A message from Cap'n Jenny Rackham...

Ahoy mateys!

Belay the chatter ye landlubbers, or I'll keelhaul the lot of ye! Look to yer starboard column fer the link, and do it smartly! Click on it fer a shipshape list of Piratical Jargon, Arr. Use yer deadlights matey, unless ye want to be marked with the black spot, begad! Handsomely now, or ye'll be kissin the gunner's daughter, the lot of ye poxy landlubbers.

Splice the mainbrace, mateys. Yo-ho-yo-ho, it's a pirate's life for me!

why I love blogging

OK, so "Blogging" isn't a recognized Olympic sport, or a renowned art form, and it won't win you a Pulitzer or the Nobel prize for literature. But there sure as hell is something to be said for a medium which lets you feel so connected to all your far flung friends.

I mean, it's fun to purge to a captive audience, but more than that, it's great to hear what people have to say in response. And to know that whether they're in Victoria, Vancouver, the Okanagan, Lethbridge, or anywhere else, that they can hear what you're saying.

There's a lot of you who can relate - uprooting from a group of friends you've been with for a while ain't easy. Here's to the blog bandaid that helps patch the boo boos.

Miss you all, and thanks for tuning in!

Arrrr matey!

Ever wanted to be a pirate? You get to talk in strange jargon, call people "wench" and "matey" without getting hit, drink "grog", and wear an eye patch - sounds like a party to me! Well seems like the first step on the road to pirate-hood is getting a good, red-blooded pirate name. Check out the link on the side bar and you'll get yourself hooked up.

Stay tuned for step two: an introduction to speaking "Pirate".

Arrrr!

still here

So, are you all impressed? It's now day 4 of my blogging experience, and I'm still here! No, honestly, this is something of an anomaly - normally I last a couple days at this sort of thing, and then I start to drop off. Chalk it up to my Gemini fickleness: I have a very short attention span. (Ooohh look! Bright shiny object......)

So, four days of consistent commitment to anything is something to be proud of. Now, lets see if I can make it a whole week.

Maybe this is a sign.... I took up knitting before Christmas (yes, knitting! ya got a problem with that???), and I've completed 7 projects, and I'm working on an 8th! And that's after one of them failed miserably. (It was a touque...but it's big enough to be a throw cushion cover....) And, I've only got three more days to go, and I'll have walked to work every day in March! And that's after we got a car and I could be driving. (It's a half hour walk too, not some little stroll across the parking lot).

You have to understand, that from the girl who ALWAYS starts things with good intentions, but rarely finishes anything, this is nothing short of amazing. It's scary. Hmmm... Anybody know what the signs of apocalypse are? Aside from the four horseman, there's nothing about the failing powers of procrastination, is there? No? OK...We should be safe then.

Here's to making it to day 5!

I love my job

So, did I mention that I love my job??

I get in to work today, and the boys (my bosses who seem more like co-workers) tell me that I should leave early today, 'cause it's Friday, and Gerald is leaving early to spend time with his kids, and Bryan's off to play golf, or drink beer, or something. So, they tell me that I should leave too, 'cause there's no point in me being there all by myself, after all. I love these guys! I'm offered a potential pay-raise and "promotion", and they give me permission to skip out early on a lovely spring day.

For those of you who have been around for the past few years, and seen/heard my opinions of previous jobs and employers, you'll understand how truly fabulous this is. I think I may have achieved the dream: an employer who owns a stable, grounded business, who appreciates my opinions and dedication, who trusts me, and who understands that if you treat your employees well, and with respect, that they might just turn around and amaze you.

Oh, and in addition to all this, I've basically been told that if there are any perks I want, and that I can use the business to get, (trading our product/services with other businesses, for example) that I should tell them what I want, and then go get it.

Yup, these guys are ok by me. Oh and don't worry, that thumping sound your probably hearing is just me, knocking on wood like mad.


So, aside from multiple blog entries, I've used my afternoon to good effect: walked home from work, hung out with Bilbo and Keres (hubby & cat, respectively), walked downtown, browsed the second hand book store, and the new one, bought a couple books, got a fancy coffee, got a bakery treat (hey, I walked home!!), and moseyed on home again. Life in Kelowna might just turn out to be ok.

the sound of music

"the hills are alive......."

OH GOD NO!!!!!!! Not a schmalltzy musical song -all sunshine, and happy-happy, and blissfully unrealistic. The perfect example of a song that could never represent a whole life as a theme song. (Well, certainly not my life anyway! Maybe some of you can be best summed up with the sound of music and whiskers on kittens...lucky you!?)

Nope. If I were to choose a theme song for my life, not an easy task, I think my first choice would be Evanescence, "Going Under". The line :"Don't want your hand this time I'll save my self" has particular appeal. So far, my life has been marked by some fairly significant peaks and valleys, and the whole concept of "going under, but dammit I'll get through this shit - again" is kind of doggedly positive.

Along similar lines, Bif Naked's "I Love Myself Today" is another song with an appropriate sentiment. 'Cause there are days (c'mon, we've all had them) when I just don't (love myself, that is). But over the last couple years, the whole, "I love myself today, I'm cool, I'm calm, I'm gonna get my way (uh-huh)" works for me (most of the time). And again, there's that defiant "I can SO kick ass!" sentiment that I kinda like. :)

Oh, and there's "Bitch" by Meredith Brooks - suitably chamelionic!

And "When I Grow Up" by Garbage "when I grow up I'll be stable...when I grow up I'll turn the tables.."

Poe's "Beat of my Own Drum"....

I think I need an album, not just a song! Though I'd say there's a definite theme running through, it just depends on my mood as to which song is particularly apt at any given time. So much is reflected by music - more than just the lyrics, or even the tune, there's all the historical and nostalgic baggage that goes with.

So maybe, the goal in creating your personal soundtrack, is to pick songs that represent certain periods in your personal history. So, add Bush "Machine Head", Moist "Silver", Live "Lightening Crashes", A whole lot of Dave Matthews Band, some Teagan and Sarah, Disturbed, Rolling Stones "Paint it Black", Evanescence again, Bif's "I Died", and Poe's "Hey Pretty". Finish it up with a grand finale of Violent Femmes "Blister in the Sun", and there you have it! Songs that mean something to me, and to a lot of my friends.

And not one song from a cheesy musical.

So, Tina's already thrown the door open. Who else'll step up? What's on your soundtrack?

The meaning of my blog

So, here I am. A page to vent my frustrations, purge my subconscious, and basically talk to myself, but with purpose! If you've been curious enough to tune in, I hope that at least once in a while you'll be amused, or maybe even provoked to muse.

However, I should let you know now that I have no grand plan, or great expectations for this page - well, not really. I mean, there's no specific theme here, nor any great agenda. As you'll no doubt come to understand (if you haven't figured this out already) I tend to have lots of interests and curiosities, and few grand, earth-shaking passions. So, my posts will probably reflect that. My life tends to be made up of the ordinary, with a dash of twinkle, and a splash of colour, now and again.

With that said, isn't that what it's all about? After all, for most of us, if we simply reserved conversation and speculation for the truly dramatic moments in life, well, there'd be a whole lot of silence going on.

So. Welcome, to the minutiae of my mind. Enjoy. Feel free to add your comments (relevant and otherwise), and enjoy the ride.

Tune in next time - same bat time, same bat channel.

Tinkering

huh, even I can do basic html alterations.... who knew?

So, I've gone and done it. Yup, I too have entered the exclusive ranks of blogg page ramblers. Grand plan: update daily to get the creative juices flowing. Will it work??? (This from miss great-while-it's-all-shiny-and-new-but-oh-no-I'm-bored-now-I'm-quiting...). Who knows! Bets???