Mid Summer Goalatude Check In

It's been a little while since i've updated my progress with my Goalatude updates. Unfortunately I've come to the inevitable realization that I will not be able to achieve all my goals - and that gives me the sads. So let's do a Mid-Summer run down of what I've achieved for each so far...

1) Meet a Gregor ... yeah this is the impossible one ... and I can confirm it IS from a lack of trying - I don't even know where to begin - If a Grego happens to come across this blog, let me know and I'll count you.

2) Read 7 1/2 books - I have read 4 1/2 so far and will definitely be able to read 3 more so this one is not in danger of falling by the way-side. Books I've recently read: Almost Moon, Regency Buck, Bath Tangle (that's the 1/2 - I do plan on finishing it). Book I'm reading now: Northanger Abbey.

3) Re-Learn French .... ya, well if you count watching copious amounts of Poirot as exposure to French then I'm doing QUITE well! If not, things are dismal - I have even let my Coffee Time French podcasts go unlistened too. Maybe I'll do one today.

4) Get Outside: FABULOUS - I am outside almost everyday! Just today I biked to work, then the gym, then home with Kiki and chilled outside. and on monday I went for a long walk with Kiki and Ben!

5) National Geographic ... reading interesting articles as they come. check!

6) Save Money ... well I haven't spent everything I've earned ... so that counts right?!

7) Find a Craft: Completed x2!!! I finished a tin of coffee the oher day and thought "Now someone on the internet must have thought of something clever to use these for!" And they have! This Blog had the wonderful suggestion of covering the tin with paper (which I have left over from my cereal box magazine holder) and use it to hold knick knacks such

as nail polish - perfect and oh so easy! I'll defo make another for a pencil holder when I finish my next tin of coffee (soon)

8) Expand Vocabularly: I think I've done okay with this! I've definitely started saying retard more often (since seeing The Hangover). I've been taking note of Google's word of the day. I used the word pilfer instead of steal in a sentence the other day ... yes I think this Goalatude is coming along nicely. Also have been steering clear of suspicinouns.

9) Listen to CDs: I've been listening to Kings of Leon, New Pornographers, Arcade Fire, Duffy and MGMT in the car when not listening to my own mixes. I've been making the conscious decision not to listen to my Killers, Feist, Coldplay, Beck because if i do I will hate them even more when my family insists on playing them in the car on the way to P.E.I. Have also considered buying a new CD or two - possibly something by Beirut... oh and Ainsley informed me she's ordered a new copy of my Stars remix album (which she 'misplaced =P) so maybe I'll listen to that when I get it!

10) Still haven't decided on this Goalatude yet and I'm running out of time .....

So Clearly I need to focus on 3 and 6 and find a 10 .... ALSO blogger formatting is pissing me off I need spaces Blogger I NEED them! Why do you deny me this simple right!

Goalatude Progress Update: G.2

I've finished yet another book. I thought I'd take a break from novels and rest my brain box with the memoir of Mr. Russell Brand's My Booky Wook. I'd like to say the book was delightful, but that would be a lie. For the most part I read the book while cringing at his antics and the series of unfortunate events that comprise his youth. Fortunately, so far there is a happy ending to this tale, as Brand is clearly beginning to make his mark in the U.S. and has firmly secured a place in the national psyche of Great Britain - Bravo! I highly recommend this book if sex, drugs, profanity and cheeky humour all in copious amounts does not offend you too much. 7.5/10

I'm already entrenched in my new book, the novel The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold. It's dark .... very dark - I hope the main character shows me some redeeming qualities - soon.

Goaltude Update: G.7

Goalatude No.7 on my ultimate Summer Goalatudes List was to find a craft and do it awesomely. Well, I'm not sure about the awesomely part but I did find a craft and do it. I had spent a couple weeks gathering materials and such in preparation for this craft and yesterday I finally worked on it. I chose to make a magazine holder out of an old cereal box. I saw this idea at least 10 years ago well watching one of my favourite afterschool shows (there are many) Art Attack. It is extremely simple which means that even I couldn't mess it up too badly. This craft also has the potential to be environmentally friendly (YAY!) because you can recycle your old cereal boxes within your home in the process. Unfortunately I bought more paper to decorate my box so I don't think mine met the criteria for being completely EF (Boo!). Craft Stats:

• Cost: approx. $30.00 (not including cereal, I had to buy everything else: paper, Mod podge, acrylic paint, patterned tape - bought enough for 3 boxes)
• Time spent: approx. 31/2 - 4hrs (waiting for the paint and mod podge to dry)Frustration: 6.5/10 (wrinkled paper and mod podge everywhere)Fun: 7.5/10 (crafts are ALWAYS FUN! isn't that why people do them?!?)

All in all I think my box looks faboosh (where have I seen this word?) and was actually pretty idiot proof.

Steps:

• cut the box (you can figure it out)
• paint it: let paint dry then repeat 'till box design is completely covered.
• Once paint is dry paint a layer of mod podge over to seal it up.
• measure and cut paper: glue it side at a time using mod podge. (cover the paper in mod podge so it seals onto the box)
• take tape and stick around box in a continual line.
• place magazines in box...

et Voila! Craft done! When I work up enough energy I'll make some more but until then Goalatude No.7 has been completed!

Goalatude Progress Update: G.2

I've been working dilligently on (some of) my Goalatudes. I've been biking/walking to work/the gym and going on bike rides through the forest - Goalatude #4 - CHECK! I've sometimes tried reading the french on the sides of food packaging - Goalatude #3 - semi-CHECK! I've decided on some craft projects to work on and begun collecting the materials necessary - Goalatude #7 - CHECK-in-Progress. I studied in detail a map of the Arctic Ocean and the claims held by Russia, Canada, the U.S., Denmark on their 'respective' ownership of the Arctic Shelf - a map that came from one of my National Geographics - Goalatude #5 - CHECKTASTIC. And I've finally finished reading the ever-amazing Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden! That means I only have 6 1/2 more books to read to complete goalatude #2. But that's not ALL kids - I've already begun reading my next book - and this one i've been excited to read for over a year now - MY BOOKY WOOK by Russell Brand! I'm only on page 32 - but I already love it!

My Sweet New Ride

Yay! Tomorrow is my birthday and in anticipation of this blessed and revered event my dad surprised me by taking me to pick out a bike! I have been thinking about getting a bike for quite some time now. I had resolved to wait, but it turned out to be such a wonderful present. I've already Christened it with a ride through the forest by my house and then messed up the seat flying through a hidden pothole in between two speedbumps in the Sheridan College parking lot. All is good and fixed now and I am so going to be a bikeaholic (new vocab continues - Goalatude #8) all summer (Getting outside - Goalatude #4). As for the rest of my weekend. Most of it has been spent entertaining my cousin Maddie (her birthday is today!) and sister Laura by giving them mani/pedis and teaching them about life and such...

The Teacup Incident

Unlike myself, already working and getting ready to finish my first full week of summer 'vacay', my friend and fellow blogette, Ivana is still studying for two final exams (yeah UofT will do that to you). As I was complaining about how she's abandoned me in Oakville, and she about how tedious studying the French language can be - she came up with this solution: blog. "But what about?!" I asked. I'm not blogged out per se, I've just not been up to anything too interesting these past couple of days - just eat, work, sleep. I decided to think of a random topic and then wikiresearch it and write an informative post (FIRST EVER) on that topic. I typed 'Teacup' into my google toolbar just as Ivana msn-ed me back with the topic of her own next blog post - "china cups". This is when I started getting chills - we had been thinking about the same thing! IMAGINE WHAT THAT MEANS! It was like a Vulcan Mind Meld without the physical contact (unfortunately ;D). I've taken this incident, which will hearby be known as The Teacup Incident, very seriously. I've also decided that teacupping will now enter into my vocabulary as an interchangeable term for Vulcan mind-melding (Hey! I'm working on Goalatude #8 without even realizing it! well ... now I guess I've realized it). So, now I've blogged about Teacups without actually blogging about tea cups. God works in mysterious ways...

Goalatudes: (Re)Learn Conversational French

Okay so Goalatude #3 is going to be exceptionally hard because it requires a great deal of will power and good attention skills - both of which I lack even on a good day. Luckily, along with my podcasts I've rediscovered TELEFRANCRAIS! If you have no idea what i'm talking about ...gasp!... Sorry, then you just haven't lived until now. Telefrancais is a Canadian television show that originally aired on TVO from 1984-86. It sought to teach kids a little bit of French. I had the pleasure of watching this in my grade 4 and 5 French classes. I remember Ananas looking a little less strung out when I was 9 but whateves it's all good. Below is a clip from an episode where the two human children: Sophie and Jaques (who just happened to have befriended the pineapple in a junkyard...), practice for a spelling championship with Ananas as their trainer =D. But let's be honest the thing we all most looked forward to each time my French teacher fired up the old VCR for a Téléfrançais episode, was the theme song! You know - or will - what I mean when you see it. Almost as good as Under the Umbrella Tree or Today's Special (what's that? You don't know what Today's Special or Under the Umbrella Tree are? note to self: compose a post on UTUT and Today's Special in the very near future!) Anyway I figure when I get bored of listening to my French podcasts I'll just hop on over to youtube for some Téléfrançais and that will be that...

I have a distinct memory of watching an episode where the character Pilote delivers pizzas by plane ... just thought i'd share that.

School's Out - Fun's In...

... so read the icing of a chocolate cake my stepmom made when she was a teenager. I know this because I've seen the picture of her holding it and it is amazing. Saturday I had my last exam and it went okay... and I just turned on my computer to find an email from my T.A. in Greek Archeology with my mark and explanation on my paper ... Groan ... But that is the only part of this post that will be devoted to school work ... now for the fun stuff. Went out Saturday night to party it up End-Of-Year style. Got a few more bumps and bruises then I bargained for. I know the bruise on my leg is from walking into a part of a building in downtown Kingston, but I just discovered a little cut above my right eye for which I have no explanation of its cause. Saturday was amazing because I got to see two real live fights. Well technically only 1 which went something like: lady hitting and running after a guy and i think screaming "Don't hate/touch my mother-in-law/stepmother" in the Pizza Pizza parking lot (the details are foggy). The second was inside the club we hit up and aparently 2 chicks got into it - But I kinda couldn't see that one properly. Gooooooood Times. Sunday I woke up waaay too early and continued frantic packing then grabbed brunch with my dad and drove (yes I drove - practice makes perfect for the G test) all the way back to Oakville. I then spent the rest of the day unpacking and organizing my room, which unfortunately I have to share with a messy younger sister. But everything is in order now and today I'm settling in, which means I'm thinking about all the things I want to accomplish this summer. Last summer is going to be pretty hard to beat as it was my most productive and possibly most fun to date. I had 2 jobs (1 full time), took and Aced a summer course, roadtripped with the fam. to Maine, roadtripped to Barrie (okay admittedly less glamourous a destination) for the Spectacular in everywayshapeandform Jack Johnson Concert and touristed it up in Kingston: visiting the Penn museum and embarking on the Haunted Walk of Kingston - for reals that town is crowded with spectres (just felt like using that word ... got a problem with it? wanna fight? just joshing).

This summer however I'll be luck y to find 1 job, let alone 2, and I'm defo not taking a summer course (that shiz is BELOW me now - not really there's just nothing else I can take at an appropriate level). As for concerts - I just checked Ticketmaster --> Kenny Chesney and Jonas Bros--> Ummm yeah that's a dallop (what? it's a word if we want it to be, right Dorcas?) of "Not in this lifetime" with a side of "When Hell freezes Over" respectively for me thanks ... Hold the purity ring (gift with purchase). Instead of that traditionally fun stuff, I thought I'd make a list (I loooove my lists) of things that I wanted to accomplish/do this summer...so, in what is sure to be the first of many drafts, here is the fabulous, the combobulated (once again folks, a word if I WANT it to be), the magnifique ...

CAITIE'S SUMMER GOALATUDES (I just like the sound of that):

1) Meet someone named Gregor .... perferrably THE Gregor from CBCs Wiretap (but I'm not picky - if this was last summer maybe, but this summer I gotta take what I can get)

2) Read 71/2 books. (7 is my favourite number after eleventy four and also seems a reasonable goal. the 1/2 is there in case I start a book only to find that I have a wickedbad case of the hates for it)

3) Actually listen and engage in some of the gazillion 'Learn French By Podcast' episodes that automatically dowload onto my pod. (When I first subscribed I was so into it and then I listened to a couple of lessons and peaced because it was too easy... now I've reconsidered ... yeah I basically get schooled by my entire family in the department de francais so I got get proactive before their next attack.

4) Get outside. (Even though I was superproductive last summer I remained unforgiveably pale because I was so busy studying or working to enjoy the sun)

5) Catch up on my National Geographic Magazines.

6) Save Money. (gawd this is like the worst entry on this list. Boo to you part of the brain that fuels practicality, reason, and good judgement... Boo. to. you.)

7) Find a craft and do it awesomely. (Not even just a craft, maybe add to my scrapbook, or paint, or buy [uhoh I can already see goalatude #6 flying out the window and and being torn apart by a pack of hungry "I want. I Want. I WANTS!!!"] one of those big boxes of crayola crayons [you know the one with the sharpener at the back - does that even realy work?]and drawing things) ... (are you sick of all my thought-tangent parentheses yet? I am [a little bit] but not enough to stop =P)

8) Expand Vocabulary. Ridonculous, Awesome, Rad, are all ... awesome (ah!) I mean delightful (phew!) words and some of my favourites to use in conversation on-the-daily, but I really need to punch it up (where is that phrase from?) and start using some seriously BA vobulary... also: should defo try using full words ... nah it's so much more fun to routinely shorten words in a way that will leave at least one person in a group conversation completely clueless =D. 2nd part of this goal is to continue trying to reintroduce the catchword "Boss" into current slang/lingo. I have been working at this since grade 11 - thats a 5 year stretch of casually slipping it into coversation and then patiently explainign when people don't know what it means. I was, I think, somewhat successful at helping bring back "Bitchin", popularizing "Ridonculous" and effectively killing "Jerkface" back in the day, so I think I might have a chance with this one.

9) Listen to More of my CDs. (I love my Pod and cann't imagine living without it, but I still buy CDS because I like listening to the full things the way the band wanted them to be listened to. That being said, for convenience sake I often just use my pod to play music. NOT this summer. While there are thousands of songs that I only have in mp3 format, I also have a sizeable collection of CDs. First on my list to listen to ... hmm: perhap Miracle Fortress and then Mattew Good Band)

10) Open ... Haven't decided but I know I'll think of something to put here...

Wow that is one boss list. I know that with a little hard work, a lot of self-encouragement and a healthy dose of "believing in myself" this list of Goalatudes with surely be complete by summer's end. for reals.

Now listen to I Want You by Kings of Leon. I FINALLY bought their newest album and popped in my car's cd player it is more wonderful than I could have possibly imagined. I actually LOVE every single song - there are NO fillers - just feels so hot and dirty and summery and ... like a real rock album... also, PLEASE check out their old stuff (some of my favourites: Soft, Knocked Up, Fans, Talihina Sky) because it is likewise rifrickendiculously boss.

	Kings of Leon - I Want You
	Found at bee mp3 search engine