This is the best story. The best story.

What you need to do, is go here: CBC As It Happens. I am not sure if this link is going to last any longer than 24 hours, so um… yeah.

Then click on “Part 2 of As It Happens” and skip to 18 min. 45 seconds.

Now, you HAVE to listen to the whole story. The part where the reporter is talking is only about 2 minutes. The best part is the song that they play in homage to the story’s subject. Listen to the entire song. You won’t be sorry.

These past few days, everytime I go to Google, the site comes up in Japanese.
And I don’t know why.
And I don’t know how to change it back because it’s in Japanese which I can’t read (and since I can’t read it, it might also be in Chinese, I don’t know) so I can’t find the “Change from Japanese or Chinese back to a Language Louise Understands” button.

VERY STRANGE.

So since sometime last week, I’ve been feeling really… sick and tired, I guess is the best way to say it. I go to work, come home, go to the gym, and by 6:30 or so I’m 100% ready for sleep. And if I do fall asleep I’m not waking up all night until 7 am, so that’s over 12 hours. And occasionally, I throw up. I think one or two sick days would cover it, but I can’t take one – I have meetings every day after workthis week that can’t be rescheduled. So I’m just kind of toughing it out, doing the work/gym/home thing. But come the weekend, people had better not expect me to be the social butterfly that I usually am (ha!)

As I mentioned, Rob was using our TV as a computer monitor today and it made me crazy! There were all HDMI cables around and I couldn’t figure out how to go and download my “stories” so I had to do something OTHER THAN WATCH TV.

Now, you’ll say “Oh but Louise, I thought you guys didn’t have cable and you don’t really watch that much TV!” and generally I would say that I don’t. But on Sundays – ON SUNDAYS!

Sundays are the day of watching Celebrity Fit Club, and apparently this week MuchMoreMusic is going to start running Celebrity Rehab. You know I need to see Willie Aames and Kenickie sweating and barfing (albeit for different reasons).

It’s also my day for catching up on Big Brother. Even though I don’t particularly like any of the remaining cast (and those who I liked were kicked out the first couple of weeks)… I need to see who wins that half mil. I will throw up if it’s Ryan because that means his oocky girlfriend Jen who got kicked out because she had an “I’m better than everyone” attitude will get to have some of the money too! NO!

Um yeah. So on Sundays I am sucked into the TV Vortex and I’m not horribly ashamed.

Saturday: I woke up at about 10ish. Went to the gym. Came home. Finished reading my book. Cried for EVER because what I thought was going to happen? It happened. Jennifer Weiner, you made me cry!
Still a great book, though. Rob woke up at noon (look, he works til 1, doesn’t get to sleep til 4 or 5… I’d say noon’s a good number). Went and helped my Dad put the exterior shutters back on their house (they’re renovating). Then we went to my brother and sister-in-law’s to help them with their computer… and ended up bringing it here because it was too much work for him to finish over there and we had to go grocery shopping. Grocery shopped. By about 6:30, I was zonked. Fell asleep on the sofa. Woke up at 9 long enough to stumble upstairs.
Sunday: Woke up at 9:30. Tried to watch TV and realized that Rob had done something to the TV and computers and everything. Woke Rob up at 10:30. Watched Raising Arizona (Nicolas Cage pre-1990 was a good actor). Sister-in-law came over to avail herself of our Internet. Brother came over to bring us a rake. Now it’s nearly 5 pm and my mom is complaining about how skinny my dad is via MSN (my dad is seriously the world’s skinniest man. He eats all.the.time. and is maybe 140 lbs stretched on a 6’2″ frame). I’m going to go put some clothes on the clothesline (hooray for sunny windy weather! and no more snowing!) and WHO KNOWS WHAT THE FUTURE WILL BRING?

I love where we live. I really do. But it’s a small city (I kind of giggle when it’s called a city… I suppose it meets the population requirements, just barely, but it was a town for the first 28 years of my life and that’s how I’ll always think of it) and, except for during the summer (and actually, kind of in the summer as well), there just isn’t that much to do. There’s one bar. There are two… MAYBE three restaurants that aren’t fast food franchises or tourist traps, and they are so expensive a normal person would have to save up to go once a year. There’s the movie theatre where they seem to only show “teenage” movies (not that there’s anything wrong with teenagers; it’s just difficult to find anything intellectually stimulating about High School Musical 37). One bookstore (speaking of which I bought the latest Jennifer Weiner novel, “Certain Girls”, which is sort of a sequel to “Good In Bed”, which I loved. I’m about halfway through and I’m not sure I’m going to be okay with this one. It’s really good, don’t get me wrong. I’m just having some prescience about the fates of some of my favourite characters and I won’t be happy if they come true. Also since it takes place 13 years after the original story, Nifkin is sadly no longer with us… wow, digress much?) which is a chain. A Wal-Mart and a Zellers and that’s about it. Oh, but like, seventeen Tim Horton’s. Yep.

What’s your town like?

A few years back, I gave Rob a pocket watch for Christmas. He likes it, and it’s the watch he uses when he wants to wear a watch, but the chain is a bit too short (he’s a tall guy, what can I say?). I’m not exactly sure where you’d go to have a watch chain lengthened… a jeweler’s I’d assume. Right? Right? I do not know.

I’ve been thinking about our trip this summer and realized that we don’t really have any actual luggage. Not that we need anything fancy, but I’m picturing us rolling into NL with our clothes in garbage bags, the ultimate in TT chic.

After today’s gym session, in the shower, I noticed that I’m in pretty rough shape. No, I’m not talking weight gain or loss. I’m talking injuries.

Here’s a little rundown:

Left hand: Cut on my index finger (run-in with a piece of paper).
Right hand: Blister on my thumb (the flaming plastic of Tuesday), blister on my index finger (pencil sharpening is tough work, you know).
Right foot: Not sure what’s going on but I have a cut on the top of it.
Left foot: Cracked heel.
Right and left legs: Many, many bruises (results of various collisions with furniture). I’d take pictures, because it’s all really very colourful, but I haven’t shaved my legs in several… uh… days? Yeah, let’s say days.

Okay it’s snowing out! That’s not good! Bah!

As most of you may know, weight loss has been a goal of mine for, oh, years. I’ve taken steps toward that; I re-joined my gym in January and have been going pretty faithfully (I will fully cop to not going tonight- Rob is home sick and I’m staying home to take care of him. Not that he needs any taking care of. But I think I need some taking care of. I’m super sleepy. Last night I fell asleep at (I swear) 6:30 pm and slept until nearly 7 am (although from 3 am on, I would wake up occasionally). It’s 6:24 now and I’m thinking I’d love to go to bed! But I won’t! Because sleeping too much only makes you sleepier doesn’t it?

Anyway. Weight loss. Whatever. Since January, and yes I’m mostly eating right (OKAY FINE I HAD FRIES TONIGHT SUCK IT!), as well as exercising, I have lost…

*drumroll*

4 pounds.

That’s one pound a month.

And I’m not even sure if it’s actually 4 pounds or if my clothes are lighter some days when I weigh myself. I haven’t really changed any clothing sizes, still the same old size.

It’s really kind of depressing. I mean, I’m trying, I really am, and it’s not working. And I hate it. It’s gotten to the point that I’ve actually called and gotten information on lap band surgery (although they won’t tell you the frickin PRICE in their damn brochures) because I don’t know what else to do. If I knew my insurance covered it and if I didn’t have to travel to Toronto for it (no offense to Toronto, I just have no clue where I’d stay, and plane tickets are ‘spensive, yo), I’d be so there.

Meh. Whatever. I guess I’ll just keep trying and … not give up.