oh boy. lots to write

Sooooo much has happened.

Two Tuesdays ago... Was rather boring. We had to be at school but there was nothing going on. So I probably shuffled some papers. It was really hot for packing that night.

Wednesday was the big move day. Of course we were short on boxes, so I had to go to the liquor store for more. That was 10 in the morning and already it was blazing hot. The movers were about 40 minutes late but that wasn't so bad. We just sat around for about 20 minutes with nothing to do. The movers, Jamie and Barry, were awesome. Jamie was the brains of the operation, Barry the people person. They got everything in the 6'X9'X12' truck for one trip. It was very close. We have a lot of furniture. They didn't even really need ropes to tie things in, it was that packed. We had to block a lane at Yonge and Wellesley at 6 pm to unload the truck. I'm sure we were highly unpopular. It took almost 4 hours and we paid $400, including tip. I was a bit shocked to learn that the movers make only $12/hour. It's heavy work, no breaks, and it was scorching hot. Doesn't seem right.

Luckily, there was a Canada-wide Sympatico system failure that night. It seemed like quite a coincidence that our service wasn't working the first time we set it up but that's what the problem was. I say luckily because that meant Dion was available to help move furniture and such.

Kevin and Su came over to see the place and kill some time before heading over to their new apartment while the tenants finished moving out.

I had been convinced that I would sleep like a rock that night because of all the work and the air conditioning in the new place but it didn't happen. I actually had a really hard time falling asleep. It felt a little like we were at a hotel. Rinsing plastic cups in the bathroom sink, living out of a suitcase.

Thursday was the last day of school and very uneventful. I think I shuffled furniture.

Friday was busy again. I went over to the old place to help clean while Mark moved out. It was a nicer day than our moving day. Then I went back to the new place and Jaclyn came over to visit. We chatted, went out to eat at the Friendly Thai, and combed the bookstores between Wellesley and Dundas. There are many. At the World's Biggest, I picked up two new science books. Then Dion came and picked me up (he had been uptown golfing and then hanging out all day). We went over to Bathurst and cleaned the fridge and picked up the last of our stuff. We spent the night uptown.

Saturday was the family gathering for the Canada Day long weekend. Pretty fun although Norman's friend Howard ruined the name game with long clues about an R-rated inside joke.

Don't really remember Sunday. must have unpacked. Same with Monday. Although I do remember that Dion was home because he inadvertently booked it off. Litter lost again I presume.

Last Tuesday, we left for Salt Lake City. Very uneventful travel except that our room wasn't ready at 2, when we arrived, or at 3, when they said it was supposed to be ready. Kevin missed the Magacity cake presentation waiting for the room.

Wednesday had the quartet quarter finals. Mirage's set didn't go that well in the afternoon. The Fixx's set in the evening was a little better. Hot Air Buffoons were a big hit, as were OC Times, a young quartet from the Far Western District (FWD) and Realtime, another young quartet from the Canadian West Coast.

Thursday was the chorus wildcard contest, I think. I really thought Megacity sang well and they did score just over 80% but it wasn't good enough. They finished 10th, which was their qualifying position. The top 6 made it into Saturday's contest. I think I got a workout in on Thursday.

Friday had the College contest and the regular quartet semifinals.. I was pleased that I was almost able to pick the CQC top 5. I had 1, 2, 3 and 5 in the right order and I really liked 4 but I didn't know if they would make it for lack of reputation. I got another workout in in the afternoon.

Saturday was a really long day. The breakfast was nice, as always, and very entertaining. The chorus contest was almost unbearably long. It started at 10:45 (I missed the mic testers and the first chorus) and ended over _7 hours_ later. The absence of a curtain was the main culprit, I believe. Even though the choruses weren't being judged while the lights were off, they all had formal ways of taking the risers and walking off the risers. I almost had the chorus contest picked correctly too. My order ended up 2,1,3,4,5. I thought the the Masters' ballad was great but that the uptempo was off. It might have been the hall's accoustics, which were disappointing. I couldn't make out the lyrics because of the stomping and box thumping, though I imagine it was not a problem for the judges. TNL's set was a big hit, especially the uptempo. All the mime gags got big reactions, too. Just bias, I suppose, that I had them in first. Alexandria was a little disappointing. I've always liked Alexandria until this year. Not that they were bad but I'm usually highly impressed.

The evening quartet contest was scheduled to start a little over an hour after the afternoon contest. Needless to say, we missed the start. Luckily, there was about and hour of pre-contest presentations and performances, so we didn't miss any of the competition, except the last quartet, Saturday Evening Post, which we skipped out on. Everyone was pretty excited that Realtime won and OC Times was over the moon with their 5th. I know that because FWD and Ontario cohosted a hospitality suite after the contest and OC Times and their supporters could hardly contain themselves.

Sunday was an uneventful travel day.

Yesterday, I did very little except for laundry until the game. Litter added a sorely needed W to the scoreboard. Dion came, I don't know if that was the difference. It was 17-14, I think.

Phew. I'm done.

no title available

Let's see if I can remember it all.

Monday: Several students actually came for "tutorials". got caught up on some stray marking. Litter got killed.
Tuesday: supervised spec ed exams
Wednesday: my kids wrote their exams. I marked, and marked and marked.
Thursday: marked at a much reduced pace
Friday: see Thursday. took some valuables up to Dion's parents' for temporary storage
Saturday: went to Neil and Liiling's wedding reception. I arrived horribly overdressed. So I walked to the nearest mall and bought a $30 sundress. The closest thing to fitting was - shockingly - a size 7. I haven't worn a size 7 since before puberty. Anyway, the replacement dress was a very good idea. much more comfortable, at least as comfortable as 45 degrees including humidex will allow. After the wedding we killed some time at Chapters, just for the airconditioning. Dion and I then went to the McDonalds's of our first Valentine's day for a milkshake (for me) and a Sundae (for him).
Sunday: got as much packing done as the heat would allow.
Monday: nice staff luncheon for Ted. Ted's great. also got sick. It's been coming.

One of my students took this photo at the science fair last week. pretty fun!

June 19, 2005

lots to report

Well, I didn't get the science fair reports finished until Thursday night. But what a week!

Monday, I had ultimate. We lost a close one to Weapons of Mass Disctruction. Then I went out for food after, which was fun but put me behind in preparing. Tuesday afternoon I had the first of my in-class science fairs. I had to rearrange all of the desks so that all the students could display their projects and have electrical outlet access. Repeat Wednesday. Thursday was the science fair. About twenty of my thirty five grade 11 groups came and entered the contest. I was _really_ proud of them. They worked really hard on these projects and produced some high quality work. Thank goodness we had the grade 12 bridges being tested during the science fair. It was some desperately needed entertainment for during the contest. Three of the bridges held over 400 lb. Closer to 450, I think.

Thursday and Friday I congratulated my grade 11s for the outstanding work that they had done on their projects. I almost got a little choked up on Friday when I told them I was glad I wasn't a judge. There truly was no way I could choose. I spent more time with the projects, so I know how much thought most of the groups put in to it.

Dion and his friend/classmate/coworker Otto came to the science fair. Dion is sooo in the good books as a result.

Friday, I was absolutely exhausted. sleep-deprived, really. I stayed up to 2:30 on Thursday marking the science fair projects so that I could return them Friday, the last day of classes. I was an idiot. misspelled my name in several yearbooks even. I couldn't believe that even in the last class of the day, 21 out of 33 students came to class and most of them were on task most of the time - making up Jeopardy games about Physics for each other. I got out of the school as fast as I could, leaving a big mess of papers and equipment, to go out to celebrate with Heather and Kaitlin. I wasn't keeping up my end of the conversation, though they seemed just fine without me, until I got some food in me. I had skipped breakfast _and_ lunch. Very good fun. I'm really glad that we all get to stay at the same school next year.

Saturday was busy. I had washed, dried, folded, and rehung my draperies, done some grocery shopping, and rented a steam-cleaner for our area rugs by noon! I spent the afternoon on the rugs and then met up with Dion, our new landlord, and her agent to sign the new lease. We found out the the landlady, Cynthia, attended the highschool where I teach. Small world. We saw the terrace/party/excercise room for the first time. It's rather nice. The terrace is enormous and the exercise equipment is quite decent.

From the new apartment, we headed to Dion's chorus's send-off party for Salt Lake City. I really like the set and had a good time chatting with Su, Annie, and Nancy. Watching the beards being removed was also good fun. Dave Streeter looks like a complete stranger without the beard and mustache. I got a lot of really cool photos, but again I can't be bothered finding a place to post them. Maybe I'll look up our sympatico site again.

Today, I cleaned the last of the area rugs. This last one is wool, so it held onto the smell of the previous owner's dog more tenaciously. It's still not perfect but it does look and smell much better. That's about it.

woohoo

I marked 89 unit tests yesterday! Let's see if I can get through almost 40 science fair project reports today. But I'd better plan tomorrow's lessons first. I have one more topic to cover in each course before the exam.

a great day

My grade 12's tested their bridges today. All of the bridges were under 500 g (600 g was the limit); most were under 300 g. Four of the nine bridges held over 60 kg, which is all I had available at the time. They will be tested destructively at a Physics Fair night next week. One of the bridges going to the big show is just over 200 g. It holds at LEAST 300 times its own weight.

In the evening we had our year-end athletic banquet. I was given the honour of presenting several prizes - most improved and Jaguar pride for Jr. Girl's Volleyball, most improved and most valuable for Coed Ultimate, and Jr. Female Athlete of the Year.

Have pictures, can't be bothered finding somewhere to post them.

still nothing to report

Wednesday, I stayed very late after school trying to set up some demos. I could hardly get anything to work. I found a couple of good things but they were for topics we haven't quite reached yet. Which, is fine, we'll get to them.

I've been getting away with lots of last-minute planning these days. I hope the reason is that I'm just that much better at it rather than I'm letting my standards drop.

I've cooked more than usual this weekend. Scalloped potatoes and ham yesterday, pancakes for breakfast today, tuna casserole tonight. I sliced too many potatoes yesterday, so I used the leftovers in the tuna casserole rather than potato chips. I was really good. I think I'll do that from now on.

I haven't felt like working; so, I've been procrastinating with the cooking and housework. And I gave Dion a much-needed haircut. I hope it lasts him till Utah. We're going to be REALLY busy at the end of the month. I think I mentioned this already but I'm starting to get nervous. Marks due Monday, last day of school and moving Friday, perhaps Saturday, and then leaving for Utah Tuesday. I'm not sure how I'm going to do it all.

I got a bit behind there.

Let's see.

Last weekend was the long weekend. On Friday evening, we hung out at Rebecca and Rob's. Nice and relaxing. Then Saturday, we looked a couple of apartments, including one possibility at Yonge and Eg with indoor access to the subway station. Then good times at the barbeque and Dion's parents'. Someone brought a PS2 with the karaoke game. I think we need one. Rest Sunday. Start of the ultimate season Monday. We played very badly.

We had TDSB North Region Finals at our School on Wednesday. We almost got ourselves knocked out by Earl Haig in the Semis but pulled off a win. It came down to last point wins. Then, we just couldn't get the W against York Mills in the finals. Second Place meant that we needed to play the second place finishers from the other two regions for the fourth semi-final spot at TDSB championships.

Thursday, we went to see an apartment at Yonge and Bloor/Wellesley. Pretty small but the price was right. It was in pretty bad need of a facelift. That night, we also decided that neither one of us was willing to drive to Ottawa for the wedding. So we decided to take the bus. But we couldn't leave early enough to arrive before the middle of the night.

In my afternoon class, I blew a resistor. It started to smoke. I have to remember to do that every time I do Ohm's Law. It amuses the small minds. It'll make the lesson memorable.

Friday we left around 12:30 am from the bus station. Unfortunately, they had enough passengers to send two busses, one of which (ours) went to Ottawa express. We arrived at 4:30 in the morning. We couldn't bear to call my brother to come pick us up. I slept for a bit and we got breakfast when the Van Houtte's opened. Ian came and got us, we got changed, and went out for breakfast with Dad.

The ceremony was early and the bride, Sophie, and groom, my cousin, John, looked smashing. But being in the cathedral had me thinking about my Aunt Norma a lot. Most of Sophie's family couldn't make it to the wedding; it was a small affair. A big contrast from Norma's wedding when it was standing room only for the crowd of over a thousand.

We (Dion, Ian, Dad and I) visited briefly with Doug and Mel in the afternoon before heading to the reception.

What a lovely reception it was! It was hosted at Francis's mother's home in her backyard, I mean 5-acre park. Really beautiful. It only rained while we were under the tent eating. There was a dragon dance before dessert - very cool. Dessert was a yummy and beautiful cake made by my cousin Margaret and a chocolate fountain that would only work with large amounts of chocolate. Things wrapped up on the early side but I really think it was one of the nicest weddings I've attended.

Yesterday, A.Y. got knocked out of the TDSB playoffs, effectively finishing 5th - just out of the semi-finals. We played well against Bethune but Humberside was just too skilled for us. We'll do really well next year. Only 3 of our players are in Gr 12 now. Then Litter played well but lost. I got home way too late for a school night. I want to see everyone but I don't know if I should be going out after games on school nights. Fortunately, there aren't many more Monday nights this school year.

We're applying for an apartment we saw today. It's _between_ Wellesley Stn and Yonge St. Rather small but nice and they've come down from $1300/mo, which they had posted on MLS a couple of weeks ago to $1200/mo. Can hardly be beat for location.

All I can think of for now. But it has been two weeks.

far to incoherent to summarise in a title

Last Sunday was my birthday. Dion, his family, and I went out for brunch at Plaza Flamingo. It was good. I got very yummy cake on Tuesday from the math department.

Thursday was our second ultimate tournament of the season. The weather was much nicer this time but our play was inconsistent. We have league play again on Monday.

Today I've been apartment hunting online. I got an old finnicky printer working, which is helpful to the cause. We're looking for something at Yonge and Bloor for July first. We're also considering College, Wellesley, St. Clair, and Eglinton and Yonge. We'll see. There are lots of vacancies, so I don't feel rushed yet. But it is going to be a busy time when we're moving. I'll have projects and exams to mark, packing to do, and we're going to Utah the Tuesday after moving day, I think.

Can't decide what I want to do today. I can't bear the thought of marking all day. I may do housework and errands instead. Man, I'm boring. I've been getting hints from my roommates that I'm not doing enough fun stuff.

Is another week gone?

This is getting a little silly. It's all a blur.

Monday - ultimate practice
Tuesday -
Wednesday - ultimate practice
Thursday - home at a reasonable time, watched a couple of hours of TV
Friday - one really terrible lesson, a disappointing ultimate practice, window shopping on Queen W, good dinner at a nice Indian restaurant with Trevor Trodd, Caroline and their friends.

I can't even remember the rest.

time flies

I can't believe how fast the year is going. The week is always over before you know it. More so the weekend.

This past week, what happened? lots of last-minute planning all week. Monday - ultimate practice followed by dinner with my curling team, where I received the most spectacular fall award. Tuesday - don't remember. Wednesday - ultimate practice and stayed very late getting lessons ready for a supply teacher Thursday. Thursday - ultimate tournament at York Mills. fun despite the miserable weather. single digits, windy, raining. Also Thursday, parent-teacher interview night. One adorable family took photos. Friday - home by 8:00, practically asleep by 8:30 when I got a welcome phone call from Kristin. Saturday - slept in, took a nap, went shopping (bought a spring and a summer jacket, both off-white), went out for Dinner with Rob, Becky, Mike, Derek, and Kevin. Sunday - nothing much of anything.

saturday night

It was not my usual saturday night, which I spend marking, reading, or surfing. I went to Pavan's party and I was having a lovely time. I particularly enjoyed the Twister tournament. Around midnight, I was suddenly having trouble making small talk. Too tired to be sociable, not wanting the fun to end. Peter and Mike were going dancing, so I invited myself along. Trodd's jaw just about hit the floor when he found out I was going to the Guvernment. Yes, I prefer singing along to lyrics but I was able to get into dancing anyway. What people don't realise is that I really like dancing. I went out every three or four nights a week when I was in Zurich.

A few thing that struck me about the experience.
-The amount of money involved is crazy. Between cabs, cover, and a couple of SOFT drinks, $50 was gone in two hours.
-They mean business when they frisk you. She knows whether they're fake or real.
-Most people dance pretty much the same way to techno that they do to top-forty.

curling end of season

I curled three times this week.

We won a game on Monday, which kept us in the playoffs. We lost on Wednesday, which should have left us in 5th. The winners on Wednesday (Bill David's rink) won the right to play for 3rd on Saturday. But the other team in the 3/4 game couldn't play on Saturday, so we were invited to play. We won that game, which put us in third, kinda.

In our 3/4 game, we had a 6 point lead after 6 ends of 8 but we then needed to play a 9th end. oops. And we had an audience. The other 10 teams playing for 3/4 just finished and 12 teams playing for 1/2 were about to start. So everyone saw me fall on my butt while sweeping and then saw our skip, Leigh, draw to the button for a one-point win. phew!

I'm playing Mondays again next year and hoping to find a team for Fridays for me and Dion.

no wonder I have a headache

I think I'm working 65 +/- 5 hour weeks. But I wouldn't change a thing.

Oddly, I think the headache is a result of sleeping for 11 hours. I don't move much in my sleep and I woke up in an odd position.