Go Team Go!

The rest of the world is parked on their sofa, eyes glued to the Grey Cup, nachos, dip and beer filling the coffee table. I am sitting at home, the sound of Mark Kozelec filling the apartment, pumpkin seeds toasting in the oven, sipping tea.

Part of me wishes I was one of those people who paints their face with team colours, who jumps up, chip crumbs flying out of my mouth as I scream for the touchdown, full of wings and booze. To be part of a society which is joined by the love of one team, a football family. Tomorrow at the water cooler the plays will be dissected one by one, and I will have nothing to say. (well, there is no water cooler where we gather at my work...)

Being part of a community, whether it be football or otherwise, gives a sense of comfort. It gives me a sense of purpose, and when I feel I am active in my community and contributing to our puropse (like cheering on a team) I feel most happy. To be part of a community is to feel needed, and that you belong. I think most of us are driven by this desire. To have someone to gravitate towards when we enter a new situation, to find like-minded strangers who easily become friends through our common interest. Being accountable to a community also keeps us in line when we feel ourselves begin to flounder. Sometimes we are more involved, sometimes less, but just the act of showing up and sitting amongst people we know think the same way we do is huge for me, and can take me out of myself and see the bigger picture.

So if anyone else out there is not watching Team A kick Team B's butt tonight, maybe we can start our own little club. I've put on the kettle and I'll be waiting for your knock at the door anytime.

hooray, hooray

Today I took the technological leap (okay, baby step) of getting a new cell phone. After 3 years I have gotten pretty used to my scratched up ol' Samsung- no camera, no ringtones, just a phone. But mesmorized mostly by the nice colours (and $0 price) I've made the leap to a "fancy" phone (well, in my eyes). I even learnt how to load mp3s onto it. Me and new phone are off to a good start. I think this may be the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Here is the first song I downloaded and set as my ringtone. Everytime you call me I will do a little dance...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6-W3fCUok8

Accomplishment of the Day

Today I decided to tackle one of the things that has always eluded me- baking with yeast. And, thanks to the tropical heat situation that happens in my apartment in the winter, my dough actually rose, and it turned out! (Normally my bread comes out as a dense little rock.) Whole wheat rye bread accompanied tonight's dinner, and was a hit (at least with Danika and me...), and a bonus of baking at home is the lovely smell that, mixed with some sort of onion concotion my downstairs neighbour must have been frying up, made my apartment smell like: (in the word's of D) "Kingsford Haus". That's pretty much the best compliment a gal could get!

Walking in a winter wonderland....

Winter has officially arrived in Winnipeg.
I'm still finding it a bit hard to believe, because fall was beautiful and warm, and suddenly one day it rained and snowed and it was instant winter. Normally we're eased into it by snow that falls, then melts away, then falls again and melts again. Not this year. It is here, and it is here to stay... at least for the next 5...? 6....? months....

This morning I woke up, a Sunday feeling on a Tuesday morning. Remembrance Day is not really a holiday I "celebrate" in any way, and so basically it's a day off in the middle of the week. The sun was shining, and I bundled up and decided to go explore the river walk since I haven't been since it snowed. Surprisingly, I was overdressed, and pulled off my toque five minutes out of the door.

Lots of people were out enjoying the day, particularly lots of old men... but I dig it. Had a few little conversations with some of them, always a good time. We were all just out for the same reason, to enjoy this sunny, winter morning (although this isn't really Winnipeg winter yet...) and take the day off to relax.
These are just a few impressions of this lovely morning I took to share with you...

Gone Huntin'

Today I went hunting- house hunting that is. I'm slowly trying to get a feel for what's out there in the hopes of eventually committing to a place.

In every home I go into, I immedietly want to do two things.

1) Critisize in my mind why it wouldn't be fitting, and how it wouldn't work for me

2) Totally fall in love with the place and picture my furniture in all the rooms

It seems a little contradictory, and it kind of throws me off that every place I see I love and I hate at the same time. I think there's the "rash Rachel" who likes to make split second decisions without thinking, who can committ passionately to something in a matter of seconds. This is the Rachel that has up to this point been my biggest influence. Then there's the new Rachel I'm trying to cultivate. Let's call her "responsible Rachel". She thinks things through, and looks at flooring and wonders what resale values may be. The only problem is that right now the two Rachels don't know how to co-exist, and this causes such conundrums as the one listed above.

I definitely think there is value to both aspects of the decision making process. On the one hand, you need to be careful, and realize what you're getting into, but on the other hand, deliberating forever could mean you miss out on a great opportunity, and it can make you go crazy because nothing will ever be good enough. So although I am trying to be more mature and responsible, I hope I never lose the other aspect that, although has often gotten me into trouble, keeps things exciting and balances out all this grown-up adult decision making.

That's all I have to say for now, because after a day of seeing the sign over and over again, the rest of my brain is preoccupied by the jingle:
"Com free, com free, com free dot coooooommmmm" So catchy!

night of the living dead

I know Halloween has come and gone, but walking home from the Forks today I felt like time should rewind and today should be October 31st. The real Halloween felt cute and happy, full of kids dressed as M&M's, hopped up on sugar, and overly eager at the prospect of free candy.

But today the air seemed to be buzzing with an energy that, despite the freakishly warm weather, sent a shiver down my spine. The sun, setting earlier now that the time has changed, seemed to me as if it was being pulled, against its will, down to the horizon. In its tracks it left a bloody orange streak across the sky. As a breeze blew off the river and through my hair it felt like it was carrying howls and messages from ghouls and ghosts. The bare tree branches, still uncovered in snow or frost, looked like gnarled hands, trying to grab at the passers by who were unknowingly about to be dragged into a dark underworld, beneath the rotting leaves on the muddy river bank. It seemed like just beyond my ability to see, a whole world of the dead was slowly waking up, and they were moaning and calling, begging to be heard. So beware, because although sugar highs and bite-size O'Henry Bars may have kept the spirits at bay October 31st, they are out and about tonight and ready to make themselves known.

the cold, the dark & the silence

EVEN VAMPIRES NEED TO BE LOVED