December update... in March

I figured it's been a while and I'm due to update the world on what's going on in my life:

1. I am officially done the classroom component of my education! I will never again have to sit in a classroom for months on end! Sitting and listening to people all day is soooooooo hard! I've got all my marks already, so I don't even have to worry about passing or anything.

2. I will be starting my clinical placements in January:

• first placement: Royal University Hospital, cardiorespiratory PT. I'm looking forward to this one, because this is a location where there are excellent clinicians who practice in this area (cardiorespiratory PT). I'm confident that I will receive some excellent mentoring there.
• second placement: Sherbrooke Community Centre, long term care. This should be another good placement, as long as I get to have a fairly varied experience and don't just get people up walking every day. I've previously done a little job shadowing there, and it's a really great environment.
• third placement: Dawson Creek Health Centre!, mixed placement. I just found out a couple of days ago that I will be doing my final placement there. I'm so excited to be getting away for a while and to be seeing/hanging out with Debbie! Yay!

The light at the end of the tunnel

Yay! The papers and assignments are all finished! Now all I have left is 3 written finals and 2 practical finals! Oh glorious day!

Festival of Trees

I will be dancing at the Festival of Trees with my dance group again this year. Our perfomance is scheduled for Friday Dec. 1 at 6:30pm. Come see us and view all the wonderful trees, all while supporting the City Hospital Foundation!

GoogleEarth coolness

Someone in a geocaching forum pointed out an interesting geographical feature in Alberta. It looks like a profile of an Indian wearing a headdress. If you have GoogleEarth, check out:
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showthreaded.php/Cat/0/Number/146588/an/0/page/0

'Tis the Season!

No, not Christmas. It's time for NaNoWriMo again! I've signed up to participate. I'm not sure what sort of commitment I can really maintain this year, but what the hey! Maybe it will get me motivated to do my homework sometime...



I doubt I'll have time to blog how things are going this time. For detailed stats you can see a chart at the NaNoWriMo site.

I've been trying to think of rewards that I might give myself if I succeed. Here's my thoughts so far:

• at 12500 words I'll buy myself a Geocoin (a trackable coin to put in geocaches)
• at 25000 words I'll buy myself a dance DVD (maybe Rachel Brice's fusion one)
• at 37500 words I'll buy myself another Geocoin
• at 50000 words I'll buy myself a set of 4 Travel Bug tags

Wish me luck!

Geocaching update

I have not had much time for geocaching lately. And even when I have gone out I've had poor luck in finding caches. I need to give myself more time, I guess. Anyway, it looks like my travel bug is finally on its way. I released it into the wilds outside of Lanigan towards the end of July, and it sat there for nearly three weeks before anyone picked it up. The guy who grabbed saved it for almost seven weeks to put in a cache he was making (Sept. 29). It is a travel bug hotel - a place where people can pick up and drop off travel bugs - and my travel bug was one of over 30 placed in that cache! On Oct. 7 someone finally picked it up again, so we'll see where it ends up.

So far this travel bug has been in the hands of: me, Mr. Speedy and his wife Salsa girl, mathineau saw it, and LoveYouAll. It is currently north of Montreal. Not a bad distance considering how many people have moved it - 1558.5 miles. It's now further east than I have ever been, and if I had travelled with it then I could have visited Joel!

I'm a Supreme Ultimate Boxer

Makes it sound like I'm up to something crazy doesn't it? When really it's just referring to something I learned on Wikipedia:

The Mandarin term "T'ai Chi Ch'üan" translates as "Supreme Ultimate Boxing" or "Boundless Fist".

I've taken two whole classes now. Pretty much makes me an expert. I'd watch out if I was you. I'll supreme ultimate box your ass until the cows come home.




Remind me not to blog on only 3 hours sleep...

The September Update

Man, it's been a while since I've posted! I've even had things to write about but just haven't gotten around to it, I guess. So, let's see what I remember:

• On the September long weekend I went to a wedding in P. A. on the Saturday, then came back home on Sunday morning for a dance practice. Brandi joined us so she could make sure she was still up to date with the style of belly dance she wants to teach in Edmonton this fall: American Tribal Style (see my picture from Aug. 20). We had a pool party, and were visited by Andy and his girlfriend who were also visiting from Ottawa. All in all a good time!
• School has been pretty busy and promises to continue to be that way for the rest of the term. I've already had two quizzes and an assignment. This week I have another quiz, another group assignment, and a group meeting with a prof about another assignment. I think it would be pretty much impossible to have more group assignments than we have this term. We have two different interprofessional problem based learning modules going on right now, which means that there's some group work with students from other colleges too.
• I found out on Thursday that I was one of only 5 people from my class who wanted to do their out of province placement in B.C. Previous years there were more students who wanted to go there, so they drew names. For me this means that I'll be able to go to B.C. provided the clinical coordinator there can find me a placement in Dawson Creek. If not, then my second choice was to go to Ottawa. I guess we shall see where I'll end up. Won't find that out for certain until November or December, though.
• My love life is going okay. We're both pretty busy, so it's hard to spend much good time together now. Friday night we went and saw Snakes on a Plane. It was silly and fun, very enjoyable. It definitely helped to have a few rowdy people in the audience to keep things fun. It's not the sort of movie you need to see more than once, but there you go.
• Today I finally got a bunch of papers from last year organized. It's nice to not have them cluttering everything up anymore.
  

So, I guess that's about all for now. See you next month!

My new favourite video

Thanks to Tanya for e-mailing me this video by OK Go: Here it Goes Again. It is amazing! It makes me want to play around doing something like that for our class video at school this year!

Here's an ABC news story where they talk about the video and interview the singer.

And the song is soooo good too! Totally makes me want to go out and find more of their music.

Fringe Pictures

Fringe was quite lovely to perform at this year. The weather cooperated on most days. We had lots of people watching us for most shows. We made a goodly amount of cash! And I got lots of compliments on my dancing and costuming. Here's a pic of me doing a solo improvisation while balancing something on my head:



If you would like to see a million pictures of my dance group performing at the Fringe, one of the newer people is quite technologically inclined and has set up a photo album . Quite lovely!

Friday at the Fringe

I don't know at what times exactly we'll be performing, but Friday we'll be starting shortly after 6 pm and doing another show at 7:30 or 8:00 or so. I have no idea what will happen on Saturday. I hate not working with a plan! Feel free to come say hi! Happy fringing!

Fringe Weekend #1

Our first weekend of Fringe performances is over. On Friday we had two performances, and neither of them went quite as planned. When I got to where I was getting ready I discovered we were going to be performing 15 minutes earlier than we had been told the couple days before. Then there was a bit of miscommunication, so instead of being in the intersection we ended up in front of the Broadway Cafe. For the first performance the busking amp we had rented didn't work properly, so instead I ended up drumming for accompaniment with 2 other drummers. It was a very thrown together show. For the second performance the Broadway Cafe was kind enough to allow us to plug into their power. This show went a lot more smoothly until the weather went bad. There was a huge swirling cloud to the north, and nasty looking clouds swooped into the area. We ended up cutting our show in the middle of it. It didn't really seem to storm very bad though.

On Saturday things went much better. We had two performances, and I drummed a bit and danced a bit. Our second show was my favourite one so far. There was so much energy and it was a lot of fun. Things went more smoothly, so we were all happier.

By Sunday we had a system going. The drummers better understood what the dancers wanted. The dancers were getting good at making a plan on the fly.

Monday was hot, and I was starting to tire. I felt very much like I was just putting in an appearance. It went well, though. We danced in the afternoon, so it was pretty much at the time of peak temperature. Whew!

So , that was our first weekend. Next weekend's schedule has not yet been set, but we are planning on starting at 5:30 on Friday. We'll probably do two shows, and then we'll do two or three on Saturday. Good times!

Fringe!!!

We're going to be busking twice a day over the long weekend. We will be putting on a 40 minute show at the intersection of Broadway and 10th St at the following times:
Fri. Aug. 4 6:30 and 8:30 pm
Sat. Aug. 5 5:30 and 8:30 pm
Sun. Aug. 6 5:30 and 8:30 pm
Mon. Aug. 7 3:30 and 5:30 pm

I'll keep you posted with the schedule for next weekend once we get it.

On Mon. there is also going to be a drumming circle hosted by Dieter, a drummer who we have collaborated with over the last couple of years at the Fringe. It will go from 7-8:30 pm at Broadway & 10th, and you are welcome to join in with anything that might make noise, or just come be moved by the experience. :)

The Return

Well, we're back! No damage except for a little bit of sunburn. We drove a lot, hiked/geocached a bit, and did some siteseeing.

Here are some lovely photos from our trip:

This is Jay and I with a little friend we found in a cache at Craik. No, that is not a real snake. I would be freaking out if that was a real snake!



These are the Travel Bugs we found in Saskatchewan and released on our trip.



Here we are at Mount Rushmore. I am very impressed with Jay's ability to take pictures of himself!



We drove around on some scenic roads. On one there were three tunnels and you could take pictures of Mount Rushmore through them. The tunnels only had one lane, so you had to honk before you entered. This one was near a cache that we found. Every time I heard the horns honk I felt like they were chastising us for climbing around in the bush!



One day we went out and followed some trucks as they climbed through the rocks. We hiked along with them and took pictures/video. We also drank a whole lot of water.



That same day we went to Jewel Cavern National Monument. We went on a short tour. It would have been nice to go on a more interesting tour, but at least we got to feel cold for 20 minutes! (Did I mention it was 40 degrees every day and we didn't have A/C in the car?)



These bridges looked really cool, and they were made of wood. It was a bridge over a bridge over a roadway, and they were all for automobile traffic.



Here's Jay when we visited the Cosmos Mystery Area. It was really hard to stand up in that room. Jay tried to take a similar picture of me, but I couldn't keep stable... kept getting sucked into the wall!


And here we are visiting Devil's Tower. If you look closely enough you can see an alien spacecraft behind one of the trees. Just kidding. Legend has it (a Lakota legend, I think) that a bear was trying to climb up the tower to get at some women. Those vertical lines looked like claw marks.

The last three pictures were taken on a stupidly hot day. We actually stopped into Walmart and spent extra time looking around the freezer section to cool off. We also scammed a whole lot of ice water from Burger King. I guess we were giving it to the man.

It was a good trip though. It's been so long since I've gone away for a vacation, so it was extra nice.

Secret Revealed!!!

Yes, it's true! In this very message I will be revealing to you my secret.... I suppose I should stop introducing or babbling or whatever you call it that I'm doing now... Dragging on! That's what it's called. Oh yes, anyway, here is the message in which I will speak of my secret. Ha ha, already said that. Well, without further ado...








I am no longer a single girl!

Now I am 18 women, 3 men, and 523 cats!!!


And a hyena.







Just kidding. (Like you needed me to clarify that.)





So, in May I started a new relationship with an old boyfriend with whom I have had a pseudo-relationship for somewhere between 7 and 9 years. At that time we decided to work towards getting back together, and now we're both ready to share it with the world. We're going to start in South Dakota, then spread the news on our way back home. Man, I'm full of dumb jokes today. We are going to South Dakota for about a week. It will truly be a test to see if we can stand being around each other 24/7. And it will be fun too. We plan to go to Mount Rushmore, do some hiking and geocaching, see some other tourist-y things, meet up with the Toyota guys on the Cruiser Classic, and camp in a tent every night. And, lucky us, his car doesn't have air conditioning. We will be dying to find some coolness, I'm sure, since the forecast puts the daily high around 31-32 degrees every day. Yay, a week of sweaty grossness! The A/C is going to feel so good when we come home...

On another note, on our way home from a wedding today we dropped off my travel bug in a cache. I hope it starts its journey while we are on ours.

Share the love...

1. FIRST NAME? Lorianne (read carefully. It does not say Lorraine.)
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Sort of. I was named after my great-grandmother Laura. We share initials, too (until she got married).
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Hmmm, probably in May... in a really big combine.
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Handwriting is pretty foreign to me. The only handwriting I do is signing stuff.
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Not sure. Summer sausage?
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Probably not. I'd look at myself and think that I'd never want to be friends with me, so why try. Then I'd both miss out.
7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? I have this blog...
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yup. Been surgery-free since 1974.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? I don't think so. It seems like the sort of thing that puts jarring forces through your joints, and I'm not into that.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Probably Cheerios, when fresh.
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No, like much of the rest of my life, I am lazy.
12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Not so much.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Fruity anything.
14. SHOE SIZE? 6-6.5
15. RED OR PINK? Ugh! How could you make me choose between the two most hated colours in my life!? Red, I guess.
16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? I despise my self-loathing. (Can you tell I've been waiting for an opportunity to use that for weeks now?)
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? Debbie, Brandi, and Joel (in order of when they moved away). My life would be so much more fun with them around.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? It's always fun, but since I'm not actually e-mailing anyone, no pressure.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Navy shorts, no shoes.
20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Pizza and garlic bread from East Side Marios.
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The hum of the computer.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? I would be an orange, green, and purple striped crayon.
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Freshly mown grass.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Jay.
25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? How good a person they are.
26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? You bet!
27. FAVORITE DRINK? Cold water.
28. FAVORITE SPORT? To watch, short track speed skating. To participate in, Ultimate Frisbee.
29. EYE COLOR? Grey.
30. HAT SIZE? Um, smaller than I can usually get.
31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? nope.
32. FAVORITE FOOD? pizza.
33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings, but not corny ones.
34. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Aqua.
35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer! Love it!
36. HUGS OR KISSES? Kisses, yum yum.
37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Pumpkin pie.
38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Dunno
39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Everyone.
40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? The Two Towers, info guide to the Black Hills, How to Make Love to Your Man (just kidding. I do own it though!)
41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Dust and piles of other crap.
42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? The news at supper time.
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? My nephews' laughter, my godson's laughter and squeals, and a breeze passing through the leaves of a trembling aspen.
44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Beatles.
45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Not very far indeed. Probably Thunder Bay, Ontario.
46 WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Insulting people and getting them to laugh about it.
47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? St. Paul's Hospital, Saskatoon
48. WHO SENT THIS EMAIL TO YOU? Joel in Montreal
49. IF YOU COULD SPEAK WITH ONE DEAD PERSON, WHOM WOULD YOU CHOOSE? My grandpa. I'd like to hear about his experiences fighting in World War I.
50. IF YOU COULD SAFELY DO SOMETHING FIFTY TIMES IN THE NEXT FIFTY DAYS, WHAT WOULD IT BE? I'd climb Mount Everest and make all the mountain climbers jealous.

My first cache!

Well, I finally did it! I went and found my first cache. I picked up Tanya and we headed out to a park in Eastview where the cache was located. It wasn't too difficult to find, but I wished I had worn pants. Long grass and bugs make my legs feel super itchy. The cache is hidden in the big ol' dead tree behind me.

Getting bugged

Well, I did it. I bought a travel bug. My travel bug's mission is to travel to places I've never been to. Now I need to start geocaching so that my bug will get on the road!

I was tagged!

It's been like three weeks since Taran tagged me in her blog at Tribe.net:

RULES: Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog with 8
facts/things/habits about yourself, saying who tagged you. In the end, you need
to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. No tag backs.

So I guess I'd better get on it! ;-)

1. I have been a belly dancer for almost half my life.
2. I don't eat cereal very often, but if I eat an unsweetened one I like to eat it with brown sugar, never white.
3. I have two right ovaries, or at least that's what a researching gynecologist saw during a transvaginal ultrasound. That means I have a pair and a spare! I'm 50% more woman than most! Etc., ad nauseum.
4. I was the most distinguished graduate in linguistics in 1996. In the Arts building at the U of S they have large lists of academic achievers posted up to 1995, so I can't even show it off to people when I go there.
5. I would really like to get into geocaching.
6. I am afraid of fear.
7. I have a secret life that I'm not very good at being secret about, at least not with my friends. I'm looking forward to getting permission to make it more public.
8. Looking at my age, I should be at my sexual peak right around now. It would be nice to have more opportunity to enjoy that!

So, if you're in my blogroll, consider yourself tagged!

It's been forever...

... since I updated my blog. But I would also like to point out that the Homestar Runner website was last updated 2 days before my previous post here. And that's even a popular site. Therefore, I am not bad.

Anyway.

Hi!

There is another month-long writing 'contest' on the internet that I am contemplating participating in. It's called JulNoWriMo and has only been around for a year or so. With this one you have 31 days to write a 50,000 word novel (a mere 1,613 words per day). Having a full day extra (compared to NaNoWriMo) seems like a boon, but when you do the math it's only 53 fewer words per day. Hardly a big deal.

I am not so interested in completing another novel as I am in venting thoughts and feelings that have been festering inside of me over the years. Perhaps getting them out and into a tangible form will allow me to let go and move on.

Perhaps.

One reason why I don't expect to complete 50,000 words is that I will be gone for part of July. I also don't really have a storyline. I've got some vague autobiographical snippets, and nothing else. It's another case of the journey being more important than the destination. And, well, I've always loved to explore unusual places. May as well try to find my way through my internal netherworld!

not much

Heya! Hope everyone is having a fine time out there in the happy world of the world. In case you can't tell by the strangeness of the previous sentence, I'm tired! I've only been back 'working' for two days, and I'm already feeling exhausted. Maybe I need a good supper in me to help energize me.

So last weekend was the long weekend. I went up to Chitek Lake with my friend Jay and his 4x4ing group. It was incredibly nice to get away and relax. Most of the trucks came out okay and a couple people had minor injuries. Mostly it was just nice to hang out at a lake and be a bum. Too much testosterone in the air, however. I think I might be over sensitive to pheromones! Can you say 'frustrated?' That's how I felt by the end of the weekend.

Only a week and a bit until I'm done in Regina. It will be nice to move back home. Starting a new clinical placement is a little scary, however. I'm sure I'll get comfortable with it in three weeks or so.

City of Saskatoon - 100 years!

On May 26, 2006 Saskatoon will have been a city for 100 years. That weekend there will be events to help celebrate the occasion. Last year I went to Doors Open Saskatoon, and am looking forward to checking it out again. This year I really want to get the tour of the Bessborough Hotel. I overheard part of it last year, and it sounded quite interesting. It was led by a man who has made the history of the Bessborough Hotel his passion. If you don't have time for the tour, there was a sort of self-guided tour available as well.

Life in Regina

Exam update: I studied pretty hard. I survived. I passed everything. 'nuff said! I want to move on...

So I've been in Regina for a week now. I'm staying at the hostel at the Wascana Rehab. Centre, which is where my clinical placement is taking place. When I checked in on Monday the room seemed pretty small - then I realized that over the previous week I had spent a fair amount of time convincing myself that my room would be a certain size, with certain furniture. Oh well. I can still fit everything I need in there. Some things are just not perfectly convenient. For instance, Riva and Jason (friends who live in Regina) lent me an answering machine. There is only one phone jack in my room, and the line is very short. It is located in the far left corner of the room behind a small chest of drawers. Beside the chest of drawers is the bathroom door, and on the other side of that is the closest plug in. So in order to use the answering machine I have the power cord hanging down across the doorway to my bathroom. I'm just hoping that the cleaning people notice it and don't snag it when they're in there. Yes, cleaning people. Every weekday they come in, clean the bathroom, replace the towels, make the bed, and vacuum. It feels very strange. I said that they didn't need to come in every day, but they seem to do it anyway. Oh well. I still haven't gotten used to the shower either. It starts out really cold for a variable amount of time, then warms up enough for me to get in. Then it gets burning hot, so I turn it down. Then it gets burning hot again, so I turn it down. Then it gets coolish, then burning hot. At least I've realized that it's a smart idea to not get into the water until it gets hot.

As for my placement itself, it's been pretty busy. We see about 6-7 patients per day. These people are all inpatients (no, not 'impatients'), meaning that they are hospitalized at the Rehab. Centre. They have a variety of neurological problems, due to stroke, spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, and even one with a disease I'd never heard of before - transverse myelitis (ie. inflammation across the spinal cord at a certain level). There are some pretty remarkable people here. It's quite amazing to see just a little bit of what they need to do to be able to do things for themselves. And so many of them have good family support. It makes me a little jealous, actually. Some patients' problems remind me a bit of things with my dad, so it's been a little taxing emotionally as well as mentally. I've been exhausted most days of the week.

This weekend was more fun though. On Friday I got together with Jason and Riva and we went out for supper then saw Mission Impossible 3. It was pretty much what I expected. There are things I'd like to say about it, but don't want to be a spoiler! Saturday I slept in and was lazy most of the day. I did a load of laundry in the afternoon, then went to my aunt's for supper. In the evening I finished off a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle that a few of us at the hostel worked on this week. Today I finished my laundry, did some beadwork, then came to the public library to use the internet. I intend to buy a few groceries when I leave here. Then I'm heading over to Jason and Riva's for a BBQ. The sky's looking a little grey, so I hope it stays nice for a few more hours. Tonight I have to do some studying, and that should be the end of my weekend.

Hope everyone is doing well, wherever they are!

What is your sleeping position... or something like that

Find your own pose!

Traits and Tendancies

Tandem Cyclists are the stars of the sleeping world. Tan, relaxed, and wind-swept, they’re always smiling bright, no matter what blows life deals. Disease, public speaking, automotive failure — they take it all in stride, thanks to the steadying power of spending night after night with a best-loved mate at their backs.

I'm a star!!! (And I'm done finals... Huzzah!)

5 down, 3 to go

Exams are just cruising by. I had a practical exam yesterday in the morning, and now I don't have another exam until the 21st. That exam doesn't cover much material, either. I took yesterday and much of today off from studying. I've watched five movies in that time, and I plan to put on one more and possibly study at the same time. I also played Sudoku for a couple hours. As you might guess, I do not feel very motivated to study right now!

This morning I went to a little seminar about the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It is a sort of personality test that looks at your preferences for how to do things. I came out as an ESFJ (Extrovert Sensing Feeling Judging) type. Last time when I took it (in 1988) I came out as an ENFP. Last year I bought a book about personality and communication in health care. It used MBTI types. Now I'll be able to go back and look at that book, then experiment a bit on my clinical placements this summer. Speaking of which, I made my living arrangements today for my placement in Regina next month. I'm going to stay at the hostel at the Wascana Rehabilitation Centre. It's going to be quite convenient, and will cost me approximately $300 for the five weeks (gotta love cheap prices for students). I'm looking forward to getting away for a while!

2 down, 6 to go

... finals, that is. Ugh. Brain tired. Me no write much now. Ugh

(And if this is how I am now, how coherent will I be at the end of the month?)

Keeping Warm

Tonight I found out that I won a raffle for a physio fleece jacket! Woo hoo! It's been a while since I've won anything. It's nice to be lucky again.

Just a few hours left to plan for April Fool's Day, everyone. I've been looking at a website that describes the Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time. And Wikipedia has an entry for this year's hoaxes too.

Rap Videos Created for the Internet

A few months ago on Saturday Night Live they made a rap video called Lazy Sunday, a spoof of rap videos that described what the singers would do on a Sunday in New York when they didn't really have anything better to do. Since then there have been some good responses from the U.S. west coast (Lazy Monday), Midwest (Lazy Muncie), and from England (Lazy Sunday UK: language warning with this one). There have also been crappy amateur ones, but I won't torture you with those.

I can't believe how much this makes me want to make my own video...

To all budding writers...

I just found out about another site where you try to do lots of writing in a month. This one is called April Fools, and as you might guess it starts in April. What's nice about this one is that writing that you have to do for school can be part of your word count! All the writing without all the guilt! But then, you are doing homework and how much fun is that? Oh well, I signed up anyway. I gave myself a 5000 word goal, and that should mostly be from assignments for school. Just an extra kick in the butt.

Silly Walks

Have you ever wanted to develop your very own silly walk? Now you can! Just head on over to Monty Python's Silly Walks Generator!

Dancers in their genes

I received the following in an e-mail and haven't tried to ascertain the veracity, but thought I'd share it anyway.

Are Dancers Genetically Different Than the Rest of Us? Yes, Says Hebrew University Researcher

* Aboriginal performers at the Alice Springs Aboriginal Art and Culture Center in the Central Australian Outback of the Northern Territory (Photo courtesy Australian Northern Territory Tourist Commission).

What makes dancers different than the rest of us? Genetic variants, says a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In a study published in the American journal, Public Library of Science Genetics, Psychology Prof. Richard P. Ebstein and his research associates have shown, through DNA examination, that dancers show consistent differences in two key genes from the general population. Ebstein is the head of the Hebrew University Psychology Department’s Scheinfeld Center for Human Genetics in the Social Sciences.

This finding is not surprising, says Ebstein, in view of other studies of musicians and athletes, which also have shown genetic differences.

Ebstein and his colleagues found in an examination of 85 dancers and advanced dancing students in Israel variants of two genes that provide the code for the serotonin transporter and arginine vasopressin receptor 1a.

Both genes are involved in the transmission of information between nerve cells. The serotonin transporter regulates the level of serotonin, a brain transmitter that contributes to spiritual experience, among many other behavioral traits. The vasopressin receptor has been shown in many animal studies to modulate social communication and affiliative bonding behaviors. Both are elements involved in the age-old human social expression of dancing.

The genetic evidence was corroborated by two questionnaires distributed by the researchers to the dancers. One is the Tellegen Absorption Scale (TAS), that correlates aspects of spirituality and altered states of consciousness, and the other is the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ), a measure of the need for social contact and openness to communication.

The genetic and questionnaire results of the dancers were compared with those of two other groups examined – athletes as well as those who were both non-dancers and non-athletes. (Athletes were chosen for comparison since they require a good deal of physical stamina like dancers.)

When the results were combined and analyzed, it was clearly shown that the dancers exhibited particular genetic and personality characteristics that were not found in the other two groups.

The dancer “type,” says Ebstein, clearly demonstrates qualities that are not necessarily lacking but are not expressed as strongly in other people: a heightened sense of communication, often of a symbolic and ceremonial nature, and a strong spiritual personality trait.

Others involved in the research with Ebstein were his Ph.D. student Rachel Bachner- Melman, as well as additional researchers from Israel and France.

You go girl!

Local paralympian Colette Bourgonje won two bronze medals at the winter paralympics in Turin this past week. Colette is a teacher and her students were very excited after she won her first medal. I can only imagine how excited and proud they must be now. And what's my connection to her? I petted her friendly and nice dog on Sunday.

Happy New Year

... Persian New Year, that is. It is now the year 1385. To learn more about Nowruz you can read this lovely article at Wikipedia.

I received a lovely e-mail from an Iranian man who was briefly involved with my dance group. Here's what he said:

Dear Friends,

As the Mother Nature is giving birth to the spring,
May the seeds of love grow tall,
May the clouds rain peace,
May the sun radiate compassion,
May the wisdom overcome the ignorance,
May the trees humble down fruitfully,
May the candle of life burn endlessly,
May we all dance to the rhythms of creation, sing to the spirit of all beings,
Hand to Hand,
And shout with joy,
Life is beautiful,
As one.
- from Mehrdad Shokouhi

Another cool study

This could help all you fainters out there...

Simple exercises may ward off fainting

My tentative summer schedule

It's not everything, but today I received the first draft of where I will be doing my clinical placements this summer:

• May 1 - June 2: Wascana Rehab Centre in Regina - Neuro-Rehab placement
• June 5 - July 7: City Hospital in Saskatoon - Orthopedic inpatient or outpatient department

I'm pleased. I've heard good things about both of those places. Once I know if it's final (by March 24) I'll have to start finding a place to stay. I still have to figure out what I'll do with the rest of my summer. I haven't seen many job listings that will accomodate this schedule...

Adventures in House Sitting

Well, the title's a little misleading, really. I've been housesitting since Feb. 23 and it's all been pretty easy. I remembered to pay the power bill. I even remembered to water the plants. I guess the most adventuresome thing that has happened so far is that I spent about 30 minutes trying to open a jar of pizza sauce last week, with no success.

My life is boring lately, but at least I've been quite productive. I hope that means I can be awesome again by the time finals come around.

Right now I'm at the Health Sciences Library, procrastinating driving home to pick up some things. Things that could be useful, but that I don't care about right now. Maybe I'll just decide I don't need them. Then I could go back to where I'm housesitting, have a shower, and go to bed.

Snakes on a Plane

This is the title of an upcoming movie, believe it or not! Thanks to Zena I have discovered the wonderful underground movement determined to love this movie!

Here's a transcript from an interview that Samuel L. Jackson did with NPR:

"Snakes on a Plane is, well, pretty much what it sounds like. I want to do films, sometimes, that excited me when I was a kid, and I always like horror and adventure movies. And when I opened the cover on that particular script and it said Snakes on a Plane I was immediately, at the time, viscerally struck. Oh yeah. It turned out to be exactly what I thought. You know---somebody turns loose a big crateload of poisonous snakes on an airplane, and we can fight the snakes until we get to our destination. It was just, kind of, one of those popcorn kind of moments where you're going to a movie and you don't have to think about what's going to happen. You know what's going to happen. You know there are going to be snakes loose on this plane, people are going to get bitten, there are going to be some victims and you hope you're a survivor. You just want to have that experience and to excite people who are sitting there watching. So people who have a fear of flying and people who have a fear of snakes are gonna have a double-whammy going on there. It's kinda gonna be great."

• Find out more about the upcoming movie (has some pictures too)
  
• Read an article "Snakes on a Plane... and Nice Breasts"
  
• Read the Fark.com comments
• Listen to the audio trailer parody
  
• Watch a rough cut made by two guys who could not wait for it to come out in theatres (very funny)
• And hey! Samuel L. Jackson gets attacked by snakes in "The Ultimate Showdown" cartoon!
  

Birthdays mean...

... horoscopes!

So here's what Holiday Mathis has to say to about those born on Feb. 25:

You get that wonderful "click" with someone new in March -- this partnership will take you places. Higher learning is featured in the spring. It may be costly, but you'll never be sorry as your income will eventually reflect this effort. Dreamy travel is featured in July and November. Your relationship with Cancer and Libra people is sensational.

Now I'm looking forward to March and July!

And here's what a Chinese horoscope book has pegged for me this year:

Although in this year the Tiger is protected from serious danger, he must work hard for his success and will feel tired and unfulfilled from having to assume too much responsibility. Still, the Dog guards the Tiger from controversy as well as from his own inclinations to act on impulse. Luck will continue to help the Tiger as he steers his plans through with the help of influential people who like and support him. However, the Tiger should be careful not to take on more than he can handle.

Sounds like a tough time. Lots of work. Apparently next year I have to try to not spend to much money, and I need to buy insurance. Man, I don't remember Chinese horoscopes being so boring!

Need cheering up?

Here's something very cute! Check it out!

Gouranga

Have you ever gotten a spam so strange that you felt compelled to keep it? Apparently I have - twice! I was deleting messages in my inbox and found ones called 'Gouranga' and 'Gouranga hey' that were sent to me on February 25 and June 9 last year from the same e-mail address. I'm betting I kept the first one because it came on my birthday! Here's what the message said:

Call out Gouranga be happy!!!
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga ....
That which brings the highest happiness!!

So I did a quick Google search and found out what the heck this was all about. Apparently Gouranga was someone of importance to Hare Krishnas. So I guess this is the Hare Krishna e-mail version of Jehova's Witnesses coming to your door or something...

• Wikipedia entry about Gouranga
• Who the heck was Gouranga?
• Gouranga Spam info
• Gouranga Definitions submitted to the Urban Dictionary

OMG!! This is the funniest thing ever!

How would you be defined in the dictionary? This is how I would be:

Lorianne -- [noun]: A dance involving little to no clothing 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

and then there's this about the movie of my life:

Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

David Elsewhere

... such a cool-looking guy. You may have seen him in this Golf GTI commercial. Here is some more video footage of him:

• Here he is five years ago
• And a couple years later
  
• Even cool without music
  

So cool. He looks like he must be the most relaxed person ever!

Today's mantra...

I am smart. I am competent. I am confident.


(heh, I wrote 'spart' the first time!)

Opposing the teaching of Intelligent Design

I found a humourous site someone created to point out the absurdity of 'Intelligent Design,'

The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

Here's a quote I particularly enjoy:

You may be interested to know that global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s. For your interest, I have included a graph of the approximate number of pirates versus the average global temperature over the last 200 years. As you can see, there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between pirates and global temperature.

Another fun video

Hotdogs for Homophobes

Accentuating the Positive

I've been trying hard to not feel crappy lately, and I'm not having much success. And so now I would like to make a list of positive things in my life:

• In January my net worth increased by 7% compared to December.
• My only debts right now are my student loans.
  
• I'm going to be house sitting for three weeks starting a couple days before my birthday.
• My birthday is in a few weeks!
• A few people are interested in my 'art/dance for cancer donation' offer, and others have let me know they think it's a cool idea. This means that I will have a great excuse to paint soon!
  
• I've felt really comfortable helping people at work lately, and feel very competent there.
• Something deep inside me is itching for inspiration.
• I get to do some acting in class on Friday. I get to pretend I have a specific rheumatic disease and my classmates have to determine what it is. Then we present it on Monday.
• The new baby in my life is extremely cute (my friend Tanya's son William).
• My mom and I are going to the spa in Moose Jaw for a couple days during midterm break.
• I got lots of compliments on my blouse today.
• I also wore my favourite pants today.
• I get paid in a few days.
• The least expensive time of the year for me has begun.
• I don't have nothing to do.
• I want to feel positive and good.
  

For scientists only

What not to do with a microwave

Cancer Fundraiser

(If you would like to help me spread the word, then feel free to send people to this URL: http://hurleyanne.blogspot.com/2006/01/cancer-fundraiser.html, but please do so before Feb. 20, 2006. )

Hi all! Since the students of the School of Physical Therapy are raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society this year, I thought I would send a request to you to help me spread the word. Some of you will be aware that in 2004 I lost my father and an aunt both to cancer only 6 weeks apart. I decided that I would like to do a little extra to help out with the fundraising effort and am offering the following:

For a $25 donation you will receive a piece of original artwork or beaded jewelry made by me, Lorianne Earl. I will take requests re: colours if you have something particular in mind.

For a $50 donation I will give you and about 5 friends a private belly dance lesson in your home in the Saskatoon area. This would be a 60-75 minute basic lesson. I've done a few of these for wedding showers/stagettes over the years, and they can be quite fun!

For a $75 donation I will provide a bellygram to the person of your choice for a special event in the Saskatoon area (i.e. party for an anniversary, retirement, birthday, and the like (sorry, no stag parties)). This will incorporate approximately 5-10 minutes of dance to help embarrass someone in front of their friends and family on their special day!


Anyone who donates more than $15 to the cause is eligible for a tax receipt, if they provide a full address and contact information.

I will be accepting requests up to and including Feb. 20, 2006. For further information or to set up your donation I can be contacted at lorianne.earl@usask.ca.

Thanks for your help!

Lorianne Earl
Physical Therapy student

Some cool research

I've learned a lot about strokes this year, so I thought that this news story was particularly cool.

... and they flew off into the sunset together

Brokeback Top Gun

Living Will

A man and his wife were sitting in the living room and he said to her: "Just so you know, I never want to live in a vegetative state dependent on some machine. If that ever happens, just pull the plug."

His wife got up and unplugged the TV.

Election black out?

Well, according to the Elections Act national news agencies in Canada aren't supposed to report any results until all the polls have closed across the country. I thought I'd check out a foreign blog for election info, and found one of a Canadian living in England: The Surly Beaver. In the comments there somebody mentioned that Radio Canada International was streaming election coverage from the Maritimes. I listened to it for about 5-10 minutes before it cut out. I guess someone got wise to it...

Guess I'll just have to wait another hour and a half...

I suspected as much!

CTV news story confirms my suspicions about why our weather has been so nice.

Heh heh heh

Here's another funny video! WARNING: Content of a sexual nature.

One hour optical

We will be in good hands

I saw this on the Mercer Report earlier this week. Very interesting, and the attack ads near the end are hilarious!

A youthful look at the election

Guilty Pleasure

Look at me, ma! I'm procrastinating!

The Nut Bra

Election-related blogs

I ran across a website where you can find a listing of Non-Partisan Bloggers

"The Blogging Alliance of Non-Partisan Canadians gathers together Canadian bloggers, regardless of political affiliation, to celebrate and increase awareness of the diversity of thought within the Canadian blogosphere, and to increase the profile and traffic of member websites."

Happy Trogday!

On January 13 Trogdor the Burninator turned three years old!

What if...

...you didn't say no for a full year?

For me, there would be no difference to my dating schedule. I'm going to try really hard not to get depressed over that now!

Some people's mothers!

Judge: Fetuses do not count as carpoolers

Ninjas vs. Pirates

Anyone who has spent any amount of time on the NaNoWriMo forums will be instantly pleased at just the thought of this. It's the ultimate love story of our time!

Ninjas vs. Pirates complete video (approx. 15 minutes)

Swoosh!

Tonight I went cross-country skiing with a couple of the other girls in my class. We met at Kinsmen Park at 8 pm and skied in the dark for an hour or so. It was good! I don't feel too bad now, but we'll have to see how I feel tomorrow. I've had skis for 12 years or so, and haven't used them in the last 9 or 10 years. It felt good to get them out again. I look forward to going out again!

Tan is a power colour?

Your Birthdate: February 25

You excel at anything difficult or high tech. In other words, you're a total (brilliant) geek. It's difficult for you to find people worth spending time with. Which is probably why you'll take over the world with your evil robots! Your strength: Your unfailing logic Your weakness: Loving machines more than people Your power color: Tan Your power symbol: Pi Your power month: July

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

Farewell, Irving

Poet Irving Layton Dies

Irving Layton was my favourite poet in high school. I think it must have been his passion... and the sex... that was fascinating to me. It was inspiring. Here are a couple of his shorter poems that I really liked:

Misunderstanding

I placed
my hand
upon
her thigh.

By the way
she moved
away
I could see
her devotion
to literature
was not
perfect.


On My Way To School

On my way to school
I used to pass
A Baptist church
And fields of grass.

"Jesus Saves"
Above the gate
Would comfort me
If I were late.

The church is gone,
The street is paved,
The Home Bank thrives
Where Jesus Saved.


Here you can find the Irving Layton website.
Here's the entry about him in Wikipedia.

A Little Bit of Saskatoon History

Those of you who know me know that I'm a bit of a local history buff. I spent much of the evening tonight wandering around the internet looking at historical pictures of Saskatoon, and reading about the mayors we've had! My original intention was to find this picture of a man who lost a leg in World War One. What's so special about him is that he taught himself how to figure skate with only one leg! I wish I could have seen that! Here's the story about Norman Falkner (along with some other interesting stories from Saskatoon's early days.)

I also found a site with some pictures from Saskatoon (up to 1949). If you click on the picture labelled '1929' at the bottom, then scroll down to the sixth picture on that page you can see what my neighbourhood looked like in the 1920s. I'm going to have to look up Tuxedo Park sometime...

New videos!

I'm not yet totally recovered from my video addiction, apparently.

• The Fishes (reminds me of Alfred Hitchcock!)
• Round 1, Fight!
• Pacman Invasion!
• Scuba diver blows air rings!
  

Retirement

Well, apparently Dave Barry has decided to retire his weekly humour column. He is still maintaining a blog though.