Next bit of excitement here: I’m going to be participating in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer.

For those who know me, this is a stretch. I am lazy. I am selfish. I am not athletic. I hate talking about money - nevermind asking people for it.

I also needed a severe kick in the ass. And this is it.

The closest I’ve come to breast cancer is finding a tiny lump one day. It turned out to be nothing - but the 3 days before I could get in to my doctor were absolutely terrifying. I can’t imagine going through that again, nevermind having that lump turn out to be “something”. I don’t want anyone to ever go through that feeling of terror and helplesness.

I’ve also had countless friends and family touched by other types of cancer - and any cancer research is a step in the right direction. The BC Cancer Foundation, benefitting from this event, is one of the world’s leading facilities in mapping cancer genomes. Important ground breaking research takes place there daily. A cure is definitely on its way.

I’ve made the committment to pay the registration fee, train for 5 months, spend a weekend walking 60kms through Vancouver, and raise $2000 for the cause.

You’ll notice the Save the Boobies link on the right sidebar - click on that to donate online by Visa or Mastercard, or print out the donation form and mail in a cheque. At last year’s event in Toronto, over 70% of the funds raised were able to go directly to the beneficiary (St. Mary’s Hospital).

I understand a lot of my friends are not in a financial position to donate - I’d still really appreciate your support in passing this message along to your friends or family who can donate, as a walking buddy, or with some fundraising ideas.

And dude, 60 kms is effing FAR. I’m gonna die.

Ok, could I *be* any busier lately? Real life is such a bitch sometimes!

First bit of excitement: I decided to take some of my fat tax return and finally buy a grown-up tv! Ever since I first moved out on my own (5 years ago for anyone who’s counting) I’ve been suffering with a 13″ tv. My grandparents gave it to me because I couldn’t afford anything - and at the time, anything free was ok.

But it’s embarrassing when you’re a working adult, and still squinting at the tiny tv. Also hard to convince anyone to hang out at your place - no matter how nice the rest of the stuff is. We even ended up bringing a friend’s tv over once because nobody wanted to watch my little TV when the power went out at his place.

So I hopped online and bought a TV (mine’s silver, not black), DVD Player, and stand for the two. They happened to be bundled together at the time, so I also got a really good deal on it all. I’m not a TV/Video snob (as much as I may be for other multimedia toys), so I’m really happy with what I got for the price.

Watch out for the movie night evite coming soon-ish to an inbox near you (something I’ve never been able to host before)!

Tonight I’m heading over to my grandparents’ place for my Grandma’s birthday, then tomorrow I’ve got no name yet & trollzor’s baby shower, and Mel’s Sex & the City party in the evening. If you’re lucky, I’ll update on Sunday. Other than that, have a fabulous weekend everyone!

I feel all twitchy. Can’t sit still. I’m also not really eating - every time I try, I feel nauseous.

I just want to feel calm. Embrace the Zen. It’s not happening for me.

And it’s been 2 days.

And I don’t like it.

Suggestions?

I’m here - just very busy and very tired.

But I’m doing some exciting things.

You’ll all just have to wait to hear about them!

(soon, I promise)

Thanks Col! If anyone wants some questions, leave a message in the comments, and I’ll do my best to create some.

Now for the answers:

1. If you had a choice of changing your name, what would you change it to?
My mom wanted to name me Solange - but my dad wanted something he could pronounce properly. If I could change my name, it’d probably be to that. Although even “hey you” is better than Jennifer.

2. Job-wise, where do you see yourself in ten years?
In 10 years, I’d hope to be the HR director for a medium-large sized company. If I’ve learned anything about myself, it’s that I do not want to be the boss - owning a company or consulting is too stressful for me - but I’m a great problem solver!

3. What is your biggest musical influence?
I really pick up my influences from everything and everywhere. I don’t bother intentionally seeking out much indie stuff - although if I hear something I like, it sticks with me, and I’ll try to find more like it. Mostly I associate music with events & experiences - so if a song’s playing while I’m doing something, I’ll automatically like or dislike it every time I hear it after that, depending on the feelings I get from the situation.

4. If you could time travel, what event would you like to witness?
I think I’d like to go back, and witness the life of Jesus, and have a conversation with the man. I’ve heard so many conflicting messages about what faith is supposed to be, and how we’re all supposed to live our lives. I’d hope that I could get some real answers - or maybe just see that the whole religion thing is a scam after all.

5. What is your weakness/strength?
Weakness: insecurity. But I’m working on it.
Strength: my Emotional Intelligence. It took a lot, but I think I’m much better at keeping my irrationality in check, and not letting my emotions govern everything I do. I’ve found that I’m much happier if I recognize my emotions and allow them to happen - but not let them take over the way I live my life.

Sixes are a whole bunch of words; harmony,
friendship, family life, loyal, reliable,
loving, and you adapt easily. You do well in
teaching and the arts, but are often
unsuccessful in business. You are prone to
gossip and complacency. The Pythagoreans
regarded six as the perfect number because of
lots of math things; six is divisible by both
two and three, and was the sum and well as the
product of the first three digits. Please rate
my quiz.

What does your name and arithmacy say about you? (some simple knowledge of adding is required on your part)
brought to you by Quizilla

Today, I am reminded of a story. Something that happened a number of years ago, that illustrated to me, for the first time, the sheer stupidity of the human race.

I was in highschool, and walking to the bank one day at lunch. I happened to see a guy that I knew, let’s call him Greg, ride his bike past me. He said “hey” and kept riding. I thought nothing else of it.

When I got home later that night, I was speaking with my dad, who was a foreman at the local mill. He was complaining that a number of people called in sick that day, resulting in a lot of extra work for him and the people on his team. One of those people, he said, was a continuous problem - calling in sick a lot, and not really doing any work when he was there anyway.

You guessed it, that was Greg.

So I mentioned that I saw Greg riding his bike through town, looking perfectly healthy at lunch. When confronted, Greg admitted to trying to pull the wool over his boss’ eyes, and was promptly terminated.

You’d think that if you were using a sick day to get out of work, you’d either go far away, or stay at home. Especially in a small town, where everybody knows everybody, and it’s likely to get back to your boss that you were skipping out on work should you be seen out on the town. At the very least, I’d think that you wouldn’t go waving at the boss’ daughter!

I just have a lot of people calling in sick to work lately. And sometimes I really wonder if any of them are that dumb as well. Also, if I did happen to catch someone in that kind of lie - would I be able to avoid bursting out laughing in their face at their idiocy?

What would you do? Or (and perhaps more interesting) what have you done after being caught on either side of this fence?

I know, there are more important world events to discuss right now. But, I wanted to share this article that I found via Mel.

It basically says everything I tried to say in my earlier entry, only much better.

Perhaps after reading this, those earlier commenters who feel that they can legitimately compare the incident to the same thing happening in any other occupation or situation, will grab a firmer grip on reality, and consider WHY the incident happened - not just the aftermath.

I strongly recommend that anyone who’s not a hockey fan or doesn’t understand today’s game very well give this a read. It explains everything that’s wrong in today’s game. Perhaps NHL players should have “STOP” signs on the backs of their jerseys too.

I liked the article so much, in fact, that I’ve posted it in its entirety in the extended entry.

Thoughtful discussion encouraged. Flaming and ignorance can be taken elsewhere.
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So we went out to the Foggy Dew last night. Cool place, don’t know why I never bothered to make it out there before yesterday. It was also really great, since (as birthdays tend to do) a lot of people that we don’t see much anymore made the effort to come out. The old gang together again, just like old times (except now some of them have husbands and wives and babies).

In fact, I had the best time I’ve had in a long time. I drank and danced and drank and chatted and drank and drank and danced and danced and danced and danced and drank some more. Then went to Denny’s. And all the while questioned why we don’t do this more often.

When I woke up this morning, after 4 hours of fitful sleep, in a cold sweat with some kind of locomotive perched squarely on my abdomen -and $55 poorer to boot - I remembered.

This is why we don’t do that more often.

I’m going out tonight (something I don’t actually do that much, usually because I can’t be bothered) so I figured I’d buy myself something pretty to wear.

I found nothing.

It’s a hot sunny day, so I did the logical thing. I bought beer instead.

I am satisfied with the day’s purchases.

Yah. Cuz I have such an exciting weekend planned.

Tonight, I’m gonna make some cabbage rolls, bake muffins, and maybe have a bubble bath. I’ve also been ignoring my books lately, so I hope to make a bit of a dent in them by the end of the weekend.

I am a bundle of excitement I am.

Although as long as it stays glorious and sunny like this over at least part of the weekend, what more do I need?

Everyone (at least in this fine city) has something to say about the recent Todd Bertuzzi incident.

Darren, Mel, Sue & Rog (among others I’m sure I’ve missed), and their commentors, all have their own opinions on what did, should & will happen.

I wanted to toss out my few cents on the situation:

-Professional Hockey as it is today is an inherently violent sport. Whether or not that’s a good or bad thing is up to you, but it is what it is.
-Why did the referees not keep the obvious bent for mayhem in this game under better control? this is an incident that could have been prevented.
-Factoid: It costs $98,000/year to house one male prison inmate in Canada. Not to mention the costs associated with police and court time spent on the issue. What’s the point in that?
-Nobody but Todd Bertuzzi knows what Todd Bertuzzi intended to do in that moment. Perhaps, like so many “crimes of passion,” he was criminally insane in that moment he swung his fist. Perhaps he is a murderous fiend - a product of a sport gone out of control. Perhaps it was just a horrible horrible accident - where everything in a situation that could have gone wrong, did.

Whatever the outcome of the situation, I still don’t think the police should be involved. Whether he had “the intent to cause gross bodily harm” or not - it’s a waste of police time and taxpayer money. The league can and should dole out appropriate punishment. After all, they fostered the environment that allowed this to happen.

So it goes without saying that I strongly feel, as does almost everyone I’ve talked to, that the league should re-evaluate its policy on fighting. I’ve heard arguments from both sides on how they should either loosen the rules, so that enforcers can be free to just pound on eachother (leaving the other players to just play the game) - or tighten the rules, so that any fighting is cause for a major penalty or game ejection.

I haven’t been a big hockey fan long enough to have a very educated opinion on either argument - but something needs to be done, and soon, before this kind of incident happens again.

My hockey team is broken.

4 goals against in well under 2 minutes. And yes, they changed the goalie.

And it’s still the first period.
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So I went to the “butt” for the weekend (That’s Abbotsford for those who don’t know) to chill with the parental units. All in all, it was a pretty good weekend.

We went curling with some people from my mom’s work - and my mom and I ended up on the 3rd place team! That garnered us each a 9 can beverage cooler (mine’s purple) - fun times! I also gained a large bruise on my ass, but that’s what happens when you run and slide down a sheet of ice after a couple drinks.

Then I did my taxes. HOO BOY! I’m getting just shy of $1700 back this year - a good thing if I ever saw one! It’s a bit of a nest egg that I could really use right about now, since the whole student loan thing is kickin’ my ass. Maybe one of these days I’ll get a raise, but until then, it’ll be nice to know I’ve got some cash as a backup in case anything happens.

A boy broke into my apartment today while I was at work.

Click the extended entry to view the damage.
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