today's whining is brought to you by

the dentist.

So I went to the dentist yesterday for a filling and walked out with a pulled wisdom tooth. How that happened, I'll never really know. Let's just say that it wasn't a good day and reconfirmed just how miserable I find going to the dentist is. It's not the actual dentist that I hate, just the work that gets done whenever I go. It's true, I have terrible teeth and the dentist is the bane of my existence. Now that that segment of whining is over....

I just changed Lucy's tire (which I actually popped while parking..) brand freakin new tires and I already destroyed one. Seriously. How shitty is my luck already?

Up next in Lucy land: engine tune-up.

I love my car, I really do, but she doesn't love my wallet. Or rather, she loves my wallet far too much!

morning commutes

There was once a time when this highway terrified me. Absolutely petrified me. In fact, driving it felt like being crammed between 2 equally dangerous lanes of traffic, barreling down the way beside me at such a speed that even if I wanted to slow down and get into the slow lane it was physically impossible. I thought that this would never be a highway that I would be able to drive without a co-pilot letting me know what was going on on the passenger side lane, while I concentrated on the driver's side. Merging on and off filled me with abject terror and people cutting in in front or behind me made my palms sweat at the steering wheel.

My how times have changed. 8 years later, I drive this highway daily on my commute to work. I've learned to negotiate the short raised ramp merges and cram myself in between cars by just forcing my way into traffic, because guess what, that's what driver's expect. And for all of this raised highway's 3 lanes of intense driving, people always let you in because there is a quasi shared anger/sympathy that rules the road here.

It's both a frightening and beautiful thing.

Mood and Weather : Rainy Day Blues

Having grown up on the wet west coast of BC, I am more than slightly aware of the fact that the weather can have a strong effect on our mood and energy levels. I know part of it has to do with vitamin D and various other good stuff provided by sunlight.

However, since yesterday was sunny and the past few days have been relatively clear, I'm not quite sure why today's weather (see picture) is having such a strong effect on me this morning.

I went to bed at a decent hour, had a full night sleep and yet, when the alarm went off this morning it was all I could do to haul my butt out of bed. It was like my body knew, before I'd even opened the blinds, that today was a grey, lethargic day. Why is that? How does the body know these things even before we wake? I'm sure there is some scientific or logical answer to this but it still amazes me nonetheless. Yesterday I was full of energy but today it was all I could do to stay awake during my morning commute (me: sleepy + car : rainy roads and traffic = very bad news and long car ride).

The new member in the family

This is Lucy. She's my new (used) new Beetle. I'm very excited about her.

That's all I have to say...

Monday Morning Meanderings

My thoughts this morning are sort of all over the place, so I apologize in advance if this post seems somewhat chaotic.

First, on the most girly of topics: I now have my wedding shoes, which means that my clothing part of the day is complete. Yay for crossing one more thing off the never-ending list of wedding planning.

Next, I have the means, I have the car picked out, now I just need it to pass the inspection tests and Lucy will be mine. I'm so excited about owning my own (used) new Beetle that I'm giddy. Yes, that's right, I said giddy. Like pee your pants, jump up and down, wave your hands in the air like you just don't care, giddy! I can't wait. Can't wait, I tell you! Whoo hoo... Fuzzy dice here I come (though maybe I should be exploring my options, maybe I could find something even better than fuzzy dice in terms of kitsch factor - think Sophie's Cosmic Cafe kitschy).

And last (cause I'll end here), although I try to avoid work related topics in the public realm of blogland, this topic I feel is suitably neutral that it's ok to explore it. One of the things that I love about teaching is watching students come to new realizations about the world around them; things that we may already be aware of are new to them and fill them with wonder/thoughts. If I were into psychology, I would totally be into the cognitive psychology of higher education learning because it is truly fascinating to watch these students go through this evolution. Depending on their backgrounds, these realizations may be very significant or not but they are common to all of my students thus far. It really is an intriguing aspect in education that I never thought of or was aware of before teaching. Watching young people grow and learn about the world around them and current social issues is definitely the most rewarding part of my job.

I [heart] Lucy

I don't know for sure who she is yet, but I love her already. I've got a strong inkling about who she might be, but nothing is sure yet..

When Lucy arrives, she'll have fuzzy dice and funky colours about her. She'll be all character, old, well loved, and spunky like my cat. She may have to have some obnoxious saying tattoed on her rear end or at least a thought provoking meditation for those that follow her to consider.

I have always wanted a Lucy in my life, ever since I was very young (and by young I probably mean as early as 6 or 7).