An international New Years

The following was also found on FactMonster.

How to say "Happy New Year" in 33 languages:

1. Afrikaans - Voorspoedige nuwe jaar
2. Arabic - Kul 'am wa antum bikhair
3. Basque - Urte Berri on
4. Bengali - Shuvo noboborsho
5. Chinese (Cantonese) - Sun nien fai lok
6. Chinese (Mandarin) - Xin nian yu kuai
7. Czech Stastny - Novy Rok
8. Dutch - Gelukkig nieuwjaar
9. Esperanto - Bonan Novjaron
10. Finnish - Onnellista uutta vuotta
11. French - Bonne année
12. German - Ein glückliches neues Jahr
13. Greek - Eutychismenos o kainourgios chronos
14. Hawaiian - Hauoli Makahiki hou
15. Hebrew - Shana Tova
16. Hungarian - Boldog uj evet
17. Indonesian (Bahasa) - Selamat Tahun Baru
18. Italian - Felice Anno Nuovo or Buon anno
19. Japanese - Akemashite Omedetou Gozaimasu
20. Korean - Sehe Bokmanee Bateuseyo
21. Laotian (Hmong) - Nyob Zoo Xyoo Tshiab
22. Latin - Felix sit annus novus
23. Nigerian (Hausa) - Barka da sabuwar shekara
24. Norwegian - Godt Nytt År
25. Philippines (Tagalog) - Manigong Bagong Taon
26. Polish - Szczesliwego Nowego Roku
27. Romanian - La Multi Ani si Un An Nou Fericit
28. Samoan - Ia manuia le Tausaga Fou
29. Spanish - Feliz año nuevo
30. Swahili - Heri za Mwaka Mpya
31. Swedish - Gott Nytt År
32. Vietnamese - Chuc mung nam moi
33. Welsh - Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Oh the things you do...

Today, from my friend Anthony I got a new website to check out - it's called FactMonster. So much fun - it's got all sorts of neat quizzes and games (I've done most of the quizzes about Harry Potter already) and it's perfect for a little information junkie like myself. So, once again, I'm inspired to write out some fact that I've found.

Guess who else was born on my birthday? Fanny Brice - yup, the very person that the musical Funny Girl was based on. You can read some neat facts on the true Fanny Brice here, and if you haven't seen the movie, I suggest you do because it's a Barbara Streisand classic. I also share the same birthday as Richard Dreyfuss, everyone's favorite star from What About Bob? and Mr. Holland's Opus, as well as cleptomaniac Winona Ryder (nee Winona Horowitz, who's dad produced the original Batman series).

Guess what happened on my birthday in years past? In 1787, Mozart's Opera Don Giovanni debuted in Prague. In 1929, the New York Stock Exchange crashed on Black Tuesday, precipitating the Great Depression. And in 1998, John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, returned to space at age 77.

Guess what happened the year I was born? The year of 1981 was full of adventure as it was the year that AIDS was first identified, the year that Pope John Paul II wounded by gunman and the year that Ronald Reagan became the 40th US President and then went on to nominate Judge Sandra Day O'Connor, 51, of Arizona, as first woman on the US Supreme Court.

Very random. Check out your birthday.

On finding a husband...

The picture below is from Ben Eden (www.beneden.com).

You can also click on the picture to see his website.

Like most ladies my age, yes, I occasionally think about
marriage. I've never really been a sap about it (not that it's wrong to be romantic) but I do think about it. I guess things were brought about this week a little bit because now a second one of my best friends is heading down the aisle - the one who said she would never get married! (Yeah, right Al! We knew better!) So, I was surfing the internet for some solid advice on marriage - ok, truthfully, I was bored and wanted to see what would come up if I typed "on finding a husband" in Google, but that's just details...Ironically, the first site that came up was all about finding a husband in Christian context! ha! Nonetheless, there was some very solid advice some of which I will share with you.

Honesty and intentionality. It all comes down to this, people. So many of us are afraid to talk about the marriage factor because it's borderline taboo. I mean, who would want to admit that deep down they are longing to share themselves with another person for the rest of their life? God knows I'm petrified of this - admitting that I want it at least. No one wants to appear needy or lonely or whatever. We all want to appear strong, and all too often we fall into the trap of feeling like we're weak because we don't want to live our lives alone forever. Really, what's the big deal? There really isn't anything wrong with talking about marriage - it should be something we can converse about like politics or religion. We don't often shy away from having an opinion in these matters, so why should marriage be any different?

The other half of the equation is our need to be honest with ourselves. It's ok to want someone else around, it's ok to have needs, it's ok to have feelings and it's ok to be vulnerable. I can only speak for myself, and I know for a long time I have been, and still am in some ways, absolutely terrified of the commitment of marriage. I've pushed it aside saying I didn't want it for so long because the truth is that I just don't know how to fully open up to someone else. I judge myself far more than anyone else ever could, why would I let someone else in to have the potential to hurt me or judge me. Truth - real love shouldn't be about that. My fears prevent me from loving properly and allowing myself to be loved. Once I admitted to myself that I had a problem there, things began to change. I see I have the capacity to feel and give love - and it doesn't make me weak, it makes me stronger because I am braver now, and I see the risks are worth the taking.

Now where does the intentionality fall into play? It comes down to not being afraid to play the game of love for the sake of marriage. I'm constantly surprised by my Christian friends who really are in the dating scene to find a husband or wife. It's not easy to do, but really, it nice to cut the crap and just be direct - "No, I don't want your pretzels!" (inside joke, sorry). Personally, I find this concept fascinating and intimidating all at the same time - afterall, it's a choice, and it causes you to close many doors, but leaves you with one giant one open. But intentionality is more than just being ready to take a shot at finding "the one", it's about forming an opinion, creating standards and boundaries for interpersonal relationships, and most importantly, it's about BELIEVING MARRIAGE IS POSSIBLE and to be ready to do something about it!

We're all too often drifters when it comes to committed relationships - we're willing to settle for the comfortable, we're willing to stand by and wait for someone to come to us... Well, you know what, sometimes it pays to be a little proactive. This doesn't mean running about trying to land yourself whomever falls into your path first, it just means you have to focus on the prize realistically and be ready to move forward if and when the time comes to show someone you think they are worth the effort. It also means guarding your own heart so that you aren't throwing away your affections carelessly and spreading yourself too thin. (Heaven knows, as a HUGE flirt, I know how this can get messy...)

So, here comes the solid advice I found - what not to do in relationships...

1. Resist the counterfeits: -
This term can refer to many things, but it specifically is meant to address the tendancy that most of us singles have to want to fill in the void with bad habits. A first example is the "buddy". You know, the person that you refer to as just a friend who you don't really treat as just a friend...the someone who you don't dare to ask them about their intentions ...(gulp, guilty conscience here). A second may be pre-marital sex - you connect with someone physically and you then wonder why they aren't going towards marriage. A third may be spending all your time time in a single group, even after you've decided that there is not potential marriage candidate in the bunch.

Sure, these habits might cure loneliness short term, but in the end, they're just a temporary fix. What's worse, it that these habits may be causing you to be alone. (Gulp again!) The best cure is to start respecting youself by setting up high standards for your relationships. By creating boundaries, you're not only protecting your own heart, but those you interact with. Plus you can resist the temptation to spend your best self on counterfeits. Take it a step further, treat others the way you want to be treated. By approaching the opposite sex in a principled, respectful and intentional way, you eliminate the guess work and by treating others with kindness and honesty and by being direct you with show off just how great of a marriage candidate you are!

2. Retain sexual power: -
Ever heard the expression "Who's going to want to buy the ice-cream truck when you're giving out the popsicles for free?" Take it to heart. If you're playing into the idea that sexual acts will enhance your relationship, really, it's not true. You lose your sexual power and your ability to find the right person. Physical intimacy jump starts an emotional connection to someone too quickly, and though it can be great at the time, once the spark fades away, it seems that you've created a relationship on thin air. (Trust me on this - I have kissed on the first date. Tsk. Tsk). Sex will become an idol and will cloud your judgement causing you to make bad decisions.

Yes, unmet sexual longing is a rather powerful motivator - heaven knows it's caused quite a few quick engagements in the past. For those who have once had the desires met, it may be even harder to go without, but you just have to take encouragement from remembering that sex has been designed to sweeten the commitment of marriage and it should flow from a Godly relationship. Sometimes it pays to have your dessert last - and luckily, God is gracious enough to give all of us a chance at getting it right.

3. Reassess your options: -
Sometimes we're too quick to put someone into the category of "just friends" because we're not attracted to them. Well, what's the harm in taking a moment to change your thinking - instead of basing everything on physical chemistry, look at your friends and think "Which one of these men would be a Godly husband, strong partner and good father?" You never know about those diamonds in the rough...Of course, this doesn't mean you have to "settle" too quickly, it just means that you can take a moment to see where God may be able to make love grow - a little prayer goes a long way. Plus, it helps you gain a non-objectifying sort of perspective - rather than boys being pieces of meat, they become pieces of men...(ugh, that was AWFUL).

4. Check your expectations: -
What are you looking for in a partner? Do you find yourself casually dating with one foot out the door? I sooo know I'm guilty of this. All to often we want to focus on finding a "soul mate", someone who knows us down to our very core and who loves us fully. The trouble is, this might be directly setting yourself up for failure. We can't expect that the people who love us will never ask us to change, especially when it comes to the turbulence of marriage. Relationships between humans will never be perfect, because we're not perfect creatures. So, don't kid yourself, if something gets tough, suck it up, and it something is great, then rejoice in it. Marriage is about commitment - till death do you part - but it you go into expecting highs and lows, a good marriage will make the lows all the easier to swallow.

5. Ask the people you know for help:-
This is probably one of the easiest and hardest things to do. Right now, the world's view on marriage is certainly not the hopeful one that it once was. Once it was a primary purpose in life, now it's optional. This means that there is less support out there culturally for marriage. So why not ask your friends for help? This can be two-fold. First, I would hope that we all have friends that love us enough to help us see where we have the need to improve on ourselves to become a more whole person, someone more ready for marriage. Talk to friends, ask them to help you with your brokeness, ask them to help you get rid of the emotional baggage from years of unsuccessful relationships. You'll be surprised at how much they'll want to help you out! I know my friends are really great that way...

Secondly, friends are a connection to a wealth of new people. If you only spend time with peers of the same age, who are all going through the same sort of period of life as you are, it's not surprising that nothing new and exciting is being brought into your life. Go out, meet your friends and their friends. You never know, right? Plus, if your friends are believers in marriage, their other friends may be too, in fact, they may be looking for the same things you are. Maybe this means you'll stumble across Mr. or Mrs. Right, maybe it just means you'll make a new friend, either way it doesn't hurt to make new allies!

Just to note, the above writing is my rendition of the advice from Candice Z. Watters (you can check out the article here). I may not agree with everything, and I may be taking a few liberties with what Candice has written, but overall, this little rant reflects my opinions too. I'm not writing this to convince you of anything either. It's just think it's food for thought. You can't force marriage to come along, and there really isn't a formula for making two people fall madly in love and commit their lives to one another. Thinking about this stuff can put you in the direction towards marriage rather than down a somewhat-into-it-but-not-fully-committed-to-the-game kinda path. Every now and then you've got to purposefully change direction and to be made aware of where to go next - and the rest is up to Him.

Congrats Al and Scott!

What an awesome Christmas!

I just received the best news in the world! Alison (my best girl friend) and her boyfriend Scott got engaged last night! Congratulations to you both!

Can I be a bridesmaid? ;)

Merry Christmas to all!

A few thoughts on Christmas:

• I happen to think that Mariah Carey's "I Don't Want A Lot for Christmas" is great...one of my favs to sing along to! And if you haven't heard Weird Al's song "The Night Santa Went Crazy!" you've just gotta - it's hilarious!
• Two of my all time fav Christmas album are Dolly and Kenny's Once Upon A Christmas and John MecDermott's Christmas Memories.
• Elf and A Christmas Story are probably two of the funniest Christmas movies that I love to watch! National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation is up there too!
• I miss my puppy - it's my first Christmas without her, and my first time home without her here too...
• Anglican church services are awesome!
• Family is family, you gotta love them!
• Christmas cookies are fantastic - mmm...so is brandy butter and the thoughts of true English Christmas pudding...
• I miss my family in Africa - wish I could see them.
• It's Christmas! The people that in darkness sat have seen a great light, and the Saviour of the World was born this very night! AMEN A THOUSAND FOLD! PRAISE GOD!

Merry Christmas to you all!

Expectations of a 40-yr old virgin - a movie review

Last night I was in a downright crooked mood - I just didn't want to deal with anything. So, I took myself to the movie store and rented "The 40-yr Old Virgin". I was expecting a funny movie, but what I wasn't expecting was a movie centred around a heart of gold.

By no means am I suggesting to you folks out there that you have to agree with my general review of this movie, and I will state that I do have biases towards wanting to wait for the right person before having sex. I was really impressed with this movie, though. It may have had a too much swearing, and may have had some uneccesarily graphic scenes, but I did feel that it did have some exceptionally redeeming qualities.

For those of you who know the premise, the movie centres around Andy (Steve Carell) who is coasting by life as a loner, and as a virgin. He is quite happy to deal with his trouble himself, but things get thrown off course when three of his co-workers find out about his "plight" and seek to remedy this situation. Andy migrates through a few series of unfortunate blunders, but eventually finds himself in a very solid and loving relationship. As the movie progresses, Andy sees the complications that arise from not being honest, and from trying to force himself to do things that go against his character. In the end, everything works out just find, with a happy ending that is a little tongue-in-cheek without being too cliché or cheesy. You're left feeling satisfied - just as Andy finally is!

Steve Carell, the star and writer, portrays Andy is such a wonderful way. He is not fully a geek, but he is not fully suave either. He's believable, and well-rounded. This is why the movie seems all the more charming. You like the character of Andy, and he's genuine, so listen to his story makes it all the easier, and you never once a left feeling like the character is trying to heavy-handedly beat you into his point of view.

From a redemptive point of view, this movie has a lot of good messages. Corell's character shows that it is possible to be a fully functional man and still be waiting for the right relationship because sex should be special (in fact, Andy does get married before he gets laid for the first time!) The movie also makes a point to saying that porn is not all it's cracked up to be for men - it can be degrading and can lead to unecessary objectification of women. Also, there are some very brave views on love and relationships, showing it's not going to be easy and you have to work at it.

The movie isn't perfect though, you will have to sift through some blatant swearing and some scenes, although funny at times, that condone some not-so-admirable behaviour, but overall, it's a quality flick in my opinion.

Check it out yourself.

A new baby and a fab gift

Today has been slow again at work, but the office is all a buzz - one of the ladies I did my training with, Shelley, has had her baby! His name is Kai Mapp, and he was 5 pounds even at almost 3 months early. Congratulations! Both mother and son are doing fine.

Also, one of the girls here was very thoughtful - she bought me a book on the Clash that she found on the chuck-out bin at Chapters just because she knows I adore them! Wow, I barely know her, so it's just so sweet.

Merry Christmas to that!

Home for the holidays...

Most of us are on our way home for the holidays in some way or another - now whether this means we are actually leaving our current places of residence to go to our family place or residence, or whether we are simply going to a comforting place in our minds, it doesn't really matter - the fact remains, there is something about Christmas time that makes us long to be at home.

But what does it mean to go home? They say home is where the heart is, but what happens when your heart checks out and you're left considering only a building?

I guess it's just a part of growing up - you move forward on your own path and you are no longer within the parameters of the home set up for you from your parents, and you become wiser, and it's easier to see the cracks in the surface when you do come home. Parents and siblings are not longer infalible, and the real world seeps in...

But you know what? I've been musing about this for a few days now, and really, all these questions just make me realize how happy I am to know that I will always have a home that is peaceful and bright that lies within the realm of heavenly grace. Amen to that.

A tattoo idea

So I've been surfing the net a little, checking out some potentially interesting tattoo ideas. I like this one, it would keep with my chinese character thing, and is meant to stand for Holy Son. Cool.

Oh Holy Night

Oh holy night!

The stars are brightly shining

It is the night of the dear savior’s birth!

Long lay the world in sin and error pining

Till he appear’d and the soul felt it’s worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn!

Fall on your knees

Oh hear the angel voices

Oh night divine

Oh night when christ was born

Oh night divine

Oh night divine

The girls I know and love

Do any of you out there have a set of friends that you just adore? Come hell or highwater they are with you. They comfort you, they tease you, and they challenge you. They know you well enough that you don't have to say anything because they already know. They aren't afraid to tell you to "cut the crap!" and "to stop being a drama queen!" The kind of people who are willing to stand by you no matter what, even if you don't talk to them every day.

That is what I think of my best girl friends!

I never imagined that in my first year of university I would stumble upon such solid friends as I did. I was young, I was scared, and I was relatively out of my element as I had just moved from a completely different province. I didn't know what was in store for me. Yet, on that very first day I met a plucky blonde who had an uncanny resemblance to me named Courtney, and subsequently in the next few days I met Jennifer, Alison and Nushin. If you can believe it, we made such fast friends that we were barely into October before we knew we all wanted to live together when we left residence. Now, you'd think that would back-fire, but no, we did live together - in fact, we lived together for three years while at school in a fantastic little apartment on Bagot St in Kingston. We had a home, we were a family.

I love these ladies.

This past Monday, I had the treat of once again being able to get together with them to eat dinner, talk and exchange Christmas gift. It was us five plus Farah, Nushin's sister, who was an honourary member of our apartment (if you can believe it, she also lived on Bagot street!). I can't tell you how good I felt on Tuesday morning after having just spent an evening with my ladies! Thank God for friends like them.

(p.s. I hope to soon put up a pic of us here).

A really busy weekend

Today I feel like I need a day off after my weekend off. This weekend just zoomed by, leaving me feeling tired and with the sense that not much was accomplished, including sleeping properly. Don't get me wrong, this weekend was great fun, I just went full throttle and now, I've got a case of the Mondays. (Please reference Office Space).

On Friday, we had a good-bye celebration for two girls from my church, Rachel and Heidi, who have both been accepted to do an exchange program overseas for the next few months. I'm so excited for them! So, we had dinner and drinks, and then made our way to Supermarket (in Kensington) to dance the night away. We cut a rug, we danced up a storm...ugh, enough clichés. In fact, me and one of my friends actually danced right up until the last song - not bad considering I wasn't actually going to go dancing at all. It was just fun!

Going out dancing is such an interesting experience every time you go, but I'm finding it all the more interesting lately when I go out with my Christian friends. My first time I went, I didn't actually believe my friend Leslie when she said going dancing was Freedomizers was nuts because you've never seen a crazier bunch of dancers. Well, I know now that this is true - I've never seen a more wild bunch (have we met Luke Minaker???) and I've never seen a co-ed group go dancing while leaving so much space between them. (We leave room for the Holy Spirit! ha!)

This past Friday was an yet another interesting experience, in the sense that it shed a little light on my Freedomize boys. The boys we were with were quite offended by the club pick-up mentality of the guys dancing around the dance floor. I've gone out with protective friends before, but these boys seemed exeptionally apalled by the fact that there were boys just hovering near us girls. (Something girls HATE!) I've got to admit that it made me feel all the more appreciative of the non-overtly-sexualized way that boys and girls try to relate to each other in Christian terms. I mean, I can take care of myself in a club - in fact I get quite fiesty, but all the same, it was touching to know that my guy friends wanted nothing more than for us girls to have a fun time without feeling like we were a part of the meat market. Moral of the story: Props to you Freedomize boys!

Saturday flew by admist the stress of trying to get errands done - I felt terrible seeing as I couldn't even get everything done I wanted to. Before I knew it it was time to get prepped and beautied up for Handel's Messiah at Roy Thompson Hall. Talk about an amazing experience! I've never been to the Messiah before, and it's quite awesome to sit and hear almost a hundred and seventy voices singing words taken directly from the Bible - all of which tell the Truth. Wow! It was also really nice to spend an evening out with Freedomizers in a different context. We all got to dress up, dresses and suits, and have a good time. I definately looking forward next year. I can't past up an opportunity to get dolled up and hear amazing music. :)

Sunday was another full day - the morning was spent visiting Lorna and Kiwi (my dad's elderly second cousins and my closest relatives in Canada) having tea, which is always nice. I have been going to see Lorna and Kiwi in Toronto since before I can remember. In fact, they even have a picture of me when I first came to Canada at the age of about eighteen months old! After tea I rushed off to a choir practice with my friends to prepare for our debut at the service last night. Everything went relatively well - although we did flub a little, I think it sounded pretty damn good for a first go at things. I'll keep you all posted on more choir info. I was glad though that we did get a good reception, I really wanted nothing more than to share something I really love with the people of Freedomize!

I'm sad to say I find myself tired, and ready for bed...I really do need as rest after my weekend off...

All in song titles

This is something I used to do with my friend ages ago. We used to have whole conversations using solely song titles to convey the message (adding only minimal amounts of words necessary to string them together). For example, if I wanted to explain that I am tired and going to bed soon, I would write something like:

somebody told me sweet dreams call me to feel so different

where the higlighted words are song titles (The Killers, Eurythmics, Blondie, Sinead O'Connor). Make sense? I'm going to attempt something longer in the following post which tells the story of my encounter with a boy I was totally disinterested in on the weekend. You know, I hate to say it, but he was a Gino and I don't find that attractive...eww...(Oh, and challenge yourself to find the artists is you don't know the song - it's fun!)

This weekend I was a dancing queen dancing in the dark thinking I was getting to funkytown, when Iended up in more of a combat baby situation. A gent not born in the USA tried to mambo italiano with me. He said he said "I wanna hold your hand" and that I was just like honey. He talked about his heart of glass and I felt under pressure. He said "I need you tonight" but I felt he meant he wanted to bungle in the jungle in my love shack. Most guys want to do the wild thing or drop it like it's hot in da club because of my humps (or other girl's bits and pieces). He didn't make me feel like makin' love with his hungry heart because I believe in a thing called love not tainted love. He wasn't too shy and one way or another he was determined to kiss. I was thunderstruck and I thought "Is this love?" I assured him if ya getting down i'm not your holla back girl, so don't bother. Girls just wanna have fun, but the times they are a changing so it takes more than a feeling to say let's get it on. Boys who wanna sex you up is not a new phenomenon, but it takes the power of love so I'm still fighting it. Luckily I found an escape when I said to a friend take me out so I can go home for a rest. The moral is that another one bites the dust singing a song for the dumped. So men, if you want to see paradise by the dashboard light and you still haven't found what you're looking for, try and treat her right and you just might find some sexual healing in love and marriage.

Boy, I've got a lot of time on my hands..

Reflections on Christmas

I like Christmas time. Not only is it advent - a wonderful time to reflect on the upcoming celebrations of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it's also a time of Christmas movies, hot chocolate, and decorating. Sigh.

Honestly, some of the best memories that I have from my university career came about at Christmas time, when I was living with my best girlfriends. We all love Christmas, and seeing as exams were over part way through December and we wanted to maxmize decorating time, we would put up decoration almost immediately after Halloween. Every girl would decorate outside their doors with lights, and we would often just leave them on so we had a Christmas-y hallway. We also started a tradition of breaking up the study time with Christmas movies - favourites that include White Christmas, the original Miracle on 34th Street, Mixed Nuts, National Lampoon's Christmas vacation, One Magic Christmas (but it only counts if Al cries) - so that at the end of each long day of hard work you could look forward to cuddling up on the couch with your fantastic friends to with hot chocolate and candy canes. Sigh. I miss that feeling. I love Christmas.

Then there is always the tradition of going to church on Christmas Eve with my family and then coming home to open the gifts sent from Africa. This was because we would all be up at the crack of dawn to call Africa for Christmas greetings, and you had to thank them for their gifts. (This year this tradition will be postponed seeing as we did the family Christmas thing in October, but the thought will be there!) Sigh. I just love that feeling of sitting next to the Christmas tree lights, tingling with anticipation or the feeling inspired by just sitting and staring at the lights and ornaments. I can't wait for Christmas!

This year, though, I think I've created a new tradition for myself - office Christmas parties. Although I didn't make it to the official Shindig for the GBCCC at Sunlife, I have managed to go two for two as "arm candy" to parties for my friends. My first venture was the party held at Wycliffe College at U of T. I went along with my friend Andrew, mostly because he (literally) asked me to be his arm candy for the night the day I returned to Canada from Africa. Somehow in my jet-lagged state I said "Sure!" Alas, it was fun - a good night of free food and drinks, plus the blessing of being amongst an Anglican church family even if just for a day. (Again, something that I grew up with, so it's something I cherish). Then this past Sunday I acted as a "date" to the Etobicoke Ikea party with my friend Enoch. So much fun! We ate tons of food and danced up a storm - trying, of course, to avoid the path of an overly friendly co-worker who was grinding with not just one, but about three different guys. (She hasn't read the Metro I take it - for weeks now they have been saying this is a no-no for office party etiquette. Tsk, tsk). Overall it was a lot of fun!

Maybe I should start renting my "arm candy" services. Um, no wait, that would give me a bad reputation. Maybe I'll just stick to being the invited girl, the random friend who will come along and have fun, but not too much so you are embarassed in front of your collegues. I figure this year has been a nice step into that direction. I'm batting two for two. Yay me! Yay people for inviting me!

p.s Below is a picture of Andrew and his arm candy. Aren't we cute?

Profound thoughts

None of these are mine, but sometimes it's just fun to collect random thought and quotes from other people. I particularly enjoy witticisms myself. Witticism of course simply being witty remarks. Here are a few fun ones that I came across lately:

"It is far better to be silent than merely to increase the quantity of bad books."
~ Voltaire ~

"The only way to amuse some people is to slip and fall on an icy pavement."
~ Edward Watson Howe ~

"Duct tape is like the Force. It has a dark side, it has a light side, and it holds the Universe together."
~ Carl Zwanig ~

"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."
~ Mark Twain ~

"Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you recognizea mistake when you make it again".
~ F. P. Jones ~

"It's not the men in my life that counts, it's the life in my men."
~ Mae West ~

"It is better to be beautiful than to be good, but it is better to be good than to be ugly."
~ Oscar Wilde ~

"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us."
~ Calvin and Hobbes (Bill Watterson) ~

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
~ Groucho Marx ~

"Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain."
~ Lily Tomlin ~

"Anytime four New Yorkers get into a cab together without arguing, a bank robbery has just taken place."
~ Johnny Carson ~

"Not all chemicals are bad. Without chemicals such as hydrogen andoxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vitalingredient in beer."
~ Dave Barry ~

"Life is something that happens when you can't get to sleep."
~ Fran Lebowitz ~

"Americans always try to do the right thing -- after they've tried everything else."
~ Winston Churchill ~

"I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house."
~ Zsa Zsa Gabor ~

"We should not permit prayer to be taken out of the schools;that's the only way most of us got through."
~ Sam Levenson ~

"I can resist everything except temptation."
~ Oscar Wilde ~

Over the weekend...

Over the weekend I looked up my uncle's website for his artwork, it's now posted on the side. Please check it out! He's an amazing painter - all self taught. He also does wood work and he's a fantastic handyman. He's still going strong, even after he lost a thumb and forefinger in a carving accident.

For years I've been blessed to know his work, but I hadn't really seen much until I went to Africa. He has tons of work around the house. Below is my favourite picture, it hangs in the front hallway of 27 Vlei Rd, and I used to look at it every day while drinking my tea. Hope you like it too!

Working hard or hardly working

Ok, so it looks like I can now say that my job is a job - in the sense that I am basically out of the training room, and onto my "training wheels". As of yesterday, I was give a bit more rein and was put out on to the phones.

It's day two of being on my own, and quite frankly, I think this is going well. I don't always have all the answers, and there are spaces of time when there isn't much going on, but I like what I do. I like helping people. Who knows how long this will last, right? ;)

Baby steps.