i've figured it out!

so my brother sister and i are odd.
as if you couldn't figure out that i'm odd.

but yeah.

i've figured out what it comes from.

enter exhibit one:


so. we loved beetlejuice as kids. still do.
so our parents bought us this lovely toy.
not only is it a creepy toy of beetlejuice.
but. it also has a pull chord and talks.
and if a talking beetlejuice isn't creepy enough for you kids...
his head spins.
you crank his head once around [or more if you're into that]
and push a button on his back.
and his head spins around and around.

seriously.
creepiness.
not a good toy for children.

and now onto exhibit two:


this wonderful toy is called jibber jabber.
he's looks innocent.
but he's not.
remember those tubes things that had that thing in it and if you tipped the tube, it made a fun noise?
well jibber jabber has two in his head.
running in opposite directions.

the point of the toy:
grab him by the neck.
then shake violently.

result:
annoyed parents and children who like to strangle their toys.

onto exhibit three:


glo worm.
[not the key chain version]

now many of you will have fond memories of glo worm.
i know i did.
as did my brother [4 yrs younger]
as did my sister [7 yrs younger].

now the issue with this toy in my family...
it still has the original batteries.
and he still glows.
i'm not sure how old i was when i got it..
not more than 2 probably.
and now i'm going on 22.
that's 20 years.
and the batteries still function quite well.

we're afraid to open the back.



there ends my realization as to what is wrong with my brother sister and i.
i thought you all would enjoy.
or at least get a laugh.

:c)

mental throw up

we're calling this mental throw up because i have so much crap running around my head and can't concentrate on studying for my wonderful [*rolls eyes*] Romantics exam tomorrow.

- i sat in traffic for over an hour yesterday on my drive back from jersey. so not only did i have to drive 6 hrs. but once i got to downtown buffalo... i had to wait over an hour to get from downtown [by the church st. exit] to get over the peace bridge. of course i was making the trip alone. and i had to pee. apparently everyone and their mother wanted to go to the states for easter weekend. forcing me to pray that my bladder would make it all the way back to st catharines.

- ever have that feeling where you have a ton of pent up energy but dont have the motivation to go running or something, but the energy won't let you concentrate? well... welcome to my life right now. i couldn't sleep last night for a long time. went to bed around 11:30... around 10 to 12 i got up and read for awhile. that didn't put me to sleep so i ended up playing online till about 1:30. then laid in bed till i finally fell asleep. ugh. this sucks. i feel like going running, but i can't. i don't have the motivation and i need to study for this exam.

- i really don't want to write this exam tomorrow. its not that it will be a hard exam. but its my only exam. and i know my stuff. so its more of hassle because i have to get up early, be at the school, sit in a gym where concentration is nearly impossible, and write a 3 hour exam. yippee. oh. and when i'm done with that... gotta come home and write an essay.

- wedding. 95 days away. seriously. 95. that's not a lot. we've gotta get a lot of stuff done. especially because i go home for the summer this weekend. and i want to make sure most of the stuff is done. grrr. i wish i could take a time out from life and get it all done.

- i just feel like going into a room and screaming. that might make me feel better.

*sigh*
maybe that will clear my brain so i can study.
if not... i'm going to the mall to find josh an anniversary present.
i hate school.

my brain hurts.

Rain

So its been a long time since I've seen a thunderstorm. There's one going on outside right now. And its amazing.

I just took a moment to step back and just wonder at it all and life. I was standing on Josh's balcony [luckily the wind blows the rain away from the balcony]. I just stood there for about 20 minutes and just watched.

I watched the rain as it fell. Watched how it fell harder and softer sometimes. I watched how it looked like the water out of a hose does where it hits certain areas harder than others. I watched the lightening. I watched the clouds fly by with the crazy wind. There was a plastic bag that the wind caught that flew all the way up to above me... and I'm on the fourth floor. I watched Tom [the fix-it guy] chase a bag around and then run for cover when it started pouring again. I watched as the kids running from the high school across the street suddenly picked up speed because of the rain. I laughed at them because they were drenched. I watched the Oriental guy next door come out and take a picture of the clouds [I didn't find anything exciting about the clouds, but that goes to show you that he appreciates things I don't]. I watched cars fly by.

And I listened.

I listened to the thunder [still am]. I listened to the cars fly by in the rain [I love that sound]. I listened to the kids from the high school laughing and yelling at each other to hurry up to get inside. I listened to the wind as it blew me away.

And I smelled.

I smelled the rain. God that's an amazing smell.


I felt so calm about everything. I still do.
Man. I love thunderstorms.

I feel like everything is put into perspective now. Can't explain it. It just feels so.


[I hope the storm doesn't cool everything off too much... I want to go rollerblading tonight]

Funny

This is hilarious. I got a good laugh out of it.

Enjoy:



What do they teach them in school these days?!
The following excerpts are 10 and 11 year-old answers to history tests and Sunday school quizzes. They were collected over a period of three years by two teachers. Read carefully for grammar, misplaced modifiers, and of course, spelling!

Ancient Egypt was old. It was inhabited by gypsies and mummies who all wrote in hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert. The climate of the Sarah is such that all the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.

Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandos. He died before he ever reached Canada but the commandos made it

Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred porcupines. He was an actual hysterical figure as well as being in the bible. It sounds like he was sort of busy too.

The Greeks were a highly sculptured people, and without them we wouldn't have history. The Greeks also had myths. A myth is a young female moth.

Socrates was a famous old Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. He later died from an overdose of wedlock which is apparently poisonous. After his death, his career suffered a Dramatic decline.

In the first Olympic games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled biscuits, and threw the java. The games were messier then than they show on TV now.

Julius Caesar extinguished himself on the battlefields of Gaul. The Ides of March murdered him because they thought he was going to be made king. Dying, he gasped out "Same to you, Brutus."

Joan of Arc was burnt to a steak and was canonized by Bernard Shaw for reasons I don't really understand. The English and French still have problems.

It was an age of great inventions and discoveries. Gutenberg invented removable type and the Bible. Another important invention was the circulation of blood.

Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented cigarettes and started smoking.

Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100 foot clipper which was very dangerous to all his men.

The greatest writer of the Renaissance was William Shakespeare. He was born in the year 1564, supposedly on his birthday. He never made much money and is famous only because of his plays. He wrote tragedies, comedies, and hysterectomies, all in Islamic pentameter.

Writing at the same time as Shakespeare was Miguel Cervantes. He wrote Donkey Hotel. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Since then no one ever found it.

Delegates from the original 13 states formed the Contented Congress. Thomas Jefferson, a Virgin, and Benjamin Franklin were two singers of the Declaration of Independence. Franklin discovered electricity by rubbing two cats backward and also declared, "A horse divided against itself cannot stand." He was a naturalist for sure. Franklin died in 1790 and is still dead.

Johann Bach wrote a great many musical compositions and had a large number of children. In between he practiced on an old spinster which he kept up in his attic.

Bach died from 1750 to the present. Bach was the most famous composer in the world and so was Handel. Handle was half German, half Italian, and half English. He was very large.

Beethoven wrote music even though he was deaf. He was so deaf that he wrote loud music and became the father of rock and roll. He took long walks in the forest even when everyone was calling for him. Beethoven expired in 1827 and later died for this.

The nineteenth century was a time of a great many thoughts and inventions. People stopped reproducing by hand and started reproducing by machine. The invention of the steamboat caused a network of rivers to spring up.

Louis Pasteur discovered a cure for rabbits but I don't know why.

Charles Darwin was a naturalist. He wrote the Organ of the Species. It was very long, people got upset about it and had trials to see if it was really true. He sort of said God's days were not just 24 hours but without watches who knew anyhow? I don't get it.

Karl Marx was one of the Marx Brothers. The other three were in the movies. Karl made speeches and started revolutions. Someone in the family had to have a job, I guess.

Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit

I just finished reading that book for my Contemporary Lit course. Quite good. I'd recommend it.

My favorite quote in it is...

If there's such a thing as spiritual adultery, my mother was a whore

[Rap]

Rap

Note to self. If Natalie Portman releases a CD....


Don't buy it.

There are the things...

That need to make the news.

J-Mac's meaningful message for autism

Its an article from ESPN talking about J-Mac [Jason McElwain] and his amazing story of basketball. Not only is there an article, but there's a video that talks to his coach, dad, fellow teammates and of course J-Mac himself. Seriously. This is absolutely amazing. I cried during the video and I don't cry.

Why can't the news report on things like this in the world. There are so many amazing and wonderful things going in this world. Why is it that all of the bad things make the press? It depresses me.

This boy did nothing but play the sport he loves. His coach did nothing but give the kid a chance. Not only is there the amazing sense of accomplishment that J-Mac feels for scoring 20 points and making 6 three pointers at the end of the game. But it also provides hope for the autistic and the families of those who are autistic. If J-Mac can do this, then what's to say there isn't a place where other autistic people can't accel.

*Sigh*

That story made my day... actually.. my week.

How it all started

Josh, Me, Gaurav, Bobby and heaps and heaps of food. 

Christina and Angie(la) 

The English crew [too cool for the ESA] and an accountant and a dental hygenist. Can you pick who is who? 

Josh, Me, Gaurav, Bobby 

Frickin' Cars

So my car was making this wonderful noise. Basically this loud, grinding of metal on metal noise. Not very heathly. I took it in the shop today to get it checked out. Previous to this, we had multiple people and research trying to guess what was wrong. We thought it was the bearings on the front left or the CV joint was going. But that's as far as we ventured.

So I go in, after arranging for Rachel to pick me up, to drop it off at 10am. The guy walks into the waiting area holding this funny piece of metal. Apparently my brake pad had worn so far down that the rotor and the metal backing of the brake pad had actually started eating away at each other. So I stare at this metal in the man's hands with these large gouges in it and start to worry. I don't think those things come cheap. Ends up that its going to cost me $452. Yeah. That's a lot of money. Especially for a poor student. So I call Josh, talk it over, and decide to leave it. Find out I can come get it later in the day.

So I leave the car, go about my day. Finally meet up with Josh to go get my car that I miss dearly. Get there and suddenly my bill had jumped to $554. WHAAAAAT??? That's a lot. *sigh* Apparently brake pads have suddenly gone up in price to $118. Great. Frickin' wonderful.

So the upside of the story:
1. Josh is calling tomorrow to complain about the price because they shouldn't be that much.
2. We got the brake stuff taken care of about a year and a half ago by Meineke and they couldn't figure out why my brakes had so much give. Apparently they missed the seized caliper pin. Geniuses. So my dad is going to take it to their corporate section and try to get money back because they missed something so obvious. And they guarantee their brakes for life.

Moral of the story: Car repairs suck. They need to invent cars that don't break.

Auto Show

Below are three concept cars from the Toronto Auto Show... the only three worth looking at. The rest of the concept cars were all the 'lets make the tiniest car that runs off batteries and call it a concept' cars. Irritating. That's not what I want a concept car to be. The other car is the Pontiac Solstice... the convertible I would like to drive. :c)

In order... Madza's concept car [I can't remember the precise name], BMW Concept Z4 Coupe, Pontiac Solstice, and the gorgeous Shelby Cobra.

Enjoy.

Hilarity

So last night, Ange, Gaurav, Bobby, Josh, Christina and I went out to the London Arms. Good times. Bobby decided that because martinis were half off to split the menu and drink half of it [though originally he wanted to drink the whole menu]. That proved to be highly amusing. Then Gaurav, Josh and I decided we were hungry and we'd order a combo that had wings, pizza and nachos. Little did we know we'd be eating piles of food. Yeah, we didn't finish it. It was still good though.

Through all the hilarity, we discovered that us English majors complain about our readings all the time, but when we get together all we do is talk about them. Sick and sad cycle if you ask me.

I don't think I stopped laughing the whole night. Between Ange's Jamaica [read: drunk] stories, Gaurav's tales, Bobby's drinking 6 martinis, Josh's random comments and Christina's confusion that we would be so psychotic... I think I might have almost died laughing.

We should do this more often.

Auto Show in Toronto today. I'm sure there will be pictures to enjoy when I get back :c).

Dinner Parties

So I've been thinking. Dinner parties used to be this great thing. People would love to go to them.

Why don't we have them anymore? I mean why are they a bad thing? I think the idea of getting dressed up, going to someone's house to eat with a bunch of friends and talking all night sounds great. They used to be a class marker, yes. So let's change that and make it a coolness marker. Only the cool kids go to dinner parties. Oh, you would like to make plans for Friday night? Well I'm sorry, I'll be attending a dinner party. I mean, how cool is that? Seriously. I'm serious folks.

I vote that we reinstate dinner parties into the daily life of the average person. Who's with me? I'll start one... sometime... when I find people who will come. Come on, free food. Free drinks. Conversation. I know my fellow English majors would love it... where else will we talk about all the stuff we read in class?

So, in conclusion. Dinner parties = cool. We need to start those again. Now. Go. Do it.

Bliss

This is a joy we all should have....

Look what you made me do.

So Gaurav finally made me cave into the world of blogging.

I don't know what to put in this thing, so I'll just babble and do the whole intro to me schpiel. I'm Kari. I hail from the States [born in Washington, living in Jersey] but go to university in Canada. [Yeah, what the hell was I thinking? I hate cold.] But my adventure to Canada was worth it because I met my fiance and a lot of crazy Canadians that I like to call friends. My major is English Language and Literature... yeah... a big title that means I read and write lots. Don't ask me why I went to Canada to take English, I haven't figured it out but I always toss out the fact that I originally came here as a Business major.

I don't know what else to write. We'll just have some fun with this thing. Sound good to you?