Luckily, I decided against the really bad pun for the title

The Income Tax deadline in Canada is midnight tonight. I had mine in by 11pm. Nothing like getting it in on time....barely. I had no actual income to report from last year so my taxes were extremely easy to do, especially since the CRA does not recognize the school I went to in the US (as I found out last year). While that sucks in terms of deductions and stuff, it mkes mmy taxes realy easy. What also makes tax time easy and give you the ability to procrastinate even longer, is Netfile- being able to file your taxes over the internet is pretty cool.

Somedays you take what you get...

I didn't have a super great day today. Work annoyed me and well, that's all I really remember about it because that's pretty much where I was for most of my waking hours. I do remember having a very good sleep last night though, so that's something to be happy about. Unfortunately, the sleep was so good I didn't want to get up so I kind of slept in which gave me less than the usual amount of time before I had to leave for work. It worked out though and now it's time for me to sleep again. Hopefully it's another good sleep.

"Do you have to be in Ottawa to [have a McJob]? Couldn't you get one here?"

A couple days ago, my sister talked to our 5 year old niece. Apparently, Bella really wanted to talk to me so Colette told her to phone me at noon yesterday. She didn't end up calling but it wasn't guaranteed that she would anyway. Today, I phoned home and for some reason, Bella was too shy to talk to me. She ended up talking to me through her mom. She asked me why I had to live here to get the type of job I have and why I couldn't do that back home. She also basically told me that if I move home, I could work at the Casino I worked at before and make more money than I am making now. While I was amazed that she thought about stuff like that, she was probably right about the casino. Eventually, I hang up because she wasn't talking to me and I didn't really have a whole lot to say to her mom. Two minutes later, she phoned back and actually spoke directly to me. She told me everything that happened to her in the last two months. It was very interesting. I love talking to my niece. Some days, she doesn't really feel like talking but when she talks it is very entertaining. I really do miss her though. Based on her disappointment that I am not back there with them, she misses me too.

"I know Kung Fu"

I apologize but this is going to be yet another "Chuck"-related post. That leads me to believe that "Chuck" has been pretty much my most favourite thing of the past 5 months. Honestly, that seems pretty likely. It's been pretty awesome and tonight's season finale was no exception. That being said, the show is not guaranteed a third season yet and so many fans are trying to save the show. The main campaign has had to do with getting a footlong sub at Subway and letting Subway know that you are doing this in support of Chuck. Today on my break from work, I walked over to the Subway and got myself a sandwich. I also did in fact leave a comment. It was good. It was good being part of something bigger, even if the something bigger is an attempt to get a TV show renewed. As far as causes go, it won't change the world, but "Chuck" does make me extraordinarily happy and that should count for something.

I thought I lost it

Last Saturday, I bought the "Corner Gas" DVDs for seasons 3 and 4. I watched them all by yesterday morning. Unfortunately, the second disc of Season 4 had a scratch on it so I couldn't actually watch parts of at least two of the episodes, so I exchanged them yesterday. My sister dropped me off at work afterward so I just left them in the car. Last night, my sister (who is pretty darn awesome) picked me up at work at midnight. I mentioned something about the DVDs and she said she didn't remember seeing them. This made me start to think that I had left them in the shopping cart at the grocery store rather than puttin them in the car. I was kind of worried about them but not enough to actually check the car. Eventually, I did check the car but only because to not would have been the heights of laziness seeing as I was two feet away from it. They were sitting right in plain sight for which I was greatly relieved. So I was very glad that the things I thought were lost were not lost at all.

Mamma mia, let me go....

Today, my sister and I went out for lunch (surprise, surprise!). While we were there, "Bohemian Rhapsody" came on so I started singing along. My sister seemed surprised that a) I knew what song it was and b) I knew many of the words. At one point in the song, I tend to start headbanging. I didn't today because at that moment the waitress started walking over. I am sure my sister is glad that I restrained myself though it did feel odd.

Ow!

At work on Wednesday I banged my elbow and something. It really hurt. For I while, I even got dizzy. That night as I was getting into bed I looked in the mirror and thought that I had a big bruise, the next morning when I woke up there was nothing there. That kind of annoyed me. Thursday night when I was getting ready for bed I noticed a nasty looking bruise on the back of the lower interior part of my left thigh. I have absolutely no idea how I got it. Did the bruise from my elbow relocate to my thigh? I hate when I injure myself but have nothing to show for it, especially if it really hurts. On a related note, I hate when I get bruises when I don't remember how I got them. That being said, today's favourite thing is NOT injuring myself.

Walking

I usually have about 10 minute walk from work to the bus station (if I only take one bus, which I tend to do because I get impatient). Depending on what bus I take the majority of the way home, I have a walk that varies in length from 3-10 minutes. As I was walking home today, I realized how much I enjoyed going for walks, even if they are a purely point A to point B endeavor. I walked all the time when I lived in Boston, because I didn't really have many options. When I was in Saskatchewan, I had easy access to vehicles so I would drive two blocks. It was rather pathetic.
I actually prefer walking at night. It's less hectic and depending on where you are, it can be very peaceful. It is especially nice if you aren't in a hurry. I don't tend to go for many night walks if I am not going to or from the bus because I don't usually like to leave the house once I get home for the night.

Spoiler alert....

I tend to get overly excited about stuff, nearly to the point of obsession. When I am first introduced to something that I really like, I have to find out everything I possibly can about it. The length of this phase of my relationship with it varies and eventually a) I find out everything there is to know about it, b) I lose interest or c) a causes b. Part of the whole information gathering expedition, particularly for books or television, is looking at spoilers. I have to find out what happens next. One week between episode is too long. Especially if I have the option of finding out sooner. Invariably, the show is kinda ruined because I saw some stuff beforehand and I know I really show stay away from looking at the scoop, but I can't help myself. Because of this information obsession, I actually know great places to get scoop, especially for TV. My two favourite places for TV spoilers are Ask Ausiello and Watch with Kristin. Anyway, today's favourite things are spoilers (I love them and hate them in equal measure).

Reconnecting...

Today I had lunch with my flamenco teacher from Saskatchewan. She was visiting Ottawa for a couple weeks and I hadn't seen her in basically two years. It was really nice to see her and catch up on what was happening back home. We had a lot to catch up on. So today's favourite thing is reconnecting with people.

It tastes better because I did none of the work.

I am a fan of fruits and vegetables but I probably don't eat as much of them as I should. Actually, there is no probably about it. I am not a huge fan of cutting things up so that they are edible, which why I rarely buy brocolli, cauliflower, melons or any number of other fruits and/or vegetables. Last week, my sister bought a cantaloupe for me. It sat there unmoving (like melons are wont to do) for a week. Yesterday my sister broke down and cut it up. Tonight, when I was watching Chuck after work, I ate half of it. The only difference in the melon before and after was that now it was easily edible and I am extremely lazy.

Not a lot going on...

Last week was the final episode of a TV show called "Corner Gas." "Corner Gas" is a Canadian TV show that was filmed in Regina,SK (where I am from). It's pretty much a show about life in a small, fictional Canadian town called "Dog River." It was quite funny and lasted for 6 seasons. I had the first two seasons on DVD and watched them a lot when I was living in Boston and homesick for Saskatchewan. I didn't tend to watch the episode when they were actually airing but I loved having the DVDs around. They definitely make me laugh. In its six season, it featured two of Canada's sitting Prime Ministers as well as various Canadian celebrities including politicians (PM-Paul Martin, PM - Stephen Harper, MP - Ralph Goodale, Sask Premier - Lorne Calvert, Regina Mayor - Pat Fiacco), musicians (the Tragically Hip, Jann Arden, Colin James), reporters (Lloyd Robertson) and actors (Shirley Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland) and that's just off the top of my head, I probably forgot quite a few. Yesterday, I bought seasons 3 and 4 and have been working my way through them for the past couple of days. I have been enjoying them quite a lot. So has my sister.
Here's a clip from the first episode ever:


The show has a good mixture of language based humour and snarkiness that is a combination I really like. Plus, it is filmed in and about Saskatchewan so I am really able to relate to it.

I didn't actually know you could sit on a chair the wrong way...

Back in February, my sister bought some really good quality wood furniture from a place just outside Ottawa. It is really nice and sturdy and just really well made. You can see it here. Today I sat down on one of the chairs the wrong way and actually managed to loosen the back of the chair. It took talent but then I am the right sort of talented to actually manage to do it. So today we took the chair to the place bought it so that they would fix it, which they were willing to do free of charge. So today's favourite thing is bad things happening to stuff when it is still under warrenty. I knew, both because my sister told me and because of common sense, that I would have had to pay for the repairs if it hadn't been covered so the warranty really helped.

Captured motion...

My flamenco teacher from back in Saskatchewan posted this video on Facebook and I really enjoyed watching. It took a while to load for me because my internet was being slow but it is a pretty cool video. Odd seeing a rhinocerous dance flamenco and odder still seeing a male rhinocerous do moves that I associate with female dancers but it is pretty cool. Although the thought that I will never be as good of a flamenco dancer as a rhinocerous is rather depressing, it is worth a watch.

So today's favourite thing is Motion Capture Flamenco.

Gimme a break!

Today, I had to work. It wasn't too bad but it was pretty busy. I only got one of the two breaks I was supposed to get and that was when I was there for nearly 5 hours. But seeing as how we aren't actually payed for breaks, I am not actually heartbroken if I don't get both of them. I have had jobs in the past where sometimes I got breaks and sometimes I didn't. I worked alone there for the most part so I really only got breaks if someone else was on with me, in which case, I kinda took my time with my break unless it got really busy. In the job that I had between that job and the job I had now, it was a completely different story: I got breaks every 40 minutes to an hour and they were not optional. I quite enjoyed that part of it but the breaks weren't super long so you had to budget your time wisely. What was nice was that there were a number of different people having the same break you were so if you went back to the floor the same time they did, odds were you didn't have to worry about being late.
So even though I didn't get my second break today, my favourite thing today is getting a break at all.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Today, at work, I decided to get a chocolate milkshake during my break. I try not to get stuff from work too often because, well, it's a fast food place and not even a healthy fast food place, at that. But today I felt like getting a chocolate milkshake and man it was good. Probably that extra tasty addition to the normal goodness of the chocolate milkshake was the fact that, for some strange reason that I don't quite understand, it was comped out because apparently I met my goal or something. I have no idea what that means and I was willing to pay for it - even full price if necessary (employees normally get meals at half price) - but it was cool that I didn't have to. I guess there are benefits to working at fast food places after all. Who would've thought?

Maybe my judgement bar is pretty low, but I am impressed....

Today, I went to the doctor. Ever since I started my new job, my hands have gotten even drier than usual - they were pretty dry before, but they are absolutely terrible now. I haven't actually found a specific family physician since I moved to Ottawa but the last time I went to the doctor here, I went to a clinic that is part of an actual chain of clinics. I was leary at first but now that it's the second time I've been there I really like it. I went to a different location this time because the wait time was like two hours shorter and didn't want to spend the whole day in the doctors office. Even though I went to a different location, they had all the relevant information and the results of a test I had done the last time I was there so it was really nice.
I also really liked the doctor that saw me. He seemed very proactive regarding my health issues and referred me to the appropriate specialists without me even having to point the way. He even made arrangements for me to get a physical - which I tend not do unless I have to. I have been to doctors in the past where they just "treated" the condition I presented them with - some of them doing it from across the room. When I sprained my ankle, I had my ankle wrapped up in a tensor and the doctor didn't even take the tensor off when he was looking at it. Anyway, I was really impressed with the doctor I had today.
Anyway, today's favourite thing is doctors that take an active interest in your ongoing health.

Same topic, different post

Before Christmas, I wrote a post about the TV show "Chuck." It is one of my favourite shows and it is rising in the ranks I will probably soon be my absolute favourite show (provided it gets a third season, which is not done deal quite yet). Since I've already had a post naming "Chuck" as my favourite thing, I feel like I would be somewhat cheating to do it again. Instead, tonight's post is going to focus on why I like it and why I think more people should watch it. Here are some of the reasons why I love Chuck:

• It's funny
• It's suspenseful
• It's an action show
• It's romantic
• It's goofy
• It has Adam Baldwin (better known as Jayne from Firefly) and he's pretty awesome
• It has a character whose nickname actually is "Captain Awesome"
• It blends humour and emotion very well
• It has creepy yet hilarious characters
• It pays homage to so many different shows that it's a matter of trying to pick them out.
• This clip
  
  

Here's a crash course in all things "Chuck".

All in all, I will be very disappointed if Chuck doesn't get another season. It's a pretty awesome show with awesome characters and a character named "Awesome" which is pretty....cool. My lecture about Chuck is now done, but please check it out.

I have no idea why it's called this...

Today for Easter dinner, I made Monkey Bread. It was good but I think I added too much whole wheat flour. It was rather dry. Basically, Monkey Bread is a type of bread that you pull apart. It ends up being an interesting shape because of all the little pieces that you squish together to be able to pull it apart. I normally use an Angel Food cake pan to make it. I don't know where the recipe came from originally but I used the recipe my mom added as part of the cookbook she made for all her kids. The recipe is as follows:

• 1 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1 pkg yeast (1 tbsp.)
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup unsalted butter *
• 1/4 cup sugar**
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour (approximately)***

* You'll notice that sugar is on there twice, but it's for two different parts of the recipe.

** I used salted butter and it turned out okay.

*** I tend to substitute to put in at least one cup of whole wheat flour in the place of one of the cups of all purpose flour.

1. In a large bowl, dissolve I tsp. sugar in water, sprinkle yeast over and let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy. Meanwhile, heat milk with 1/2 cup butter, stirring until melted; cool until lukewarm.
2. To dissolved yeast, add cooled mixture, 1/4 cup sugar, salt and eggs. Stir in 3 cups flour, beat well. Gradually add enough remaining flour to make a soft dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Place in large greased bowl, turning to grease all over. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
3. Punch down dough and roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Cut in 2 inch squares. Melt remaining 1/2 cup butter; cool to lukewarm. Dip squares of dough in butter (letting excess dip off) and arrange in layers in buttered 10-inch tube pan (pan should be half full). Cover an let rise until doubled (about 1 hour).
4. Bake in 375 degree oven for 45 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when tapped on bottom. If bread starts to brown too much, cover loosely with foil. Turn out on rack and let cool at least twenty minutes before serving. Makes about 50 pull apart rolls. Use pan with not removable bottom so butter doesn't leak out.

Note: Don't pour excess butter over top when you are done dipping the dough unless you don't care if the bread falls apart after removing it from the pan.

Keeping Vigil..

Tonight, my sister and I went to the Easter Vigil at my church. It is probably my favourite type of mass even though it is really long. Part of it is candle lit; it varies from church to church how long the candles are lit. Tonight, we didn't keep the candles lit for long but most of the readings were done in complete darkness -well, until the reading about the resurrection (I think...) which is when the lights came back on and it was all joyful. There can be up to seven readings at an Easter Vigil but much of the time not all of them are actually read. One of the other things they do at the Easter Vigil is the Litany of the Saints which is pretty much self explanatory - they list the saints and ask them to pray for us. Tonight they did it to a really odd tune. I didn't recognize it at first. It was really weird. The Easter Vigil is also the time for people joining the church to be baptized, receive communion and be confirmed. So it ends up being quite the long mass. I was expecting it to be harder to get through, especially after working for eight hours today, but it actually wasn't bad.

A Good Friday tradition of sorts

In my family, Good Friday was the day where we coloured our Easter eggs. Growing up, this would happen at my grandparents' farm using a whole bunch of boiled eggs, those PAAS colouring kits, crayons and even hot wax. It was an enjoyable time for me, my sisters and my cousins to share that activity. Eventually, we kept the tradition going but in the city with only a few of our family members. This year, being that we are in a completely different province, it was only my sister and I colouring our eggs. We only made about six and my sister didn't quite remember how to make the dye (using food colouring) but they turned out okay. After all the eggs had one coat, we added oil to the dye. It didn't do much but it made cool designs even if the colour ended up less than desirable. So today's favourite thing is colouring Easter eggs.

It pays the bills...

I can't really, honestly with 100% sincerity say that I love my new job. I enjoy the fact that I am now doing more than taking up space in my sister's house (actually, I was doing more than that - -I ate her food and drove her car and made a mess, etc,etc), but at the end of the day, it's not like I really accomplish anything other than making my feet hurt so much I can barely stand.
I am making progress with learning the job and I think I am getting quite good at it. I still have some things to learn but I know I am improving. But what is keeping me going is the fact that I am actually making money, not just spending it. Today was the first payday and while it wasn't a ginormous amount of money (and realistically, it wouldn't be) it still helped relieve the stress of my previously very broke life. Seriously, I had like $6 in the bank. Now I just hope that I remember to buy some sort of support to put in my shoes so that my shoes don't end up completely mangling and permanently damaging my feet, because oy! They hurt so much, for hours and hours after I get home.

Only monkeys eat bananas!

I don't eat bananas that often, but for the past few days after getting home from work, I just really want some fruit, and they are what is handy. I especially like them for chocolate fondue. Bananas and chocolate go so well together. But we all know how much I like chocolate so that probably isn't much of a surprise.

Ugh!

Today the exact opposite of yesterday's blog post happened.It felt like I had to wait for my bus to come for ages. Not fun especially when your feet and back ache and you're hungry. Luckily, I actually had my cellphone with me today so I could a) send a whiney Twitter message and b) play a game I have on there. I have two games on my phone: Ballbreaker and Solitaire. I play Ballbreaker the most often because ....I actually don't know, I think it's that it seems like less work. It took me awhile to figure out how to play it, but once I figured it out, I have found it pretty fun. It really helps kill time while you wait for something.

Short but sweet.

Tonight, I worked until 11ish, so the buses weren't running as frequently. I really didn't have to wait long for the first bus to come-maybe a couple of minutes. What was really nice thought, was thatI didn't have to wait for the second bus at all. It came right away. That makes a long night seem less long because you aren't standing around waiting for your bus. So today's favourite thing is when you don't have to wait long for public transportation.

What time is it there?

My alarm clock was very confused this morning. It thought that this was the day that Daylight Savings time was supposed to have begun rather than one month ago as it actually did. This meant that my alarm clock went off an hour early. It took me awhile to realize that it was the wrong time and for awhile I wasn't sure if it was wrong or every other clock in the house (aside from the one in my sister's bedroom - she got confused too) was wrong. So I phoned my parents in Saskatchewan to see what time it was there. When it is Daylight Savings time, they are two hours behind us but when it isn't, they are only one hour behind us, so I was able to figure out what the right time was (if for some reason they were three hours behind the clocks in my house, not only would I be even more confused, they wouldn't have appreciated my phone call at that time). So when all was said and not much done, I figured out that I had an hour to kill before I had to be anywhere so it was like I gained a whole extra hour. It was awesome.

Wow! I don't hate it!

Today I got a haircut and, for the first time in a long time, I like it on the same day as I got it. Much of the time I need a few days before I decide if I like or not but this time, I liked it right away. It may have something to do with the fact that I told the stylist what I wanted and she gave me her own input rather than just doing what they think I mean. I like it when hair dressers use their own discretion because I do not personally know what is going to work best. They have actual practice. My favourite hairdresser was a friend of mine and she just did whatever she felt like and I always liked it. She is the first hairdresser that cut my hair really short which was something I never would have considered doing but I just let her go and I really ended up liking it. So today's favourite things are hairstylists that use their own instincts rather than just going by what you want.

Yaawwwwnnnn!

As I have previously mentioned, I actually (finally) got a job. My first two shifts were yesterday and today starting at 8am. This meant that I had to be up not long after 6am. That was, sadly, 6 hours earlier than I had been waking up for the last little while. Because my sleeping pattern wasn't suitable for waking up that early, I have been really tired the past few days. Both last night and tonight I have been dozing in front of the TV. Tonight, I was watching my normal reruns of shows on this one channel called Omni. It has Family Guy, Friends, Two and a Half Men and the Simpsons in a block from 6 - 8. I was able to keep away for Friends and Two and a Half Men but couldn't keep awake during the Simpsons. I was awake enough to know what episode it was but other than that it slipped right past me. My dozing didn't last long though because at 8 the Italian news came on and for some reason I am able to filter out English while foreign languages wake me up. That little bit of a nap got me through "Dollhouse" but left me tired enough that I may actually be able to get to sleep at a decent hour tonight (as in before midnight). So today's favourite things are booster naps that get you through what you need to get through but leave you tired enough that you can actually sleep at the appropriate time.

What does that mean

Today, I should have gone to the gym, but I didn't. That seems like a bit of a theme around my life lately but so be it. My sister was gone grocery shopping (to the very grocery store that houses the gym I go to, even) and I ended up quite bored because it was 7 o'clock and primetime doesn't start at 7 like it does back in Sask. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I got a craving for puffed wheat cake (and Rice Krispie cake, for that matter) a few weeks ago. My sister made the Rice Krispie cake not long after but we still hadn't had any puffed wheat cake, so that is what I made today. It turned out okay though I did have to phone my mom to ask her what one of the directions meant. I still don't know if I cooked it long enough (because I got impatient and said to heck with it) but it still tasted okay.

But I don't want to...

For some reason, I got it into my head that my sister would be getting home from work early. I don't know why. Apparently, I must have imagine her telling me that would be the case because she had no idea what was talking about. But it gave me hope that she would be home late enough that I would not be able to make it to the gym. Alas, she arrived home in plenty of time. It was sad, especially because being unable to go to the gym was firmly entrenched in my head by that point. I just really didn't want to go to the gym today, and was fully holding my ground against her telling me that I should (I know I should. Should is not the issue, want is the issue), until she pulled her trump card that she is actually paying for my gym membership. Sigh. This entire debate would not have even have been had if she was going with me, but she is still recovering from being sick so she did not go with me. So, I went. It wasn't as bad as I had been building it up to be and as of this moment. I am glad I went. Tomorrow may be a different story because of the soreness, but it's not an issue right now. Anyway, today's favourite thing is external motivation, because if I had to only rely on myself for somethings, they would never get done.