With friends like these....

I love my friends and I say that with only the smallest hint of sarcasm.

With the holiday/vacation season upon me, I've been able to spend some time at my favourite pub in the city, Rogue's Roost. Besides the mouth-watering spinach and bacon dip, the great music by The Plugs and the delicious raspberry ale it is my favourite bar due to its close proximity to my bank. In the dead of winter I can run and get more money without even having to go outside because the BMO is in the same building. Really, it's just fabulous and very convenient.

This past Thursday I began to re-evaluate this opinion. I skipped off to the bank as usual to procure funds for the evening with success. As I was leaving the bank vestibule (and yes Alison, that is a word people use) I found that I could not get the doors to open, they had locked shut. Now I could see some friends having a cigarette around the corner outside but they couldn't hear my pleas for freedom through the double doors. So I had to call Kathleen on her cell phone.

As you can probably tell from the above picture, Kathleen wasted no time in mocking me and making sure that this event would be documented for all prosterity. So again, in the spirit of Christmas, I just wanted to say I love my friends.

Merry Christmas!

I simply could not let the holiday season go by without some acknowledgement of it here on my blog. The last few days have been stressful and quite frankly not filled with the holiday spirit. It's been several degrees above zero all week and the grass is still green; not the white Christmas I was hoping for. On top of all that my roommates have all vacated the city to go to their respective homes leaving me to sit in my giant 4 bedroom house sipping wine by myself and watching movies. I feel like I should apologize to my friends for my "bah humbug" spirit, I think it's safe to say that I can never live alone because I tend to go crazy when I do.

But that all changes today! It's Christmas Eve; may the festivities officially commence. I've got the presents wrapped under my little 2 foot tree, the booze has been purchased, and the candy canes are out. My nails are painted a holly red and I'm making the dessert for the family dinner (tiramisu by the way and yes there will be rum in it.)

Here is a list of my top five favourite Christmas songs:
1. Baby, please come home- U2 or Bon Jovi.
2. Merry Christmas Baby- Otis Redding
3. Carol of the Bells- Home Alone Soundtrack
4. The Twelve Days of Christmas- Muppet or Bob and Doug Version
5. I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas- any version.

I highly, nay strongly, recommend you watch The Office's Christmas special that was out this year: A Benihana Christmas. Favourite moments include when Michael had to tag his girlfriend because he couldn't tell the Chinese waitresses apart and when Jim sent Dwight on a secret C.I.A. mission. I want to marry Jim.

Extreme boredom is imminent....

I'm sick. Not sick enough to really call into work and spend the day in bed getting better. Just sick enough to go to school everyday and feel border-line miserable. Last night I passed out in my room at 8 pm fully dressed and woke up at midnight. I was wired til 3 am when I finally passed out from sheer will.

I'm also bored. Everyone I know is writing exams or busy marking/working. My evenings are totally free but I'm totally broke so it leaves me with little to do but read, sulk, and feel sorry for myself.

But that all ends today! I hit the library and got a wicked scary kid's book by Neil Gaiman called "Coraline." I also finally settled on a new painting to start working on; it's a 1920's "Vogue" magazine cover. I'm also busy blogging so as to distract myself from the imminent boredom.

This is what I planned to have done by this point in the month:
1. Have Christmas cards sent out....not accomplished.
2. Have shopping done....also not accomplished due to lack of funds.
3. Have baking done....I have done this several times but I keep eating the cookies and not saving them.
4. Fit into New Year's Eve dress....see above item.
5. Decorate my apartment for the festive season and host an amazing board game party....CHECK!

1 out of 5 ain't bad.

Kathrynisms and the handicap of red hair

My roommate Kathryn is a freak, in a good but funny way. Last night we were sitting watching the news when she said "Do you know that every year we pass the anniversary of our death, but we never celebrate it?" I'm having a "Happy Death Anniversary Party" for her next semester. I just don't know what date it should fall on...any suggestions?

Then tonight we were watching the news again (I know we are super cool), and she said that the problem with Iraq is that people there don't have enough bars to go to and they need to chill out. I'm sure thousands of drunk Iraqis and American soldiers would totally solve the problem. Maybe if they had smoked some pot and sang "Kumbaya" together. Maybe then.

Another funny thing crossed my path today. I was teaching a grade three class about handicaps and disabilities and there was a worksheet they had to answer. Here is how it started:

"All of the things on this list might make life a little harder for someone. Which of these could be considered handicaps, not just a nuisance that you have to deal with for a short time? Put a check mark next to your answers.
1. having a hangnail
2. being in a wheelchair
3. not being able to hear very well
4. having red hair..."

I nearly killed myself laughing when I read it out loud to the class. According to this, the definition of a handicap is something long term which means having red hair is a handicap! And yes, some of the students put a check mark next to #4.

On the fifth day of christmas...