Saws and Social Shindigs

Weekends...for me that means a Saturday sleep-in, maybe a walk with my dog, shopping a bit with my mom or going out for lunch, a nice lazy, relaxing day.
However, this past Saturday I was jolted awake by the loud and shocking sounds of chainsaws at about 7:30 am! Yes, the scheduled cutting of a very large dead tree in my yard just happened to be early that morning. Why so early?! Especially on a day where the majority of people don't get up as early, who want to relax a little.
Sufice to say, I was wide awake by 8:00 am and by 8:30 am ran a brush through my unruly hair, donned a warm sweatshirt and took my gleeful dog for a walk down to a park. She was utterly ecstatic and thoroughly enjoyed our jaunt, we even met some neighbourhood dogs in the park and had a bit of off-leash time. The morning was gorgeous, a chill in the air but the warm, bright morning sun broke through the clouds to make our walk warm and sunny.
By the time I got back the tree still was not down, and my neighbours hedges were half-destroyed by the falling branches. I watched the latest episode of ugly Betty (an enjoyable Halloween romp!) then headed out to escape the noisy sawing.
I had a lovely day with my mom, poking around the dwindling Moss Street Market, shopping at Costco and Tilicum Mall. I always have such fun with her!
THEN...the piece de resistance (or however you spell it) that night I had a Costume Party! My wonderful friends Meg and Shan came over to help me decorate and get ready as I furiously cleaned. They also carved my pumpkins, and did an great job! Thanks!!!
My party was great! Lots of excellent, cute, fun and imaginative costumes! And LOTS of food and goodies!! Man!! I'll be full for a week!! Thank you for all the yummy treats and the great time! I had so much fun!
What was my costume, you ask? Well after a lot of research, thought and creative imagining....I dressed up as...
The Fairy Goth Mother!! Yes, that's right! Fairy GOTH Mother! I had fun coming up with the costume: all black, my dark burgundy leather boots (combat-style kinda), black lacey gloves with fingertips cut off, black nail polish, black lipstick (that didn't last very long once we started nibbling on treat!), a cool black mask with little metal studs and my hair up all spikey, sprayed black. Oh, and fairy wings and a star want that were also sprayed with some black. Fun, fun!
Some other guests at the party included: Minnie Mouse, a fancy fairy, a Lady bug, a Hill Billy, Tinkerbell, a Luna the cave woman, Siamese cats (joined at the shoulder!), a cute cat, and a lioness. My dog even appeared out of hiding for a bit dresses as a pilot in her bomber jacket. Some other shady characters showed up later, sans costume but still in the mood for a social get together. Thanks everyone, for a great night!
I'll have to post a photo or two later.

Magicians and Meetings

An eventful weekend is finally over. And no, I haven't made a mistake, my weekends include Mondays since that is one of my days off. After my venture into advertising my roommate situation on Craigslist, I had a whopping 12 e-mails and phone calls within a week. Sheesh! Most of which were male or weird, so I had to e-mail them back saying that unfortunately I don't think it would work out. Out of the female and no-so-weird messages several never got back to me and one sounded promising but she failed to contact me when she came to town on the weekend. I even had one planned for meeting who was a no-show. Maddening! I cleaned, tidied and the eediot could not even call? La-Who-za-Her!!!

Anyway, my glorious friend Meg and I had a wonderful time catching her up on as much Grey's Anatomy as we could. Wow, I never knew I could do a TV marathon like we did!

Then off to the movies on Saturday night. Some gals chose to see Marie Antoinette, which they said wasn't so good. And M and I decided to see "The Prestige".

My comment for that movie...it's just "eh" (picture me shrugging my shoulders and only half smiling). For one thing the theatre was pretty packed and we had to sit right at the back next to some unruly teens who kept punching not only themselves but my arm once in a while by accident.

And for the whole first third of the film I had to strain to hear since it seemed the volume was turned down too low. I guess my ears and listening centre of my brain adjusted and after some confusing beginnings with the plot moving back and forth through time I finally settled into the tricksey and only slightly surprising story of two magicians trying to out-do one another.

The actors were excellent. Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale played the magicians and Michael Caine played the gadget-inventor/mentor. Scarlett Johansson played the role of the pretty assistant who betrays back and forth between the two tricksters. The plot was interesting but the twists were a flop in my book. I spotted some of the fakery a mile off, well really about half-way through, and when the final surprise was revealed I wasn't at all shocked. Ah well, it was good old entertainment through and through.

After our movies, all the girls went out to Fifth Street Grill and I enjoyed THE BEST wings ever! Mmm, maple garlic! I love that place and am confused as to why I don't go there more often.

So today, on my final day off for the week I lazed about, clean a little , did some needed laundry and mostly watched some episodes of Carnivale. Wow! What a messed-up show that is! I am so hooked! Funny thing is, this show, too, surrounds two magicians who will eventually meet and dual. However these characters are supposed to have actual supernatural powers, one for good, one for bad and we don't know quiet yet which is which. One is a failing priest, the other and 18-year old boy who hooks up with and has some connection to a Carnivale/Freak Show. Quite intriguing.

So, a good weekend but no roommate yet. If you have someone in mind let me know. I'd love to be able to get that DivX player SRM keeps bugging me about. Later.

~ TTK

Rejection, RSS and Roommates.

So, I am currently in the market for a new roommate. No, there isn't a store where I can puruse the aisles and pick our the freshest, most juicy personality to share my home and my life with. There is no Roommate Market where they are locally grown and picked daily. However, there is such a thing as web shopping for a roommate. It is called online ads and e-mailing.
I recently placed an ad on craigslist seeking a roommate to share my place. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love living on my own, in fact, I prefer it, but the bills and rent of my little home are getting the better of me and I find I have little to no spending money and no chance in heck of any type of savings. I don't mind having a roommate, but from past experiences I think I know what I can handle and what I don't want to even try tackling. I'm meeting with a few people this weekend to chat and see what they are like. I know I'll have to have some house rules to go over right away so nothing is a surprise later on. Right away I received about 10 e-mails and a couple phone calls. Several look promising, but I hadto e-mail backa couple saying I don't think we'd be a good roommate "fit" (some were guys, one a 52 year old man, and one mom looking for a home for her 17 year old! No way Jose!). I hope they don't take it too hard. i know rejection if difficult to take, but in the rental/roommate market, you have to expect to search for a while before finding the right place or person.
A little update on things in Kirsten World, my RSS feed for downloading TV shows seems to be crashing an awful lot lately. And not only crashing but not half working - it says it has downloaded a show in the history but the show has not downloaded. Arg! Being a pirate is such frustrating work sometimes.
Oh one last thing, I send out an evite to a bunch of friends inviting them to a killer costume party. I'm pretty stoked and excited. My party last year went really well and I think everyone had fun. I've been looking up costume ideas for myself and I have a few possibilites but I can't decide! Maybe I'll post a few later and see what you guys think.
Later!

~ K

Rain

I love the rain.
I love the cool, bright glow from rainclouds.
I love how rain sounds as it pat tap tap pats on my shoulder.
I love the wet grass.
I love how rain collects in trees and then falls in bigger, louder drops.
I love how rain makes the once dark and dead streets and into a brilliant, new reflective surface, alive with lights, colour and movement.
I love the smell of the rain on plants, concrete and soil.
I love how the sound of rain can whisper gently or drown out every other noise as it plummets down.
I love umbrellas and how such a simple, little piece of material and metal can shield us from the rain, keeping us dry in a wet world.
But I love rain on my face and hair.
I love the cold drops on my arms.
I even love how the rain makes tiny, sparkling dots like decorations on my glasses and window.
I love the coolness of a rainy season.
I love rain and how it makes me feel like everything is clean, like I can start again.
I love the rain.

My Life on TV

So I was home last night, watching some shows I downloaded (What About Brian, Gilmore Girls) and I was thinking...and maybe it was the painkillers for my toothache talking but I was thinking, what would my life be like if it were a TV show?

Would it be a comedy sitcom, like a family show? Or would it be a drama or documentary style? I know it probably wouldn't be an action/suspense type show! But really, what would it be like?

I know I would probably be one of those quirky, funny character who has a lot more 'character' and 'personality' than good looks. I'd have to be TV ugly, which actually means cute, fun, perky with a dash of just-above-average looks. I think my show would be part "The Office" with some antics from working in a church office, as well as part "Friends" as I get together with my two separate groups - the Marrieds and the Younger Singles. So in a way it's like "What About Brian" since I am one of the single people left in my age group of friends, but it's also like I'm a bossy, loves to be in-charge Monica from Friends, um, minus the obsessive cleaning, though.

I know I'd have some cool music throughout the show - as background music, a funky theme song - not cheesy like from 80's family sitcoms ("Show me that smile again..."), and as serious moments arise...U2 ballads play as I watch the rain fall outside my window...that type of thing. As I've already said I really like songs by Death Cab for Cutie, but I'd have to add Snow Patrol to the list of show songs, as well as songs from Great Big Sea (slow and fast), OH and a montage! Everyoe loves a Montage...time seems to fly during a Montage!!!

Hmmm, so I've covered character type, settings, music....swhat's left...Oh plot! Sheesh, what the heck could the plot/premise be?

It could be a Seinfeld-like show where it is actually about nothing. Day to day living, usual experiences...butlers and Jr. mints, you know....Well maybe not. Maybe there is a bit of a life-quest going on, me trying to figure out what I should do with my life, even though I've got a good job etc....Maybe a dash of my lack of love life tossed in for fun - good old drama section of me flirting but getting nowhere, interested but just friends, liking men I can't have, the usual....Hmmm, yes that can be the drama side of things, well with a bit of comedy, like jokes about how very few dates I've been on...very few....and jokes about how friends seem to come to me for advice and I really don't have the full prespective to give, but they keep coming anyway....doesn't seem that funny now that I write it...Ah well. We can make it funny.

Ooo, and epiphany! An Unscripted Reality TV Show where cameras follow me around like on The Office, but the main reason is to document me trying to find Mr Right. Not at all like The Bachelorette or even those annoying Dating shows, just me and the people in my life and any new men that appear....Maybe even a foray into internet dating and having cameras film that whole realm of experience. Hmm, maybe not.

What else, what else....I'd have to have quirky and odd advertisment placements for products like say used car dealerships (Find yerself a used car that'll last for a while!) or a local pizza place (Not the best but pretty darn decent!) or pet/Aquarium stores since I have a lot of fish tanks etc etc. Not the usual products. Even my Diet Coke cans would have to be blurred or covered with flaming orange construction paper wheile on film. Heh, sure.

Now, I'd need a name for my show: something catchy, but not annoying or too heavy on the puns....and it would all depend on the direction the show would goin...something like..."In the Middle of Somewhere" or "Almost There" or "Kirsten on Camera" or "My Life" or "Moments of Me"...yech! I'm not sure I like any!

Hmmmm, do YOU have any ideas? Let me know what you think.

What would my life as a TV show look like?

~ K

New Favourites

 

New Favourite show: "What About Brian" - the last single guy in a group of married friends...yes an homage to the ill-fated and short-lived comedy sitcom "The Single Guy", yet this show is more drama and seriousness about lost love, unrequited feelings, awkward situations, disappointments, missed chances, holding back, letting go....heck it sounds like a scene from my own personal made-for TV movie.

Anyway, I've only just started catching up on Season One but so far...love it.

New Favourite Song and Band: "I'll Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab for Cutie.

I down*cough*loaded DCfC's discography and so far am enthralled with everything I hear. Wonderful lyrics, melodies that wash over my memory all day, musically they are lovely.

If I ever have my own made-for TV movie...they will be on the soundtrack!

~ K

PS - My Rss feed for downloading show kick major a$$!!! Weeds just dl-ed in about 5 minutes!!

 

PS - Photos? HOW!?!?!

YAY! I switched to the new beta blogger and adding images works. DOn't know why, don't care. it works. yay!

Am I doing something wrong or missing some step in trying to add photos to my blogs?
I am using the nice shiny "Add Image" button but after picking the photo from my computer it never appears in my message. Arg! I've looked all through the help files and nothing seems to work.

Can anyone help?

On a mental note...

I love my dentist.

Not in a weird way, I just really love that he is so nice, so chipper, so fun and so understanding.
I had several fillings (and by several I mean 11. Talk about frozen face!) worked on over a month ago now and for the last few weeks one of them has been bothering me. Usually my teeth are a bit sensitive to hot/cold/pressure for a while after being filled, however this little doozey of a tooth has been throbbing enough to bring me to tears this morning. Ouch! So, after my dad made me call the dentist's office, I went in for a quick check. My dentist was so nice to squeeze a quick appointment in and we may be on the way to solve this toothache problem.
So I've established that I like and appreciate my dentist, right? He's great, the office is pleasant, I never feel any pain when I'm there...then why is it that as soon as I slip into that teal, vinyl reclined chair I get super tense and nervous? I end up clutching the chair arms as if I wanted them to become physically melded to my own arms. After an X-ray or an easy freezing and they make me wait a few minutes until they can proceed, I find my hands shaky and my breath coming quick as I turn the pages of my Home & Garden or Flare magazines.
Why? There is nothing that should make me feel this way. I couldn't ask for a nicer dentist, calmer offfice or gentler proceedures. Why do I become like a small child facing an hour or two of torture by scary twisted metal machines that buzz and grind?
I honestly try to overcome this mental deficiency, try to take my mind to a calm place and tell myself everything is ok and I'm in no pain or even discomfort, which is the truth. Yet my body just can't accept that truth and it reacts by a rush of frightened and apprehensive adrenaline.
I even tried to think about a place where I was last totally relaxed and take myself there while I received 6 fillings in one sitting. (The Kingfisher after a wonderful hydrotherapy spa exxperience. SO nice!) That just didnt' work. Only for a fraction of a second did I feel myself slipping into a more relaxed state but the grinding and comments from my lovely dentist brought me back to reality as I lay in the teal torture seat.
Ah well, I may never feel okay at the dentist. I know I'll be back, fairly soon probably, so I should work on it more. I'll try, gosh darn it, I'll try. My porr dentist. I hope he never reads this. It's not his fault. I'll try. I'll try...

TV Shows Not to be Missed

This season of television watching is proving to be an interesting time. not only do we have totally favourites back but there are a number of new shows that seem to be excellent in their attention-grabbing quality.

Some returning favourites of mine are:

The Office - I can't wait to see how Jim and Pam finally, if ever, get together! This show has given me so many actually out loud laughs that I can't stay away, even when Steve Carrell's character annoys me so much.

Gilmore Girls - Yes I know, a girly show like to the max, but with such a cliff-hanger left at the en of last season I had to tune in to see how the fast-talking, mother/daughter duo cope with this season's new troubles.

Lost - Though this show has not started yet, I haven't given up on the mysteries that keep piling up. Who the heck are "The Others"? Where the heck are they all stranded? What's with the "button"? The arctic? Whaaaaat???

Grey's Anatomy - After A summer of catching up on season's 1 and 2 of this new-ish medical dramady I must say, it has caught my attention more than any other doctor show. Yes, I loved ER for years but if this one show can have me crying at almost every episode and in love with several of the main characters, then garsh, it's a hit for me!

Battlestar Galactica - Yes, yes, yes, I do realize that only geeky young boys or men who live with their mothers and have a collection of star trek dolls watch this show. However, I am a sci-fi geek to the core and I must say this show is almost my all-time favourite show of all -time...yeah. October 6th, THIS FRIDAY is when the new season starts, and though I was thoroughly shocked and almost disappointed with how the season ended I really am hooked to see what happens between the captive humans and the human-like toasters.

Some NEW shows that I have already seen and am keeping on my trusty downloading RSS feed for further viewing are:

Heroes - New show on Monday nights about a handful of ordinary people who discover they have unusual abilities. A cheerleader finds out her body quickly heals whether from a broken bone, fire or jumping off a bridge to the ground below. A Japanese man finds he can bend time and space and even teleport himself. So far the story intrigues me and there is already a sinister antagonist who is close to one of these unusual people.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip - An interesting "show-within-a-show" as we see how a Saturday night Live-type TV show is almost ruined by the on-air tirade of it's long time head honcho and swept into new fame by a young female network executive and two new writer/producers. I am so glad to see Matthew Perry in something that so far is excellent. The writing is fast and witty and with skits called "Crazy Christians" the show couldn't BE any more controversial and funny!

Ugly Betty - Only one episode has aired so far, but already I'm interested in this comedy so like the recent movie The Devil Wears Prada with a dash of humour from another of my favourites America's Next Top Model. A sweet, but fashion-challenged young woman manages to get a job as an assistant to a fashion magazines new Editor and Chief. Their relationship begins horribly as he treats her like dirt to get her to quit so he can hire a more...attractive and attentive assistant. He goes a bit too far and succeeds in pushing Betty out but realizes how much he actually needs her and her new ideas. Aw so sweet, mush, mush, but I must amidst, I laughed and felt empathy for poor, poncho-wearing Betty. I'll keep watching for now.

Busy, busy busy!

Well! What a hectic few weeks this has been and what a triumphant culmination we had on Saturday night at IGNITION! My goodness!
First of all I wanted to share some thoughts on being busy then I will talk more about the Ignition concert event.
Why does it seem that when we get busy, and maybe it's just me who feels this way, we tend to rush around, so busy, with so many things to do that we forget to take our own moments later on in the day to relax, settle down and enjoy even five minutes? When I get busy, and by busy I mean every few minutes something else is added to my seemingly never ending list of jobs or tasks to do, my body and mind work in over driven and even when I get home, with nothing planned or a few moments to myself, I am still feeling like I'm missing something from my daily busyness. I feel like there are things I should be doing, things I should have finished or that I should be thinking about. In truth, I don't need to be thinking about anything in those quiet moments but because of my busy day, my mind keeps the pace set to frantic and won't let me rest properly. Even my sleep is affected by me staying up later than usual and not getting enough rest overnight. Which, in turn, creates a nasty, dragging loop as it affects my next day and the busyness and tireness keep pulling me down. Until, that is, the major catalyst for the busyness erupts and in an outpouring of events finishes the majority of its enveloping of my daily life.
In this case, the days leading up to Ignition, along with my everyday duties as well as any new Fall requirements, kept me in this frantic pace. I expected the busy feeling to wear down but so far I seem to be gliding on a "busy high" as new jobs emerge and thrust themselves into my path. As to when will I be able to calm down, to settle, to really rest....well I've been trying to without any real success thus far.
So, more about Ignition: Several weeks ago I told Andy that if the Billy Graham guys needed a bit of help with anything to do with Media/Video that they can always ask me. The result of that (foolish) offer was having me be in charge of putting all the band's lyrics up on the two screens over the live video. Now I know not to volunteer unless I am very specific and know what I am getting into. The task was a little daunting since I did not know any of the bands and I did not want to mess up with 4500 people watching. On the bright side, I was not sitting in a visible place in the arena so if I did mess up, no one would see me. I was instead in a tiny Referee's locker room behind the stage and uder the stairs with two guys who ran both the video cameras and Dvds. Fun.
After weeks of answering phone calls about Ignition, and assisting in selling tickets from the office, I was getting excited to be a part of that big night. During the week before I complied all the lyrics I needed, spell-checked, formatted and got them ready in the band's set list order. On the Saturday, I was asked to met the Video guys at 9 am to set up and test everything. I arrived early at the arena (after not much sleep due to the crazy-busy-bug flying around my mind) where some nice worker let me in. I walked around, asked a few audio/visual workers if they knew so-and-so I was supposed to meet...they did not know....walked around....sat....watched the lighting gurus test the show lights...phoned a few people to find out where they Video guys were...walked around...checked everywhere I could think of...sat some more....I maybe even said a few nasty things under my breath...then FINALLY the guy I who told me to meet at 9 am showed up a bit after 11 am!! Nice. Since he didn't seem concerned that I was waiting for TWO HOURS I didn't say anything (my "wasp" upbringing shining through), and we quickly set up and tested my laptop and the lyrics. We fixed a few tiny problems, got everything working in about an hour....then he said oh ok, I guess you could go now, we won't need you until later at about 5 pm. Great. Nice. Fan-bleeding-tastic.
So after checking out the beginnings of the Free Pre-Event, I grabbed some lunch at my lovely parent's house next door, traveled home, took my dog for a walk, had a shower and a nice nap. Ah. For the moment I felt rested. Angry and still tired, but rested...if that makes any sense.
Before 4:30 pm hit I was back at the arena, my Backstage, All Access pass around my neck and ready to put on a show. I was a little disappointed that we were stuck in a tiny room watching a 5 inch monitor of only the stage. And I was still nervous about mucking up the words if I couldn't properly hear the bands, but when the bands began, I went into "show" mode and everything went smoothly. The guys I was working with were nice and talented at what they did. They made the experience interesting as I got to see how to direct two cameras for a show using broadcast-quality video equipment.
When Will Graham began to speak I took a walk out into the concourse and was a little dismayed at the groups a teens wandering around when the most important part of the night was going on. However, later I thought about it and there was actually only about 30-40 kids out of 4500 that couldn't sit still enough for the speaking part. Apparently about 265 decisions were made and swarms of kids and teens went forward in response to the message. It was so awesome to hear reports of some of out younger teens leading teens to the Lord and even our youth leaders leading co-workers and other adults to Christ. How encouraging and amazing!
After the evening I almost went out but realized how exhausted I was and I had to be up at the church at 8:30 am for al three services of the day. I went home and tried to go right to bed but the "up" feeling of my busy week kept me awake for a while longer.
Sunday was busy as normal, three services, songs, slides, changes et cetera. Then Monday, which is normally my day off, was filled with a morning at the office of teaching someone how to use a program on a laptop and making unexpected slides for them from 9 am until 1:30 pm. Not really impressed at being there on my day off but it meant I could take a few hours off sometime soon. Yay. I thought I would spend the rest of my day doing something, whether it was walk my dog, go work out or something.....but fairly soon after sitting in my dad's big comfortable leather recliner for a few moments of glorious cable Tv...I fell asleep! The busyness and fast pace of my entire weekend finally caught up to me and I had nothing to do but slow down and take a break. Twas a lovely nap and I spent the rest of my Monday catching up on a few missed shows. The new show "Heroes" is excellent and I look forward to seeing how the characters develop.
Anyway, Tuesday has (obviously) been a bit less busy since I am writing this at the end of my work day. I'm hoping some of the frantic pace will dissipate as we settle into the Fall. Maybe now I can get more of the much-needed rest I want and need. Maybe now my mind will stop racing and settle into a slower throb for a few weeks at least.