A Charmingly Scary Good Time

When this show first came out I thought it sounded really stupid, and although I never really cared much for Jennifer Love Hewitt, I couldn't believe she would stoop so low as to be in this show.

This show is in its fourth season, and somewhere between the third and fourth season I caught a couple of episodes and realized that it was more than meets the eye. So when my mom bought Season 1 of Ghost Whisperer, I was curious enough to borrow it.

This show has easily fallen into the category of one of my favourite shows. This may sound weird, but I really liked the feel of the show. It was eerie, charming and nostalgic all at the same time. I enjoyed the way that people in the show seem normal, especially the relationship between Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt's character) and her husband, Jim. You really end up rooting for them. As for the ghosts, I love the parts when they realize that Melinda can see them, the shock and hope on their face is priceless.

I also have to comment on the wardrobe, because at first my friend and I were like, "What the hell is she wearing", but by the end I decided I really like her crazy old fashioned sometimes inappropriately dressed for the occasion outfits. It was part of her charm. It may seem weird to say, but it really adds something to the charm of the show.

I grew up watching any kind of supernatural show on TV, and I really think this show is up there with some of the great ones. I highly recommend it to someone looking for a little scare and a little light in their life.

Beautiful Day

It was a beautiful day today. A real spring day, and I was lucky enough to have the chance to really enjoy it.

My roommate and I went to pick up some donation tins scattered around the city. It ended up being more of an adventure and a chance to take in parts of the city we have either barely passed without noticed, or never seen before. The weather made it even better. It was such a nice day, I hadn't really thought to expect anything from it, and ended up having a fantastic day. I love going for walks but have trouble walking without a purpose. In a way it was almost like a little scavenger hunt.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Today we had to have diversity training at work. I don’t really know why because the stuff they covered wasn’t even really relevant to the issues we are having at work. The problem at work is that people make inappropriate comments, but not your typical inappropriate comments. I have been told that if I lost some wait the boys would like me more. Another comment I hate hearing, is technically a compliment but it really bothers me. One woman who worked there would always ask me if I was exercising or on a diet because I’d lost some weight. I know I put on some pounds, and it makes me very very uncomfortable when people talk about it. I’m not even the only one who has had people comment on their weight, and they didn’t appreciate it either. Someone also said to me once, “Oh, you’re wearing makeup today!”...um yeah I wear makeup everyday thanks.

The things that they did talk about at this seminar were the basics; there was a lot of talk about respecting other people and their right to have choices. Most we talked about women’s rights and religious rights. Maybe I don’t know about it, but I have never heard about an issue with this kind of stuff in my office, most of it is personal questions that you really should be asking a co-worker. The kind of stuff that makes people uncomfortable. Actually I was asked once about religion and I didn’t really answer and the other person went on a tirade about how he couldn’t understand how people could live without Jesus in their lives and such. Same guy asked another co-worker if he had ever had sex too, but unfortunately he wasn’t even at this seminar.

I think rather than having a seminar on how to treat each other we need to have a big hash out where everyone just lays all their issues on the table. I think if we all just communicated more and were more honest with each other we wouldn’t have the tension we have right now.

Ten!!! Count 'Em, TEN!!!

This may be my best freebie to date. The other day I received a pink envelop in the mail. Contents? TEN coupons for FREE Herbal Essences shampoo. They have a new shampoo coming out so I get to try it. I'll be giving some of the coupons away, I don't want to be greedy!

Bodywash move over and make room for some shampoo!!!

A dog in the stroller

The other night at 12:30am my fire alarm went off. It’s gone off about 5 times or so since I moved in and since we’ve never seen even a hint of a fire I’m never too concerned. This time before I even hit my bedroom door I could smell the smoke.

I quickly yelled to my roommate that there was smoke and then threw on a pair of jeans and a sweater. When we got into the hall we could see smoke, not a lot, but it was still there. The girl in the apartment across the hall from us came out her door, and told us it was ok it was just in her apartment. I knew before she even said it because of all the smoke that came out when she opened the door. My first thought was of her baby, obviously still inside. She was clearly flustered so I asked her if she needed help and followed her into the apartment when she accepted.

Right in the doorway was the baby’s stroller. Now I don’t have any kids and I have zero interest in children, but I do have enough sense to know that smoke is really bad for them, and if I did by some horrible coincidence have one, I would get them out of a smoky apartment right away. So it was hard for me to understand what her thinking was when I went into the apartment, saw the stroller in the doorway, and saw...the dog in the stroller and not the baby. Let’s start with the fact that if there is that much smoke, and a fire alarm going off, you grab the baby not the stroller. And if you do grab the stroller you put the baby in it and then go for the dog, not the other way around. I had to tell her to get the baby.

So she grabs the baby, and then what does she do? She hands the baby to my roommate, in other words a stranger, not to mention the fact that this is the second baby my roommate has ever held in her life. By this time our landlady came around and went in with the girl to make sure the fire was out. I took the baby from my friend and took him to the stairwell to stand by the window. I didn’t think he should stay inside because of the smoke and the fire alarm, but I thought going outside with this girl’s baby might worry her. I shouldn’t have worried about that because she clearly wasn’t worried, over the course of the next hour she checked to see where her baby was once and very briefly cooed at him. Meanwhile she had a constant watch on her dog, and when he ran away once, she was after him in a flash. Can you say unwanted baby?

Someone is reading your letter

I often wonder what makes a person think that it is ok to treat a stranger like crap on the bottom of their shoe. I have had a fairly wide range of experience with this, but tonight I'm going to rant about the people who send abusive letters to a non-profit organization.

To start, for those of you who address you letters with "Gentlemen" or "Dear Sirs", I'm not sure what era you grew up in, but news flash woman are allowed to work now, and we can read, so on occasion they do let us open the mail. Next time if you'd like to be formal, try "To whom it may concern", and I'll try not to send my reply to "Crazy old person with too much time on their hands." I'd love to say that I was too mature, or confident to let this bother me, but obviously I am not.

And if you’re one of those people who thinks that things get solved when you write a letter full of insults and profanities... do you realize that the people who have to read these abuses are the people who have no control over the paper they write one, much less the letters you get, or the decisions made that you disagree with. When you write such hateful things I wonder if you realize that there is another person at the other end of your letter. When you put it in the mail it doesn’t just vanish into the abyss. I have to read it and wonder who else you would talk to that way.

Finally to those who send us things back full of complaints but with your name ripped out, we can’t help you if we don’t know who you are.

Lunch

I just ate my lunch so fast it was like it was going to eat me.

Why does the colour purple make people have to pee?

I'm not sure what it is about The Colour Purple that makes people have to pee so much.

On Friday I went to see The Colour Purple. When they showed us to our seats we thought that we had gotten a pretty sweet deal. We have season tickets for the cheapest seats in the theatre, and we have always gotten pretty good seats, which I think has something to do with having the subscription. This time though, we thought we had the best seats we could get. Now we may have a different view of what good seats are...we aren't really people persons, especially when it comes to sitting within close proximity to others. So when they showed us to our seats we couldn't be happier with the little nook we had. It was two seats off to the side, with a railing and wall on either side. We even had two little steps that just went to our seats. Plenty of space to stretch our legs and to put our jackets beside us. No arm rest to share with a stranger. No one in front of us to struggle to see over, and the people behind us had significant space between us and were quite a bit higher so in theory they wouldn't be rubbing up against us. In theory.

In theory everything should have been great. But there was done thing we didn't count on. People. People coming in late, people going to the bathroom and people who think they are in a movie theatre.

I will never understand people who come in late to a play, especially the ones who don't seem to realize that other people are there too. For the first 10 minutes of the production a heavy stream of people were being led to their seats by the ushers. For the next 20 minutes the ushers made them stand to the side and wait for a break in the performance. This is where we were sitting and the people waiting seemed to take no notice that they were hovering around our seats. I felt even worse for the people who were sitting in the back row of the section in front of us. They had people hanging over the railing right over top of them. That would have driven me insane. Even better was when the ushers had them all start to run out into the aisles and to their seats but realize that the next act was start and hustle them all back. It was amusing and frustrating all at the same time.

It's really hard to get into a play with people running back and forth, so when they were finally seated I thought I was going to be able to settle in myself. But then everyone started going to the washroom. Everyone. To be fair we were pretty much beside the bathroom, but I can honestly say that I have never seen so many people get up during a performance to go pee. It isn't like you are in a movie theatre where the actors are just on a screen, they are there in person, and they can see you. Don't people realize that no matter how far up you are, it is probably distracting to see movement in the audience for the actors.

This is also why I think it is especially rude when people leave early before the last act of the play is even done. It wasn't even like just two people did it. A lot of people did. The play wasn't bad, it was good. I enjoyed it for the most part, and thought that the actors deserved more than that. They deserved their chance to bow and be applauded by the whole audience.

The people sitting behind us were some of the worst offenders. They got up a few times to go the washroom, once they even went together. And they weren't quiet about it either, they had to discuss it before they went...each time. And the guy took his jacket with him each time, but not before hitting me in the head with it on each occasion in and out. And his girlfriend decided to put her used cup practically on my head. Instead of tucking it under her own seat, she decided to fuss around trying to stand it up against the back of my seat.

I've been to quite a few plays and I've noticed more and more that some of the people seem to think that when they are in a play they can act like they would if they were at home watching Survivor. I know I've said this before but I have to say it again...WHAT'S WRONG WITH PEOPLE!

Big fuss over Hot Fuzz

Sometimes my roommate and I like to go to the video store and get a ton of movies to have a lazy weekend of back to back movies. We mostly look for something that will keep us mildly entertained, not keeping our hopes up for anything brilliant. Hot Fuzz was supposed to be one of these movies.

A few weeks ago we rented Run Fat Boy Run because we thought it looked really funny, what we found though was that it was mildly amusing and the best jokes were aired in the commercials. We picked up Hot Fuzz thinking it would be about the same, but worth a try for a laugh or two. What we got was much more than that.

Hot Fuzz is a great movie, I guess the best way to describe it is as a spoof of cop movies. The action in the movie is both of a top quality and funny at the same time. Without giving too much away there are some funny scenes including grannies in gun fights with the main character. I really enjoyed this movie, and it is one of the few movies I would like to watch again. I think I would even go as far as buying it...

Proud to be an unofficial scot

When I first came back from spending a year in Scotland the sound of a Scottish accent was like nails on a chalkboard. I didn't want to hear, see or smell anything Scottish. I wanted only things Canadian. Well I've been back in Canada for over a year now, and well I have to admit I miss Scotland a bit. Not that I want to go back and live there, but I would certainly like to take vacations there.

While I was there I took a few tours of Scotland, as most tourists do. On more than one occasion I heard the story of the stone of destiny. The story is very interesting and when I heard they were making a movie, Stone of Destiny, I couldn't wait to see it. Unfortunately I left the UK before it came out. So I've been waiting, and waiting and waiting, for it to come to Canada. And now it has!

When I go see movies, or even plays where I already know the whole story I can't help but compare it to what I know, and often this can ruin the whole experience for me. That was not the case in this movie. Even though I knew the whole story already I felt it was very easy to fall right into the film and enjoy the movie. The main character in the movie is played by Charlie Cox, who I loved in Stardust. He is brilliant in it, as are all of the other characters. They are all very lovable. The movie was great, it even brought a tear to my eye, something that is not easy to do. Whether or not you've been to Scotland and know the story of the stone of destiny this movie is definitely worth seeing. I don't want to go too much into detail and give it away. But this is a charming and entertaining piece I would recommend to everyone.

Better than free

No Frills is selling Olay body wash for $2.99 which means for those of us who have buy 3 save $10 coupons not only do you get free body wash, but we potentially make a dollar!! I used two coupons last night, got 6 body washes and saved an extra $2 on all my other groceries!! Now that's what I call an exciting Saturday night on the town!

At this point I'm just stocking up for the day that I can't get my hands on any coupons for body wash and all that is available to me is 245ml bottles for $10. When that day comes I will be very sad. The highest price I have paid for body wash in the last two years was $3 for a big bottle of dial that included a free stick of deodorant.