cringe ready

i am mildly dreading the series premier of abc's new show Off The Map.  i anticipate it being full of assumptions about americans living abroad doing meaningful, heartwarming, humanitarian work in a "third world country," as their trailer describes.

its claim is to be about a group of young, dynamic doctors who set up a clinic in a non-descript, generic south american jungle village where they are going to practice medicine in a resource constrained environment.

i will watch it, but i expect to be cringing a lot.  at the anticipated flippant remarks about development and aid and the stereotypes of the heroic foreigners swooping in to solve the problems that locals have had for years, but were hopeless and helpless to do anything for themselves (obviously).

but maybe, just maybe i will be proven wrong and the show will dive deep into the complexities of an expat's life, why american doctors choose to follow that career path, and the moral and ethical dilemmas that the doctors will encounter.

or maybe it will be some more bubble gum for the brain where a bunch of doctors, played by attractive actors in an ensemble cast, all date one another incestuous season after incestuous season.

then again, i shouldn't expect too much from abc, the network that just sent arizona to "africa" to save the tiny (and no doubt, poor and dirty) humans.

it will revolutionize your life

what will revolutionize your life, you ask? the PVR, i tell you!

the ability to save television programmes for later viewing with the push of a button is really fantastic and is totally changing the way i live. really. and for the better. instead of watching more tv, like some people suggested, i tend to watch the stuff that i actually want to watch rather than the crap that is on when i feel like sitting on the couch and relaxing.

for instance, i caught up on So You Think You Can Dance Canada and Oprah on sunday when i felt like doing little else than napping on the couch under a warm blanket.

and with the beauty of the PVR, i can now watch my newest television crush, Mike Rowe and his Dirty Jobs. he is hilarious and i love his off the cuff humour along with his honest reactions to doing some of the grossest things i can imagine!

it also makes it a lot easier to watch Grey's Anatomy. not that i am too thrilled with this season... i knew they would get rid of Izzie, but this newest plot twist of her taking off on Karev just seems way too easy and i don't buy it. i am not buying many of the storylines apart from Callie and Arizona right now, come to think of it.

all i can muster - another dang list

oh, what a day. it is nearly 1am and i am just finally unwinding. it would not be a bad idea for me to schedule in unwinding time regularly...

but hot damn, am i thrilled with the current weather in calgary! i am not typically one to talk a lot about the weather, but +30 degree forecasts for september 23rd? yes, please!

i feel like i have so much to say and i am doing all that i can to start typing a list of (somewhat) interesting points, because it just seems to be happening rather often around this here blog. but in the interest of me getting up and making it to work by at least 10 tomorrow morning, i present you with... a list.

• i was interviewed today by a local television network. and they are going to translate it into mandarin, which is sort of neat.
• i am going to be taking a 2 day course on social impact assessments courtesy of my job, which is fantastic and i am really looking forward to it as it is something that i feel will be most beneficial if i ever decide to return to the world of non-profits or international development
• my nest is getting nestier by the day. and thanks to my step-dad and brother, all my furniture has been brought up the stairs and into my space without any issues. i am also having 2 more pieces of furniture delivered tomorrow (which is my lucky lady deal of free delivery) and then the painting decisions will begin
• still no run in's with my next door neighbour so no opportunity to drop something to see if he picks it up (as i am sure you were all eagerly awaiting that update)
• grey's anatomy starts this week and although this isn't exactly my own update, you will soon stop having to read my musings on whether or not george dies (i am sure he dies) and whether or not izzy is going to live (she will, but her condition and quality of life will be questionable)
• i made my first 2 purchases from etsy.com the other day and am eagerly awaiting their arrival in the mail. i have found some pretty adorable stuff and some pretty awesome blogs from my time spent perusing etsy's delights and will be sharing them shortly
• i found out that stephen lewis is going to be the keynote speaker at an event here in november and i will do anything that i can to get myself in there, even if it means volunteering as the bathroom attendant. and to boot, jian ghomeshi will be the master of cermonies and i am pretty sure he would love me if he met me.
• i just realised that it is only tuesday (and not wednesday like i thought for most of today), which is great because i was really beginning to feel behind on the week there for awhile

and now that i have finished my well-deserved beer this evening, i am going to head to bed. and hopefully not dream about all that has to be done this week (repaint the exterior of a 3 story building, coordinate 80 volunteers, write and distribute meeting notes, kick someone out of a committee that is technically open to anyone, watch grey's anatomy, buy an extension cord so my tv can be plugged in to watch grey's anatomy, put together 2 more chairs, clean and iron and fold and sweep and dust and tidy and organise, etc - or as they say in kenya, ee tee cee, ee tee cee)

shiny samsung

for the first time in my life, i own a tv. a nice tv. a tv that was on sale, which makes it even a better tv, as far as i am concerned.

and what have i watched so far? the ctv news, a sunday in kigali (in french. do i speak french? no, but i read the book and pieced things together between the images, the bits of french i can read, and captions), a cbc show where mp peter mckay trains with the canadian military for a few days, and the last epidsode of grey's anatomy from last season.

did izzy die? did george die? do meredith and mcdreamy ever get married? will bailey and her husband really get a divorce?

but more importantly, do you think that izzy or george died???

b m m t reviews

books
The Mother Tongue: The English Language and How it Got That Way - Bill Bryson - loved it, even if there were some dry bits in the middle (and there is no reason a sentence can't end with a preposition! who knew?)

movies
Brick Lane - 7.5/10
Zack and Miri Make a Porno - 2 thumbs down
Vicky Christina Barcelona - what was all the fuss about? meh
Defiance - good entertainment and a true story

music
i have been listening to some very good new music lately, but i don't know who sings what, so let me sort that out and i will get back to you.

and i am right this moment watching the juno's. apart from chad kroeger making me break out into a rash, i am excited to get some new ideas to download. and sam roberts..... yum.

tv
the most recent epidsode of grey's anatomy - ok, it is better than it has been, but still not up to its season 2 & 3 greatness, but the music was awesome

welcome back

i keep thinking i should post something, but the truth is that i have always felt that i don't have much interesting to say (for the 5 of you who regularly read this!) when i am at home. i am going to have to get over that...

i have had the typical welcome-home head cold (which is far better than the welcome-home strep throat that i had a few years ago on a visit - the pain!) and i am bored of not doing anything while also trying to sort out my life. and it has only been 2 weeks.

but i did buy myself a pencil skirt and i am pretty sure that it will be the key to finding my perfect job. i will keep you posted on that one, but sheesh, job searches are soul destroying.

and i watched the last episode of last season's grey's anatomy then last night's first episode of this season. both pretty medium, if you ask me. an icicle? i think the writers of that show need a bit of a kick in the pants to get things back to their former tear-inducing glory.

workers of the world, unite

(march 1, 2007)

today is a holiday in kenya and i couldn’t have needed it more after the past weeks i have had. working evenings and weekends has taken its toll on me, i am fighting a cold and forgot to eat on friday; sometime in the early evening i realised that i had not had a bite to eat all day and nibbled on some almonds before heading home at 8:00pm to watch grey’s anatomy and bake muffins with a friend. i’ve been busy but i have enjoyed it and i am learning heaps (finally).

to celebrate labour day i decided to go for a morning run with my trainer/friend and then hike up a volcano. i am not sure that running and hiking up a volcano on the same day was a good idea. lately, i haven’t been as active as i would like and pairing that with trying to kick this illness and being overworked, it was tough. and not tough in the good way but tough in the way where i had to give each leg a little pep talk at each step on the steep inclines. but the views of the great rift valley are always amazing and it keeps me coming back for more. something about the birthplace of humanity or great company and the opportunity to pack a picnic. i managed to make tuna, guacamole, and bake muffins before we left this morning.

my sister has posted a wee synopsis of our trip and since i have yet to do the same, i will kindly direct you there for a quick read about how fantastic the two and half weeks travelling kenya together were.

i received some distressing news recently. my friend is in the hospital in toronto, far away from family and friends, because he got hit by a bus. hit by a bus! until his broken hip heals we won’t be able to do this anytime soon:

i have got my hands on the first half of the 3rd seasons of grey’s anatomy up to the 17th episode, the one where meredith spends the entire episode under water and mcdreamy swoops in with his helmet-like hair to pluck her out of the pacific. um, ok. i just don’t know about that but i do know that i need to locate the next episode to find out what happens because that was way too intense. and i hate to devote too much brain space to television considering i don’t even own one, but i really hope that izzie is still a character next season and they agreed to give katherine heigl more money or whatever the dilemma was. and keeping in mind that i live in a vacuum of pop culture, forgive me if this is yesterday’s news.

i went on a second date with the hunter – meh.

a question to the internet – how much would you pay to see the mountain gorillas in uganda?

a) nothing, you are crazy for even considering it

b) $50

c) $100

d) $200

e) $300

f) $400

g) whatever it takes, hurry up and book your trip now before you miss the boat and the opportunity to see an endangered animal and one of human’s closest relatives in its natural habit.

but seriously, i would like to know.

in 1 weekend

2: house guests
7: bags of mini cheddars delivered
10: episodes of grey's anatomy
3: consecutive nights of late nights
1: lunar eclipse
7: kilometres driven on roads that demanded a 4x4, in a car
4: girls in pyjamas sitting around watching izzy and meredith and yang around 1 laptop
1: encounter with the coup
0: clever things i could think of to say to the coup
2: naps needed
1: possible self-induced illness
30: minutes before i had to be at work that i rolled out of bed on monday morning