To all my loyal readers….I apologize for the hassle…but I have changed the location of my blog.

From now on, please visit me at…

http://manderzmusings.blogspot.com/

See you there!

Today was a pretty good day overall.  There were some not so great moments, but they helped make the good moments seem just that much better.

I (finally!) uploaded the pictures from our ladies night at the theatre 2 weeks ago.  My laptop wasn’t interacting with my camera, so I just decided to use the family computer.  And voilà!

Miss Jacqulyn

Miss Elissa

Miss Kelly

As a side note, the red dress I’m wearing is the same one I wore to Jason’s cousin’s wedding over the summer (that I never uploaded a picture for).

I went through all my storage boxes in the basement the other day and found these pictures of Bailey.  She was my “puppy” for all of 3 weeks back when I was about 13.  My parents didn’t want her, and my brother and I didn’t want to go all the work, so we ended up saying good-bye.  But she was great to have around for what little time we had her.

*Please excuse all the excess – I just scanned the pictures, and didn’t play around with the resulting file at all.

My affirmation of the day was Everything is falling into place.  And everything feels like it is.  Its so easy to forget just how powerful our thoughts and words really are.

The Hills was on tonight, but I didn’t watch it.  It seems a waste of time to watch all the commercials when I can wait a day and watch it online without most of them.

I changed the name of my blog.  Because I don’t want to focus on the chaos.  I want to focus on the happiness.

I firmly believe in the the Law of Attraction.  And by posting about all my unhappiness, I’m only attracting more.  So…no more.  I am going to be happy, and positive.

The name is based on my motto.  The same one I got tattooed on my back over a year ago as a reminder to myself and anyone else who saw it to do as it says.

And in that theme, here’s a picture of me having great fun (in Construction class, on the roof).  I love putting on my tool belt and hard hat and then accomplishing something.

Thanks to Krystal, I’ve come across a great blog.  This lady truly is an inspiration.  And I feel like I just have to share it in hopes that even one more person might be inspired by Stephanie (aka NieNie). 

Today I am in a much better mood than I was last night.  Actually, by the time I went to bed, I was feeling better.

I started a new book last night: Life Lessons for Loving the Way You Live.  It’s in the Chicken Soup series.  And I think it has some really great ideas in it.  I read another book in the series, Life Lessons for Mastering the Law of Attraction, over the summer.  I definitely recommend them to anyone with an open mind.

I kept trying to read A New Earth but I never managed to get beyond the first chapter.  I finally decided to accept that as a “sign” that I’m just not ready for the concepts presented in it.  I own the book, so I will try again sometime in the future.   I read The Power of Now by the same author right away and really enjoyed it, so I’ll just try to work on those ideas for the time being.

My plan for the next little bit is to pay attention to the things that I enjoy doing, or am naturally good at doing.  If you have any observations of your own, please let me know!

So I’m going to bite the bullet and go to my chiropractor tomorrow.  I have mixed feelings about going.  I’ve been going since I was kid, and it usually helps tons in terms of re-aligning my hips/pelvis (my pelvis rotates so one hip is forward and up, and the other is back and down – meaning my legs become different lengths).  And my back usually cracks like crazy.  Which is great.  However, the last time my neck was sore and I went, he ended up pinching a nerve and I ended up in physio.  I’ve been back since, and no problems, but since the root problem is my neck right now, I’m a little leery.  *fingers crossed*

Jason’s home in 8 days!! (and 20 hours)  I am so excited.  It’s going to be great seeing him again.  And I got the whole weekend off work, so we’re going to have lots of time together.

Thanks for you comment on my last post Krystal.  It was exactly what I needed to help keep me focused on the positive today.  :-)

Another crappy day overall.

Things have progressively been getting worse again.

My neck was getting better – then all of a sudden it spread down my shoulders into my mid-back, and my lower back got all tense and painful because it was trying to do all the work.

I haven’t been sleeping well.  And I’ve been having lots of weird dreams.  Slept through 3 alarms yesterday, and today I ended up skipping school just to try and catch up on sleep.

I’m feeling extremely unmotivated about school again.  Everyone else is getting excited about projects we’re getting – I am less than thrilled (which only leads me to believe this really isn’t the right career for me).  Plus I don’t feel like I’ve learned half of what I’m supposed to have by this point.  I feel like an idiot more often than not.  So that definitely doesn’t help.  And that only makes me feel even more frustrated.

On the bright side, I’m enjoying doing yoga again.  Even though I have to hold off on backbends with my injuries (which happen to be my favourite poses).  And I notice I doze off really quickly (and start having more messed up “dreams) in savasana instead of staying focused on my breath.  Plus my breathing feels blocked, so I never really am able to breath deeply.

Today I really feel like my recent positive attitude hasn’t been much more than a cover-up for how unhappy I still truly am.  It’s frustrating, because I don’t want to feel this way.  But sometimes the support that people offer just makes me feel worse about myself, or there isn’t any support from the people I really want it from.

I definitely feel a lot of pressure to just finish school – that I give up too easily, and that I’m not supposed to enjoy it.  There’s also the pressure to get a degree/diploma, just for the sake of having it, even if I never use it.  And then there’s the pressure to not pursue carpentry because I’ll never make enough money.

I really feel like I’m being pulled in all these different directions (none of which I don’t really want to go in) simply because I want to make people around me happy.

I am halfway through week 8 of the first semester.  And there’s 16 weeks in total, including exams.  This is good news – if I made it through the first 7 weeks, I can make it through the next 7 (and theoretically, the remaining week and a half).  It still seems so far away.

I was going to post an entry last Thursday about my Construction class, but never got around to it.  So I’ll just post the pics now without a story (in short – we put up roof trusses).

One of the most interesting things I’ve noticed being in an architectural program is how my views about architecture and design, and what I like and don’t like, have changed a lot (even since the beginning of the program).  I’ve been trying to write an explanation for about 5 minutes, but I just can’t seem to convey it.  So the summary would be I went from liking buildings on a grand scale with lots of detailing (ie. Gothic style), to smaller buildings which are more functional and very simply (ie. modern style, “Organic” style).  And with this change has come a completely different idea of what my dream house is.

This is not to say I don’t love looking at blueprints and floor plans for any building I can.  I think that’s just a blast.  I just don’t like doing all the drawing of them myself (although designing them is still up in the air).

The more I use AutoCAD, the more I hate it.  That’s all I have to say on that topic.

I’m super excited – tonight I get to watch a “new” episode of Work Out, and the premiere of Stylista.

My latest drawing assignment.  I find it so dreadful, I just had to share it.  For the record, I traced the building and people.  The chairs were half traced, half freehand.  The focus really needs to be on the lovely colouring job.  1) It was a requirement for the assignment to use colour; 2) I had no desire to colour the entire building; 3) I figured Sharpies would cover more area quicker than pencil crayons.

Anyways, that’s what I spent my entire evening on.  Blegh.

I was going through my e-mail folders clearing out the unnecessary items, and came across these….hopefully you enjoy them as much as I do.  :-)

PC UPGRADE

Last year I upgraded from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0.I soon noticed that the new program began unexpected child processing that took up a lot of space and valuable resources. In addition, Wife 1.0 installed itself into all other programs and now monitors all other system activity.

Applications such as Poker Night 10.3 , Football 5.0 , Hunting and Fishing 7.5 , and Golfing 3.6. I can’t seem to keep Wife 1.0 in the background while attempting to run my favorite applications.

I’m thinking about going back to Girlfriend 7.0, but the uninstall doesn’t work on Wife 1.0 .

Please help!
Thanks,
Troubled User…..
_____________________________________
REPLY:
Dear Troubled User:
This is a very common problem that men complain about. Many people upgrade from Girlfriend 7.0 to Wife 1.0, thinking that it is just a Utilities and Entertainment program.

Wife 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and is designed by its Creator to run EVERYTHING !!!

It is also impossible to delete Wife 1.0 and to return to Girlfriend 7.0. It is impossible to uninstall, or purge the program files from the system once installed. You cannot go back to Girlfriend 7.0 because Wife 1.0 is designed to not allow this. Look in your Wife 1.0 manual under Warnings-Alimony/Child Support .

I recommend that you keep Wife 1.0 and work on improving the situation. I suggest installing the background application ‘Yes Dear’ to alleviate software augmentation. The best course of action is to enter the command C:APOLOGIZE! because ultimately you will have to give the APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal anyway.

Wife 1.0 is a great program, but it tends to be very high maintenance .
Wife 1.0 comes with several support programs, such as Clean and Sweep 3.0 , Cook It 1.5 and Do Bills 4.2 . However, be very careful how you use these programs. Improper use will cause the system to launch the program Nag Nag 9.5. Once this happens, the only way to improve the performance of Wife 1.0 is to purchase additional software. I recommend Flowers 2.1 and Diamonds 5.0 !

WARNING!!! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install
Secretary With Short Skirt 3.3 .  This application is not supported by Wife 1.0 and will cause irreversible damage to the operating system!
Best of luck,
Tech Support

PC UPGRADE – FEMALE VERSION

FROM: Jane
TO: Tech Support

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed that the new program began making unexpected changes to the accounting software; severely limiting access to wardrobe, flower and jewelry applications that operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0. No mention of this phenomenon was included in the product brochure. In addition, Husband 1.0 un-installs many other valuable programs such as Dinner Dancing 7.5, Cruise Ship 2.3, and Opera Night 6.1. It also installs new, undesirable programs such as Poker Night 1.3, Saturday Football 5.0, Golf 2.4 and Clutter Everywhere 4.5. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs. When I click on it, the system crashes. Under no circumstances will it run Diaper Changing 14.1 or House Cleaning 2.6.

I’ve tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix Husband 1.0, but this all purpose utility is of limited effectiveness. Can you help, please!!!!

*************************************************************************

FROM: Tech Support
TO: Jane
Subject: Upgrade Dangers

Yours is a common problem women complain about and is mostly due to a misconception. Many people upgrade from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 with no idea that Boyfriend 5.0 is merely an ENTERTAINMENT package. However, Husband 1.0 is an OPERATING SYSTEM and was designed by its creator to run as few applications as possible. Further, you cannot purge Husband 1.0 and return to Boyfriend 5.0, because Husband 1.0 is not designed to do this. Hidden operating files within your system would cause Boyfriend 5.0 to emulate Husband 1.0, so nothing is gained. It is impossible to uninstall, delete, or purge the program files from the system, once installed. Any new program files can only be installed once per year, as Husband 1.0 has severely limited memory. Error messages are common, and a normal part of Husband 1.0.

In desperation to play some of their “old time” favorite applications, or to get new applications to work, some women have tried to install Boyfriend 6.0, or Husband 2.0. However, these women end up with more problems than encountered with Husband 1.0. Look in your manual under “Warnings: Divorce/Child Support”. You will notice that this program runs very poorly, and comes bundled with Heart Break 1.3. I recommend you keep Husband 1.0, and just learn the quirks of this strange and illogical system. Having Husband 1.0 installed myself, I might also suggest you read the entire section regarding General Partnership Faults [GPFs]. This is a wonderful feature of Husband 1.0, secretly installed by the parent company as an integral part of the operating system. Husband 1.0 must assume ALL responsibility for ALL faults and problems, regardless of root cause. To activate this great feature enter the command “C:\ I THOUGHT YOU LOVED ME”. Sometimes Tears 6.2 must be run simultaneously while entering the command. Husband 1.0 should then run the applications Apologize 12.3 and Flowers/Chocolates 7.8.

TECH TIP! Avoid excessive use of this feature. Overuse can create additional and more serious GPFs, and ultimately YOU may have to give a C:\ I APOLOGIZE command before the system will return to normal operations. Overuse can also cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, or worse yet, to Beer 6.0. Beer 6.0 is a very bad program that causes Husband 1.0 to create Fat Belly files and Snoring Loudly wave files that are very hard to delete. Save yourself some trouble by following this tech tip! Just remember! The system will run smoothly, and take the blame for all GPFs, but because of this fine feature it can only intermittently run all the applications Boyfriend 5.0 ran.

Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. Consider buying additional software to improve performance. I personally recommend Hot Food 3.0, Lingerie 5.3 and Patience 10.1. Used in conjunction, these utilities can really help keep Husband 1.0 running smoothly. After several years of use, Husband 1.0 will become familiar and you will find many valuable embedded features such as Fix Broken Things 2.1, Snuggling 4.2 and Best Friend 7.6.

A final word of caution! DO NOT, under any circumstances, install Mother in Law 1.0. This is not a supported application, and will cause selective shutdown of the operating system. Husband 1.0 will run only Fishing 9.4 and Hunting 5.2 until Mother In Law 1.0 is uninstalled.

I hope these notes have helped. Thank you for choosing to install Husband 1.0 and we here at Tech Support wish you the best of luck in coming years We trust you will learn to fully enjoy this product!

ANGER MANAGEMENT

Sometimes when you are angry with someone, it helps to sit down and think about the problem.

STORY

Here’s a prime example of “Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus” offered by an English professor from UBC (University of British Columbia):

The professor told his class one day: “Today we will experiment with a new form called the tandem story. The process is simple. Each person will pair off with the person sitting to his or her immediate right. As homework tonight, one of you will write the first paragraph of a short story. You will e-mail your partner that paragraph and send another copy to me. The partner will read the first paragraph and then add another paragraph to the story and send it back, also sending another copy to me. The first person will then add a third paragraph, and so on back-and-forth. Remember to re-read what has been written each time in order to keep the story coherent. There will be absolutely NO talking outside of the e-mails, and anything you wish to say must be written in the e- mail. The story is over when both agree a conclusion has been reached.”

The following was actually turned in by two of his English students Rebecca and Gary.

THE STORY:

(First paragraph by Rebecca)
At first, Laurie couldn’t decide which kind of tea she wanted. The chamomile, which used to be her favorite for lazy evenings at home, now reminded her too much of Carl, who once said, in happier times, that he liked chamomile. But she felt she must now, at all costs, keep her mind off Carl. His possessiveness was suffocating, and if she thought about him too much her asthma started acting up again. So chamomile was out of the question.
(Second paragraph by Gary)
Meanwhile, Advance Sergeant Carl Harris, leader of the attack Squadron now in orbit over Skylon 4, had more important things to think about than the neuroses of an air-headed asthmatic bimbo named Laurie with whom he had spent one sweaty night over a year ago. “A.S. Harris to Geostation 17,” he said into his Tran galactic communicator. “Polar orbit established. No sign of resistance so far…” But before he could sign off a bluish particle beam flashed out of nowhere and blasted a hole through his ship’s cargo bay. The jolt from the direct hit sent him flying out of his seat and across the cockpit.

(Rebecca)
He bumped his head and died almost immediately, but not before he felt one last pang of regret for psychically brutalizing the one woman who had ever had feelings for him. Soon afterwards, Earth stopped its pointless hostilities towards the peaceful farmers of Skylon 4. “Congress Passes Law Permanently Abolishing War and Space Travel,” Laurie read in her newspaper one morning. The news simultaneously excited her and bored her. She stared out the window, dreaming of her youth, when the days had passed unhurriedly and carefree, with no newspaper to read, no television to distract her from her sense of innocent wonder at all the beautiful things around her. “Why must one lose one’s innocence to become a woman?” she pondered wistfully.

(Gary)
Little did she know, but she had less than 10 seconds to live. Thousands ofmiles above the city, the Anu’udrian mother ship launched the first of its lithium fusion missiles. The dim-witted wimpy peaceniks who pushed the Unilateral Aerospace disarmament Treaty through the congress had left Earth a defenseless target for the hostile alien empires who were determined to destroy the human race. Within two hours after the passage of the treaty the Anu’udrian ships were on course for Earth, carrying enough firepower to pulverize the entire planet. With no one to stop them, they swiftly initiated their diabolical plan. The lithium fusion missile entered the atmosphere unimpeded. The President, in his top-secret mobile submarine headquarters on the ocean floor off the coast of Guam, felt the inconceivably massive explosion, which vaporized poor, stupid, Laurie and 85 million other Americans. The President slammed his fist on the conference table. “We can’t allow this! I’m going to veto that treaty! Let’s blow ‘em out of the sky!”

(Rebecca)
This is absurd. I refuse to continue this mockery of literature. My writing partner is a violent, chauvinistic semi-literate adolescent.

(Gary)
Yeah? Well, you’re a self-centered tedious neurotic whose attempts at writing are the literary equivalent of Valium. “Oh, shall I have chamomile tea? Or shall I have some other sort of F—ING TEA??? Oh no, I’m such an air headed bimbo who reads too many Danielle Steele novels!”

(Rebecca)
A s s h o l e.

(Gary)
B i t c h

(Rebecca)
F*CK YOU – YOU NEANDERTHAL!

(Gary)
Go drink some tea. W h o r e.

(TEACHER)
A+: I really liked this one

I’m in class…supposed to be working on finishing my house plan…but I’m trying to keep myself entertained while doing anything else.

This probably shouldn’t be the case.  The drawing you see above is not even close to being finished.  I’ve got details to all 4 parts that you can see…and I still need to draw another 5 parts.  All by next Monday.

The big problem is the complete lack of motivation I feel towards completing it.  I mean, if I could just work super hard and finish it, then I could do all my internet browsing and game playing completely guilt-free.  But alas, that point just never penetrates deeply enough into my brain for it to become a reality.

My current “distraction” is trying to find some more blogs to read.  Because I can’t lie, I love reading blogs.  Not informative ones.  The personal ones.  That have character.  And are interesting.  I found a new one today. It’s the blog of Chantel Simmons, who happens to be the author of Stuck in Downward Dog.  Which I happen to highly recommend.

I was attempting to find a yoga blog (I don’t necessarily enjoy the ones on yogajournal.com as they’re American, and to be honest, not always that entertaining.)  Anyways, Google managed to come across one of my own posts in the hunt.  It threw me off a bit, as it was on the first page options.  I didn’t know Google rated my blog that highly.

Ooo, I can actually say I know someone who’s engaged.  It might sound strange, but I’m still “young” enough that I don’t have a lot of friends that are at that stage yet.  I know people through Jason that are engaged, or are married.  But this is the first time (at least I think it is) that it’s one of my “own” friends.  Not that we’re close or anything – I haven’t seen her in person in 2 years.  But still.

I absolutely love Arizona Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey and Arizona Red Apple Green Tea with Ginseng.  OMG.  So yummy.  And only $0.99.   For 695 mL.  Which is amazing.  I am attempting to limit myself to only buying one when I go down to the store, otherwise I am prone to buying way too much candy.  So one drink a day I can live with.  It’s even cheaper than Tim’s!

Another procrastination-aid that I have found is iGoogle.  I’ve got it set up with a calendar, some horoscopes, some news highlights, countdown timers, a few games, some comics, a yoga pose-of-the-day, the weather, and some other things.  It’s great.   I highly recommend it.

I must say I am disappointed that Harper is Prime Minister still.  I can’t say I’m surprised, but I was hoping that the majority of Canada would vote the same as me and let the NDP have a crack at being in charge.   Not that I worry overly much about politics.  It just seems that I live in the wrong place – no one I’ve voted for in previous elections has ever won.  Which is only slightly depressing.

So I can officially say I wasted my entire 3 hour class.  And I can’t say I feel guilty.

Jason left today.  Not fun.  I dealt with it better than I thought I would, but I’m definitely still pretty bummed.

I’ve started about 3 different posts in the past week, but I kept left them half finished, and never posted them.  Oops.

Right now I’m supposed to be working on a stupid drawing assignment.  I’ve got 3 due by Wednesday.  So not impressed.  They’re all pretty time consuming too, which just makes the projects that much worse (it’s bad enough that I dislike any sort of artistic drawing – and with good reason, as I suck).

I stayed at Jason’s most of the past week, so it’s pretty weird being home again.  My mom got mad at me pretty much as soon as I got back.  Surprise, surprise.  That was one thing I really didn’t miss.  Actually, the only thing I really missed was my “stuff” – like my desk, and my computer set-up, and having all my clothes, etc.  I take that as a good sign.  Although it is getting a bit confusing – Jason’s place is just as much home as my parent’s place is.

I’m really looking forward to starting up yoga again.  I just need to go the first time