Song of the Month for May

The Song of the Month for May has to be "Wrapped Around Your Finger" by The Police, simply because it's been following me around. Everywhere I turn this song is playing, from the Disneyland shuttle to the Virgin America airplane. Shopping malls, my iPod, you name it, this song starts playing. Fine song, you win, you're the Song of the Month.



Two thoughts:
1. This was before Sting was cute
2. He should re-think bouncing around all those candles with hair that big.

I leave for Calgary tomorrow and I keep saying "it's exciting" when I'm not, in fact, excited at all. I'm faking enthusiasm to cover my fear and homesickness. Not that I miss Canning, just miss my parents, pets and my bed. Blah.

So if you see me and I give you a big fake grin, just bear with me. I know you know I'm faking, and I will hopefully be back with you soon.

xoxo,
Gillian

Why I Heart California

The mini Golden Gate Bridge at Disney's California Adventure


Ohmygod, I feel like hell warmed over right now. My throat and ears feel like they're on fire, which sort of makes everything suck. I'm about to go to Target, for crying out loud, which would normally send me into paroxysms of glee, but instead I'm like "ugh. Must jump in front of cable car to end the pain."

But I still love California. I went shopping yesterday and spent a LOT of money, because the sales people here have got GAME. They must all work on commission because they just start throwing things in for free, giving you discounts, telling you you're beautiful, and suddenly you're five hundred bucks poorer and your bag explodes on the bus. So it's good that I'm leaving, because as much as I like hearing that I'm beautiful, I know they're lying to get a sale. I KNOW they're lying because I've seen how I look, which is bad skin, bad hair, swollen glands, sunburnt and epically freckled. They just want my money, and they can't convince me otherwise.

They just have such good stores here. Like The Container Store. Are you kidding me? Storage thrills me, and here's a store full of smart storage solutions and I get really blissed out just thinking about "a place for everything, and everything in its place." They ship to Canada now, but that sounds expensive to me... so maybe not. But the shopping here did make me happy, I stocked up on things for people and was thrilled that the lady at Bath & Body Works said they're opening a location in Calgary. And suddenly people here know where Alberta is, which is weird. When did that happen? What has Bush been telling you people about our oil reserves?

Another thing I love about California is the food. I am in Vitamin Water heaven, and got my Ben & Jerry's peach cobbler ice cream, which I have been dreaming about since July 2007! I don't know if I'll make it to Whole Foods, which might be for the best because I can't fit anything else into my suitcases. We'll see!

Alright, off to Target and in search of some soup.

Love,

Gillian

Disneyland Pictures!

Here are some pics from Disneyland! I'm in San Francisco now, and don't feel too good, so this is all you get for now.

Love,

Gillian

"In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki Room..."

Tomorrowland

The obligatory castle shot
The Haunted Mansion


Pirates of the Caribbean at night

The Snow White storybook ride

The King Arthur Carousel

I just liked this sign...

My unintentionally arty Pirate shot... Can you tell what it is?

The Princess Fantasy Faire. I almost got my face painted and my hair "princess-ified"... almost.

Disney's California Adventure park

Caspian and his bag of corks. A nice gentleman at a restaurant in California Adventure gave them to him!

Yes, I went on the Tower of Terror. No, I won't do it again. EEK!!!

Alright, I'm going to go die slowly from a very sore throat. Hopefully I make it to Target tomorrow!

xoxo,

Gillian

California-ey!

Well I made it to California okay! Here are the views from outside my hotel room :)

Palm Trees

The Tower of Terror in Disney's California Adventure (I think)

More palm trees and Disney rides.

Today was an emotionally draining day and I'm pooped, so I'm going to wait till Josh, Susan and Caspian get here tomorrow to hit up Disneyland. I was in tears mostly from Canning to Halifax, and a few times between Halifax and Toronto. The Toronto to LA leg of the journey was easier, Customs was fine (they even smiled!!! MIRACLE!) and I only felt mildly violated going through security. I watched "27 Dresses" and read half of "Eleanor Rigby" by Douglas Coupland, which is fabulous, and enjoyed the dead, empty feeling. The flight didn't even seem that long, so yay!

We flew over much fantastic desert and I fell head over heels in love with it. I suspect it was Arizona/Nevada, but whatever it was, it was awesome, all sandy and stratigraphy-tastic. And I mean, miles and miles and miles and miles of nothing but sand and canyons. I can't stress it enough. I LOVE THE DESERT!!!

Anyway, then we flew past the Hollywood sign, which made me grin. We landed and I got a little lost, but then found a shuttle to the hotel. We drove past a car on the interstate which was on fire, which is how I knew I was back in the US. I've never seen a car on fire in Canada, but that's the second time I've seen a car on fire in the states... I'm just saying... oil is your friend, people. We were driving beside a limo, which turned OFF INTO THE PARAMOUNT STUDIOS LOT, and I nearly died. I have no idea who (if anyone) was in that limo, but I'm hoping it was Johnny Depp and he thought I was cute and plans to find me tomorrow in Disneyland. California is so wacky, I just adore it. The weather is heaven. I feel totally naked wearing shorts, but it's too hot to do anything else, and my hair has never been so curly. It's bizarre. Something will have to be done about it.

K, can you tell I'm just trying to stay awake till bed time? It's only 7 here, but it's 11 Nova Scotia time, and I've been up since 5. Nice. Maybe I'll just rest my eyes...

Internet costs $10 a day (eep!) and I'm going to be having a lot of fun in Disneyland, but I'll post pictures when I can :D

LOVE,
Gillian

Air Raid Siren Footage!!!

Aha! It took all night to process, but it processed!

Here's my beloved Air Raid Siren. Mum, Belal and I walked up to the fire station yesterday to take some video footage. I missed the first two seconds and then cut it off at the end, but it still wound down for another 30-40 seconds after that.

Also, the video is shaky cuz I was laughing my head off. It is SO loud when you're right next to it!

Off to California in the morning. It's going to be a tearful day around here, I can already tell. Ugh.

Love you,

Gillian

Random, Random, Random

Fungus or Alien Life Form? You be the judge! Hmm, maybe I'd better call the FBI...




Alright, I don't even know what day it is because I packed my calendar, but the good news is that I'm completely packed. The bad news is that includes my sweaters, which I wasn't thinking about, and now I'm cold. Haha. Anyway.

A few days ago I was reading Neil Gaiman's blog and came across a very cool link he had of pictures of an abandoned mansion in the middle of Russia. I can't stop thinking about this house, so go look at it and tell me it's not worth moving to Russia for. I think it is. I always say that I would NEVER in a million years take on the kind of renovation that my parents did with Delcourt House, but this one might be worth it. Of course, I can't even bring myself to touch up the paint on my ceiling, so you know how that might end. Badly. At any rate, the whole website is pretty neat! It's sort of like boingboing.net ("a directory of wonderful things") but all about Russia. Check it out if you're seeking entertainment: EnglishRussia.com - "Just because something cool happens daily on 1/6 of the Earth's surface."

In other news, I finally got my mark back for AutoCad and I got an A, so I'm totally relieved, since I'll be doing AutoCad for a living now, and it's nice to know that I haven't deceived myself into thinking I could do it, when I was actually rubbish at it (like Microstation.)

I'm starting to really get excited about Disneyland. My goal is to go on Space Mountain and Pirates at LEAST 16 times each, Indiana Jones and Splash Mountain at LEAST 4. I'm usually not fussed about log rides, but I find myself being pretty stoked about it all lately. I'm full to the brim with glee about all things Disney!

I took a video of the air raid siren today, but for some reason blogger isn't liking it... I'll keep trying though!

ENJOY!!!

Gillian

X-FILES AWESOMENESS!

The X-Files: I Want To Believe trailer, as promised. Go ahead, giggle and watch it eight times like I did ;)

Also, I leave in 2 days. I am FREAKING OUT! I'm all packed, though, which is a first. My suitcases are super-heavy though... hmmm. Guess I'll have to practice some shopping restraint in the states... or mail stuff... because you know how I am...

OOH! One more thing. Bitter:Sweet, one of my favourite groups, has a new CD out. Check out their MySpace page and start dancing around the living room.

XOXO,

Gillian

Isn't That Something!?

My Yoga Smurf shrine. I had to pack it, and won't see it again for a long, long time.

I can't help but believe that the universe responds to the decisions that we make. When you make the wrong decision, I think, the universe can put up a lot of barriers to point you in a different direction. When you make a right decision, the universe sends you answers to help you on your way. I guess it all goes back to having a focus and direction in your life. The "It's Yoga" philosophy of "write it down and all is coming."

It seems that moving back to Calgary is the right decision, because in the past week I have:

- arranged to rent a really nice, furnished townhouse in Calgary.
- bought a nice car in Calgary.
- gotten a permanent drafting job in Calgary. Starting June 3rd! (and I'm not even done my courses yet!)

I mean, can I say "wow"??? The weird thing is that it all came to me with very little effort on my part. How crazy is that?

Of course, I owe Sheila HUGE, because she was the one who suggested AutoCad in the first place, AND she hooked me up with the job! Poor girl, she'll have to see me every day! But I'm totally going to buy her a pony, so hopefully it'll all work out! Plus the pony will look super-cute in the backyard with Nathan's garden railway :D

So that's my news. This time next week I'll be on a plane to California. I can't quite believe it's all happening. Ahh, denial.

Well, back to packing then!

Love!
Gillian

P.S. If you're interested, the new X-Files movie has a website (finally)! Still doesn't have a trailer up, but I registered for updates, so you will know the moment that I do.

The X-Files: I Want To Believe

Ummm...?

(Delusion Road, Nova Scotia. Photo by Lisa Preston.)


Well, I passed Microstation. Just barely, but I PASSED! I'm still waiting on my AutoCad mark, checking a billion times a day, and my left eye has NOT stopped twitching for a week. But I'm fine *maniacal laughter* absolutely fine. Is it too late to stay where I am? Hmm, it is, hey?

But really, things are fine. I'm actually not fine, but I'm enjoying the delusion of "fine." I also totally forget what I was going to post about... hmmm... OH! Earrings.

So I'm renting a furnished house in Calgary and can only bring 2 suitcases of my stuff with me, cuz there's nowhere else for it to go, so my stuff will stay in Nova Scotia for a year until I get a house of my own. I'll probably cry about my books the most, as I'm only bringing 4 with me. I've gone through my clothes 3 times, getting rid of things that are old and ratty or don't look good on me. I probably have to go through one more time and be really hard on myself. There's one skirt I'm being immature and holding out on, but really it should go. I've had it since I was 16 and that was a loooong time ago. I can only bring like 2 pairs of earrings, and the rest has to stay here, so it's hard to pick. I know it's just stuff, but you get sentimental about some of it. Shoes, DVDs, my teddy bear. These are the things that keep me awake till 3am. Of course, I'd give them all up if my parents would just see reason and come back west too, but... that's not happening, so I need to bring a few things to distract myself with.

Does anyone have any good packing tips? I have the vacuum "space bags" for my clothes, and have put my 22 favourite DVDs in a travel CD case, and I ripped my favourite CDs to my laptop (and iPod) but I think I might still need room. I will happily take whatever suggestions you've got. Just remember, I'm going to California first, so I have to keep American customs and security happy... well, as happy as they can be. Do they have to sign contracts about never smiling? Poor guys. Oh, and what should I do about my yoga mat??? So many things to consider. PLEASE HELP!

Okay, I love you, send happy thoughts, ice cream and sedatives for the next 9 days!!!

Gillian

Waiting: Day 19

I think I've never been so tired in my whole, entire life. Before I go to bed (I know it's only 7pm) I'll post waiting pics from today. We all look really bad because none of us have been sleeping well lately, so forgive the bags under our eyes.

Belal!

Tess!

Me!

G'night!

Gillian

Introducing...

TESS!!!

(Also known as Puppy.)

I think Tess should be short for Contessa, which should be short for "Princess Angelina Contessa Louisa Francesca Banana Fana BoBesca the Third... but you can call me Dot." (I heart Animaniacs)

So far the puppy thing is going pretty well! She's really cute until she bites you ;) Belal was a big fan at first, but now he kind of looks at her like "are you still here?" They're getting along for the most part, and he usually has a waggly tail to greet her, but he isn't afraid to tell her off, either :)

Not much new here. Only one of my marks has been posted, and that was for the class I WASN'T worried about ("this is how you save a file in Windows"... I got an A+) so I am obsessively checking SAIT's website about a thousand times a day. I have a place to rent in Calgary, and hopefully a car to buy. I finished watching The X-Files series *cries* and the last episode was so fantastic, but left a lot of things open, so the movie should be GREAT! I can take that off the 101 in 1001 list now. Ummm... I think that's it? Stressed. Tired. The usual.

Love y'all!

Gillian