Puny Express

The totally untrue story of Puny Express was started by Shannon and continued by Courtney, so now it's my turn.

Shan explored the band's origins, with our album "Leave My Soul Alone", and Courtney discussed our rise to fame with the album "Freedom Is Just Chaos With Better Lightning". I am here to tell you about the height of our fame: the album 955. Our humble beginnings of church retreat meet ups were long past as our skyrocket to fame landed us in a new world of sex, drugs and rock n' roll.
955 included the tracks:
1. Jim Rogers - a tribute to Puny Express' financial advisor
2. Ulysses - later re-made by Franz Ferdinand
3. June 30 - a rock ballad with video starring Erin and Johnny Depp
4. Lord Byron - written and composed by Courtney and her love of literature
5. Meet Joe Black - written by Shan after her lusty affair with Brad Pitt

It took mere days for 955 to go platinum, and tickets for the corresponding tour sold out in seconds. The band toured for 8 months straight, travelling across North America in a convoy of expensive tour buses surrounded by groupies. After show parties lasted until the wee hours of the morning, and at said parties anything could happen and everything did.

We had the time of our lives, but nothing lasts forever, and it wasn't long before the sex, drugs and rock n' roll got old, the groupies got between us, and 8 long months on the road took its toll. We got cocky with our success, and started fighting amongst ourselves. Egos were clashing and fans began to take notice - the music suffered the most. I will leave it here, in hopes that another member of the band will finish the story.

My Latest Obsession

I've been a bad blogger. I know. I'm sorry.
And I'll likely continue to be a bad blogger for a little while longer.
Would you like to know why?
I have a new obsession.
The Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris... You know, the books that True Blood was based on?
Let me tell you, the books are even better than the series. Oh. My. Goodness.
I have lost sleep over this series, I've stayed up to the wee hours of the morning reading, and still not been able to sleep afterward because I've continued to think about them.
They are just that good.
Right now, I'm reading Definitely Dead, the 6th book. I have one more to read, until the next one comes out in paperback at the end of the month, and then another one comes out in May... the author says she's not done yet, which makes me terribly happy.
I am no good at book reviewing. I doubt I ever will be any good at it. All I can tell you is that these books are incredible and if you haven't read them yet, do so immediately.
And with that, I will likely be MIA for a little longer while I spend all of my free time reading these books. I'll still be Tumbling and Twittering, so if you're missing me, come see me there!

Recap

So life has been busy lately, thus I've been MIA from the blogging world. Here's what's new with me:

• Mom's surgery went really well. She had it on Monday and was okay to go home on Thursday! Her nurses were fantastic and everything went really smoothly. I am unbelievably relieved that this is finally over.
• I've been working overnights. I expect it will be a while before I have a normal sleep schedule again. We have been short staffed the past 2 nights, so I have been stationed by myself at the main desk of the shelter, which I love. When there are no new intakes and all of my work is done, I get to chill with a snack, listen to some Dave Matthews, and read or play around on the internet while everyone else sleeps.
  
• I bought the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris, it's the book that True Blood is based on. I am almost through it already and I loved it! I went to Chapters tonight and bought the next 3 in the series.
• Maurice the turtle is living at my apartment now! The cat hasn't tried to kill him yet, so all is well! He likes staring at me while I do stuff around the apartment, he's funny! I will introduce you properly soon.
  
• My littlest sister is on a March Break school trip to Spain and Italy right now. The middle sister is still in Australia. I am stuck in Toronto... and slowly going stir crazy.
• BUT, I got a ticket to see the Dave Matthews Band in June! I'm crazy excited, especially because their new CD comes out only days before. However, the crappy part is that I'm going with 2 other friends, and Ticketmaster wouldn't allow us to puchase more than 2 tickets together for inside the pavilion, so I am sitting one section over from my two friends... here's hoping we can sweet talk the people around us to let us all sit together...
  
• I started a Tumblr, because I clearly need to spend more time on the internet. It's Tumbling Down the Rabbit Hole, go follow me!
• Oh! How Lovely! Shops is giving away a set of bodhicitta Recycled Glasses, very cool! Go enter!
  

Pretty Please?

Please please please will somebody buy me this Threadless shirt!?! It is called Mister Mittens Big Adventure. In return you will receive my undying love and devotion.
(Ladies 2X fits perfectly, just in case you were curious...)

ANOTHER Award?!

I am super excited that I won another bloggy award! These things make me all warm and fuzzy inside in ways that I'm sure isn't normal.


Lindsay at Adventures of a Book Thief gave me this Love Ya award. Go check her blog out, y'all! She also was the one who gave me that yummy Bloggy Valentine's Day present. Here's what it says:

“These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award!”

And now for my nominees:
1) Lily at Lily Speak
2) Ria at & that's the way life goes
3) Jess at Classy in Philadelphia
4) Ashley at Writing to Reach You
5) EP at Stylish Handwriting
6) Lucklys at How Lucky We Are
7) Carmen at My Life in a Nutshell
8) Kern at The Transformation of Kern

All of these ladies have fantastic blogs which I highly recommend you go check out immediately, and they're all wonderful people who I am lucky to know. Go read their stuff and get to know them right away if you don't already know them!

Go Enter This Giveaway!

Over at Allie's Answers you can enter a giveaway for a Gaiam rug. They're made from recycled materials and fair trade. SO cool.

I Don't Know

Lisa Hannigan was on the Colbert Report last night. I am in love with this song:

Kickaroo!

Today, I went to the pet store, and on a whim I bought a Kong Kickaroo for Thunder Kitty. Ours is the cow pattern.Let me tell you, if you have a cat who likes to fight like my badass cat, this is the cat toy for you. Thunder Kitty loves it. And it is named Kickaroo. Come on! I have never blogged about a cat toy before, so this is kind of a big deal!

Update

This is Mom and me. I love this photo.

The surgery went without a hitch today, and Mom seems to be doing well. The doctor seemed very optimistic that she could be out by the weekend as long as things are moving well, he wants her up and walking around tomorrow. She was really doped up tonight, which was likely a good thing. Mom grew up with the woman who is the head of pain management for the hospital and went to nursing school with her, so she's being taken care of. I will likely be going up to visit tomorrow, Wednesday, and Thursday - mostly to give her and Dad a break from each other and to make sure Dad is taking care of himself.

Thanks to all of you for your support and positive thoughts and good wishes, it means so much to me!

Unpacking the Insecurities

Sometimes I think you just need to rant and get it all out, tonight is one of those nights. So here goes. Saying it's scary to have this out there is the understatement of the year...

I'm usually at least outwardly confident in regards to my relationship status. I joke with my family about my plans to be a crazy cat lady, an old maid. I groan that there may in fact be cobwebs filling up my lady parts. When someone asks, I say I just haven't met anyone I'm interested in being with, nobody I like enough to spend large amounts of time with. I shrug and mutter that I'm sure he'll show up someday.
When it's just me, though, and I get to thinking about it, the insecurities take over.
I mean, I'm 23 years old. I've only ever had one official boyfriend... and that was almost 5 years ago. 5 years. Even I know that's not normal. 5 years and not even the slightest hint of interest or action... well, other than creepers in the alley, which does not count.
Not normal at all. Those insecurities start to tug at me, what's so wrong with me that only alley creepers are interested in me? I mean, I'm not completely repulsive, I'm generally a nice person too, am I emitting some sort of "men, stay the hell away" signal?!?
I am introverted. I know that. I generally like spending time alone, so being single isn't completely terrible. I like being able to come home at night to the cat waiting for me in a quiet apartment.
Just me, and that's okay.
But it's not always okay.
I'm tired of being the odd one out. I'm tired of always being second choice. I want to be somebody's number one for once, the first one they call, the one they would rather be with. I don't think I've ever been somebody's number one.
I want a partner in crime, someone to have adventures with, someone to share my day with.
Unfortunately (or, maybe fortunately) the cat doesn't respond when I talk to him.
I wonder if part of the problem is the fear. The fear of taking a risk, of trusting someone, of new things, of new people, of communicating with someone on a real deep level, of being hurt again. I don't like uncertainties, and it takes me a long time to even build friendships with new people. I clam up. Don't tell them the stuff inside of you because they're going to judge you. I am very rarely uncensored, even around my closest friends.
And I'm picky. I've always maintained that it is a good thing to be picky. You should NOT lower your standards for anyone, I've proclaimed. But maybe my pickiness holds me back. That's what my Mom always says when I am too picky to eat foods. "Try it, you'll like it." She's been crooning that statement to me in a singsongy voice for as long as I can remember.
I am so worried about people judging me too quickly, yet I am fast to judge others.
But I suppose that pickiness has really only been applied recently to online dating. You can't be picky when there's nothing in real life to be picky about.
And so, for now, I guess I'll just pack up the insecurities, suck it up, and be happy with being second choice. He'll come along someday, right? Good thing cats have relatively long life expectancies.

Cancer-schmancer

Mom's surgery is on Monday.
This will be it. The end of the battle (hopefully).
The doctor will take away Oscar Ostomy (that's right, she named her Ostomy) and hook everything back up and once the muscles are working properly again, my mommy will be back to normal.
It's been a long year. Cancer... shit. I did not ever expect to have to deal with that. Other people got cancer, I knew that, but certainly not anyone in my family, especially my mom.
After the diagnosis, I didn't know what to do with myself... Mom is supposed to take care of ME, not the other way around.
Dad having a slight heart condition I could handle, that I was used to, that was under control. But Mom having cancer!? No way. Can't happen. Cancer is a dirty word. It's a being that comes in and destroys everything it touches and takes away the people it inhabits.
Little did I know...
We were lucky that it was caught relatively early.
We were lucky that Grandpa is a well respected doctor and has connections.
We were lucky that the chemo/radiation shrunk that tumour away to nothing.
We were lucky to have an amazing surgeon.
We were lucky to have tremendous support, from our family, from our town, from our church.
We were lucky.
Cancer isn't an all-devouring beast. It comes in many forms. For some people, cancer will take them away from their loved ones. But for others, there is hope. That is something I wish I knew at the beginning. There is hope.
And you know what? No matter what the outcome, cancer brings people together. Our family became closer than ever. People that Mom had grown apart from came out of the woodwork, bringing cards and flowers and meals and gifts, and most importantly, their presence, letting her know they cared.
As a family we cried, we laughed, we fought, we encouraged, we pitched in. Mom learned that it's okay to take a step back, to ask for help - things she would never do before. The middle sis and I became more present, in spite of not living at home, we made more of an effort to be there. For me, it taught me that if I can get through this crisis, I can get through most anything. The littlest sis, the only child living at home, grew up, a lot. She gracefully dealt with situations that I could have never dealt with at 16. She took care of the house, she accompanied on doctor's visits, she dealt with the outside world when Mom couldn't, she put her own needs aside and became a better person. Dad learned to leave work behind, that business could wait. Never, in my life growing up, had I seen Dad leave the store behind and trust others with his business. Dad also, I think, realized that life is short... not long after this ordeal, he decided to follow his dream of having his own forest and so bought the new property (his new love).
Yeah, cancer sucks ass, but I like to think that there is always a bright side to the crap that happens. Cancer may have ravaged Mom's body, but it also changed all of our lives in a positive way.

Here's the ladies of our family, only weeks before Mom was diagnosed, celebrating middle sis's birthday. From the left we have littlest sis, middle sis, Mom, and myself. If we only knew what was coming...


And here's my beautiful Mom this past Christmas. Here she has gone through a month straight of chemo and radiation, a surgery to remove the affected part of the bowel and insert an ostemy, and she was currently in the middle of 4 months of chemo (1 week a month). Just look at her! She looks incredible! She amazes me with how strong she is.

And so, on Monday, she goes in for more surgery. Minor surgery, just to hook everything back up.
It's minor, I tell myself, it's a happy surgery to fix everything back up. After this, it will be over. Right?
But I still get a nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach when I think about it. Not as big as the one I got before her first surgery... but it's still there.
Maybe it's because I don't deal with hospitals well. The waiting while she's being operated on, how sterile everything is, how scary the patients look, Mom... hooked up to tubes and monitors. I'm not looking forward to going through that again. I feel like I already know my way around that hospital way too well. I'm not a person who deal with medical things well... or bodily fluids for that matter. Heck, I shy away from dealing with emotions. That feeling in the bottom of my stomach and the back of my throat is there the entire time I am, and it stays even when I go home at night. I use humour to get through it. I'm the one in the hospital room cracking jokes and goofing off. Voted most likely to get kicked out of the hospital room and be scowled at by nurses.
But, we'll get through it. And you know what, Mom's going to be fine. They'll continue to check on Mom for the next few years to make sure the cancer doesn't come back, but she responded so well to the treatment this time that I am not terribly concerned about that. Mom's a tough cookie. And no matter what, thanks to this fight with cancer, I have hope. You never know what life's going to throw at you, but even with the bad, you can find good.

The Point of the Composition

Over at Treasuing, I saw this video posted. I love it enough to post it here for you guys. Please take a few minutes to watch it, it's adorable and it has a fantastic message.

Heads Up!

Hey guys! There's a contest at Oh, Hello Friend! Get your butt over there and enter it (or don't, so I have a better chance)!

Award O'Clock!

Recently, I was lucky enough to recieve not one but two blog awards! Here we go:


I recieved the Honest Scrap Award from Rialeilani!

The Honest Scrap award comes with a caveat or 2. Firstly you have to tell your readers 10 things about you they may not know, but that are true. Secondly you have to tag 10 people with the award.

1) I had surgery on my kidney when I was 3 years old. I still have a giant scar across my side from it. You know that tube that goes from your kidney to your bladder? Well I had an extra one, only it didn't go to my bladder, it went nowhere. Now I have a kidney and 3/4s. The only real thing that means is that I could never donate a kidney. I used to be embarrassed to tell people why I had the surgery, because it meant that I was deformed. Now, I don't care.
2) I have a magazine buying problem. Mostly it stems from my quest to find a replacement favourite magazine post-Jane. Currently, sitting on the floor beside my bed I have: Glamour, Lou Lou, Real Simple, Nylon, and Naked Eye. Still, none of them quite live up to Jane.
3) 3 is my favourite number. Has been forever, no idea why!
4) The past few days, when I have spent a great deal of time sick in bed, Thunder Kitty has started cuddling with my legs. It makes me extremely happy.
5) I feel naked if I'm not wearing a watch. I have worn one every single day since I started being a camp counsellor in... 2002. My parents get me a new one pretty much every year for either Christmas or my birthday. That sounds fancy, but they own a jewellery store, so it's okay.
6) If you follow me on Twitter (@ewalker9), you might remember that I am adopting a turtle. His name is Maurice (named after Marice Starr), and he has been a camp pet since 2001 if I remember correctly. Every year I was senior staff at camp, I took care of him, and even when I didn't work there, I harassed the staff who did into taking proper care of him. One year, way before me, he was left there alone from August to October when someone finally found him. Now, the camp doesn't want him and the girl who was taking care of him is going to Nepal and nobody wants him. So I said that if nobody will take him, I will, because I couldn't stand to let him go homeless, I like the little guy. And so, I am adopting my third pet from camp that nobody wanted (the first being Clark the hamster, now deceased, and the second being Thunder Kitty). I thought my parents were going to kill me, instead they just rolled their eyes. I will properly introduce him when he arrives at my place.
7) I have a small collection (4) of tribal masks on my wall. I both love them and scare the crap out of me. I got my first when I worked at the campus art gallery at university. They have a high-end yard sale every year as a fund raiser, where people donate items to sell to raise money for the gallery. Somebody donated a tonne of African masks, and I loved them. I told myself that if there was still one left on the last day, I would buy it. There was, and I did. After that, I bought 3 more on various Carribbean islands that we stopped at on our 2 cruises. The Carribbean ones are much more friendly looking than the African mask. I will likely collect more on my future travels.
8) This is my least favourite time of year. Winter has long since overstayed it's welcome and excitement, spring is nowhere to be seen, most days are cold and grey, and the snow is dirty looking. I cannot wait for spring to come.
9) I used to name my houseplants. I had Ezra (because I loved the name) and Annabelle and Annabelle 2 (she was a sprout from Annabelle the first).
10) Last night, my friend and I were driving back to my apartment, and in the alley outside of it, a guy flagged us down and asked if we could help him jump his car. I did it, luckily he knew what to do because I didn't even know where the button to pop the hood was at first. We got his car started and he was good to go. I was so happy that my friend was with me though, because I grew up being taught that people in the city are scary and not to be trusted, especially when you are a female alone, so I likely would not have stopped to help or at least I would have been torn about it. It was nice to be able to help him, and cool to see what to do to jump start a car. Also, he had a really nice voice.

Tagged:
Jess at Classy in Philadelphia
Lily at Lily Speak
Carmen at My Life in a Nutshell
Cuileann at The Holly and the Ivy
Kern at The Transformation of Kern
Heather at EveryyDayy
Lucklys at How Lucky We Are
Ashley at Writing to Reach You
Ashley at Turquoise Ribbons
EP at Stylish Handwriting




I also received the Arte Y Pico Award (creative blog award) from Ashley at Writing to Reach You! And I would like to give this award to Lily at Lily Speak for having a beautiful blog and being my very first bloggy friend!

One Week

This movie looks beautiful! I want an adventure like this (minus the short life expectancy bit). It comes out Friday here, so likely I'll see it in a week or so. I expect to bawl through the entire thing. Check out the trailer: