Canadian girl out and aboot

Last week was pretty darn busy. I had my dance recital, which turned out to be awesome. One of the girls in our tribal number brought a big group of friends who ended up sitting in the front row. They were hooting and hollering during our number and we got more excited and danced even better. We got lots of compliments on our piece and my dance teacher even congratulated a group of us by saying, "How much did you guys rock?" It was great.
I danced well in both of my pieces and had a great time.

The day after that, I went to the doctor to renew some prescriptions and talk about this red spot I have under my eye. The patch developed last summer, and it took me a few months to clue in and realize that not all funky skin things are benign. So I went to the doctor and she gave me a prescription for some cream. Unfortunately, I had to wait at the doctor's for 2 hours, which sucked ass. Fortunately, I read almost a whole book while I was waiting.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday were filled with the Northlands Farm and Ranch show. The Edmonton Expo centre has been redone and was wonderfully designed. There are lots of spots for hanging out and relaxing in between seminars. I attended numerous agricultural seminars, worked my butt off, and got to hang out and read in between sessions.

I also attended a session for STARS air ambulance. The Cattle Feeders Association of Alberta has raised over $250,000 for STARS in the past 13 years. As a result of their huge donation, they got to have their logo put on one of the helicopters. STARS is a helicopter service that helps rural people. If there's an emergency, the STARS pilot, flight nurse and flight paramedic go get the person, and bring them to a hospital in one of the province's major centres. I admit that I thought this presentation would be kind of dull, but it was actually interesting and moving because many of the guys who attended had had some sort of experience or connection to STARS. One poor man had lost his granddaughter in an accident, and so he was really moved by the experience and started crying. However, he was comforted by some of the people there and it was quite beautiful, in a weird way.

Yesterday I hopped into my car and Fergus and I drove to Saskatoon. I'm returning him to my parents, who just got back from China. They also redid the house, and it looks completely different. Today I'm doing some work and then Mom and I are going to the bridal shop so I can go get fitted for my bridesmaid dress.

I've been feeling a little overwhelmed and here's why-

1. I've been working and driving a lot since the end of January. This is the busy season for ag conferences and so I've been on the go a lot. In the past 2 weeks, I have been to Leduc 3 times, Red Deer, and to a variety of meetings in Edmonton. Next week I'm in Morinville and Red Deer. The driving and the hours of listening do take their toll. However, I'm learning a great deal and it's hard not to get excited about my work and some of the things I do. Last week, I learned about the possibility of pennycress for biofuel. This plant is a weed, but produces better oil than canola, making it immune to the food vs fuel debate. The plant also has phytoremediative characteristics and can take metal out of soils. It's already been proposed as a growing project for Detroit. Actually, Detroit itself is very interesting right now. The destruction of the auto industry in the city has resulted in many opportunities for growth in urban agriculture. I'm going to keep my eyes and ears to the ground on this one.

Similarly, the urban sprawl in Calgary has also resulted in a variety of opportunities. I met a producer who is in charge of helping with the organization of a new farmers' market for Calgary- the Kingsland market. I'm going to do a story or two about it and am very excited about the project. So work is good, even though it's crazy busy.

2. My parents are in China. They flew there on March 16. My dad took a netbook with him, but I didn't hear from them for a few days, which made me a tad worried, mostly because my mom had a cold and I wanted to know that she was able to get into the country without getting quarantined. I wasn't sure if Dad could get through because of the Great Firewall situation. However, he managed to email from his gmail and he is getting emails from my hotmail, although he is unable to open my friend's Picasa photo albums. Parents are having a lovely time in China. However, it's weird to have so much limited contact with the parentals. I'll confess- I talk to the parentals almost every day. This is partly because they are my good friends and partly for security reasons. Since I live alone and travel all around the province by myself, it's good for at least one person to know where I am. When I go on long road trips, I call my mom when I am leaving and when I get back, so that she knows I am safe. I also email my parents frequently and send them links to interesting articles, youtube clips, etc. I feel like a bit of a baby because their absence definitely has an impact on me.


3. My computer has still not been fixed. It's with another tech and hopefully the problem should be resolved, but it does give me more challenges for working and I have a few deadlines that I need to meet. I might end up spending some time at an Internet cafe to get all these things done.

4. I need to sort everything out for my trip to Toronto, figure out what to where etc. This is a very cool opportunity, but it's basically a version of "So you think you're a poet" and I want to give a great performance and knock the judges' socks off.

5. One of my checks was extremely late. I was fretting a bit because I could really use that cash when I'm travelling to Toronto and have some expenses related to my dance recital and dance classes. Fortunately, it arrived and things will be good.

6. I have to acculturize Fergus to Henry and Mari. We went over there last week, and the two dogs were not best friends. Fergus is a very timid guy and Henry is extremely friendly. He jumped all over Fergus and Fergus growled, but as time went on, they sort of ignored each other and Fergus found some comfy places to sleep and hang out. I know that Mari will take very good care of Fergus and I hope that he does not cry too much when I leave him. He's a bit of a suck and a rather timid little guy, but I'm sure it will be fine.

Just writing this all out made me feel better. I'm also going to have a peaceful day alone, do some work, walk the dog, watch some DVDs, and go to the market. Tomorrow I teach my teen writing group and then I'm going to see Shanghai Express, which I've been trying to see for years. This is the movie that defined the concept of "dragon lady" and made Anna May Wong into a star.

Seriously, I've been really busy.

On Thursday, I went to see Last Train home , a documentary film created by a Chinese Canadian Lixin Fan. Fan was a broadcaster who moved to Montreal. His documentary "Last Train home" focusses on the annual trek home for Chinese New Year. Viewers are introduced to a family of migrant workers. The parents work in a factory together and send money home to their two children, who are being raised by the grandmother. Life is hard in the factory and the family communications are suffering. The daughter is torn between staying in the countryside and the life in the cities.

I won't tell you what happens, but this is quite a powerful documentary. It's disturbing to watch and gives you an understanding of what life is like for a Chinese migrant worker.

I've been working really hard the past few days and have been writing like a fiend. My brother and his Fiancee arrived late Friday night, along with my dog. So I now have to take care of Fergus in addition to my other duties. Believe me, I'm not complaining.

Saturday I did a bunch of errands and then went to see a presentation of Wen Wei Dance's Cock pit. The piece is a 70 minute contemporary dance number featuring 5 dancers. It was inspired by the 5 years that Wen Wei spent in Beijing as a Chinese dance student. Pheasant feathers symbolize the masculine in Chinese opera. In his piece, Wen Wei uses the feathers to show movement, competition, sexuality and masculinity. The piece featured 4 male dancers and one female dancer and was a moving, erotic and sexually charged piece. I enjoyed it a great deal, but thought it was just a little too long. Still ,it's been a long time since I enjoyed contemporary dance, and this was a treat.

Sunday I taught a workshop to 3 women who write for the Rat Creek press, a community newspaper on the north side of the city. We went through the basic journalism techniques and tricks and I had a really good time. Apparently I did a good job with the workshop, because I got a lot of compliments from the people who attended, which is always nice to hear.

Sunday night, I watched the Oscars (of course), which were kind of boring. I'm glad with all the wins (specifically that Avatar didn't win), but hope for a better show next year.

1. I not so secretly love figure skating. I watched yesterday and I'm one of those terrible watchers who has to gasp every time that someone falls. I was okay with the final scores and results, even though Evgeny Plushenko has the worst hair in the world. Seriously, he manages to have a bowl cut and a mullet at the same time? Hasn't anyone told him this is awful? I wish his wife would tell him. Also, one of my twitter friends referred to Evan Lysachek as "Sylar on Ice" and now I can't stop thinking about that.

2. My brother is doing some military exercise up north and he has seen a variety of interesting things. A polar bear jail! Cucumbers that cost $7.70! He has also learned how to skin a wolverine and cook it. I am not joking. He sent us a rather fascinating email.

3. I am going to see "Shutter island" tomorrow. I'm very excited.

4. I can't go to see the movie today because I am going to an Orchid show. I'm excited about this too. I plan to take pictures of the plants and might even buy one.

5. It's sunny and beautiful here and I can't wait to get outside for a little bit.

A lot of stuff happened....


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I just got the funniest Xmas card from a friend. As most people know, I love Leonardo DiCaprio. My friend Sunni just sent me a postcard with a picture of Leo from Romeo and Juliet. On the back the card reads, "My Heart will go on at Christmas and year-round." She signed it from Leo, but I could tell that it was from her from the handwriting. It's hilarious! I laughed really hard when I saw it.

We've been living in a deep freeze here. The cold started on Saturday. I woke up and completely wimped out. I was determined to stay inside, but my friend Ben offered to pick me up and take me to the Edmonton Journal bookfair. Once I decided to go out, I was okay. I ended up bundling up and walking to the farmer's market, so I left my house even before Ben came to get me. The bookfair was a blast. We listened to some children's writers, then talked to Todd Babiak via Skype. Todd was in France, but his Internet connection died. So he ran to a bar and we could talk to him while he was in the bar, surrounded by French patrons. Then his French friend came onto the connection and talked to us for a long time. We heard some other writers read, but one of the highlights was definitely the security guard at the Journal. He is a writer and journalist who is in exile from Iraq. He has continued to write his poetry and fiction and has written a book that was copyedited by one of the Journal writers. So he read his poetry in Arabic, and then his friend read it in English. It was very cool. After this, Ben took me on a tour of the Edmonton Journal newsroom and I tried to identify various writers by their desks.

That evening, I went to a party. It was in the -40s but I walked the 10 blocks there instead of starting my car. I have a great winter system. I have a very warm parka and I wear a tuque and a face warmer. Then with my boots, mitts and cords, I'm good to go. The only exposed skin is around my eyes, and the only thing that really gets cold is the area between my boots and my parka. So basically, I had cold knees.

The party was quite fun although no one was dressed up and everyone left at about midnight, due to the cold. I ended up talking to a high school drama and dance teacher and an engineer whose wife is doing a masters' in international development. He and his wife had just done some overseas work in Zambia, and it was quite interesting to hear about.

On Sunday, I stayed home the entire day. I did not get dressed or change clothes until 8 at night, when I changed into a different set of pyjamas. I read 2 newspapers, watched two movies (The Apple and the Triplets of Belleville) and read most of "The Bishop's Man" by Linden MacIntyre. I think I'm going to have pyjama day every couple of months. It was wonderfully refreshing.

Today my brother called me at 8 a.m., wondering where our parents were. Please note that my brother lives in the same city as them, while I do not. I had talked to them on Friday, but immediately became concerned since it is so damn cold. I was imagining them stranded in a snowbank somewhere. So I called them repeatedly, and found out that they're okay and fine, although their water has been shot off for a few hours due to a water main break. The ironic thing about this is that my brother went to Calgary without telling them, and then he was concerned that they went away without telling him. Weird.

I got a much needed haircut and drove up to Grande Prairie. When I got there, my family friends and another friend hopped in a car and drove to the new Prairie Art Gallery for an art opening. The event was massive! It was the opening of the second show in the new Prairie Art Gallery and there were hundreds of people there. They had a rock band, free food (roast pork sandwiches and chips) and a chocolate fountain. The art was pretty cool as well. It was a rather surreal event for me, because I saw a lot of people that I have interviewed one or two times. However, I also got a chance to catch up with some friends and hang out at the new art gallery in GP. After that, Jon and Laura and I went home where I cuddled with the Yorkshire terrier and we watched "Mad Men", which I don't really care for. (Confession- I don't really care for Flight of the Conchords either)

Well, I've been in Grande Prairie since Friday, and it has been fairly interesting. After a fairly stressful day, and driving through a rainstorm, I arrived in town at about 9 p.m. at night. I drove myself to my friends' place and managed to visit with them a bit before they went to bed. In the morning, I got up and went down to see the new library and cultural centre, which was fantastically magnificent. I was in absolute awe. It's a truly wonderful building, and I got to see a bunch of Peace country friends that I hadn't seen in a while.

That night, I went back to Darrell and Debi's and ate pizza with Debi's family, which was nice because I got to meet her mom and hang out with her. D and D are getting married next month, so they're a little bit stressed and busy.

On Sunday, I got up fairly early and drove to Bay Tree to visit a llama farm and have a tea party. The owner has 30 llamas and 8 llama babies, which was pretty great. I fell in love with the miniature donkeys, who followed me around like dogs.

D and D and I made dinner and then they treated me to my first James Bond movie ever. Yes, my Bond virginity was broken with "Casino Royale."

This morning, I woke up at a decent time, and stopped in at the office to visit with a bunch of my former coworkers, which was fun. Then I drove to High Prairie, which is about a 2.5 hour drive away. I visited Kemp Honey, which is an apiary where they make body care products from honey. Pretty cool.

Now I'm staying with family friends who live in GP. They moved here right after I left. I wanted to stay with them in order to spend some time with them, and to give D and D a break so they could have their alone time to get ready for their wedding next month.

It's been really great to visit my old stomping grounds, and to visit so many interesting places while I'm here.

I decided to come home to Saskatoon for a few days just to hang out. Since I work from home, I thought I might as well work from a different location. I generally come home during the holidays, so it was nice to come home during a time that's not a holiday, so I can just hang out with people. The weather has been somewhat frightful, so Dad and I did not get a chance to check out his new boat. Instead, we went for lunch yesterday. I also got a chance to visit with friends and their two-year-old daughter, who I haven't seen since she was about 7 months old.

The parentals and I rented a great movie called "Cherry Blossoms" which is about an older couple, their family relationships and the stifling of dreams. I don't want to say too much about it, except that it's a gorgeous and extremely different film.

Fergus was so excited to see me that he started yipping with excitement when I walked in the door. I'm going back to Edmonton tomorrow. I'll be chained to my computer to write a paper that I have to do for my class. This has been a nice break, and it's been good to hang out with my family and visit a few friends. I also managed to book a trip to the Coast. I'm going to Vancouver for a wedding on Oct 4, and will spend a couple of days in Victoria and three days in Vancouver. Yay!

Seriously. There's SNOW outside, and there is now a snowfall warning with freezing rain. I was supposed to go to a dairy, but I'm not going to travel on roads with freezing rain, so I cancelled my appointment. I'm at home doing work, but my dog keeps on cuddling up on the couch, and he's so cozy and warm. It's much nicer to snuggle with him than sit at the computer and try to work.