The Wild Things, Homemade Pizza, Soccer win and Wii Active

Hello blogging world,

The weekend was relaxing and fun altogether. On saturday I invited friends over and we made ourselves a pizza dinner, not store bought, homemade. It tastes much better. We made my variation of a recipe I found online for Onion Olive pizza.

I usually had peppers, mushrooms and chicken as it does not have much toppings and switch the feta cheese for regular cheddar. St-Albert, the best, if you cannot get P'tit Quebec that is. ;)

Than we went to see "Where the Wild Things Are". I had seen previews for it and knew I had to see it. No regrets. It is the story of a boy, who can be quite a handful, acts up and gets punished a lot and also misunderstood I would say. He uses his imagination to invent himself a world, with different creatures who have quite distinct characters similar to some of the people he has encountered in his life, and that he can quite relate to. Instead of eating him they make him their king.

I loved it and can relate to the story because I did just the same as a kid, use my imagination to invent myself new worlds. Making up various stories and getting lost in my imagination.

On another note, tonight I had a soccer game at 9pm. Quite late for a game, I was already a little tired to begin with. I don't think I was in my best shape, but nonetheless we won 8-4 if I am not mistaking. And I also got to play up a little, defense and offense. I have to say: "It's a whole lot of running". But I still like it more exercise, we just sub more that is all.

I did go back to goalie, it gave me time to catch my breath. I think I may have little remnants of a cold because I was more exhausted than usual after running.

After the game I went to drop off catherine and we got stuck for a while waiting behind three fire truck as a fire alarm obviously went off downtown. No flames or smoke though, must have been either a false alarm or someone tried to make toasts and burnt them.

So, when I came home I did some Wii Active. I know it is a little crazy especially after playing soccer, but I started the 30-day challenge and this time I HAVE to keep up with it every day. Tomorrow is a rest day though so will relax.

I just took two tylenols to make sure I do get rid of any cold symptoms and am currently sipping echinecea tea.

And now, I am going to bed. I need the rest.

Hopefully I will see you tomorrow.

BEDA 8: Time Capsule - Letter to my future self

Hello everyone

Someone on youtube made a video time capsule sending a letter to her future self five so that when she watches it five years from now, she can see the changes that happened to her life. I thought it was a fantastic idea and decided to do one for day 8 of blog every day april. Hopefully it will inspire other people to do the same and start some interesting activity. A lot can change in five years you would be amazed, and I thought it would be nice to send a letter to your future self in a way to remind yourself of the things you planned to accomplish and see if you have.

So here is the time capsule letter to my future self.

Dear future self,

Hey you, yes you future self, I am talking to you and you need to listen.

How is life treating you these days?

Are you still in love with that special guy you call your precious treasure and handsome prince? I hope so because he is really good for you. The best. Make sure you always treat him well and keep expressing how much you love him. You two are meant to be.

Did you finally accomplish that goal you set for yourself five years ago about learning Actionscript? It seems like an interminable goal at the moment, but I believe I will succeed. All I need to do is keep believing in you.

How is your health these days? You are not sick? Still eating healthy and keeping up with the exercise? Are you still enjoying Yoga on the Wii fit and rollerblade?

Are you keeping up with soccer? Still enjoying it? I want to tell you how proud I am of you for trying something new and in the process making new friends. I know it hasn't always been easy and you have always been a little afraid of meeting new people, but keep it up. Life is a journey and everyone you meet in the process are there to help you learn more about yourself.

I am really proud of you.

Have you kept the good habit of drinking green tea every morning and after meals, in a way to stay healthy? If so that is fantastic, keep it up. Treating your body right is an awesome thing.

Oh by the way, I almost forgot, have you finally taken that disney trip you and the one you loved were planning on? If not, what are you waiting for? You only live once, save some money and go. Realize that long time dream of yours. I don't doubt for a minute that you will enjoy it. And stop being so fearful of taking a plane for the first time if you haven't experienced that yet. There is a first time for everything and everyone is telling you that being on a plane you are safer than in a car. Go for it.

Remember all the other first you were terrified to experienced and how good it felt once you did? I promise it will be the same for for this I am sure.

How is the learning to play guitar going? Are you able to actually play a song now? I hope you decided to stick with it even if now it seems so hard to learn. You love it, you should stick with this hobby.

How many books are you reading at the moment? You always were a little nut when it came to reading, starting more than one book at once and sometimes having to re-read. Are you still re-reading the Harry Potter serie? That was always your favourite, you couldn't stop making references to it, possibly at the risk of annoying your friends. hehe. I know the movies are all done by now, and please please please don't tell me that they decided to come back and make another sequel with the lame happy ending of the third book in which it is the turn of our three heroes children to go to hogwarts. :(

Are your parents still healthy and in good shape? How is your cat, still healthy and just as great as ever?

Are you still making youtube videos or rather have you finally figured out what you wanted to do with the youtube account you set up?

Are you still blogging?

Do you still live in Ottawa? You always loved this city, not too big, not too small? Same job?

I know you always wanted to take a trip to Toronto and possibly go back to boston or wildwood, have you done that? How was that?

Are you still friends with Anna and Nick? Are you guys still talking? If not give them a call and schedule a time to hang out ok. It is not nice to forget your friends no matter how busy you are?

Is Steven Harper still prime minister or do we have someone better? I sincerely hope so. And to keep going on the same train of thought, did Obama get re-elected ? How is the economy, better?

Did the New Kids on the Block make any other albums? I know how excited you were to see them come back after 15 years. Despite what everyone thought you never stopped believing they would be back.

I guess that is about all I had to tell you and ask. Oh yes, do not forget to write another letter for YOUR future self and so on. One: becasue it is fun. And two: becsue it can make you realize what you accomplish in life and what you have yet to accomplish.

Take care and enjoy every day as if it was your last., life is short live it to the fullest.

Sincerely,
Your past self
(written five years ago)

Well that is it for day eigth of BEDA. I will see you tomorrow. This blog every day april is easier than I thought, I am really glad that I decided to participate.

Art tip of the day

USE GESSO BEFORE YOU MAKE A MESS
If you are new to oil painting and you're finding that your colors are making a big mess on the canvas by turning muddy and not flowing smoothly, you need to know about gesso.

When you apply oil paints to a dry canvas, they won't blend well or flow naturally due to the coarseness of your canvas. A good way to avoid making a mess of your colors is to apply some gesso to your canvas. Gesso is a clear, water-based medium that will allow you to apply your colors more easily. Once you use gesso, you will probably never want to go back to painting on an unprepared surface.
- John Cleary

BEDA 7: Actionscripting, Snow in April (RAWR) and rush hour protesti

Hello everyone

BEDA day seven. I am quite proud of myself for committing to this activity started by Maureen Johnson.

I want to talk about three things again today:

1- Actionscripting
2- Snow in April Yuk
3- Rush hour protest

Actionscripting: Recently I set myself a new goal or challenge, which consist in teaching myself actionscript. Flash programming language. It is going well, slowly but surely. I was extremely proud of myself last friday during lunch at work when I was able to figure out how to create a dropdown menu using actionscript 2.0. So proud that I almost was jumping up and down, well I was quietly still sitting on my chair but desperately felt like standing up and celebrate my new accomplishment. Unfortunately I did not, not wanting to disrupt my coworkers.

I am starting with version 2.0 before I move on to the 3.0 version as it is quite different and I figure I need to know the basics first.

I know for a lot of you, if you are a programmer, this may not be the biggest accomplishment but it is a big breakthrough for me. You see I am an artist and therefore have the artist mind primarily, although I also have a big part of the logical mind useful when programming, sometimes both minds collide generates a fight in my brain. Thus resulting in a blank expression on my face as if I am somewhere totally different. I believe the reason my expression gets like this especially after having looked at code for too long, is my artist mind saying: "enough, need creativity NOW!". I just basically end up looking like this programming thing is over my head as you can see in the picture below.

Blank face = mind going blank after looking at code for too long

I do understand programming and know I can overcome the difficulties and understand everything about actionscript, I just need to give it time and practice a little every day. I am a stong-minded strong-willed girl, not to say stubborn here as it sounds a little negative, and I can accomplish anything I set my mind to. I am confident I will for this as well.

The second thing I want to talk about is this snow we have been getting in April. RAWR. It is technically spring and this morning I woke up and mother nature is up to her silly tricks again, a fresh blanket of snow. Grrrr. Okay it was not a lot of snow but still, in April I don't want snow. Don't get me wrong I love snow and (March, April) I have had enough and want warm weather, especially if we get such a beautiful sunny and warm day as last Thursday.

I know, I know I live in Canada, and Ottawa to be exact. I should be used to winter and know that it is normal to get snow in April, but I cannot help being sick of it and wishing for warmer weather and being all excited about spring and summer.

Rush hour protests: When I walked home from the bus stop I noticed traffic jams caused by protesters calling for an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. It appears to be a worldwide effect as the same thing apparently happened in Britain.

Protesters were sitting down in front of buses blocking Wellington street Tuesday evening and today was at the corner of Elgin and Albert streets. It was a good thing I was just walking home from dowtown rather than have to drive, traffic was stopped and extremely slow. The protest seem to have been peaceful according to the news.

I don't mind protests to get the protesters point across as long as they don't get so violent that it would threatened the safety of innocent people.

I hate wars why can't we all get along and help one another, we are all human regardless of race, skin colors, religious belief. We are supposed to be civilized and be able to communicate and yet at hte first sign of conflict what do we do? Bring out the guns and weapons of all kinds. Say what you want but sometimes I don't believe that humans have really evolved that much, especially when I see actions such as this in order to resolve conflicts.

And now I will leave you with my art tip of the day.

Art tip of the day:

DRAWING ACCURATE LINES
Having trouble drawing straight lines? Here is a great way to do just that. First, you will need some tape, a T-square, and a triangular square.

Place your paper on your table, then take your T-square to line up the bottom edge of your paper so that it's straight. Tape the four corners of your paper down to your art table. Now you can slide the T-square up and down to draw your horizontal lines. Placing the triangular square on top of the T-square will allow you to draw your vertical lines. If you follow this method, you will always have accurate, straight lines.
- John Cleary

See you tomorrow.