Aack!!

Well…I certainly am not the greatest blogger, now am I? Leaving you all hanging for 5 months – shame on me!

Given this fact and the fact that I don’t make resolutions at the beginning of each year, I’m going to try something new. Something that will hopefully still hold me accountable to myself and the people who love me. I am going to start quarterly goals and reports. I’ll still blog when interesting things happen (please, no more birds in my apartment though), and I’ll make goals every three months and check in to see where I am at with those goals.

BUT! (and this is what I am hoping will keep me successful at my goals) I am only going to make a goal for each quarter at the beginning of that particular quarter. I am not going to try and make all my goals for the year right now.


The Rules:

1. Be realistic. Don’t set yourself up for automatic failure by setting goals that are unattainable in the timeframe of 3 months.

2. Try. Don’t give up after a week.

3. Set a goal for 2 life categories (for lack of a better word): Health, Relationships, Hobbies, or Finances.

4. Allow yourself to be imperfect. Oh, there will be bumps and blips in the road ahead, but if you give yourself permission to make the odd mistake, you’re better off than riddling yourself with guilt every time.

5. Your goal must be set by the beginning of each quarter and met by the end of each quarter, with a grace period of 3 days on either end.

First Quarter – January 1, 2012 – March 31, 2012
Second Quarter – April 1, 2012 – June 30, 2012
Third Quarter – July 1, 2012 – September 30, 2012
Fourth Quarter – October 1, 2012 – December 31, 2012

Now, on to setting some goals for the first quarter.

Soooo...a bird flew into my apartment.

So yesterday after work, I decided I just wanted a chill night after such a busy weekend with friends from out of town being here. I told my bf to vamoose and that I would see him today, and he did. So I'm chillin', watching Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny (I PVRed it a couple weeks ago), I have my patio door open (no screens because a former tenant took them at some point before I moved in), and suddenly this bird kamikazes into my apartment, straight into the wall in my kitchen. Thud. No movement.

I'm sitting there in utter shock and disbelief. I know exactly where it has landed on my pantry/shelf. I call Russel (the boyfriend) and tell him there is a bird in my apartment. He doesn't understand what I'm saying at first, and then I say it again. There. Is. A. Bird. In. My. Apartment. He says he'll be right there. Ten minutes later, the bird comes too, and there is some flapping and then stillness and still no Russel, so I call my parents.

First my mom can't stop laughing as I am in hysterics about this bird. My sister is in the background saying "Charge it rent, that'll get him out", and my dad is trying to tell me how to deal with it. So my dad gets on the phone and tells me to put on sunglasses and a hat so that it can't peck my eyes out and won't get tangled in my hair. I'm telling him there is no way I am going near that thing because I am absolutely certain it will attack me. Finally, another 15 minutes passes and Russel gets there - turns out he had been long-boarding in Stanley Park and he got there as fast as he could. He's giggling a bit as he sees me waiting in my hallway. So I let him in, and tell him where the bird is. Then I stand in my hallway and watch as he turns on all the lights and he sees a little finch sitting there, among my canned goods. He slowly reaches for it, and it goes beserk, sending it up towards the ceiling in my direction. So I run into the bathroom shrieking and close the door. As I'm in there, I hear rustling and my venetian blinds moving and then I hear water running, so I go out. Russel has the bird in his hand (he wrapped a plastic bag around his hand first), and he's letting it drink water. Then he took it out the balcony and set it free.And that was my supposed-to-be-uneventful Tuesday night.

20

If you could only have one thing to eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?  Pizza, as long as I could change the toppings daily to suit my cravings.

Where is the furthest place from home that you've travelled to?  I googled it - Rio de Janeiro is only 508.86 km farther away from Vancouver than Tel Aviv is.  So Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. :-D

What is your favourite sound?  The sound of his hands wrapping around my waist.

List three things in the nearest proximity to you right now.  A phone, a computer and a mirror.

What are the first three things you would do after finding out you won the lottery?  I would pay off the rest of my credit line, give my family money, buy land in 3 different countries to develop my homes/vacation homes, and develop said homes.

What was the last thing someone said to you that you'll remember forever?  "I love you"

Do you wish upon a star?  I haven't in a long time...maybe I'll start again!

What is your favourite day of the week?  Saturday

What is/was your favourite 80s sitcom?  Golden Girls

Do you think moustaches are sexy?  Nope.  Not at all.

Do you like talking raunchy, or being spoken to in a raunchy manner during sex?  This question is kind of out of left field.  The answer is no.

What do you find the most disgusting?  Questions like the one above!!  Kidding, I'm not THAT much of a prude.  I find a lot of things disgusting...

If you could have anything, absolutely anything right now, what would it be?  $3,567,230.25, tax free.

What are your three favourite smells?  Vanilla, fresh cut grass, the smell of coffee brewing while I'm still under the covers half asleep.  I know my answers are pretty pedestrian.  You're welcome.

If you could push one person off the edge of a cliff, and get away with it, would you do it?  Noooooo!!

If so, who would it be?  TOTALLY not going there!!!!

Have you heard any rumours about me lately (Alli Bell, Linds Carstens)?  Yes, I've heard you're both pregnant. (kidding)

Can we get together and make a cake?  Why the hell not?!

Have we kissed each other?  Yes, I've probably given you both a peck on the cheek at one time or another.

Have you ever snooped around someone else's house?  Yes, but not much.  I like looking at family photos that are all on display.

Can you curl your tongue?  Yes!!

This time, its gonna be different!!!

In September 2009, I completed a 30 day fitness challenge.  I didn't work out for 30 days straight, but I did pretty good and probably only missed a few days.  On the last day I finished the challenge with a rigorous work out with my trainer, in which we did some kick boxing (one of my favourite cardio activities).  Soon after that day, I couldn't walk properly; I had pulled my SI-joint (its hyper-mobile).  I'm still going to physio for it a year and a half later, but have returned to the gym (a few times...) since then.

There seem to be too many of these starts and stops though.  Why do I get all gung-ho about it for a few weeks and then just quit?  Is it all excuses, or are some of these reasons valid?  I feel like I've ALWAYS been like this...is it normal?  How do some people develop great will-power and motivation, and others don't?

This time its different.  This time I feel like I've got not only the physical motivation to get moving, but also the mental and emotional.  I've seen the benefit of exercising regularly and eating well - you start feeling like a super star, you have more energy, you sleep better, your clothes fit better, and ... other aspects seem to improve as well. ;-)

I'm ready to quit being a self-centered, un-motivated brat with no will power, and start being a self-centered, MOTIVATED brat WITH will power!  I work full time and a second job 3 evenings a week, so scheduling is going to be difficult until my body is used to the routine.  Some people are going to try to convince me to go out with them in the middle of the week.  Please don't get me wrong, I love spending time with each and every one of you (and you know who you are), but the lifestyle I am currently living is not conducive to a good and healthy body, outlook, attitude and life.  So until I get my body used to all the changes, I am going to be hiding under a rock for a while, sometimes even on weekends.

Last week I went to bed at 11pm almost every night, which is early in my world.  But I woke up feeling like I actually slept (except for nights where I have sleep-stared, but that's a whole other story, and I'll save that for another post).  I LIKE feeling like that in the morning!!

I'm not completely naive.  I know I'm not going to change all my bad habits overnight.  Baby steps!  But those baby steps are going to start with a couple morning work-outs per week.  My gym is 2 minutes (LITERALLY) from my house, so I can stumble out of bed, brush my teeth, put a hat over my bed head, and get moving!

I want to start running eventually.  I've tried to before, and I got all the way up to running for 5 minutes without stopping (I know, to most of you that doesn't seem like much, but to me, it felt like I had conquered a HUGE hurtle).  I did a 5K walk/run in 45 minutes in December 2009 - that was fun!

This week's plan:

• Walk for 45 minutes on at least 2 of my lunch breaks;
•  Go to the gym before work at least once; and
•  Cut out coffee after 1:00pm.

Three challenges for 1 week, and they seem quite reasonable.  Lets see how many of them I can check off as of next week's post.

This'll be a nice, refreshing, tall glass of lemonade...

We all know the old adage.  When life hands you lemons you look at life, look down at the lemons, look at life again, look down at the lemons and look and life and say "Seriously?!"  Then you pull up your boot straps, take out your juicer and have at 'er!

 The past little bit has been a little rough and tumultuous, but thankfully I have had some really great people by my side through it.  And they remind me every day that I have made the right decision.  I quit one of my jobs.  I don't want to get into details because I am not really a fan of bashing in any form, and especially via the Internet.

 I have been at my new full time position for just over a month now, and its awesome.  The professionalism is by far the best I've encountered.  There are no cliques, everyone does the work they are asked un-begrudgingly.  There has been a little bit of a learning curve, but thankfully (so far) not much of one.  I've been doing this for 10 years so all there is to really learn is just how this business does things versus the way others did it.

And I feel another challenge coming on...

That square peg just isn't going to fit into that round hole, so get over it!

Do you ever feel like some people have a driving need to label?  I know, I'm probably guilty of this from time to time as well.  But some people seem to be more comfortable being able to put you in a little box, package you up all nice and pretty like and tagging you with a label...forever.  And then from that nice little label they have given you, they like to make all sorts of assumptions and predictions, and treat you in an unfair manner.

Let me just say to those who have a need to do this - get out of your head!!  Your assumptions are probably wrong!  Stop reading between the lines and start taking people for the words that actually come out of their mouth!

I feel like this is something that has been overshadowing my whole life.  I sometimes feel like its rare that I know someone who actually gets me, who takes the time to figure out how I tick and doesn't judge me for it.  And I thank the Universe every day for those people.  I recently worked in a position where for the whole time I was there, not one person really took the time to know ME.  It bothers me because I am not someone to just put everything out there for people to see (although I blog...hmmm...), and left and right I see people making snap judgments about me without really ever questioning whether their judgments are right or too harsh.  And most of the time these judgments, in my humble opinion, fall into the category of being completely wrong.

This also happens when I start talking about my music.  I often get asked what sort of music I write.  I have a really hard time answering that question, so I usually sound somewhat flakey with my answer of "Well, you know, man, its like folky-alternative-rockish kinda music...sorta like Sarah McLachlan, Jewel and Alanis Morrisette, but nothing like them...you know?"  *shakes head*  Freakin' hippy.  (Yes, I am referring to myself that way)  I have ALWAYS said that my first album is going to be quite a mix of everything from rock, pop, alternative, opera, bhangra and other world music.  I like everything, I think I have the range to do everything, so why the hell can't I do everything?  Why do I need to pick a genre and stick with just that??

Life is fluidity.  People are fluid.  People are always changing.  Stop with the snap judgments.  I am an onion.  I reveal myself one layer at a time.  If you don't want to have the patience to peel back the layers, then just don't bother starting.

Lets all be onions.

Gawd, someone let the hippy into the room again...

Heh...first post of 2011, and its March...

I'm sorry.  I'm not going to even make excuses.  I am in the midst of some changes, so I will get back to hopefully posting somewhat regularly again.  So many things!!!!!

E.