elleebee

Place your bets

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I love love love to read, but I could count on one hand the number of books that I have read for myself in the last three years. I'm a history major with an interest in English, which means that my last three years of university has been filled with books. Some were wonderful (Rumor of War by Philip Caputo), and some were just plain sadistic (Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte....haha, well I hated it). But with all of this academic reading I never had time to pick up a book that I wanted to read without writing a hair-pulling paper on it or resenting the author and everyone they ever encountered in their entire life.
So now you say "what about the summer? Couldn't you read then?", and my answer is no. Working at a summer camp for four months with the hours of about 730am to 1030pm six days a week means MAYBE fifteen minutes of reading before bed IF you can keep your eyes open and your friends out of your bunkie.

However, since I enjoy a challenge (aka setting myself up for failure), I have piled up NINE whole books that I want to read in the next four months. Just to give you a bit of a contextual timeline here, I will tell you that I managed to finish only one book last summer. That is 290 pages of Bill Bryson hilarity in three and a half months.

But as the deluded say, this time will be different. I am dying to read these books and I'm going to do everything possible to make sure I finish at least five of them by the time I go back to school in September.

Having set that benchmark, if you know me, doesn't establish much, so if any camp people are reading this I'd like to hear your bet for how many of these bad boys I will finish this season. (Or if you have any suggestions on which to read first).

 

(A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, The Know-It-All by A.J. Jacobs, In the Skin of a Lion by Michael Ondaatje, Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz, The Intellectual Devotional Modern Culture by Kidder and Oppenheim, The Defining Moment by Jonathan Alter, The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill, Made in America by Bill Bryson.)

The Break-Up

         I have recently parted ways with my boyfriend - School. Don't fret, he was all wrong for me.
He was possessive, irate, and needy, oh so needy!
We would spend hours fighting into the early morning, he was jealous of my suitors TV and Internet, and I swear he was stealing from me. There were good times sure, like maybe sometimes he showed up with an "A" and said he was sorry and that he'd change.But then I remembered all the crap he put me through before that A and deep down I just knew , I knew he didn't love me.

          Now that I'm free, I have exactly one week to have a steamy fling with super-hunk Toronto before I'm off for my summer romance with Camp.

On the agenda:
-he will read to me (for leisure!) in the park while we bathe in the smog and sunlight.
-he will take me to the AGO and the ROM (free admission Wednesdays because he's kind of cheap).
-window shopping on Bloor.
-of course he'll let me have a night dancing to 50s and 60s rock with the girls (not much of a dancer that Toronto).
-I totally peeked through his wallet and there's a shiny $50 gift certificate to Chapters that he has probably been saving since his birthday to spend on me because he was worried School would go into a jealous rage (he's so wise that Toronto).
-being the wonderful and perfect fling that he is, he will encourage me to write on my blog as much as I can before I dive into my mini-marriage with Camp (he's so perfect. He just gets me y'know?...that's why it can't last).
-

 Of course this is only a tentative agenda subject to change - Toronto always surprises me with things he thinks I might like. It's his spontaneity I love.


          I'm actually looking forward to my fling and my mini-marriage. But good things don't last forever, I'll eventually expire physically and emotionally from the freedom, fun and fresh-air, and crawl right back into School's waiting arms.
Hey, everyone loves a good on-again, off-again.

 

Friggin' Chuck Norris

Team Jaggerbombs update!
I apologize for the 2-week update hiatus, and I must say I do not have amazing news.
We lost our first (and then second and third) game!

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Sadly, two weeks ago we lost one of our games, and this past Tuesday we lost both.
But never fear - we made the playoffs and are recruiting Patches O'Houllihan for a training session!

Stats: 7/10

An Assortment of Slack-Offery

So last night I stayed up until 7am editing an essay that likely could have taken me 2 hours to finish completely. However, my brain only seems to function on the ratio of 1sentence:1hour of nothing. To provide you with a more formal definition, nothing basically means anything but what I am supposed to be doing and includes (but is not limited to) these things:

Animaniacs - Nations Of The World

Via Twitter:
zoic @elleebee what are you doing up? (Me?I work at a bar)
@zoic oh you know, just doing school work I should have done a long time ago. Want to trade?
@zoic and by doing school work I really mean watching cartoons and brushing up on my geography: http://tinyurl.com/2h25kq
zoic @elleebee $20 says you won't record a video of yourself singing that song and post it to Facebook

@zoic hahaha you're so on! Although this will take much practice....I'm thinking it will be a pre-spring evening project.

            Naturally after this proposition, I watched this clip around 7 more times and mentally prepared for the challenge. Stay tuned sometime in the spring to witness my $20 payday!

Then I found this: Ensuite, a blog of short writings from some man seemingly named Pascal. Further investigation is pending, but there is some wonderful writing on it.
Here's a sample I liked:

Cello 

Thursday, January 22, 2009, 07:04 AM

Something had her mind's eye. 
 
"Do you remember the time in the old house when my cello caught fire?" she asked. "You ran downstairs, slipped on the cat puke, broke your toe and burned away most of your hair. Do you remember that?" 
 
I'd spent eight days in a local hospital. The incident fits among my least forgettable. 
 
"Vaguely," I replied, peeking over my glasses. "Why do you ask?" 
 
"No reason, really," she said. "Hearing Yo Yo Ma always makes me think of that cello is all."


Lastly, and most embarrassingly:

    I filled out my "25 Things" post that seems to be all the rage lately. I did it because I'm a vapid narcissist...who isn't really? I do actually enjoy reading other people's lists too, as long as they are carefully selected.

1. I watch Jeopardy with my roommates at both 12.30 and 7.30 almost every day.
   

2. My dream job is to be a member of the Jeopardy clue crew.

3. I can still tell you the full names of almost every kid I graduated sixth grade with.

4. I just adore Twitter.  twitter.com/elleebee

5. Anything to do with babies makes me cry. Even this: http://tinyurl.com/b9yw7g

6. I have an uncanny ability to remember every funny line from every funny movie (or TV show) I see, yet I cannot remember my times tables.

7. I went to Kumon AND Sylvan for math and still only ever passed with 50s. (Strangely enough math was my favourite subject in grades 1 and 2. MathQuest? Who didn't love that?)

8. Dictionary.com widget is a staple of my igoogle homepage.

9. My favourite class in high school was grade 12 media with Mr. McLatchie. We learned about all kinds of writing. I wish I could take it again.

10. It will always make me incredibly sad that whoever I marry will not have met my Grandpa.

11. I sucked my thumb until I was 8 or 9. My cousins used to ask me what flavor it was.

12. I feel most peaceful in water.

13. I underline great writing in the books I read for pleasure.

14. I have a deep love for profanity. It is surely my most unattractive quality.

15. I am most creative, productive, and motivated when I am avoiding some form of school work.

16. I love to ask questions and try to take every opportunity to do so. Ken Jennings claims he knows so much because he always asked questions.

17. I label almost everything I draw (something that I'm sure comes from reading Cat Book every night of my childhood)

18. My grandparents farm is my favourite place.

19. I was bullied twice in life. Thankfully (besides during the actual bullying periods), it has not affected my life or my self esteem in the slightest. I am very blessed for that resiliency.

20. I absolutely love to sing but I would never sing solo for anyone. I do most of my singing/guitar playing when nobody is home. I don't much like playing guitar without singing.

21. My blog's readership is about 4 people. I would write even if it was 0.

22. I'm scared of ghosts.

23. FDR is my favourite US President. I don't have a favourite Canadian PM. US history is the most interesting thing I can think of.

24. I can only keep nail polish on my finger nails for an hour tops.

25. Whales are my favourite animal (used to be giraffes). Orca's are best. I think it has something to do with the way I feel in the water.

Kimberly Vs. Trini

Team Jaggerbombs! still undefeated!

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Last night we finally played another team with costumes. They were dressed all in yellow and we were of course dressed in our trademark pink outfits. It was a battle I likened to the ultimate Female Power Ranger fight (the two chick power rangers were Pink and Yellow if you're not up to date with your 90s culture).

 

And I'm sorry for any of you Trini fans out there, but Kimberly totally won. Hi-ya!

Even if we lost all the time I still think Dodgeball is the most fun I'll ever have on a Tuesday night.

Stats: 6/6

Hmm...

The Pomegranate Phone

I'm not sure why I'm so irked by this. My friend Amanda posted this link to her Tumblr

Clever, sure, but I definitely don't think it is a brilliant marketing strategy for NS or for tourism. I just don't see enough parallels between a (fictional) piece of technology that "has everything" and a physical place. Okay, NS may have everything, but I wouldn't equate that attribute with a phone that can brew my coffee and project a movie.

My reaction was actually "Nova Scotia.....really?". I kept looking for the joke.
Nothing against Nova Scotia of course. I've been there, it's lovely, but I think this strategy would be more effective in marketing something else.

Thoughts?

If you can dodge a wrench...

Jaggerbombs update!

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Tonight we had our second set of games and we had some new players come out. We owned the first team we played, but the second team never showed so we won our 3 points by default. Unfortunately they were behind schedule so we couldn't play a random team just for fun. However, woo! Go team!

Stats: 4/4!

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When you're 21, you make your bed in the morning

This post was inspired by the feeling of sheer panic and disorder that came over me this afternoon when I got home from class and came into my room. Something was different, and I honestly thought for a second that a) one of my roommates had been rifling through my stuff, or b) maybe we had been robbed. A quick sweep of the room assured me my laptop was still there and brought me to the realization that everything was fine and the unrest I was feeling came from the fact that I made my bed before I went to school.

Okay, so I know that for most that is not a big deal, and certainly not something to induce panic, but you know that feeling when something isn't right and you aren't sure what it is? That is how I felt. Of course this only lasted about 20 seconds, and I am being a bit dramatic by blogging about it (although my mother wouldn't think so).

I am not a morning person by any stretch. I have spent countless mornings throughout my life engaged in screaming fights with my mother because she had to drag me out of bed 10 minutes before the school bell. I never ate breakfast, I never brushed my hair, I rarely had matching clothing! I rolled out of bed, combed through the wreckage on my floor for an outfit, brushed my teeth and ran out the door practically all without opening my eyes.

This trend continued for years and years, until maybe this current school year when I started working at 9am and decided I needed to eat breakfast, look half-decent, and more generally, grow up. But still my bed went unmade.
This isn't to say that my bed has never been made, it just never happened in the morning. I don't think that I made my own bed even once in the morning since I was in Fourth Grade.

I guess 21 really is the age of adulthood.

Behold the miracle:

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Dodge Dip Duck Dive Dodge

So the long and short of this post is that I'm in love and her name is DODGEBALL!

Team Jagerbombs!

Ashley forced me against my will to sign up for intramural dodgeball at school, and we had our first game last night and I loved it! We play once a week in 2 games best 3 of 5. Last night we won both games, so currently, as Ashley likes to point out, we are undefeated.

Team name: Team Jagerbombs! (there are some pretty funny names out there..one team is "dodge our sweaty balls")
Stats: 2/2

I'll post our stats every week from now on. Go Jagerbombs!

Real hobbies are for squares

Cheerios

     Being the multitasker and snack-enthusiast that I am, I have found myself with a strange new hobby.
I have been on a bit of a Cheerio kick lately and a few weeks ago I found myself stacking my Cheerios while talking on the phone. A mindless time-passer, sure, but once I noticed how difficult it was I was determined to stack them as high as possible.

At first I couldn't get past a stack of 11 but with much practice (and many phone calls) I finally broke my record.
Behold:
Fourteen Cheerios!

To those of you who are laughing at me right now I say you try it! You'll see...it's friggin' hard! How many Cheerios can you stack?

I have tried to find out if there is a world record of Cheerio stacking (plain Cheerios, not Honey-Nut) but to no avail. Guinness World Records does not have all of its records online, and they state clearly that any questions emailed to them about world records will be ignored. I would be very surprised if a record like this even exists.