Leaving me raw.

So while I was home in Mississauga I went out for my traditional dinner with Claire, Tina and Sherry (Jen was in Montreal), instead of going to one of the limited options at Square One, Tina suggested we go to a Raw food restaurant. I was skeptical. Did I really want to pay restaurant prices for some cut up vegetables? I have to say I found myself pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food at Raw Aura, it certainly wasn't what I was expecting. So as I was eating I thought to myself "Hey, this could be really healthy" and I wondered whether it would be possible to live off of a raw food diet for the week (It turned out after I did a bit of research that apparently people just live on raw food diets).
So last Sunday I only ate raw food (with the exception of a chai latte as I had decided to allow myself one Chai Latte a day during this little experience). Day one I felt a little funky but it wasn't so bad. I didn't cheat. By the second day I was getting a little bit hungry but I had discovered that you could make something reminiscent to noodles by peeling a zucchini. I did cheat that night by having a desert, but it could have been worse. In fact it did get worse everyday I would make exceptions but I tried to make healthy ones. For example Wednesday I had sushi for lunch in an attempt to eat something with protein. I did not cheat on caffeine. Unfortunately I started to get an upset stomach on Wednesday which lasted until the end of the week. Friday night I failed rather dramatically by eating a hamburger and fries for dinner but I had decided I would still try to stick it out until the end of the day Saturday when I had been invited to both a Bread and a Nacho party. However, when I woke up Saturday morning I discovered that my room mates had eaten the fruit I had put aside for my breakfast and gave up. I have to say the raw food diet left me with a very upset stomach and very tired. It definitely was not a healthy choice for me however it did introduce me to some new recipes which I am sure to return to in the future.

Back to the subject of Mississauga I guess the only other thing to talk about is Blues dancing. I guess I never shared with you readers that I had enrolled myself in swing dancing classes in Halifax. Coupled with regular social dancing I have to say my dancing ability is coming along and that I am getting pretty okay at it. In any case coming home I found myself somewhat disappointed because I was missing the final swing dance lesson in Halifax but in a stroke of genius I remembered that my oldest friend Karen had also taken up swing dancing and concluded that we should go swing dancing together. So on Friday night of Easter weekend Karen, her boyfriend Lionel, my friend Adam and myself headed out to a blues dancing lesson and social dance (Blues dancing is essentially the same thing as swing dancing with a less complicated step). It was really fantastic to get a chance to dance with new people taught by different instructors. I found the dancers in Toronto to have a bit more of a creative streak, to the point that Karen's Boyfriend and I included making faces at each other in our swing dance routine, which was embarrassing for Karen and Adam but fun for us.

Finally, bad news about my thesis. I am still planning on having a first draft done by the beginning of June but I have discovered that my supervisor is having hip surgery and that as a result I won't be able to defend until late August. Well shit.

Til Next time,

Cheers

" This is the final Boarding call for Flight 606 to Halifax"

So there are tales from my trip home for Easter coming but before that I thought I would impart this short story with you today from the airport in Toronto.

Today I was flying back from Toronto to Halifax and arrived at the airport quite early, having gotten a ride up from my friend Claire on her way to work (thanks again :)). So I arrived at my gate and this fellow sat down next to me saying that he recognized me from Halifax. I was somewhat surprised as I didn't recognize him at all but as it would turn out he is an up and coming spoken word artist originally from Bermuda now going to school in Hali.
After quite an extensive conversation I turned to reading my book when said individual asked if I would watch his stuff while he went to the bathroom. I said of course. It was 20 minutes to boarding.
15 minutes pass and they make the first boarding announcement, you know the one for people with young children or for star alliance gold and star alliance members. He still isn't back and I'm a little concerned but I'm convinced he must be just around the corner.
Five minutes pass and they make the second boarding announcement, for people in rows 22 and up. I am in row 24 but I still have this man's things with me (which included a lap top and demo CDs.
5 more minutes pass and they make the final boarding announcement. Not knowing what to do I decide to take the baggage to the woman at the boarding gate and explain the situation. She not only refuses to take the luggage but tells me she is not going to let me board the plane until the guy returns for his things. At this point I am freaking out and a pilot who is waiting for a flight on stand by notices and tells me to go and dump the guy's things around the corner and tell the flight attendant that I found him. I frankly wonder why they won't just do a call out for him. Anyway as the line was dwindling here comes this fellow around the corner. He seems oblivious to the fact that there was any problem with him leaving his things with me for over a half an hour and assures me he wouldn't have missed the flight. We then both get a stern lecture about not leaving items unattended, and me about agreeing to watch his things.

I guess in the Age of Terrorism there is no room left for being a good Samaritan.

For Your Amusement

So today I had a facebook status conversation and it looked like this.

Kirsten Van Houten saw a wood pecker while she was running today, it flew right up to her. Legs starting to hurt

Marie: Was it looking for your wooden leg? Muahahahah (I couldn't resist I almost got jumped on by a squirrel when I ran this morning.

Kirsten: Hahaha was the squirrel looking for your nuts? It's nice running weather isn't it?

Marie: Beautiful- then I nearly killed a squirrel with my car on the way home, squirrely squirrels.

Kirsten: you might call it treevenge! :)