SCATTERED!

Let me apologize in advance for the randomness of this post.... I don't promise it will go anywhere.

Waiting Art from today. It occurred to me that I won't be doing much waiting soon. Does anyone still read this thing? Do you want a new Art Installation? If so, suggestions? I'll have to re-vamp the blog for my new life!

Concerned Belal...

Sleepy Gillian...

We went to visit the puppies today and choose ours! We get to bring her home Thursday!

None of these pictures are great because they are bouncy and full of energy and don't stand still!!! EVER!!!

Mum and our little girl bonded immediately ;)

Dandelions are TASTY!

Worms are TASTY too!!!

I've had a heck of a time picking a Song of the Month for April, but I've decided on Lionel Richie's "All Night Long." I've been blogging a lot this month about the sentimental 80's, and this song just transports me to being four years old and dancing in the livingroom in my tutu :P I'll post pictures, if you're good ;)

Love to all!

Gillian

"You Romans Is Too Much!" - 80's Television Round-up!

OH MY, SkylarKD just sent me this link! I had TOTALLY forgotten about "The Edison Twins"!!!


Of course, that reminded me of "Square One", and my favourite skit, "The Mathematics of Love." I suspect the only math I ever retained was from this show!


Sheila just blogged about "Perfect Strangers" being released on DVD (at last!), which makes us so happy, we do the dance of joy!


What about "The Voyage of the Mimi" (with a young Ben Affleck, no less.) I don't remember much about this show (I was only 4), except the music... and Nathan, didn't you have a T-shirt?


We can't forget "3-2-1 Contact" either!


So many memories!!! What was your favourite show growing up? Were you all about the Educational Television too?

Gillian

Quote

I'm writing my last exam in half an hour... I am so nervous and trying to relax with a cup of tea. Just in time, my Yogi Tea quote of the day (or the bag, as it were):

"Wisdom, character and consciousness conquer everything" ... even AutoCad.

Time to get on with the drishti (focus) and the Ujjayi (victorious) breath. Incidentally, if any of you out there have trouble with the dentist, I tried the ujjayi breath last time and I felt FANTASTIC! I'll post instructions if you want to learn how to do it. I also think it would be a great thing to teach little kids to do when they're unhappy and are about to start losing their little minds.

Okay... exam.... ACK!

Oh right... video... Well, this was the song going through my head before my last exams... WHY?!?



LOVE!
Gillian

Alright, I Admit it...

... I admit that I'm a closet American Idol fan, as well as a musical theatre fan. Last night's Idol was the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and since it was the top 6, they're all pretty great performers. One of my fave contestants is David Archuleta who is only 17 and amazing! He chose "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera and I REALLY loved his performance and arrangement of it! Check it out :)



Very different from the original, which you can see here:



Of course since they have themes each week I always play the "if I were on American Idol, what song would I sing this week" game. This week I would have chosen "Close Every Door" from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat because it's one of my FAVOURITE songs to sing. If you don't know that song either, Donny Osmond will be happy to sing it for you here:



What about you? What song would YOU sing? Who do you like for Idol this year?

Gillian

Pictures!

Still not in a chatty mood, but here are some pictures for you anyway. I start writing my exams on Monday, wish me luck!

Blomidon Beach

Just so you can see just how red the soil/water is around here!

I just liked this barn, and the aligned windows letting in that frame of sunset.

A pheasant in our back yard this evening. What gorgeous colours, he looks rather like he's painted and not real at all!

Belal at the beach :)

That's it for now!

Love,

Gillian

COOL!

My brother is on BoingBoing.net!!! I'm so proud *sniffle*

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/04/14/second-life-on-an-ap.html

I'll embed the video on here too, but check out the boingboing link too.



Love,
Gillian

Things...

I'm going through some "things" right now that I don't particularly want to talk about, but I have a few updates to get out of the way before I can go into hiding :P (Don't worry, everyone is fine, my head just isn't on straight right now.)

First things first: We have a nifty new sign! ooooh! ahhhhhh!!!

- I'm done all my coursework for the first three CADD courses. Just the exams left to do in a few weeks (and studying in the meantime) and then 3 more courses to go when I'm back in Calgary.

- Because people keep asking: No, I don't know where I'm living yet and I'm back on May 26th.

- I'm endlessly grateful that I ordered the Sesame Street Old School Volume 2 (1974-1979) DVDs. Some of my favourite clips are on this volume: the lost boy, Bert & Ernie Rhyming song ("what what hmm?","hey there lamp, that's a nice shade!",) taking the Llama to the dentist, etc. I've been getting pretty choked up since I'd forgotten a lot of the clips and they come back vividly as I watch. But then, I'm a little stressed right now, so perhaps am hearkening back to a calmer time. Anyway, I'm glad to have them.

- I'm on the final season of The X-Files (somehow I'd totally forgotten that Scully had Mulder's baby... HOW did I forget that!?!? THAT'S HUGE!) and am going to have to bribe someone to go to the next X-Files movie with me in July. Name your price, but be warned that I am going to be so excited and giggly that you'll probably want to wear body armour and ear plugs. Just ask my friend Kim about my reaction to the Harry Potter movies :P

K I'm going to be anti-social for a while. I'll be back when I'm more chipper.

Gillian

P.S. Speaking of chipper, I forgot how loud the birds are out here. My windows are shut and I can hear the cacophony of seagulls, mourning doves, robins, gackles, geese, pheasants and more from dawn till dark. I have my fingers crossed that the crickets come back before I leave, and then it will be the 24/7 nature soundtrack again.

Procrastinating with Automatons and eMusic!

Microstation is kicking my ass *pout* I'm still hoping to be done by Friday, but am so tired and frustrated. Blah.

In other news, I'm developing a morbid fascination with Automatons. I either like them or am seriously disturbed by them, but I can't tell which. The more I dwell on it, the more nervous I get about the Pirates in Disneyland. It's better for me to believe that it's really Johnny Depp in there, so if the Automaton HAPPENS to come alive and jump in my boat and drown me? At least I'll die happy.

I dunno, watch this video and tell me what you think? I'm in love with the kicky French soundtrack, and I'm good with the jazz monkeys but the rest gives me an eerie feeling in my tummy. I just don't know.



Finally my limited French has paid off, and I have discovered the song is "L'ombre et la lumiere" by Coralie Clement! She has a video too!



If you like her, you might like "Bia", who I've been obsessively listening to lately. I discovered her on eMusic and I love, love, love her. You can go here and preview her tunes (my faves this week are "Mon Amour", "Photo!", "La Nuit Les Masques" and "Complainte Africaine." It's a great album to cook dinner to!) Heck, sign up for an account if you're so inclined! (An annual membership is $95.95 and you get 50 downloads a month! TONS of classical, jazz, kid's and world music, but not your top 40 pop-scene... they're too cool for that!) No, they didn't pay me to say this, I just really enjoy picking my songs every month, it's like a little present! I like to think I'm getting to know eMusic pretty well, since this is my second year subscribing, so if you sign up and want suggestions on great albums, just ask!

Alright I think that's it for now. Time for some X-Files and bed!

Love y'all!
Gillian

SPRING!

Spring arrived in Canning today and it is presently knocking at my window, enticing me with a sweet, fresh breeze and cheerful robin songs. "Come plaaaay," it says. "You don't need to study! You should be prancing around the back yard, mucking about in the creek in your rubber boots and being youthful and giddy."

Initially I went to the window because the volunteer fire department showed up at the United Church across the street, and small-town life encourages "curtain-twitching" (ie: snooping when anything interesting happens.) I sat in my chair and propped my bare feet on the sill of the open window and I was doomed to recline, watching the seagulls soaring languidly and letting my mind wander aimlessly for a good twenty minutes. I can't see anything happening at the church, so my guess is that spring was calling to the volunteer firefighters and someone pulled the alarm to get out of work. Hmmm.
"How much longer do you think we can get away with standing here, staring at the church, Bill?" "Oh, I'd say a good hour if we frown and shake our heads a few times, Frank!"

You know how memories are triggered by your senses sometimes? For me, the first delicious notes of spring and Deep Forest are forever linked. Besides, this video is really beautiful and dream-like. Enjoy! Go Play!



Gillian

Halifax, Philisophical Fortunes and AutoCAD updates!

First of all, thanks to everyone (especially Josh!) for your website tips and suggestions. We're re-vamping and fixing things and I'll update you when we've revised and uploaded again!

I'm back from Halifax, alive (though just barely) and refreshed. I had such a lovely time with my friend Kirsten! We shopped and went out for dinners and drinks, relaxed and talked and laughed. It was really nice!

The driving part was pretty uncool. Halifax has grown into its streets in a confusing way and I just don't get it. I'm a pretty good navigator, but as soon as I get behind the wheel I get lost. Like, epically lost within two minutes. LOST lost and inevitably ending up in the shifty part of Halifax. I didn't know there was a shifty part of Halifax, but I found it, consistently, with every wrong turn. Poor Kirsten. Thank you for being so patient with my insane driving. I promise I won't subject you to that again ;)

Tara (Kirsten's cousin), me and Kirsten at The Old Triangle!

Not a flattering picture of any of us, really :P

Now onto the Philosophical Fortunes. I drink a brand of tea called Yogi Tea, and each tea bag comes with a little mantra or saying that is all very zen and yoga-like. Some of these I find perplexing, but some are quite nice and I save them in my dream box (eg: "delight the world with kindness, grace and compassion.") Lately I've found that some fortune cookies have had similar philosophical messages inside them as well. Some of them are still very fortuney-fortunes, but some of them are just rather nice messages and not really fortunes at all. My particular favourite is "You are the master of every situation" (framed on either end by happy faces.) It's not really a fortune, but my goodness it's a good mantra to live by (especially for a control freak like me!) Really though, if you believe you ARE the master of every situation, then you can control every situation and achieve a positive outcome! They should be called "Epiphany Cookies", really. Go think about it for a few minutes.

" :) You are the master of every situation :) "

I mean, to quote Darth Vadar: "Search your feelings. You know it to be true."

...uh-huh, I know. Deep :P

ANYWAY, why am I telling you all of this? Well, to avoid studying, of course!

I was kind of freaking about about my exams until I remembered that I am the master of every situation? And then I felt better. Also I really like AutoCAD, which is maybe a little nerdy of me to admit but today I learned about Trimming and Chamfers and was totally giddy. Sheila is probably the only person I know who will know what I'm talking about, but Sheila? Trimming is wicked. It's hard for me to keep learning from my books because I'm mostly excited to start designing my dream home (and chamfering objects to make a conservatory with bevelled walls!!! *swoon*) My goal is to finish my AutoCAD course work by Sunday, and MircoStation (which I hate) by Friday the 11th. Wish me luck!

And on that note, I suppose I should get on with it!

Lots of love!

Gillian

P.S. If you liked the "master of every situation" thing, this poem is rather inspiring along the same lines. You probably know it from high school English class, but that was a long time ago, even for me...

Invictus by William Ernest Henley

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.