Evil octopus of glum.

It's cold here. Really cold. I mean -18 cold. Hurt your lungs, freeze your snot cold. (hooray North Face Arctic Parka for Christmas) Along with it being cold, work has been feeling a bit awkward. Like an old favorite pair of jeans that just won't fit over your new holiday gut uncomfortable. I squeeze to fit in, but it just pinches in the wrong spots. Things will work out, I'm sure, but in the meantime, I just have to suck it in...err up, as the case may be.

*sigh* overeducated, underappreciated, underpaid...

23 days until Florida...2 luxurious weeks in palm trees. I can't wait to get sand up my butt.

You Passed the US Citizenship Test

Congratulations - you got 10 out of 10 correct!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?

Chinooks!

The weather in Calgary has been GREAT the last few days. Record temperatures (mid-60s) and sunny. It's like summer. The chinooks rule...and they make for neat skies too. This is a view from my balcony the other day. You can see the mountains WAY far off like little points.

Crazy clouds.

Happy American Thanksgiving!

Sprawl-Mart

We went to see the Walmart movie a couple of days ago. I don't think it has a public release in all theatres, but is being shown via private showings and I recommend seeing it if you can find it. Brings up lots of other reasons to not shop at Walmart. I don't anyway, but after hearing that the Walmart heirs donated a whopping $6000 last year to charities (with record earnings in the billions) I REALLY don't want to contibute to their evil company.

Boo on Walmart. I guess it brings up the question, should large corporations have a social responsibility? I would say yes only because it seems fair that you treat your employees they way you would want to be treated (fair wages, health care, vacation...) but that's just my opinion.

Halloweiner.

Costumes and fun.

I got the sick.

I feel like crap. Head, throat, cough...sore...BOOOO! Probably from all the fun on Halloween. It was pretty fun. Some good costumes and some lame ones too..who goes to a Halloween party and doesn't wear a costume? I can tell you this. It is not fun to teach kids while sick.

Going to Bad Religion show tomorrow.

Trading Spouses rules.

Feel the phatty beatz yo.

My friend called the other day and said "i know you listen to electronic music, bring some scary music to my party (for Halloween, of course)."

I started listening to some of my old cds...

I miss the jungle/drum and bass I used to listen to a lot. I wish I had some clubbing friends who wanted to go see DJs...hell I wish there was a club scene here. I noticed that Ritchie Hawtin came here last week. That might have been fun. I've had lots of fun seeing him spin. I need to get out and do that more often. I'm turning into an old married.

Flock of Seagulls.

Yesterday while waiting at the bus stop, I noticed all the people looking left. It was during rush hour so there were a few dozen people waiting for one of many buses and they were looking left because that's the direction the bus would be coming. It reminded me of seagulls. If you've been to the beach, you've seen groups of hundreds of seagulls (even if you've been to a parking lot you may have witnessed this behaviour) ((wow, I just have to remark on that remark...I put a U in behaviour without thinking....the Canadians are brainwashing me)). I've always found it funny that aside from a few, the vast majority of seagulls always face the same direction. Much like humans at a bus stop. I laughed.

Another thing that happened yesterday...though it's not quite as funny. I was teaching a program at the Glenbow. A fun program called Landers and Builders. The students create a "landers" culture by exploring artifacts...it's a long complicated explanation that I won't get into too much detail over...but I start the program by discussing what makes a culture a culture. Holidays, clothing, religion...all that stuff. I asked "when do you celebrate Thanksgiving". Some idiots said June, but most of them said "OCTOBER!". I said, "well I celebrate it in November because that is my culture" trying to show a difference between 2 similar people....well that opened Pandora's box of the "oh great, you're an American..." See, these kids are homeschooled. I'm not sure what their parents' deal is, why they decided to homeschool their kids, but I gather that the parents have strong opinions about many things, including Americans. I've tried to keep an open mind about homeschooling. I know that there are religious and geographic reasons for homeschooling, but I've always felt that the kids don't get the socialization other "regular"-schooled kids get. I guess I never thought about the completely ridiculous opinions the kids are fed from their parents. The KIDS even were "yuck, Americans are bad...they kill people". ARGH! I've never heard this from kids. Only idiot adults who are too ignorant to not believe stereotypes and the media. Teachers in public schools, no matter what their opinion, would not be allowed to teach kids that "(insert group here) are bad people and we Canadians are better, this is fact". But homeschooled kids have no choice. These kids are told what their parents want to tell them and never exposed to other types of people. Yet another proof that homeschooling is bad. Yet another proof people are just a flock of seagulls.

Asian Invasion.

These disgusting things are infesting my house. They are crawling all over screens and outside walls. They aren't ladybugs, though they resemble their helpful cousins. No, these things are Asian beetles. From our friends to the East, they have no known enemies other than me, therefore take over the inside of houses across North America in the early fall to find refuge from the cold winter.

Oh, and they bite.

Snow on the windshield!

As I was on my way to the dentist's office this morning (2 fillings, YUCK! apparently, I have deep, deep crevices in my teef = cavity breeding ground), I drove past cars with snow on their windshields! Imagine that! SNOW! ...ick. I do want to buy a new winter coat. This one to be exact. I guess that's something fun about the leaves falling and the snow not far behind.

In honor of the end of summer. I post a picture of the pretty flowers I had on my balcony.

le premier jour d'automne

It's fall. Gee, when was summer? The weather this summer was awful and the Farmer's Almanac says that October is going to be:

1st-3rd. Rain and squalls. 4th-7th. Fair and quite chilly, then very unsettled. 8th-11th. Cold turkey? Unseasonably chilly. 12th-15th. Rain. 16th-19th. Fair and quite chilly weather. 20th-23rd. Squally weather and heavy precipitation spreads east. 24th-27th. Clearing skies, followed by colder temperatures. 28th-31st. Wet, then slow clearing.

GROSS!

Oh well, at least October is a fun month. Turkey at the beginning and costumes at the end.

A few photos from summer

Public Transit Annoyance #6

Dear Stinky Woman in Front of Me on the #2 Bus:

Why must you wear so much bloody perfume? Your vile stench is like a plague to my sinus cavities. It permiates my head and leaves me with a wicked headache for an hours. Is it that you have a terrible body odor problem? To be honest with you, I'd rather smell someone's stinky feet after bathing in a pot of fermented bile than deal with your 5 oz of cheap Walmart eau de toilet douced upon your clothes. After years of wearing that much perfume, you must not be able to smell anymore, that must be the problem! I recommend one spray, sprayed in front of you and walked into. Because you are definitely over-doing the smell, I can actually see the fumes coming off your clothes!

Sincerely,
A fellow passenger and concerned citizen.

Nerds.

I've finally done it. I registered a domain name. I've crossed into the modern age and I'm finally going to have my own real website. nataliemarsh.com is mine! My own little piece of virtual property to do as I want!

Oh, the endless possibilites....should it be about art? another blog? maybe I will have a store! And to think I have my very own graphic designer at my disposal to create a fabulous animated site full of fun and cuteness.

On another note, Nintendogs has got to be the cutest game of all time.

I have a pug. His name is Mao.

Long time, no update.

What have I been doing in the last 2 months? What haven't I been doing, I suppose would be the better question.

I worked at MRC as the art teacher in the magically delicious Mystical Art (aka Harry Potter influenced craft fun). It was ok. Well, it definitely had its fun moments like silly kids and the satisfaction of creating fun projects the kids enjoyed. It definitely had its NON fun moments like swimming with 200 other pants-pee-ers and barfers, playing dumbass games, and dealing with some of the people who thought they'd enjoy powertrips by forcing idiotic rules and plans even though they didn't know what they were doing and had virutally no experience working with kids. I mean, what do I really know, COME ON...I only have a degree and years of experience. Ah well...it was a means to an end and I know that in neither this life, nor others to come, I want to be a elementary art teacher. Blah, puke, blah...I can deal with pregnancy, sexual orientation issues, and drugs...I cannot deal with crying because you put too much glue on your paper owl and now he's all white (even though the glue dries clear). "It's your own damn fault ya baby, suck it up!"

I was also busy working on the Inuit Museokit for the Glenbow. I had to become a know-nothing Southern North American to an expert on Inuit culture in less than 3 weeks. I did it, the Inuit are really amazing and it was really fun.

We went camping a few times this summer where we got drunk, ate veggie dogs and saw lots of mountain sheep (one even had the squirts, it was quite disgusting and terribly funny). "this truly, truly....truly is God's country"

Now, I'm enjoying a few weeks of leisure before programs start at the museum. I have a painting in the works, I deep cleaned the house and getting lots of things done that I've wanted to do for a while. I think everyone should have a week off once a year, not for vacation, but for peddly things that never get done.

Little Drummer Boy

Who in their right mind would think it's ok to buy a drum set, set it up and PLAY the bastards while living in an apartment building? The person/people who live in apartment #605 I guess. My neighbor is a BAD drummer, he/she's been practicing every day from 1-3pm and he/she is not getting any better...

1...2....3....Bum, chich-a, bum chich-a, bum, bum...CRASH.... 1...2....3....bum, chich-a bum, chich-a bum, bum, bum, bum...CRASH! 1...2....3....

Over and over and over and over and over and over and over. It would be ok if he/she was acutally good. I appreicate a good instrument player. But it never seems to work that way, you get the person who can only play one chord on the guitar or can't quite hit the notes on the sax or in my case, a BRUTAL drummer, that is your neighbor...not a virtuoso.

Just when you think you can't live in a better apartment...the extremely annoying happens.

STOP PLAYING! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, TAKE UP KNITTING OR SOMETHING!

YOU SUCK!

Zoos.

Steve and I had fun at the zoo yesterday. We saw lots of animals, foxes missing legs, owls that blend in with rocks and BABY LAMBS! It was pretty fun and I think we were the only ones there without a baby stroller, damn those things are huge!

I like the zoo and I don't care what crazy, fanatical organizations say, animals don't really care about where they are. As long as the cage is condusive to their needs and they are well taken care of and fed properly, zoos are a good thing. They educate people on creatures they wouldn't normally see and that's pretty neat.

Three-legged foxes, hidden owl 

Zoo Photos 

Public Transit Annoyance #5

People should have to pass a test before they are allowed to chew gum. Why must people insist on chewing gum like a cow chews cud, it's disgusting. STOP IT! YOU ARE SO GROSS!

"smack, smack, smack, *gulp* SMACK, crack"

Or the people who are persistant gum-crackers. "snap, crack, SNAP!, crack, crack"

I hate gum.

Houses and mortgages and condos...oh my!

We went to the bank yesterday to find out what it takes (salary and savings) to buy a house. We have the salary, just not the savings yet so it's time to tighten the belts and get savin'. The advisor made a convincing argument for house vs. condo (houses give you freedom to choose how you want to do things, better resale value, larger market of buyers), but the more I look at houses, the more I see how BORING they all are. I live in a city, dammit...I deal with the crowded buses, understocked supermarket shelves, and pollution...I wanna FEEL like I live in a city. I want a funky, inner-city loft. I know there are condo fees and bit smaller market for resale, but I look at houses in suburbia and cringe. I think that I'll have to start breeding and buying diapers and driving a minivan. YUCK! Also, houses are at least $50,000 more than some of the condos I like. I can't imagine having $50,000 in condo fees and improvements over the next 5 years. Lots of fun, adult stuff to think about. It sure is exciting buying stuff. But, I guess I should save several thousand dollars before I start picking out the paint colors anyway.

Hobbies..

I have hobbies, lots of them. I knit, I sew, I travel, I read books, I watch movies and mostly play Warcraft. I also have another hobby that I love and that's painting. If you wanna see some of my paintings go here.

Yet another crazy weekend in Fernie, 2005 

Vegetarians are eco-enemies...

Funny that no matter what you try to do to make things better in the world there is always someone trying to cut you down...or cut the rainforests down.

Soy is the most amazing plant (in my opinion) in the world...saguaro cactus aside. It can be bologna, hamburgers, milk, even chicken feed. It's protein, it's fuel....no! It's SOY! It's the staple of many a(n) vegetarian's and Asian's diet. I'm guilty, I eat lots of it too. In fact it's the one thing that convinces me to become vegetarian because it can resemble the meat flavor I feel like I might miss if I were to give up meat. And I would give up meat, not because I feel bad about eating cute, fuzzy cows, but because of the grain it takes to feed them and the amount of land they pollute. I wouldn't be a vegetarian because of PETA, I would be a vegetarian because of the ecological impact of mass-produced animal meat for human consumption. Until I heard about Blairo Maggi, a contender for Greenpeace's Golden Chainsaw. He's known as the "King of Soya" in his Brazilian state. In fact the person responsible in overseeing that rainforests are not cut down for the sake of commercial farming is the governor, the King of Soya is also the "King" of his Brazilian state, Blairo Maggi, Governor of Mato Grosso, Brazil. In previous years, he has been responsible for 48% of rainforest destruction. Soy = no rainforests.

Makes you think. All those people who really do become vegetarian because of the Earth-friendly lifestyle are actually contributing to the deforestization of our rainforests. I guess it just goes to prove that you still just have to choose your battles and choose them wisely. Unless you are going to grow/kill your own food, you really have little knowledge over where it comes from and what is being destroyed before it makes it to your dinner table.

Last Saturday of workieeeeeee

That's right! No more Saturday workiees, that sure is a piece of crap, working on Saturdays. No weekends for 2 years. Of course it's supposed to be 22 today too! That's about 72F. I wish I could stay home. Plant flowerz. Relax.

*sigh*

Last Saturday of workieeeee.....

Happy Day...

Today is a good day for 2 reasons...

1. I quit my job at the evil store, ok well didn't quit, gave NOTICE is what you say. So I gave notice that I'm fed up with dealing with my awful boss and I don't deserve to be treated the way she treats me so I'm outta there.

2. I got a couple of plane tickets to Michigan to visit my family and friends in June. I'm so excited! Tickets have been ridiculously expensive lately! $750 EACH! But I found some cheap ones and Mom was super and bought one of the other tickets so Steve and I can both go. YAAAAY!

Oh, today is also good because I got a yummy souvlaki wrap from the Greek place next door, who woulda thought a gas station would have such good food.

FLOWERZ! What you get when your hub chooses World of Warcraft over you. 

Fun at Big Rock Brewery with Mom 'n Sissy 

Cookie Monster has changed his tune...

..when will the madness end? When will people be accountable for their own actions? I can't believe that Sesame Street has made Cookie Monster sing about cookies as a "sometimes food". Ok, seriously, if I had a kid and (s)he came up to me and said "can I have a cookie" and I said "no" and (s)he said "well Cookie Monster gets to eat cookies whenever he wants to!" I would then remind them that Cookie Monster is a PUPPET, he's NOT real, you are a KID and you can't have cookies all the time. The day Cookie Monster is to blame for all the fatass kids in the world, is the day I eat my own foot. I'm sure the fat kids have nothing to do with the poor eating choices of their fat, lazy parents.

A kid came up to me at the museum the other day, he was flexing his fingers. I asked him what he was doing. He said he was "getting his fingers warmed up to play video games" when he got home. He was 10 and weighed at least 180 pounds. Yeah kid play video games and eat cookies while you're at it.

82% Blizzard Download...

I have a little downtime while waiting for my download to finish...yeah, I'm downloading the latest patch for my herion.. er...World of Warcraft., I mean. Geez that game is addicting, and fun to boot. It sure has made this winter go by really quickly. I guess like herion would, so I'm not really lying when I say it's like heroin.

• Cannot account for days of my life.
• Spend work in a daze because of lack of sleep.
• Find myself thinking about my next fix when I get home.
• Continuous obsession with discussing and talking about it with other addicts.

Hockey Night in Grand Forks, ND....Hidel-LIIIIIIINDBERG! 

Blocked Call.

Telemarketers always seem to phone at the most inconvenient times. Ok, ANY time is inconvenient for a telemarketer to call.

Lately, I've been getting annoyed with the amount of telemarketing calls I've been getting on my cell. It seems unfair that people would sell your cell (ha, sell your cell) number to telemarketers. You just can't escape them...

It's true you can NOT escape the telemarketer. Not on your cell, not in your house, not at work...not even on the emergency phone in the elevator. That's right, the emergency phone in the elevator! The other day, me, Steve, Darren & Alison were riding the elevator up to our apartment when the emergency phone in the little box rang, "should we answer it?" Yes, we should and YES it was Capitol One asking Darren if he was interested in one of their low-interest rate credit cards.

Wow.

With a little help from your friends..

Why is it that when you pull an album out in front of anyone over the age of 40 they assume you don't know what it is used for and they think that it is time to reminisce about the days of real rock and roll and not that "rap crap that you guys call music". I got the pleasure today of listening to a recent wagon-inhabitor who decided his life belonged more in a bottle and thought it necessary to describe in detail (down to the type of drug used) all of the times he saw Three Dog Night and Joe "The Rocker" Cocker live. Oh he certainly didn't forget to tell me the story of how he and his buddies were on their way to Woodstock and smoked too much hash and ended up in the Yukon.

I don't hold it against you that you still rock out to Santana's "Black Magic Woman" when you hear it on the classic rock station for the 1 millionth time, don't make fun of me when I jam out to my occasional Tupac.