The Nature of Blogs (or an agreement with Tina ;))

Blogs are neat, little things. There are no rules to them, except just write. Write whatever comes to mind and share it with your friends and with the anonymous faces in cyberspace.

I have come across blogs that are dedicated to a particular pasttime: one that comes to mind is crocheting. Yes, I actually found an entire blog dedicated to crocheting.

Then there are the blogs that offer social commentary and have even been used as serious news articles. Yes, breaking news through the world of Blog.

But mostly, blogs seem to be about our lives: sometimes it is an exact account of our day; we often talk about our feelings good and bad; we offer our opinion on things; and for some, it is a way (whether they think it is, or not) to show us that they have an enourmous chip on the shoulder. Everyone has bad days and runs of bad luck, it happens. But some people think the whole world is out to get them. It's only out to get you, because you let bowl you over.

I enjoy my friends' blogs, it's a great way to keep caught up with one another, especially in this hectic day and age. But there are some who's blogs make me feel rather depressed and sorry for those people, that they can't seem to focus on the good parts of life: "you take the good, you take the bad, and there you have..." Yes, I did just quote the facts of life, but it's true. People know my gripes, we all have them, but I also try to offer up some of the fun things in my life as well. For instance, tonight, I am going to the U2 concert. I am so excited about it I woke up at 6am this morning (after going to bed at 12:30am). God what I am going to be like the day before my wedding...

So for all you bloggers, share your woes, but also give us the good times, because, quite frankly, I have no time and energy for those in a perpetual state of gloomy gusiness. (That last word looks a bit like Guiness, doesn't it? Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more).

4 hours until Vertigo...

Endings

Usually when we think of endings, we become sad. An ending is often a closure we don't want to face. But as we have learned from fairytales and Hollywood movies, there are also happy endings...

My writer's block is coming to an end. I have had writer's block for almost 9.5 years! I have managed to put words on paper and develop some interesting characters and story lines, but the last time I produced a finished piece was Janaury 1996. That story won me an Honourable mention in the BCTF writing competition, in rthe category of Grade 12 Prose.

Let me correct myself, it has been 9.5 years since I have completed a piece of prose; it has been many more years since I have written a poem.

Yet, today, as I sat in Trimble park, munching on my sushi lunch, my muse returned to me. Here is the result, and please let me know what you think:

View from Trimble

Azure skies and sapphire ocean meet,
joined together by blue-green mountains.
The cityscape reaches high,
the familiar copper green roof,
5 Sails,
revolving restaurant,
the mushroom cap that shelters outer space.
Sun seekers nestled in the sands of Jericho.
The Inukshuk stands tall in the Bay,
a symbol of us
an Olympic spirit too.
Sailboats and cruise ships drift
in and out of the lnlet,
taking their crews on unknown journeys.
While the Lions,
peacefully perched atop the mountains,
proudly watch their city below.

A Matter of Taste

I have a new addition to my bathroom - no I did not get lucky and finally get a vanity or a sink that is any other colour than pink. I now have a second shower curtain.

There has always been one leak in our bathroom that has persisted for years: For those who know my apartment, you know that the bathroom window is in the shower. Everytime we have a shower, whether the window is opened or closed, water runs down the outside of the apartment building, causing some small water damage.

When our bathroom was being repaired after the pipe burst, our landlord wanted the window looked at to see if anything could be done about the leak. The plumbers applied a water seal, but the landlord also wanted to put a curtain over the window for double protection from our shower water.

I assumed it would be just that, a small curtain across the window. Oh how wrong I was. I came home from work last week to find this hideous, translucent, plastic shower curtain that not only covers the window, but the whole back wall of the shower.

I love taking showers, I find it very relaxing and rejuevinating. This is no longer the case. I feel like I am trapped in a room where both walls are moving towards me to squish me (a la Scoobey Doo or Indiana Jones). My showers should not be a claustrophobic experience.

My landlord asked me the other day how I found the new shower curtain. I wanted to say it's horrible and ugly and completely ruins my showering experience. But I didn't. I just gave the old smile and nod and said it was great. She then proceeded to go on about how wonderful it is, and its nice isn't it?

I suppose if you like pink bathroom porcelin, you will also like fugly, transperent shower curtains. I guess it's just a matter of taste.

A Rose By Any Other Name...

What's in a name anyways? Sounds cliche doesn't it? But it's something I've been thinking about a lot lately, as I enter my last few months as a single woman.

I have decided to take on my husband's last name. I decided that a long time ago, but as the day draws closer it is starting to seem a little sureal, a little scary.

For the past 27 years I have had the last name Poole, but in a few short months I will take on the name Blackstock. A name which I will carry for the rest of my life (which is hopefully longer than another 27 years). While my married name seems strange and foreign now, I will have that name a lot longer than my present name.

In a way it feels like I am changing my identity. On paper I will no longer be Siobhan Poole, but be Siobhan Blackstock. However, I will always be the same person, I will always be a Poole, I will just be a Blackstock too.

My bestfriend is also getting married this year, in fact, she is getting married in 2 weeks. She hasn't decided what she is going to do with her last name - her situation is opposite of mine. She will be going from an extremely original name, to a more common last name. Whereas I am going from a more common name to an uncommon last name. Through our many conversation we uncovered the fact that we have googled ourselves and our married names.

Try it: there are a few "Siobhan Pooles" that show up, including a women who owns a Riding Club in Britain. Google "Siobhan Blackstock" and what turns up - nothing. Yes, as soon as those metacrawlers pick up my married name, I will be the first in the land of Google.

This is the opposite for my best friend. Currently she is the one and only on Google, but there are a few others out there with her married name.

So are we making our decisions based on being the one and onlies on a Google search? Hardly, but it is just one of the many things you unearth as you discover your married name.

The strangest thing I have found are people's reactions to my married name. Almost everyone has told me what a strong, powerful name Blackstock is... it is a strange experience, it feels very enpowering.

But it isn't the power of the name, or its place in the world of Google that will make me change my name - it is just something I want to do. It just feels right.

Have I Kept You in Suspense???...

Have you been dying to know how this past weekend and the final stagette turned out? Well, I am happy to say, no drama here. I think I was dreading it so much that everything went well. The maid of honour actually got some fun things for the stagette (like she originally said she would): the bridal party wore leis, and the bride wore a veil. In general, it was good times all around at the Blarney Stone.

And I have to say, I looked pretty good. I had been to the hairdressers earlier that day and had a hair cut (first one since November) and had my highlights touched up. But for once, in my photos, my face wasn't shiny - I actually nailed the night time look - I will have to post those when I get the damn hello! thing working.



I had a bit of a fright on Sunday evening. I was sitting at home, channel surfing when a news story on CNN caught me off guard. A cruise ship in the Carribbean had been struck by a giant, freak wave - the cruise line? NCL. The one my parents were on at that moment in time, in the Carribbean. The newscast wasn't broadcasting much info, so I checked out CNN.com to find out the name of the ship - it wasn't my parents - thank god! A couple of days later I got an email from mum, saying that as we probably gathered by now, it wasn't their ship - gee... But they are having a good time, enjoying the food and hot weather! Not that it isn't hot here...

Stressed... about someone else's wedding...

Do you remember my post about having low, to no stress levels about my wedding - well that still stands; but my best friend's wedding, now that's a different story, but it certainly has nothing to do with her, just the events surrounding her wedding.

It was like pulling teeth to meet with the bridal party to organize a shower and stagette. I finally got that opportunity, but I was the one running the show. I knew neither of them had been part of a bridal party before, but they hadn't really been to a wedding shower either, and didn't know how to organize one - it ain't rocket science people...

So, we managed to set up dates and places and activities for the shower and stagette(s), but that was a pipe dream: Originally the sister of the bride was going to be hosting the shower at her parents' home, prepare the food and one of the shower games. Well about a week before the shower, I was informed by the bride that her sister wasn't doing anything at all. So my stress level rose slightly.

Then, five days before the shower, the bride calls me in tears. Her mum doesn't want it at her house, because some of the groom's family is attending the shower, and she doesn't want them in her house - WTF??!! Of course the bride is so stressed (and now so am I); but I felt really bad because the bride's finals started the very next day...

I decided to host the shower at my apartment, not much room, but it was a location. I worked out a menu, and the bride (yes the bride) joined me for food shopping! I bought all the prizes (my initial responsibility) and luckily organized ALL the games, since the bride's sister showed up with nothing at the shower.

In the end, the shower was a lot of fun, despite the drama - oh, by the way, the mother of the bride didn't attend - nothing like adding salt to the wounds.

So on to the stagette - Part 1: Bowen Island. A small group of us headed up to other the bridesmaid's cabin for a girl's weekend away. We decided that just the bride and the bridal party would go up Friday night and then have everyone else join us Saturday, early afternoon. Sounds fool proof right? Wrong (a la Jon Stewart voice).

I knew by thursday that the bride's sister wasn't coming up till Saturday and that the other bridesmaid was driving. But I was waiting to find out if I was being picked straight from work, or if I was going home first. Well I didn't hear anything that night, so I decided to take all my stuff to work with me and have Colin drop me off. If we weren't leaving right at 4pm, I could get a ride to my parents and hang out there until we left. By about 3pm the bride still hadn't heard anything, so she decided to pick me up at 4pm and we went back to her house. The other bridesmaid finally showed up around 5pm and we were able to make the 6:30 ferry to Bowen.

Saturday was a pleasent day. The three of us and dog in tow, went for a hike around one of the regional parks. But before that, the bride called her sister to find out when she was coming over to Bowen. She wasn't - again, WTF? The bride offered to call her friends who were driving over that day to pick her up - she still refused to come.

If anyone acts like this come my shower/stagette time this summer, some serious shit is going to hit the fan.

So we are off to the Blarney Stone (Part 2) this Saturday, but something interesting has come up. Before heading downtown, we wanted to meet at someone's house for a bit of pre-partying and go down in a group. Of course, the bride isn't sure if we can meet at her place (due to the parental units), so the other bridesmaid offered her house as a meeting spot (both are close to downtown, whereas I am out by Richmond, so it doesn't make sense to meet at my place). But, as we are driving back to town this past Sunday, she mentions that she wants to pick up a shift till 9pm and hopes that the Blarney has a guest list so she can get in - and again WTF??!! Didn't she offer her house as a meeting place before hand??

Well, there is no guest list, so we all have to be there before 9pm. I guess we will have to see how this weekend goes...

Murphy's Law

If there was ever a case of Murphy's Law, this was it. Like I have said, the plumbers never showed up on Tuesday, nor did they come Wednesday, Thursday, and so on.

Our landlord called us late Sunday morning to tell us that the drywallers were coming at three to patch up our wall. You have got to be kidding me. The plumbers and the drywallers don't come by all week, and the one day they do decide to come by is the worst possible day. Why? Because I was hosting a wedding shower (another story) at 3pm. I had a few choice words for Murphy's Law at this moment.

Colin explained to our landlord that any other day would work, but not today. She understood completely and rescheduled them for Monday at 5pm. So, did they show up yesterday? No. Of course they didn't. And to top things off, I am no longer getting a nice, bone coloured sink with a vanity. GRRR! My landlord found an extra pink sink in our building for our apartment.

Now it's not so much the colour of the sink; I can tolerate the pink. But I was so looking forward to having a vanity. I guess I will carry on using the top of the toilet as bathroom counterspace.

Interesting Times

I was thinking this morning what an interesting past few days it has been for the world; ok, maybe not the whole world, but I certainly feel we are living through some interesting times right now:

The Pope is on his death bed and he is the only Pope I have ever known, since he became Pope the same year I was born. Now I'm not a Catholic, nor am I of any religion, but I do feel the passing of the Pope will be a historical moment, as he has touched so many lives around the world.

Futhermore, just as the people of SE Asia are picking up the pieces from the huge Boxing Day quake and Tsunami, another extremely large quake rocks that region.

Prince Ranier is ill and Prince Albert has been made Prince Regent of Monaco. I remember visiting Monaco when I was 11. It is a very beautiful place. I learned a lot about the royal family on that visit, and since then have always had a keen interest in Monte Carlo and Monaco as a whole.

And, of course, Prince Charles will wed Camilla Parker-Bowels next friday. How strange it will be that Camilla and not Diana, who will become the next Queen of England. I am sure, however, Queen E will hold on to her life and throne for as long as possible, so Prince Charles has a short reign and we can move right on to Prince William. Besides I would rather have Wills on my money than Charles! We are going to have some good looking currency in the future ;).

And Canada is starting to play hardball (sort of) with our neighbours to the South. Yes, Canada (in accordance with the WTO), along with the EU, will be placing tarrifs on some US imports. Hopefully it works, and helps to resolve the Softwood Lumber/Mad Cow situation.

...my bathroom still has a large hole in the wall, and my sink is still pink and leaking...