triumphs, trials, & toe tappin'..

So my basketball teams record isn't great. However, today I can say we won! First half was...mm..pretty painful to watch. But the second half we definitely came out with a different attitude and swagga', if you will. Pretty pumped.

Last week my Achilles tendon started bothering me- nay, killing me. It felt like at any second it would literally snap. I don't like that, 'cause 1) I need that tendon, and 2) all I think about is that scene from Troy where Achilles (aka Brad Pitt) gets his...Achilles...impaled by an arrow (snack of trivia for you: that's where the name of that tendon comes from btw). I just cringe when I think about it. SHOOT that would hurt. I thought at first I had Tendinitis. Hurts like a %^&@! to walk, let alone run down the court. Got it checked out by the trainer at our game today, turns out I have Achilles Bursitis, which often gets mistaken for Tendinitis (I guess so!). Fingers crossed it goes away soon.

Today, while I was doing stats for the guys game, there was a timeout and the music came on. I was standing at the end of the bench alone while the guys did their thing and made eye contact with my sister who was in the bleachers across the court and started tapping my toe kind of in mock of the song being played (don't remember it). The ref's were standing there at half court and thought I was just grooving to myself and started giggling and pointing. Noticing this unnecessary attention, in order to make myself appear a little less handi-tarded...or white, I made eye contact with them and encouraged them to do the same. It worked. They proceeded to enjoy the sub-par song being blared. Quite a humorous moment of the day haha. If we can base human success on being able to get 3 grown men to "grove" at centre court...

I win.

snow week

Remember that potential 5 day weekend I mentioned a few posts back? Well, right now, I've been on a six day weekend...pretty much a reading week holiday! Classes were cancelled due to terrible weather on Monday, then no classes yesterday, and my one class that I had today was cancelled, but I only found out about it when I got to the school. I like not having school sometimes, but it does get a little annoying being out in the middle of nowhere when I could be hanging out in the city (eeeexcept I couldn't because of the weather). So I've been killing time for almost a week here (yes, I've done some homework).

Came out of my apartment the other day, and I actually let out a burst of laughter when I came around the corner: there was a flock of at least 30 wild turkey on the neighbours driveway! Gosh, those things look stupid even just standing there. Sometimes I feel like Aurora from Sleeping Beauty or Snow White...being "one" with all the wild creatures I encounter living in the woods by a river alone.

Oh yeah, I found a picture I took on my cell phone of the ice rink I went skating on for New Years with my sibs in a really neat part of St. Paul. So fun!

Fun Fact of the day: The MCAC Athlete of the Week got raved about with her 16 points in her game against us. I had 19 points that game. Just sayin'...

lucky number 7?

Turns out there are officially six...count 'em: SIX weddings happening this year in my life. No no, I'm not practicing polyandry and marrying six men or anything (that would be a significantly awkward situation). Apparently everyone decided to get married in 2010 though. Yesterday, in particular, I got word of two engagements. The first, from one of my good friends back home (if she sticks to her request, I'll be singing at that wedding) and the second...my sister!

The sister engagement didn't come as a surprise though. I knew for a bit over a month before he proposed last night that this was going to happen (and when it was going to happen). In fact, I actually went ring shopping with him and helped with some of the inside stealth work! (Ha...Meag, you had nooooo idea!).

Pretty sure I'm going to be all wedding'd out by the end of 2010.....

On another note, after a long heart-wrenching separation, I re-united with my Love the other day-- as seen here:

"Flavours my senses, sweetens my disposition, stirs my imagination, nourishes my dreams"

-On a Starbucks cup

Not that I worship S-bux or anything, but it's weird how a simple latte can really boost my creative side-- I get some good ideas for my magazine. I swear they spike that stuff with Artistry! Ha, okay, not that funny...

Fun Fact of the day: Nobody pokes on Facebook anymore. I guess cyber-physical abuse wasn't all it was cracked up to be...

we've ALL been there

dos baby

Okay, so I was talking with my sister today and we get to reminiscing about the old days of DOS computer games and I think we came up with 8 awesome MS-Dos games from childhood:

Tom & Jerry

Yep, this one's based on the old tv series, this one was pretty advanced for the world of Dos. It was so intense. You started out in the basement and worked your way up through the house with each level being a new room. I could never conquer the attic. I still wonder what happens after that...

Secret Agent

Sam is his name. This is where I learned how to shoot a gun...at robots.

Math Rescue

I learned my basic math skills here. Oh man, was this ever a nail biter game. Those time warps- they were hit and miss and weapon of choice?: a nice steaming cauldron of lava poured over your enemies body...by a butterfly.

Hugo 2: Whodunit?

Seriously, this is probably the game that my sisters and I did not take lightly. The beginning started out with a short skit where Penelope walks in on her man murdered! She needs to find out who killed her man! You typed in the commands at the bottom of the screen and she will obey (if she can understand you...). There's a point in the game where she has to go through a huge maze and collect items. We literally had a HUGE map of this maze drawn out,

one 8X10 paper per screen shot. We knew that maze front to back. Actually, we had a whole binder dedicated to this game...the in's and out's...what to do here and there...

Gorillas

So this screen shot is a little different than the one I used to play...I think mine was older than what google could supply a picture for... Basically, type in coordinates of the gorilla on the other side of the skyline, toss the explosive banana, and see who can blow the other one up first!

Also on the list were games like Dr. Brain (again, my version was older than what google could supply me with), Encarta (a Medieval trivia game), Hover, and of course the classic Commander Keen (we had 1, 4, & 6).

Wow, I've really just labelled myself as an ultra-geek here... Please know I turned out alright despite all of this!

welcome cookies from sara palin

4,765 km- that's how far my oldest sister is moving from me. Just found this out yesterday. She'll be peacing-out so soon too, happened so fast! Tough knowing that someone you love so much is going to be almost completely physically inaccessible unless you drop about $1,500 to fly one way... I can deal though, they (sister and bro-in-law) aren't going to be there (Alaska, for your curiosity) permanently, just a few years. Van-city/Seattle meet-ups will most likely occur.

But hey, not many people can claim that they have family in ALASKA.

By the way, if you didn't quite catch the title connection to the post, Sara Palin lives in the city they're moving to...

chuckles

Just a couple of "funnies" I encountered recently:

1) Today I saw my grade 8 math teacher being interviewed on CBC's The National!! Funny how the memories of multiplying and dividing fractions came flooding back to me all too well...

2) Speaking of which, about a month and a half ago I saw my old high school gym teacher being interviewed on The National as well! I knew from the moment that he looked the journalist in the ey- hold that thought...he never looked anyone in the eye. Ever.

3) The other day in my Journalism class, my prof read through the entire genealogy of Jesus from the book of Matthew telling us to meditate on it: "So and so was the father of so and so...." and so on and so forth... How does one meditate on a family tree? (And who doesn't stumble on names like Abijah? He must practice). Just when we thought he was done, he kept going! Me and my fellow buddies (Cam & Kaiten) could NOT for the life of us tell if he was being serious- we half expected him to suddenly stop and roll out the punch line like he so often does. Needless to say, we were dying on the verge of bursts of laughter.

4) Today has been utterly unproductive. Other than writing approximately 300 words in an article for my magazine, I've done piddley squat. Weird thing is, I've been antsy all day too.

I guess that last one isn't that funny... But I guess it could be if we tally up the hours I spent doing nothing, in which case it would kind of be a sad funny.

No- actually, scratch that, it's just sad.

black lines

Started classes again yesterday- my last semester and then I graduate FINALLY in April with a B.A. to add to the list of my educatedness. This is a good semester, I don't have any classes on Tuesday's or Friday's, so I discovered I have the potential to have a 5 day weekend if there aren't classes on Monday, i.e. Louis Riel Day (plus, my Thursday classes are done right in the a.m.). Don't get me wrong though, I'm going to have to work hard this semester still. In my Hermanutics class I have to do two 30 minute presentations (I don't like doing class presentations...I don't mind speaking in front of people, I just don't like them knowing my work, but as a Media student I need to get over this fear). I also have to make my magazine for my final Media project as a Communications & Media major. I'm excited for this, but also a little nervous that I have too many ideas and I won't be able to fulfill them as I want! One little shuffle step at a time, Jillian...

Next on the agenda of conversation? Ran 110 lines at my basketball practice yesterday. True story. Not even gonna lie, I loved it. The whole practice was pretty easy/laid back, so we were going to do cardio at the end. Everyone had to shoot a free-throw. If you make it, we only run 10 lines, if you miss we run 20. We technically didn't have to run the last 40 cuz coach P (Lennie's sister) told us she would run them, but we trooped up and decided to run anyway. A team's a team. That's one thing I love about sport: when my team comes together and works hard for one goal in such a selfless manner. I was wheezing away with my asthmatic lungs on those last chunk of lines, but I couldn't help but smile :)

Fun Fact of the day: Got told I look like Blake Lively by the girl serving me at Tim Horton's on Sunday with Cam and Eric. Total compliment!

band of horses

Got two new albums over the holidays of a band called Band of Horses from my brother-in-law. Gotta say, I like 'em! This music video in particular makes us all able to experience our deepest fantasy for a moment in time: a mid-night neighbourhood pillow fight! (right??)

Fun Fact of the day: I don't make new years resolutions.

"ya'll want some pie"

Canada let me back into the country, yay!
(Wow, long entry. Grab a drink and read my novel here...)

This was a great trip. I got to hang out with both of my sisters at the same time FINALLY. We got to my sis and bro-in-law's place Monday shortly after supper and did some gift exchanges. My oldest sister and her hubbie got me a gift certificate to UO (yessssssss) which was promptly spent 2 days later. More on that in a jiff.

Tuesday, we all headed out and about and wasted time (and $) in the afternoon. In the evening, we all decided to go see Avatar. Okay, so you might all be thinking either a) that movie looks lame....your family's lame, or b) you're awesome, 'cuz that movie is awesome. If you picked b, you're probably awesome too. This movie was so good! I had seen the preview, but didn't really know what it'd be about. I was very enthralled the whole time. I recommend it.

Wednesday we got up ready to make the trek out to the MOA for a day of spendy-spending...yikes. This girl went straight to her store and spent a solid amount time in the sale section (love it). After getting all shopped out we headed back home. Of all places, Minneapolis was hosting a Canada vs. USA women's pre-Olympic hockey game....of COURSE we're not going to miss this! 5th row seating and we got to see Canada kick some American ass (2-1) and make slick comments loud enough for all the Americans around us to hear (despite my bro-in-law being American, he's a good sport about it). If you're going to have a household name for Canadian female sports, it's going to be Hayley Wickenheiser...yep, saw her...and Gillian Apps (another Great...she's on those CTV Vancouver Olympic commercials).Thursday, my parents headed back to Canada-land; sister #2, her bf, and I stayed behind to ring in the new year Minnie style. We all puttered around during the day just doing whateve's, and when the evening rolled around, we decided it was time to get our New Years festivities started. The five of us headed out for supper to The Cheesecake Factory. The food was AAAAmazing...but I almost choked when I saw how much my ONE drink cost: $10!!!!! Are you kidding me?!!? Whatever..I'm over it.

What else did we did? Well, we went skating! I had not been skating in years so this was exciting. It was an outdoor rink surrounded by some neat historic buildings and tons of trees lit up by white mini-lights. Quite neat! There were hardly any people on the rink, so it was awesome just blazing around owning the ice (or trying to). I re-mastered stopping haha, and my re-mastering of crossovers was slow, but I could've had it down pat had I been there a little longer. With 20 minutes til midnight, we ditched the rink in hopes of watching the ball drop on tv. We were pushing it time-wise, so this meant we had to drive quite precisely and quickly...

No luck.

We took one wrong turn and then and there I knew we would be in the car come 2010. So I made the executive decision that wherever we were at midnight, we had to get out of the car and party like it was 1999 (except 2010 style..obviously)...and we just hoped we wouldn't be on a freeway.

Midnight struck....and we were safely in a residential area! Yes! Out we got and did some sort of Chinese fire drill with a bit more party style. And what could make the night better? Fireworks in the sky as we continued driving the rest of the way home! Epic.

We got home and watched the new Star Trek movie and hit the hay around 3am (yep, two pseudo-nerdy movies in one week, deal with it!)

I am home now with less money, but more memories. I feel rich! (Haha...cheeeeeeesey).
Here's to the new year! Cheers!