November 30, 2008
November 26, 2008
Blogworthy/bragworthy
Not much is blog-worthy these days. Life consists of a lot of time spent doing anything but the homework I should be doing, a bit of dancing, not enough running (sort of fell off the wagon there for a week-at least Likalia has kept herself going with her treadmill) and some working.
Hence the lack of posts. I did get out on the weekend and took advantage of the late afternoon sun and wintery light to take some photos which you can see below this post.
Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention, if anyone has even noticed, that I never filled you in on my final costume decision for Hallowe'en. I was neither Puss in Boots nor A Figment of My Imagination. I just couldn't let go of the idea of wearing a really good skirt to dance in that night but I didn't feel like having the answer "what are you?" question every time someone looked at me so I compromised with myself and was a gypsy instead. I came to the conclusion that the skirt is even more fun for ballroom than it is for bellydance. I swear it has its own sense of musicality-so much fun! Despite the fact that my sewing machine and I seemed to have significantly different views on what is/is not acceptable sewing machine behaviour when trying to finish a costume 3 days before Hallowe'en, I did manage to come up with something reasonable. I do wonder though if there was any significance to the fact that the most interest in my costume attempt came from a fellow in an authentic Finnish folk dancing costume. Apparently I looked part eastern European and part Gypsy - not enough make-up for a Gypsy though. Lol.
Next year I plan on being a can-can girl in the most costume-y and showy and least historically accurate manner I can manage. We shall see how that turns out... ;)
Anyways, back to the nowhere I was going before I interrupted myself with that somewhat blog-worthy interlude...
Hmmm, that is actually the perfect segue into a discussion I had with Likalia during our photog wandering:
Is there a line between blog-worthy and bragging or can things be blog-worthy and brag-worthy without being bragging or is bragging just an inherent part of blogging?
This came up after talking about lack of things to post about and about dancing on the weekend at a dance with a guest instructor from Vancouver that was over to teach workshops and private lessons. I'm not the sort to go ask really accomplished dancers to dance-mostly because they are generally fairly busy with all the ladies who ARE asking them to dance...
Eventually there came a point at the end of the evening when he and I were, literally, the only ones left standing-er,sitting on his part-and the obvious thing to do was to take full advantage of the situation. "No" really doesn't hurt (that much) so I asked if he wanted to dance. He obliged-woohoo!-and I even managed to hold my own, which was satisfying. That in itself would have been a perfectly happy end to a reasonable evening. We talked a bit after the song ended and he asked me if I taught-
Me? teach? Noooo definitely not (I dont know enough for that), but being asked was totally the cherry on top of my evening! We danced another song and I was quite sad that that was the last one. I was thoroughly enjoying myself as I have never danced with anyone as proficient as he was. I was floating for the rest of the evening; what I would give to be equal to his ability...
And that's where the blog-worthy/brag-worthy/bragging trichotomy comes in. How do I write about it without it sounding like straight up "listen to this" and "aren't I great!?"
Haven't come to a conclusion about that yet so I'm going back to typing up my group's management project...
Hence the lack of posts. I did get out on the weekend and took advantage of the late afternoon sun and wintery light to take some photos which you can see below this post.
Oh, and I guess I forgot to mention, if anyone has even noticed, that I never filled you in on my final costume decision for Hallowe'en. I was neither Puss in Boots nor A Figment of My Imagination. I just couldn't let go of the idea of wearing a really good skirt to dance in that night but I didn't feel like having the answer "what are you?" question every time someone looked at me so I compromised with myself and was a gypsy instead. I came to the conclusion that the skirt is even more fun for ballroom than it is for bellydance. I swear it has its own sense of musicality-so much fun! Despite the fact that my sewing machine and I seemed to have significantly different views on what is/is not acceptable sewing machine behaviour when trying to finish a costume 3 days before Hallowe'en, I did manage to come up with something reasonable. I do wonder though if there was any significance to the fact that the most interest in my costume attempt came from a fellow in an authentic Finnish folk dancing costume. Apparently I looked part eastern European and part Gypsy - not enough make-up for a Gypsy though. Lol.Next year I plan on being a can-can girl in the most costume-y and showy and least historically accurate manner I can manage. We shall see how that turns out... ;)
Anyways, back to the nowhere I was going before I interrupted myself with that somewhat blog-worthy interlude...
Hmmm, that is actually the perfect segue into a discussion I had with Likalia during our photog wandering:
Is there a line between blog-worthy and bragging or can things be blog-worthy and brag-worthy without being bragging or is bragging just an inherent part of blogging?
This came up after talking about lack of things to post about and about dancing on the weekend at a dance with a guest instructor from Vancouver that was over to teach workshops and private lessons. I'm not the sort to go ask really accomplished dancers to dance-mostly because they are generally fairly busy with all the ladies who ARE asking them to dance...
Eventually there came a point at the end of the evening when he and I were, literally, the only ones left standing-er,sitting on his part-and the obvious thing to do was to take full advantage of the situation. "No" really doesn't hurt (that much) so I asked if he wanted to dance. He obliged-woohoo!-and I even managed to hold my own, which was satisfying. That in itself would have been a perfectly happy end to a reasonable evening. We talked a bit after the song ended and he asked me if I taught-
Me? teach? Noooo definitely not (I dont know enough for that), but being asked was totally the cherry on top of my evening! We danced another song and I was quite sad that that was the last one. I was thoroughly enjoying myself as I have never danced with anyone as proficient as he was. I was floating for the rest of the evening; what I would give to be equal to his ability...
And that's where the blog-worthy/brag-worthy/bragging trichotomy comes in. How do I write about it without it sounding like straight up "listen to this" and "aren't I great!?"
Haven't come to a conclusion about that yet so I'm going back to typing up my group's management project...
November 23, 2008
November 3, 2008
Statistics
I would like to know why learning statistical methods in a quantitative methods course (where I was already supposed to know the stats methods) was so much easier than learning the same thing in the statistics course.
Sometimes it's a good thing not to do the prerequisite courses first-no wonder everyone was so intimidated by all the stats in the quants course. Oiy.
Sometimes it's a good thing not to do the prerequisite courses first-no wonder everyone was so intimidated by all the stats in the quants course. Oiy.
October 30, 2008
Day 2...
Yesterday was our second evening of run walking. It's pretty clear that the goal is either going to have to be run the entire 3km or run/walk the 7km-not just 'do' the 3km. Hehe, I suspected as much, but sometimes it's better to let people figure it out on their own...right Likalia? ;)
October 29, 2008
Touque
Even though it's raining the giant maple tree outside my window is still reflecting golden light into my room; it's almost enough to trick me into thinking there is sun outside. Every so often movement catches my eye outside my window and I look over in time to see another golden (and now rather soggy) leaf falling to the ground :(
So far it's not actually all that cold outside and I hope the 'Brrrrr' holds off - at least for a couple of weeks so Likalia and I can get ourselves firmly ensconced in our walk/run routine. Not that we will stop if it's cold, just that it would be nice not to have the after dinner darkness, and rain, and cold ganging up on us all at once. Neither of us do mornings so I guess technically speaking the evening dark isn't all that dissuading; however, the desire to go outside seems to decrease exponentially everytime you add a wind or rain or cold in with darkness.
Right, walk/run routine...what is this you ask? Well, I havn't been running. Quite frankly I'm disappointed in myself for that as I was almost beginning to consistently enjoy it...I don't consider myself a runner but more of a 'person who runs'. That's not to say I couldn't ever be a runner, just that I have not hit that point yet; when I get as 'high' from a good run as I do from a good two hours of Friday night dance practice then I will consider myself a runner. I run (er, did run) because I was tired of being inactive and mostly because dancing had become an exercise in frustration instead of an enjoyable and rewarding obsession. I'm even more disappointed in myself because Sarah's ELM Need for Speed clinic is starting next week and I'm not at a fitness level where I feel I can take part. Why would I want to do that clinic if I don't even consider myself a runner? For something to do? To get out and run with people? To see improvement (if I'm going to do something active for the sake of being active then I ought to push myself)? Just because I am (should be) capable of it? Because despite what my lack of commitment to running might imply I don't want to be in the middle of the pack? Because my secret wish is not to run a marathon or even a 1/2 marathon but to do the likes of MOMAR and not just finish but feel good about the effort I put in and I think that any sort of strength and speed training would be helpful for that? Maybe some other reason that I havn't covered here or even thought of yet?
Whoa, tangent...ok, back to the walk/run. Right, so like me, Likalia is also tired of being inactive. We often talk about things and got as far as registering for a bootcamp, which was unfortunately cancelled due to lack of participants (and that, I think, is very cruel of Fate - you would think Fate would support attempts to get fit instead of thwart them. Mind you I'm getting used to Fate's cruel sense of humour-though I won't bore you with the details about trying to take ballet or the outcome of a kayaking trip to the Broken Group. All I will say is "Grrr at you fate-I bite my thumb at thee!). So instead of talking about this that and the other we decided to go for a run. That, of course, started some research into how exactly one starts to run safely, and from there we settled on starting with a week of 30 min outings of 4 mins of walking to 1 min of running. Better to start to easy than too hard. And then....we actually went out and did it. Lol, this is good. This is very good. Oh, and we even have a goal; the CVRR Jingle Bell run in December. I think it's a good goal to start with because it's only 6wks away and has a nice 3km option and is more of a fun event than a race. And I know that if we don't actually keep this up we won't go and do that (even though we are both perfectly capable of getting through 3km in a reasonable amount of time by walking).
Er, that's a lot of rambling isn't it?
Funny what comes of looking at the rain outside and hoping Likalia has a touque.
So far it's not actually all that cold outside and I hope the 'Brrrrr' holds off - at least for a couple of weeks so Likalia and I can get ourselves firmly ensconced in our walk/run routine. Not that we will stop if it's cold, just that it would be nice not to have the after dinner darkness, and rain, and cold ganging up on us all at once. Neither of us do mornings so I guess technically speaking the evening dark isn't all that dissuading; however, the desire to go outside seems to decrease exponentially everytime you add a wind or rain or cold in with darkness.
Right, walk/run routine...what is this you ask? Well, I havn't been running. Quite frankly I'm disappointed in myself for that as I was almost beginning to consistently enjoy it...I don't consider myself a runner but more of a 'person who runs'. That's not to say I couldn't ever be a runner, just that I have not hit that point yet; when I get as 'high' from a good run as I do from a good two hours of Friday night dance practice then I will consider myself a runner. I run (er, did run) because I was tired of being inactive and mostly because dancing had become an exercise in frustration instead of an enjoyable and rewarding obsession. I'm even more disappointed in myself because Sarah's ELM Need for Speed clinic is starting next week and I'm not at a fitness level where I feel I can take part. Why would I want to do that clinic if I don't even consider myself a runner? For something to do? To get out and run with people? To see improvement (if I'm going to do something active for the sake of being active then I ought to push myself)? Just because I am (should be) capable of it? Because despite what my lack of commitment to running might imply I don't want to be in the middle of the pack? Because my secret wish is not to run a marathon or even a 1/2 marathon but to do the likes of MOMAR and not just finish but feel good about the effort I put in and I think that any sort of strength and speed training would be helpful for that? Maybe some other reason that I havn't covered here or even thought of yet?
Whoa, tangent...ok, back to the walk/run. Right, so like me, Likalia is also tired of being inactive. We often talk about things and got as far as registering for a bootcamp, which was unfortunately cancelled due to lack of participants (and that, I think, is very cruel of Fate - you would think Fate would support attempts to get fit instead of thwart them. Mind you I'm getting used to Fate's cruel sense of humour-though I won't bore you with the details about trying to take ballet or the outcome of a kayaking trip to the Broken Group. All I will say is "Grrr at you fate-I bite my thumb at thee!). So instead of talking about this that and the other we decided to go for a run. That, of course, started some research into how exactly one starts to run safely, and from there we settled on starting with a week of 30 min outings of 4 mins of walking to 1 min of running. Better to start to easy than too hard. And then....we actually went out and did it. Lol, this is good. This is very good. Oh, and we even have a goal; the CVRR Jingle Bell run in December. I think it's a good goal to start with because it's only 6wks away and has a nice 3km option and is more of a fun event than a race. And I know that if we don't actually keep this up we won't go and do that (even though we are both perfectly capable of getting through 3km in a reasonable amount of time by walking).
Er, that's a lot of rambling isn't it?
Funny what comes of looking at the rain outside and hoping Likalia has a touque.
October 14, 2008
October 10, 2008
Hmmm... Hallowe'en...
My Hallowe'en costumes of late have been rather half-hearted affairs. I feel like making a bit more of an effort this year and am currently trying to decide between two options:
1. Puss in Boots. I have a great pair of knee high brown suede boots that are the inspiration for this idea. Imagine a medieval hunter-esque sort of costume; robin hood like hat (with furry ears), peasant top, tunic, belt and hunting knife or small sword, breeches, and of course, a furry tail.
or
2. A Figment of My Imagination. This one is prolly going to entail answering the "what are you?" question all night long but that downfall would made up for by its fun-to-dance-in aspects. I'm not sure exactly what the costume would be comprised of, but it would be rather glitzy-gypsy; definitely a long black flowing skirt, over-skirt, some sort of top (haven't figured out what yet), and a bustier-like over-vest, maybe a shawl, makeup, mask and head covering also to be determined... It would be random, but a figment of my imagination in the truest sense of the words.
I really like the Puss in Boots idea, I think it's cute, but not too cutesy. I also like the idea of "dressing-up", as well as saying nuts to the aspect of my personality that forces me to try and be historically accurate about every aspect of every costume I start to make...does it really matter if Puss's hat looks like a pirate hat, a three muskateers' hat, or a hat in the style of robin hood? Of course not - and to take that one step further why do I even have to be "something"? Why not just make something up - I'm sure I can scare off & confuse evil spirits just as well by being something recognizable as by being an un-something...
I'm going to stop rambling now :) And ask what everyone else thinks; vote for one or the other, comments, suggestions...
What are you going as?
1. Puss in Boots. I have a great pair of knee high brown suede boots that are the inspiration for this idea. Imagine a medieval hunter-esque sort of costume; robin hood like hat (with furry ears), peasant top, tunic, belt and hunting knife or small sword, breeches, and of course, a furry tail.
or
2. A Figment of My Imagination. This one is prolly going to entail answering the "what are you?" question all night long but that downfall would made up for by its fun-to-dance-in aspects. I'm not sure exactly what the costume would be comprised of, but it would be rather glitzy-gypsy; definitely a long black flowing skirt, over-skirt, some sort of top (haven't figured out what yet), and a bustier-like over-vest, maybe a shawl, makeup, mask and head covering also to be determined... It would be random, but a figment of my imagination in the truest sense of the words.
I really like the Puss in Boots idea, I think it's cute, but not too cutesy. I also like the idea of "dressing-up", as well as saying nuts to the aspect of my personality that forces me to try and be historically accurate about every aspect of every costume I start to make...does it really matter if Puss's hat looks like a pirate hat, a three muskateers' hat, or a hat in the style of robin hood? Of course not - and to take that one step further why do I even have to be "something"? Why not just make something up - I'm sure I can scare off & confuse evil spirits just as well by being something recognizable as by being an un-something...
I'm going to stop rambling now :) And ask what everyone else thinks; vote for one or the other, comments, suggestions...
What are you going as?
October 4, 2008
Bike!
Mine, alllllll mine :D
I have been riding [and I use that term loosely as of late] a '96 Kona Fire Mountain for 12 years. It has served me very well; it is the energizer bike that just kept going and going and going and never breaking [-and I didn't exactly beat on it]. Aside from new brakes, all her upgrades (incl forks and a nice riser bar) were hand-me-down bits and pieces from the boys I rode with who grew out of them or coveted something beefier or 'better' and always more expensive. Suited me well. But it is time to move on...poor girl, I cracked her forks earlier this spring and have realized since then that I either have to start putting considerable money into her or consider a whole new bike.
As I alluded to above, I haven't been riding much of late and I miss it. Watching Evil Monkey race in MOMAR this past weekend set my paddling and biking muscles twitching. I decided it was time to find some new biking buddies [all the originals have since departed for greener pastures :( ] and start thinking about what to do or not do with my trusty steed.
So I did the 2 things any student does when they want something they really shouldn't be thinking about affording:
1. go window shopping - covetting the new expensive toy is half the fun obviously :)
2. return to reality and start browsing the 'for sale' ads hoping to find that really awesome deal that means you get what you want and don't have to settle for what you can afford...
Pinkbike, craigslist, the newspapers, cvmtb, usednanaimo, and the local bike stores later [where a pretty Trek Fuel-woman's model, just my size, and $400 off its regular price almost got the better of my better judgment] I had found one possibility...
A barely ridden, 2003 Rocky Mountain Stratos which is a light, well spec'd, XC bike that was also a Really nice price!
So Likalia and I went to Nanaimo to inspect her and Bike came home with me today; I'm looking forward to taking her out on trails really soon :)
Woot!
October 3, 2008
Redecorating
Since I can't redecorate my house I redid my blog instead. I'm not 100% sure that it will stay exactly as it is at the moment but I'm really liking the simple clean look and the fact that I can customize the header :)
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