Tag Archives: life

Happy Birthday to ME!

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Happy Birthday to me!

Last year this time, we were in the middle of the North Pacific Ocean between here and Hawaii. We had a big old game of Assassins (which I did not win) and then the crew and trainees sang me a song they (re)wrote…

And it was a good day.

This year, I am in Montreal, hanging out with my sister and other family members and good friends. I can’t think of a better way to spend today!

Big thanks to Christina for the photo and Leighsa for taking the video. Thanks to the entire Leg 7 crew for a great song!

Up and Coming Travels

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This week will be a good week…
Tomorrow after work I’m off to Vancouver to stay the night with very good friends (and hopefully see the new baby of some other friends).
Tuesday morning I’m in the air to Montreal! Where I’ll have dinner that night with a bunch of family.
Wednesday my sister graduates from her Masters program at McGill.
Thursday will be a fun day…
Friday we drive to Stratford and hang out with my aunt, uncle, and cousin.
Saturday my god-brother is getting married in London.
Sunday morning we’ll hang out with my god-parents before driving back to Montreal.
Monday I fly home to Victoria!
Whew, I’m getting tired just writing that! There will be updates on the fly when I get a chance.

Long Weekend

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I like long weekends. Especially ones where 2 out of 3 of the days are pretty nice. Today it is pouring, at least it was dry for the parade this morning. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Friday after work, I biked down to Cadboro Bay to walk a bit and enjoy the beach. I also managed to bike all the way up Sinclair Hill without stopping.


On Saturday I undertook an epic walk downtown via Mayfair Mall and Beacon Hill Park/Cook St Village/Fairfield. I actually fell asleep on the beach halfway through because I was a little tired. It was a beautiful sunny day and there were lots of kites and boats out along the waterfront at Dallas Road. Then I called up a friend and we met for dinner which turned into dinner, tea and desert and a 3 hour chat.


Sunday was a great morning at the Cathedral with a fantastic message by the Dean (newly minted Dr. Dean). I walked most of the way home, via Ross Bay Cemetery – the oldest in the city where everyone who was anyone is buried including a few former governors and Emily Carr.


In the afternoon I again biked down to Cadboro Bay and read on the beach for a couple hours, watching all the people down there enjoying the sun and all the boaters out on the water. I did not manage to make it all the way up Sinclair Hill this time. It pains me to admit that.

Currently, it is raining something fierce but that didn’t stop a group of us from enjoying the parade this morning. I foolishly wore shorts, thinking it would be as nice as it was yesterday. It wasn’t. We stood in the middle of View St for about 4 hours watching the most random parade I have ever seen. We enjoyed the marching bands the most, though we also enjoyed making fun of some of the more random floats/groups participating.

Now I’m relaxing and enjoying the rest of the weekend before back to work with a vengance tomorrow.

Rocking Chairs and Knitting Needles

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The other night I found myself looking around the room at a group of wonderful women who I am blessed to call friends (minus some faces who were not able to be there physically but were very much present in our thoughts). As I sat there, in what was hopefully the first of many such gatherings, I contemplated what it would be like to travel through life together as a group of friends. In fact, we have already travelled a great deal together. All four of us in the room that evening have had the same job, albeit at different times: we have all cooked on a SALTS ship. We have also all sailed with each other, though, again, not all at the same time. There is a special bond that sailors, past and present, share and this common experience has bonded us more than I think I (we?) realized before the other night.

The idea was planted at a recent birthday celebration when someone innocently suggested that we should do this more often. When you have friends, who needs a reason to get together? What has evolved in just a short time is a place where we are not afraid to share what is really going on in our hearts and lives and where we can trust each other enough to help, in love, to think through the very real issues we face. It is a place where we can draw on each other’s experiences learn from each other’s journeys. It is a place of love, trust, fellowship, and safety. It is Community. I am happy to belong.

Happy Thursday

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The end of classes was heralded with much excitement and fanfare on my part. Foolishly, I thought that would mean I would have more time at my disposal. Apparently working five days a week actually is more time consuming. I feel like I haven’t had any time at home to do things like vegetate in front of my computer. It is quite tragic, really; not only has my online posting suffered, but I have fallen behind in my reading (opening Google Reader causes much fear and trepidation on my part as too many unread items is stress inducing). Never fear, I have still been thinking and while I am about to drive out to Colwood to work in our office out there for the day, I will continue to think and ponder. I have been blessed to have been a part of some stimulating conversations over the last few days as well and am still processing them. Until then, happy Thursday and second-to-last-day of my work week!

And We’re All Freaked Out

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The biggest news of the last week or so has to be the “swine flu pandemic” (yes, it was only a matter of time until I got my two cents in).

The best quote I’ve seen yet (from something I read in the last week, I can’t remember where) was that the swine flu is the “biggest global health crisis since the SARS pandemic failed to actualize.” Hmm, that may say it all right there, especially with headlines like the one in today’s Globe and Mail: Mexico lowers flu death toll. Maybe it isn’t as freaky as we first thought?

Completely independent of each other, I read two complementary analyzes of the situation:
From Mike:

Our Hierarchy of Concerns

I think I’ve figure this out:
AIDS = The poor. Therefore, who cares?
Malaria = The poor. Therefore, who cares?
SwineFlu = Could be us. Better get on this one!

From Eric:

The WHO, for 2004, summarized that in Africa:

405,000 died from TB
182,000 died from measles
69,000 died from tetanus
1,417,000 died from respiratory infections
27,000 died from iron-deficiency

And yet, somehow, we are in a state of emergency over a flu that has killed no one in Canada yet. The lesson is learned: all you have to do is threaten a white, affluent North American and every precaution will be taken. Threaten to kill thousands of Africans and the world sits on their hands.


Puts things into perspective and makes one think, does it not?

On a lighter note, this is from the 1970s:

Welcome to May!

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It has been a beautiful, sunny week here in Victoria. I went for a long walk on my lunch break today (well, I was limited to an hour because that is the length of my break…) and remembered that my best thoughts come when I am walking. Hopefully I’ll get out more this weekend!

My camera uploader isn’t working properly, so once I get that figured out, Friday Photo will be up.
Happy weekend!

Loving Others

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When Jesus said to love others, what did he mean?
If the measure of love I have for those around me is the indication of the measure of love I have for God, how do I know if I am loving those around me?

As a person who gets along with nearly everyone, there is not really anyone I actively dislike. Does that somehow make me super-person who must love God a lot? I’m not sure. Not actively disliking someone does not necessarily mean I love them.

If I walk by a homeless person and ignore them, am I not-loving them?
If I write off a person in my social circle, am I not-loving them as well?

Just some things I was thinking about today with the young peoples group at church.

Maundy Thursday

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I had good intentions of going to the High Mass service tonight for Maundy Thursday. I really did. Up until I started to think about how little studying I had done over the past week in preparation for my exams beginning in a week. I have a study calender set up that I have not adhered to. In fact, the only thing that will probably end up happening as planned is the day labeled “Freak Out Study Time” before my last two back-to-back exams.

So what did I do this evening? I came home and checked my email and then decided to go to yoga. I’ve never done yoga before but a hot yoga studio has opened (a few months ago now) just 5 blocks away and I’ve been thinking of checking it out for ages now. The heat wasn’t as bad as I had expected – I did live through PNG heat! I am everybit as inflexible as I have always been, but it was good and I feel refreshed now. The problem is, I got home at 10pm after not having really eaten dinner and having not studied a lick this evening.

Currently, I am listening to iTunes on “Neglected” (tracks I haven’t played since I uploaded all my music from iPod to computer and whipped all play counts), attempting one of the chem exams I printed off, drinking water, eating Girl Guide cookies, and reading through my RSS feed. This sermon is a fascinating and stimulating read. Enjoy.