funny funerals (yes, that's exactly what I meant to write)
Date: July 22nd 2003
Feeling...: tired...I was woken up at 9 this morning, that's cruel and unusual punishment compared to my usual summer schedule schedule
Listening to: my puppy snoring...my sister doesn't call him "the Snorceror" for nothing!
Excitement brewing over: New York, New York, it's a helluva town...
Concerned about: erm...shouldn't I have gotten an official email about my completion of virtual school by now? Hmmmm...
People/things that made me smile: this little girl at the funeral I went to today, I'll elaborate in a minute
New thing(s) I�ve learned:the term "race car" is palendromic (...or should I say "a palendrome"?...) lol maybe you had to be there
Additional witty comments (heh heh heh): I wonder if it's just me, but I seem to find something quite funny going on no matter what situation I'm in, and it seems funerals are no exception. My mom's aunt passed away and her funeral was today, and there was this three-year-old girl there who KEPT asking all these innocently oblivious questions...when everyone got up to "pay their last respects" she asked "what's wrong with ma?" LOL...and then as they were taking the coffin away she asked "where's the box going??" LMAO that was just too much for me...people all around me were crying and there I was with tears in my eyes from suppressed laughter :D

Funerals also seem to be a great place for meeting relatives you didn't know you had. Today I discovered seven cousins (well, second cousins but STILL), something like ten aunts and equally as many uncles. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why everyone else had cool cousins and funny uncles and aunts - and now I've figured it out...mine are hiding and I just have to find them.

In other news, my family and I have decided, somewhat spur-of-the-moment, to go to New York...see my mom has a brother there and her other sister from Vancouver is coming to visit her brother, so now we're ALL going down there to see eachother. *ahem* for safety reasons I won't mention dates online but suffice it to say, I'm plenty excited!! OH and the BESTEST part of all? I'm getting all 15 Classic Muppet Show DVDs, which are only available in the US (so what exactly do they think, that Canadians are undeserving of such high quality humour? Hmph. ...although I'm not insulted enough to boycott them, if I have to hop there on one foot with a cow strapped to my back I'll do it, damn it!)

Whew...talk about verbal diarrhea. Can't help it though, I hadn't gotten a chance to write for sooooooo long cause between virtual school and painting my room I was kept quite busy, thank you very much. Speaking of both of those, though, my room looks fantabulous - though I'm still putting things back and hanging my pictures etc. etc. so in a couple of days the finished product will be ready - and after getting my exam mark back for my World Issues course, I calculated my mark and it's roughly 91%...which brings my average up by 1% and just generally makes me very, very happy :)

But alas, as I mentioned previously, I'm tired. G'night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs give you West Nile...

mr. sun, sun, mr. golden sun...
Date: July 9th 2003
Feeling...: good. :)
Listening to: "Montreal" by Bran Van 3000...so cute :)
Excitement brewing over: painting my room soon!!
Concerned about: my virtual school ISP is due on Saturday...er, maybe i should START, huh...
People/things that made me smile: the beautiful weather...and playing with my puppy in my backyard
New thing(s) I�ve learned: the best way to start something is to START. (actually that was one of my dad's brilliant observations on life...)
Additional witty comments (heh heh heh): I got supplies and the paint itself for my room today...as soon as my virtual school work lets up I'm gonna get started (and speaking of virtual school work...I had an interesting assignment on parasitic diseases to complete a few days ago...apparently there's a disease called "bilharzia" that's caused by these tiny little worms that live inside your veins...and get this: because they need to reproduce so much, they "live in pairs, with the male holding and protecting the female inside his ventral groove" (*ahem...what exactly IS a "ventral groove" anyway?) and from the moment they're paired till they eventually die, they're in "constant copulation" ...which is why Denise affectionately nicknamed them "f***er bugs" LOL). In the meantime I've been staying up 'till the wee hours of the morning cleaning my room out first and let me tell you, it is NOT an easy job. I had newspaper sections from December still floating around because an article caught my eye but I never got around to reading it - spent the afternoon clearing through them. It was actually pretty nice cause the weather was so pretty I was just sitting outside with my dog and enjoying being able to breathe (as opposed to the past week or two when the air was getting gradually chewier...)

Oh and get this!! After all this complaining about my neighborhood being more like a bunch of strangers just living in close proximity of eachother, we're now becoming FRIENDS!! (but no thanks to me, I just offered pure complaints and no action. hm.) My townhouse complex is having a bbq on July 27th which is kinda nice cause I've always thought it's a nice idea but never thought anyone would be interested in coming...and to be honest, I'm just plain lazy most of the time. It's being organized by a couple a few houses down...they're so enthusiastic about stuff like this too, they moved in a few years ago and they always decorate the entire area for Hallowe'en and Christmas. And they're HUGE Beatles fans to boot. Yessir, this is something to look forward to. :)

If Canada was a person I'd hug her (she'd have to be a woman to be this great :D)
Date: July 2nd 2003
Feeling...: like summer's beautifully, officially H-E-R-E *hurray*
Listening to: the lingering sounds of crowds cheering in rapt patriotism on Parliament Hill yesterday
Excitement brewing over: Toronto Street Festival coming this weekend!
Concerned about: What happens next to Mr. Weasley in Harry Potter (but don't tell me if you already know!)
People/things that made me smile: home sweet home :D
New thing(s) I�ve learned:You will invariably find the best clothes at the best prices one month after the season in which you can wear them has completely ended.
Additional witty comments (heh heh heh): Just got back from a trip to Ottawa with my family for Canada Day. For four days - most of Saturday until yesterday night - the car was only used once and instead of taking it everywhere we used our own little feet and walked everywhere...and I didn't feel a single complaint from my left ankle, which under normal circumstances would have been horribly stiff after just four hours of walking, nevermind four days. Why, you ask? Because my feet were given VIT (Very Important Tootsies) treatment from my new Birkenstocks - they are hands-down the greatest shoes in the WORLD, end of discussion (oh but don't leave cause that's just a figure of speech and I still have lots more to say :D ) They're like a vacation for your feet...I never even realized how much they support they usually lack. And mmm-mmm-MMM I'm gonna make great use of 'em this summer - bring on those festivals, I can take them!

Anyway, back to Canada Day...I think it's one of those things you have to see to believe, but I've been to Ottawa three years in a row for July 1st and the enormous display of patriotism never fails to amaze and delight me. Bedecked in flags, hats, clothing of all sorts in red and white, stickers and tattoos stuck EVERYwhere, walking dogs with little red hats and bandanas tied around their necks, and carrying horns and noisemakers and firecrackers, and some even going so far as to convert an old red sofa and a motorcycle into a moving basement party...where was I going with this anyway...ah yes, so about 200,000 people such that I just described filled the streets of downtown Ottawa and it was just one big, happy, drunken party of people who love this great country. Every now and then someone would scream "YEAH CANADA!!" and a cheer would go out in the crowd...The fireworks at night were spectacular - for a full fifteen minutes it was silent all over Parliament as the masses of people looked up into the sky, awestruck. Then they went out and got sloshed. (lol)

So can you tell by my ramblings that I've been reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix"? J.K. Rowling needs to learn the meaning of the word "editer" - er, I mean "editOr" (heh heh heh). A lot of it is unnecessary jargon...not that that stops me from reading it, I think a part of me has succumbed to the hype because the text of this book definitely isn't of the same quality as the first two...but now it's the story I'm more interested in, I want to know what HAPPENS!! And the crappy thing is that I've gotta get thru aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall those pages to find out. Hmph. (but I STILL don't support the movie versions!)

Alrighty, think I've written enough for now...ttfn ;)