2007 Worlds synchronised swimming Team Free Final CHN(4th)

Back to my Roots

So I found this on YouTube today. I haven't really seen any synchro in years and sometimes I wish I had kept up on it more. I mean, I used to know people on the national team and everything! I didn't really have the drive for it, but if I had then it's possible that I could have competed on a more national basis, and possibly internationally to a degree.

Anyway, when I see this, I am amazed at how far synchro has come in the past few years. This routine would have been good enough to win hands down 7 years ago, but China here came in 4th this year. Canada used to be leading edge and a competitor for gold; now we place 6th at worlds.

The athleticism continues to amaze me. You may not be able to tell, but this routine travels a 25 metre pool 3.5 times, plus heading sideways and at angles, over the span of a 4 minute routine. There is one leg sequence (where they are upside kicking their legs around) that is 20 seconds and another 15 second one right at the end of their routine. Ever tried sprinting as hard as you can while holding your breath for 15 seconds? How about after you've been sprinting for 3.5 minutes already?

Call it a sport. Call it not a sport. I really don't care. But I guarantee none of us can do what they just did in that video.

Honestly. I can feel their lungs burning from here. Holy Cow.

2 Things

hmmm... rant or happy news first? hmmm....

Happy News
It's turning green outside! After months of white and brown and grey, I drove home today and saw color! Take a peek - it's been a while since we've seen it.

Rant!
I found out from the job I am supposed to be starting on Thursday (6 days from now) that I can't start working until I have a criminal record check, which is currently taking 10 days, plus time to receive it in the mail.

I challenge anyone to walk into a police station, no matter how prepared you think you are, and walk out having completed a criminal record check form. Twice in the past year I've tried, and twice I have failed. The info and requirements on the internet apply only to the downtown location, not the neighborhood locations. Ensuring proper ID and proper payment methods are harder than you think. The website also led me to believe that I had to drop it off before 4:00. Also untrue because the neighborhood locations have their own hours. Tremendously, tremendously frustrating. The amount of gas I have wasted on these people boggles my mind.

Grrr....

Well, on the bright side, it looks like I may have a longer vacation inbetween positions after all!

Icky Thump

So Excited!!!!

As Sean has also pointed out on his blog, the White Stripes are releasing a new album and are going on a full tour of Canada. Actually, they're also touring all of the states they have never been to as well.

When they toured for Get Behind Me Satan, Sean, Scott, Alex, Aaron and myself travelled to Vancouver and attended both shows they played there. Thanks to Sean's mad pre-buying skillz I spent one night in the second row and one night in the 8th row of the theatre. The 2nd row show earned the White Stripes the title of My Favorite Band. It was PHENOMENAL. And I don't use all caps lightly, people.

Somehow the White Stripes encapsulate all of the modern parts of rock that I adore as well as some very strong influences from chicago, delta blues, and some strong country influences at times. It creates a mix that resonates with me. Many people like to instantly refer to the lack of mad skillz in Meg's drumming, but the White Stripes are about more than that. Jack White is amazingly creative and talented and I give him quite a bit of respect for making music that is meaningful, rather than over-produced and over-constructed to sell to the masses.

I'm very curious to hear this album. It's their first ever in a modern recording studio.

And Sean? I'll make Calgary and Edmonton work. I'll find a way. As for the others, that has yet to be decided.

Waxing Nostalgia

Well, my new position title at Municipal Affairs will officially be 'Municipal Analyst.' WooOOOooo. Fancy sounding.

Anyway, I am now officially in my last week of my internship and I find myself very nostalgic. All the things I've done! All the people I met! All the things I learned! What's a girl to do with all this information collected and stored away?

This is a pretty exciting time for me as I get settled in the next few months into what will eventually be a permanent position. New places to tackle. New people to meet, things to learn, blah blah blah. But I'm a little sad still.

This past year has been really good to me. A little dramatic at times, but my life is finally taking shape as a whole. I'm on my own, a complete adult with a career, apartment, car and student loan payments of my own. I've been finding new people to care about me and appreciating the ones who have been doing so for a long time. I've learned amazing things about myself and have realized that I have a tremendously strong faith in myself and those around me. It's almost like with the ending of this internship, it ends one of the most eventful and defining years in my life to date. And who would want that to end, really?

I spent all day today putting together a presentation for council on what I've been doing for the past 12 months. It's crazy! I'm telling them the tip of the iceberg and it's probably going to take 15 minutes straight of me talking.

I'll move onwards and upwards and cleave to the line, but this year is one for the record books.

P.S. I'm also putting the Community Economic Development Plan that I reviewed in front of Council for acceptance tonight. I may be put through the ringer, so wish me luck!

Oh, The Possible Addiction

So, after being hounded by about a dozen people to join facebook, on Friday afternoon I finally joined. It is now Sunday morning and I have 97 friends. I know that many people?

So basically, because there's just so much activity on there, it forces you to check it all the time. I leave the house and when I come back I have 6 emails from Facebook. I find people that I haven't talked to in years who I don't really have anything to say to, but it's neat to know they're still alive!

Not to mention that because I got this many friends this quickly that it is a little overwhelming. I'm not going to try to talk to all of them. I don't want to. I also don't want to spend ALL of my time on Facebook keeping up on everyone's updates.

In conclusion, while it is really cool to be able to see people that I haven't seen in years, it's getting a little annoying. We'll see how much I really jump onto the bandwagon.

Aaaah....

Ok, the period after all the waiting and decisions is a very calm and happy time. A certain peace comes over me when something is finally dealt with.

I have been stressing for 4 months now about getting a job for when my internship ends. With a week and a half left, I actually now have one!

My new job is with Municipal Affairs, working with their Municipal Advisory Unit. I get to present and advise on Legislation affecting municipalities. It should be a completely new perspective and should definitely be challenging. I'm excited as this could mean some travel to do presentations in different areas of the province and it could open a number of very interesting doors for me. It's only a three month position, but it should prove to be a crazy 3 months!

High Five to me! Woo! WooWoo!

Waiting and Decisions

Why do waiting and decisions seem to go hand in hand so often? You need to wait for information before you make a decision. You make a decision, then you have to wait to see what the response is. You wait to make a decision just because you're kind of afraid of making the decision.

The worst part of decision making is the waiting. And the worst part of waiting is knowing that you have to make a decision at the end of it.

Inseparable, and frustrating. Grrr....

Updates on what the heck I'm talking about to come after the waiting period is finished.

Musical Bigotry

I have a personal pet peeve I need to share. It's when people decide that they hate an entire genre of music. "I hate country music. I can't stand it. All of it is terrible." Oh, that's good, and do you also hate black people?

Ooh, the sarcasm is so thick I can't see.

Admit it. You do it. Almost everyone does. What's your hated genre? Country? Rap? R&B? (yes, they're different) Dance? 80's? Oldies? Or for the uber-pretentious, do you hate all mainstream music as a whole?

Have you heard all the songs in the genre? Or have you painted the entire genre by what companies decide is crap enough to go on the radio? There could be some quality artists and songs out there that suit your taste, but you just don't know about them. Songs, regardless of the genre, became popular because millions of people could identify with them. You're such an individual that you can't identify with the masses in any situation at any time? Not to be blunt, but... Get over yourself.

I used to say I hated country music, partially due to brainwashing by certain sisters. (Love You!) But guess what? I don't hate it at all! I don't particularly like the majority of the new popular stuff, but the Dixie Chicks are great! And most of the classic country songs are just that - classic. I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry is a really emotional song and I don't think you could even begin to count the number of people who derive their own music from the influence of Hank Williams. Patsy Cline is awesome! And it's now completely unhip to say that you don't like Johnny Cash.

I found my way to like a genre. I challenge you to the same. Need some suggestions? Ask anyone who their favorite artists are in the genre and then check them out. If someone found worth in that music, it's possible for you to find it as well. I'm not trying to say that you should force yourself to like a genre, but step out of your box. Cross the line that is the boundary to your proverbial comfort zone. You just might find some music that really inspires you.

P.S. This was inspired because I bought a new Dixie Chicks album today and it's great!

The Magical World of Calorie Counting

Over the past month or so, I've taken a real turn in taking care of my body. In other words, I'm paying attention to it, rather than just being annoyed with certain superficial occurrences. I've really started to enjoy heading to the gym 4-6 times a week and love walking away knowing that I just burned 500 calories. Now, knowing approximately how much I'm burning is great, but I have yet to see much of a physical change start, (except for the downgrade on the belt loop this morning! WOOHOO!) so naturally, it turned me to keep track of the other side of the calorie equation. If I know what's going in, I can figure out how much to put out.

This is when I discovered how much a wonder the internet really is. At calorie-count.com you very quickly start an account and you're on your way. You can find almost any food in their database, add it to your log, and it tracks and calculates your calories for you. You put everything in it, from the 2 sugars you had in your coffee, to the milk you had with your cereal. Also, it recommends a goal weight, a daily calorie intake recommendation and how long it would take you to reach that goal weight based on those factors.

Does it stop there? oh no. You also have an activity log so that it can take into account how many extra calories you are burning a day. There's also a weight log that graphs out your progress. Then you can hit the analysis button and it gives you a letter grade on your nutrition, activities, etc. A few minutes to update the logs daily and you have a full mathematical record of why you are or are not succeeding.

I like it because I like someone telling me that I'm doing well. Positive reinforcement. If the numbers are saying that my body should be changing, then that change is on its way. And for those days where I don't pay as much attention to the exercise or diet, it holds me accountable.

Someone sign up for it with me and then I can talk about it with somebody! hehe.

Happy Counting!

How bizarre! How bizarre!

Hey all,

So I just read the oddest little news story. There's a man who was just arrested for randomly grabbing women's buttocks in LRT stations around the city. He wears a red scarf around his face and a black hood and follows a girl. You know what he does then? Sneaks up behind her and grabs her ass.

Here's my imagination: ok... so I am being followed by a creepy guy who is hiding his face. I'd get pretty freaked out and my imagination would start running wild. When all of the sudden he swoops in on me, grabs my butt then runs away. WHAT? Beyond feeling violated, I would feel tremendously confused.

What a truly bizarre habit to have formed. Granted, it could lead to larger unwelcome advances and no one wants that, but could it be some bizarre spin off of frottage?

I thought you'd all might enjoy the story. Oh, and if you're being followed by a creepy guy in the LRT stations who has a red scarf around his neck, you might want to cover your ass and cover your ass.

Ha! Zing!

What is going on?

So, I've become more aware lately of some of the very strange things happening within our culture. It started slowly with wondering why Paris Hilton is so famous. And then why her sex tape made her even more famous. Then a few months ago I read 'Female Chauvinist Pigs' by Ariel Levy. I recommend you all go read it. Now. ready? Go!

Anyway, that book set me on a course of seeing societal phenomena regarding sex, women and success differently. Slutty as empowerment. Where did this come from? And where is it going to lead us? The main message I found from that book was that the vast majority of women in North America aren't defining their own sexuality, but they're letting pop culture define it for them.

There are 2 recent events that have sparked this posting. One is the Grade Fivers in the states who apparently had sex in an unsupervised classroom and could possibly be criminially charged with obscene behavior and the other is this Pussycat Dolls video that MSN is advertising in the messenger window. Do you hear all of the pre-pubescent girls screaming at these overtly sexy, girating women who are singing about men 'loosening up their buttons?' Can you see the absolute disconnect that is happening with some children today?

We allow our young girls to idolize sexy role models without giving them a way in which to interpret the sexiness. Parents take their girls to a concert where they get excited and scream at the top of their lungs at what is quite obviously a male produced and controlled fantasy. We let them do all this, then when they make bad choices around sex at younger ages, we can't figure out what has gone wrong. In fact, with holding them criminally accountable for their actions, all of the sudden we try to tell them that sexy behavior is bad. We are encouraging that kind of behaviour in them as a society, then punishing it.

Now, do I think that all this sexy, slutty garbage is going anywhere soon? No, and it shouldn't have to. It has a right to be there as much as I have a right to think it's feeble-minded. All the power to them. But we need to make sure that these kind of images are put into context. Girls need to know that sex is not the only way to make guys like them, and have enough confidence in who they are to know they are worth more than their bodies. I fully support a sex education class that tackles more than anatomy and abstinence. I fully support parents to interpret and limit the amount of sexual images that gets thrown at children. These images aren't going away. We better figure out a way to prepare our kids to deal with them.

Whoo... okay, *steps down*. You can have your soapbox back. I'm finished with it... for now.

Fun with Personality Tests

You know what I have always found really cool and they never cease to entertain me? Personality tests. The fact that I can answer a few questions and a generic description gives me actual insight into the way I see myself is pretty cool.

This new dating site a few of us are trying just added on a personality search onto their engine. (which is the best idea I've heard of in a while, actually) You do a quick myers-briggs test and it tells you your personality. I'm an ENTJ! 'The World's Natural Leader' Only 1.8% of the population falls into it but all of my close friends who have taken the test happen to all be the same. We all like to be challenged in our arguments and apparently we're one of the only types that will do that. It's pretty cool that we all found eachother, actually.

And what do I find when I get home this afternoon? Well, while trying to figure out when the next new Grey's Anatomy will be on, I found THIS. It takes about 2 minutes for them to tell you which Grey's Anatomy character you are most like. woooOOOOoooo. Not quite as insightful, but entertaining nonetheless.

I'm Callie. Who are you?

Do it for the poor planners!

You know why you should go to those open houses, focus groups and information sessions held by the town or city wherever you live? Because someone went to stupid amounts of work to plan it. For you. They didn't do it for fun, or because they just love it so much. They did it for you and the least you can do is go and say that you like it or you hate it. Because you know what? It's really embarassing if 4 council members show up and a grand 2 of 42 people invited have shown up.

You know what? Not attending is just being rude. Rude. rude. rude.

You're all rude, and of course I'm not bitter!

Rude!