One of those days...

I'm having one of those days when somebody is causing havoc, Christmas stress is growing in the back of my mind, and I have "Gatekeeper" by Feist stuck in my head. I suppose it's less of an earworm than "Prince Charming" by Adam and the Ants...

Anyways. I went to church today, and had a nice time. It was the holiday Music Sunday, which was lovely - I always like Music Sundays. I still feel a bit odd about going to services: since I'm no longer part of the youth group, I feel like there's an empty space I need to fill. It also doesn't help that I'm still bitter about past events, but I digress.

I decided on a different pattern for my brother's hat, because I don't have the right needles for the pattern from DROPS. Instead, I decided on Laurie Perry's Brangelina Hat. I haven't started it yet - I know, I'm lazy - but it's made with super-bulky, so it should knit up quickly. It should also be fairly wind-proof, which is handy.

Well, I'm off to catch up on Emmerdale, one of my favourite British serial dramas. Happy blogging :)

Other stuff

And now, it's time for a proper post.

Church was interesting today. My mind kept wandering during the sermon, I'm ashamed to admit. It was a good sermon, actually. Our guest speaker is from another Canadian Unitarian church, and he was talking about how, even now, racism has not gone away, and how immigrants still don't feel at home in Canada.

Afterwards, I had a cup of strawberry tea while I waited for Mom to do her casserole ministry thing. I spoke to Stephen briefly, too.

I somehow managed to obtain some sort of nick on my bottom lip. It's weird. And, of course, I keep cleaning it with the back of my hand, which makes it bleed and feel weird. Ach.

I'm not sure what we're having for dinner. I don't know if Dad took anything out of the freezer. If not, there's always squash soup, some of which I had for lunch. Dee-lish!

I watched Iron Man while I ate my soup, then I got my Herbology assignment and worked on that while watching the rest of the movie. After two rows I had to stop knitting. Damn circular needle! I'm going to work on the mandrake blanket some more tonight, when I listen to The Legends of Classic Rock.

Wicked weather

So the weather today is pretty wicked. Rainy and windy. I would walk down to the library, but it's too windy. I love this wind - as long as trees or power lines don't come down, I'm content.

Youth group last night was a mix of good and bad. I was the first to arrive, and the back door was locked, so I sat in the car until Stephen came to unlock it. Around the same time that Stephen arrived, Micaela came. Micaela and Stephen made some Five Alive and, because Stephen brought tortilla chips and salsa, put some salsa in a bowl. Stephen heated up a personal pizza for himself - I guess he skipped dinner. Elyssa came next, then Vicky, Stone, Emma and Laura. We had a super-quick record-breaking check-in (Micaela's idea - and a good idea, too), then we went down to the big tables to make a banner for Elyssa to carry at the big UU Youth conference in Thunder Bay.

This is where things got bad.

We were trying to come up with some ideas for the banner, and at one point I said to Elyssa, "It's all what you want to put on the banner, because you're going to be the one carrying it. I'm neutral, I'm Switzerland." She said, "You're useless. Okay...", ever-so-casually. I was so pissed off I almost called Dad to ask him to pick me up. She said later that she was being sarcastic, but it didn't sound like she was. She didn't even apologize, the bitch...

I had fun, though. Emma did a great job drawing on the banner - I'm not sure if she takes art in high school, but she really has a knack for drawing. She did a couple of chalices (the symbol for Unitarianism), and some text. It was pretty neat. I coloured in one of the big 'U's using markers and a mini stamper. Gosh, I love mini stampers...

And then, as I was leaving, Elyssa asked me, "What are you doing next year? 'Cause, you're grade 12 age, aren't you?" I asked her why, and she asked me if I was going to univeersity. I was so pissed off with her that I said something like, "Well, first I have to prove to the government that I'm smart." She said, "I just asked," and I said, "Well, I wish people would stop asking." She knows full well that I have to take either the GED or the CAAT to get into university. I've talked about it before.

So yeah. Elyssa's a bitch.

I had talked to Micaela on Facebook Chat the previous night. At first I was annoyed, because I was playing either Word Twist or Scramble, but my annoyance didn't last very long. I'm glad that I have a friend in Micaela.

edited for clarity

This sucks.

Because Mom doesn't want to watch the Grammys, she put it on Sky High, which I'm pretty sure she's seen before. I know I've seen it at least once.

Anyways.

We visited Grandma yesterday, and she looks better than she had the last time I saw her. She smiled for Mom, and Mom says that her smile has improved. Grandma asked how my mouth was feeling, which was sweet of her. We saw Brian and Maryanne (Mary-Anne? Maryann? Mary-Ann?) - I think Brian is one of Mom's cousins. He said he hadn't seen me since I was much shorter :p

Church was good today. The service was Black History Month themed. Our guest speaker, Rev. Horton, was teaching the kids to play 'Telephone' - he was explaining how rumors get twisted around until they turn out to be different from how they originally started out, often becoming unkind rumors, like how people told rumors about Martin Luther King Jr. So Rev. Horton was asking the kids what their names were, and one girl said that her name was Reese (Reis? Not sure how it's spelled). He misheard her, so he had her repeat herself, and one of the boys said, "Reese - like Reese's Pieces!" Those kids crack me up.

The sermon was good, although I wasn't paying as much attention as I should have. He was a bit difficult to listen to, though, because he pauses a bit as he speaks. What was funny was how Beverly (the service leader for this morning) put a note at the pulpit telling him to wrap up the sermon, and he said, "I'm being reminded of the time." I guess he's been known to talk longer than he's supposed to.

I think we're going to visit Grandma again tomorrow. In that case, I should probably do more laundry.

I'm feeling bitter today.

I'm feeling bitter because I feel cheated. You know how I said that they had the Unitarian church's minister down as on 'parental leave (January)' on the orders of service - the pamphlets for each service? They lied. She did resign. Obviously, she was forced to resign. They probably made things so uncomfortable for her that she resigned, because I'm sure she would have loved to come back as our minister. And so the search for a new one begins.

I feel that they gave people false hope by printing 'on parental leave (January)' on the orders of service, and I'm pissed. She didn't do a damn thing wrong, the minister.

I'd like to dedicate the following song to her, because, as the song says, "If you walk away, walk away, I walk away, walk away, I will follow." I may not be able to physically follow her, but that won't stop my mind from following her. Where ever she goes, my heart, my mind, will follow.

i can haz chocolate!

I scarfed some Bridge Mixture while I wrote today.

We didn't go to church today. Good thing, 'cause I didn't really want to go. I got up this morning, went upstairs, looked at the clock and thought, why aren't we watching Sunday Morning? Turns out it was too early for Sunday Morning and Q107's Psychedelic Psunday program. And I thought that the time change wouldn't affect me. Hehe.

So lately I've been listening to Cheap Trick. Here's 'I Want You to Want Me'...

Music Sunday!!!!!

Today was Music Sunday at the Unitarian church. I didn't even realize that it was until I read the order of service. The service leader read a hilarious reading about altos, and how they don't get as much attention as sopranos. I'm probably an alto :p After all, I'm no Freddie Mercury! I always get this great feeling after hearing someone sing in church. I guess it makes me want to practise my keyboard. Sometimes I do practise my keyboard after church, actually. I'd like to sing at a Music Sunday, though. We sung some pretty cool hymns, actually. And the folks who sung in the service were good.

We went to Fortino's after church. Before we left, my mom said that she wanted to go to Fortino's, to which I replied that we'll see people from church! We saw Ann again, but I didn't recognize anyone else. We picked up some chicken pieces, which were pretty good. Mom cut up some cucumber to go with it, and we all washed some cherry tomatoes and pear tomatoes. I think Dad cut up a larger tomato as well, because there's a paring knife on the cutting board where Mom cut up the cucumber, and I think the knife had tomato guts on it.

I have to start my regular homeschooling on Tuesday! The same day we're going to visit my sister! Wow. The summer has just flown by. I guess our trip to see my sister in London Ontario will be a 'field trip'. Sweet :)

Rain and magazines

When we left to go to the Unitarian church, it wasn't too cold. I wore a sleeveless polo-ish top and my navy blue shorts, thinking I'd be okay.

The service was nice, although I really wish I was more awake. The theme was simple living. The music was provided by a cool guy named Tim. The first time I heard him sing was when he sang With a Little Help From My Friends with his wife and another woman in the church, and I'd forgotten how nice his voice sounded. The first song was a Gordon Lightfoot song, and the postlude he picked was a Stephen Stills song, and although I haven't heard the original versions of the songs he sang, I thought he sounded good.

Then when we went out to the car, it was pouring. We had to stop in at Fortino's to get milk. While we were there, we also picked up a Delissio frozen pizza, some chocolate soy milk for me, some bagels for Dad, and ingredients for taboule. We saw Ann, another member of the church, and Mom saw someone else from the church, but I didn't catch a glimpse of him. We saw Ann again when we went to the produce to get parsley and a lemon (we also got a cauliflower, because ours went bad in the fridge), and Mom said, "We keep seeing people from church!" Ann replied, "It's like this every Sunday." Ann was an advisor for the youth group, but she left shortly after adopting a little girl. It's a pity that she couldn't stay on as an advisor, because she communicated well with us.

Near the entrance, we picked up the new Vogue Knitting and an issue of the fall Knit Simple. While the Knit Simple patterns may be boring to some knitters, I quite like the ones in this issue. I always seem to be looking for brainless patterns, anyway.

The parking lot was crazy when we tried to leave. I honestly though someone was going to pull a make-a-parking-spot right in front of us. I guess people turn into idiots when the weather is bad.

I'm tempted to work on my kerchief scarf, but I think my wrists need a rest from cotton. Maybe tomorrow. I'm also tempted to turn that scarf into a little wrap - I think I have enough cotton for it, too! :D

Hiya!

So I still missed bits and pieces of Rocky Horror, because the satellite dish kept cutting out. I think it may have been the after-effects from the storm we had. Mom reckons that wherever we get the IFC signal from (probably Toronto) may have had troubles.

I went to the local Unitarian church today. One of the girls from youth group said hi to me before walking over to the far side of the sanctuary to sit with her mom, which was nice. I hope that the youth group meetings will get better when we meet again in the fall.

I feel bad because I didn't pay as much attention to the service as I should have. It was about Unitarian Universalists (or UUs) taking part in the civil rights movement. Maybe I'll borrow the sermon cassette from the church library so that I can listen to it again.

I'll probably reserve Rocky Horror from the library once I've picked up my stuff. I can't reserve anything until I've picked up the stuff that's waiting for me at the library.

The service is DONE!

So, the youth group service went really well. Someone was absent, but we still got through it alright. I stumbled two or three times when I read a quote as a reading, and I started bawling afterwards, so when we sang 'Can I Go Nowhere With You' I covered my face with my order of service. But during the last two hymns I sang my heart out.

Here's the quote I read...

"It was just a gradual development over the years. Last year was "All You Need Is Love." This year it's "Give Peace a Chance." Remember love. The only hope for any of us is peace. Violence begets violence. If you want peace, you can get it as soon as you like if we all pull together. You're all geniuses and you're all beautiful. You don't need anybody to tell you who you are or what you are. You are what you are. Get out there and get peace. Think peace, live peace, and breathe peace and you'll get it as soon as you like. Okay?" - John Lennon

And, in three minutes, the library will update the list of new items in the system. Now that's something I can feel happy about!

Cake!

So yesterday was my mom's birthday. I got her a Cuisinart food processor with a mini chopper included, and my dad got her a camera case and a mini tripod. For dinner we went to an awesome Mexican restaurant. It's not one of those places where they only do tacos, burritos, gorditas, etc. It's a really good restaurant, and after eating their calamari appetizer, I don't think I'll be able to eat calamari anywhere else.

I was going to go to youth group last night (it got changed to Thursday this week), but I was so tired. I've been feeling really tired since Wednesday morning. So, at the restaurant, my mom asked me if I wanted to go to youth group or if I just wanted to go straight home. I was bawling in the restaurant because I didn't want to let anyone down, but I was so tired - I felt like I hadn't gotten enough sleep. So I went home. I'm glad I did.

My mom's birthday cake is really yummy - lemon and white chocolate. I had some for breakfast.

I feel better today. I'm probably going to go to the library today, because I have two DVDs to go back, and a CD to pick up.

I feel ugh.

I am in no way motivated today. I feel like I have a million things to do, except I don't, really. I do have a library DVD to watch, but it's gonna be late going back. Oh well, the library'll get a quarter, or if it's two days late, two quarters!

I woke up this morning feeling a bit thirsty, but not wanting to get out of bed. So when I finally dragged myself out of bed and got upstairs, I drank some water and watched the morning news for a bit, talked to my mom about Britney Spears and Michael Jackson, then went on the computer, where I read an e-mail about the youth service at the Unitarian church. My mom reckons that I feel awful because of all the pollen - which would explain the sneezing at the computer.

I think I'll be able to watch the DVD today. Maybe not this morning, but sometime today. I'll probably watch it in the evening, when I seem to, I don't know, thrive, I guess.

Maybe I'm just not a morning person.

Maybe I need to watch some Muppet Show clips on YouTube.

Maybe I should stop saying 'maybe'.