A Brick Short of a Load

Time Travelling via iPod

2012-01-09T23:24:00.000-08:00

I think perhaps the best way to remember how I felt at a time is to go back and listen to an album I played frequently back then.

If I switch on Coldplay's Prospekt's March, I am suddenly in the back seat of my parent's sun warmed car, driving through rural Alberta to the Catholic Family Life Conference back in '08. All the feelings I had then are there, the anticipation of the conference, the anxiety at what it would be like, the sleepiness that I always follows me on roadtrips.

Jack Conte's VS4, and I'm right back in last summer, reading Terry Pratchett in the beautiful sunshine, swinging on a patio swing. Happiness and melancholy and a sense of calm all blurred together.

And, embarrassingly enough, even Avril Lavigne brings back memories. I was obsessed with one of her songs, "Hot" (terrible song in retrospect) and I can remember exactly what the book I was reading was like, and that smug happiness you get when you have just started a good book and you have the whole thing ahead of you.
The "Avril Lavigne Age" is one of the ages I'm most ashamed of, but remembering that helps me to realize what it was really like for me back then, and I understand myself a whole lot more.

Somehow this seems to be the truest way for me to remember years past, not the solid events, but in a snapshot, remembering more how I felt than what exactly I did, what I thought.
For, if we can relate to our past selves, then surely we can learn from them, and that's really my goal in life, to

Never.
Stop.
Learning.

November Learning

2011-11-26T22:22:00.000-08:00

November has been a month of finishing for me. Finishing my last major Highland dancing exams, finishing autumn, finishing the regular routines before the craziness that anyone involved in theatre can tell you comes with having a show starting in just over two weeks, finishing this weird and wonderful novel I've been writing this past month. Cello is finishing too, soon, at least for the winter holidays, and although I'm less than enthusiastic about some of the music we've been playing (London Bridge in B Flat, anyone??), I'm still plodding along, still progressing, as slow as it may seem.

That's the thing with NaNoWriMo, at least for me. It's a rapid amount of learning all at once. I have no idea how to write a novel, I just go for it, because if you don't you'll be left behind, left with no words at all. You must pick up the notebook or laptop, iPad or typewriter, and pound the words out, as silly as they may seem. There are painful parts to the learning, when you are half way through the novel and hating it, when you realize you've used the word "Italian" hundreds and hundreds of times (true story), but all you can do is pull through and in the end you look back and realize, hey, this time I actually had dialogue, had better pacing, and I really love my characters. A lot of learning occurred, and maybe most prominently at that "hating it" point.

And I need to remember that cello is the same thing. London Bridge in B Flat is my Week Two, my tough spot, my "steepest part of the mountain" to use a popular metaphor, but maybe it's where I will learn most. Maybe it's just hands to the keyboard, bow to the strings, no hitting backspace.

Boots and other updates

2011-03-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in nearly a year! I have been busy, but mostly I was just too lazy. Blogs are one of those things (at least for me) that I fluctuate wildly between very excited about and kinda meh.
But this post isn't about lazy bloggers, or my busy year. This post is about my new kitten Boots!

(sorry for the lack of a good photo/giant towel on the left)

We got him very spontaneously while driving home from a very frustrating trip to the doctor's (I was plagued by a mysterious wrist injury that I'll probably post about later). My mom suggested the idea of a third cat, and so we went to the local humane society and there he was!
I tend to be a bit of a cat lover, obviously, we do have three cats now, but Boots is just lovely. I love that he's cuddly but also playful, and his little white paws are adorable. Okay, I'll stop the kitten ramble now. Corbie and Vinda are tolerant, but not especially pleased. They're okay with him as long as he doesn't come too close, but they get pretty upset if he gets in their area. (He loves to taunt them, though!) It's really neat to have a young cat, I haven't had a kitten in 8 years, it's incredible how much energy they have!

Anyhow, I think that's all for this post. Potential upcoming posts include:

My Bizarre Wrist Injury
I'm Terrible At Snowboarding
An Update On the Cello-ing
Jazz Dancing etc.

(Is it just me, or do these sound like TLC shows?)

Tired!

2010-06-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post to tell you guys about my crazy but awesome day!
I had my big year-end show for dance today, and it went very well! We had our dress rehearsal this afternoon and then the younger dancers had their recital first, so I was backstage helping them change. I don't think there was a moment when I wasn't changing one of the children except when I had to change myself! (We were the sort of "senior number" of that show near the end).
After all that I had my show, with some crazy costume changes, but a lot of fun as well. It was my first time performing en pointe!
At the end I got what's basically the top student award for the school! I couldn't believe it.
Anyway, that was just my ramble for the day, I promise I will post ukulele pictures soon!
Dorothy

Cello!

2010-06-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago I rented a cello! It's an instrument I've wanted to play for a long time now, and when we found out that one of my mom's friends was an experienced cellist and willing to give me lessons in exchange for babysitting her kids, it looked like a great opportunity!

So far I've had one lesson, which was awesome, and I feel like I'm starting to slowly get it. I find the fingering part pretty easy (probably from ukulele) and also because my cello has these nifty stripes that tell me where to put my fingers. Eventually I'll probably take them off if I'm still on this cello when I'm more advanced, they're just for beginners, but for now I love them.

On the other hand, I find the bowing part of it REALLY hard. My hand keeps cramping up and I find it hard to hold it. It just feels so odd to me still. I think it'll get better as I progress, though.

Last summer my goal was to be moderately-okay at ukulele, and this summer I have a bit of a grander ambition, cello. I think it will be quite a bit more difficult to get proficient at, but I'm willing to put the work in. I love the rich, deep tone of it, and even though right now all I can play is the basics like "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" in a very scratchy way, I'm loving it.

Sorry my posts have been so sporadic, I will have a new post coming up as I've just purchased two new ukuleles. (I know. That makes 5, though I am planning to give away my Mahalo.) Those little things are so darn addictive! On the ukulele forums I go on they call it Ukulele Acquisition Syndrome, if you think I'm bad, some of the people there have over 10!

As always, thanks for reading!

Dorothy

Toronto 2010!

2010-05-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in such a long time! I have a (moderately) valid excuse, though, and that was that I was in Toronto!

I flew out with a bunch of my awesome friends (including Nicole, Daniel, and Calla) and there we participated in a national Shakespeare festival. We also had some extra time to sightsee, and I decided to stay an extra few days to visit with my sister Sarah. While I was there for my lovely 9-day holiday, I went to the Toronto Zoo, Toronto Island, Lawrence Market, Eaton's Centre, I saw Mamma Mia and I got to go to the Corktown Ukulele Jam along with a bunch of other fun stuff! Needless to say I have over 300 photos, I'd love to post them all, but I think it would take too long to scroll through them, so here are just a few from my trip.

This is the street our awesome hostel was on!

The streetcar pulling into it's underground station

This is a geocache we found on Toronto Island! It was massive and really awesome. I got the album Voulez Vous (ABBA) on vinyl and it actually plays!

Stickers from the uke jam! And no, I don't actually have glasses, but I plan to pass it on to someone that does if they'll get around to learning the uke. (*cough* Nicole *cough* :D)

All my subway transfers! I took one every time I passed a machine.

Finally a Fluke post!

2010-04-13T14:29:00.000-07:00

Okay, I finally have pictures for you guys! Introducing my Fluke ukulele!

It has a plastic back, which you would think would make it sound horrible, but it's a gorgeous instrument.

It has friction tuners, which I'm still not used to. My Oscar Schmidt has geared tuners, which means that the tuner literally has little gears that are used to hold it in place. Friction tuners use, guess what, friction! :D They're a lot more finicky than their geared relatives, a tiny turn and you're up a half-step. I'm not sure whether I like them too much, but it's definitely worth it for the Fluke-ness!

And mine has pretty flowers!

It's super super durable, I saw a review where the guy threw it behind his head! Personally, I treat it like it's made of glass, but after I've owned it for a while that'll probably change.

So yes, definitely worth the purchase and if any of you guys are considering a uke I would highly recommend a Flea or Fluke.

Another lame apology post

2010-04-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! It's been over 2 months since I've posted!
This is just a quick post to apologize and to say I will be posting when I can find my camera, I got a new ukulele, and I'll put pictures up soon.

So yes, incredibly short post, but I'll try and make a few good, long ones to follow later.

Duct Tape Purse!

2010-02-01T11:06:00.001-08:00

So, yesterday while procrastinating I decided to make a duct tape purse.
It worked out well, so I thought I'd post some pictures of how I did it. Just a note, you can probably find someone who's done a much neater and more crafty version, but I figure it's not going to look fancy anyway if you're making it out of duct tape.

I started with a Rice Krispies box.

I cut out the front and back of the purse (you'll probably want to measure so it's the size you want, I took the size from another purse that I really like) and then the bottom I just sort of "eyeballed".

Next I started covering it in duct tape! I found that using long strips and wrapping it around 1.5-2 times worked well.

All covered!

This bit was probably the hardest (though still very simple) part.

To put one of the sides together with the bottom, I put tape on the front and back at sort of right angles, making sure the tape went all the way into the space in between the two pieces.

All stuck together!

Now the other side is on as well.

Then for the sides I didn't use cardboard, just duct tape in strips on top of each other, like this.

For the ones below this the strip that's silver side up in this picture were lower so it stuck to the one above it...If that makes any sense. I forgot to take a photo. :/

Getting the sides on.

Then I made a handle by folding a long strip of duct tape up.

I attached that with, you guessed it, duct tape!

And that's about it! I also added some stick on velcro to keep the top closed, but that's not necessary.

Hopefully this post made some amount of sense, I'm certainly not the craftiest person around!

Dot

Album for the Young

2010-01-21T23:19:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago I picked up a copy of Schumann's Album for the Young. I had played some of the pieces from it that the Suzuki method (the method I use for piano) had put in their books, and had always wanted to see it in it's entirety. When I looked through it I really liked it, and decided to play through the whole thing.

The album contains 43 short pieces and so far I think I'm on number 9. They're pretty simple (though they get harder as the book goes on) so at the moment I'm getting through one every week or two.

It really appeals to me because each piece is like a painting, as you walk through the gallery you see the soldiers, the orphans, the sort of, well as far as I can understand it, German "anti-claus" and so much more crammed in there.

There's also something really satisfying about playing through a whole collection like that. To do it in it's entirety (well, who knows, I may end up skipping a few, but still).

Alright, well I think that's my post for this evening (super early morning?), thanks for reading, and be sure to leave a comment if you enjoyed it!

Nerdiness!

2010-01-15T22:01:00.001-08:00

Well, some time last year I started recognizing the fact that I was a complete and utter nerd. It was the 50K-novel-in-a-month thing that really made me realize. It also made me realize that I loved that title.

I love that I can do crazy things like take my pants off on an LRT (long story) or wear a bucket from Dollarama on my head or recite Shakespeare, or wear a kilt in public, or a sparkly silver hat, and not feel anxious that someone might see me and think I'm "uncool". I would hope that they would see me and think that maybe sure, I'm rather odd, but perhaps also rather interesting.

In the end, where does being what society defines as "cool" get you? Maybe you'll have a couple friends that like you for your expensive clothing, or maybe you'll get a good laugh out of those crazy kids over there wearing the silver tophats. But you'll never be those tophat-kids, so to speak. To see the "cool ones" mock you and laugh right back at their shallowness.

Personally, I'd much rather have a group of friends that embrace the "uncool" (you know who you awesome people are!) and like me for me, not for the act I put on. It doesn't bother me at all if someone calls me weird, or nerdy, or what have you. I like who I am, and I love being out of the ordinary.

Kick average to the curb. Come to the nerdy side, we have Shakespeare.

Happy New Year!

2009-12-31T23:11:00.000-08:00

Well, since I haven't posted since last decade, I thought I'd send out a quick post just saying happy 2010, everyone! It's been a great year, and I hope it'll be a great one to come!

Did that make sense? Just like a lot of my crappier posts, this one was made at 12:16 at night, so yeah.

Happy New Year!

Sharpies!

2009-12-14T21:48:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if anyone is actually reading this, but oh well. I'll post it anyway.

If you are reading, this is my Sharpie collection! Okay, well that's not exactly all of them, I have a bunch of mini Sharpies, and a couple Sharpie pens as well. But close enough.

I don't know why, but I find them so awesome! I started collecting them probably a year or two ago, and I almost always have a mini one in my pocket. I use them to write reminders on my arms (as you saw in a post a while ago) and occasionally draw something.
I think I have over 50.

Okay, well I'm out of things to say now. This was a rather lame post. Sorry! Hopefully I'll have a better one up soon. Also, does anyone want to do that Week Long Blogging Challenge thing again?

Dot

Pointe- an update on this one!

2009-12-09T22:16:00.000-08:00

First off, I just looked at my first post about pointe and wow, can't believe how new and shiny my shoes were! You may not recognize them, but these are, shockingly enough, the same shoes:

Sorry about the not-so-well-taken photos, the lighting wasn't the greatest when I took them.

So yeah, they're a lot more worn now! The tip actually is a bit blacker now, I think, these photos were taken a couple weeks ago. The tap/hard shoes leave scuff marks on the studio floor and the satin picks them up.
They're starting to die (go soft and provide less support) but they've still got some life in them. These have actually lasted quite well, but then I guess I'm only taking half an hour of pointe per week. Professional ballerinas go through a pair every performance, or if it's a particularly intense show, a pair an act! So 5 months and counting is quite good.

Anyhow, thanks for reading!

-Dot

NaNoWriMo- I won!

2009-11-24T23:41:00.000-08:00

I've been celebrating madly for the past hour...Why? Because I hit 50K as you probably guessed from the title of this post!
I'm so thrilled that I made it, and so grateful for NaNoWriMo. It's a truly amazing program, and both last year and this year, I learned so much about writing, about what it means to be a novelist, and how if you can let that part of yourself that tells you that whatever you create is crap (and I know mine doesn't like to leave!), you can do anything. And you can write a novel in a month.
To all of the rest of you doing NaNo, I wish you the best of luck! You can make it!
Anyway, I'll leave it at that since it's nearly 1AM and tomorrow is an early start.
~Dorothy

My ongoing experiment/goal

2009-11-18T15:05:00.000-08:00

Lately I've noticed that most staff that work retail look pretty down in the dumps. Not all of them, but the vast majority for sure. I don't blame them, they probably get some pretty annoying customers, and I don't think a lot of them really want to be there. So I started a little experiment.

Now, when I'm going through a check out, I make a point of making eye contact and giving them a big smile and greeting. My goal is to get them to smile back and look happier. When I leave, I always thank them and tell them to have a good day, and for the most part, I do manage to get a smile.

My thinking is, that if I can brighten one person just a little bit, maybe they'll smile at the next guy in line, and maybe he'll smile back. Maybe that guy will smile at the next person he sees too, and maybe, just because I gave that tiny little bit of effort, I can make several people's days just a little bit better.

I love their surprise as I tell them I actually do want them to have a good day. They sort of blink at me like "oops, that was my line" and then usually give me a stunned "you too!" and often a bit of a smile.

This worked especially well for one grumpy Subway employee who was working alone one afternoon. She was irritable from the beginning, but with just a little bit of small talk and lots of smiles, by the end she told me to "Take care, sweetie!" and had a big grin on her face. We probably gave her at least 10 minutes of smiles in the middle of a nasty work day.

So smile! Bring them that little bit of cheer! It'll make them happier, and it'll make you happier too!

~Dorothy

Comfort

2009-11-10T22:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, look at that! 2 posts within 7 days of each other.

Anyway, today in my poetry class, we were reading a poem by Robert Service, called Comfort. Before I comment on it, I'll let you read it:

Comfort

Say! You've struck a heap of trouble --
Bust in business, lost your wife;
No one cares a cent about you,
You don't care a cent for life;
Hard luck has of hope bereft you,
Health is failing, wish you'd die --
Why, you've still the sunshine left you
And the big, blue sky.

Sky so blue it makes you wonder
If it's heaven shining through;
Earth so smiling 'way out yonder,
Sun so bright it dazzles you;
Birds a-singing, flowers a-flinging
All their fragrance on the breeze;
Dancing shadows, green, still meadows --
Don't you mope, you've still got these.

These, and none can take them from you;
These, and none can weigh their worth.
What! you're tired and broke and beaten? --
Why, you're rich -- you've got the earth!
Yes, if you're a tramp in tatters,
While the blue sky bends above
You've got nearly all that matters --
You've got God, and God is love.

I think this poem is SO true! No matter what life throws at you, you've got God, and the world He created to live your life in. When you're poor in materialistic things, you are still rich in nature, and in the love of God.

Just wanted to share this with you guys, and hear your comments about it. So please do comment! Discuss! What do you think of this poem?

NaNoWriMo- An update and an excerpt

2009-11-07T22:46:00.000-08:00

Well, we're coming to the end of week one, and I must say it's going pretty well! I'm at 18,042 words at the time of writing this (hoping to hit 20K tonight, or rather, tomorrow, since it's close to midnight) and my story seems to be coming along.
If you read my other NaNo post, I think I mentioned that it was a murder mystery set in a ballet company. So far I have 2 murders, and have drifted to the sub-plot, which is kind of irrelevant...Basically a ramble about the main character's roommate and her dialysis treatments. It'll probably get edited out in December if I can't figure out a way to tie it in some how.
Anyway, I promised an except in the title of this post. Here it is, I apologize for any spelling/grammar/bad writing:

I can’t get the images out of my head. There’s a knock on the door and Karen gets it. I sit on the couch, numb, as the artistic director walks in.
“Are you okay?” Greg, the artistic director says.
What a stupid question. I just found a murder victim, and threw up. Obviously I’m not okay.
“Yeah.” I mumble, stupidly, but what else am I supposed to say? I’m sure he means physical condition, not emotional. That’s all he cares about. No broken bones, no major muscle problems, that’s all that matters in his mind.
He tries to talk to me about what I saw but I ignore him and just mumble either yes or no, whether that’s relevant to his interrogation or not.
Eventually he gives up and leaves. Greg isn’t very sensitive. In my career as a pretend therapist, one of the things I’ve learned is that you have to give people some time before they’ll be willing to open up. It’s just a cardinal rule with pretty much anyone.
I feel pretty sick still, and I try so hard not to think of it, but the image of blood clouds my head.

Belated Answer-to-Suggestions post

2009-10-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

Well, Daniel answered my call for suggestions! Here are his questions, and my answers:

What music are you listening to right now?

Okay, I'd like to say I'm listening to something artsy like classical or some obscure indie artist, but I've gotta be honest. Coldplay. Pretty much solidly Coldplay. I love their sound, it just "clicks" with me like you were describing in one of your posts. Aside from them, I also really enjoy Bubbly by Colbie Calliat, Daughters by John Mayer, and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

If you had to eat only one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? And why?

Realistic answer: Tofu, I think. Lots of protein and I like the taste.
Unrealistic answer: Chocolate, maybe with some coffee added or something. xD

Thanks so much for your reply, Daniel! I really appriciate it. :D

EDIT: I have another reply!

"Antonia" (LOL, K, I love it!) asks:

What will your life look like in 10 years?

Good question. I can't be sure, really. What I think I'd like to happen, though:
I'd like to be married, maybe with a kid already. I'd like to work with the disabled, specifically children, and ideally teaching them the arts. I don't know where I'd be, possibly where I am currently, or maybe somewhere else in Canada.

How I remember stuff

2009-10-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is a random post. If you don't like random posts, well, then skip down to the journal one, that's not especially random.

So anyway, most sane people write their to-do lists on paper, right? Problem. I always lose them and they end up getting written on again and then thrown away.

Solution:

See? I remembered to blog about my notebook thanks to a sharpie and my arm!

One problem with this way to remember things is if you're going somewhere fancy...Then long sleeves are important.

Hand bound journal!

2009-10-22T22:17:00.000-07:00

Today, thanks to a book binding class run by Josh and Arlene I bound my very own journal!

Spine and front

Who could resist such awesome purple polka-dot paper?

I added some beads to the woven binding for an extra touch.

I was super, super thrilled with how it turned out and it seems they and Dawn (who's running an art class out of the same place) are getting some artistic talent out of me I never knew was there!

And best of all, I seem to be over my blogger's block!

Until next time,
Dorothy

So sorry

2009-10-21T23:51:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to apologize for my horrible lack of posting. I realize it's been like 2 weeks and yeah, I really need to blog.
So why can't I think of anything to blog about? Maybe you can help.
I'm inspired by Daniel's question idea, so please comment and give suggestions about what to blog about. It can be anything. I shall try to do them.

I don't think this apology made much sense. It's 1AM and I'm half-asleep. Hmmm.

Halloween Costumes- A Rant

2009-10-02T15:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was browsing around a local halloween store for costume ideas. I was sickened, however by how skimpy a lot of them were, and the worst ones were marketed toward teens!
Any other day of the year they would be considered borderline-pornographic, and yet this is what we're encouraging our youth to wear?
I tried on a Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz) costume and it didn't even make it half way down my thigh! If I had bent over I would have flashed everyone.
Dorothy is portrayed as a child! She's not a prostitute, so why are they selling costumes that head that direction? L. Frank Baum would be rolling in his grave if he saw that.
Gah! It just grinds my gears. Is this what halloween is about now? Looking as "sexy" as possible?

Anyway, it really really bothers me. But speaking of halloween, what are you guys going as, if anything? Any ideas for my costume?
Comment! Discuss my incoherent ranting. You know you want to.

NaNoWriMo 2009!

2009-09-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

With NaNoWriMo 37 days away from starting I figured it deserved a blog post!
If you haven't checked out the website yet, do yourself a favour and look at it. Even if you're not into writing, it's a really neat challenge to watch others do.

Last year I did some sort of fantasy novel, about (don't laugh at me here) this girl who's family is abnormally...normal. I know, it sounds really dumb, and I think it did sort of end up that way. But hey, I wrote it in a month. I hit the 50K mark with it, but never actually finished it, primarily because my most recent chapter was basically this guy running back and forth and I'd have to have revised it dramatically to actually get anywhere with the next chapter.

This year I hope to win with a completely different sort of novel, a murder mystery set in a ballet company. It's a bit of a long shot for me since I haven't even read all that many mysteries, nevermind written them, but the idea is stuck in my head now, and it's the only one I've got.

NaNo is perfect for me because I love writing but don't tend to write unless I have either a specific assignment or a strict deadline. Last year I wrote about 5 times more than I ever have before, and in a month! I learnt an incredible amount, about writing, deadlines, and how much coffee helps those two things along.

So, my blogging buddies, my challenge to you is to join me in my writing quest! Comment or make a reply to my post on your blog about what you're doing for NaNo this year!

Make music out of a shoe box!

2009-09-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

So recently on this ukulele forum I go on, people were talking about DIY ukuleles. A more traditional version of this being the famed cigar box uke which is a ukulele that uses a cigar box as its body.

Photo of CBU (cigar box ukes) from Wikipedia

Others have made ukuleles out of cookie tins, shoe boxes, and tin cans, and surprisingly, they all sound pretty good.

It's neat that you can make music out of everyday objects, things others would throw away. I think with pollution getting worse and landfills getting full, people are going to have to start looking at things differently.
Do you really need to throw that shoe box in the trash? Even if you can't make a uke out of it (goodness knows I couldn't) you could make it into a drum, or use it for organizing a closet or storing small items.

It makes me think about what I'm throwing away. I don't want to be a pack rat, but I don't want to waste good stuff.
Or how about, if you can't use something, like a shirt that doesn't fit or that cell phone that's still in good condition, donate it to a second hand shop. There's probably someone looking for something just like that.

This of course, makes me want to grab a shoe box and some strings and try. But I think for the time being I'll learn how to re-string my Mahalo. :)

What are your thoughts on this? What things have you made out of scrap materials? Comment!

~Dot

New Ukulele!

2009-08-20T12:50:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I went out shopping for a new ukulele. My old purple one just wasn't cutting it anymore. It was great to see if I liked playing and for $30 bucks it wasn't a bad deal. But now I knew I did like it and I did need a new one.
We found a store we liked that had good instruments for good prices and there it was. My Oscar Schmidt OU-3 concert uke.

The case was a used one which the clerk threw in for free, it mostly fits.

Ah, the abalone inlay...

Side view

Back view

My old uke was a soprano which is one size down from a concert. Concert ukes have a slightly deeper sound, but there's not a huge difference other than that I don't think.

Concert and soprano

Inside the case was a felt pick. Apparently most people just use their fingers, but if they do use a pick it's traditionally felt.

I really need a better background for my images.

I've sort of dropped clarinet temporarily. But being the type of person that doesn't usually keep up with goals like that, 1 out of 2 is a big achievement.
Maybe a new goal will be to learn a new instrument every summer. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Well, I'm off to ~~obsess~~ practice some more.

Thanks for reading,

Dorothy

Improv Everywhere!

2009-08-06T20:18:00.000-07:00

I'm part of a local group that does, well, improv everywhere, much like the original group from New York.

We recently did a mission for some random runners just going for their weekly run. We made a finish line and everyone had signs cheering them on. It was really neat, and we brightened a few people's days as well as confused many.

So next up we have a Where's Waldo thingy where one guy will dress up as the "real" Waldo, and the rest of us will be decoy Waldos holding signs to encourage the participants (AKA random bystanders) to find the real one.

It's really cool, because it adds something new, something weird and unexpected to their day. Even though our group is fairly small, everyone seems really excited about it, and for this mission I think we'll have enough people to pull it off.

That's my post for the day, I'll try to think of some more soon (and write them down so I don't forget!).

~Dot

What I've done recently (other than Clarinet and Uke)

2009-07-31T20:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I thought it might be fun to do a post that's 90% pictures. See if you can figure it out.

What I've actually done recently:

Things I really should be doing but am not:

Hamster

2009-07-30T23:48:00.001-07:00

Okay, I thought I would randomly post this...Maybe 'cause it's really late at night and my brain is fascinated by the fact that it moves, I dunno.
Anyway, how often does someone give you a random hamster? Well, today you get one.

New Layout!

2009-07-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

As you probably noticed, I added a new layout as well as a header/banner thingy...What do you guys think?

Ukulele and Clarinet!

2009-07-30T11:52:00.000-07:00

So, lately I've been working on teaching myself how to play both the ukulele and the clarinet over the summer. I play piano as well, but I wanted to expand my horizons. Pianos aren't portable, and a lot of people play it so auditioning for something with piano might be difficult.
Unfortunately I can't afford lessons for either of them (I'd have to drop either piano or a dance lesson) so I decided to self-teach.

I had the clarinet sitting in the basement from a long time ago when my dad bought it at a second hand store.

We think it used to be a school instrument.

For quite a while I'd toyed with the idea of playing with it, so when I asked for reeds and a book on how to play for my birthday and got them I figured it was time.
It's hard. And very, very different from piano or trumpet (which I played briefly in a band).
I often wish I could have lessons, or at least someone who plays to nag via Facebook or something. But I love the tone of it, and I think I'm (slowly) getting better at it. Maybe if I keep up with it and graduate from a few of the self-teaching books in the series then I'll consider doing something more serious with it.

And then, the ukulele.

This was one of those spur of the moment, "what the heck!" type of purchases. My mom and I went into a music store and they had these colourful, toy-like ukes. They were only $30 bucks so we split the cost of one, they were too awesome to resist. (And this is why we have so many instruments in our basement...But I'll save that for another post.) So I found some music and chord charts online and started playing. It's actually really easy and fun. You only have 4 strings to manage, it has a really cool, bright sound and while mine is bottom-of-the-line, it's playable and perfect to start off with.
I've decided that if I'm still playing it by the time Christmas rolls around I'll ask for a good-quality one as a present.

I think I'll make another post later about other summer activities, but for now I will go and practice my purple ukulele and second (third?) hand clarinet.

As always, I adore you guys for reading this. You rock! Comment and then maybe I'll buy you some chocolate as a gift. And you can buy me a $200 uke!

Dot

Graphic Novels

2009-07-16T15:23:00.000-07:00

I recently read two graphic novels, The Plain Janes, and it's sequel, Janes In Love, both by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg.
They were good, but I wouldn't say they were excellent. Parts of the plot were very unoriginal, there's a Jane for each stereotype. Jayne, the nerd, Jane, the theatre geek, Polly Jane, the sporty tomboy. The protagonist of the story (Jane of course), however, was more original. The plot and writing style also seemed more authentic.
The story starts when Jane (the main one) is a victim of a terrorist attack. After she has recovered, her parents and her move away to the suburbs/country (where exactly they move didn't seem completely clear to me). Starting at a new school, it's the story of her emotional recovery in a way, and how she tries to escape through art.

These were one of the first few graphic novels that I've read, so today I went to the library to look for more. I didn't really want manga, or a graphic novel entirely about relationships so I didn't manage to find any at that particular location.
I think a good graphic novel can be really cool, sort of like a comic book, but with a deeper message and more interesting plot and dialogue. You can visualize it better with the illustrations and it's fun to see the characters "acting it out."

Anyone know of any graphic novels like this? Or graphic novels different from my idea of a good one? Do you like graphic novels? Comment!

Titus Andronicus

2009-07-12T22:51:00.000-07:00

I saw this play tonight...What can I say.

Even though I sat at the very back of the theatre, I found it extremely intense and kind of upsetting.
I would guess it's Shakespeare's bloodiest play, a woman gets raped and her hands and tongue cut off, as well as numerous brutal murders. In terms of gorey Shakespearian plays, most people would usually think of Hamlet or Macbeth, but I found this one to be much more violent.

I think the aftermath of Lavinia's rape was the hardest thing for me to watch. The actress portrayed the role amazingly well as she crawled down the stairs, and with a scream, poured blood out of her mouth.

If the acting had been poor, I could have left with the impression of "Oh, well, that was kinda sad." But the actors really got into their roles and did an amazing job.

Shakespeare does an amazing job of capturing that cycle of revenge, and it's sad that that is still relevant today. Have we not learned anything in the past centuries?
Though it was a challenge to watch, the play did not condone violence in any way, completely the opposite, and I think it was worth going.

Awesome conference and almost-outhouses

2009-07-08T00:06:00.000-07:00

I recently went to a religious family conference (I'm Catholic) out at a lake with a spacious area for people to set up tents and RVs.
It was a really beautiful time spent there, we had daily Mass and some excellent speakers. Another thing that was neat for me was that there were tons of other youth around my age who share my faith and while I can't say I really made any friends it was cool to see that there actually are Catholic youth out there. At my church there really isn't a great program for anyone other than young adults.
We went last year as well, but I think I enjoyed it more this time around. There was more variety in the speakers and I think I was also more interested in listening to what they had to say.

It's always one of those places that gets me thinking, about my faith, about my future and what I think I'm called to do. Perhaps I'll make another post about vocations later, we'll see.

Anyway, on to the "flush" toilets there. Probably the only bad thing about the conference.
They really may as well have been outhouses, it would've been less messy. See, the problem was that they kept flooding, probably because their flushing mechanism was completely unreliable. And then it rained. So now you have a tiny cubicle with up to a few centimetres of water (clean or sewage, I'll never know) and damp toilet paper littering the floor. The maintenance guy randomly closed a few and then people opened them again, I think. It was all rather strange and gross.

Alright, well, I'll stop my half-asleep brain from rambling any more now.
Ciao!
Dot

Sheep Per Person (with the help of Sarah)

2009-07-05T14:36:00.000-07:00

"Sheep for everyone!"

I recently found out a hilarious statistic. In Wales there are 4 sheep per person. Crazy, eh?
But then, I looked up New Zealand and found that there were 10 sheep per person. This number is down from 20 per person a few years ago!
To put this in perspective, there are around 32 people for each sheep in Canada.

Special thanks to Sarah who "makes helpfulness happen".

Happy Canada Day

2009-07-01T10:40:00.001-07:00

Just a quick post wishing all you fellow Canadians out there a Happy Canada Day!

Today I'm dancing at a celebration and we're also going to see the fireworks in the evening.
Another thing we do is decorate our van and wave flags out the windows whilst going down busy streets.
It's a lot of fun, you sort of get that same thrill as when you wave at random cars that you don't know.
What do you guys do for Canada Day? Comment! :D

Happy Canada Day!
Dorothy

WLBC Day 7: Things I liked about this challenge

2009-06-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Well, since the last post was so down, and because I'm kind of excited that I made it, this is a celebratory post.

I liked the challenge for the most part. Yeah, it was hard sometimes, and yeah I got blogger's block as I call it (see self-checkout post...Or maybe don't.) but overall it was a fun thing to do.

I think it will inspire me to try and get more readers and to blog more.
I'm not so afraid of text-only posts anymore, too! I used to be really wary of posting something if it didn't have pictures, and yeah, I usually find those sorts of posts more interesting, but if they're well written, text-only can be fantastic.
Also, I think I need (like some wise people said in the comments) to stop thinking "Okay, well, if I post about this then person A might find it funny, but I think it'll annoy person B...But what about person C? They read this blog sometimes..." and just go with what I want to say. There's nothing wrong with trying to improve the quality of my posts, but not attempting to style them to the readers.

So yeah. Congratulations to the other participants, maybe we should make this a yearly event!

WLBC Day 6: Why blogging sucks sometimes

2009-06-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

Alright! One more day to go. And I'm blogging at a much more reasonable time today, too.

But I've been feeling a little disheartened lately.
Sometimes (to quote a friend) I feel like I'm just talking to an empty room when I blog. I try not to be too ranty, or too boring professor-ish or all pictures or no pictures or really goofy. Yet I think I still do all of things. I want to find a nice balance on my blog, I want to somehow make it so that I know that lots of people are reading it and looking forward to another post.
When I first started, it was just a way to get my rambles and rants out, I didn't really care if anyone read it. But now...It feels different.
The whole WLBC thing has made me blog more and I've enjoyed blogging every day, but what, maybe 1 other person is reading?
And I don't blame them. There are probably a lot of better blogs out there.

I'm just feeling kinda, I dunno. Unmotivated to keep up with blogging. Sorry if I sound really depressed in this post, I think it's mainly 'cause I haven't had breakfast yet.
Bye for now, empty room. See ya tomorrow.
-Dot

WLBC Day 5 (kinda): Random Acts of Kindness

2009-06-26T23:21:00.000-07:00

So technically it's 12:22 AM in my time zone which means that I guess this is Day 6 if you want to be official. But oh well. I haven't gone to sleep yet so I'm going to count it as Day 5.

Today's (Tonight's? This morning's?) post is about Random Acts of Kindness as you probably guessed. Those little things that brighten someone's day.
It could be anything from holding the door for someone to buying them a coffee. I think it has an even more powerful effect coming from a stranger.
There's something special about letting a person that you've never met before know that you care and in a way inviting them into your life.

I recently watched a little video about a group trying to inspire people to have a better body image by leaving nice little notes like "You're worth it!", "You're perfect just the way you are!" etc. on mirrors in bathrooms, in weight loss sections of grocery stores and similar.
While a small gesture, sometimes the smallest things can make the biggest difference.

Sometimes in society we have a kind of "no touch" policy. Don't engage with anyone, don't smile, just keep walking.
And I think this can and is starting to change. We're all in the same boat here, guys, all living lives right next door to each other. So why not help each other out a little?

By the same token, some comedy can do the same thing. ImprovEverywhere is a perfect example of this. They do something fun and unusual to make someone's day special, and to give them a story to tell.

I want to do these sorts of things more often, and opportunities are everywhere, so why not? If everyone did it, just look where we'd be.

I really hope this post made some amount of sense. I think this blog is turning into the sort of "OMG my dog pooped!!1!!" kind due to my laziness and lack of brain. :/

Sleepily yours,
~Dorothy

WLBC Day 4: Self Check-Outs (AKA nothing to blog about)

2009-06-25T18:25:00.001-07:00

You can tell I have nothing to blog about when I start rambling on about different ways to pay for your groceries. Yeah.
But to be fair, they are kinda awesome. (BTW, picture isn't mine, I just found it randomly on Google)
I love the way some of them say "Do you have any coupons?"; I always feel disappointed that I don't and it seems to be a deep metaphor for something...What, I dunno, but it seems to have a deeper meaning than just asking you for coupons, right? Like, it doesn't really expect you to, it's just searching for reassurance. Reassurance that you will indeed pay full price for the item, or maybe that it is possible for it to accept various shapes, sizes and colours of these amazing vouchers. Which could be a metaphor for diversity. You know, it can accept ALL sorts of coupons.

Okay, so I have an excuse for this post then. Self check-outs are a metaphor for diversity and therefore they are awesome and in posting this I am awesome.

Or maybe I'm just bored, had too much coffee and have nothing to blog about.

WLBC Day 3: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2009-06-24T13:46:00.000-07:00

Today's post is about, you guessed it, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, a popular internet movie.
At roughly 40 min in length this short film is basically about a wannabe villain (Neil Patrick Harris) pining for the girl of his dreams, Penny (Felicia Day). His plans go sour, however, when she is inadvertently introduced to his arch nemesis, Capitan Hammer (Nathan Fillion). Chaos ensues over 14 (including credits and reprises) very well done songs.
I've been listening to the songs all week now and they really are fantastic. It's an excellent little movie, and available free on Youtube, I would highly recommend it to anyone.

So yeah, short post, but oh well. Perhaps I'll add more later.

~Dorothy

WLBC Day 2: Geocaching

2009-06-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

Well, it's the morning of Day 2 when I should be doing something productive, but hey, I do need to get this done.

Today's post is about a wonderful sport called Geocaching. All you need is a GPS and access to a computer. (To print of coordinates and clues.)
It's essentially a high-tech treasure hunt.

"Caches" are hidden all over the world, some urban, some more rural. They can be pretty well any size.
I've seen everything from a tiny metal capsule in a park (one I planted, actually) to a large ice cream pail hidden in the woods. Once you've found the cache, you take an item and leave an item (if it's big enough to do so) and sign your username both in the log book in the cache and online.

We've been caching on and off since 2004 and it's amazing seeing finding caches in places you've walked past hundreds of times and never noticed.
It's also really fun to place them, choosing new and challenging locations for the next geocacher to come by.

I hope this post made sense.

~Dorothy

WLBC Day 1: Business card collection

2009-06-22T15:38:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, so my friend Nicole decided to do a blog-every-day-for-a-week challenge (which I have dubbed the Week Long Blogging Challenge, or WLBC) and I figured I should give it a shot too.

So today's post is about my business card collection. Why I started, I don't think I ever knew that, but I think I began collecting maybe 4 or 5 years ago. It's an easy thing to collect. Business cards are free and easy to grab at pretty well any store.

Thus, the above happened. The large book is almost entirely full and the smaller book probably 3/4. The tub is filled with cards I never bothered to sort, most likely collected after I really went nuts with them.
I would (and still do sometimes) take them from everywhere we went, especially if we were on holiday. Friends and family started getting them for me, too.
Nowadays I don't collect nearly as diligently, but if I spot a cool-looking one or one from a favourite store I always pick it up and usually have a few in my back pocket to empty out when laundry day comes.

Well, that's all for today, folks, hope you enjoyed reading!

~Dorothy

Possible posts coming up in the following week: Geocaching, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Sooke

A note in a library book

2009-04-29T17:02:00.000-07:00

A couple days I found this note in a library copy of, oddly enough, Life of Pi by Yann Martel which I'm reading for my book club. (It's pretty good so far, but I'll save all that for another post)

"If you take this out, you will be taking out your soul.
-A reader
Please keep this in!!!"

"Note from Author,
THIS IS ABOUT
Fat KID CAMP

Suzanne Collins"

Okay, so first of all, the "you will be taking out your soul" bit made me laugh out loud.

Second, while I haven't read all that much of the book yet, as far as I know it isn't about "Fat KID CAMP", whatever that is. And why did the "author" capitalize "KID CAMP" but not "Fat"?

Third, who the heck is Suzanne Collins? If they're referring to the author of the novel, I think Yann Martel is a little too different to be a spelling error.
Or do they mean the author of the note? Or was Suzanne's name added later? Or am I just over-analyzing a random note probably from a bored teenager?

These questions spinning around my head, I decided to add my own little phrase to the note:

"What an...interesting little note.
I 'spose I will leave it in. -D"

I think I might like to start my own note. But perhaps with less confusing capitalization and references to some sort of camp.
I'll post photos if I end up doing so.

Alright, well, that's about it for now.

~Dorothy

Does anyone actually read this?

2009-04-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

I've been wondering this lately...Does anyone actually read my blog?
I have a few followers, but I wonder if they check it regularly...I wonder who exactly reads my blog, whether they're all people I know or if random people from like, I dunno, Turkey or something check it out sometimes.
This is my random question of the day.

~Dorothy

My Musical Friend

2009-04-11T11:32:00.001-07:00

Ah, my musical friend. Our Heintzman piano.

We bought this lovely piano just over a year ago and I have been in love with it ever since.
After a long search and many annoying, pushy salesmen, we came across this one being sold privately. We wrote the cheque that very night.

Made nearly a hundred years ago and refurbished in the past 10, it's a really good instrument.

The wood is sort of a brown-mahogany colour, but I'm not sure if you can see that in the picture.
(Also note the Bach Box! :)

The keys have very good response and you can get a lot of sound out of that thing. Some of them are yellowed, they're made of ivory, but that's okay.

The front panel tips out when the cover over the keys is lifted to give more sound and tone.
You can pull the front panel out further to see the hammers in action, but as far as I can tell there's no way to keep it propped that way.

Anyway, I'm terrible at finishing off posts (note the constant use of "anyway") so I will leave you with a ~ (whatever those are called) and my name as usual.

~Dorothy

My Bach Box

2009-04-11T11:22:00.000-07:00

Bach and I have a turbulent relationship.
I tend to have issues with learning his piano music, and so to cope with my frustration, I shove this little Bach plaque I got from a piano graduation into what I call my Bach Box:

Yeah. I'm a little odd.
The other problem I have with Bach is that he usually ends up making me love his music in the end. Right now I'm working on one of his Inventions, and unfortunately I now (sort of) like it.

Well, thanks for reading folks!
~Dorothy

Movies I Really Should've Seen By Now

2009-03-23T17:32:00.000-07:00

Whilst (my new favorite word) wandering around Army and Navy, I was thinking about all the movies I really should've seen by now, and decided to make a list to put here.
So here it is:

1. Slumdog Millionaire
The hold up here is I can only think of one friend who hasn't seen it that I could go with.
Ah well, maybe it'll come out on DVD soon.

2. Inkheart
I recently re-read the book, which was awesome, and while I've heard the movie isn't that good, I still want to see it.

3. The Dark Night
Everyone who's anyone has seen it. Except me.

4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
I really want to see this one. Apparently it's kind of depressing, but the plot sounds very good.

5. Master and Commander
All my friends love this movie, and they have good taste in movies, so I should really see it.

6. Sweeney Todd
Another film my friends love. The soundtrack is awesome from what I've heard, but it does look rather gorey. (sp?)

I think I've probably forgotten a ton, so I think I'll end up editing this list later. Post in the comments if you can think of any I've missed!

~Dorothy

Script Frenzy

2009-03-23T17:14:00.000-07:00

My latest anxiety and excitement is Script Frenzy.
This past November I participated and won it's sister challenge, NaNoWriMo for the first time, and I feel like I should probably give this one a shot, even though my April's already going to by busy.
I'm planning to write a stage play, I'm not sure entirely what about, perhaps following the life of a burnt out (no pun intended) popcorn salesman who befriends a young run away with a secret after a nightmare of some sort.
Yep, I've been using the random plot generator. xD
But hey, I tend to be rather random anyway, so it should go fine.
I'm drawn toward stage plays as opposed to screen plays or TV show scripts because I love theater, and I could potentially make a play out of it some day (with a lot of revision) if I wanted to, while a TV show or a movie isn't going to happen anytime soon, despite my loathed nickname of "Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz".
It should be easier than NaNoWriMo as you only need a 100 page script, and my NaNo came out to about 140 pages, plus a script has quite a bit more spacing than a novel.
I'm nervous, but a ton of my friends are doing it, so that should make it better.

Descriptively yours, (yeah, bad pun)
~Dorothy

En Pointe

2009-03-21T15:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't posted in about a month! Ah well, I'll try to post a bit more now to make up for it.

Anyway, last Tuesday at Ballet right at the end of class we were given letters from our teacher by our sub for that week.
I looked down at my copy with "Dorothy" written at the top in his loopy handwriting, not expecting much, maybe just about an extra rehearsal or something.
I nearly screamed with delight when I read the phrase:

"The students of the Grade Five Ballet class have demonstrated delightful progress this term and are now eligible to commence pointe work in the Spring Term of classes."

I bounded out into the hall talking much too quickly to my friend Allie about how excited I was.
Ever since I started ballet I've always thought pointe would be awesome.
I was scared, of course, too. I'd heard way too many horror stories about bleeding toes and the like, but then I'd also heard if they were fitted properly they shouldn't hurt too much at all.

The next day my mom and I headed out to the store recommended to us and now I have them.
They haven't been broken in yet as I have to wait until Monday for my teacher to check them as well as tell me how I should break them in.
So far they don't hurt, but then I am using little gel toe covers, and all I've done is stand and walk on them.

~Dorothy

Highland exams- They're over!

2009-02-27T16:06:00.000-08:00

*sigh of relief* Phew, exams are finally over! I had them this morning and surprisingly enough they went pretty well.
Theory, was waaaay easier than I thought which unfortunately means that, once again, my dance teacher was right. I did flub up a couple questions, but I think it'll be okay.
I wish I could get my results sooner than this Wednesday...

~Dorothy

I officially love Threadless T-shirts!

2009-02-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

My friend over at Running With Scissors had the link to an awesome T-shirt site called Threadless in his blog so I decided to check it out.
Well, yesterday the 3 shirts I inevitably ended up ordering came and they're even better than I could've imagined!
It's official, I seriously love that place.
Check them out...But be warned, you'll probably end up ordering some!
Maybe I'll post pics of mine later...
Thanks for reading this rather boring entry!
~Dorothy

Mail Experiments- Someone in the postal system loves me!

2009-02-19T19:53:00.000-08:00

A little over a week ago, I hastily created and mailed an even teenier envelope than my last:

(with my address removed in this photo)

Doesn't really look Canada Post worthy, does it?
You can imagine my surprise to find this arrive:

Some poor postal worker had carefully taped it to a piece of blue card and then to a regular-sized envelope.

My only logical conclusion to the success of these rather crazy experiments is this: Someone in the postal system loves me.

Dear Canada Post labourer, if you are reading this, I would like to thank you for your patience with my insanity.

I wonder what I should try next...

~Dorothy

Toronto-Days 3 and 4- ROM and Eaton Centre

2009-02-19T19:32:00.000-08:00

Because I'm home now, and I'm lazy, I have combined days 3 and 4. There was also a day 5, but that consisted of taking the bus to the airport, not the most photographic and exciting thing.
Anyway, day 3 my sister and I went to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) for the day.
It was a fairly long line-up to get in, but it moved faster than I thought, so I had to eat the hotdog I had purchased really fast. That was one thing I thought was awesome, how many hotdog vendors there were. They all had veggie dogs too! And yes, "hotdog" usually has a space, but I like it without one better and this is my blog. Muahaha...
Okay, getting off-topic. Anyway, we got into the ROM and there was this funky balloon-dinosaur:

As we went through, we saw many cool things, most of which have escaped me now, maybe because I didn't end up taking to many photos for some reason.
Anyway, here are the 2 photos I did end up taking!

(The ceiling in an older part of the museum)

(This awesome turtle thing!)

On to day 4! Since it was just going to a mall, there's not as much to blog about, but I took a couple nice photos, so I figured I may as well share them. Eaton Centre was a pretty cool place, but when you come from a city that has a huge mall (like I do) it's just not as exciting.
There were these...Plastic birds that apparently are very famed or something. So I took a photo of them:

And then this photo:

Okay, well, sorry for a rather boring blog entry, but I couldn't think of much to say in this case!
Thanks for reading,
~Dorothy

Toronto-Day 2-CN Tower

2009-02-16T20:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, technically this is now Day 3, but I was too lazy to post yesterday, so here it is!
Yesterday me and my sister headed out to the famed CN Tower.
It was a wee bit crowded because of the long weekend, but not bad.
Their security measure was surprisingly not a metal detector, but this little gate thing that blows air on you. I'm not sure how exactly it would detect a bomb, but apparently it does:

(Sadly, due to poor photography skills, people constantly stepping in front of me, not much time and a second-hand camera, this is the best photo I got.)

I thought I would be extremely freaked out going up the glass elevator (I tend to get freaked out in glass elevators), but we were going so fast that it didn't really bother me.
I didn't really enjoy the observation deck as much, there were more people and while you could go outside there, they had put up a large safety net so people couldn't fall or drop things, but it was kinda annoying because you couldn't really take photos or see stuff as well.
We then went up further to the Skypod. Other than the annoying line up (there was only one elevator) it was fantastic!
The people in front of us in the line, however, were just hilarious. Some quotes:
"If your feet are sore, just take your shoes off. That's what I did." (He really did take his shoes off!)

"Ugggghhh, this line is so long. At least we're getting exercise!"

"Wow, that vending machine is sooo cool! It's worth the $3 just to watch it!" (It was just one of the newer Coke machines.)

Anyway, I'm sleepy and may not make sense if I continue any further, so I think I shall just finish with some of the photos I took:

(The view of Toronto Island)

(Heading toward sunset- some of the lights of the city are starting to come on)

(And another sort-of sunset photo.)

Anyway, thanks again for reading!
~Dorothy

Toronto- Day 1- Cheese and Poorly Translated Packaging

2009-02-14T13:51:00.000-08:00

Today is/was my first day in Toronto, not including last night.
We headed up to Orfus Road to look at some of the outlet stores and Grande Cheese, a huge cheese factory and store.
It was really cool, there was cheese hanging everywhere and many shelves laden with the stuff.
If you know me well, or even if you don't, you probably know that I am rather obsessed with cheese, so this store was truly a must.

(We bought Beer Cheese, Stilton with Apricots, Pomegranate and Raspberry Goat/Cow Cheese, Oka with Mushroom, and regular Goat Cheese.)

Okay, now onto the poorly translated packaging.
Another store we wandered into was a party store, and in it was one of the most hilariously packaged products I have ever seen:

(I have never heard of "Purpie" and last I checked coffee was a beverage, not a colour. Maybe I'm not using the "Nuance method" properly...)
I think I'll send this along to Engrish Funny.

Thanks for reading!
~Dorothy

Other people's mail experiments!

2009-02-11T21:43:00.000-08:00

I did a quick Google search of "postal experiments" and came up with this hilarious page of a group testing the limits of the US postal system:

http://www.directcreative.com/postal-experiments.html

Now, I don't have quite enough guts to try much of what they did on Canada Post, but perhaps I could try putting the stamp on the other side of an envelope. I don't think it would be a problem as I've managed to mail envelopes without stamps before, plus my tiny envelope had the stamps on the bottom, rather than the top and that went quickly and without even a note.
Letters with incorrect postal codes or none at all have also made it, so I don't think that's really an issue either.
I remember being taught in Girl Guides that you had to veeeery carefully put the person's address in big capital letters in a very particular spot, and that the stamp had to be placed exactly. We spent probably half an hour learning about that, though it would seem that it really doesn't matter.
Something I think would be really cool would be to know a postal worker and hear about the stranger things that people have tried to mail- and how they handled it.
Also, if anyone has any ideas for experiments, or has done any before, I'd love to hear about it!

I think that's all for now.

~Dorothy

Online Course- Practice Class

2009-02-11T11:09:00.000-08:00

Earlier this morning I had my first class of the online course I'm taking.
Today was just a practice class to get our microphones working and meet each other, and it went pretty well. My instructor sounds pretty good, and the tech got everything working properly.
The funny thing is that this Friday I'm going to Toronto to visit my sister, so the next class will be from there the day I leave. Hopefully I won't have to sign out early to get to the airport...
I'll also have a 15 minute tutorial with the instructor once a week to go over my work and get feedback.
So yeah, I'm looking forward to getting my assignment next week and will give you an update on it when it happens!

~Dorothy

Mail Experiments: Tiny envelope and coinage

2009-02-10T16:37:00.001-08:00

Okay, so for a while now I've had great fun messing with Canada Post, so when I read about someone mailing a letter with coinage instead of stamps I decided to give it a try.

Here it is before it was mailed. I wrote on it "Sorry, didn't have a stamp!" and below "Here's a quarter for your troubles"

I think it was put in the mail either yesterday or the day before, and today we found it in our mailbox, unharmed, with a post mark overtop of the coins:

The "tip" was still there and it seemed that either they didn't notice, or plain didn't care.

I also mailed the tiniest envelope I could find and that made it no problem as well:

Maybe I'll mail another coinage-ladened envelope from Toronto when I go on vacation (this Friday) and see if their post office catches it- or takes the tip.

Thanks for reading!

~Dorothy

My beloved laptop

2009-02-09T21:48:00.000-08:00

I was moderately bored, had a camera, and my awesome laptop right near by, so I decided to take a couple photos of it!
This is the device I use most for my new-found hobby of blogging (I've used the family desktop once, too), and I love it very much.
Plus it has a cool skin that my friend Nicole wanted a photo of and I thought you guys might like to see.

(This is it open)

(And closed!)

(And a close up on the skin.)

Okay, well that post sounded better in my head, I hope it wasn't too boring!
Thanks for reading!

~Dorothy

Why I can no longer wear dangly earrings to dance...

2009-02-09T21:36:00.001-08:00

Not because they wack me in the face when I jump or spin...Okay, well, they do, but that doesn't really bug me.
To explain, I will start my story from the beginning. Today I wore these earrings to my ballet class:

Cute little hearts just in time for Valentines Day! Plus they look like cinnamon hearts, something I've been eating a ton of lately...But I'll save that ramble for another post.
Anyway, my ballet teacher started told me to relax my shoulders a couple times. This in itself is not an unusual critique for me, I'm rather tense through the upper body, but normally it's something that my Highland or piano teacher would say to me more than he would.
Eventually he says that he was able to tell that my shoulders were up because my earrings gave a measurement from the bottom to my shoulder and he could see if one was higher than the other! *facepalm* That guy notices everything!
So, yes. I can assure you that I will be wearing studs to tomorrow's class. :D

~Dorothy

Highland Dancing Exams

2009-02-09T09:03:00.000-08:00

I have my biannual Highland Dance exams coming up this month.
It basically consists of an examiner coming from Scotland, my dance teacher setting up one studio with a table, and then you go in and do dances for her with progressively harder steps as you make your way through the levels.
Sounds okay, right?
That part is.
The part that really drives me nuts is the theory exams.
You have to memorize things from the text book, take first position for instance (same as Ballet):

The heels are together, with the weight equally distributed on both feet, which are turned out to form an angle of 90 degrees (each foot being at an angle of 45 from the line of direction). The dancer may be standing with both feet flat on the ground, or may be poised on the balls of the feet.

I dunno, I don't know anyone who would describe your standard first position that way.
I'm still attempting to get out of this particular exam, but my dance teacher really wants me to do it.

Dreading this exam,
~Dorothy

I'm evil...

2009-02-08T20:30:00.000-08:00

I just lost the game!
Muahaha...
If you have no clue what I'm talking about, then go here: http://www.losethegame.com/

~Dorothy

My Cats

2009-02-08T17:47:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I may as well tell you about my cats, Corbridge (Corbie) and Vindelanda (Vinda).

Corbridge was named after a town in the north of England in which we got lost in on vacation. Because we were so jet-lagged at the time, we found it hysterically funny that we had mis-interpreted my great-uncle's directions to go around Corbridge, we thought one was to go through Corbridge. So we ended up in this little town for probably half an hour. Why we named Corbie after it, I'm not really sure, but the name's stuck ever since.
Corbie is the more easy-going cat, eating literally anything, and especially loving dairy.
It takes a lot to irritate her, and even then she'll simply walk away.
Here's a photo of her:

Vindelanda is named after a Roman wall, again in the north of England, Vindolanda.
Unfortunately, we miss-spelled this, so her name is spelled with an 'e' rather than an 'o'.
We visited Vindolanda on the same trip as the one where we got lost in Corbridge, however this time it was not notable due to poorly-interpereted directions, but simply because it was an awesome historical site. Also because we had just been to a seriously crappy one so anything after that seemed positively brilliant.
Vinda is definitely the skittish one, afraid of socks in improper places and out-of-place objects.
She generally sticks to cat food, gets irritated much more easily, but strangely seems to be generally more affectionate.
We suspect that she is mostly Russian Blue, but not completely, however we can't be sure as both cats were adopted from the local SPCA.
Here's a couple photos:

(when she climbed into the Christmas tree box)

(and a full photo of her)

Alright, well, I think that's all for now, thanks for reading!

~Dorothy

My Cactus Pen

2009-02-08T17:34:00.001-08:00

A few days ago, I purchased this awesome cactus pen from a local toy store, that sadly, was closing out.
It appears to be your average plastic cactus, just maybe with a neat little pot, but in actual fact, it is a working pen:

I have been rather obsessed with such a cool pen ever since, and have written as much as possible using it. It is actually quite a comfortable writing utensil as the spikes are made of soft rubber. Made by a company called Fred, this thing really rocks. Check it out on their webpage:
http://www.worldwidefred.com/spike.htm

Basking in cactus-full bliss,
~Dorothy

First post!

2009-02-08T17:20:00.000-08:00

Today I was looking at my friend's blog (phapboy) and thought, hey, why don't I make a blog?
I'm bored, have some spare time on my hands, and it sounds pretty darn fun.
So yes. This is my first post on my blog and I hope I won't forget about it and start ignoring it, I'm crap at updating stuff...
Anyway, welcome to my new blog!

~Dorothy