With a bit of mental flexing on my part yesterday, I can now name all the Canadian provinces and their capitals! It's no small secret that the U.S. (and the rest of the world, for that matter) is terribly ignorant when it comes to its Northern neighbor, but now that I'm living here amongst the snow and wild meese, I figured I'd better remedy that.

Also, I'm wondering how many provinces, on average, the non-Canadian can name?

So do me a favor, will ya? Leave a comment and list whatever provinces you know. There are 10 provinces and 3 territories, if that helps (the distinction is dubious). This is on the honor system, so no peaking at other people's answers! In fact, it'd be swell if you could put your answer behind an lj cut. Like this, but without the spaces: < lj-cut > < /lj-cut >

Edit: Also, list where you're from (state/country).

Good luck!

Started:

Laundry

Completed:

Empty dishwasher
Dust room
Vacuum room

Still to do:

Clean bathroom
-Sink
-Floor
-Tub
-Mirror
-Toilet
-Dust??

Bonus!:

When I was moving the huge pile of dirty laundry that had accumulated on our bedroom floor, a rather large spider scurried under the bed...

I'm great when it comes to cleaning other people's things, but when it comes to my own, I put it off foreverrrr.

We've been married three months now, and I love falling asleep to the soft glow of colored Christmas lights and the rising and falling of breath beside me. The skies are blue, blue, but the heat doesn't stick to your skin like it does in Florida.

I bought a journal with colored owls printed all over it, all in antique colors—brown, red, yellow. I love owls. And birds, & robots.

Now that she very much has an empty nest, my mother has thrown her heart and soul into gardening, and the backyard has become a sort of marshfront paradise. There are butterflies, shrimp plants, and several small fountains. I think I fell asleep easier to the sound of crickets.

( garden )

Today in the midst of packing, I stumbled upon a small photo album in Steven's closet; it was made for him by his grandmother, but the pictures weren't taped in properly and there was no text. Jumping on an opportunity to do something besides laundry and organizing assorted items, I taped in all the pictures and wrote their dates in the bottom right hand corner of each page.

I wish I could show you some of them—there are lots of cute ones as Steven with a baby, being held up by his mom or with food around the corners of his mouth. They're very sweet.

I should be sleeping, because in 4 and a half hours, Steven and I will be pulling away from the curb of his house, onward to Calgary Airport! We're going to do the long term parking and take the shuttle; luckily we're only checking one bag (on the way there... on the way back, it'll be a different story...).

Think of us and/or pray for us tomorrow! I'm not a big fan of flying or traveling in general, not to mention my concerns about this trip being emotionally draining. At least I have lots of greeting cards, sudoku, music, and reading to occupy myself with.

Well, I was bored. And it's nighttime. As per usual.

So, I created a community: night_owlery

It may very well prove to be a flop if no one joins, which is all right, but I thought I'd at least put the word out there on my own journal and see if any fellow night owls were inclined to take a gander.

It's very basic & plain-looking right now, but hopefully it can serve some sort of purpose—whether to entertain in the wee hours of the morning or just consociate insomniacs.

Steven says it's bedtime.

Ha!

Foolish boy.

I'm wide-eyed and alert because I started being productive and now my whole body feels poised. Steven & I got a bit of grocery shopping done—we hit up the Crisco shortening so that I could make the cinnamon streusel coffee cake from his grandma's recipe book. It's sitting on the stove, but I have no idea how it turned out yet. Everyone is asleep, so I had to tiptoe around the kitchen. Luckily, flour spills quietly. I emptied the dishwasher, trying ever-so-hard not to let dishes clank, and cleaned up around the kitchen. My feet are sore from standing in one spot on the linoleum, but I feel accomplished. Steven is stirring in bed, and I think I will join him soon. Maybe. Looks like he's taking up the whole dern thing. Which, you know, isn't really a feat, considering it's only a double.

Yesterday was Victoria Day. We drove to Echo Dale park & had a picnic there on the grassy slopes by the lake; clay cliffs framed the sky, and it was perfect weather (low 80s?). Unfortunately, the park wasn't officially open for the summer, so the man-made pond was little more than a muddy puddle. Thus, on the way home we picked up a flimsy, $10 baby pool from Walmart (and a couple of frappuccinos from Starbucks). We set it up in the back yard, but the water from the hose was freezing cold, so we made several trips from the kitchen with huge pots filled with scalding water until the pool temp evened out. It was still a little chilly, but we sat cross-legged facing each other and alternately laid on the grass on our towels. Then we biked & rollerbladed along some of Medicine Hat's bike/walking paths and dried out our shorts. The day concluded with steak salad, corn on the cob, and garlic bread.

Bully for Queen Victoria, for making this day possible!

I've been thinking of doing a "What You Might Not Know About Canada" segment. Or at least, "What I Didn't Know About Canada". For example, I didn't realize that Quebec—and French Canadians in general, really—are rather loathed by the majority of Canadians. Also! The milk-in-a-bag phenomenon is not wide-spread; I think it's only in one specific province (Ontario, maybe?). Furthermore, and regretably, I have seen no moose. Moose are not roaming the streets. There is a shocking lack of moose for house pets.

Oh, and all the speed limits are lower. Gas prices are higher (I think... they're done in liters, but I think Steven calculated an equivalent of $4.30 per gallon or something). Despite being otherwise "green" and planet-friendly, everyone drives these big-ass trucks. Their stop-lights are kinda different... They have these separate, upright traffic lights for the left turn lane, and the green arrow blinks when they have the right-of-way.

No one says "4th grade"; they say, "grade 4". And high school is done a bit differently—you don't necessarily have to complete 4 full years to graduate.

"Smarties" are called "rockets", and they have this m&m-like candy that they call "smarties".

"Pasta," "llama," and "drama" are all pronounced with short a's. So instead of "pah-stuh," it's "pa-stuh".

Okay, hopefully there was some stuff in there that you didn't know about Canada. It is my job to educate us self-absorbed Americans about our northward neighbor! Even if it does lack moose.

Well, Steven's family doctor confirmed today that something is wrong with my knee. It's not a big something, I hope, but it's been hurting a lot the past half of a week, and I am having trouble getting up stairs and such.

The doctor referred me to a physical therapist and recommended a knee brace, so that's what I'll be doing at 7am tomorrow. And paying out of pocket, mind you.

On a positive note, the vatican has given us permission to believe in aliens!

But I do not have much of use to say.

Something that caught my attention in the media recently is a 3-year-old boy with a rare condition that causes him to be unable to sleep.

A while ago—sometime in early college, I think—I read about an Italian family in the 18th century who could not fall asleep. A rare genetic disorder would cause extreme insomnia to set in during their early adulthood, and they would linger for several months until they died of exhaustion.

That story always haunted me. I am a notoriously bad sleeper, and I think it is one of the worst feelings in the world to be absolutely exhausted and not be able to fall asleep. I cannot imagine months of it, with the end result of death. There is apparently even a book about it, and now I'm kind of sort of wanting to read it. Though, hypochondriac that I am, perhaps I shouldn't; I could picture myself laying awake at night worrying that I would die of sleeplessness.

The poor little boy, though. I watched a news interview with him and his parents, and he was so irritable... They said he was like that all the time, and they were exhausted from around-the-clock shifts of watching him. I actually do not understand how he has survived this long. They say he is getting up to 2 hours per day, I think, but babies and children require large amounts of sleep to develop properly, and even full-grown adults require a set amount to function. Why is it that he has not died of exhaustion?

Do any of you out there suffer from disrupted sleep patterns?

I want something to do. I'm bored today. There are plenty of things I could be doing, but tomorrow's going to be a big day for that, so I'm trying to save up.

I put the temporary tattoo on my left cheek, and it itches. It's also much bigger & brighter than anticipated. I look like a tool. But a tool for Canada!

Good grief people, do something! Save me from my fascination of the mundane! Curb the ugly disappointment that lurks each time I press "refresh"!

Steven just came home with a paper-bag-ful of hamburgers from A&W; they're having a sale where you can get a nice-sized burger with all the fixins for just $1.50, which is very good, even by U.S. standards (things tend to cost about 1/3rd more in Canada, I've discovered)! It wasn't even his lunch break—he was on a service call nearby and got hungry. Nice boy. :)

Also, I have a Canadian flag temporary tattoo. I think I'll put it on my cheek and look tacky for a day or so, eh?

Also also, Steve's aunt gave me two Canadian $1 bills that she found. I think I might tape at least one of them in my journal (which I haven't gotten the courage to start writing in, yet). Canada discontinued $1 bills in 1989, and $2 bills about 10 years ago, I think. They were replaced with two coins: the "loonie" and the "toonie". Yeah. Harder to take money seriously, that way.

Oh, oh, and the day before yesterday, we watched Disney's The Sword in the Stone. Easily one of the best Disney movies, in my opinion, and absolutely dripping with memorable quotes, mostly due to crotchety old Merlin's rants and bumbles. I recommend you sit down and watch it again, and pay special attention to the very end of the movie where Merlin says "BERMUDA?" Never ceases to make me laugh.

Edit: It's hard to believe that the movie is a full 45 years old!

Steven & I visited an old man who apparently collects junk bikes, today. There was an ad in the paper for cheap bikes of all kinds—he was pumping air into the tires of two bikes as we drove up, and there were several more chained at the side of the house. Then he led us into the backyard and there were tarps covering a long row of mediocre, nondescript bicycles. Strangely enough, the man didn't seem to be very knowledgable about his bikes—I asked him how old one was, and he said he had no idea, and aside from basic mechanics (raising the seat, for example), he seemed to possess relatively little know-how about each specific bike.

They were fairly cheap, though, so I picked out a tired-looking red one leaning against the side of the house; it has curly handlebars and a sort of "vintage" feel to it. I think it might basically be a pile of scrap, though. The brakes don't seem to be in mint condition, but I've had a bike like that before. The price tag on it said $30, but he peeled it off prior to my test drive down the sidewalk, and the price had magically been raised to $40 by the time I decided I wanted it. I told him the tag said $30, but he muttered about people coming by and switching pricetags (utter nonsense), so I sighed and settled for $35. The whole operation seemed a bit shady, and I'm not convinced I got my money's worth, but I guess we'll see.

It's a 3 speed, by the way, which is nice because I'm really bad at fiddling with speeds, but with the hills in Medicine Hat, it's essential to have at least some variation.

I will try to remember to take a picture of it sometime soon—I still have pictures of my various snowmen wasting away on Steven's camera... I will show them to you someday.

My brother is cramming furniture into the Scion, and I'm about to pack up the computer...

It's the end of an era (I've been with the same roommate for 4 years... Pretty impressive, huh?).

*sneeze*

Whoa, that sneeze echoed off all the empty walls.

It is serious business, trying to decide what to bring to Canada. My suitcases are all about 2/3 of the way full already, but there are still piles of things around my room that need to be packed or put into boxes to send to my parents' house. tomnoir is supposed to be coming down this evening to help me haul some stuff back home...

And in case you didn't get the memo, I depart on Tuesday. Nervewracking.

Edit: I've made quite a bit of headway on the packing... Still a lot to go, though. I wish I didn't hafta work today!

Post Edit: Y'know, I think the hardest part of it is trying to fit all the valuable/important things into my carry-on... Along with a couple of changes of clothes in case my luggage gets stranded, of course!

Ganked from pinkfriction:

Well, I'm leaving Gainesville on Friday and Jacksonville on Tuesday. I'm trying to not think of all the things I'm saying goodbye to, and instead am focusing on finally getting to see my husband after a very long month apart.

Tuesday kind of seems like a long way away, though, because I have so many things to do. Deciding what I have room to pack is kind of a biggie...

Well folks, it's April 6, and on this day many years ago, two very important men were born... Bob Marley & Harry Houdini! Actually, Butch Cassidy was born on April 6, too.

So, tomnoir and sirpsychosleeve, you share your special day with some pretty quirky historical figures: a reggae musician turned pop culture icon, a famous magician/escape artist, and a U.S. desperado. But while your names might not be on any "famous birthdays" lists, I know both of you have made and continue to make lasting impressions on your family & friends and are forever engraved on our hearts. So really, you're "famous" in your own rite, and I think that is the coolest thing.

So here's to two awesome guys on their birthday. Do something crazy. Go skinny dipping. You show that Butch Cassidy who's the real renegade...