Woo! Spring is here! Mark and I have taken advantage of the nice weather gracing Toronto for the past few days by getting our defrosting asses outside (see how I kinda made a pun about frozen assets there? and it doesn't even make sense, because we have no assets frozen, or even available to freeze - HA). Monday was nice enough that we walked home from College and Yonge, running into some old friends and seeing how happy people were to be out of winter. The reason we were downtown in the first place was to see Children of Men - an amazing movie about a dystopian future. The whole thing was beautifully shot, and believable. I loved it and am still piecing bits of it together in my mind. I think it actually came ut on video this week - it's definitely a must-see.

Yesterday, we headed out to a park and played some frisbee. I'm hoping to do a lot of that this summer.... I want to set up some sort of drop in frisbee thing that's just for fun and really unstructured. Good idea?

H'okay, that's enough for now. It's time to get back to analyzing frustrating data, wrapping my head around bootstrapping, and other fun stats stuff.

Hola!

¡Hola amigos del Sharon! Aquí están las fotos de su boda.

HAHAHAHA

Seriously, LOL.

Pot Kettle Black

I guess before I get on anyone's (*cough* Megan *cough* Sharon even though you're in Cuba) case about not blogging recently, I should at least get one post in myself this week. I haven't felt like writing much lately, mostly because I'm franticly trying to find some meaning from the data I've gathered over the past year and am getting slightly despondent over the fact that I may not be able to write a compelling story about it. Such is research, I guess.

On the upside of things, I had a reconnection with one of my favourite people from high school this week. Through the all-popular facebook, I started catching up with Smitha. We'd been pretty close friends in grade nine & ten, and ended up drifting apart a bit by the end. Well, needless to say, we both ended up on facebook and found that we still have so many similar interests, and on Wednesday night I met up with her to chat over coffee and then later check out Basia's show with Sarah.

I had a really amazing time, and I must say that as much as I love Mark (and I love him to bits!!) it is so nice to have amazing girl (and other) friends in my life with whom I can go out and have a ton of fun and feel comfortable being a bit silly with. I am constantly amazed at the accomplishments of my friends (grad schools, publications, conferences, amazing jobs, putting out cds etc) and feel lucky to be close to so many talented people.

Also: today is my dad's birthday (happy birthday!) and Im going home for the celebratory dinner and then to dogsit while the parents take off to barbados. I'm only slightly jealous.

A Terrible Grace

Anyone familiar with my building at York knows of the tunnel. This is an important tunnel - it connects us to the building housing the Tim Hortons, oh, and a library. A miracle of modern construction, the tunnel (built about 5 years ago) floods with water every time it rains. While coming back from Timmy's this morning, large coffee in hand, I was trying to maneuver around the folks given the task of mopping up the water, and ended up slipping in the massive puddle that I didn't quite step over in my pretty new shoes. I ended up doing the splits (I'm not wearing something split-friendly today), BUT not only did I not fall, I didn't even spill my coffee. My clumsy years have finally paid off! I can not not fall! And I can do it all with a terrible grace. Unfortunately, this also means that I don't get to sue York for damages and retire at 25.

Give me my hour back.

(will you let me keep the sunshine?)

I really, really love my friends. I've seen/talked to/heard from so many over the past few days that I'm almost feeling full of friends (a hard feeling to reach). Friday was spent with some unexpected wine, and newer friends. I somehow managed to convince people (me + wine interaction, I think) to come down to Lee's Palace to see Rock Plaza Central for an evening of robot horse rock, and it was amazing. People are fun (7 years of psychology summed up right there folks!).

I headed out to Whitby on Saturday, with a brand new batch of chocolate-ginger-grapefruit cupcakes and headed up to Mike's party with a whole bunch of old friends for some bonfires and milestone celebrating. I'm starting to feel fairly unaccomplished, like the letters following my name pale somewhat in comparison to the tangible accomplishments of my friends, who are getting good jobs, buying houses and starting families. I just hope that somehow it will be worth it, that I won't be just another Simpsons joke.




Other good things: Mark and I found some great cds at Deja Vu - Sunset Rubdown, Pele, and a find by Mark that I'll likely never remember the name of, but is good nonetheless. We took Indy to the Lake for some running around and stepping in mud. I tried skipping stones, with little luck! Mark took some really nice photos in celebration of the first really nice day of the year, and hopefully I can post those soon. Last night we got back to Toronto, and had dinner with Sharon and 24 with Maggie. A good weekend all around, and even though I'm tired for this week, I only have to make it through 3 more days before the next one :)

International Women's Day

To all of you ladies out there, happy day!

VAGINA

Three high school girls were suspended last week for saying the word vagina during a reading from The Vagina Monologues at a literary night. Apparently, the girls had been asked to not say vagina, and disobeyed the order.

OMG kids in the audience might have heard the word vagina!

GASP!

Next thing you know, people will realize that IT IS A BODY PART. Vagina is not a swear word, it's not inappropriate. Do people really want their kids to grow up not knowing proper terms for body parts? Should 15 year old girls go the doctor and call it a hoo-ha?

I wondered if this was a sign of the fall of feminism, but then realized that a real sign would be people ignoring things like this. Shame on the principal of that school, and thank you to those girls for disobeying a ridiculous order and for believing in your convictions enough to do so.

Dentists and Taxes

I've realized that I'm not very good with those things. THIS IS ABOUT TO CHANGE! I have already (!!!) completed my 2006 taxes, almost 2 months before the deadline! Tonight, I will do my 2005 taxes and be all up to date. No more will I be ms. late taxes. And tomorrow, I'm going to my surprise (I booked 9 months ago... my memory span has been approx. 1 week lately) dentist appointment, even though I no longer have coverage. Hooray for responsibility. Also, I purged my personal files last night and found my long lost twi... birth certificate. This is a bold new page in my life - to celebrate, I'll make myself a heart-healthy dinner and go to bed early.

This is the type of blog post that happens when you only have a Monday and a Tuesday to write about.

In Wednesday news, I've spent quite a bit of time staring at the beautiful world map hanging in the office. I've getting drooly and my heart rate rises every time I think about the possibilities for next year. I can't wait to see a little bit more of the world and experience other cultures. Does anyone know of good (reputable) aid organizations that focus on health or women?

Another weekend has been added to my list of good weekends. Unfortunately, there was no Paula sighting (does this mean 6 more weeks of winter? I hope not.), but fun was had at Sharon's party anyways. We played headbands (I refuse to spell it the silly, copyrighted way), and I had a tremendously difficult time guessing who I was. According to Talon, I was a boy, and there was a shark and a tank in the picture. My name started with C, and ended with a. Yup, Cuba. Apparently, pictures of people trump names of countries for deciding between "who, what and where."

On Saturday, Mark and I lazed around all morning, and then spent the afternoon at Starbucks with coffee and reading materials (the New Yorker anniversary edition was AWESOME, I'm so glad that I caved in and bought it). I've decided that I officially love David Sedaris, and I wish somebody would introduce me in the way that he introduces his characters. To cap off a lovely day, we went to the Bloor to see Volver, which was wonderful and very, very beautifully shot.

Yesterday, Mark and I made cupcakes (chocolate ginger with grapefruit frosting - yum!) and headed down to Kensington to meet up with Ryan, Jenny, Jen and Matt for some sushi, and later some movies at Ryan & Jenny's place where we ate the aforementioned cupcakes.

And best of all, today I got my purring ball of fur back - thanks mom!!!

A question.

I've just realized that I have no idea where I'm going to be this time next year. In all likelihood, I'll be somewhere in the GTA, but that really isn't a given. I hope that I'll either be somewhere doing some good, or just returned from doing some good - but really, who knows?

Where do you think YOU will be this time next year? What changes/experiences are you hoping to have between now and then? I'm curious.