C'est Fini!!

It's been 13 long weeks, but I'm finally done. Until February. LOL.

Yes, today was my last french class of this session. And the even better news is that I "met" the course objectives which means I get to move onto the next level in February. I'm on my way to being bilingual. It's a long and frustrating road but it's worth it in the end.

My afternoon was a blur. Playing catch up from being in class all morning :) It's going to be a little strange next Wednesday, being in the office in the morning. I'm sure I'll re-adjust quickly.

I did something kind of cool this evening. The lead guitarist, Sal Costa, from one of my favourite bands, My Darkest Days, did a live web chat to answer questions about his new clothing line. He's released a few items so far and will be releasing more tomorrow. The really wicked part is that he donates partial proceeds to charity. And the charity changes every so often too. I think that's awesome.

Anyhow, he was answering questions from the fans and I got 2 questions answered and a request answered. LOL. One of my questions was the last one he answered and it was the most important one. Sal is a very big proponent of healthy living and eating. He gave a very honest and straightforward answer to my question, which was "What's the most important healthy eating tip you can give". And he answered it! He reminded everyone that if you eat garbage, you'll feel and look bad. You are what you eat. He recommended staying away from bad fats and to eat 6 small meals through out the day to get your metabolism up. It makes sense and I've definitely heard that recommendation before.

It seems like a simple concept, but putting it into place is the trick. Especially is you're rather set in the way you live/eat already. The "diet" industry in North America is a multi-billion dollar industry. There is just so much out there. Shakes, pills, vitamins, diets, work outs, equipments, meal plans, drugs... and there's so much hype around all of them. It's very hard to wade through all of that noise and figure out what is real, what works and what makes the most sense for me. Just because something works for one person, don't mean it will work for me.

I definitely have something to mull over for a little bit. Maybe simplicity is the key?

Good Night!

Sarah

Halloween Howler

Ok. So you might have noticed that I didn't blog last night. By the time I got home and scraped the make up off my face, it was 3am. I didn't think that blogging at 3am would be a very good idea. While I was sober, I was on the tired side and figured that the typos would detract from the blog. LOL.

Let me start by saying that last night was amazing. It's one of the best night's out I've had in years. Yes, I said years. We're already established that I don't get out much so this should really not be a shock to anyone. The best part was that my anxiety was pretty damn minimal and as a result, I was able to completely relax and enjoy myself.

I took my time getting ready and everything turned out well. My hair co-operated and my make up turned out surprisingly well. I pretty much just winged it. Here's the finished product:

Xtinktor and I got to the venue around 7:30pm. We waited in the car for a bit and then when the line started to get long, we left the warmth of the car and lined up. He was complaining about it being cold because he was wearing a dress. LOL. I told him to suck it up. At least he was wearing a long dress. Mine barely covered my ass! (Thank god for the spanx type short things I was wearing underneath). The rain held off so the wait wasn't too bad. I had to pee the entire time though so that wasn't nice. They let us in just a few minutes after 8 so that was awesome. Once inside, I found my friend Kim and got female confirmation that my costume was fantastic and no, I wasn't showing too much cleavage ( I didn't trust Xtinktor's opinion - LOL ). Here's the full costume:

  



 

After finding the bathroom, I got a Swedish Berry shooter for Kim and I. That went down really well. It was shortly followed by a "Porn Star" (yes, that's a drink) and that was it for the alcohol for me for the night. You see, the more I drink, the more I have to pee. Thanks to everything holding me in my outfit, going to the bathroom is roughly a 10 minute re-adjusting ordeal. I did not want to be doing that every half hour. LOL. The club was pretty cool. It was decorated really well with some pretty spooky stuff. And some of the costumes were awesome. Thanks to some connections, I got the schedule for the evening which allowed a group of us to get some very kick ass spots in front of the stage for the My Darkest Days show. See:

 

(that's not zoomed!)

 



 The concert was amazing. They played 2 sets and both of them were wicked. The band was on fire. Lots of energy, lots of joking around and best of all, lots of crowd interaction. We were standing right in front of the stairs, which the lead singer and lead guitarist both came and stood on a few times. It was so fucking cool. At one point, the lead singer actually took a walk down into the crowd. That was pretty awesome. My Darkest Days last song of the 2nd set was their hit "Porn Star Dancing". They told all the women to get up on the stage for the song. If I hadn't ran up on the stage, I was going to get trampled. LOL. It was very wicked to be on stage with them and about 100 other women. But I managed to get a pretty good spot, directly behind their lead guitarist:

 

 

 





I have to admit, being on the stage was a little scary. I was totally surrounded by people and I couldn't see much since I'm so short. When I'd been on the floor, Xtinktor was standing behind me and keeping people from pushing into me (btw, thank you so very much for that). But I hung in there and had a blast being so close to the band. It was definitely an amazing experience even if it was a tiny bit scary. Once the band managed to squeeze their way off the stage, the rest of us made our way back down to the floor. Xtinktor had rescued his jacket and my purse (thanks again!) and we made our way back to where my other friends where. For the first time all night, we managed to find a seat and rest for bit. I then wandered over to the merch table and bought a t-shirt. While watching the show, I ended up with a My Darkest Days condom, a guitar pick from their lead singer and one from their lead guitarist.
But the coolest part of the night came next. The band came out to mingle and meet the fans! I did meet all 5 of them and got my photo taken with each one too. Each and every one of them was so nice and polite. A couple of them seemed really appreciative to the fact that we'd come out to the show and thanked us for supporting the band. I thought that was really cool.  I also got to personally say "Thank You" to their lead guitarist Sal. He posts a lot on FB and usually posts very inspirational and motivating things. There have been several times when I've been having a bad day and he posts something and it makes me smile and feel better. So I got to thank him for that. He seemed flattered and gave me a big hug. That made my night. LOL. Here's the photo of Sal and I:

 





As you can see, I was pretty damn happy! I was thrilled to meet all of them in fact:

Brendan - bass player

 

Doug - drummer

 

Matt - lead singer

 

Reid - keyboard player/guitar

 



As I said before, they were all super nice (especially Brendan, Sal and Reid) and it was a lot of fun talking to them. I think Xtinktor had fun too, especially since two of them really thought he was a girl. LOL. After the show we headed to Denny's for a little bit to eat and for me, some warm tea. My throat was a little raw from screaming all night. I wonder why... :D

I've been on the sleepy side today and my hearing isn't 100% back to normal yet, but it was all well worth it. It was a night with some good friends, a kick ass band and a very confident and worry free me. And it felt amazing. It just served to remind me that I am changing and growing as a person and while that's scary sometimes, it's also wonderful. When I stop being afraid and get out and embrace life and world around me, I get to experience some truly amazing and awesome things. I won't forget this night any time soon and it will serve as inspiration for my continuing self improvement journey.

Here's one last fun thing from last night before I log off. It's a video I shot of the band rocking out and doing some shots. Enjoy!





Good Night!

Sarah

Excitement's evil twin: Anxiety

Another long day at work, doing some overtime. It was uber hot in our office today. Largely due to the fact that it got up to 26 with the humidex today. Kind of crazy but it was definitely welcome. Especially since we're in for rain all week.

I'm trying to contain my excitement and keep some anxiety at bay. My Halloween party and rock show is tomorrow night. The excitement is expected. But the anxiety? Not so much. But that happens to me a lot.

Whenever I do something new, something that's unknown or out of the norm for me, my old friend anxiety shows up. It's been with me since I was in high school. It's been unbearable and it's been manageable. Back n 2005, before I moved to Calgary, I had to go on anti-anxiety medication because my anxiety was so bad that it was keeping me up at night. Not good. Thankfully it's never been that bad since.

Anxiety is different than a panic attack. Panic attacks are usually sudden and intense. Anxiety is slow and builds. It starts as a knot in my stomach and just goes from there. I get sick feeling, cold, sometimes get the shakes, then the other issues pop up. I have to pee every 15 minutes and if it's really bad, diarrhea. And if it's horrible...I throw up. Thankfully, the last one hasn't happened in years and I'm getting much better at controlling my anxiety.

Here's the really dumb part. I can do the same thing 10 times and have anxiety attacks on the 1st, 6th, 8th and 10th times. That happens to me when I travel. I've taken the train home about 100 times and yet every time I do, I still get some anxiety when I travel. Usually it's mixed with excitement and now a days, it's controllable but it still sucks. Just having that feeling with you blows. You look forward to something and get so excited about it and then the day of you just feel sick and bloated and uneasy. Kind of dampens the mood. Thankfully, once I get settled into the event, or on the train or meet the person, I calm right down and the anxiety goes away. It's just the lead up that makes me sick. And so much of it is irrational and I know it is but that doesn't stop it. I really hate it.

So I'm hoping that tomorrow, anxiety decides to bugger off and let me have fun. I don't want to stress over my costume or what the venue is going to be like or anything else like that. I just want to enjoy the fact that I get to go out. Get to spend the night with some fun people and get to see an awesome band. I just want to focus on enjoying myself and how much fun dressing up can be!

The first step in that process is going to be getting a good night's sleep. I get to sleep in tomorrow so I'm happy about that too. And I really am excited about going out tomorrow. I'm really looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone and cutting loose for a night. And having some fun too ;)

Good Night!

Sarah

My Darkest Days - the band I'll be seeing tomorrow night

Bus Wars

I take the bus at least twice a day. Usually it's a pretty mundane and uneventful ride. But tonight's was a little on the interesting side.

I caught the bus a little after 5pm, so right in the height of rush hour. My bus is usually on the full side to begin with but today it was running late so it was even more crowded than usual.

A woman was sitting on the outside of 2 seats. The inside seat was empty. The problem was that she had a rather large frame in a box with her, so she had it between her and the seat in front of her, which effectively blocked the seat beside her. 2 stops after mine, a woman decided that she wanted to sit in this empty, yet blocked seat. Since I had my iPod on, I didn't get the entire jest of the beginning of the conversation but I got the escalation which followed. Lady sitting  with package (Woman A) told standing lady (woman B) that she didn't think there was room because the package was in the way. Woman B told Woman A to move the package. Woman A said that she didn't want to block the aisle and hit people with it. I give a point to Woman A for that. Woman B then tell Woman A that she shouldn't have brought such a large package on the bus then, especially during rush hour. I'm going to award Woman B a point for that. It's kind of true. Plan your trips accordingly people! Woman B then tells Woman A that she paid for a seat on the bus so she's going to take it. Woman A said that she paid for a seat too. This is where Woman A loses a point because she's actually taking up 2 seats. So.... Woman B tries to shimmy past Woman A to get into the seat, which is pretty much impossible. Woman A just moves her legs a bit to the side. WTF? Are you people 3 years old or something?? Fuck.

Now's where it gets really interesting. While Woman B is trying to get passed Woman A (who isn't moving out of the way), her bag/purse swings a bit and hits Woman A on the head, which Woman A seems to take a bit of offence to. Gee, I wonder why? At this point, the two women are now seated side by side and are arguing loudly. To the point where the bus driver was looking at them (he was on the phone to control on a un-related matter - like the fact that we were very late and very crowded). Woman B must of really wanted that seat because I so wouldn't have wanted to sit next to a woman that I'd just had angry words with, had managed to piss off and had smacked in the head with my purse. The purse thing did look accidental from my view point (which was almost directly across the aisle). I get hit several times a week by the bags, purses and backpacks of people going by so I'm used to it and know that it happens.

The two women seemed to calm down. I lost track of how it ended as the bus was now so full of people that the aisle was blocked and I couldn't see them anymore. I think that Woman A got off the bus with her package or somehow moved to another seat. However, I did hear Woman B bitching to someone else about the ordeal (couldn't see her but I could hear her, even with my iPod on). So that made for a rather interesting bus ride home. For a minute there I thought there might be an actual brawl. I'm sure that would have resulted in the bus being detained while the cops were called, so I'm glad it didn't happen.

Oh! And during this whole mess, I got some awesome news via email: I scored tickets to the Hallowe'en Party that I wanted to go to!!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of my favourite bands, My Darkest Days, is playing there. I'm so friggin' excited. Two very awesome people worked together to get me the tickets and I'm so very greateful to them for it. I'm very excited now. For a multitude of reasons which I'll explain over the coming weeks :) The news made my day.

Good Night!

Sarah

It's not a city bus, but it's a bus. And it's a funny photo too :)

Writer's Block?

Good evening... and I have no idea what to write beyond that. Today was a very dull and mundane day, especially when compared to the two previous days. I did get to sleep in though, so that was nice.

But I really don't have much on my mind to write about tonight. It's back to work for me tomorrow, and my boss is back from holidays so it might be a busy day. I also have a re-scheduled doctor's appointment (for my physical) tomorrow morning, providing the receptionist didn't forget to book it. Hopefully my blood test results are back so that I don't have to go back for a third time.

I did discover two new bands today. I follow a bunch of them on Twitter and I finally found the time to check some of them out. The two that I came across today are "Hard Honey" from Calgary, AB Canada and "Throw The Fight" from Minneapolis, MN USA. You can find them both on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and iTunes. I've been in search of some new music as of late and am rather happy to have some. I just wish Hard Honey had more tracks available online to listen to .

That's it for me tonight. A very short and sweet blog. Nothing thrilling. Maybe I'll have more to say tomorrow night.

Good Night!

Sarah

Since I was talkinga about bands tonight, here's a photo of one of my favourite bands, My Darkest Days, taken at Bluesfest this summer

Evening Walk and Playlist August 26th 2012

There sure were a lot of critters out there tonight. I saw 2 rabbits, 2 ducks, had 2 chipmunks nearly run me over and had a dragonfly try to fly into my head. And a nice and rather cute dude on rollerblades stopped to chat with me for a minute :) All in all, a very nice walk this evening, even if it was 30 with the humidex.

Here's what fueled the fire tonight:

Count On Me - Default
Falling On - Finger Eleven
Forever - Papa Roach
The Good Life - Three Days Grace
Use Me - Hinder
Small Town Dead - Bleeker Ridge
Every Lie - My Darkest Days
Get Thru This - Art of Dying
Say You'll Haunt Me - Stone Sour
Gotta Be Somebody - Nickelback