Finally.......

Hello Blog Followers.....

Much time has passed since I blogged last (hey that rhymes!), and lots have happened.  The big event on the newswire today is that I have an awful disease.  I imagine I contracted this contagion off of a Waffle House fork when I was in Atlanta on the weekend.  Gross.  Ever been to the Waffle House?  Its an urban I-HOP.....where the bad weaves and acrylic tips stretch as far as the eye can see.......

I forgot my level 4 bio rad suit, so I likely caught what I believe to be SCURVY off of my coffee cup, or off the fungus/grease encrusted coffee pot.  But apparently the hashbrowns are worth the public health risk.  Others maintain I just have a cold - but what do they know?  I saw a lot of wild stuff in Atlanta, so that will warrant its own blog when my fever breaks and I stop hallucinating.

In other news......I am gainfully employed.  Yay. I got the job that will let me follow my bliss!  I can't wait to start.  More on this after I start March 7th.......there will undoubtedly be a parade down the 410, so watch for it in the papers.  Best news????  NO MORE GO TRANSIT!

So back to my crazy class.  I'm trying to conform....really.....but I am just not meant to support the Psych Survivor plight.  My class was all invited to a lecture series on campus so I thought, what the hell, lets make it happen, and just go.  When I arrived as the only other STUDENT, I acclimatized quickly to the reality that this was a class FOR the survivors!!!! So I and 40 'survivors'"bonded for 3 hours.  Man - this aint for me.  All of the woe is me sobbing, and tourettes like outbursts and medicine comparisons didn't sweeten the pot either.  But boy this group was rife with material. What was also funny was a wife that started berating her man for only saying goodbye to one lady (who was pretty) and not another (who only had one tooth).  I have the happy luck of riding 5 floors on an elevator with them.......I was later harassed for change on the street by another.  Yeah - these folks should roam free unmediated.  Sign me up for the next rally.  The question we had to ruminate on was "Comment on why the psychiatric movement is having a hard time developing leaders".......where should I start?  I will not let this class kick my ass (hey that rhymes too :))

So Italian class is also proving to be a formidable opponent.....I gotta regroup and get my act together.  Maybe I'll review while the Oscars are on.  We are rooting for a Firth Benning combo right??

So I'm heading to the county for a play weekend in a few minutes so will sign off.....but I leave you with this:

This guy drove over my foot on the TTC.  I can understand why....its hard to read, eat a sandwich and navigate!  Note the chunk of abs pipe clamped to the side on the right as a make shift cane holder......this is a crusade I can get behind.....lets shrink Canada, and maybe drain some costs out of the disability system, so the savings can be spent on helping the less psychiatrically abled!

Happy Friday

40 days to go......

till my birthday......in case anyone was struggling with the math.  How goes the magical magenta magnet hunt?  Apart from my insane themes, there is always a renegade gift getter who bucks social convention and comes to me on bended knee bearing somethig decadent from the culinary realm....and no, not the 7 packs of grape jello from the Aubergine 7J year.

This year I have done some good web searching, and have learned that La Creuset has a "Stoneware Jar" line....I love all 5 models - theres an olive jar, a syrup jar, a bbq sauce jar, a jelly jar.....but the best:

The mustard jar!!!  Ain't it a beaut!  Love it...........opporunity knocks....who will answer?

I also have use for a cherry pitter.....don't you? 
In academic news today, I'm 60% caught up.  Italian homework - check, Italian assignment - check, Healthcare quiz - done (36/50 shitty - but I'll live), THAT AWFUL AWFUL DISABILITY VIDEO - watched.  Thanks Snoop for suffering with me.  Mediochre but politically astute response on said video - submitted.  Independant Study for crazy class - picked out,  quest to find a copy of the Matthew Modine movie "And the band played on" - underway.

Heading to the GO train to start reading......momentarily..............

The psychosis created from waiting on a reference check to be done........priceless

Rainy Days and Mondays

I'm down another pound.  So thats exciting.  Today is a dreary day in the big Smoke.  Rainy, muddy - feels like the UK.  I'm channelling Karen Carpenter today, except my eating disorder is slightly opposite hers.  On my way home from the 'Croft last night, I did a wicked karaoke rendition of 'Close to You' in the car.  If I did nothing but listen to the Carpenters, Peter Paul & Mary, and John Denver - I'd be a happy camper.

This weekend was "Taste of Bavaria" at moms dinner club this weekend.  On the menu?

Rollmops Herring or Cheese Fondue appies

Wiener Schnitzel & Spaetzle noodles
Sauerbraten with Dumplings and Red Cabbage (Rotkohl), and Kholorabi
Bratwurst with Sauerkraut

Black Forest Torte and Apple Strudel

Another culinary epic.  In April we will be driving the tour bus to Spain.

On the academic front, I was able to churn out a passable book report on the riridiculous memoir on Friday.  Got it in by noon.  A literary triumph.  Today - need to do that damn on-line quiz, but first should peruse the actual course material on which the quiz is based.  I've got a solid 80 in the course so far - so feelin ok going in.  Also need to mastermind a small Italian prose piece for Wednesday and commence the studying for the midterm next week.  I can't fake this class so MUST exert some effort.  However....

I am in Atlanta for the long weekend.  Yay.  Fully expect the diet to be shot to hell, as I understand that there is a trip to the Cheesecake Factory planned.  Can't wait for the trip to the biggest aquarium in the world.  Love seashorses, so have to charge up the camera.  So - how can one be expected to study?  This will take some solid time management discipline on my part.

But what continues to plague me is that damn online video.....the bid is now $32.50.  Its all there online folks..."Shameless - the art of Disability", 72 minutes long.  More news on my homework woes as things progress.

This week may also be the new job week.  Reference checks are happening as we speak....this may mean good things, but I also now have St. Mikes hospital recruiting nibbling on my hook.  They boast a whopping 4000 samples a day in the lab......a shade less to manage than my habitual 80000 per day, so maybe I have the requisite amount of expertise......we shall see.  Skippy and Simone also landed last week so thats super exciting.  All is righting itself with the world.  If all else fails, my contract is extended till June here at the bureaucratic nexus of the universe.

I have also started to design a new stained glass opus that I have been contracted to do.  I'm tinkering with great things.  Do I go abstract?  Do I go traditional.......maybe 'tradistract'.

In transit news, the Yonge line is unexpectedly down today.  TTC has stationed quite possibly the 2 worst people outfitted for customer service.  One with her cane - clearly a bitter WSIB early return to work candidate, and another lad clearly a tunnel digger without a shovel, leaned up against the inbound turnstile, screaming random instructions to people causing mass confusion.  And when all is said and done, there were still people standing on the platform waiting for the Yonge train.  It ain't comin people.  Keep up.

Last week after Italian class I happened down the wrong hall in search of a shortcut to the parking lot at Mohawk...heres where I ended up:

Isn't that nice?  A place to pause and reflect on why you bothered to take Italian this semester.  But it was a locked door at a time when I needed it most.  I need to start doing my reflecting before 10pm.

So thats where we find our hero starting off the week. Need to do some work-work, and then some miscellaneous work.  In the words of Dr. Laura:

Lets go take on the day!

Big News

Today CHRISPECTIVE has achieved 1000 page views!  Thanks  for staying connected and for linking on directly!  Sweet.  Its amazing what 12 followers can do!

No takers on the 30$ offer to do my homework? :) $31.50?

Nothing of interest

....to report this week.  Ive been in a wee funk this week, and couldn't even be roused into a good rant!  Can you believe it?  Glees on tonight - V-Day!  When will Kurt find love.......Valentines Day has to be my least favourite holiday.....has been since we stopped taping valentines bags to our desk to collect all the choo-choo-choose me valentrains inside.

My snowman has frozen to the ground at 14lbs......better week next week.

I probably do have a rant in me somewhere.......lemmee work on it.  Actually - you know what annoyed me today?  Backpack wearers.  There needs to be some backpack etiquette for transit.  I got winged on the escalator today where a packpack wearer underestimated her rear girth.  You can't just fling those suckers around willy nilly people....................wow, I agree.  That was a weak rant attempt.

Also though, I continue to be annoyed with the history of Mad People.  The end of my book report book "The Loony Bin Trip" just won't end!  These last 20 pages just aren't whizzing by.  The last time I flogged an assignment like this was in gr 12 w Mr De'Ell, Great Expectations.  Didn't read past chapter 4, but snagged an 80 on my report...why?  Because I listened in class and put it all together.  No such luck this time.  I don't even have a class.  I'm soooooooooooooooooooo behind. And I am so not interested in everyones brush with depression.  Awful affliction, I agree, but there is so much more to the world of mental health.  600$ to be perpetually annoyed for 12 weeks.  I spent too much time in interview prep this week.  I have to watch an online video of 72 minutes about the Art of Disability.  I started at work today, and just couldn't finish.  I was ready to jam a fork in my forehead about 13 min into it.  I'll pay anyone 30$ to watch it and tell me what its about.  I also have a quiz on something health related this week....I'll crack that chapter on Thursday after my Prospectors meeting.  Think I'll work from home tomorrow........

On the job front - heres where we stand:

Michener - don't think I'm getting interviewed for this one...
CML - great 2nd interview I think.  Should know something next week.......please let it all be over.  Although with a legit job I have no idea how I'll get my homework done and keep up w Marilyn and Oprah.  I may have to buy a PVR to go with my Wii TV.
Gamma Dynacare - applied for 3 gigs there - and no word on interviews yet
eHealthOntario - I"ll apply - but will this organizzation even be in existence when McGuinty is dethroned?
Hamilton Health Sci - waiting for posting
Angelo.........I don't have the energy to even reflect on this anymore, but theres a good rant here.

So 8 irons still in the fire - some hot, some cold....but there none the less.

Italian tomorrow night - thats always a great time.  I'm also kicking ass on Wii ski-jump.  Just pushed roomie off the podium :)

Ohh - this just in Gleeks, maybe Kurt won't find love this episode.......?  Its okay Kurt.  I've had a broken heart and eaten a pizza in bed to drown my sorrows too......many times.  You'll be okay.  Sniff.  Maybe my Psychiatric survivor comrades should start looking to the stuffed crust.....................

Did I tell you?

I got a new desk.  Yup - big move across the floor from the south side to the north side.  I needed a shoebox to pack.....

Some particular things you should note:  1.  My ryerson homework.  Always handy and nearby to work on.  Printed all of my assigned reading for the 'Crazy' class.....which realy ought to have been aptly titled "Why do women turn lebanese, and why does society thing they have a mental disorder.   Did I mention the "Mental Illness" class is killin me?  Oh right...we don't say people with mental illness.....its Psychiatric Survivor, if you ever find yourself dialoguing on the topic.  Three weeks in and my prof has profiled me as argumentative and I've been ostracized for having non-conformist opinions......sigh. 

Also note the very safe electrical set up I have going on here.  That with my classy blue foot stool should paint the whole picture for you.  BTW - thank you LifeLabs for continuing to give me aluminum poisoning from the travel mug that still sits behind my phone wherever I go.  That and the hand sanitizer.  You can't avoid it.  Its everywhere.  See those 3 memory sticks?  A gift with purchase of the mug .......they are remembering a lot.

Of course you are asking...:"Why is there a monitor mounted when she has an undocked lap top?".......I don't know either, but they invest in their people - even if it is to a non-functional end.  The best bit tho?  The headphones that plug into my phone so I can watch and listen to Marilyn Denis and have it look like I'm on a non disruptive webinar......

So I saw this on the TTC today.  Gross

First of all, white sweatpants should be outlawed.  The fact that they are a size 48 and cut offs makes them positively vile.  He appeared to be a psychiatric survivor......or chemically dependant.  I opted out of learning more about him.

I also spent a lot of time surfing today.  Now that the essay pressure is over I can waste some time again and focus on my job search again tomorrow.....so I started to check out other blogs....this made me smile:

 

Gonna buy a TV tonight so I can Wii-ersize in the basement.  Rock on.