Heh. The neighbour wants to see it and who am I to discourage such good taste? :-P Maybe afterward we'll check in on one of the celebrations going on and see some fireworks.

Anyway, I wish all my fellow Canadians a Happy Canada Day, including Cassiopeia, Laurie, Crawler, DTB, Lorien and Jonathan.