marciadanielle

Okay, so I was hit on today by a guy who works in the canteen at work (read: he's a low-paid cafeteria worker, who I don't think is even one of the cooks, he washes dishes), now not to knock menial labour, because I, myself, partake in low-end labour, but I feel I'm better than that. This guy is from Nigeria and whenever I'm chatted up by an African male my defenses immediately go up. Maybe this is unfair, maybe it's being racist, but I feel these guys here the North American accent and it doesn't matter if I'm from Canada or America, they see it as an opportunity. Maybe this is just me. I find the whole flirting thing really fake. For example, this guy says to me, can I get to know you better and he wants to add me to facebook. I say sure, because there's nothing on there that's really confidential. He sends me a pm and starts off saying "Hey sexy". Ummm, hello? I am not sexy. Pretty perhaps, cute maybe, but not sexy. I'm overweight and dumpy looking, especially since he's only ever seen me in my unflattering Madame Tussauds red t-shirt and black trousers. Anyways, this kind of interaction creeps me out. I have not added him back to facebook yet, and am debating whether I should.

That part aside, I've had a lot of fun with work people the past few days! Oh! Before I get into that...so the guy I like at work (who doesn't creep me out) totally flirted with me today...well, at least it could be construed as flirting. I like to think it's flirting. It made me happy! :)

Again, the top part of this post aside, I am so thankful for getting the Madame Tussauds job. It's allowed me to make real friends in London, and without I would be a thousand times more lonely!

This past Saturday I went to a girl at work's (Emma) housewarming/birthday party at her new flat. Since I had to work the next morning, I had planned on having two glasses of wine max and then heading home around 11-11:30pm. And then we started playing this drinking game which consisted of us moving a game piece around a board and taking tons of shots. So then I got quite drunk (there's evidence of this on facebook!) and ended up crashing at her flat and getting next to no sleep and being EXHAUSTED whilst working the next day! Oh well! It was totally worth it. I had an amazing time!!

Tonight, I went to a pub in Camden to hear a guy's band. The guy is Al who I also work with (he's young though, only 19! Although you wouldn't know it by talking to him, he seems pretty mature - and he's quite cute!!) I knew he was in a band and I wanted to see one of his gigs, so I've asked him before to tell me when his next London one is. Well, he told me today it was tonight. But it wasn't until 9:40pm, so I had time to go home after work and change and then still make it in plenty of time. I met Rachel there (yes, I called her, it seemed like her kind of thing, and I felt guilty because I semi-cancelled on her on Monday - semi because we never had definite plans, and never followed through, but cancelled because I never told her I was doing something else) anyways, it was fine, we didn't hang out for long since I have to work tomorrow morning. But Al's band was really good! Not really my kind of music (a bit too hard rock for my tastes) but they are talented, and I did enjoy them. So I would listen to their album because I know Al, but I would never buy it in a shop. But regardless, I had fun and am really glad I went! Plus, Al's so cute!! It's funny seeing him on stage though. Plus, him (and all of his bandmates) get REALLY into the songs and it's funny! Another guy from work, Jason, was also there with his girlfriend.

Tomorrow night I told Rachel I would go see a show at the Globe theatre with her. It's Romeo and Juliet, it's only £5 but it's standing room only. So I'd be at the back, standing. I don't know if I'm going to go. I want to go because I've never been to the Globe before, and I want to go see a show there, but I'm pretty tired and kind of want to spend the evening at home, watching American Idol. I don't know! What do you think???

Oh! And my sister is arriving on Saturday for her visit! Yayayayay! I'm really excited! I've been planning out our time together!!

ETA: Yeah, I could barely open my eyes this morning, so there's no way I can go to work and then STAND for 2.5 hours watching Shakespeare. Lazy night at home it is! I'll go to the Globe some other time and stand and watch a play.

I can't believe how cold it is in London. Last night, around 3am-ish, I woke up and my face was FREEZING. I had to put the covers over my head to keep my teeth from chattering. It doesn't help that there was NO heat in my hostel room (I'm moving today to a new hostel - hopefully it will have heat!!) At home, in comparison, it was 19 degrees C yesterday. And it's going to be warm there all week. Boo urns. I need to find a cheap hat and gloves. I keep saying that, but I haven't been to anywhere cheap lately.

So, I went out last night to the Bunac Halloween party. It was at a Walkabout pub....enough said right? Ugh, now I know why they have bad reputations. It was full of gross people. And it was playing REALLY bad music. I only stayed for about an hour, and then my roommate (who came with me) and I went to this pub she had found the night before and had become friendly with the bartender. And he gave us free beer! Yay! They closed early though (at 11pm) so then we went back to the hostel.

Today I'm just bumming around Charing Cross, waiting for Rachel to be done her interview, and then she's supposed to help me move all my crap to the new hostel (I'm moving to the Globetrotter) where I'm staying for two weeks. And then (hopefully) moving into my new flat.

Have I mentioned I found a place I want to live?? It's in Greenwich and it's a single room in a 3 bedroom townhouse. It's reasonably affordable, I really liked the housemates, and the house itself was pretty nice. I really want it. I hope they choose me. I'll find out Monday-ish. It's not available until November 15th though, so I've booked into the hostel for two weeks. I'm just crossing my fingers that it will be the last two weeks of hostel living for me for a long time.

Alright, I think that's about all. I hope everyone is doing well!

This weekend was really good! On Friday we had a family dinner as my sister was staying over again. We had a yummy dinner and then my sister and I convinced my dad to go out and buy my mom a new desk and bookshelf. He had seen one in a Home Depot flyer that was good. We went to the Home Depot nearest to my house, but they didn't have any in stock (and the sale was only on until Sunday). The only Home Depot in the GTA that had them in stock was in Oakville, about a 15 minute highway drive away. My dad didn't want to go, and said we could go the next morning, but my sister and I convinced him (yet again!) So off we went to Oakville (and for those who live in the GTA, this was Burloak Drive in the new plaza thing there, so not close Oakville, far Oakville, almost Burlington) and found the desk and bookshelf. Loaded them into the car and went home.

The next morning, at around 9:30am my sister made us put the desk together (she's pretty anal and demanding and obsessive - but of course, I love her!) It was complicated (or we're morons - maybe a bit of both) and took us what seems like forever for three of us to put this thing together. It took two and a half hours. By that time I had to go. I got ready, did a few errands, and picked up Amanda for apple picking!! We went to her mother's friend's orchard in Stouffville. It was HUGE, and so picturesque. We picked tons of apples in no time. I ate a couple as well! Yummy! I love freshly picked apples! We then headed back to her place, picking up some treats and dinner on the way! She has Wii Fit, so I got to try that! I wish I could find it to buy it! We made souvlaki (okay, Amanda made souvlaki) for dinner. It was so yummy! I love greek food. I MUST make my way to Greece in the next year. Amanda and I also watched the Sex and the City movie. Again, SO good!!

This morning I tried to sleep in, I sort of did. I slept until 9:30am. During the day on Saturday, after I left, my dad and sister put together the bookshelf and set up the room. So I admired their work in the morning. The room looks really good now!! I hung around at home, in the afternoon I went to Faye's to drop off/pick up a few things. We chatted about her vacation! I came home, watched some football, Liz stopped by and we were all chatting. We made plans for a Buffalo trip in two weeks. Just for the day! For wings at the Anchor Bar!! Yum!!

This week, I have no plans. Except it's Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish new year) on Monday night and Tuesday. I have have have to start organizing and cleaning my room. I want to get it doneby this weekend. I'm also supposed to be meeting Karina for coffee on Thursday afternoon after she's done work. Hopefully I'll hear from Travel Cuts and them telling me they have my passport with my visa in it and to come pick it all all up! It should be ready this week!

Okay I think that's about all. Hope everyone is doing well!!

I went out last night to celebrate Philina's 26th birthday. I dressed up, put on make-up and wore my contacts, a rare occasion for sure!! Lol!! There was myself, Philina, her boyfriend Steve, Erin, and her (new) boyfriend Dave (this was the first time we were all meeting him). We went to the Red Tomato downtown for dinner and then we went to a club, Dirty Martini's afterwards and we met up with a few of Steve's friends. Dinner was really good. I had never been to the Red Tomato before, but I've been to Fred's Not Here, which is on the main floor (Red Tomato is in the basement - some menu items are the same). I think everyone enjoyed the food...and the company was awesome! I really liked Dave, he was really nice and was good at keeping the conversation flowing. Erin's picked well!! ;-) He's really into sports (which Erin totally isn't, but they're cute together) and him, Steve and I were talking about baseball, football, and tennis. I was able to hold my own, and I think I impressed the boys (men?)! I can thank my parents for my sports upbringing! Lol! After dinner we went to Dirty Martini's, a 25+ club nearby. I'm not a club person, but I did have fun! I didn't drink too much because I had to drive home. We danced a bit, but it was really crowded there (apparently it's really crowded there all the time) and most of us weren't really club people (Erin is, and I think Dave is, but they didn't seem super into it last night). Philina and Steve scored a couch so we sat for a bit and chatted. Philina was pretty drunk (which was cute!) and we gossiped about Erin and Dave, nothing bad of course! I left around 12:30am with Erin and Dave, we cabbed it back to our cars and said good night! I had a lot of fun (even the club part!) I'm really really going miss Erin and Phil when I leave. They're my best friends and we ALWAYS have a lot of fun when we hang out. But they both have promised to visit (possibly more than once - but we'll see money-wise) and I know we'll keep in touch.

( A few pics from the club! )

In other new, my desktop is not working. My dad hired some computer guy to come to our house and set up a network (because my dad couldn't figure it out) and it could be a coincidence, but now my computer's not working. I got the blue screen of death twice, once yesterday and then again this morning. I restarted it both times and it seemed fine, but now it won't even turn on. I turn it on, but it seems the hard drive won't turn over and start. I dunno. Maybe it will be better in the morning. I don't want to lose everything on it!! I'm crossing my fingers. However, it's good I have my laptop in the meantime so I can check my email, lj and facebook!!

Alright, it's taken 6 years to type this out (the tv was distracting!!) and I have to wake up early in the morning, so it's time for bed!! Goodnight all!

It's been awhile since I've updated and a lot has been happening!! Mainly all exciting though, so that's good!!

The main news first. In a nutshell: I quit my job and I've decided to move to England for a year. Woo hoo!!

I tried to get a leave of absence (well really just unpaid time off) for a vacation that I'm going on in a week, and they wouldn't give it to me, so I decided to quit. I've been wanting to quit for quite some time, I really really hate my job, so I really do not feel down about it at all. When I was arguing about whether I should quit or not with my friend Karina (who I work with - she didn't want me to quit - more about that later) she wanted to know what I would do instead. This is a few weeks ago. On a whim I said, "I dunno, maybe I'll move to London." And that idea stuck with me. It's something I've wanted to do for a number of years, and I feel I'm ready now to take the plunge and do it. So when I get back from my Hilton Head vacation in two weeks, I will start the visa process. It takes 7 weeks to get the visa, and then I have to wait until after the Jewish holidays, so I should be there by the third week in October.

A lot of people have said they'll come and visit me, I really hope some of them do come.


In other happenings. I saw Avenue Q last week here in Toronto. I didn't think it would be as good as it was in London. But it was AMAZING!! I got a good deal on a ticket ($30!!) from a travel website and decided to go by myself. I'm really glad I decided to go, it was fairly last minute....the cast was so amazing! I loved it. Loved it. Loved it!!

Today was an amazing day. Very busy, and I'm exhausted now and need to go to bed. But a quick rundown. I woke up early this morning (after going to bed pretty late last night - I was busy partying at Amanda's!) and I picked up Suzy (who's back from Oz!) at Yorkdale and we went to my sister's because she's having a stamping sale. She's selling off a lot of her stamp sets, ones that are retired, or extra ones that she had, and some other accessories and cards. So you'd be buying her used stuff (for the most part - there were some new things too) and with the money you spent on her things, you could pick out free product from the new catalogue. So, basically you're placing new orders and getting her old stuff for free, but it was set up the other way. Anyways, so she was getting rid of a couple of stamp sets and stamps that I use all the time and love. But since she won't have them anymore, I had to buy them for myself! So, I got two of her stamp sets, some ribbon, some single stamps, and some cards. Then from the catalogue, I got a new Christmas stamp set, gold ink and paper, a pen and a circle punch (1 and 3/4"). My Christmas cards are going to look so nice this year!! I can't wait to get the new things! Hmmm, I guess I'll have to make all my cards before I leave.

After the sale, I drove downtown and met Erin and Philina. We went to Centre Island and had a picnic lunch. It was amazing. We had a ton of good food, we tried to fly a kite, we went pedal-boating (well they did, I sat on a blanket and listened to music!) I would write more about it, but I am getting REALLY tired.

After the Island, I met Amanda (I was right by her place) and we hung out for a bit. We played Dance Dance Revolution, ate lots of food, watched the Olympics. Chatted. It was really good.

And the best part? Canada has (finally) won some medals! Including a swimming bronze about 2 hours ago. I saw it live and it was so exciting! Go Canada!!!

Good night!

I had a great weekend!! It's sad to be home (and ugh, I had to go to work today, but I guess that's life right??) I went to Ottawa for a wedding on Friday. Well, the wedding wasn't actually in Ottawa. It was at a place called Bean Town Ranch near this tiny town called Plantagenet, which is about an hour east of Ottawa. It's near the Ottawa river, and it's very French (as is that whole area). We stayed in this dinky motel (which wasn't horrible - it had been renovated 6 years ago - so it was pretty normal). But the wedding place was really nice. Very picture-esque. And the food was really really good (especially for wedding food!) The first dance is done in this island thing, with the bride and groom lit up with lights and candles, and then there's fireworks too, while they're dancing. So very cheesy, but so very lovely too! And I LOVE fireworks, so yay! The only part that sucked about the place is the way they did their open bar. Now I don't know the total bill, but apparently they charge per drink. Not per hour, or per bottle, PER SINGLE DRINK. And it was something like $5/drink. Which is ridiculous. And crazy expensive. I hope to find out the total cost....just to see how much it was. The groom is the son of close family friends, and the parents are pretty open, so maybe they'll tell my parents, and then I can find out!! I did drink quite a bit (as did most everyone there!) and I danced and had a lot of fun!!

The next day (Saturday) I ate breakfast and then said goodbye to my parents (who are at Mont Tremblant for a few nights - they come back on Wednesday) and drove myself to Ottawa for the night. I had a great time in Ottawa. I didn't see anyone, but I walked around, reminicsed about my time at uni there. I walked around the Byward Market, went through Parliament, walked through Sparks street, went to the Rideau Centre, I even made time and went to Chapters (what can I say, I'm addicted!) I also went to the National Gallery, which used to be free to get in to (back in my day....okay that makes me sound old!) but now costs $9. Well, I paid it anyways. I wanted to see all the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_of_Seven_(artists) art. I love the Group of Seven. They (and their art) is my all-time favourite. Sure I like some of the classics, there is this one Van Gogh (the Almond Blossom tree) that I love love love. But nothing compares to the Group of Seven. I don't know anything about art, but I fell in love with the style of the Group of Seven a long time ago. Lawren Harris is my favourite. One day I would like to own an original painting from one of them. When I'm a gazillionaire and I can collect art.

Anyways, Sunday, I woke up, checked out and went to buy some of the best bagels ever (Kettleman's bagels - yum!) to bring home and that was it! I headed home and a loooong drive later (there was cottage traffic when I hit Oshawa) I was finally home. It was a great weekend though!!

I'm in London right now!! Yay!!!!!! Tomorrow I leave for Berlin, then Prague, and then I'll be back in London on the 20th to spend a week here. I am so tired right now though, I've been up since yesterday (I can't sleep on planes), I've walked around all day, and I'm going out for dinner tomorrow. I'm going to sleep well tonight though!!

I wanted to post about my birthday and what I did, and then concert I went to last week.

So, I got to go to the Spice Girls concert last Monday!!!!!!!! It was AMAZING!!!! Totally a last minute thing, but Amanda's father was able to score us (really good) tickets. So we went! They did all their old songs, the one new one (which I like!) and then they each did a solo. Well Posh didn't sing, but she had this (kind fo dumb) thing. It was so much fun. My ears were ringing for the whole of the next day, and my voice went all hoarse.

Then I had my birthday on Saturday. On Friday I went out with Erin and and Philina. We went out for dinner and then I made them go bowling with me. Which I enjoyed. It was fun! And I bowled pretty well!!

Saturday I slept in, went out for lunch with Faye (which is always fun) and then went out for dinner with my parents and sister. Which was really good.

Sunday I went out for dinner with Amanda. We went to this amazing French-Canadian restaurant downtown and had onion soup and split a crepe, yum!! They were out of sugar pie (which was sad) but the waiter suggested this other dessert, I forge tthe name of it, but it was warm cake drenched in caramel sweetness and served with ice cream. It was really good!!

It was a crazy long weekend. But lots of fun! I saw everything, no one would let me pay so in terms of my wallet (and sort of budget) that was good too!!

Anyways, I'm getting tired sitting here, I better start walking around to wake up!

More soon!!

Well, another year has past. I can't believe it's already 2008, it's crazy. My New Years was fun, it was fairly reminiscent of last year. I again went to the Bier Markt with Erin and Philina. This year had the addition of Phil's boyfriend, Steve, who is wickedly funny. This was the first chance I got to really get to know him, and I really like him. And then there was anither 15 people at our table too, but we never really mingled. Which was fine, I still had fun. A few pictures will be posted in the next few days, I promise!!

This morning, I slept in until around 11am, got up and had a delicious breakfast!! My mother had bought us turkey bacon to make (my dad doesn't allow us to cook the real stuff in our house) and I made that, my dad made scramble eggs with cheese, and we had these yummy cheese croissants too. It was SO good! We never have that good of a breakfast in my house, I think the turkey bacon (which was pretty good for a substitute) made the breakfast. We'll have to do it again sometime.

After breakfast I had to go shovel the snow, which was wet and heavy. But then when I came back in, I got my mother to book my ticket to England!! Yay!! So I'm going February 11-27th, flying into London. I'm also going to Berlin and Prague for a few days each. I'm so excited!! Also, I booked Club class seats on Air Transat, which yes, was more money, but is soooo worth the comfort. It's all booked now, so I can't change my mind anyways, and I've already pre-booked my seats!

Now I'm off to go watch a movie and eat snacks!! I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Years!!