Phew

Yesterday, I went skating for the first time in over six months. I've been keeping active since I took a break from the rink, yet, I felt so wobbly out there. And I won't even tell you about how out of breath I got just warming up.
My left leg has gotten so much weaker and I was struggling to do a series of turns and pulls on that foot. It was dreadful and demoralizing. I felt like I was just learning how to skate again. Strangely enough, however, I managed to haul my now, much larger bum into the air and land 2S and 2T. And they felt good. I'm so glad that I'm still able to freeskate with dance blades on my boots.
I was a little worried about how I feel going back on the ice, but luckily, it was okay. I only got depressed about my decline in skating ability, but not necessarily the circumstances that I was skating last year. I'll have to find some sort of venue which matched my skating goals. I think next summer, I might be able to take a step forward, we'll see how it goes. Hopefully, I'll be able to go back on the ice again soon so that I won't be so rusty...ever, again.
And I got a blister. Some things never change.

Robert Munsch

I don't know for sure if I loved to read Robert Munsch's books when I was a kid. I did love listening to them being read. Especially by him. I have no idea where my parents got these recordings, but even to this day, when I read his stories that I have the recordings of, I can still hear his voice.
Last night, I re-read some of his stories, and wondered how I could preserve those memories. Today, as I went to his website to do some research, I found out that you can download him telling his stories.
I'm listening to Mud Puddle as I type this. It's very similar, but not the same recording that I listened to as a child. Speaking of Mud Puddle, I'm still hoping to find a specific version of the story. When I think of the story and hear Robert's voice telling the story, I see pictures from the story. All of the books in the stores have a newer illustrator's version of the story and I really want a visual image to remind me of all of those great memories that I had as a child. Hopefully I'll find it in my lifetime. I'm sure it can't be too hard, if I actually made an effort.
I was also just thinking about how incredible he would be to have speak to teachers or soon-to-be-teachers about passion and engaging an audience.
Ha ha ha...now I'm listening to Mortimer.

Olympic tickets

Figure skating tickets to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics are finally available again!!!
Don't get too excited, you need to be a millionaire to buy them. Tickets are going for 10 times the original price. It's absolutely ridiculous. At least it's so ridiculous that I'm not even tempted to buy the tickets anymore. Sure, I'd love to go, but these prices are so crazy. I can't afford to go to the Olympics this time around, but even if I could, I'd be tempted to use that money to buy bags. Many, many, bags! Ha ha.
I just can't figure out how people knew that these Olympics would sell out so quickly. Why didn't people go crazy like this over tickets for Torino? It's not like I bought tickets to make some extra cash, but when I found out that I couldn't attend a couple of the events, I was just happy to get some money back. Most of the events weren't sold out.
I guess as Canadians, we love our winter sports and Olympic events.
It'll be amusing to see how expensive these tickets get.

My Olympic moment. Sigh.

I'm impressed with myself. I've already been awake for an hour, and it's early (by my standards).
Yesterday, I was truly convinced that I would miss out on all of the Olympic fun. I didn't think that it was in the cards this time around. I should have known that I wouldn't be able to give up that easily.
Last night, I took another look at the Torch Relay Map and noticed that, this morning, the torch would be down the street from me, literally. I figured, a couple hours less sleep for one morning wouldn't be too big of a deal, so I set my alarm clock and hoped for the best.
Just over an hour ago, I bundled up and headed out to the cold outdoors. I had to do a little jogging to catch up (and pass - for photo ops) with the torch, but it was worth it. I'm such a suck. A nice, brisk, early morning run. I was due for one anyway. Even the CN tower was lit up to mark the occasion.
I marveled at the motorcade with coppers, Olympic people and the minibus for those finished their leg of the relay and needed a ride. I admired the sleek outfits and the torch. I was amazed at how short of a distance each carrier had. I could have jogged it no problem.
I did apply to be a torch bearer. I've come to realize that I didn't take the best route. Essentially, the way I applied was in a draw, but I probably would have had a better chance if I had applied in writing. On the way home from my outing this morning, I thought about all of the great things that I could have written. It would have been good. Then, I realized that, although it would have been cool to have been chosen
and to have that life experience, I'm okay with the fact that it didn't happen. I really don't need to be a torch bearer. I was happy to watch it go by. Also, it would have fed into my pack rat habits and I would have had an outfit that I would never wear again and a big torch that would clutter up my home. I swear, I'm not making up excuses to make myself feel better for not being in the relay. I was actually thinking that I would have tried to give away the items to some sort of charity or something. I even restrained myself from taking freebie giveaways from the relay. Like I said, I'm a terrible pack rat.
Anyway, I had my Olympic moment. I'm glad that I made the effort to see the flame go by. I might have regretted it otherwise.
I actually followed to torch further than I thought I would, and I wasn't the only one. And then there were the people who just happened to be in the area at the right time. Silly dog walkers, joggers and people who have to go to work way too early.
Now I'm trying to decide if I should go back to bed.

The Olympics are coming.

It's here. The flame is going through the city today. I'm probably not going to see it and I've decided to attend other commitments instead. I'll be missing out on all of the festivities. Oh well.
I'm sure I could have made an effort, but I'll just keep my fingers crossed that the Olympics will return to Canada again in my lifetime. I won't be going out west to watch the Olympics even though logistically, it would have been a lot easier than the last time. I still can't believe that all of the figure skating events are sold out. They did just release some relatively inexpensive practice session tickets. Those would be great as well - you see some crazy stuff on practice sessions.
As much as I would have loved to go to the Olympics again, I have my priorities and for the next little while, they don't involve spending copious amounts of money on tickets to sporting events. Hopefully I'll be able to watch the events on a big screen TV and enjoy the Olympics, just in a different way from the last time.

Cupcake tour of Manhattan

I went to New York at the beginning of September and still haven't written about it. I'm planning on doing so in the next little while.
As part of the trip, we decided to do a little tour of some of the cupcake vendors in the city.

1. Baked by Melissa
We had the best cupcakes first. These bite-sized cupcakes (which I forgot to take a picture of - I was too excited to eat them) were
delish. They were one-bite shots of flavour. My favorite was the peanut butter and jelly. I would have liked to try the mint chocolate chip and cinnamon flavours had they had them. The cupcakes were not too sweet and exactly what the write-ups described. Just like min-cookies, I could eat a ton of these things. I'm glad that we only bought a small box to split. Oh man, they were good.

2. Magnolia Bakery
I didn't take a picture of the cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery, but if you really want to see what they look like, you can see a previous post from my first trip to New York. I would say that although there are many many people (tourists and New Yorkers, alike) that flock to the bakery, they were probably my least favorite cupcake of the bunch. The one thing I do like about it is that it's across the street from the crazy Marc Jacobs stores with the ridiculous sales.

3. Crumbs Bake Shop
I really liked these cupcakes as well. They were massive (more like, big muffins) and came in some interesting flavours. It was hard to decide on just one. I think that's the great thing about mini-cupcakes. You can sample more. This cupcake was creamsicle flavoured and was quite good. My only complaint about their cupcakes was that the icing was too sweet. Other than that - yum.

4. Cupcake Cafe
Nothing too special about these cupcakes, but for aesthetic appeal, these ones are the definite winners (although, the mini-cupcakes were quite well done as well). They looked like oil paintings. I wonder how they got the petals to have different shades on them. They were, what I would call average cupcake size. They were tasty, but nothing super special.

5. Buttercup Bake Shop
These cupcakes were battling for last with those from Magnolia Bakery. In my mind, they were your average, run of the mill cupcake. They looked generic, and they tasted generic too. They were a smidge better than the Magnolia Bakery ones, but I think that's because they weren't as dry.

6. Kyotofu
The final stop on our cupcake tour. Their award winning Chocolate Souffle Cupcake was...ummm, okay. I don't think my opinion
about the cupcake was hampered by cupcake-fatigue, but I didn't find the cupcakes to be too spectacular. They were unique, so I'll give them points for that, but they weren't anything exciting. I'm not a big fan of Asian flavoured pastries, so that probably didn't help matters. I guess I'll say that there are more than enough cupcake shops in the city that I'd rather go somewhere else.

So - lots of sugar in a short amount of time. A cupcake for breakfast isn't a bad thing, is it? The clear winner in this tour was the mini-cupcakes, with the giganto-cupcakes coming in a relatively close second.

Oh my

Stumbled upon a website about Stephen Wiltshire.

Jealous

This is great.

One day

Okay, okay. Next time, I should just get over myself and go for it. I'm such a scaredy cat. This looked like it would have been fun. Maybe I shouldn't have bailed on the opportunity that I had available to me. Oh well.

Hello kitty!

I'm cat sitting for a week. It's been awhile since I've had a cat. I don't plan on owning any cats in the near future. I don't plan on owning any kind of pet in the near future, for that matter. But it'll be nice to have a cat for a week. He seem pretty personable (wait, should that be felinable?) so far. It will be a dandy time, I'm sure.

ADHD docs

In my search for online TV streaming, I came across a couple documentaries about ADHD on the TVO website.
I've only had an experience with one student who undoubtedly had ADHD. It was a fascinating learning experience. It made me feel inadequate as an educator. I know that there's only so much that can be done, with all of the other variables at play, challenges and pressures of the job, but that didn't stop me from wishing that I could do more. I know for a fact that I did more than some other teachers would have done, but I still felt like I should have been able to do more. That I could be better, somehow.
The documentaries didn't blow me over, and I didn't learn a lot from them, but it did give me more insight. I believe the more contexts that I can get, the more that I am informed, even if it's not a new infobit.
Educators have a tough job. There's a lot to know, and I don't think our education prepares us for our job adequately. I also don't think that this will change any time soon. This isn't a post to blame anyone by any means. It's not a pity party either. I love what I do. It's a wonderful profession and I think that there are great things about the system, but there are also areas in which it can be improved.
Teaching is complex. Students are complex.
I'm proud of some of the things that are happening in schools and our educational system. I'm also terribly embarrassed about others.
I feel like there's no much that I need to know. So much more that I need to know. Although it's sometimes demoralizing, I hope I continue to have these feelings and continue to learn.
Also, being a parent is hard. I guess being a kid is hard too.
Okay, I have no idea where this post is going. I do know that I'm happy that I found these videos.

Shopping

I haven't actually gone shopping in awhile, so today was nice. Really nice.
I got great use out of my Metropass and went all over.
My stint in Yorkville was the most entertaining of the day.
I finally ventured into the new Burberry boutique. I had made a conscious effort to stay away all this time, but you can only stay away for so long. I'm quite happy with the store. I made nice with a salesperson who kindly gave me a tour of the store, and pointing out key items from the different labels under the brand. To say I found a couple items that I wanted was an understatement. It was tough.
Hermes was kind enough to create a gift list (with pricing) for shoppers. They also had H shaped butter cookies with orange sprinkles on top. Yum. If you want to stock up on stationary, they have post-it notes for $50. I'm just saying. They also have a purple crocodile Lindy for $38,000 in stock. It's exquisite.
The new Teatro Verde on Yorkville is quite grand. It fits right into the neighbourhood.
On the same streets, I bypassed the shiny new Diesel on the way to Anthropologie. The fancy condo above looks great on the outside. I wonder what the units look like. Anyway, Anthropologie is also a perfect fit into the neighbourhood and I was surprised to find some things that I liked. They do stock some different stuff from the New York location, however, as I saw some cardigans from Preloved in the shop.
I also set foot into the flagship Harry Rosen on Bloor Street. Men must have a field day in there. The Armani section was the most enticing. The greys and purples were fantastic. I found lots of great stuff, but who do I have to buy for in that shop? Sorry friends, I'll have to win the lottery first. They also have felted rocks by Ronel Jordaan as part of their decor. I wonder if she came up with the idea before Stephanie Marin?
Of course I did go to a lot of other places to shop but I can't talk too much about those spots. Don't want to ruin any gift surprises. I didn't actually get any gifts, but the ideas are slowly developing. It was only the first day of shopping, afterall. In chatting with salespeople (some of them were so great!), I learned a lot about products, made some lists, did some price comparisons and will make my purchases in the weeks to come.
It was a nice day.

I'm free!

I'm going to go rancho relaxo for a little while until things get going again.
I've still got a big list of things that I can work on before the end of the holidays, but at least I'll have my nights back. Yet, I'm sure I'll still continue to sleep in somehow. This next little while will show how much of a self-starter I can be. A good test for my future, I suppose.
I'm also going to brave the shops tomorrow. It's time.

Also, completely unrelated, but I'm watching episodes of The Facts of Life. I've never seen it before. Now that I've got some time on my hands, I'm sure I'll be watching tons of mind numbing shows, especially since a bunch of season finales on my regular shows just happened.

Snow!

It snowed today! The first of the season! It was the lightest of flurries, but it was there.
Wheeeeeee!
I wonder when I'm going to succumb to switching to my winter coat?

Taken aback

Lunch today consisted of various salads, pot pie (chicken or vegetable) and rice. A colleague who was serving herself at the same time as I was, made a comment (as I opened the lid of one of the containers) that surprised me. She said something along the lines of, "Oh, it's rice! I bet you'll want to take some of that, being Oriental and all."

Variations on a theme

This past weekend, I realized that Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World uses the same melody found in many songs including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the Alphabet Song, and Baa Baa Black Sheep.

The Blanket Statement by the Hudson's Bay Company

I have a lot of blankets. They're so cushy, and I've been given quite a few for various commitments. I also seem to buy a bunch, myself. I really don't need any more blankets, but one that I wouldn't mind adding to my collection is the iconic Hbc Point Blanket. I've admired it for a long time.
I've been reading about the event for The Blanket Statement hosted by the Bay on Queen St. West in many, many, many, places.
I can't stop drooling over Smythe's reincarnation of the blanket.

Learned something new today

I had no idea that this existed. How many people actually use these things?

Another life experience (update)

As promised, the afternoon of my post, I went to an American Apparel shop to try on some heavy duty leggings. I finally figured out what size I am in their store, and was ready to take the plunge and buy some discounted items on their online shop.
Only, the discount didn't work.
I think the company figured out that their discount had mistakenly overflowed into their regular priced merchandise and pulled the plug.
And I didn't act fast enough.
I was actually looking forward to to owning hipster clothing.
It must be a sign. I can't find another explanation for it.
I'm not meant to own clothing from this company.

Sparkle!

How could I have missed this?