Anyone I've spoken to in the past year has surely heard me mention "THE YEAR OF DEBT REPAYMENT", said in a slightly ominous voice, inevitably in conjunction with some complaint about how I can't go out/attend that sporting event/see that concert/go on vacation/upgrade my 2007 wardrobe, buy that nice fill-in-the-blank, etc. etc. In 2012, Jeff and I decided to buckle down and pay off a huge loan we had taken out from the Bank of Brian and Gwen (as my mom named it). My parents have a kick ass line of credit with a prime-ish interest rate, so instead of paying the inevitably higher interest rates offered to those who hold mortgages on two homes, multiple credit cards and student loans (read: Jeff and I!), my mom generously offered to pay off our high interest debts if we paid her back (with interest, obvi), in no set time frame. Shout out to my mom here - she's great!!!! And to my hubs, probably a more private person with his money/business than I am.. whereas I unabashedly told anyone who would listen all year about how skint we were and am now blogging about it in detail. Thanks Jeff! In defense of my blathering, I do hope that I might inspire someone (anyone reading this! not anyone in particular :)) to buckle down and just get 'er paid off if you have a debt that's bugging you.. read on for details!
So. 2012. We buckled down. Hard.
It has been a tough year. There have been times where I've wanted to cry/have cried over the frustration of living on a shoe-stringier-than-usual budget. We've had our disagreements over the best way to spend our paltry amount of "free" money. We put a total hold on home renos & redesign (which we love to do! has been so irritating!!). Jeff tried several low budget (unfortuantely unsuccessful) solutions to fixing his car's radio when the FM radio gave out, and eventually gave in to listening to TALK1010 on his way to and from work on his 35 min each way commute each day (trooper :)). We've filled a grocery cart and then put back things we didn't REALLY need. We have spent many a night pj'd (jp'd) out on the couch, just keeping it close to home to save bucks. I have lived inside an excel spreadsheet called "budget" and worked 2 positions at my job with only minor bellyaching (rising in pitch at times, for sure, though) because the inflated paycheque meant we could e.g. do Christmas right instead of making homemade gifts (which has definitely happened in the past!). Don't get me wrong, we've always been somewhat thrifty (we really stretched ourselves to get into this house), so there were some parts of this year that were old hat for us, but in general 2012 was just a bit pinchier and squinchier than usual, with occasional (frequent?) moments of "AUGGGH I CAN'T DO THIS FOR ANOTHER 11/8/6/4/3 MONTHS!!!!!!".
We found ways to "pretend rich", like the weekend we spent test driving Nissan 370Z's. We do plan to buy one eventually... like in a couple of years.. but the guys at the dealerships didn't need to know that! :D That car goes fast! Weeee!!! We relished gift cards (esp. Red Lobster - thanks Doreen!!!) that were given to us as wedding or birthday gifts, and made big shows of those nights out - lots of anticipation, dressing up nicely to go out, and always reflecting back on how great it was to have had such a great meal for free! And we made plans for 2013, like a 2 week road trip to the east coast. Planning it in 2012 was nearly torturous, wishing we could go right then, but I just kept thinking "it will get here eventually". 2013 seemed like it would never arrive.. but somehow, here I am, New Years Eve eve, and the last cheque to my parents is written and sitting in my dad's hands, dated for Jan 1, 2013. And then we're free and clear!*
*disclaimer: we are not free and clear. we still have 20 years left on a gigantic mortgage, plus lots of little debts tucked here and there, but the payments are totally manageable and the lenders are not close family members who you see frequently and tend to discuss your financial biznatch with on a regular basis over dinner ;)
I'm glad we did it. It was a tough slog for sure, but like with most things that are challenging, they are usually worth it in the end! My mom is convinced we're going to stop seeing her and calling now that we have "no use" for them. She's silly.. they still have that cute dog I love to play with so I'll definitely still visit (HAHA kidding mom). I hope now she will understand how much I value our relationship fully and completely for what it is, not for anything to do with money. But my parents deserve such a huge shout out for supporting me through school (undergrad and post grad), helping me purchase my first home, helping pay for our wedding, giving me random "helps" along the way (e.g. my mom's gift of $ this summer to go buy nice dress pants for myself which I had been refusing to do for 5 years! no doubt she was mortified when I told her I was going to be doing an acting manager job and wearing 5 year old dress pants for my occasional fancy meetings - my goodness!! ;)) and most of all this debt situation which has been countless thousands of dollars over 3.5 years. They are simply the best and I hope their spirit of generosity is something I can incorporate into my own life. This may be easier now that I'm at a point in my life where I don't have to shed tears if the dinner/grocery/gas/hydro bill is more than I budgeted for.... (frequent, frequent happening! .. the bills.. not the tears.. well.... :P).
And, as with many things in life, when it rains, it pours! Jeff's investment property in Stratford (the house he lived in when he met me that he was never able to sell after I wooed him east to Guelph to live with me) which has caused him much grief and headache, and our budget much fluctuation and red periods over the past 4 years, finally sold, just this past month (closes March 1, 2013). Finally, the blood/tears/sweat equity that Jeff has truly earned by being a reluctant landlord in a town full of ruffian renters will be in our bank account and Jeff never has to go to Stratford again (his request - he said maybe we can go see a play there somtime but not until at least 2018 when the post-traumatic landlord disorder wears off). In addition, our mortgage renewal unexpectedly turned up in the mail this month (I mistakenly thought our 5 year term had reset when we moved in here 3 years ago.. turns out it was 5 years from the start of the term which was Jan 2008 - booya!) and we were able to grab a great rate from RBC (figured I'd plug them.. they have been super!) of 2.99% for a 5 year fixed. Since I secured my original mortgage in late 2007 (happy economy = interest rate of 5.89% = aggh!), blended it in 2010 when we moved (recovering-ish economy - rate blended to about 4.8%) and didn't think I'd ever be able to take advantage of today's sweet interest rates, missing them entirely until it was time to renew in 2015, I am pretty stoked! We are going to try to pay down an extra chunk of the m-gage each year to try make a dent in the principle (do you ever look at that interest/principle summary at year end?? omg.. terrifying how much goes to interest!), but it's nice to know that those nasty monthly payments will be even lower than we'd planned for the next year (and the next 5!).
So what now? I am going to bid farewell to Gail Vaz-Oxlade, host of 'Til Debt Do Us Part, and my personal guru for tough love, budgets and debt repayment. I am going to tuck away my chequebook and pen and write no more cheques to the Bank of Brian and Gwen. I am going to eagerly await a lifetime of travelling that starts with our east coast roadie in August. I am going to try to LOOK AWAY from my budget (I still have one for 2013, but this budget has some magic built in that I call "wiggle room"!!!).
For the first time last night, when I got a dinner bill that was crazy expensive (I blame the stout-drinkin' boozer I married!), I leaned over and whispered to Jeff: "it's ridiculously expensive. and I don't care." with a huge grin. Cheers to loosening the purse strings, loosening the belt, unfurrowing my brow, taking a big deep sigh of relief and saying GOOD-FREAKING-BYE to 2012 and The Year of Debt Repayment.
Cheers to 2013, a happy new year indeed! :)
Monday 31 December 2012
Friday 14 December 2012
Crazy Sleeper
I am beyond a crazy sleeper - I'm an out and out nutcase. Let's revisit some of the ridiculous things that I've experienced or had reported back to me from my attempts to catch 8 hours of shut eye a night.
Sleep Walking
Starting when I was very young, I began occasionally wandering around in my sleep. I usually have little to no recollection of these incidents. One night, I wandered into my family's office where my mom was working an overnight on call shift. I said "hi mommy" and she said "hi sweetie - what are you doing up? can you get me a diet pepsi?" (always thinking of me first eh) and I said "sure!". Then she never saw me again, and found me fast asleep in my bed about 15 minutes later when she wandered out in a thirsty haze.
Sleep Talking
This is my crowning and key characteristic. I don't get as many stories now because Jeff sleeps like he's dead (once he slept through a policeman pounding on our door and ringing our doorbell at 3 in the morning - oh don't worry, it was our trashy neighbours they were after, not us) so he doesn't hear a lot. But occasionally the intensity of my episodes has woken him up. I don't even know where to start. Those overnight on call shifts were when my mom realized I had issues - she'd hear my non-sensical mumblings from the next room and tease me about them the next day. When I had sleepovers with my friends in high school, Dawn and Jana would always leave a pen out so they could scribble down what I said during the night. Some gems we still laugh about today: "can we have steak for breakfast?" "today's too cloudy for the teddy bears to have their picnic" or Jana's favourite, the time that I bolted upright in bed, pointing, eyes wide open, screaming to no one "stop! you're going to get me in trouble! put that down!". ('You're going to get me in trouble' has been a nonstop theme in my sleep talking episodes as long as I can remember - concerning). I had an old boyfriend who I used to wake up with my talking who would engage me in conversations while I was asleep - my answers would grow increasingly more angry until I exploded awake yelling a bunch of nonsense just to find him laughing hysterically. Recently I dove out of bed screaming to Jeff that no one cares about black bear safety except Lou and I (Lou is a nice older man who donated some land to my organization.. talk about taking your work home with you). For a long time I've been having long, loud and often angry chats while asleep and the weirdest thing is they never have anything to do with my dreams - so where do they come from?!
Dreams
My dreams are a blog entry in themselves. I dream every single night and can usually remember at least 1-3 dreams/night. Last night I had a dream about the Christmas Bird Count I'm participating in on Sunday, which starts at 5:45 a.m. on Sunday morning. In my dream, I was about 15 minutes late getting there, and I saw my group packing up and getting into their cars. I asked for an update and they reported "you're too late. we've already seen every Ontario bird and recorded them, even though it's still dark out. we're going home now." I was devestated. This is just an "off the top of my head" example. I have dreamt about everything, everyone, in every scenario you can imagine. I realize that sounds dirty - no worries, go there.. I've been there (you've probably been there with me!! HA!). But it's mainly the VIVIDITY of my dreams that disturbs me. I often wake up convinced that these ridiculous soap operas I write in my head in my sleep are true and many of my friends and family have woken up to me inquiring about whether they were a) mad at me b) still alive c) ok or whether their a) horses had been stolen b) father had died c) fill in any blank here, I've done it. I've been mad at Jeff for entire days about things he's done to me in my dreams, including a super weird stretch after we got engaged in which he left me for about a million different reasons (they completely stopped after we got married - weeeird!!). In high school I ended a relationship over a realization I made in a dream - I KNOW HOW CRAZY THAT SOUNDS! The weirdest thing in the past few years, though, has been my dreams coming true (honestly, read on, I'm not bs-ing). It started with an old coworker who wore a hat to the office every single day for the 8-9 months I'd known him. I had a dream about him and in the dream he was sitting in his office, we were talking about his upcoming wedding, and he wasn't wearing a hat. The next morning, I was telling this dream to another coworker when the hat-wearer walked into the office. I stared, openmouthed at him, as I watched him walk past ("uhh.. morning, Kristyn..") because he WASN'T WEARING A HAT. What the eff? Then, just last week I had a dream that I was arguing about the merit of cheesy wedding songs and how the Macarena wasn't a good one, and I thought it should be succeeded by Mambo #5 (an old favourite of mine from high school that I haven't heard in probably a year). I woke up before my alarm that morning, turned on the radio as I got up, was brushing my teeth and the next song that came on was Mambo #5. Now, if only I could dream the winning lottery numbers...
Sleep Arranging
I become extremely determined about certain things in my sleep and set to work. In grade 12, while half asleep (I have vague memories of feeling quite set about my task) I made myself a nice bed of blankets on the floor, turned my shirt around backwards, put on some jeans (didn't zip them up) and went to sleep on the floor. I woke up that morning in utter confusion. When I was away on my first road trip for my current job, perhaps buoyed up by the excitement of travelling (ha 2009 Kristyn.. ha), I woke up in my hotel room the morning I was leaving to find my toiletries neatly rearranged on the floor beside the bed, moved carefully off the nightstand by, I presume, me. In my last house I have blurry memories of being convinced that Pam and James were coming to sleep over and I had to turn down the covers on the bed in the guest room, NOW! I did a double take when I passed the guest room the next day, then could just slightly remember my fervent hospitality from the middle of the previous night.
Hallucinating
Ah, my favourite. I'm not as bad as my friend James who has seen pretty much every piece of spy equipment in his bedroom (through the mirror, sneaking through the vents) and hallucinated his cats into interesting scenarios, BUT I've done my share of hallucinating. The time I could SEE moths fluttering against a motel window, even after I woke up - only to blink a few times, have them disappear and hear pattering rain outside which sounded like fluttering wings. The time I looked down and SAW an acquaintance of mine sleeping on the floor of my bedroom in my old apartment, and, I sleeping in the buff, found this arrangement highly inappropriate. I tore a blanket off the bed to cover myself, ran out of the room in a panic and found myself frantically panting in the living room, realizing there was no one in my room. Jeff caught me a few months back pawing at the air below the ceiling fan, trying to turn on the light (there are no strings, it's controlled by a remote) and that damn fan has been so many things on so many nights, most recently helicopter blades a la PTSD Owen in Grey's Anatomy. Terrifying. Hallucinations are NOT fun!, but do make for extreme hilarity.
Is it any wonder I need 8-9 hours of sleep a night considering how much I have GOING ON every night?!
I'll leave it at that for now, hopefully having left you more grateful for your peaceful nights and easy breezy sleeps... next time you wake up after a restful 8 hours, think of me.. huddled in the corner.. swatting away moths.. and throwin' on some jeans...
Sleep Walking
Starting when I was very young, I began occasionally wandering around in my sleep. I usually have little to no recollection of these incidents. One night, I wandered into my family's office where my mom was working an overnight on call shift. I said "hi mommy" and she said "hi sweetie - what are you doing up? can you get me a diet pepsi?" (always thinking of me first eh) and I said "sure!". Then she never saw me again, and found me fast asleep in my bed about 15 minutes later when she wandered out in a thirsty haze.
Sleep Talking
This is my crowning and key characteristic. I don't get as many stories now because Jeff sleeps like he's dead (once he slept through a policeman pounding on our door and ringing our doorbell at 3 in the morning - oh don't worry, it was our trashy neighbours they were after, not us) so he doesn't hear a lot. But occasionally the intensity of my episodes has woken him up. I don't even know where to start. Those overnight on call shifts were when my mom realized I had issues - she'd hear my non-sensical mumblings from the next room and tease me about them the next day. When I had sleepovers with my friends in high school, Dawn and Jana would always leave a pen out so they could scribble down what I said during the night. Some gems we still laugh about today: "can we have steak for breakfast?" "today's too cloudy for the teddy bears to have their picnic" or Jana's favourite, the time that I bolted upright in bed, pointing, eyes wide open, screaming to no one "stop! you're going to get me in trouble! put that down!". ('You're going to get me in trouble' has been a nonstop theme in my sleep talking episodes as long as I can remember - concerning). I had an old boyfriend who I used to wake up with my talking who would engage me in conversations while I was asleep - my answers would grow increasingly more angry until I exploded awake yelling a bunch of nonsense just to find him laughing hysterically. Recently I dove out of bed screaming to Jeff that no one cares about black bear safety except Lou and I (Lou is a nice older man who donated some land to my organization.. talk about taking your work home with you). For a long time I've been having long, loud and often angry chats while asleep and the weirdest thing is they never have anything to do with my dreams - so where do they come from?!
Dreams
My dreams are a blog entry in themselves. I dream every single night and can usually remember at least 1-3 dreams/night. Last night I had a dream about the Christmas Bird Count I'm participating in on Sunday, which starts at 5:45 a.m. on Sunday morning. In my dream, I was about 15 minutes late getting there, and I saw my group packing up and getting into their cars. I asked for an update and they reported "you're too late. we've already seen every Ontario bird and recorded them, even though it's still dark out. we're going home now." I was devestated. This is just an "off the top of my head" example. I have dreamt about everything, everyone, in every scenario you can imagine. I realize that sounds dirty - no worries, go there.. I've been there (you've probably been there with me!! HA!). But it's mainly the VIVIDITY of my dreams that disturbs me. I often wake up convinced that these ridiculous soap operas I write in my head in my sleep are true and many of my friends and family have woken up to me inquiring about whether they were a) mad at me b) still alive c) ok or whether their a) horses had been stolen b) father had died c) fill in any blank here, I've done it. I've been mad at Jeff for entire days about things he's done to me in my dreams, including a super weird stretch after we got engaged in which he left me for about a million different reasons (they completely stopped after we got married - weeeird!!). In high school I ended a relationship over a realization I made in a dream - I KNOW HOW CRAZY THAT SOUNDS! The weirdest thing in the past few years, though, has been my dreams coming true (honestly, read on, I'm not bs-ing). It started with an old coworker who wore a hat to the office every single day for the 8-9 months I'd known him. I had a dream about him and in the dream he was sitting in his office, we were talking about his upcoming wedding, and he wasn't wearing a hat. The next morning, I was telling this dream to another coworker when the hat-wearer walked into the office. I stared, openmouthed at him, as I watched him walk past ("uhh.. morning, Kristyn..") because he WASN'T WEARING A HAT. What the eff? Then, just last week I had a dream that I was arguing about the merit of cheesy wedding songs and how the Macarena wasn't a good one, and I thought it should be succeeded by Mambo #5 (an old favourite of mine from high school that I haven't heard in probably a year). I woke up before my alarm that morning, turned on the radio as I got up, was brushing my teeth and the next song that came on was Mambo #5. Now, if only I could dream the winning lottery numbers...
Sleep Arranging
I become extremely determined about certain things in my sleep and set to work. In grade 12, while half asleep (I have vague memories of feeling quite set about my task) I made myself a nice bed of blankets on the floor, turned my shirt around backwards, put on some jeans (didn't zip them up) and went to sleep on the floor. I woke up that morning in utter confusion. When I was away on my first road trip for my current job, perhaps buoyed up by the excitement of travelling (ha 2009 Kristyn.. ha), I woke up in my hotel room the morning I was leaving to find my toiletries neatly rearranged on the floor beside the bed, moved carefully off the nightstand by, I presume, me. In my last house I have blurry memories of being convinced that Pam and James were coming to sleep over and I had to turn down the covers on the bed in the guest room, NOW! I did a double take when I passed the guest room the next day, then could just slightly remember my fervent hospitality from the middle of the previous night.
Hallucinating
Ah, my favourite. I'm not as bad as my friend James who has seen pretty much every piece of spy equipment in his bedroom (through the mirror, sneaking through the vents) and hallucinated his cats into interesting scenarios, BUT I've done my share of hallucinating. The time I could SEE moths fluttering against a motel window, even after I woke up - only to blink a few times, have them disappear and hear pattering rain outside which sounded like fluttering wings. The time I looked down and SAW an acquaintance of mine sleeping on the floor of my bedroom in my old apartment, and, I sleeping in the buff, found this arrangement highly inappropriate. I tore a blanket off the bed to cover myself, ran out of the room in a panic and found myself frantically panting in the living room, realizing there was no one in my room. Jeff caught me a few months back pawing at the air below the ceiling fan, trying to turn on the light (there are no strings, it's controlled by a remote) and that damn fan has been so many things on so many nights, most recently helicopter blades a la PTSD Owen in Grey's Anatomy. Terrifying. Hallucinations are NOT fun!, but do make for extreme hilarity.
Is it any wonder I need 8-9 hours of sleep a night considering how much I have GOING ON every night?!
I'll leave it at that for now, hopefully having left you more grateful for your peaceful nights and easy breezy sleeps... next time you wake up after a restful 8 hours, think of me.. huddled in the corner.. swatting away moths.. and throwin' on some jeans...
Saturday 1 December 2012
Crowd surfing
EEP! I missed a blog entry for November. Even though life has been crazy trying to hold down 2 jobs for the past 5 months I promised myself I'd blog at least once a month - it's fun sharing my random thoughts, feelings, lists, secrets, analyses and most of all stories about me doing stupid things or ending up in ridiculous, usually unbelievable situations. There are more of those to come. This time I wanted to feature the top 5 reasons why I love where I work. AND GUESS WHAT - the answers have absolutely nothing to do with trees, nature, doing work I feel good about or any of that other blathery mush. We just had our bi-annual (I can never remember if that means twice a year, or every two years.. every 2 years is what I mean) national staff gathering where 220 people from across Canada including our president, all the VPs, several board members and awesome external speakers (e.g. Chief Scientist from the world's largest conservation organization) got together to celebrate our work and ourselves. Here's my Top 5 about why I love where I work:
1. We had a talent show on Wednesday night which featured at least 4 coordinated sing-a-longs making fun of all the acronyms we use in our daily work (Jeff says it's like I am speaking in code sometimes). Personally, I participated in a song to the tune of "TNT" which sang "PMP! It's dynamite! PMP! We'll win the fight! PMP! Block off that road! PMP! We're saving a toaaaaddddd!!!!" Oi! :) At one point our new land management database was likened to a hungry monster trying to eat all of our work - a Quebec staff was dressed in a scary monster mask and growling and yelling while the two staff who built and manage the database tried to hold it back and whip it into submission. I cried laughing. A few staff from our Quebec region did a dramatic reenactment of the Backstreet Boys' video "Get Down" which brought me right back to Grade 9, Friday night, watching MuchMusic in my basement with Dawn! Loved!!! My coworker Laura wrote a fantastic choir song lamenting everything people hate about our organization "why is National trying to control me!?" "why do I have to get out a calculator for the Net Amount After Tax Recovery on the Invoice Coding Form- it's an Excel spreadsheet!!!!!" - double loved!
2. We did a short version of the Briggs-Meyers personality test during a session on Thursday and a few people were invited to share their answers to the telling questions that help you determine which category you fall into. A cartoon of an apple popped up on the screen and the woman leading the session said "describe it". I wrote "apple" (I am heavily a "sensate", not someone who sees things with intuition - if I was I would have said "healthy" or "autumn"). As she's surveying the room, one of our National VPs replies "global". GLOBAL?! Wtf. I spent the most of the rest of the day telling people I was concerned he needed to speak to a psychiatrist. That night around 2:30 a.m. he said to a few of us over our 8th (or 20th) drink: "I really wish I hadn't said 'global'. It was what I was thinking, but now people keep looking at me really strangely. Either they think I'm a pscychopath, or that I'm the f***ing messiah!". Again, I laughed until I cried.
3. I got to present a "brag book" for Ontario region's successes over the past little while. My old boss Dan and I were tagged to give the presentation. We were told to be competitive with the other regions. Dan and I, without any planning, managed a choreographed entrance onto the stage which involved running, raising the roof hands, a well-timed, surprise high five and during the second iteration of the presentation Dan had us dance up on stage to the Black Eyed Peas (he's in his 40s and has kids, so I'll forgive him if Boom Boom Pow is his #1 badass song). Ontario unofficially "won" the brag book session, largely due to our exuberance, or possibly because when I told the story of fundraising for money for a boat to access a remote island property, Dan concluded my slide with "we're on a boat" and a sage nod.
4. On Wednesday night we danced. Oh did we dance. I quickly lost the sweater and styled hair and was reduced a t-shirt and ponytail and was STILL too hot! We danced from about 9:00 p.m. on, some of us giving up around 12:45 (me) and some lasting until 4:00 a.m. - whoooo!!! For some reason Gangnam Style was played twice, and for some reason, at least 25 of my coworkers know every move to the dance including the funny leg kick. At one point my aforementioned old boss who usually doesn't partake in the dancing grabbed my our colleague Kelly from Alberta, locked elbows with her back-to-back and flipped her over his back. My absolute shock was quelled when Dan and Kelly performed this for a second, then a third time. This year, our president and CEO did not do a handstand, but I hope we'll revisit the glory of 2010 another time. At the end of the night, a small crowd formed around the stage and that's when the crowd-surfing began. No, I did not crowd surf. It was later pointed out to me that it was SLIGHTLY awkward having your hands on a coworker's ass (my sentiments exactly) but I guess enough beers will take the edge off anything! :) My feet were throbbing when I went to bed, but I couldn't stop smiling at how much fun it had been!
5. There was a session given by an external speaker on "Business Etiquette", which I did not sign up for (I think I laughed at it when I saw it on the agenda - I wear jeans to work every day, tank tops and flip flops in the summer because our building has no a/c, and forward all spam emails offering Russian brides or poorly worded offers for college deeplomas to my coworkers - I am informal person through to my heart and that will never change!). I got a full report on it though - the woman giving the talk was advising never to be friends with your coworkers (they're your coworkers, NOT your friends!!) - definitely don't ever hug your coworkers, a firm handshake will suffice, and don't ask people "how are you?", but rather "are you enjoying the staff conference? how did you enjoy the meal?". UGH! Well "ugh" is apparently what a bunch of folks thought, because my one coworker (FRIEND!) Brenda put her hand up and said "are you really saying we shouldn't be hugging, dancing or crowd surfing on our coworkers? Because I have done all those things this week." The woman said "you should absolutely not have done any of those things." In return, the entire room started speaking out of turn: "but our organizational culture is NOT like a corporation! that's how we bond!" "our president hugs people! my boss hugs me!" "we love each other and want to celebrate being together!" - I picture it like a mutiny and the woman having balled up paper thrown at her until she eventually slunk out of the room. I'm sure it was more professional than that (mildly) but I was happy to hear people sticking up for what I think we're really all about.
And to conclude, the fact that the jokes and drinks never stopped all week long throw a lovely blanket over the entire week and all the reasons I love working where I do. Anytime I'm laughing hysterically where I need to bend down to the floor to catch my breath means I'm probably having a pretty good week. Oh, and I got to hold a baby Spotted Turtle which was part of the herptile display - a-MA-zing! Already excited to do it all again in 2014!
1. We had a talent show on Wednesday night which featured at least 4 coordinated sing-a-longs making fun of all the acronyms we use in our daily work (Jeff says it's like I am speaking in code sometimes). Personally, I participated in a song to the tune of "TNT" which sang "PMP! It's dynamite! PMP! We'll win the fight! PMP! Block off that road! PMP! We're saving a toaaaaddddd!!!!" Oi! :) At one point our new land management database was likened to a hungry monster trying to eat all of our work - a Quebec staff was dressed in a scary monster mask and growling and yelling while the two staff who built and manage the database tried to hold it back and whip it into submission. I cried laughing. A few staff from our Quebec region did a dramatic reenactment of the Backstreet Boys' video "Get Down" which brought me right back to Grade 9, Friday night, watching MuchMusic in my basement with Dawn! Loved!!! My coworker Laura wrote a fantastic choir song lamenting everything people hate about our organization "why is National trying to control me!?" "why do I have to get out a calculator for the Net Amount After Tax Recovery on the Invoice Coding Form- it's an Excel spreadsheet!!!!!" - double loved!
2. We did a short version of the Briggs-Meyers personality test during a session on Thursday and a few people were invited to share their answers to the telling questions that help you determine which category you fall into. A cartoon of an apple popped up on the screen and the woman leading the session said "describe it". I wrote "apple" (I am heavily a "sensate", not someone who sees things with intuition - if I was I would have said "healthy" or "autumn"). As she's surveying the room, one of our National VPs replies "global". GLOBAL?! Wtf. I spent the most of the rest of the day telling people I was concerned he needed to speak to a psychiatrist. That night around 2:30 a.m. he said to a few of us over our 8th (or 20th) drink: "I really wish I hadn't said 'global'. It was what I was thinking, but now people keep looking at me really strangely. Either they think I'm a pscychopath, or that I'm the f***ing messiah!". Again, I laughed until I cried.
3. I got to present a "brag book" for Ontario region's successes over the past little while. My old boss Dan and I were tagged to give the presentation. We were told to be competitive with the other regions. Dan and I, without any planning, managed a choreographed entrance onto the stage which involved running, raising the roof hands, a well-timed, surprise high five and during the second iteration of the presentation Dan had us dance up on stage to the Black Eyed Peas (he's in his 40s and has kids, so I'll forgive him if Boom Boom Pow is his #1 badass song). Ontario unofficially "won" the brag book session, largely due to our exuberance, or possibly because when I told the story of fundraising for money for a boat to access a remote island property, Dan concluded my slide with "we're on a boat" and a sage nod.
4. On Wednesday night we danced. Oh did we dance. I quickly lost the sweater and styled hair and was reduced a t-shirt and ponytail and was STILL too hot! We danced from about 9:00 p.m. on, some of us giving up around 12:45 (me) and some lasting until 4:00 a.m. - whoooo!!! For some reason Gangnam Style was played twice, and for some reason, at least 25 of my coworkers know every move to the dance including the funny leg kick. At one point my aforementioned old boss who usually doesn't partake in the dancing grabbed my our colleague Kelly from Alberta, locked elbows with her back-to-back and flipped her over his back. My absolute shock was quelled when Dan and Kelly performed this for a second, then a third time. This year, our president and CEO did not do a handstand, but I hope we'll revisit the glory of 2010 another time. At the end of the night, a small crowd formed around the stage and that's when the crowd-surfing began. No, I did not crowd surf. It was later pointed out to me that it was SLIGHTLY awkward having your hands on a coworker's ass (my sentiments exactly) but I guess enough beers will take the edge off anything! :) My feet were throbbing when I went to bed, but I couldn't stop smiling at how much fun it had been!
5. There was a session given by an external speaker on "Business Etiquette", which I did not sign up for (I think I laughed at it when I saw it on the agenda - I wear jeans to work every day, tank tops and flip flops in the summer because our building has no a/c, and forward all spam emails offering Russian brides or poorly worded offers for college deeplomas to my coworkers - I am informal person through to my heart and that will never change!). I got a full report on it though - the woman giving the talk was advising never to be friends with your coworkers (they're your coworkers, NOT your friends!!) - definitely don't ever hug your coworkers, a firm handshake will suffice, and don't ask people "how are you?", but rather "are you enjoying the staff conference? how did you enjoy the meal?". UGH! Well "ugh" is apparently what a bunch of folks thought, because my one coworker (FRIEND!) Brenda put her hand up and said "are you really saying we shouldn't be hugging, dancing or crowd surfing on our coworkers? Because I have done all those things this week." The woman said "you should absolutely not have done any of those things." In return, the entire room started speaking out of turn: "but our organizational culture is NOT like a corporation! that's how we bond!" "our president hugs people! my boss hugs me!" "we love each other and want to celebrate being together!" - I picture it like a mutiny and the woman having balled up paper thrown at her until she eventually slunk out of the room. I'm sure it was more professional than that (mildly) but I was happy to hear people sticking up for what I think we're really all about.
And to conclude, the fact that the jokes and drinks never stopped all week long throw a lovely blanket over the entire week and all the reasons I love working where I do. Anytime I'm laughing hysterically where I need to bend down to the floor to catch my breath means I'm probably having a pretty good week. Oh, and I got to hold a baby Spotted Turtle which was part of the herptile display - a-MA-zing! Already excited to do it all again in 2014!
Saturday 20 October 2012
A 5k, 2 grown women dressed as owls, and much mayhem
This weekend marked my third Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront
Marathon 5k. I’ve had a great few years
pushing my non-runner’s body to run!
Always had fun, always remarkably sore the next day, always garnered
lots of attention for NCC in my costume, and raised nearly $2,000 plus an
additional $500 for the costume prize in 2010!
Feel good stats aside, last Sunday, October 14 was a BIT of a gong
show. So of course, the tale belongs on
my blog.
The weather was calling for rain all week. Still jaded from a summer of dry lawn,
parched garden, municipal water restrictions and being let down time and again
when rain was listed in the forecast, I tend not to believe the weather network
more than a few hours in advance and was convinced the weather was going to clear
up for Sunday’s run. Ha. I gave into the inevitable on Saturday night,
realizing it was going to be a soggy morning.
Our carefully constructed owl costumes (shout out to Viv, Pam,
supervisor Dawn, alcohol, and Degrassi Junior High on Netflix in the background)
were not built to be waterproof, so it was going to be interesting to see how
they held up (even in dry years I always lose at least one leaf or petal or
something!). Late Saturday night I was
checking out the logistics of the race, writing down directions for how to get
around the Lakeshore closure and trying to get a sense of where the heck to
park. With the race starting at 8 a.m. I texted Viv “we better leave at 6:10
just to be safe!”. Ha.
I awoke to torrential rain, pervasive darkness and an alarm
going off at some ungodly hour in the 5:30 a.m. neighbourhood. Those who know me know that waking anytime
before 9 a.m. on a weekend is unacceptable.
I stayed in a surprisingly good mood, giving Jeff a friendly kiss
goodbye.. and ruining that 5 minutes later by crashing back into the bedroom
shaking him awake and demanding to know where he’d hid my running shoes
(sidebar: I had left them beside my treadmill a few days earlier and they were
out of my view when I walked down into the basement, but that’s beside the
point, right?). Grabbing Ms. Vivianne,
we hauled it out of town and hit the first Lakeshore exit off the Gardiner by
7:00 a.m. – ya us!! I mused “perhaps it would
be better to take the Gardiner to Park Lawn and find another way vs. this way
which will inevitably close in a few hundred meters and force all cars traveling
east on Lakeshore to go north on Windermere.. hmm.. nah.. it’s early.. I’m sure
there will be no cars.” WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME. We sat on a 1 km stretch of highway
exit/Lakeshore for approximately 37 minutes while time ticked closer and closer
to 8:00 a.m. I decided we better make
the best use of sitting in stop and go traffic and we began pinning our owl
wings to our arms. Interesting trying to
pin a safety pin on the outside of your left arm (did you just try it? Ya. Then add driving at the same time. Gong!).
Finally turning, traffic was ok. Queensway was ok. Then King fell apart. At this point it’s 7:48 a.m. and the race
starts at 8 (did I mention that?).
FINALLY FINALLY I crawl my way to Dufferin and head south. Anyone been on Dufferin lately? It’s RIPPED TO SHREDS and only one lane of
traffic is allowed through – southbound traffic. And it’s going sloooooow. But we’re crawling along, debating about
where we shall park when we finally get down there and suddenly I am having to
shield my eyes from the glare of headlights.
What the eff? One way traffic. Why are there headlights facing me? Ah of course.
It’s someone going north on Dufferin trying to drive directly into
oncoming traffic. Just as I’m about to
get out of the car and smash his windshield, a police lady appears out of the
fog and starts instructing the car that it must go left or turn around, there
is no going straight. Driver continues
to gesture he’d like to go straight.
Police lady: “no going straight! Left or turn around!”. With much hand
gesturing, this conversation went on for at least 15 seconds. Then Viv and I got involved, screaming and
gesturing wildly through the windshield to get the eff out of our
way!!!!!!!!!!!!! 7:55… Said car moves, police lady disappears back
into the fog from whence she came and I get to actually put my foot on the gas
for the first time in awhile. I FLEW
through the Ex grounds – FLEW! It was as
if I was already an owl and a parking lot was my small rodent prey. I remember paying the parking machine at 7:59
a.m. and thinking “I’m glad I’m not racing for my best personal time today..”. Then Viv and I began our flight through the
parking lots of the Ex to Ontario
Place
In the corral, ready to go!
What? This corral isn’t being
released until 8:12 a.m.!? But I was
already running! I want to keep running. Oh well. So we decided to make the most of
our free moment and take some pics of our costumes. So, within 4 minutes of being out in the
rain, the bristol board supporting our owly ear tufts had essentially melted
back down onto our heads and we were nothing but crazy girls with giant eyes
and very wet wings (some guy asked me if I was oil-proof.. tbd!).
Eventually we got to start running, which felt great after
all the traffic, mayhem, stress and adrenaline. After 1 km a nice lady handed
me half my wing that had torn off. After
1.5 km the glue holding my bristol board owl eyes onto swimming goggles smeared
away and my eyes flew behind me in a flurry.
Now we were just two girls in swimming goggles with some wings
half-clinging to our sleeves with safety pins.
But we owned it. One fellow
complimented Viv on thinking ahead to wearing swimming goggles to combat the
rain; every time a volunteer on the sidelines cheered, Viv and I responded with
“whoooo… whooooo!” (now that we were barely owls, this was perhaps confusing,
but it made us laugh every time so it was worth it).
The race was great – couldn’t ask for a better running
partner than Vivvy. We even stopped at 3
km to take redonk pics of ourselves and our costume mayhem.
Around this point we started describing ourselves as owl roadkill. When we finally turned up Bay St
Ok. Now.. the shuttle
buses back to the Ex aren’t running until 10:30 a.m.? It’s 9:04 a.m. WTF.
We had brunch plans with Dawn at 10:00 a.m. back near the Ex. UMMM.
So we decided to just hoof it down to Union and take the GO back to my
car, then drive up to Liberty
Village Guelph
We hopped on the GO and were waiting for it to head west and
get us back to the warmth and dryness of Jetta.
Viv, looking out the window, says “hey…Dawn” in a quiet voice – I think
“stop being weird Viv” and look out the window only to find Dawn, our breakfast
date, standing on the platform staring open mouthed at us. She hopped on the train and I explained we
were going to be late for breakfast ;) Turns out she was trying to figure out
the easiest way to brunch from her mom’s, where she’d been dog-sitting, and was
wandering the platform wondering if she should indeed take the GO train. Happily
all together; a short train ride, a spider falling from the ceiling (“ON ME?!”)
and a confused stroll through the Ex grounds later, there was my baby Jetta
waiting for us – warm and dry!
That day there was simply nothing better than a) changing
into a dry shirt (yup I took off my top AND sports bra in the parking lot at
the Ex, keepin’ it classy b) heated seats c) good company and a delicious
brunch at School in Liberty Village (BROWN SUGAR BUTTER YUMMMM!) d) a
traffic-free drive home to Guelph e) a hot bath f) a cozy nap in my sweatshirt
and flannel pj bottoms and g) the reward of completing a small athletic
challenge and an even bigger logistical challenge with one of my favourite
people. My muscles even stopped hurting… by Thursday… ;)
I’ll take this chance to announce my retirement from
running, after years of herniated discs in my back, plantar fasciitis in my
feet, bursitis in my hip and an ankle injury I never had diagnosed last summer because
my physiotherapist was on maternity leave (lol). My slightly off-kilter body and child-bearin’
hips just don’t seem to be built for this sport, so I will be limiting my
(limited) athletic prowess to the elliptical, hikes in the forest, strength
training, yoga and whatever else looks fun and will be kind to my old lady 29
year old body!!
Thanks to all who supported our run, and all those who read
this blog entry which was over three pages long in Word before pics. Sometimes a day that crazy just deserves
three pages!
Whoooooo… whoooooo!
Friday 5 October 2012
Anniversary Ode
I wrote this poem for Jeff for our anniversary and I thought I'd share it for the mushes out there :) I can't believe it's been a year since our wedding already, and I'm pleasantly surprised to fall more in love with my hubs every day that goes by.
Amazing how fast a year goes
All I have to do is close my eyes
And I can still feel the cold wind upon my cheeks
Tempered by searing autumn sunlight
Leaves in our backyard prematurely stripped from their summer homes
Rustled against a hem of scalloped lace
I didn't feel a wink of hesitation
A lick of trepidation
A butterfly of nerve
I couldn't get down that aisle fast enough
I would have sprinted there
Anytime you asked me to
I've always been yours
Our first year together as husband and wife passed by in bliss
As lovely as the first four but with a hint of magic in the air
Now when you dance me in circles in the kitchen you say
"I love you, wife!"
When I hold your big left hand in my little right one
I feel the cool familiar promise of your wedding ring
Lives, hearts and even bank accounts merged (ahh!)
Our lives becoming even more deeply intertwined than they were
So here we are
Two people, growing together
Vines* twisting up a sun-dappled trellice
Moving slowly together, dancing in circles
Anticipating the other's move, and shifting to support their weight
Holding each other up, ensuring a strong bond, built to last a life
Or any cold winter that might come to pass
I hear "marriage takes work!!!"
"The honeymoon doesn't last forever!!"
"Talk to me about it again in 10 years!!"
I can't help it - I still laugh - I don't GET IT!
Because every moment with you is a moment more easy than one without
Because you bring magic to the simplest tiles of time
Because you don't just pick me up when I'm down:
You live with one hand on the small of my back, never letting me hit the ground, no matter what
Because your twinkly green eyes are always smiling
Because your kind heart is always giving
Because you are you
Perfect for me
Perfect together
I know it will always be so
What a wonderful year it's been
From the Cliffs of Moher, to Giant's Causeway
To cheering on our Leafs, our Marlies (in the cup final!),
From renovating a living room in simply record time
To demolishing a wall (oh what a mess..)
From Niagara Falls to Niagara on the Lake
From Carden Alvar to Pelee Island
From cooking in the kitchen, to enjoying a fire on the deck
To countless mornings reading the paper on the couch
And evenings snuggling in bed
Tough days, to great days, to wonderful days
I couldn't have asked for anything more
I love you for now, forever, for always, and will until the end of time
Happy Anniversary, my love
*not Dog-strangling!!
Amazing how fast a year goes
All I have to do is close my eyes
And I can still feel the cold wind upon my cheeks
Tempered by searing autumn sunlight
Leaves in our backyard prematurely stripped from their summer homes
Rustled against a hem of scalloped lace
I didn't feel a wink of hesitation
A lick of trepidation
A butterfly of nerve
I couldn't get down that aisle fast enough
I would have sprinted there
Anytime you asked me to
I've always been yours
Our first year together as husband and wife passed by in bliss
As lovely as the first four but with a hint of magic in the air
Now when you dance me in circles in the kitchen you say
"I love you, wife!"
When I hold your big left hand in my little right one
I feel the cool familiar promise of your wedding ring
Lives, hearts and even bank accounts merged (ahh!)
Our lives becoming even more deeply intertwined than they were
So here we are
Two people, growing together
Vines* twisting up a sun-dappled trellice
Moving slowly together, dancing in circles
Anticipating the other's move, and shifting to support their weight
Holding each other up, ensuring a strong bond, built to last a life
Or any cold winter that might come to pass
I hear "marriage takes work!!!"
"The honeymoon doesn't last forever!!"
"Talk to me about it again in 10 years!!"
I can't help it - I still laugh - I don't GET IT!
Because every moment with you is a moment more easy than one without
Because you bring magic to the simplest tiles of time
Because you don't just pick me up when I'm down:
You live with one hand on the small of my back, never letting me hit the ground, no matter what
Because your twinkly green eyes are always smiling
Because your kind heart is always giving
Because you are you
Perfect for me
Perfect together
I know it will always be so
What a wonderful year it's been
From the Cliffs of Moher, to Giant's Causeway
To cheering on our Leafs, our Marlies (in the cup final!),
From renovating a living room in simply record time
To demolishing a wall (oh what a mess..)
From Niagara Falls to Niagara on the Lake
From Carden Alvar to Pelee Island
From cooking in the kitchen, to enjoying a fire on the deck
To countless mornings reading the paper on the couch
And evenings snuggling in bed
Tough days, to great days, to wonderful days
I couldn't have asked for anything more
I love you for now, forever, for always, and will until the end of time
Happy Anniversary, my love
*not Dog-strangling!!
Friday 14 September 2012
For the Love of Dance
I just wanted to write a quick post to commemorate my love of dancing. I have to shout out to Viv here, because she ruined my night. I'm just kidding, Viv. But I WAS in the mood for dancing, and needed to burn a few hundred more calories today (Kristyn1 is back and in full attack mode - remember her? http://www.sincerelygoofy.blogspot.ca/2012/03/2-kristyns.html) so when we found out I was in the mood for MOVING and she was in the mood for CHILLING, we scheduled a rain date on our plans for tonight. But where did that leave me? Alone in my house.. with my best dancing buddies down for the count or living in other cities, and with an urge to DANCE!!
I may or may not have had a one man dance party in my sports bra and running shoes in my basement - but I can't confirm or deny that..
If I HAD partaken in this dance party, I may have had earbuds in while amazing tuneage blasted.. making me think I would make one kickass dj!! I could show that long-haired EBar dj what's up, and how to keep a crowd interested. What? You don't think a crowd would be down with a mix of Kanye, MGMT, Nikki Minaj and M83? I find this shocking.. and I disagree!! (maybe) Well, so, Dj Kristyn may not have wowed the crowds, but the one man party was a hit and 45 sweaty minutes later, I feel great, burned calories and had a blast! I came up with some crazy ideas whilst dancing my cares away, including teaching a class at a gym where people were just allowed to go nuts and dance their hearts out. Have you ever danced to Shake by Pitbull and the Ying Yang Twins and just shaken your whole body - arms, butt, feet and head and just gone crazy? There is really something to be said for dancing like no one's watching. But I love the vibe of dancing in a huge group, too! So fun!
Anyways, before I get my career break as a dj, or start up that class at Goodlife (I picture myself going rogue on the group exercise room with my class, then being chased out of the gym with torches and having my membership revoked) I thought I would take a moment to share some of my favourite thoughts, memories and reflections on my love of dance. I should mention at this point I dance like a total white girl.. and have a few pretty redonk/laugh-inducing moves.. but man do I love it.
- I started dancing when I was 17 and my friends and I discovered all ages clubbing. We would just drive to downtown TO in our tube tops, miniskirts and chunky heels (ohhh ya 1999...) and dance the night away. I remember being at a school dance after about a year of this clubbing craziness and saying to Jana "why does everyone else look so timid out here and our group of friends is just GIVIN' IT?!" and she said "because we dance all the time and we've got the moves!! and the confidence!". Haha, you said it, 18 year old Jana! Dancing is really all about believing no one's watching/judging and just letting go and feeling the music. I do believe, though, you either love it or you don't. Don't try to force it, or you'll just be those timid grade ten girls at my high school dance with their self-conscious shimmy..
- I haven't stopped dancing since! Whether it was throwing down on stage at the Brunny with my girls (we used to make a habit of "starting the dancefloor", usually to Beyonce's Bootylicious!), dropping bows with Nic at Red Rock, winding at the Palace in Guelph (that sentence made me feel dirty just writing it), bouncing around at Doogies grooving to the live music with my "B Squad" (haha that one was for Pam), "owning the dancefloor" at Trappers with Erica during those slow summers in Guelph, going crazy at EBar with Dave, Jay and Viv way back in '05 (uhh, Call on Me anyone? or the My Humps dance that lived for a total of 4 minutes and never was to be seen again due to Dave's shame..), kicking it old school at Retro Night at the Trasheteria (later Vinyl), or givin' 'er two weeks ago with my bff Dawn on her 30th birthday to a song about lambos - I freaking love a dancing night out!
- I am a sweaty mess! That seems to be a common thread for my blog posts, doesn't it? Jay will never let me forget the time I was throwing my hair around in circles and he felt a "spray" - I think he exaggerates slightly.. I couldn't have been THAT sweaty, could I?? ;)
- I really think this should become an acceptable social practice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib3Duz_6a9M. When Jay told me the story of "catching" Viv on his way to work dance walking by the river I laughed for about 2-4 years (I am still laughing at the image). Perhaps it struck a strong chord with me because I like a sneaky dance walk here and there. There are some conservation trails in the east end I often walk on and I'll stop, look 360 around me and if no one's watching but the birds, I'll do some spinning/dance-walking/top of lungs singing. It is SO liberating! Maybe I should hold my no-holds-barred-no-judgement dance exercise class (that doesn't exist..yet..) outside into nature - that's totally the best of both worlds! ;)
- I used to walk to school when I actually had/went to classes at U Waterloo. I would carry my DISCMAN (oh man showing my age!!!!!!) and burn a new mixed CD (again -ahhh!) every few weeks and would call them "Rockin' Walkin' Mix"es or things to that effect. And I'm sure I amused more than a few commuters down Columbia (yup that's where one of the RIM buildings is, it's not an un-busy street!) as I sang my heart out, punctuated by the occasional dance step. It always made my mornings so much better, my afternoons on the way home that much sweeter and inevitably left me in a good mood, dancing all the way up the stairs to my cockroachy walk-up ;)
- My husband does not dance. What a heartbreaker. When he's had 12+ beers I can get him out on the dance floor to some old school hip hop (the stars have to align just right for this to happen). But I will say he is a champ at slow-dancing and always lets me sweep him onto the dance floor at weddings for some slow spins to a romantic slow song which I love! <3 Dancing comes in all forms indeed.
- Is there anything better than a good car dance? It's waist-up only, I know, but you can really go for it sometimes. There is something wonderful about the way music SURROUNDS you in the car, it feels like you're right inside a great song. And then you just gotta rock out! I have a bit of a routine when driving home from Leafs games (sidenote: :*( ) when they've won (sidenote: shut up they do win) to ask Jeff "can we rock out?" and then turning up some Tool really loud and just singing at the top of our lungs and playing various air instruments, etc. all the way back to Guelph. I love rocking out!!!
I really believe music is the undercurrent running in the background of my life at all times. I feel lucky to be someone who feels music from the inside out; where music hits deep within and guides movement through life. Every song has a place in time and a place in my heart and a whole bunch of people I love associated with it. I may not be much of a dancer, or a singer, but I will be singing and dancing until the last days of my life.
A photo montage for your viewing pleasure. The best thing about these photos is how happy EVERYONE looks while dancing. So with that: let's dance!! :)
I may or may not have had a one man dance party in my sports bra and running shoes in my basement - but I can't confirm or deny that..
If I HAD partaken in this dance party, I may have had earbuds in while amazing tuneage blasted.. making me think I would make one kickass dj!! I could show that long-haired EBar dj what's up, and how to keep a crowd interested. What? You don't think a crowd would be down with a mix of Kanye, MGMT, Nikki Minaj and M83? I find this shocking.. and I disagree!! (maybe) Well, so, Dj Kristyn may not have wowed the crowds, but the one man party was a hit and 45 sweaty minutes later, I feel great, burned calories and had a blast! I came up with some crazy ideas whilst dancing my cares away, including teaching a class at a gym where people were just allowed to go nuts and dance their hearts out. Have you ever danced to Shake by Pitbull and the Ying Yang Twins and just shaken your whole body - arms, butt, feet and head and just gone crazy? There is really something to be said for dancing like no one's watching. But I love the vibe of dancing in a huge group, too! So fun!
Anyways, before I get my career break as a dj, or start up that class at Goodlife (I picture myself going rogue on the group exercise room with my class, then being chased out of the gym with torches and having my membership revoked) I thought I would take a moment to share some of my favourite thoughts, memories and reflections on my love of dance. I should mention at this point I dance like a total white girl.. and have a few pretty redonk/laugh-inducing moves.. but man do I love it.
- I started dancing when I was 17 and my friends and I discovered all ages clubbing. We would just drive to downtown TO in our tube tops, miniskirts and chunky heels (ohhh ya 1999...) and dance the night away. I remember being at a school dance after about a year of this clubbing craziness and saying to Jana "why does everyone else look so timid out here and our group of friends is just GIVIN' IT?!" and she said "because we dance all the time and we've got the moves!! and the confidence!". Haha, you said it, 18 year old Jana! Dancing is really all about believing no one's watching/judging and just letting go and feeling the music. I do believe, though, you either love it or you don't. Don't try to force it, or you'll just be those timid grade ten girls at my high school dance with their self-conscious shimmy..
- I haven't stopped dancing since! Whether it was throwing down on stage at the Brunny with my girls (we used to make a habit of "starting the dancefloor", usually to Beyonce's Bootylicious!), dropping bows with Nic at Red Rock, winding at the Palace in Guelph (that sentence made me feel dirty just writing it), bouncing around at Doogies grooving to the live music with my "B Squad" (haha that one was for Pam), "owning the dancefloor" at Trappers with Erica during those slow summers in Guelph, going crazy at EBar with Dave, Jay and Viv way back in '05 (uhh, Call on Me anyone? or the My Humps dance that lived for a total of 4 minutes and never was to be seen again due to Dave's shame..), kicking it old school at Retro Night at the Trasheteria (later Vinyl), or givin' 'er two weeks ago with my bff Dawn on her 30th birthday to a song about lambos - I freaking love a dancing night out!
- I am a sweaty mess! That seems to be a common thread for my blog posts, doesn't it? Jay will never let me forget the time I was throwing my hair around in circles and he felt a "spray" - I think he exaggerates slightly.. I couldn't have been THAT sweaty, could I?? ;)
- I really think this should become an acceptable social practice http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib3Duz_6a9M. When Jay told me the story of "catching" Viv on his way to work dance walking by the river I laughed for about 2-4 years (I am still laughing at the image). Perhaps it struck a strong chord with me because I like a sneaky dance walk here and there. There are some conservation trails in the east end I often walk on and I'll stop, look 360 around me and if no one's watching but the birds, I'll do some spinning/dance-walking/top of lungs singing. It is SO liberating! Maybe I should hold my no-holds-barred-no-judgement dance exercise class (that doesn't exist..yet..) outside into nature - that's totally the best of both worlds! ;)
- I used to walk to school when I actually had/went to classes at U Waterloo. I would carry my DISCMAN (oh man showing my age!!!!!!) and burn a new mixed CD (again -ahhh!) every few weeks and would call them "Rockin' Walkin' Mix"es or things to that effect. And I'm sure I amused more than a few commuters down Columbia (yup that's where one of the RIM buildings is, it's not an un-busy street!) as I sang my heart out, punctuated by the occasional dance step. It always made my mornings so much better, my afternoons on the way home that much sweeter and inevitably left me in a good mood, dancing all the way up the stairs to my cockroachy walk-up ;)
- My husband does not dance. What a heartbreaker. When he's had 12+ beers I can get him out on the dance floor to some old school hip hop (the stars have to align just right for this to happen). But I will say he is a champ at slow-dancing and always lets me sweep him onto the dance floor at weddings for some slow spins to a romantic slow song which I love! <3 Dancing comes in all forms indeed.
- Is there anything better than a good car dance? It's waist-up only, I know, but you can really go for it sometimes. There is something wonderful about the way music SURROUNDS you in the car, it feels like you're right inside a great song. And then you just gotta rock out! I have a bit of a routine when driving home from Leafs games (sidenote: :*( ) when they've won (sidenote: shut up they do win) to ask Jeff "can we rock out?" and then turning up some Tool really loud and just singing at the top of our lungs and playing various air instruments, etc. all the way back to Guelph. I love rocking out!!!
I really believe music is the undercurrent running in the background of my life at all times. I feel lucky to be someone who feels music from the inside out; where music hits deep within and guides movement through life. Every song has a place in time and a place in my heart and a whole bunch of people I love associated with it. I may not be much of a dancer, or a singer, but I will be singing and dancing until the last days of my life.
A photo montage for your viewing pleasure. The best thing about these photos is how happy EVERYONE looks while dancing. So with that: let's dance!! :)
Aye, a classy bachelorette indeed..
Everyone's face is awesome in this pic at D's wedding (hold on tight to strapless dresses!!)
Kicking it at ebar
Vet Frat Party!
Two stepping with Viv (just try to stop us). Dave commented on this pic on facebook: "did Kristyn just get hosed down? out of the shower?" - thanks Daver..
THE BIG O!! I need not say more
Whose idea it was to play Jay's leg like a guitar I'll never know; but it is an old standby! A classic!
Sunday 26 August 2012
I'm Not Back.. But I Am Full of Stories!
My field season continues on, explaining my blog absence (blogsence?) for the past 2 months. I'm going to be out tearing up the forests, alvars and wetlands of Ontario (in a good way!) for another month or so, but I have stories spilling out of my head (and actually in an ever-growing little list on my iPhone that I add to every time I do something stupid) so I figured while I had a few minutes I might start to share them. Be assured they are filled with a) Kristyn getting herself into ridiculous situations b) heartily making fun of many people including myself c) interesting nature tidbits. If that sounds appealing, stay tuned for a few short stories which I'll try to spit out over the coming weeks to get everyone "caught up" on my foibles :)
Wednesday, August 15.. a day that shall live in infamy. I was off to the field by myself, my intern being occupied elsewhere, and figuring that since I'm a toughie, and now I know Carden like the back of my hand, I am all set to take on a daunting day of tasks. They included 1) 5 hours of driving to and from Carden (round trip) 2) monitoring a conservation easement with a landowner 3) installing some signage 4) seeking out a rogue DSV plant that had been reported and spraying it 5) spraying a patch of the non-native Common Reed which keeps getting BIGGER.. and BIGGER.... 3 years and I've still not "gotten" to it.. so watch out Phragmites, here I come. Regardless of the size of my list, I was energized and ready to go!
I had mentally booked about 1.5 hours to monitor this easement. (easement = landowner owns the property but 'promises' (legally) not to do certain things like cut down trees, dump garbage, build structures, etc. - we monitor them annually to ensure their compliance). So, back to this property. A giant trail goes through the middle of it, it's never used, has a total of two anthropogenic features on it and is in great shape - aka. an easy one! However, for some reason, the landowner became obsessed with my new GPS unit which displayed the property boundary over top of an air photo and he wanted to make it his mission for the day to seek out each corner of the property - did I have time? he asked. I sort of stammered - um, hey, ya, well maybe we can walk back along the north boundary and not trudge through that giant wetland, is that a good compromise? He looked disappointed. I felt anxious. He was at least 80 years old. I felt confused. His wife had to be at least 80 as well - she only smiled brightly at me. So off we went on a bushwacking mission and ended up in a long discussion about the inaccuracy of Ontario's parcel boundaries and how my GPS was wrong and wouldn't it be better to find the edge of the property and mark that? At this point I could hear my stomach growling loudly at me so I had to pipe up about my mild case of hypoglycemia that makes me extremely cranky/angry/fainty if I don't eat every few hours. He said "oh - well what will you do if we're still out here for another couple of hours?" with a frank stare. Again, stammering, "I.. only.. gave myself 2 hours for this today.. uh.. faint?". Finally we seemed to get on the same page that I indeed had other stewardship work to complete and worked toward completing our bushwack. I ended up at my lunch bag before the point of faint-age, which was good. I am still amazed by these two octogenarians who leapt over fallen logs, crashed through trees and sought out property boundaries with a vigor I'm not even sure I was feeling that day. My favourite moment had to be when I lost sight of Eager Landowner #1 and yelled, jokingly, through the trees "Marco!". To which his wife replied: "His name is Steve". Le sigh!
Sign hanging went great! Feeling energized, fed and free, I zipped down to a 1,400 acre property and decided to start my Dog-strangling Vine seek and destroy mission from the south end of it. I had my trusty GPS (sans air photo this time, but a giant red point indicating where I was to head), a backpack sprayer with a couple of liters of Roundup, ready for whatever size of DSV patch I may encounter, and a grocery bag with some essentials like my blackberry, my emergency satellite messenger and a half small bottle of water. I figured 25 min walk in, spray for a few minutes, and out I go another 25 mins back to the car where I could chug some water. Sounds good! Well of course the dot is located in a giant patch of low trees and junipers, which are extremely difficult to crash through with a big clumsy backpack sprayer on your back. The satellite signal on the GPS sometimes takes a moment to "catch up" to where you actually are, making the whole thing kind of a funny charade of going "ok, just a few feet north", and then looking down at the GPS to see you've walked right over where you need to be, and turning around, and overshooting again. After about 10 minutes of this nonsense, circling this red dot, and eventually closing in on it, I looked up. At a DSV plant (or so I thought)!! I, in my crazy way, said it to it "no one invited you here!" while I grabbed my sprayer wand, throwing my gear to the ground (very dramatic, I assure you). Just as I was about to spray I noticed a woody stem on the plant. Uh, what? DSV has a soft stem. I grabbed the plant, and upon closer inspection found that it was just ANOTHER vine with opposite leaves and a twining growth pattern. Not, after all, the evil DSV. Relieved because this property is fantastic and I don't want to see DSV on it; annoyed that I walked 30+ minutes out here to find this falsie; ready to head back. I grab my GPS from the ground and found... dead battery (and it's a rechargeable one that needs to be plugged into a power source). Ah yes.. since I stayed out longer than intended this morning, my half day of battery life had passed me by. No worries - I'll just grab my compass and head south. I should bump into the trail that leads me back to my car in just a few minutes. Unfortunately my hand reached back and touched (did you get here before me?): backpack sprayer. Oh crap. Compass is in car with the rest of my regular backpack and I have ABOSLUTELY. NO IDEA. WHICH WAY I'M FACING. All I see in every direction are junipers. I look up.. at the clouds. Can't see where the sun is. I walk 2 minutes in one direction, feel it looks wrong and nothing like where I came in, and so I walk 4 minutes back in the other direction. It looks, somehow, EXTRA wrong, so I go back in the original direction (are you counting.. that's already 10 minutes and I've made no progress). The pesticides on my back slosh around, laughing at me. I decide I better just go for it and go one way or another, knowing I'm either going north or south since I'm following a rough road allowance that runs through the property. Walking.. walking... starting to think that things look familiar from my trip to the north part of the property earlier this season.. hoping they don't.. checking the time on my phone.. it's been another 10 minutes. Another 5 minutes go by and I KNOW I just walked past the Gray Jay habitat which is VERY far north.. but I choose to pretend this is NOT the Gray Jay area, it just looks like it (but now my nagging question is: where is the damn road allowance that I was supposed to connect with if I was going south?!). Lo and behold: a sign. No, an actual physical sign, a property sign - that tells me I'm exactly where I dread to be: on the north part of the property, moving steadily further away from my car. However, with no compass, and no idea what part of the road allowance to follow to ensure I continue heading south (as this was a meandering journey to say the least).. I friggin just keep going north because at least I know where it goes. I burst out of the property on a local road that I KNOW is THREE kilometers away from my car. I have since emptied the backpack sprayer on some poison ivy that looked at me wrong (health hazard for trail walkers if anyone wants to challenge me on that - I'll box you) but it's weighing heavy, and .. of course.. the sun comes out from behind the clouds in a full blaze. I'm in pesticide gear: rubber boots, rubber gloves, long shirt, long pants. Oh joy.. sun. My death march had the tone that you're picturing (if you're picturing rage, muttering, half laughing and death stares to anyone who dared look at me funny) and I have never been so relieved to see my car. Oh man, was there nothing I'd like better than to get home to a shower, comfy pants and my couch. It was already 3:30, I'd been going since 7, and still had a 2.5 hour drive in front of me. I'm no masochist - time to call it quits!! I let myself off the hook from Phragmites spraying (I'll get to it.. I swear!) and decided to just call it a day.
On the way down the 400 it started raining. I turned on my wipers. They flicked once, then twice, then on the third swipe, the driver's side windshield wiper blade detached from the base and flew behind me, back down Hwy 400 while I sped away from it at 120 km/hr. Yup.. that's what you want to happen. I called Jeff to ask his advice, peering through the rain (which is picking up intensity) on the passenger side of my windshield as the phone rang. As soon as I heard his voice I promptly, expectedly burst into tears as the weight of the day hit me. He agreed I should call CAA and get towed to get a new wiper as the radar was showing nasty thunderstorms ripping through Barrie for the next hour or so. I made it to the service station McDonalds, called CAA, ate a comfort double cheeseburger and put on my best "STOP LOOKING AT ME" glare to anyone who glanced my way (as I'm always quite a sight after fieldwork, sweat soaked clothes, wild hair and, often, wild and angry eyes lol). Somehow, however, luck shone through along with the sun, and after I called Jeff to double check that the storms had moved past Barrie and the west was clear, I cancelled my call to CAA, hopped in the car and continued my marathon journey home. Props to Dawn for talking to me for the remaining 1.5 hours of the drive to stop me from driving straight into a ditch and calling it a day (and life); and to Jeff for giving me strict instructions to sit on the couch and not move all night once I was home. I guess that's the moral of my little tale: tough days are always made better by the people who love you. And always, always, always bring your compass into the field. Oh and a granola bar for unexpectedly long field visits. ...And carry a spare windshield wiper in your trunk bc you just never know. That's a lot of lessons for one day. Here's hoping for a lesson-free remainder of the field season (ha!).
Wednesday, August 15.. a day that shall live in infamy. I was off to the field by myself, my intern being occupied elsewhere, and figuring that since I'm a toughie, and now I know Carden like the back of my hand, I am all set to take on a daunting day of tasks. They included 1) 5 hours of driving to and from Carden (round trip) 2) monitoring a conservation easement with a landowner 3) installing some signage 4) seeking out a rogue DSV plant that had been reported and spraying it 5) spraying a patch of the non-native Common Reed which keeps getting BIGGER.. and BIGGER.... 3 years and I've still not "gotten" to it.. so watch out Phragmites, here I come. Regardless of the size of my list, I was energized and ready to go!
I had mentally booked about 1.5 hours to monitor this easement. (easement = landowner owns the property but 'promises' (legally) not to do certain things like cut down trees, dump garbage, build structures, etc. - we monitor them annually to ensure their compliance). So, back to this property. A giant trail goes through the middle of it, it's never used, has a total of two anthropogenic features on it and is in great shape - aka. an easy one! However, for some reason, the landowner became obsessed with my new GPS unit which displayed the property boundary over top of an air photo and he wanted to make it his mission for the day to seek out each corner of the property - did I have time? he asked. I sort of stammered - um, hey, ya, well maybe we can walk back along the north boundary and not trudge through that giant wetland, is that a good compromise? He looked disappointed. I felt anxious. He was at least 80 years old. I felt confused. His wife had to be at least 80 as well - she only smiled brightly at me. So off we went on a bushwacking mission and ended up in a long discussion about the inaccuracy of Ontario's parcel boundaries and how my GPS was wrong and wouldn't it be better to find the edge of the property and mark that? At this point I could hear my stomach growling loudly at me so I had to pipe up about my mild case of hypoglycemia that makes me extremely cranky/angry/fainty if I don't eat every few hours. He said "oh - well what will you do if we're still out here for another couple of hours?" with a frank stare. Again, stammering, "I.. only.. gave myself 2 hours for this today.. uh.. faint?". Finally we seemed to get on the same page that I indeed had other stewardship work to complete and worked toward completing our bushwack. I ended up at my lunch bag before the point of faint-age, which was good. I am still amazed by these two octogenarians who leapt over fallen logs, crashed through trees and sought out property boundaries with a vigor I'm not even sure I was feeling that day. My favourite moment had to be when I lost sight of Eager Landowner #1 and yelled, jokingly, through the trees "Marco!". To which his wife replied: "His name is Steve". Le sigh!
Sign hanging went great! Feeling energized, fed and free, I zipped down to a 1,400 acre property and decided to start my Dog-strangling Vine seek and destroy mission from the south end of it. I had my trusty GPS (sans air photo this time, but a giant red point indicating where I was to head), a backpack sprayer with a couple of liters of Roundup, ready for whatever size of DSV patch I may encounter, and a grocery bag with some essentials like my blackberry, my emergency satellite messenger and a half small bottle of water. I figured 25 min walk in, spray for a few minutes, and out I go another 25 mins back to the car where I could chug some water. Sounds good! Well of course the dot is located in a giant patch of low trees and junipers, which are extremely difficult to crash through with a big clumsy backpack sprayer on your back. The satellite signal on the GPS sometimes takes a moment to "catch up" to where you actually are, making the whole thing kind of a funny charade of going "ok, just a few feet north", and then looking down at the GPS to see you've walked right over where you need to be, and turning around, and overshooting again. After about 10 minutes of this nonsense, circling this red dot, and eventually closing in on it, I looked up. At a DSV plant (or so I thought)!! I, in my crazy way, said it to it "no one invited you here!" while I grabbed my sprayer wand, throwing my gear to the ground (very dramatic, I assure you). Just as I was about to spray I noticed a woody stem on the plant. Uh, what? DSV has a soft stem. I grabbed the plant, and upon closer inspection found that it was just ANOTHER vine with opposite leaves and a twining growth pattern. Not, after all, the evil DSV. Relieved because this property is fantastic and I don't want to see DSV on it; annoyed that I walked 30+ minutes out here to find this falsie; ready to head back. I grab my GPS from the ground and found... dead battery (and it's a rechargeable one that needs to be plugged into a power source). Ah yes.. since I stayed out longer than intended this morning, my half day of battery life had passed me by. No worries - I'll just grab my compass and head south. I should bump into the trail that leads me back to my car in just a few minutes. Unfortunately my hand reached back and touched (did you get here before me?): backpack sprayer. Oh crap. Compass is in car with the rest of my regular backpack and I have ABOSLUTELY. NO IDEA. WHICH WAY I'M FACING. All I see in every direction are junipers. I look up.. at the clouds. Can't see where the sun is. I walk 2 minutes in one direction, feel it looks wrong and nothing like where I came in, and so I walk 4 minutes back in the other direction. It looks, somehow, EXTRA wrong, so I go back in the original direction (are you counting.. that's already 10 minutes and I've made no progress). The pesticides on my back slosh around, laughing at me. I decide I better just go for it and go one way or another, knowing I'm either going north or south since I'm following a rough road allowance that runs through the property. Walking.. walking... starting to think that things look familiar from my trip to the north part of the property earlier this season.. hoping they don't.. checking the time on my phone.. it's been another 10 minutes. Another 5 minutes go by and I KNOW I just walked past the Gray Jay habitat which is VERY far north.. but I choose to pretend this is NOT the Gray Jay area, it just looks like it (but now my nagging question is: where is the damn road allowance that I was supposed to connect with if I was going south?!). Lo and behold: a sign. No, an actual physical sign, a property sign - that tells me I'm exactly where I dread to be: on the north part of the property, moving steadily further away from my car. However, with no compass, and no idea what part of the road allowance to follow to ensure I continue heading south (as this was a meandering journey to say the least).. I friggin just keep going north because at least I know where it goes. I burst out of the property on a local road that I KNOW is THREE kilometers away from my car. I have since emptied the backpack sprayer on some poison ivy that looked at me wrong (health hazard for trail walkers if anyone wants to challenge me on that - I'll box you) but it's weighing heavy, and .. of course.. the sun comes out from behind the clouds in a full blaze. I'm in pesticide gear: rubber boots, rubber gloves, long shirt, long pants. Oh joy.. sun. My death march had the tone that you're picturing (if you're picturing rage, muttering, half laughing and death stares to anyone who dared look at me funny) and I have never been so relieved to see my car. Oh man, was there nothing I'd like better than to get home to a shower, comfy pants and my couch. It was already 3:30, I'd been going since 7, and still had a 2.5 hour drive in front of me. I'm no masochist - time to call it quits!! I let myself off the hook from Phragmites spraying (I'll get to it.. I swear!) and decided to just call it a day.
On the way down the 400 it started raining. I turned on my wipers. They flicked once, then twice, then on the third swipe, the driver's side windshield wiper blade detached from the base and flew behind me, back down Hwy 400 while I sped away from it at 120 km/hr. Yup.. that's what you want to happen. I called Jeff to ask his advice, peering through the rain (which is picking up intensity) on the passenger side of my windshield as the phone rang. As soon as I heard his voice I promptly, expectedly burst into tears as the weight of the day hit me. He agreed I should call CAA and get towed to get a new wiper as the radar was showing nasty thunderstorms ripping through Barrie for the next hour or so. I made it to the service station McDonalds, called CAA, ate a comfort double cheeseburger and put on my best "STOP LOOKING AT ME" glare to anyone who glanced my way (as I'm always quite a sight after fieldwork, sweat soaked clothes, wild hair and, often, wild and angry eyes lol). Somehow, however, luck shone through along with the sun, and after I called Jeff to double check that the storms had moved past Barrie and the west was clear, I cancelled my call to CAA, hopped in the car and continued my marathon journey home. Props to Dawn for talking to me for the remaining 1.5 hours of the drive to stop me from driving straight into a ditch and calling it a day (and life); and to Jeff for giving me strict instructions to sit on the couch and not move all night once I was home. I guess that's the moral of my little tale: tough days are always made better by the people who love you. And always, always, always bring your compass into the field. Oh and a granola bar for unexpectedly long field visits. ...And carry a spare windshield wiper in your trunk bc you just never know. That's a lot of lessons for one day. Here's hoping for a lesson-free remainder of the field season (ha!).
Friday 22 June 2012
A Rather Warm-ish Week in the Field...
Oh my gosh I made it out alive... I just finished the most ridiculous of fieldwork I've done in awhile and I am happy to report I lived to tell the tale. Where to start!?! **this entry involves gory and grisly references to sweat - stop reading if you're fragile**
The organization I work for is working hard to protect the alvars in an area just east of Orillia, known as Carden Alvar.. known to the rest of the world as cows, fields, forests and "not much"! When I first saw Carden I thought "what's the big deal?" but after two and a half summers on the alvars, I am in love with them. They're a globally rare habitat where the limestone bedrock is right up against the surface, leaving the conditions very harsh, very open, and very conducive to fabulous, rare and gorgeous alvar plants and a plethora of wildlife who love open areas - endangered birds, wide ranging mammals like black bear and moose - Carden is just so great.
So when I see someone threatening "my" alvars, my hackles go up. That someone is the non-native invasive plant Dog-strangling Vine, also known as Black Swallowwort, also known as Kristyn's Worst Enemy. I think my mom even mentioned this plant in her speech at my wedding - it's thoroughly pervasive ;) It has recently showed up in Carden and based on its behaviour in the rest of Ontario we know it LOVES alvars and can destroy them in a matter of a few years, so we're on high alert to keep it OUT of those amazing rare systems.
To help out Carden and get this nasty bugger off the land I became licensed to apply pesticides (you know, those old goodies like RoundUp that the average folk aren't allowed to buy or spray anymore) and started spraying my heart out in 2010, 2x per summer. (Aside: For pesticide doubters, most chemicals are non-toxic to wildlife, have a short half life in the soil and can be the only real effective means of controlling voracious invasives like DSV. The only thing they might hurt is ME, but I'm pretty careful!). I was having a great impact on the plants that I knew about, and feeling pretty triumphant, when a partner organization came across a 50 acre private property littered with this stuff. Probably a solid 10 acres of it in the back and a good 3 acres up front are completely covered in it, along with the rock walls all over the property and random spots and patches everywhere for about another 10 acres. AUGH!! Suddenly my sad efforts paled in comparison, so 2012 became the Year of the Spray. I've been planning/dreading the past week since winter, ready to come on in with my backpack sprayers and my buddies, and get rid of this monster. The local landowner gave us permission to spray, so this is our chance to control the heart of the issue in Carden for the benefit of (quiz time) you got it, those gorgeous alvars.
I was apprehensive to say the least about the 32C highs with 40C humidices each day. It's already hot enough on a 20 degree day when you're in full gear (goggles, face mask, thick gloves, long sleeves, long pants, rubber boots) and wandering around an open field spraying for/looking for this stuff. I didn't need the extra 20 degrees on top of the norm!!! But with my tight schedule for the summer, the show had to go on!
My intern John and I arrived in Carden on Monday afternoon and got to work spraying the populations I've been hitting for the past few summers - easy afternoon work before we got into the nitty gritty on Tuesday. I was ready to try out my new "hazmat suit" aka. painters coveralls to help keep the 100 gallons of pesticide we'd be using that week off of me. Spraying away... all of a sudden feeling faint, seeing double and feeling my lunch offering to make a return visit, I collapsed onto my butt on the ground, whipped off my goggles and said to John "I think I'm going to faint!". This was VERY unlike me - I'm usually pretty tough when I get going. I was mad at myself, worried for the week ahead (as you'll recall, Monday was only about 25C with a 29 humidex, nothing out of the ordinary really), embarassed that my intern is having to get me water and coax me to stay still.. UGH! So I start working again, stubbornly, only to be overcome by the same sensation. AUGH! So I sat again, drank more water, and stripped off my suit and my attractive man's dress shirt until I was just in my tank top. And INSTANTLY felt better. Investigating the coveralls, I found them covered in my sweat on the inside and apparently not breathing a bit. I ripped off the rest of the one piece sexysuit and instantly felt waves of cool air washing over my body. Oh. It was the suit. I was all set after that, and thank goodness!! No more issues with heat exhaustion or effects from the heat all week - phew!
Not to say there weren't issues. There was the fact that every day after about 1 hour of work (in a 5-6 hour day) my clothes were absolutely soaked through with sweat. Gatorade was my friend. So were the interns from our partner organization who came out with us for two days and did ridiculous things like wiping sweat from our faces, and squirting water into our mouths (I felt like a boxer lol). When you are wearing heavy duty neoprene gloves to your elbows that are drippy with pesticides, you all of a sudden have no use of your hands which is crazily inconvenient! The mosquitoes found defenseless meals in John and I, and the deerflies certainly never stopped their buzzing dance around our heads. Sometime during Day 2 I heard a distinct "squashing" sound from inside my rubber boots and upon investigation found my custom orthotics (which I'd slipped in for added comfort for walking around in rubber boots all week which is generally the opposite of comfortable!!) basically drenched in sweat that had dripped down my legs and .. what.. PUDDLES of my own sweat at the bottom of my boots?! I've never felt more disgusting, and am hoping my $450 shoe inserts recover (they're on top of an AC vent in my house as we speak!). I tore my pants climbing the barbed wire fence in and out of the site (approximately 12 fence hops per day to access the part of the property we needed to get to, so actually one small tear is a pretty good record!). The insides of those thick non-breathable gloves became the home to what I can only imagine would be a bacteriologist/mycologist's dream - because the glove stench was INSANE! It got worse every day to the point that after Day 4 glove removal rinsing my hands, taking a hot shower, and washing my hands three times did nearly nothing to remove the stink! Ack!!! Needless to say I have retired the gloves (rest in peace, nasty gloves).
There were many colourful locals encountered while out and about. Lady one Day 1 (fainty day) who accosted us in the forest with this friendly line "What are you doing in my forest?" which I thought was interesting considering the land is owned by my organization, so by proxy, ME, and that we were indeed doing unspeakable good for the forest. By the end of the convo she was friendlier. Then there was a local landowner whose property we'd been invited to spray on on Day 1, who started the visit by showing me pictures of an angry male black bear that had been found exactly where we were standing earlier that week and apparently weren't the least bit afraid of her 230 lb English mastiff who was barking its face off at the bear. Eek! There was the guy we encountered on the road on Day 3 who said in the most insanely hillbilly drawl "we're lookin' fer bearz" - aka. hunting out of the window of his car. WTF? That's called poaching, friend! Lucky for me, no bears were found, though a mom and 2 cubs are active on the properties we visited Day 2-4. If you're loud enough, bears will be smart enough to stay away, and we were always in a group of at least 3. However, on Day 4, needing to cover some last bit of ground, I offered to spray a fenceline by myself and catch up to the group. While alone, to ward off bears, I sang Irish pub tunes at the top of my lungs. I managed to scare the crap out of a deer with a line of "It was down in Christchurch when I first met with Annie - a neat little gal and not a bi' shy...". The deer actually had its revenge by its flurried movement which I assumed was a bear coming to eat me and stopped in pure terror. Still tbd what I'll actually do when I see one I guess!!!
I don't share this blog with work colleagues, so I can vent a mite about the one "helper" we had on Day 2 and 3 who was essentially a giant weiner... Yes - it's hot. Yes - this work is fairly horrific. Yes - it is a lot of walking. Yes - hopping a fence is annoying. Yes, yes, yes - SUCK IT UP! Which John and our others helpers did magnificently - if I had trophies/medals, I'd hand them out for supreme suck-up-a-bility of everyone this week. It was mainly the heat that made it so bonkers, but if you're in the sitch, you power through - right? Apparently not everyone. Every 10 minutes this person was taking a "shade break" where she sat on her butt in the shade and stared. She would take regular "A/C breaks" in her vehicle when we walked back to the cars to fill our sprayers. (Aside on the sprayers: backpack sprayers that hold 16L - John and I would each fill one to the brim, hoist them up onto our backs and then hike up to 2 km wearing them, all the while smiling and joking about the ridiculous task at hand, and occasionally nearly losing balance while images of turtles stuck on their back, limbs flailing, flashed frantically through our minds.) I offered to let the helpers try spraying on Day 3 (excellent resume fodder, from someone who hires interns!). One was excited and found the work of seeking out and destroying things actually fun (the sprayer wand does make you feel a bit badass). The "softer" of the two started the adventure with an "OH MY GOD THAT'S HEAVY" when I hoisted a half full (8L) sprayer onto her back. She gave up after about 10 minutes of spraying, looking like she might die. She took a long shade break next. I switched with her and while I worked she struck up a conversation with me of what would happen if I told my bosses I refused to work in the heat. Confused, I said that absolutely no one would give me a hard time about not working in the heat, but this was my project and I was so committed to it, I'd work through it if I only had one leg and it was 60C outside (I never exaggerate.. never). I realized later it was probably a passive aggressive attempt to get out of the work, or to perhaps dodge further fieldwork in hot temperatures with her own boss.. my goodness. The last straw for me was when I was working at the end of a 5 hour jaunt on Day 3 in blazing afternoon temperatures in an open field under the scorching sun, with sweat pouring down my face like it was in a race to reach my neck, with mosquitoes and deerflies making a home on my face, ears, neck and hat, while arcing a lovely blue spray of glyphosate onto a patch of over 2,000 evil plants, feeling dehydration keenly but not wanting to stop - when I heard "ahh! a mosquito just flew into my ear! right into my ear!". John said it looked like I might explode at that moment, but I just kept powering through. Because that's what people do. Especially nutcases who have accepted field-based jobs like me....or her.... ahem. I have a whole new outlook on sucking it up after the past week and I don't think I'll soon forget the lessons learned out there!
My last thought is an ode to rubbies. One of my favourite goofy people, Catherine, coined the term "rubby" when she was a competitive swimmer and her bathing suit edges would rub against her wet skin while she trained, causing a small patch of rubbed, raw, red skin. Ouch! Well - I was essentially underwater (a pool of my own sweat - yum!) all week so any edge on my clothing was rubbing the crap out of me - the tops of my rubber boots gave me calf rubbies, my pants gave me a knee rubby from kneeling, and worst of all my underwear gave me bumcheek rubbies!!! Try explaining this to your male intern.. John just looked at me in terror as I tried to explain why I couldn't sit on my ass on the car ride home or while reading later that night. LOL. I called Dawn and said "I have bum rubbies" and her immediate response was "oh no! I'm getting rubbies just from walking around downtown today - you must be dying!". Haha - nothing like a childhood friend to just "get it". I figured out that John was clueless cuz guys wear BOXERS, so I adopted this philosophy and wore a pair of plaid shorts I wear to hang around the house in under my pants the next day in the field - and I was golden!! So any overheating females out there - take heed! I'm happy to report my rubbies are healing nicely and I am very pleased to have been wearing dry clothes for almost 24 hours now!!! Yay!
This week we were lucky enough to stay at a cottage on Lake Couchiching for our accomodations - $400 for 2 ppl for 4 nights? Yes please!!!! It was glorious - fantastic views of the lake, fully equipped, even with a washer/dryer to wash our pesticide-y clothes every day, and a friendly neighbour who took us out for a phenomenal boatride one evening. As I watched the boat spray glisten in the setting sun, feeling the breeze on my face after a long and hot summer solstice, I actually thought there's nothing else I'd rather be doing. So when you're having a tough week - find the little joys and pleasures, even if it's just blasting the car's A/C on your sweaty face, scarfing down dinners of comfort foods like Kraft Dinner and frozen pizza to refill your tank, or admiring the view of the rolling hills of Carden when you crest a hill wearing your backpack sprayer full of 16L of poison. :)
The organization I work for is working hard to protect the alvars in an area just east of Orillia, known as Carden Alvar.. known to the rest of the world as cows, fields, forests and "not much"! When I first saw Carden I thought "what's the big deal?" but after two and a half summers on the alvars, I am in love with them. They're a globally rare habitat where the limestone bedrock is right up against the surface, leaving the conditions very harsh, very open, and very conducive to fabulous, rare and gorgeous alvar plants and a plethora of wildlife who love open areas - endangered birds, wide ranging mammals like black bear and moose - Carden is just so great.
 |
| Alvar |
So when I see someone threatening "my" alvars, my hackles go up. That someone is the non-native invasive plant Dog-strangling Vine, also known as Black Swallowwort, also known as Kristyn's Worst Enemy. I think my mom even mentioned this plant in her speech at my wedding - it's thoroughly pervasive ;) It has recently showed up in Carden and based on its behaviour in the rest of Ontario we know it LOVES alvars and can destroy them in a matter of a few years, so we're on high alert to keep it OUT of those amazing rare systems.
 |
| DSV in flower - yuck |
I was apprehensive to say the least about the 32C highs with 40C humidices each day. It's already hot enough on a 20 degree day when you're in full gear (goggles, face mask, thick gloves, long sleeves, long pants, rubber boots) and wandering around an open field spraying for/looking for this stuff. I didn't need the extra 20 degrees on top of the norm!!! But with my tight schedule for the summer, the show had to go on!
My intern John and I arrived in Carden on Monday afternoon and got to work spraying the populations I've been hitting for the past few summers - easy afternoon work before we got into the nitty gritty on Tuesday. I was ready to try out my new "hazmat suit" aka. painters coveralls to help keep the 100 gallons of pesticide we'd be using that week off of me. Spraying away... all of a sudden feeling faint, seeing double and feeling my lunch offering to make a return visit, I collapsed onto my butt on the ground, whipped off my goggles and said to John "I think I'm going to faint!". This was VERY unlike me - I'm usually pretty tough when I get going. I was mad at myself, worried for the week ahead (as you'll recall, Monday was only about 25C with a 29 humidex, nothing out of the ordinary really), embarassed that my intern is having to get me water and coax me to stay still.. UGH! So I start working again, stubbornly, only to be overcome by the same sensation. AUGH! So I sat again, drank more water, and stripped off my suit and my attractive man's dress shirt until I was just in my tank top. And INSTANTLY felt better. Investigating the coveralls, I found them covered in my sweat on the inside and apparently not breathing a bit. I ripped off the rest of the one piece sexysuit and instantly felt waves of cool air washing over my body. Oh. It was the suit. I was all set after that, and thank goodness!! No more issues with heat exhaustion or effects from the heat all week - phew!
Not to say there weren't issues. There was the fact that every day after about 1 hour of work (in a 5-6 hour day) my clothes were absolutely soaked through with sweat. Gatorade was my friend. So were the interns from our partner organization who came out with us for two days and did ridiculous things like wiping sweat from our faces, and squirting water into our mouths (I felt like a boxer lol). When you are wearing heavy duty neoprene gloves to your elbows that are drippy with pesticides, you all of a sudden have no use of your hands which is crazily inconvenient! The mosquitoes found defenseless meals in John and I, and the deerflies certainly never stopped their buzzing dance around our heads. Sometime during Day 2 I heard a distinct "squashing" sound from inside my rubber boots and upon investigation found my custom orthotics (which I'd slipped in for added comfort for walking around in rubber boots all week which is generally the opposite of comfortable!!) basically drenched in sweat that had dripped down my legs and .. what.. PUDDLES of my own sweat at the bottom of my boots?! I've never felt more disgusting, and am hoping my $450 shoe inserts recover (they're on top of an AC vent in my house as we speak!). I tore my pants climbing the barbed wire fence in and out of the site (approximately 12 fence hops per day to access the part of the property we needed to get to, so actually one small tear is a pretty good record!). The insides of those thick non-breathable gloves became the home to what I can only imagine would be a bacteriologist/mycologist's dream - because the glove stench was INSANE! It got worse every day to the point that after Day 4 glove removal rinsing my hands, taking a hot shower, and washing my hands three times did nearly nothing to remove the stink! Ack!!! Needless to say I have retired the gloves (rest in peace, nasty gloves).
There were many colourful locals encountered while out and about. Lady one Day 1 (fainty day) who accosted us in the forest with this friendly line "What are you doing in my forest?" which I thought was interesting considering the land is owned by my organization, so by proxy, ME, and that we were indeed doing unspeakable good for the forest. By the end of the convo she was friendlier. Then there was a local landowner whose property we'd been invited to spray on on Day 1, who started the visit by showing me pictures of an angry male black bear that had been found exactly where we were standing earlier that week and apparently weren't the least bit afraid of her 230 lb English mastiff who was barking its face off at the bear. Eek! There was the guy we encountered on the road on Day 3 who said in the most insanely hillbilly drawl "we're lookin' fer bearz" - aka. hunting out of the window of his car. WTF? That's called poaching, friend! Lucky for me, no bears were found, though a mom and 2 cubs are active on the properties we visited Day 2-4. If you're loud enough, bears will be smart enough to stay away, and we were always in a group of at least 3. However, on Day 4, needing to cover some last bit of ground, I offered to spray a fenceline by myself and catch up to the group. While alone, to ward off bears, I sang Irish pub tunes at the top of my lungs. I managed to scare the crap out of a deer with a line of "It was down in Christchurch when I first met with Annie - a neat little gal and not a bi' shy...". The deer actually had its revenge by its flurried movement which I assumed was a bear coming to eat me and stopped in pure terror. Still tbd what I'll actually do when I see one I guess!!!
I don't share this blog with work colleagues, so I can vent a mite about the one "helper" we had on Day 2 and 3 who was essentially a giant weiner... Yes - it's hot. Yes - this work is fairly horrific. Yes - it is a lot of walking. Yes - hopping a fence is annoying. Yes, yes, yes - SUCK IT UP! Which John and our others helpers did magnificently - if I had trophies/medals, I'd hand them out for supreme suck-up-a-bility of everyone this week. It was mainly the heat that made it so bonkers, but if you're in the sitch, you power through - right? Apparently not everyone. Every 10 minutes this person was taking a "shade break" where she sat on her butt in the shade and stared. She would take regular "A/C breaks" in her vehicle when we walked back to the cars to fill our sprayers. (Aside on the sprayers: backpack sprayers that hold 16L - John and I would each fill one to the brim, hoist them up onto our backs and then hike up to 2 km wearing them, all the while smiling and joking about the ridiculous task at hand, and occasionally nearly losing balance while images of turtles stuck on their back, limbs flailing, flashed frantically through our minds.) I offered to let the helpers try spraying on Day 3 (excellent resume fodder, from someone who hires interns!). One was excited and found the work of seeking out and destroying things actually fun (the sprayer wand does make you feel a bit badass). The "softer" of the two started the adventure with an "OH MY GOD THAT'S HEAVY" when I hoisted a half full (8L) sprayer onto her back. She gave up after about 10 minutes of spraying, looking like she might die. She took a long shade break next. I switched with her and while I worked she struck up a conversation with me of what would happen if I told my bosses I refused to work in the heat. Confused, I said that absolutely no one would give me a hard time about not working in the heat, but this was my project and I was so committed to it, I'd work through it if I only had one leg and it was 60C outside (I never exaggerate.. never). I realized later it was probably a passive aggressive attempt to get out of the work, or to perhaps dodge further fieldwork in hot temperatures with her own boss.. my goodness. The last straw for me was when I was working at the end of a 5 hour jaunt on Day 3 in blazing afternoon temperatures in an open field under the scorching sun, with sweat pouring down my face like it was in a race to reach my neck, with mosquitoes and deerflies making a home on my face, ears, neck and hat, while arcing a lovely blue spray of glyphosate onto a patch of over 2,000 evil plants, feeling dehydration keenly but not wanting to stop - when I heard "ahh! a mosquito just flew into my ear! right into my ear!". John said it looked like I might explode at that moment, but I just kept powering through. Because that's what people do. Especially nutcases who have accepted field-based jobs like me....or her.... ahem. I have a whole new outlook on sucking it up after the past week and I don't think I'll soon forget the lessons learned out there!
My last thought is an ode to rubbies. One of my favourite goofy people, Catherine, coined the term "rubby" when she was a competitive swimmer and her bathing suit edges would rub against her wet skin while she trained, causing a small patch of rubbed, raw, red skin. Ouch! Well - I was essentially underwater (a pool of my own sweat - yum!) all week so any edge on my clothing was rubbing the crap out of me - the tops of my rubber boots gave me calf rubbies, my pants gave me a knee rubby from kneeling, and worst of all my underwear gave me bumcheek rubbies!!! Try explaining this to your male intern.. John just looked at me in terror as I tried to explain why I couldn't sit on my ass on the car ride home or while reading later that night. LOL. I called Dawn and said "I have bum rubbies" and her immediate response was "oh no! I'm getting rubbies just from walking around downtown today - you must be dying!". Haha - nothing like a childhood friend to just "get it". I figured out that John was clueless cuz guys wear BOXERS, so I adopted this philosophy and wore a pair of plaid shorts I wear to hang around the house in under my pants the next day in the field - and I was golden!! So any overheating females out there - take heed! I'm happy to report my rubbies are healing nicely and I am very pleased to have been wearing dry clothes for almost 24 hours now!!! Yay!
This week we were lucky enough to stay at a cottage on Lake Couchiching for our accomodations - $400 for 2 ppl for 4 nights? Yes please!!!! It was glorious - fantastic views of the lake, fully equipped, even with a washer/dryer to wash our pesticide-y clothes every day, and a friendly neighbour who took us out for a phenomenal boatride one evening. As I watched the boat spray glisten in the setting sun, feeling the breeze on my face after a long and hot summer solstice, I actually thought there's nothing else I'd rather be doing. So when you're having a tough week - find the little joys and pleasures, even if it's just blasting the car's A/C on your sweaty face, scarfing down dinners of comfort foods like Kraft Dinner and frozen pizza to refill your tank, or admiring the view of the rolling hills of Carden when you crest a hill wearing your backpack sprayer full of 16L of poison. :)
Monday 4 June 2012
A Good Question
Was having a bit of trouble getting off the couch tonight after an exhausting day in the field with 60 students aged 8-11 (auggggh!!!). I definitely have a new appreciation for my teacher friends who deal with kids all day.. man.. fieldwork plus screaming kids.. it's two worlds of exhaustion colliding!!! Anyways.. in my comfort food induced stupor lying on the couch I watched a few "back episodes" of some shows I had stored on my PVR including an interview Oprah did with Carrie Underwood on Oprah's Next Chapter where she asked me a question that got me thinking...
"Who are you, really?"
Carrie's answer was weak - but I don't blame her - that's a big q to try to come up with an answer for on the spot. I'm going to think it through, thoughtfully, and I'm still not sure I'll come up with anything good. I guess that's because of another one of my dichotomies (remember Kristyn1 & Kristyn2? http://www.sincerelygoofy.blogspot.ca/2012/03/2-kristyns.html) - well there's also Positive Kristyn and Negative Kristyn. Because honestly, what person walks around thinking extremely highly of themselves all the time? Or alternately, what person is silly enough that they can't see the good in themselves? So here's my answer that will probably be a mix of all the ways I see myself. It's funny - I haven't even started thinking about it and I know I'm going to miss something already! I think one of the funniest things about people is how they can be so oblivious to their most obvious traits sometimes... maddening at times... hopefully the following effort doesn't serve only to madden.... :P
The very first thing that pops into my head is that I'm in love with love. This is a theme that has been strung through my entire life from my first crush in grade 4 to 10 minutes ago when I gave my husband a big smooch just because. Romantic love, infatuated love, head-over-heels love - all types of love, I have just loved. I've had a love affair with love!! I don't know why it is I'm so crazy about being crazy in love, but some things I've repeated a bunch of times through my life (so they must have some meaning?) are "your significant other is the one person you get to treat with total mushy, romantic, gushing lovely lovey love.. so why not try to make every day full of that?"; "when it's true love, the days tick by very easily with very little effort and very much joy"; "'the one' will never break your heart"; "there is no "ONE" person for everyone - but there are a handful of people who will be very right for you and you're lucky if you find one of those".. etc. etc. I came up with a couple of those quotes, stole a couple of them. But they definitely show how much thought I've put into the concept of love and how fascinated I am by it. So therefore, I am someone who is consumed by my love for love. Anyone who hasn't thrown up by now - bravo.
Another thing that popped into my mind was a love of drama, until it's REAL drama. Bring me all the snide comments, back-talkin', back-stabbin', bf/gf fightin', he-said she-said, dramarama stuff you want and I will eat it with a spoon.. nay.. a shovel. I won the Ms. Gossip award in high school - BAHA. I was very proud! But honestly, the second it becomes real and someone I care about is hurt, or someone I care about has hurt me, or someone is hurting someone in a way that's unforgiveable I'm over it and I crave a life of simplicity, free from pain & the yuck of drama. Drama is only fun when it's pretty far away from you and you can pretend it's not real. When it comes to the real stuff it makes my stomach turn and I wish it would all go away. Fighting with ppl I care about is the #1 place I never want drama to rear it's somewhat-attractive, mostly-destructive head - I'm WAY too sensitive for most of what goes on out there. Probably should stick to In Touch magazine and The Bachelor to get my fix.
I'm someone who is incredibly hard on myself . I hold a lot of high, often unrealistic standards, and put myself through the wringer when things don't go exactly as I like. Through my nuts-busy job I've learned not to be a perfectionist (instead, am now a "do your best"ionist) but I still cringe in the face of criticism, constructive or worse. I lose sleep when I've made a mistake or let someone down. I think this manifests itself in my control-freakish ways - if I control everything it will go just as it needs to and everyone will be happy and nothing will go wrong. HA. Seriously.. ha. I'm finally learning to recognize.. and not embrace.. but at least acknowledge when I'm trying to control a situation, especially when its one that I likely can't control. I get a high from being in charge of things, esp when they go very well! I'm not bad at patting myself on the back when I pull off something awesome. But the downside to that is what happens when they don't? Major self-punishment whilst lying awake at night. Hmmm. Very interesting paragraph that fell from my fingers just there: definite flag for continuing self improvement!
I LOVE TO ANALYZE THINGS! Would you have guessed it from someone who is blogging and analyzing herself as we speak? The most rewarding part of my relationship with Jeff (aside from the mush and the amazing company of my best friend in the world) is our capacity to talk through situations and look at them from lots of angles and share our opinions on them - I'd feel really lost without that. I am lucky to share the affinity for analysis with so many of my favourite people.. perhaps it's WHY they're my favourite people. The shortlist includes Jeff, my mom, Dawn, Dave and Erica, and I've had many amazing deep convos with many other amazing deep peeps in my life. Through long talks with all those people I'm pretty sure the universe has been fully deconstructed and completely understood. ;) And you, over there, actin' a fool.. oh we've got you figured out, don't you WORRY!! Or maybe you SHOULD WORRY! (is that my love for drama ("lite") creeping in?!)
I'm once again a split personality when it comes to being intensely private and wildly social. The pendulum has swung both ways throughout my life. In grade school I was a definite only child bookish type who was totally fine to hang alone. A Saturday night reading and listening to music was super awesome! Some switch clicked just before/at the start of high school that having multiple close friendships was amazing and it was WAY more fun to be doing stuff than NOT doing stuff - fabulous fodder for my insane collection of diaries and love of love, as well! I became a total social butterfly and couldn't get enough "STUFF!". I always had lots of different groups of friends so there would always be something to do. But underneath all that there was still part of me that craved space. I applied for a single room in first year university because the thought of rooming with some stranger and having to freaking talk to the same person every day gave me the itchies. I get REALLY sick of people, pretty fast too (good thing I got that single room!). I LOVED living and partying with my bff's all through university at Guelph, but started living alone after we all finished up and loved it so much that I lived alone until I moved in with Jeff, accepting the reality of having to live with someone in order to have a functional marriage someday. ;) We built a house full of walls and levels because I like separation and privacy (from what I'm not really sure, I spend most of my time with Jeff!). These days I'm swinging back to the solitude/privacy-loving side of things, but still feel intense cravings for connections with my fantastic friends and family, perhaps just at a dialed down frequency in my "old age". Though I'm wondering if that has something to do with how badly I feel after a night of drinking these days compared to THOSE days... ;)
I love to listen and to help. The best compliment I've received from many friends is I'm a good listener, who is always there to talk. Maybe I don't have a phone glued to my ear a la high school, but I hope my friends know this is one quality of mine that isn't going anywhere. If I can listen to someone's problem and they're interested in my advice (or occasionally when they don't ask for it!), I'm more than happy to help and play the role of therapist. I think there's tons to learn when it comes to psychology - it's an interesting web that it would probably take a lifetime to even come close to understanding. I find picking someone's brain fascinating. I have about zero patience, though, when someone keeps making the same mistake without trying to change things to fix the heart of the issue. I am a cheerleader of self improvement and always will be. I gobble self-help books like no one's business, and some of my favourite reads have been memoirs and advice books. If anyone thinks they've "got it figured out" - they're nuts. So I hope to always be a sounding board.. bring on the analysis! ;)
I am so weirdly in love with real estate. I don't know WHY.. don't really know WHEN.. or HOW.. but my idea of a perfect date is driving around looking at homes and discussing things we'd like in our next house (last night Jeff and I had this very date and found THIS community, omg omg.. I need to win the lottery! http://www.heritagelakeestates.ca/). My dream retirement job is realtor. Is this weird? I feel like it's weird. Kristyn Ferguson, Realtor Who Knows A LOT About Trees. lol. Definitely need a better slogan....
I am a woman who has dreams but hasn't realized them and isn't always active in taking the steps to get there. I'm also someone who feels like I should have BIGGER, BETTER dreams than the ones I do. I guess it's ok not to have it all figured out at 29 (hard on self much?), but I get really angry at myself when I find myself on the couch.. watching Oprah.. haha.. when I should be writing that best selling novel that will get me into that dream house (http://www.heritagelakeestates.ca/ lol) or at least reading and learning more to become an absolute expert in the field of conservation biology. Sometimes I dream REALLY BIG! I got tipsy at a staff conference and told everyone I was going to be president (..of our national organization...) one day. Then was terrified that I wasn't really cut out for it all, or maybe it was that I'd really be more interested in walking my dogs down by a lake and listening to the birds sing during an early retirement from my stress-inducing days. Next big question to ponder: what will make you happy in life. HA. Think that's a BIG one... Interesting trying to marry your own concept of happiness with your life partner's as well - where do they merge, and diverge?? Sounds like time for some more analysis! ;)
I guess to sum it up - who I really am is someone who I think is romantic, silly, a deep thinker, intense, private AND social, a good friend, always trying to improve herself, a real estate junkie, nature lover, and someone who is still trying to figure it all out! (to those who know me well: what did I miss?)
Would certainly pose this question to all and any! Cheers :)
"Who are you, really?"
Carrie's answer was weak - but I don't blame her - that's a big q to try to come up with an answer for on the spot. I'm going to think it through, thoughtfully, and I'm still not sure I'll come up with anything good. I guess that's because of another one of my dichotomies (remember Kristyn1 & Kristyn2? http://www.sincerelygoofy.blogspot.ca/2012/03/2-kristyns.html) - well there's also Positive Kristyn and Negative Kristyn. Because honestly, what person walks around thinking extremely highly of themselves all the time? Or alternately, what person is silly enough that they can't see the good in themselves? So here's my answer that will probably be a mix of all the ways I see myself. It's funny - I haven't even started thinking about it and I know I'm going to miss something already! I think one of the funniest things about people is how they can be so oblivious to their most obvious traits sometimes... maddening at times... hopefully the following effort doesn't serve only to madden.... :P
The very first thing that pops into my head is that I'm in love with love. This is a theme that has been strung through my entire life from my first crush in grade 4 to 10 minutes ago when I gave my husband a big smooch just because. Romantic love, infatuated love, head-over-heels love - all types of love, I have just loved. I've had a love affair with love!! I don't know why it is I'm so crazy about being crazy in love, but some things I've repeated a bunch of times through my life (so they must have some meaning?) are "your significant other is the one person you get to treat with total mushy, romantic, gushing lovely lovey love.. so why not try to make every day full of that?"; "when it's true love, the days tick by very easily with very little effort and very much joy"; "'the one' will never break your heart"; "there is no "ONE" person for everyone - but there are a handful of people who will be very right for you and you're lucky if you find one of those".. etc. etc. I came up with a couple of those quotes, stole a couple of them. But they definitely show how much thought I've put into the concept of love and how fascinated I am by it. So therefore, I am someone who is consumed by my love for love. Anyone who hasn't thrown up by now - bravo.
Another thing that popped into my mind was a love of drama, until it's REAL drama. Bring me all the snide comments, back-talkin', back-stabbin', bf/gf fightin', he-said she-said, dramarama stuff you want and I will eat it with a spoon.. nay.. a shovel. I won the Ms. Gossip award in high school - BAHA. I was very proud! But honestly, the second it becomes real and someone I care about is hurt, or someone I care about has hurt me, or someone is hurting someone in a way that's unforgiveable I'm over it and I crave a life of simplicity, free from pain & the yuck of drama. Drama is only fun when it's pretty far away from you and you can pretend it's not real. When it comes to the real stuff it makes my stomach turn and I wish it would all go away. Fighting with ppl I care about is the #1 place I never want drama to rear it's somewhat-attractive, mostly-destructive head - I'm WAY too sensitive for most of what goes on out there. Probably should stick to In Touch magazine and The Bachelor to get my fix.
I'm someone who is incredibly hard on myself . I hold a lot of high, often unrealistic standards, and put myself through the wringer when things don't go exactly as I like. Through my nuts-busy job I've learned not to be a perfectionist (instead, am now a "do your best"ionist) but I still cringe in the face of criticism, constructive or worse. I lose sleep when I've made a mistake or let someone down. I think this manifests itself in my control-freakish ways - if I control everything it will go just as it needs to and everyone will be happy and nothing will go wrong. HA. Seriously.. ha. I'm finally learning to recognize.. and not embrace.. but at least acknowledge when I'm trying to control a situation, especially when its one that I likely can't control. I get a high from being in charge of things, esp when they go very well! I'm not bad at patting myself on the back when I pull off something awesome. But the downside to that is what happens when they don't? Major self-punishment whilst lying awake at night. Hmmm. Very interesting paragraph that fell from my fingers just there: definite flag for continuing self improvement!
I LOVE TO ANALYZE THINGS! Would you have guessed it from someone who is blogging and analyzing herself as we speak? The most rewarding part of my relationship with Jeff (aside from the mush and the amazing company of my best friend in the world) is our capacity to talk through situations and look at them from lots of angles and share our opinions on them - I'd feel really lost without that. I am lucky to share the affinity for analysis with so many of my favourite people.. perhaps it's WHY they're my favourite people. The shortlist includes Jeff, my mom, Dawn, Dave and Erica, and I've had many amazing deep convos with many other amazing deep peeps in my life. Through long talks with all those people I'm pretty sure the universe has been fully deconstructed and completely understood. ;) And you, over there, actin' a fool.. oh we've got you figured out, don't you WORRY!! Or maybe you SHOULD WORRY! (is that my love for drama ("lite") creeping in?!)
I'm once again a split personality when it comes to being intensely private and wildly social. The pendulum has swung both ways throughout my life. In grade school I was a definite only child bookish type who was totally fine to hang alone. A Saturday night reading and listening to music was super awesome! Some switch clicked just before/at the start of high school that having multiple close friendships was amazing and it was WAY more fun to be doing stuff than NOT doing stuff - fabulous fodder for my insane collection of diaries and love of love, as well! I became a total social butterfly and couldn't get enough "STUFF!". I always had lots of different groups of friends so there would always be something to do. But underneath all that there was still part of me that craved space. I applied for a single room in first year university because the thought of rooming with some stranger and having to freaking talk to the same person every day gave me the itchies. I get REALLY sick of people, pretty fast too (good thing I got that single room!). I LOVED living and partying with my bff's all through university at Guelph, but started living alone after we all finished up and loved it so much that I lived alone until I moved in with Jeff, accepting the reality of having to live with someone in order to have a functional marriage someday. ;) We built a house full of walls and levels because I like separation and privacy (from what I'm not really sure, I spend most of my time with Jeff!). These days I'm swinging back to the solitude/privacy-loving side of things, but still feel intense cravings for connections with my fantastic friends and family, perhaps just at a dialed down frequency in my "old age". Though I'm wondering if that has something to do with how badly I feel after a night of drinking these days compared to THOSE days... ;)
I love to listen and to help. The best compliment I've received from many friends is I'm a good listener, who is always there to talk. Maybe I don't have a phone glued to my ear a la high school, but I hope my friends know this is one quality of mine that isn't going anywhere. If I can listen to someone's problem and they're interested in my advice (or occasionally when they don't ask for it!), I'm more than happy to help and play the role of therapist. I think there's tons to learn when it comes to psychology - it's an interesting web that it would probably take a lifetime to even come close to understanding. I find picking someone's brain fascinating. I have about zero patience, though, when someone keeps making the same mistake without trying to change things to fix the heart of the issue. I am a cheerleader of self improvement and always will be. I gobble self-help books like no one's business, and some of my favourite reads have been memoirs and advice books. If anyone thinks they've "got it figured out" - they're nuts. So I hope to always be a sounding board.. bring on the analysis! ;)
I am so weirdly in love with real estate. I don't know WHY.. don't really know WHEN.. or HOW.. but my idea of a perfect date is driving around looking at homes and discussing things we'd like in our next house (last night Jeff and I had this very date and found THIS community, omg omg.. I need to win the lottery! http://www.heritagelakeestates.ca/). My dream retirement job is realtor. Is this weird? I feel like it's weird. Kristyn Ferguson, Realtor Who Knows A LOT About Trees. lol. Definitely need a better slogan....
I am a woman who has dreams but hasn't realized them and isn't always active in taking the steps to get there. I'm also someone who feels like I should have BIGGER, BETTER dreams than the ones I do. I guess it's ok not to have it all figured out at 29 (hard on self much?), but I get really angry at myself when I find myself on the couch.. watching Oprah.. haha.. when I should be writing that best selling novel that will get me into that dream house (http://www.heritagelakeestates.ca/ lol) or at least reading and learning more to become an absolute expert in the field of conservation biology. Sometimes I dream REALLY BIG! I got tipsy at a staff conference and told everyone I was going to be president (..of our national organization...) one day. Then was terrified that I wasn't really cut out for it all, or maybe it was that I'd really be more interested in walking my dogs down by a lake and listening to the birds sing during an early retirement from my stress-inducing days. Next big question to ponder: what will make you happy in life. HA. Think that's a BIG one... Interesting trying to marry your own concept of happiness with your life partner's as well - where do they merge, and diverge?? Sounds like time for some more analysis! ;)
I guess to sum it up - who I really am is someone who I think is romantic, silly, a deep thinker, intense, private AND social, a good friend, always trying to improve herself, a real estate junkie, nature lover, and someone who is still trying to figure it all out! (to those who know me well: what did I miss?)
Would certainly pose this question to all and any! Cheers :)
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