Canadian girl out and aboot

I won a spot in a beekeeping workshop this weekend, so I spent most of the weekend hanging out there. The course was taught by a woman I know, and was held three blocks from my house at this yoga studio. I've walked by the space often and it's quite nice on the outside, so it was pretty exciting to get to go inside the space.

The workshop was pretty great. I had a good time interacting and talking with the other participants. One was a chef who just moved here from England and she is interested in making local cheeses. Another was a woman who had done 2 years teaching English in France, and was very interested in local food and sustainable communities. I really enjoyed visiting with everyone. I found that I do know quite a bit about bees, but there's still so much to learn! I've also started thinking more about beekeeping, and how I can become a beekeeper, eventually. It definitely won't be happening this year.

I did also learn that beekeeping is legal in the city of Calgary, but not in Edmonton (yet). I'm thinking that eventually, I might want to get some bees and put them out on a friend's farm. It's not like I don't know people with large areas of land in the province :) I also think I want to go and work at a beekeeper's at some point to get more experience.

Aside from my beekeeping workshop, I taught my teen writers group. We talked about submitting manuscripts and giving readings, and it was a very talky lesson. Our normal space was occupied by a group of people that looked a bit down and out. We moved to a room on the other side, and I told some of the people to send lost teenagers over to my room. One guy told me that it was a Narcotics Anonymous meeting. I've never run into one of them before, so it was pretty interesting just to see one.

I also told the teens that I won't be teaching the group next year, partially because I want to concentrate and work on my own fiction. I know that one of the kids was kind of sad about this, because we've really built up a bond and I could see it on her face when I announced it. I'm sad about this too. I hope she stays in touch with me. Some of the other teens will be turning 19, so they won't be able to take the program anyway.

I did try to make it a positive thing, and said that the new instructor might have interest or expertise in areas that I don't do. One of the kids said that it might be exciting to have a new instructor, but it has also been nice to work with me the past 2 years. I was pretty touched by this.

After my busy day, I went to the gym and pushed myself pretty hard. Then I came home, talked on the phone, watched some episodes of "Skins" on DVD, read and vegged. I ended up having one of the best sleeps that I've had in weeks. I've stepped up my scheduled exercise to four days a week, and intend to keep it this way. I definitely want to see if it affects my sleep and my ability to sleep.

On Saturday (almost a week ago), I drove down to Calgary to spend a few times with A. Since I work from home, I thought I'd take the opportunity to work from his home, which was great. I actually ended up doing a lot of work and got to spend a lot of time with him, which was cool. We actually ended up watching Olympic hockey (a first for me) and Olympic curling (another first), as well as the closing ceremonies, which were absolutely insane until we got to the craptastic music. I actually want to see the Michael Buble dance number again, because it was so over the top. I called my mom during this segment and she was laughing so hard that she could barely speak and was almost crying.

Anyway, A and I spent a lot of time hanging out, watched Olympics, went for sushi, wandered around his neighbourhood and went to see "The Last Station." I also got to finally meet Melanie , my co-blogger, and have lunch with my friend Courtney and her daughter Maren.

On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I managed to become somewhat ill and was in a super crabby, sick and tired mood for my last day there and my drive home. However, I was already feeling better by Thursday.

I'm working like a fiend and trying to get a lot of stuff done. My bro and his Fiancee are coming to town for some reason. I think they have some shopping to do, so they'll be staying here. My dad was going to bring my dog next weekend, but my parents decided to send him up this weekend since it didn't make sense for two family members to drive to Edmonton in such a short time period. So I have Fergus for an extra week! I'm looking after him while my parents take their first trip to China. I love having Fergus here and it should work out well, since I'm over most of my crazy driving days. I'm excited for him to be here.

This weekend, I'm teaching a journalism workshop! My friend Mari works at a community newspaper called The Rat Creek Press . I'm going to teach some news writing techniques to their writers :) I'm a little nervous, but excited, and I'm going to spend a great deal of today planning the workshop.

My friend's brother has actually written a book on Haiti and offers some tips on things to think about when facing the situation there.

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The holidays have been nice, but I think I am getting old. I was talking to friends and we all admitted that we've just hung out with family, and have done very little socializing this holiday. I have done the most socializing with my parents and my dog, to be honest. I spend hours with my dog. I really, really have to get my own dog sooner rather than later.

On Christmas day we went to family friends' for dinner, which was awesome. There were 12 people in the house and dinner was a raucous, hilarious event.

Boxing day, I woke up with a cold. My dad and I went for Vietnamese soup, and then wandered through the mall because we are stupid. However, I managed to get a new lightweight parka that I'm completely in love with. We then checked out a new restaurant in town and went for coffee before seeing Avatar, which Dad REALLY wanted to see. The visuals are stunning, but I could write a book about the bad dialogue and colonial themes. I'll spare you a long essay, but it's basically a white boy fantasy about befriending and infiltrating the natives. However, I'm glad I saw it since it will be up for a bunch of technical awards and I'm glad to be able to discuss it with people. It was also a first 3-D movie for both Dad and I, and it was nice to have that experience with him. After we saw the movie, we went on the Net to read criticism about it so we could discuss it more.

Yesterday Mom and I went to see Sherlock Holmes, which was visually stunning. I also liked the banter between Holmes and Watson and thought it was good, just not my favourite kind of movie. Then [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com] came over for a visit and we went to a party at our friend Kjell's. Kjell's dad was my advisor for my International Studies program. I also worked as his research assistant and housesat for them about 10 years ago. So it was really cool to go over there and say hello to his parents and chat with everyone. Kjell is currently studying in Galway, Ireland, and working on a Ph.D in human rights law. He specializes in genocide and his research takes him all over the world. His most recent projects involve interviewing genocide perpetrators and victims in Rwanda and Cambodia. Fascinating and disturbing stuff. His new girlfriend, who is from Amsterdam, was also present. She still lives in Amsterdam, but they met in Ireland at a conference as they do similar work. Interesting night. Unfortunately, we had to leave early as [Bad username or site: @ livejournal.com]'s plane back to Ontario left at 4:30 in the morning.

I am still feeling kind of sick, so I'm not skiing with my father today. I've been bugging him about a roof rack for my car. Today he did the work and found out that my car will not accomodate a roof rack. Fortunately, it does have a hole which leads into the trunk, so I can pack my own skis and the skis of others into the car properly. I was placing my skis inside at a diagonal angle, and couldn't take anyone else's skis with me. This solution enables me to take other people and is much, much cheaper.

I will only be in meetings for two days in December, which is completely lovely. It's wonderful. I'm finding it a welcome change to be in the city. It's also good as people are hosting parties and activities and I can attend them. I still have a backlog of stories to write for work and have been wading my way through them. Yet I've also been reading, writing a new short story, watching movies and doing a whole bunch of errands and Xmas shopping type things.

Last week I went with my friend to play pub trivia. I was very excited, as I love trivia games. Unfortunately, the games were cancelled, but I still got to hang out with a bunch of new people, which was cool.

We had a blizzard on Friday. I decided that I wasn't going to drive anywhere, which was genius. I did a few errands earlier in the day, but then spent the rest of the day at home, which was divine. Fortunately it snowed a lot, so I can now start skiing! I'm going to get my skis waxed tomorrow.

I went to see "Precious" this week and really recommend it. It's a rough story, but it's really about empowerment and how people can help one another and survive. Forgot that it was produced by Oprah and go see it because of the incredible acting. (I did cry twice)

Today I attended my dress rehearsal for the dance recital tonight. My sequin bra DID NOT arrive, but I have a pretty halter top and I got some compliments on that, so I felt okay about my costuming choice. Our rehearsal went well. Unfortunately, there was a wardrobe malfunction in one of the groups ahead of us. One of the women was dancing and her nip popped right out of her bra. No one in the class seemed to notice, but a few of the dancers in the audience did. I went over to tell the teacher afterward so she could tell her dancer. I felt bad for causing some embarrassment for her, but I thought I'd better tell someone so that it didn't happen in the actual performance. Anyway, I'm looking forward to the recital tonight.

I made a very good choice when picking my apartment. The amount of natural light that comes in my main room is lovely. It really makes a HUGE difference in the winter. When I move, I'm definitely going to have to pick another place with big windows.

I've been busy this week, which definitely helps with the winter blahs. On Wednesday, I went to the launch for a cookbook. Two local artists and a local chef wrote a cookbook celebrating the products of local producers. You can see the cookbook here . The launch party was a blast! There were producers, hipsters, media types, artists and chefs in attendance. I missed most of the food (as I arrived late), but was still able to chat with a variety of lovely people, including people who were fans of Alberta Farmer , which pays me the money I need to eat.

On Thursday, I did a variety of things around the house, then went to a cool event called There's a heifer in your tank . This event is put on by Animal Science 200 students at the University of Alberta. They used to do skits, but now they made youtube videos answering questions about agriculture, like "why is ham pink while pork chops are white?" and "what is colostrum?"

It was a hilarious event, well attended by over 200 people. The students were incredibly enthusiastic and happy and I had a good time.

I finished revising a short story that I've been working on and did a bit of work on Friday before going over to my friend Caitlin's. I've been very social this week and I think it makes a difference in combatting the winter blahs. Fortunately, I don't have to travel anywhere for work until December 10, and I am over the moon about this. I've been working A LOT and need some downtime.

This weekend, I got stuck in a little patch of melancholy. I'm not sure why this happened. It hasn't happened since May, so that's definitely a positive thing. I think that a lot of it had to do with a little too much isolation over the weekend. I was supposed to go out with friends on Sunday, but one friend was sick and there was a severe storm warning, so I didn't want to leave the house.

There was a severe thunderstorm in a city about 1.5 hours away from here (Camrose) on Saturday. An outdoor country music festival was going on. About 75 people were injured and one person was killed during the storm. This was terribly sad news, and definitely influenced my decision to stay in when there are storm warnings.

I did do a few fun things this weekend- went to a dance party held to raise money for a film. Danced my butt off for the first time in ages. I also went to see "The Hurt Locker" which I highly recommend. It's hard to watch and emotionally draining, but it's bound to get a lot of attention in Oscar time.

I didn't take the weekend off and did a bit of work each day. This afternoon, I'm all caught up on work and am working on the second draft of some poems for the new manuscript. When I initially wrote my first book, I did a lot of things unintentionally and over a period of time. This time, I'm trying to link themes and images through various sections, and I'm trying to do it on purpose. It's been fascinating.

Holy crap, this week is busy and good.

Monday- Work during the day and dance class at night.

Tuesday- Work, get haircut, meet up with visiting coworkers, attend Beef Producers banquet with boss.

Wednesday- Work during the day and dance class.

Thursday- Drive to Smoky Lake, attend Grazing school for women, meet cool women and learn about composting, alternative energy sources and how to kill coyotes.

Friday- Visit with friend who I haven't seen in two years, who is in Edmonton to take a leadership training course. Hang with her. Finish assignment for school. Visit accountant.

Saturday- Take reiki level 2 course. Hang with other friend visiting from Montreal. She's an old friend from Saskatoon who is a folk singer. Attend her show in the evening.

Sunday- Go to free concert in park with Mari and dogs. Go to bbq at my friend Leah's that night.

That seemed to be the name of the game this weekend. I was supposed to go meet some friends for drinks but I went down to the bar and couldn't see anyone I knew. Apparently I was not very forthcoming in my activities for evening entertainment, as I just returned home and went to bed. Saturday was filled with lots of reading, errands, etc and then a firepit bbq at my friend Jay's. Jay has two kids and there were two more in attendance so we got a chance to play with kids as we roasted our veggie dogs. We stayed until about 11, roasting weiners and sitting by the fire. Yesterday I biked down to a festival, got rained on and biked back home. Then I went by a poetry reading, was unimpressed by the age of the crowd and biked back home.

Come to think of it, it was a rather anti-social weekend. But I did get lots of reading done, and some biking in. I also watched "East of Eden", which I really enjoyed.

This week will be very busy as I seem to have a lot of people visiting me. My former coworkers are in town, my boss is in town and my folksinger friend Anique is in town. I'm definitely not complaining!