premier

So since being back at school I have decided to get off my lazy ass and join a gym. So I signed up at one of those large ontario chains called premier fitness. So when I signed up I got 5 sessions. The first was just to see where I am with my life now, and what my goals are. The one after was to see what kind of strength level I had and what kind of gym knowledge I have. Then I had the third today which was a pretend session with a trainer to see what it would be like to have a personal trainer.

PS premier fitness I hope you read this so that you can see customer dissatisfaction. ---and if you read this send me an email to rectify this!

So after the half-hour session which I found was useless! I got to meet with someone again about getting the personal trainer. I had the guy doing my trainer go and get some manager guy to come talk with me about some program that's gonna take me through four steps and get me to my peak physical condition. As this sales pitch is being made my trainer kind of sneaks out. So this guy is talking to me about how much weight I can drop before beach season. Even before he gets through his whole spiel I say that I can't afford this - he rebuts with the fact that he hasn't even mentioned the cost yet. So I allow him to continue.

The initial cost is $33/week. For a student that is a lot. I can't afford it.

Then he keeps talking about the beach and how I don't know a lot about gym equipment. Again no

Then he tells me I won't get the results I want. you know at this point I don't care enormously about that. I just want to keep physically active and maybe drop a little, but I'm not going to be upset if it gets to summer and my body doesn't look like jessica stam. I't isn't the end of my life. I have more self-confidence then that.

He even goes so far as to drop the price for less sessions. Also says you spend how much a day going out to eat or getting coffee and that I could use that money to work out. I'm real annoyed at this point and at one point I even debated getting up and just leaving because I was so frustrated. I also told him that I'd be guaranteed results because I wouldn't have enough money for food and I'd starve to my 'target weight'

I just felt really discouraged and that I wasn't worth anything if I didn't subscribe to this program. I'm still going to go to the gym, because I still want to work out.

and yes to let all you know the money management situation isn't going that great either. I have been living like I have a job all the time. Not a great choice!! So I'm really watching my budget right now.

a titanic post (I say that now but it probably won't be crazy)

So this one's been a long time coming. I've noticed a bit of a reluctance to blog lately, not do to lack of ideas, but I got fake nails back in december and it makes typing really annoying and I can't type as fast as I wish to.

Anyways...I went with becky to the titanic exhibit in kitchener this weekend. Before I continue I need to let you know that I have never met anyone that loves titanic more than her. It's nice to see that someone can get so passionate about something. I don't know anything I love more than becky loves titanic. The passion started with the movie and continued on from there. If you ever get the chance please watch the movie with her!

So it was her dream to go and sadly we put it off until the last day. We booked tickets online the night before to ensure our entry and we left her place around 8:30 to get there before 10.

So we got there and handed in our tickets...shortly into the exhibit I noticed that we had made it in the nick of time, right before the crowd. That seems to happen to me all the time (perhaps a further blog later)

I realized that this experience would be amazing to blog about so like the little nerd I am, I whipped out my trusty notebook and decided to take notes to share with all of you. I know that some readers are living in winnipeg and it is my understanding that this exhibit will be visiting winnipeg next and so I may be giving away some spoilers...SPOILER 1...the ship sinks!

So my first thought when I got in there was why are people so obsessed with this story? It was four days on the ship! I feel that my question was actually answered throughout this exhibit. There was so so much confidence in this ship and the new technology and everything about it seemed to set a change for human existence and ow we travel. If successful I feel this could have been a big milestone in history. For that reason I feel that it is a huge story of warning that we are also not unsinkable, and that we do need to be wary of dangers and not allow egos to overtake us. Also we have learned to watch out for icebergs! It seems to be a very romantic story as well, hence the film, however it just seems to be a great edwardian setting and it's just the time where social conventions are being challenged as well. Reading some of the biographies of people there were a lot of people that were on the ship by chance. The best story was of one guy that got shanghaied the night before and his friend took his stuff onto the ship, but the first guy never showed up. There were also people using this ship to get to America to start a new life, or people returning home for emergencies. The ship was also a place where all classes were welcome. Ticket prices ranged from $900 in 3rd class to a whopping $103,000 for a first class suite. (I put the prices into modern dollars). All things considered I feel that even now $900 is a lot to pay for the ship. It was interesting that a lot of the people who were in third class were treated to more luxury than they had ever experienced in their lives. The Titanic had a huge service aspect to it and tried to go beyond standard expectations. Some of the luxuries experiences were the delicious meals, and running water and the simplicity of electricity. Unfortunately the fact that there were so many people working aboard the ship meant that many of them went down with the ship. The largest proportion of people that died aboard were from the crew who probably lost 60% of the total aboard.

A lot of people were also returning from the british colonies in africa. I must say I totally forgot how many people were in africa doing settlements, and it's weird that people actually used to go and live there. I guess people do know, but it's a lot more in terms of missionary type roles. I forget that there are white people in africa. (Yes I know I'm a little racist sounding)

One thing they recovered from the bottom of the ocean was a wok for cooking. I thought that was kind of cool. You wouldn't expect them to use a wok for the british cooking onboard.

I bet living on a ship would be an amazing place for children. It's safe enough that they can't really get to far (good movie idea...captured on a cruise ship, like red eye on water?) but there were lots of outdoor places and their parents likely (especially upper classes) probably never let them have this much fun at home.

Nowadays to reach the resting place of the titanic on the bottom of the ocean it takes 2.5 hours from the surface. The total trip is 15-16 hours from land. I couldn't imagine being that far down and it would feel so lonely down there. Sadly because of this place it is expected the titanic only has about 60ish more years until it collapses upon itself, due to erosion of the materials. They are doing as much as hey can to recover all the artifacts they can. It's weird that we are recovering artifacts from 100 years ago; it really doesn't seem like 100 years is that long, but things were so different...but at the same time nothing has changed!

It was neat that they had recovered some of people's personal effects including postcards, some perfume, letters, sheet music and other assorted goods. The only reason I would like to die in some weird tragedy like this is so that I can have my 'personal effects' on display. Maybe I'll just have to do something awesome so that my house gets turned into a museum.

There were also many things that were manufactured by companies that are still around, Gillette razors included. That is a really great demonstration of how good your product is. I would for sure brag about that. Our product is so good that it lasted 60 years on the bottom of the sea and still works!

One last story. When you first get in you are giving a little detail card of someone who was on the titanic and we get to see whether or not they survived at the end. Mine was a husband and wife from third class returning from a year long honeymoon in Sweden where their son was born. Does anyone else see 'shotgun wedding'!!! A little bit of a scandal if you ask me. Ernst also was an emigrant recruiter for the White Star lines (the ship company that built titanic) and received commissions for getting people to go on this ship. All suspicious. He did die in the end. I feel there is a better story behind what I'm reading.

what a bum

so It's been quite a while since blogging...in fact, I think I was still in winnipeg the last time I wrote. That's awful!

What has happened since...

- got back to school

- I've come to the realization that I don't mind my pale skin nearly as much as I used to. Considering how light my hair is as well, it makes being pale not nearly as bad. I still will tan, but only once a week as part of my personal therapy.

- I got new glasses from warbyparker.com...unreal!!! I love them. They cost me around $130 for everything including delivery. I have nothing bad to say about them. Only stupid UPS. Thursday I checked the tracking number to see where they were and it said they had already been delivered. I made a call and the local distributer called me back saying they were delivered to number 38. Ma'am, if I wanted them to be delivered to number 38 I would have indicated that on my order. Sadly It is quite inconvenient for me as I live at number 37.

- I went to kingston, the same weekend I turned 22. Gosh I'm old

- I love all my classes!!! Finally

- I went to German movie night. We watched the film Die Faelscher, or in English, the Counterfeiters. SO good!

- Blue monday got to me. It's apparently supposed to be the same day that you fail new years resolutions, holidays are over, and there is a milage of horrible things that happened. I also happened to be PMS-ing. I was at the Gym waiting for an appointment and just cried in front of everything, I got set off because my grandparents (neither set) called me on my birthday and I just was a little let down. I called my dad and he just was on my case about something and it was just not the right time and I cried in front of some old lady. And I was just embarrassed. It was a great way to meet people for the first time....

- Watching I love you Man right now. There are SOO soo many classic lines that have come from this movie that really have made their way into people's daily language.

- My computer is officially full!!! Time to start being a little bit more picky with music.

christmas post

Merry Christmas...

yeah, I'm a little late, but I finally remembered what I wanted to talk about. I don't know if anyone else has this, but in your family do people use the same gift bags over and over? I love this old sense of familiarity and seeing the ghosts or empty shells of christmas past. I know that there is one giant bag I have likely seen 5 years in a row now. I love the reuse of gift bags (environmentally friendly) solely for this reason. IT's like an old friend coming back to visit you.

So another story...yesterday at work I found out that someone is Jehovahs Witness. I don't know alot about the whole JW thing and so we got on talking, and she tried to out-religion me.She started with the question of why we celebrate christmas on the 25th because it doesn't say anywhere that Jesus was born on the 25th. This also got me thinking that JW must spend a lot of time being critical of other beliefs...not to say that historically christians have been much better in many situations. Anyways, I was finally in a situation where I was able to come up with the right answer at the right time. Not only did I come up with it but I actually knew it. It's adapted from the pagan holiday and during the whole time of the roman empire it was adopted because it was already a holiday. Bring it! Then she also told me about how the bible says that the shepherds were sleeping in the fields and that it would be to cold, even in Israel for people to sleep outside so we know it's not winter. That seems like a pretty week argument though.

I'm watching gilmore girls right now and it's one of those 'awkward dinners' where no one talks. Do you ever find yourself in that situation? Often if I do, I just sit an eat and try not to think about how awkward it is. Then I just continue on...another proof of how things are always dependant on your mindset. If you go in thinking how awkward a situation that's all you are going to remember about and that's going to reflect on your opinion of that event.

last minute

I don't know why this is but I always seem to leave thing until the last minute. This final weekend is going to be so busy for me. I have so many people to see.

I had the whole day to myself today and I milked it. I didn't do much, Got a massage...

I must say ten spa is much better, not just because of the steam room. The massage there is just unreal. Anyways during the massage when my masseur was working on my back I was thinking...'this really hurts'. I often feel that the pain is a good thing and it's a good kind of pain and my body does feel pretty great. Then when you think about getting a massage you are reminded of the great feeling but when you are in there it really hurts, and you kind of wish they wouldn't hurt you so much. My feet though...or calfs; those never hurt!

That got me thinking...you know how sometimes you are in a situation, or you are in anticipation of a situation, it always is more exciting than the actual event. Anticipation and performance I believe contribute to overall fondness of something. A reason to never plan ahead, as so not to have expectations be unmet. But I often feel that our memories of a situation are more glorified than the actual experience. Maybe we just choose to leave out the bad parts because you don't want that to be the memorable part of your memory. Or maybe those details weren't really important in the whole scheme of things. Maybe sometimes those bad memories help make the situation better because you are able to bounce back and you feel as though you accomplished/conquered something.

new years suck

So generally I hold the standard that I'm going to have a crappy new years. Well this christmas has been a bit of a let down just because I am barely seeing the people that I want to as much as I want to. This having a job thing really sucks. It's not just that I have to work, but it's that I have stuff to do the days I don't work and I get drained when I am working and don't really want to do anything after because all I want to do is sleep.

So the story starts thursday. I was able to head out with many of my parents friends and their kids because one of the sons of our family friends is getting married, and so we had a shower for him and his new bride. Earlier that day my mom and I went to see black swan which was the MOST adult film I have ever watched in my life, but I'm still glad I saw it. During the film my mother began to feel quite ill and was not sure she was going to make it. So in the end she did not come with my father and I to the shower. So at the shower it turns out the bride was quite sick and she didn't even come. Then while we were presenting the gift the groom had to rush to the bathroom. Also I was at my oma and opa's because I thought I had to work but apparently I got the days mixed up...oops, but there my opa was also sick. I was feeling fine, but later on in the evening (at like 2 in the morning) I woke up and said 'something is not right' so I watched movies for a bit, and then decided it was time to make a visit to the bathroom. It was weird. I felt fine, just kept puking. That happened once more that night and then in the morning. The rest of yesterday I was mostly sore and tired, but that's partially due to the gravol. I hated that I had to stay in for new years. It's not that I was planning on going anywhere but I just realized that I have not had enough fun. I think that so far last christmas home was beating this christmas in terms of fun. So I guess it's time to change that!!! I have about 10 days left and it's time to get my act together.

On Another note one of the recent 1000 awesome things was 'finding good reading material in someone else's bathroom'. This is the worst dilemna for me because I want to read as much as possible, but I don't want people to think I'm destroying their bathroom.