To Whom it May Concern!

Thanks for reading!

"The world is supposed to be full of possibilities, but they narrow down to pretty few, in most personal experience"

Well, I had to leave Witham, England...let it be known that there was fanfare in my heart as the bus pulled away from the drab little town. More on my escape in a personal format only as what I say about it, I might live to regret, and I don't want to poison the internet with my foul attitude about it...
Now I am staying with my (step) grandparents in Bedford. It is sweet. They are both so loving and nice, I am glad I am here now, despite the fact that they don't have the internet...what a cleansing experience that is for me...and so, what do you think takes up all my time now?? Reading Lady Chatterley's Lover and knitting?? You are darned right!! And, as I hold my head up high despite the shame creeping through me as I say this I also have been sucked into the show "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Outta Here!". Yes, twelve celebs in the Australian jungle doing trials for food and the voting public's favour. I cringed when I heard of it, but I do love it... (I knew that travelling would broaden my mind!), the fun this is, they have the celebrity attitude, but I have no idea who any of them are...David Gest...in the jungle...be still my beating heart...

Anyway, coming home soon lads and lasses and can't wait to see you all again...Things have changed in my heart and mind in such drastic ways since I left Canada, but I am sure things will balance out when I get back in the gay ol' town of Stratford!!!

Lovah Lovah!!

Viva la Jenni!!

$£€$£€ runnin through my mind

Lovelies....my blog attained a long overdue makeover. And doesn't she just look DARLIN'. I swear, she came out of editing and I jus' teared up with bliss, such a supreme looking blog...sigh, don't get much prettier than this.

Sorry if I have been keeping you out of the loop. There is not too much to be kept in though. I hang around in this house in Witham, England, just less than an hour northeast of London.

Last Wednesday I went to LONDON!!!

I love it!! It is one of my favourite cities! Unfortunately I did not get to go to the Globe! Booo! but we did all the free stuff the first time around and then we will go around with LondonPasses and focus on the attractions that are more expensive. I would move to Covent Garden tomorrow if I could though, wow! It is so adorable, and SOOOOOO many theatres, everywhere I turned...Mary Poppins, the MONTY PYTHON MUSICAL: Spamalot, Lion King, Wicked (a great book about the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by the way) and on and on and on...

That has been the highlight of my month, which seems great, but makes the whole past month I have been here seem even more DULL. Strapped for cash and miles away from even a coffee shop I can sit and read and act pretentious. Speaking of reading, I just finished reading Vanity Fair and I loved it, Rebecca Sharp is quite the character. Although (surprise surprise) the film starring Reese Witherspoon is total crap compared to the book, I think Miss Witherspoon did an excellent job with the dodgy amount of substance to her character that she was actually given.
Let me tell you a brief story on how I got this book from customs at the London Luton Airport (may I never see it again). I was retained in immigration for HOURS when I arrived here from Spain last month. They asked me a bunch of questions with sarcastic tones and little explanation of why they were keeping me, they took my passport and told me to sit down. That is when I waited...Previous to boarding the plane, in an effort to keep my exertion level low after the grueling past few days (story best told in person I imagine) I decided to check my bag. I took with me only my wallet and my passport. Having been relieved of my passport by the bird faced wench at the immigration desk I was forced to fumble through my wallet, looking for things to pass the time. Time passed slowly. Finally I had to pee. I asked the bird woman if I could use the washroom..."the what??" "um...the loo?" "oh right, SANDY CAN YOU TAKE THIS GIRL TO THE LOOOOO?????" I was actually escorted by someone ( I am assuming, Sandy) in a uniform to go to the washroom...And watching in wonder was a whole flight of people just landed from Amsterdam...I use the washroom/loo and then Sandy asks if I would like a drink...I see something...what is it?? BOOKS?
"No, thank you, but could I read a book?!?"
"Yes of course"
I scan the titles quickly, fearing at any second she will change her mind (why? I am not quite sure) and then out jumps the most beautiful title .... "Vanity Fair" I snatch it up at once and smile at her. She smiles and escorts me back to my little chair. I have been reading this book ever since. I dont think I have ever read so constantly, hours a day most likely. And now I have finally finished it. You must understand my pain (and realize that if this is all I am blogging about you really AREN'T out of the loop).
The past...I could blog about the past, yes I know, I mean, I guess that is all blogs are usually anyway (except one blogger I have come across who is blogging his imagination for the world).

But I am almost sick of the past now. I will come back to it again. When in Stratford I shall recount for any who want to hear it, my adventures through Europe. If anyone is really actually interested, I am sorry, but right now I dont have the heart for it. In summary Spain was this, we went out often, but got sicker and sicker, despite the hearty chest coughs and runny noses we did manage to lure in hoards of men of many different nationalities and levels of intelligence. I saw grand sights and did work on an olive farm on the side of a mountain. I woke up like Heidi every morning, looking into a mountian range. Ate grapes of the vines for breakfast, drank wine from a cardboard box late into the night with Gen, had great conversations from everything to English Literature to working at Tim Hortons, fled from a potential misfire during a wild boar hunt...all these things and more...

update

Hear ye, hear ye....look below to find a post on spain...

LOVAH!

Viva la Jenni

God help us all...

http://www.videodetective.com/trailer-preview.asp?publishedid=127479

Oh God...what is the world coming to? "It's spanky time"???? For the first time, I am glad the Bard is dead so he doesn't have to see this atrocity.

Love you all,

I am currently trying to write out my Spain adventures for the blog...

Viva la Jenni

Spain: Part One: As I Recall

Okay, so...Spain...there is sooo much to tell, I don't know how to do it...I shall sum up what I vaugely recall and hopefully it will drag out new memories that have hidden in the dark places of my mind. This will backtrack a bit, back to when I first entered Spain...
September 29th 2006 .
I land in Seville around 10am. I am to take a cab to the bus station and then call Gen's cell phone. I do this. Not only is it no answer and the voicemail, but the message for the voicemail is some weird noises and sounds of conversation in the distance. Well, she knows where the station is, she will probably come meet me. I wait, and wait. I wait for about an hour. No Gen. So, I walk around the bus station, she said the hostal is relatively close, so it would only take her a minute to walk there after I called. I can not see any hostal. I am lost in spain already!!! I dont know any Spanish and men are eyeing me up and calling out to me and I have no idea what they are saying. I hear english!! I look to the direction of the sound and I see four American students about early twenties sitting together. I walk up to them and ask if they have a map. figure that maybe there would be some indication on the map of a hostal in the area. No, there isn't. But one of them, a charming looking guy, who turns out to be named CJ, offers to ask the info place in the bus station. I accept. They just direct us to the tourist office of Seville. I have no idea where that is. So, CJ, freakin gentleman that he is, says he will walk me there. So we go, he walks me most of the way there, but will miss his bus if he is gone any longer so he gives me his phone number so we can meet up later if I want. So i go the rest of the way to the tourism office. The woman can barely speak English and she ends up being no help at all. So I decide to go to an internet cafe I saw on the way to the tourism office and see if Gen emailed me. SHE DID! She gives me the name of the hostal and address (why she didnt in the first place I will never know) and the guy sitting beside me at the cafe helps me figure out where it is and how to get there.
It takes 20 minutes to walk there and on the way a gypsy woman tries to offer me a little herb. Literally, not 'a little herb' as in slang for some pot, but just a little herb. I get to the hostal and....oh, I have not mentioned my 10kg bag that has been on my back this whole journey. Remember that every time we did not have accomodations we had to carry our heavy bags our backs. So I get to the hostal. The woman has no ideawho I am, who Gen is or how to speak English. Finally some other guy comes in and he works there too and knows who Gen is and knows she is looking for me and all is settled. I pay for the room and I go upstairs. The door is locked, and no Gen. So, I go back downstairs and the guy is still there and he directs me towhere he saw her last, at a bar just down the street. I go that way and there she is. She is talking to two guys and drinking a coffee. I walk up to her and the woman doesnt notice me! I stroke her back and she turns to look at who is touching her. She leaps out of her chair and we hug like two girls meeting after not seeing each other in years would when meeting in another country. We stay and talk to the guys for a bit longer. They were from Morocco and we all had to speak in French...haha, was interesting to say the least.
So, we finally go back to the hostal, get the key and I can get rid of my backpack for a while. We chat for a while and then determine that we will go to a grocery store and get some food and some alcohol for later.
We get to the grocery store and there are creepy things in there like chicken feet, nasty nasty!! We get the typical backpacking meal, baguette, meat and cheese slices, not like gross wrapped in plastic cheese slices, but just sliced gouda or whatever. We also settle on a bottle of Annis to break in our first evening in Spain. We will eat, go back to the hostal, have a nap and then have some drinks and then hit the town!!
We go to the river and eat the fine meal. I sigh and stare at the architechture and palm trees and revel the fact that I am in SPAIN!! Two cats, both white with grey blotches and clearly wild as most cats in Spain are, approach us. They are so skinny and we take pity on the poor dears and toss them some meat. The shoot away from us and take cover under some tall grass right alongside the river. They slowly creep back towards us, we look at them, they rush away again. We hear them again, timidly focused on the meat. They grab it up and rush away again. We laugh at their fearful ways and throw more meat out for them. They rush further away and then repeat the same process. This happens a few more times, before they have the courage to actually eat the meat near us, realizing finally that we are throwing it down for them.
Gen and I talk quite a bit in our time together, so much in fact that it was really a whirlwind of conversation, we both are quite similar in a lot of ways that are hard to find in other people in our age group, dealt with a lot of the same sort of thing growing up and love each other to bits. I can not include all our talks or even mention at all times what great conversations we had, because I will just end up repeating myself over and over, just know that throughout our whole trip we did have wonderful conversations and were able to open up to each other about things that are kept in the 'Deep Dark Secret' vault of our hearts. Also, we laugh and laugh together like mad women. Often so much so that my stomach would start to hurt or that it was difficult to breathe properly. Later, soon into the story the laughs turned into fits of coughing due to the fact that we both aquired horrible colds (one of the worst I think Ihave ever had). So, though it isnt mentioned we did spend most of our time talking...as is the case in the next sequence of events...or non events.
When we returned to our hostal room, which we christened the 'Banff Family Suite" due to the wood beamed ceiling, I wanted a shower and I was exhausted, having woke up at 3am for my flight to spain from London. It was siesta time anyway, so we figured a nap would not be out of place. I laid on the bed for a minute, or so the plan was, to get some energy up to have a shower and Gen was going to go to the cafe for a bit while I slept. First though we decided to try the Annis. We tried it all right. We ended up staying awake and in the hostal throughout siesta and beyond having our first of many 'wonderful conversations' I mentioned previously. We just talked and talked and drank and drank. It tasted a bit like black licorice, but better, more sweet and less dry. "It tastes like candy" I remember sighing, which set us into a fit of giggles, being half drunk as we were. We decided that we would have a quick nap and then go out and hit the town, show Sevilla a good time. Well, half drunk turned into all drunk, afternoon turned into evening and there was no napping. We realized in fact that we were quite drunk when we decided to stand up. Caused us to fall back onto one of our beds, where we remained silent there for some time. When we arose again, we were even more intoxicated than before. The room started spinning for Gen and I wanted a shower. I remember Gen saying she was sick and that is all...all of a sudden I wake up. I am not wearing a stitch of clothing...oh dear.
Gen was awake too, oddly we woke up at the same time...
"What time is it?" I ask her...
"Probably getting late now" she responds groggily, she looks at her alarm clock "that cant be right...it says 6:30"
We had passed out sometime in the night/probably early morning, fair enough, we did drink a lot of that ....oh God, I couldn't even think the word in my head...it made me sick just thinking of the bottle, but still, why was I naked??? Best not ask questions though, might get awkward
"I feel awful" Not only did I feel as though my head was attacked by an angry hammer the night before, but my throat had that feeling...you know, when it hurts to swallow and you just KNOW that a bad bout of the cold is coming your way.
"Me too" Gen replied
We ate an apple which made us feel even worse, and the nudity was starting to worry me...what had happened? I sat up and my hair was an absolute mess...and then I realized my hair was kind of damp and it hit me!
"Did I have a shower last night????"
Gen broke into laughter...yes I had...apparently I had showered. This is the story from Gen, my memory of these events a fog or non existant.
We were lying in our beds, she was vomiting like crazy and then I got up and said, "I feel like having a shower." and just walked into the bathroom and had one. I was in there for ages she said and steam was beginning to creep under the door and she was just getting worried about me, when I came out of the bathroom compltely naked and got in bed. She went into the bathroom a little later and was throwing up and I turn to the door and I say 'you can come cuddle here with me when you are done'. Ha ha ha ha ha. I remember NOTHING of this. I do remember feeling bad for Gen and her going to the washroom and saying she was fine, but not the shower or the proposal of cuddling to the girl who was practically making love to the toilet.

Anyway, we went back to sleep, no sense in getting up now. 7am, a ridiculous hour.

We woke a few hours later. Had showers, this time I remember the shower, which slightly makes me wonder about the shower I had had the night before...the water was really bizzare. It would continuously get hotter and hotter, so you had to turn the hot down or increase the cold water. How could I have managed that when I was so drunk? ( Please understand, I dont want to brag about my intoxication as if it were some sort of grand accomplishment that I was able to repeatedly put a bottle to mouth and consume the contents of said bottle, but I just want to stress that I have never experienced that sort of 'drunk' before and I felt so strange about it.) So, we were clean, though not too refreshed and we dragged our sorry selves downstairs and out into the streets of Seville and went to a nearby cafe. We had our morning pick me ups and were just about dying with hangovers. We walked around the downtown area, had some chicken and sardines for lunch and went back to the hostal for a proper nap before going out that night. Agreeing that though we would drink, we would definitely take it easier than our previous night.
After the nap we had proper showers at the right time, got ourselves all prettied up, giggled like school girls (this could be embarassing to some, but I feel I am allowed these rights as I took a miscalculated leap from 15 to 30, and then had to go back and retrace my steps) and decided to check out the Flamenco that Sevilla is so famous for. After losing our way a few times (we tried to avoid using maps in order to feel a bit less tourist-y, though we did hide behind a parked car once just to skim it over to make sure we were on the right track, which we weren't) we found a spot for Flamenco. We bargained with the doorman for a cheaper price for the show for awhile before settling on a price I will not mention. It was worth it though, it was amazing. The power these women have, the feminine strengh from the firm soles of their shoes to the edges of beautiful dresses, these women just LOOKED like beautiful music.
After the Flamenco we crossed the river to the party spot of Sevilla. Along a particular part of the river everyone just sits and drinks and has good times with friends. We were starving though, so we decided to get some beers and order some tapas. We searched for a restaurant with reasonable prices and shamefully decided on an Irish Pub. The menu was in English...and they still served Spanish cuisine, so it isnt as though we were selling out. Luckily we made this choice though, because we met an amazing Irish guy there named Brendan (awwww). He was a bit different than the Brendan we all know and love...Tall with curly light dirty blond hair, skinny as a rail and dressed in a faded brown courdoroy suit jacket and faded jeans. Adorable, but not exactly sexy. He was HILARIOUS. We were mostly laughing AT him than with him, but he was friendly and we had great 'banter' ( Oi loav this, jus' you gurls an' yer ban-terr'), all night. But first...We all left the pub together, his friends abandonned him and you will discover later the prediciment that left us all in, and went back to the river. It was his first night in Sevilla, first night in Spain, and though not technically true, it was mine as well. While being a great time, spending the evening in the Banff Family Suite did not count as partying in SPAIN. Whatever, we all just wanted to have a good night, and do things right. Party it up! We chatted about literature, politics, religion (he believes that Christianity is a horrid thing and railed against it for a good 15 mins, much to Gen's and my amusement), travelling, his house in Ireland, blah blah blah. He had to pee, so we went him off in the direction of the darkest most unpopulated area of the bank of the river. He was not gone two minutes before two guys came up to us and started talking.
Funny thing about a foreign country and travelling. Most of the time you dont meet locals, but other travellers. So, these guys were from Argentina. They spoke horrible English and Gen's Spanish was reasonable so needless to say, I was not very much involved in the conversation at first. But, it turned out the one guy could speak NO English, so he and Gen talked while me and the other guy, who Gen and I later nicknamed donkey-boy due to his weird shaped head and protruding teeth. These were no Don Juans, just some idiots with alcohol. They shared their drink and we shared our company. Donkey boy seemed to want to get out of there, there was a brief discussion in Spanish between our friends as Gen and I exchanged quick 'How-do-we-get-out-of-this-(and-find-Brendan-)without-being-rude?' looks. They asked us if we want to go dancing. Remember from a previous blog that I have determined that I will now be a Flamenco dancer so I gotta start practising.
"Well, we have to wait for our friend" we tell them
"You have friend? Good, we wait"
So we all keep talking. More people come and join us, two guys and a girl. So we are a group of 7 now, waiting for number 8. Here he comes, he seems to look right at us, but then sits a few metres away from us on the ledge and takes his cell phone out. We call him back over to us. Our new...friends'...faces fall when they see our friend, they were previously so happy about turned out to be a male. We drank a bit more and started walking to the club.
This is where things started going wrong-ish.
We see a group of women, all wearing lovely dresses, similar to the dresses we just saw at Flamenco, and Gen and I swoon over them. Donkey-boy (who had already earned this title with us by the way) actually turns to us and says,
"You think that is beautiful? I think it is ugly, they look like donkeys."
I think we actually cackled with laughter at this.
We found a club, the guys weren't allowed in because they were wearing running shoes. Which would have been perfect, we could have escaped the increasingly annoying Argentines and their friends without excuse in the club, but Brendan, who we had decided would be our pet for the evening was also wearing running shoes, and so we marched on.
Donkey-boy was clearly enamoured with me now, not that I am flattering myself, there were two girls, his friend had to be with Girl A, he had to be with girl B, therefore, he assumed he could have a chance with Girl B, Girl B happens to be yours truly, unfortunately. He asked his Spanish a question and his friend responded "enchanting". He turns to me:
"You are enchanting"
Gen's Romeo turns to her and says, without shame of lack of creativity,
"You are enchanting"
Cue eye roll.
Donkey-boy, seemingly pleased with himself, continues his pursuit. He puts his arm around me and asks if I like to dance. I unwind myself from the clutches of this invader of my space, tell him I do enjoy dancing and, tactlessly, slow down a few steps to talk to Brendan, who is, though a little drunk, a million times more a gentleman than our donkey friend.
We find a bar. We go in, I am ready for loud music, dark lights and a chance to escape from these prats with Gen and Brendan.
The establishment in question though, is about the 50m sq. and the music is forgetable. It is reasonably well lit and there are not many people inside. Brendan, true Irish man that he is, strides to the bar and gets in line to get a drink. He asks what Gen and I would like, and then offers to pay for the south american groupies as well. We tell him not to bother getting their drinks. As we are waiting though, things take a really awkward turn. I feel this slight pressure on my hair for a moment. I look over and donkey boy is doing a horrible impression of a naughty boy trying to look innocent, hands clasped and looking off into space. I look away, it happens again, this time I realize that he is actually BLOWING ON MY HAIR! I give him a 'stop it look' and move away. I end up beside one of the guys who joined us a bit after we met the Argentines. This guy starts talking to me, and I relieved that he can speak some English, not much, but some, and then he touches my ass. This is getting silly now, so I tell Gen, who is now half heartedly chatting with her wanna-be Romeo, that I am about ready to leave these people behind. She agrees and we look for Brendan. Not to be found. Okay, so we wait. He shows his face a few minutes later. We inform him that we are ready to leave and does he want to join us? Yes he does, the bar is closed dammit. We walk to the door, I can feel freedom from the donkey face and his strange friends close at hand. We get outside the door. They follow us.
I no longer try to be nice. I just walk with Brendan and ignore the freaks completely. Gen, with her wild sense of adventure and desire to practise her Spanish, and admittedly cuter Romeo still entertains her new amigo in conversation.
Brendan has no idea where his hotel is. His friend is not answering his phone, no doubt sleeping, we realize it is 5am. We snag Gen away from the guys for a moment. The plan? Wander around, in search for the hotel in the general area that we first met Brendan hopefully something looks familiar. Now we just need to get ride of the others.
This takes us about half an hour. With three guys in pursuit of two girls and one lost, slightly drunk irish darling patiently waiting for us, it was quite the procedure. The only way that they would actually leave is if we promised that we would see them the next day. Now, how do we ensure this? Well, we of course have no phone, so they have to give us their number. Gen has no pen. They suggest they walk with us, maybe the hotel will have a pen we can use. Noooooo!!! We just want to get rid of them!!! We aren't gonna call them!! We aren't even sure we will find the hotel. This is the moment when Brendan became our knight. I rushed from Gen and the hoards of guys and asked him,
"Brendan, do you have a pen" I pleaded.
He did! God love the man!! Gen had to write their number on her hand and then finally we were free to.... to what actually?
We roamed around the area but nothing looked familiar to our Irish friend. So we decided to give up and just roam the general downtown area. We crossed back to the other side of the river, and looked for an open bar, Brendan seemed to think everything would be solved with a drink. We saw a few and surprise surprise they were all closed as it was coming onto 6 in the morning.
We walked with Brendan, one of us on either of his arm. He was an angel and never made a move on either of us, which is why we both treasured him so much. He was quite eager though, to get another drink in his system. Bless his little Irish soul. Still, all the bars were closed...but, we remembered, we had a bottle of wine in our hostal room. We headed in that direction. The trivial trial with this is that we knew that the person at the desk would not allow Brendan to accompnay us up to the room so we could all drink in the Suite and maybe we could all get some sleep. Our check out time being 12 noon, and planning on going to Gibraltar the next day, we needed our sleep.
"Just wish we had some beer" Brendan often dropped into the conversation.
We debated getting an early morning snack but decided against it. "All I want is a beer" Brendan told us.
A light of revelation dawned on Gen and I..."There is a vending machine with beer in it at the hostal!!" We were so excited to get him the beer he seemed to so desperately want.
"Is-that-ALLL-you-girls-think-about??" he cried. After all his sighs for drink and we finally find an opportunity and the darling completely forgets that and acts like we are the ones who are crazy alcoholics.
And, yes, my dear friends, there IS beer in VENDING MACHINES in Spain...God love us, we were born in the wrong country, I know. And the cans are about $1.50.
Anyway, we return to the hostal and the doorperson is sleeping behind the locked door so we just sit on the step in front of the door and let him sleep while we drink our beers.
It was in a slice of this conversation that I decided that though Brendan was very smart and quite observant there are some things that he was completely ignorant about...I will quote him here:
"In my opinion William Shakespeare abused the English language.".
We, my fellow Will lovers know different, that Shakespeare made LOVE to the language and there was no violence involved, unless it was the vigour in which he wrote his amazing works. I argued this to him until I felt maybe I enforced it too far and upset him.
The tension was quickly sloughed off though and we continued in merry conversation until Gen and I could barely keep awake on the doorstep. He gave us his email address and told us to get in touch with him, and to come visit him in Ireland and he would take care of us, he would cook and we could all have more banter and write together ("All you gotta bring is your toothbrush, I'll take care o' everything else!"). Sadly we had to send Brendan into the morning completely alone and unaware of the city or where he was supposed to be going. Luckily he was armed with his cell phone so he could continue to call his friends until they woke.
Gen and I holding eachother for support, climbed the stairs to our rooms and crashed into our beds at 7am. Instead of sleeping right away, we chatted half an hour about the evening and finally drifted to sleep.
And thus ends day two...more to come!

huts in mountains, chairs at airports

Oh my god...have I just had the craziest time. I lived on a farm and picked olives and weeded gardens, drank wine and the farmer did an in depth horoscope for me, I lived halfway up a mountain on the same range but the other side of the Sierra Nevada. Money ran out....
I lived in an airport for the weekend and a day, perfected the art of sleeping on a chair leaning over a table...I can't even get into it right now, I am so much in shock and I am just exhausted, will post again soon (and don't even start with me Ben, it will be longer) and explain it all. But, right now, I am in the UK staying with my step uncle, some of you may remember him from awhile back, he is married now and has the most adorable boxer named Ozzie. I will ....get ready more plans (Please Note [if you haven't already, in which case you must be a tad slow or I just haven't been explaining things right] : My plans don't always go as planned...har har har) .....stay here until Christmas, go to Sebastian and his family for Christmas, then _______________ until the middle of january and then HOPEFULLY will be working in Germany at a l'Arche there.
As I said though, may not go like that, but that is what I have to put in front of myself for right now so that I don't go absolutely insane.
Viva la Jenni

a new way of life

Hey loves,

Just trying to kill some time here. We are slooooowly trying to prepare ourselves to take the looong walk grab our bags from the train station and bring them back to the hotel (that we believe is run by gypsies). We are still sick, but on the mend. Currently in Granada. The city that smells like exhaust, and the streeets are so confusing!! I think we have been lost 4 times already and it is just getting to 24 hours that we have been here. Whatever, all adventures!!
A super sweet French waiter and his French flatmate took us in for the night. The roomie was out drinking, but the waiter and Gen and I all stayed in and chatted. It was cool. We made dinner and drank tea in a small Spanish apartment, a kilometer from British territory with a French man. Weird stuff. The roommate woke me up at 4am by putting a blanket over me and so we had a beer together. He was really interesting. He was an engineer in France and just quit his job and moved to Spain and works as a waiter at a really nice restaurant in Gibraltar. They told us to let them know when we were in the area again....haha...
Little do they know...we have an opportunity to go to Morraco with a man who is doing a documentary on traditional storytelling. We are looking into it further, but I think it would be a great experience!
Well, I love you all, but I am starving and I´m gonna go get some cervasas and tapas!!

Viva la Jenni

Spain and Gibraltar...

I am in Gibraltar right now. Weird place. Really weird. We walked from Spain to the UK last night...good times. We slept outside on the beach and it got sooo damned cold. We were snuggled up to each other wearing all the clothes we could possibly fit on ourselves and it was still FREEZING. We kept waking up and wanting to cry. It was terrible. One time it was not the cold, nor the bugs, nor the uncomfortable ground that woke us up but the cops. Ha ha, was weird, they just asked if we were sleeping. Which we clearly were by the dazed looks on our faces and the fact that we had to take off the fabric we wrapped over our faces to protect us from the bugs.
"Yes, we were sleeping" we reply.
"Have you girls seen anyone?" .... we were SLEEPING!!!
"No"
"Okay"
And they walk away. The people here all look at us as if we are morons for even being here. We are both sick right now with bad colds and exhausted from carrying our heavy backpacks for so long ALL OVER the place.

In Seville we had a good time though. Lots of drinking and laughing. Met a really cool sweet Irish guy named Brendan. He studied philosophy for 6 years and was SO DAMN funny, mostly we were laughing at his crazy drunken comments. So we all roamed around and then some weird and clingy guys from Argentina were trying to get us to go to all kinds of bars and dance clubs with us and calling us enchanting and it was so strange. Finally we got away from them and the three of us drank together until 7am.
I saw Flamenco. It was great. I loved it!! The women are so beautiful and strong. Of course I decided while I was watching it that I wanted to stay in Seville and learn Flamenco and live the rest of my life doing shows in nice old theatres...but that faded fast.

Well I am totally spaced from reality. Over tired, over heated, hungry and sick. I love you all, hope you are taking care of yourselves!!

Viva la Jenni

Here I go again

Okay friends, fans and minions, only half an hour and then I am jumping in a car and being brought to the airport. My chest feels as Ben's might have when the weight fell on him. I am realizing that while I thought I like to fly, what I like really, is to look back on my successful flight adventures with fondness. I am not SCARED of flying, oh no, just scared of crashing.
My packing adventures, too tedious to actually describe to you all, trust me, have killed my spirits completely. WHAT THE HELL!! So, the site where I bought my ticket says '10kg' carry on luggage, the airport site says '8kg' carry on luggage. I found this out 20 mins ago. Shoot me now. I have probably invested HOURS of my life weighing my damned luggage, and finally I found a combination of my possessions that I can NOT live without and it weighs just 4kg over the max, which means 32€. Crap. But whatever, as I said, I can't live without this stuff, so I guess it has to be worth it. AND NOW, I have to add another 16€ to that lovely mix. I am wearing a darling combination of:
two pairs of socks, shoes, jeans, a sun dress, a long skirt, two tank tops, a sweater, my earrings, two necklaces and my glasses (that make me look smart, but will hinder my *bashful eye-batting* "can't you just overlook those few extra kilograms Mr. Strong and Powerful Airport Luggage Checker?"). SO, I am carting around 4kg of extra clothes, hoping to God that I don't get attacked by dogs for smuggling a sundress through security.
20 mins now.
Dear oh dear. I really ought to be doing something productive, like bringing my luggage down, so I am gonna jet.
Remember that I love you all, and everyone take care!!

Viva la Jenni!!

Ja, bitte

l'Arche Germany said "yes"!! Wahoo!! They got the letter of 'Jenn is a wonderful, fabulous, not to mention sooo sooo beautiful assistant' from l'Arche Stratford, and now I have to figure out a way to get to Germany sometime in the fall to visit the community. The visit to the community is really just a formality, as far as I know. Make sure I don't seem like someone who would beat the coremembers or take their pills....which I wouldn't.
Rackin my brain for things to say, nothing comes to mind...
loVAH!

Viva la Jenni

Hola España

Here I sat a few weeks ago, bored out of my mind. Thinking to myself 'this is never gonna end?', etc. And along comes my friend Gen on ye olde internet. We chat, she is traveling through Spain, working on farms, getting fit, tanned and paid more than 60 Euros a week. Jealousy rages through me. But alas, this is a kick ass woman and she deserves it.

Gen, if you don't know her, is a truly seductive being, dark hair, glasses, great mind, wonderful conversations and she has a fine taste for Bailey's on her bed in the attic. We met, at Tim Hortons of all places. We got along right away. Hated our job, our friends were ridiculous, the uniforms were atrocious. But we made the best of our time at work together. Always laughing and really connected. We would leave sexy messages in each other's tip cups and rage about the other's lovely everything. A year or so after we had met, I introduced her to one of my boyfriends. He said, afterwards, that it seemed as though she and I were hypnotized by the other, that the rest of the world seemed to fall away while we talked. She reminds me of warm red wine, dimly lit smokey rooms and classic novels.
SO, that is Gen...I seem to run off on things sometime don't I? Well, anyway, on to the point, then!!

We talked online, I told her how I was going out of my mind with the isolation here, she said she was going crazy with loneliness there. One thing led to another, circumstance met circumstance and now I have a flight to Spain, one way the morning of September 29th. That is the plan. From there it is to our hearts' desires. We will roam the land of Spain, harvesting vegetables, soaking up the sun and drinking to our hearts contents under a Mediterranean sun in the early winter months. Yes, dear friends, fans and minions. Your Queen is leaving her castle, stepping down from her throne, relinquishing her crown. I am leaving Austria!

"But," some may ask "what about the German?"

Never fear, I have applied to l'Arche Germany. They are not welcoming anybody to the community until mid-January, but so far it looks really good. The community from Stratford is sending an letter of reference and the community in Germany seems quite interested in me. Ah, and the best part...If you recall, I mentioned in a previous post while I was traveling in July about a wonderful village I had and how great an experience it was, and I saw the theatre group getting ready for a show in an outside theatre (which is the ruins of a castle apparently)..Well, that happens to be the village where the l'Arche community is!! No kidding. And it is only about an hour away from Sebastian's school, which is also neat. I had to fill out an application form for the community, and I had to do it in GERMAN...Yes, German. It was probably horrible, but I let Sebastian read it and he kindly gave me a B+. Which is more than I expected.

So there you have it. Spain...Germany...My future.

I hope this message pleases his majesty, King of the Bloggin' Nation

Viva la Jenni

don't read this if you expect anything worthwhile

It is storming here. I was supposed to go to Linz to meet a potential friend and have some fun actually having an Austrian social life, but he calls at the last minute and lets me know that some business partners from China just flew in last minute, and he is the only guy in the office who can speak Chinese, so there is NO way that he can get out of it. Whatever. So now, I get to watch the specials on the first two films of Harry Potter and blog my butt off.
There is not much to say since last time.

I have become a neat freak, that is something to say. Maybe not a "freak", but I am a definite fan of the world of tidy. I clean up all the time, whether at Anita's or my room, I am just cleaning cleaning cleaning. I am constantly finding things that need fixing. Oh, there is a spot on the sink, better get that. Hmm, there is a little spot on this floor, better scruby, scrub, scrub. I sometimes realize what I am doing and want to fall over with shock, but the spot has not yet be removed, so there will be no falling of any kind. Typically one would think that this is a step in the right direction, that I am making progress of some kind and now am a real adult. I, on the other hand, am a bit terrified. What happens when all this craziness stops? Will I just be in routine and be able to maintain an orderly lifestyle? Or will I NEVER clean again and live on a huge mountain of clothes, books and yogurt cups? Who knows... Also, I did a personality test............
(cringe, horror! Yes, yes, I hate those dumb things too, screw them right, who can give me a number and tell me who I am!? No one...but I am a seven if you please, and that makes me an "Enthusiast" That is my category. Seriously though, if you have some time ((which you must, because you are reading this, despite my abuse of the parentheseseses?)) check out the Enneagram site, take the test, and then tell me I am a fool if you don't believe it. Clearly it has some broad generalizations that everyone may fit into to, but the other options just were not me as a whole at all, and well, whatever, you will like it or you won't but I do, and for the sake of this post, just trust me) (that is much too much for one sidenote, but read on)
..........for l'arche and it said that when I get into negative moods (depression, anxiety, etc) I will turn into a bit of a perfectionist. So, that may well be it, and I am just using this as therapy. Another trait that I have as an Enthusiastic Seven is that I get into things really hard really fast and then get bored with it really hard and fast (For more informations on this, see most of my 'romantic' relationships).
So maybe it is that... so crap...
Maybe these blogs lately have been a cry for help! Someone rescue me from this life!! I need people!!!! I am sorry people, the blogs will get better again...someday...

computers...friend or foe?

Well, I tried. I really did, the STUPID computer keeps freezing the window that says the picture is being uploaded...or is this normal? I don't know!! I tried to get my pictures of Almegg onto the computer, and I need to have Administrative access or whatever (reading this all in German, remember) so I have to ask Toni to help me. Which is great, cause he is always so damn busy.

Viva la Jenni!

Österreich

Darlings all,

Here from the castle I write you now. I realized it has been a while since I polluted the Blogging enviroment with my garbage, so I will now, in a last ditch effort to entertain myself on a slow Sunday afternoon.

Where to start. My castle is cute. It is not huge and sprawling, but it is amazing nonetheless. I love it. My room is large, 50 meteres square. It has a kitchen in it. I have my own little fridge that I can fill by asking Anita to buy food for me "Whatever you want, I don't know what you like, so just ask, I will get it next time I am shopping.". Lovely. I cook myself chicken all the time, chicken is my favourite. Okay, this is garbage. Who writes crap like this...me I guess...
My castle is cool, I will post pictures soon.

Erm, first I suppose I ought to post pictures of Elsinore. I have kind of been slacking in this department for a reason. This computer is crazy. I will try to though, after I get this lame message out.

Alright, let us do this again, I feel a strange surge of Bloggers' Block coming at me, so I will just spew garbage until things get running fine.
I have to make a general statement that after reading Liam's Blog turned My Life is Hell Journal, I will never work at a YMCA Pool. Ever.
Here is my situation. I live in this really amazing home. It is cool. The family is a sort of celebrity family in the area, everyone knows about the castle and people come by just to look at it through the gates. Which is fine. But the REASON that everyone knows about the castle and the family is because WE are what is going on within a 30km radius. There is NOTHING around me. There are little 2,000 pop. villages scattered around, but no actual people it seems. I have seen no one but the Stare-Master groundskeeper that is remotely close to my age bracket. I am desperately craving some social activity, and this is never good. That is when I start hanging out with losers who are not worth my time.
Oh, something worth noting. I may be helping at a theatre in Lambach(one of those 2,000 pop. villages). After that amazing afternoon in Germany watching that theatre group getting their junk together, I decided to not let anything or anyone get inbetween me and theatre again. So, I asked Toni and Anita the evening I arrived if they knew of any theatres in the general area. They said the whole 'community theatre' scene was not really alive as much in Austria as North America, but they did know a guy who is part of the theatre (I forget how) in Lambach. So they called him and told him I was interested in getting involved. He is calling me when is back from his vacations, which I believe are finished the end of this month! He said I might be helping with costumes, or I may even get a small role. Clearly the idea of being onstage excites me more than the idea of working with sweaty costumes, but either way I will be happy. I looked the theatre on the internet with not much success, though I wasn't trying TOO hard, but what I did find out was, the theatre is "Austria's only surviving monastic theater; its opening performance was in front of Queen Marie Antoinette." Yay!
So that looks promising at least, and then I can meet people who love what I love and speak German. My other social opportunity is my German lessons that also start in September. But this involves a lot of other people who speak German as a second language and I want friends who speak German! Ha ha, well, whatever, I will take what I can get at this point, as long as they are worthy to be my friends of course.
That is my general life. Oh! Ha ha, the kids. The girls, Emma and Flora are sweeties! They fell in love with me right away, which is great. I really like them and it is so fun playing with them, but for small amounts at a time, seriously, kids...I am having second thoughts on the whole being a mother thing. They often fight over who gets my attention, they make messes all the time, they are sometimes sooo bratty to their mom, especially Emma, who is 4 and apparently queen of her own little universe. She barks instructions at little Flora like she is in the army. BUT, I really do adore them. They are good most of the time and I love it when they laugh. Emma and I are teaching eachother about our languages and she already seems to have made some progress.
I am studying my German, the au pairs before me left books behind, I have so many different 'how to learn German' books now, but I finally found one that works. I am taking notes from it like crazy and adding it to the "German for Jennifer" folder that Susan prepared for me. Life is great.

Well lovelies, I am off to do some dishes and watch some movies...fun fun life.

Love you all, miss you all!!

Jenni

My dear and wonderful friends,

I have been writing a journal and when I am in Austria I will copy it all onto the computer and it will be available for the entire blogging nation to read. I haven't written as much as I would like because money quickly became tight, and then suddenly non-existant, so I was not able to go to Cyber Cafes anymore.
Elsinore...when I first saw it, I started crying...well, not really crying but I had tears streaming down my sun kissed cheeks, and I was in heaven. I invested so much emotional and physical energy into events that were supposed to have taken place in that building, and then, there I was, looking across the water at this magnificent part of my life taking shape.
More about it when I have time, but I just LOVED IT! They actually have people who do shows there, of Hamlet, of course. I hade wonderful fantasies of Playmakers! coming to wow the crowds in Helsignor with our talents and skill.

I took pictures of course! Never doubt it. I will also get them on the Blog when I am in Austria....which is MONDAY!!! Crazy....

I love you all, I miss you and dream about you....

Viva la Shakespeare!

onward

I thought I would drop a line into the Blogsphere to let people know that I am still alive, if they even try to read this anymore, I'll never know. I had a kickass past few days, hiking and biking in the crazy rocky and steep forests of Germany. Spending time with Simon, Sebastian, Johannah, Chris, Lukas....all people that no one reading this knows...some of you might be familiar with Simon and Sebastian....don't know why I mentioned that...don't know why I just don't delete it...
Anyway, I am having a great time, and when I get to Austria and find some time, I am going to type up parts of my travel journal thingy so you can all get in on the wonderful world of Jenn. I feel like I am sitting beside my self today, typing is a bit of a pain.

I have dreams about people in Canada. I have hardly had a dream that involved Europe. Most have been about my family, friends or Playmakers!. Oh, beautiful thing yesterday. We were in a small village in the afternoon and we were just walking around, (I love this place, it was sooo beautiful) and we come across an outdoor theatre. It looked to be that crazy time when they all just got to the space they will perform in, you know the time. The techies are running around, the only people who really seem to know what is going on. The actors are flaunting and preening, rehearsing their dance over and over again, some running lines. The man who I assumed to be director was dictating lines to the musicians so they could hear the cues and practise/practice coming in on time, at the same time as doing this he was fielding questions from the actors. It was fun to watch this happen.

Y'know though, it was the most homesick I felt since I left Canada.
It really made me realize that I can run, but I can't hide from theatre! Hahaha, not that I am trying, but I thought sometimes, a break from everything I did would be good. But, it appears the tried and true remain, kicking at my mental doors. I am addicted to the lifestyle of the stage. Not a bad addiction I have to say. But when I saw what was going on, I knew it so well, they all had different faces, but I could see who they were.

Well, in a sweet drop from my emotional ramblings, I need to shower, I am getting out of here today to go to....ha ha, and we are back to Emo girl....

I am going to Elsinore tomorrow people!!!!!!!!!


I can't wait, I just can't believe it! I am so excited!!! To see the real Queen's Closet! What fun. And you know I am sooo excited cause I can think of NOTHING to say that I think is worth saying.

Viva la Jenni

can you like of Paris' love?

Well, I am 'stuck' in Paris until Saturday. Funny. I think in the whole world Paris may be one place I wouldn't mind being stuck in, but right now all I want to do it relax on a beach out of the big city. The trains are all full. No way out. I read about a guy, though, he was stuck in the Paris airport for over 10 years, look it up, it is crazy. Anyway, hopefully we will be out of here Saturday morning.
Last night kind of got crazy! We were in a round small park area that has a huge statue in the middle of it. What the statue represents I don't know, but we were sitting there drinking beer and chatting and a guy came over and started talking to us; And then his friend joined us. I was kind of freaked out but we just took care of my purse well and talked to them. They live together ''but it is no marriage'' and one guy couldn't speak much English at all and the other could a bit. But...and this fascinated me even more than Sebastian, I can speak French fairly well. Of course, my German is pathetic now, trying to get us through all the french stuff for so long, but hey French! The guys were arguing a little, funny stuff, like an old married couple, despite their denials, I thought it was funny. However the whole time I was trying to channel Buffy in case I needed to kick some asses;
Well...we are sort of looking for a way out of Paris, so if anyone has any fancy ideas let me know. Otherwise, take care of yourselves and I love you all!!!

Viva la Jenni

the Netherlands, part one

I am back from the Netherlands...Sebastian, his friend and I went. We had to get on a bus, get on a train, get on a different train, yet another train and then we were there. We went to a cafe called "Nobody's Place" and they ordered their...product and I got a water. It really stunk in there, honestly, I don't understand why or how I ever used to do that sort of thing. Anyway, lots of travelling, was soooo long for something so...well...interesting. There were a lot of cool little shops though, I liked that, and the grocery store was a new adventure for me. Everything and everyone seems so much different, but who knows if I am just making them seem that way because I know I am so far away from home. Anyway, time to iron some clothes!
Viva la Jenni!!

"I'll never eat pizza again, darn Italians!"

So we get to the airport yesterday and it turns out my flight has been delayed by an hour and a half! So, that would fine and I'd deal with it, but Sebastian has a exam at 9am and my flight would be getting in at 7:30am instead of 6am. So I try to call him from the airport but the cell phone won't let us call that far. So I try a pay phone....10$ for one minute...so instead I call my sister and she tries to call him. She can't reach him. So she starts an email account so she can email him. So I get on the plane, depressed cause Germany lost the game and I have no idea if Sebastian will be able to pick me up or not. I told Sara to tell him that I would call when I got in if I couldn't find him when I got there.
So, now the other obstacle...flying. I did love it, I won't lie...but I was fairly terrified the whole time. I wasn't freaking out or anything, but eachtime there was a bump I thought "Well, this is it, damn" fortunately the guy sitting next to me was really nice, a guy from Ottawa going to visit his daughter who had moved to Germany a few years ago. We talked and he explained some stuff that was happening, and even though I knew some stuff was going to happen, it was nice to hear someone saying "Oh, that is normal".
So, I got off the plane, got my passport stamped and found my luggage. Now I was remembering the dreaded customs...how to explain that I had no retrun flight, I had a contract to show that I would be working for a year and all that, but still, what if they didn't believe me. I walked up to the guy who was checking tickets and asking people questions and he just waved me past. Really, I didn't have to do or say anything. It was pretty awesome. But, no Sebastian. So I called him and we decided I would take the train to his city, get a cab and then get into his apartment. So I did! I didn't get lost! It was great!!
So I got to his place and he was in his exam so I had a nap and then when he got home we went for a walk to find me some shower stuff. We bought beer and went for a walk, it started to rain, so we went back to his place and drank some wine and started watching a movie, and talking. Then the sky cleared up and we decided to go for a walk again. That is when it starting storming. We made it under a little opening for a store and then thunder and lightning were crashing around us, water was pouring down the street and we just laughed. "Welcome to Germany".
We waited and then watched the soccer/football game and drank some more bought doner and went back to his place, started watching a movie and then fell asleep.
I woke up this morning and got breakfast in bed! He made fresh fruit and cheese on a plate. So sweet!!
Today his friend asked if we want to go to the The Netherlands for the afternoon. So we are getting on a train and going. Fun stuff.

Well, I won't describe every day with as much detail, just thought I would let you all know I am still alive.

curtain

oh boy

this is gonna be fun, please note that I am extremely exhausted, scared, excited, and my heart feels like a rock and my stomach feels like a tidal wave and I just am going more and more to the south of sanity

I slept for four hours last night, hardly ate today...packed so much, ran up and down stairs, got my hair did, said goodbye to friends and family, and completely lost my mind!
24 hours and I will be in Germany! Yay! I know that tons of people have done this before me and tons will after, but I am still embarking on my own little journey and I feel like the only person in this world that has ever felt like I feel and I want to scream. There is NO way for me to take the nervous energy streaming through my veins away. I feel like I am high on something.

I have been embarking on a fun adventure of "Rescue Remedy" (crediting Allyson and Bren for that) but it isn't making me as lucid as I would like (crediting an overabundance of nerves and chaos for that)

i am trying to make myself stay awake as much as I can so that I just pass out on the plane hope that it works

ha ha ha

Kat is telling me a story now, that should keep me awake for a bit. Squirrels!

I love you guys!! I will miss you all so much! Miss me too!

Sushi...they have it in Europe right?

Well my sweet friends...I must to bed...


And so, good rest.

Much to my dismay, a clever title has not hit me

So, I am anxious, excited and thrilled. I have probably been blabbing about my plans and hopes for this next year way too much to everyone, but it is hard for it not to occpy my mind.
I am going to miss so much and so many that I would love to list you all here, but since my brain is a bit of a madhouse I will probably forget someone vital and then with the tears and pain and then some guilt and I just don't want to do that.
My fans, friends and minions...some of you I have known for almost a decade...some a few weeks...I will miss you all many much, and I hope that you guys think about me EVERY day and MISS me like CRAZY! So strange, I can't really imagine that everything is changing...again. I guess it is always changing, but now, it is really kicking ass. Me moving to Europe. Our favourite theatre group will never be the same (note the lack of using the actual name... so parents won't Google their way into my blogs when I start blogging about drunk wild nights "in some country in the middle-ish).
Okay, I lied, I want to give a big shout out to Suzy K for helping me with my German!!! I love you sooo much and I just want to thank you for that and everything else you have taught me...directly or indirectly!
She just needed some public recognition for the long hours spent with me watching patiently as I tried to figure out cases, genders and...that other one.

My plans keep changing for Europe. Funnily enough, I started trying to figure out what I wanted to do when I got there TWO DAYS AGO, as in 8 days before I leave. Anyway, thank God I didn't have it all planned out, because this morning I was going to Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and, of course, Austria. But now instead, we are going to Germany, France, the Netherlands, DENMARK (yes...yes...), Belgium, Luxembourg and Austria. More countries, less sexy beaches, but it would just have been way to much to travel that far in that amount of time. Perhaps in the winter I shall venture that way...

Well, it is almost 1 in the morning, I have to be up and at'em in about 6 increments of 60 minutes.

Viva la Jenni!

Why, this is very midsummer madness

Well, since the last post I regained a sense of cool, calm and collected, lost it, regained it and now...I actually am not sure if I have it or not. My brain is still whirling, but slower than before, yet more stuff is flying through it.

I was asked if I could move out of the l'arche house I live in early because another assistant was moving in and needed my room. So I said surrre. They asked me when I could do it, I said I could move TUESDAY, they said, cool, don't rush though, it isn't a big deal.
They call me Sunday and tell me I have to be out by MONDAY MORNING. Apparently they had left a note, but I was just so sick I didn't see it. Right. Or maybe they didn't leave a note.
So, I was really really mad, and had to go pack all my junk and move out. Now I am kind of homeless-ish, and going crazy in a slow and painful way!

Get me wrong not. I am so excited about going, I know I will have an awesome time and etc etc etc... But I just kind of get this "cold-feet" thing.
I don't know if I can even finish the blog properly...which I won't, I am going back to the German stuff.

Viva la Jenni!

.........

.......................................................................?

Crazy, insane, freaky

Fans, friends and minions...I have become a basketcase!!!! I am going insane, but in a 'slow to the casual observer' sort of way.
I just can't seem to focus properly. My mind is doing five billion things at once and each time I try to slow down I kind of feel guilty.
My life is so great though right now! I am so happy, and I have friends and family who love me dearly, and I love them! But, I am just still going crazy. I want to see all my people before I leave, but I can't figure out when and I have some time open, but can't schedule it because I am scared I am actually supposed to be doing something else...
Okay...

YOU: Hmmm, what is Jenni, Queen of my Universe, writing about in her blog? (reads) This is stupid, perhaps I would prefer not to suffer through all this complaining and bitching, perhaps I would enjoy some happy comments.
ENTER ME (DL)
ME: Well, that really does sounds like a novel idea, I apologize. Thanks for your great advice.
YOU: Anytime pretty lady, anytime.
ME: Aww shucks!

So my mom had a kickass birthday party. I spent allll day monday baking cookies like a madwoman. It was fun, Elisha,Troy and Sara helped me. I was just going like crazy all day. Cleaning and baking and cleaning and spending time with other people and keeping mom out of the kitchen and studying German and cleaning and baking!

OMG, I saw that article about Playmakers! in the Stratford Festival and Beacon Herald program newspaper thingy. How cool!! I was kinda feeling down today, but I saw the article and was sooo happy and giggly! Yay Playmakers!
Speaking of you crazy kids, let me know when you are getting "festive" again, I wanna say goodbye to you all before I go.

Viva La Jenni!

she's a hero

Well fans, I have to climb my way out of the Buffy-verse for a few days, much to my dismay. Though last night I had some wicked cool dreams about being in Buffy. Fun times.
I have been a total nut job with this Buffy stuff, like really really. I think I have seen around one season per week. Which makes just over two hours of Buffy per day...I think. Well, anyway, I have confessed my addiction, I have two more seasons to go, well, actually I have one and a half. So I am going to crash through them now, so I can gain some sort of life in the next few weeks.
I love all my people, though it seems only two people responded to my flossing question, so I love them most. Respond people!! It is impossible to think my powerful blogs about things as pivotal as my flossing or buffy addiction are going basically unread by the human population ( 'cept you Professor and Coola!), clearly the problem is minions and friends, that you are all ashamed of your non-flossing ways. No need. No need at all.
Well, it is off to work with me, dangerous times...

Jenni from the Blog

I went to Wonderland...TWO TIMES this past weekend! Yay! It was really fun! I didn't die, and I ate lots of cotton candy. Good times...
I could go on about how fun it was, and what rides I went on...but why bother, no one really wants to hear it.
I think I have Blogger's Block. I can't think of anything that would be remotely interesting to write about. So I will just through out some 'a day in the life' junk so I don't get out of the habit.
I had a busy weird day yesterday. I went to Caritas to watch Buffy, and then went to a dentist appointment, which was pretty sad. Apparently I don't floss enough. May I ask now, for all ye reading my blog (which may not be too many people if all I can think to write about is flossing) Who flosses daily? Do you floss before or after you brush? How long does it take you and what is your motivation? I am just putting this out there for the masses, creatures great and small. Comment folks, comment.
They sucked $156 from me for telling me I don't floss enough ( I have to say though, I could have told them that and they could have given me the money).
So after the floss lecture I biked over to Susan's for some German lessons. Fun stuff. I really love languages. Well, I loved them actually, note past tense. I have been introduced to the fun world of "Nouns and Cases". The term 'over my head' doesn't begin to describe that little situation. Although I feel that even if I don't really understand what they mean to the English language, I subconsciously use it properly through experience. So let us hope the same transpires with my German. Aside from the dreaded "Nouns and Cases" demon, I think it went pretty well. I love the way German sounds and forcing myself to hear sounds I have never really heard in English and then say them. Which doesn't sound near as exciting or as interesting as it really is. So after German with Susan I went to my mom's to be greated by an empty home. Which is nice, because when you live with a minimum of 7 other people you really learn to value 'alone time' like you never thought possible. So I listened to music, re-read my German, chatted with my beautiful and wonderful darling friend Nicole, and then Dan came over to work on our little skit thingy for the AGM for l'Arche.
OH! You will all be pleased to hear that my tennis game has NOT improved at all. After Dan and I finished working on the skit, we went to the court and played a little game of tennis. After almost a month of no hard work and dedication to the game, I still have a 50/50 shot of even hitting the ball. Though, that may be exaggerating my skills a bit.
Tennis and skit being done, Dan and I biked to Caritas for Buffy.

"More Buffy?" you say.
"Yes, yes" I reply "more Buffy"

I am addicted. I have about a month to get through seasons 5, 6 & 7 !! It is absolutely irrelevant that I have seen the series at least twice in the past year. It is a kick ass show and it seems to get better everytime I watch it. So, don't judge me.

Well fans, friends and minions I am off to Caritas for the week. Though I am sure I shall post again.

Please remember to answer the whole flossing question.

Spam = Gross

Ewwwww, I am getting spam in my Blog. I feel so violated! It is like I am finding flyers in my diary. Ick.
Anyway fans, friends and minions...I am going to WONDERLAND on Saturday! Yay! I am so excited about that! I can't wait!
I really didn't have much motivation to write a blog, but the fact that I got all this nasty spam and I want to get that depressing blog off the top of the page. SO, having done that, and not really having anything interesting to say, I will sign off now.

VivaLaJenni

Grey skies...

So, I have made an attempt to recover my sense of reality and the present and not focus on what may (or may not) be in the future. It works most days, sometimes not as well. Today the rain is in the wings ready to come out, and clouds flood the sky and I feel like it will never end. When the sky is grey I feel like it will never leave. I can't exactly picture sunlight anymore, and the moist chill that creeps into my bones seems to have taken a permanent lodging there.
These are the days that I find it possible to live in the "now" and not what I think "may be". Forgetting that indeed I will bask in the warmth and comfort of sunlight again, I recall instead the last days I remember like this. All the same, dismal times. Spectacular.

I battle my inner demons daily. Who doesn't. They creep up on me again at night while I sleep and then they creep around me like witches at a cauldron until I want to scream. So, I hide in myself, a little retreat from the day to day. Fantasy land. It is a lovely place. Everyone I know has been in my world before.

What I do...

I spend the time, making events for myself to pay attention to. What am I wearing, how is my hair, more importantly who else is there, what do they think, who do I talk to, is there music? 'Tragic rip my heart out' music? or empowering 'I will love me forever' music?
Okay, "events" makes it seem like a Ball or something special. No, by events I mean... bumping into someone walking down the street, or in the grocery store or a phone call, or a shindig, or a work day...everyday things that I epitomize into something glorious. Drama and fantasy is so much better than reality...usually...unless you live in a castle and have a slew of Austrian princes banging down your door...which I see in my future....But not so well today. I see it briefly and in the fantasy...the skies are still grey. It will fade into blue again, I am just tired and over dramatic.
Wow...talk about a downer, promise, there will be more fun to come! But someone told me to shed the layers....I really hope it was a metaphor!

Viva la Sunshine!

"I had a dream last night"

I had a fantasy today, about some Alumni and some current students of Playmakers! going to the Danish castle itself and 'playing' Hamlet! I discovered that the castle is called Kronborg Castle and it is in Elsinore. Duh me. BUT, alas, imagine having the real deal. How hard would you have to search within yourselves to find true character when the walls of the place were actually bearing down on you? *sigh*
Well, mayhaps I will meet some big Hamlet fan in Europe and we can skip about in Kronborg. Here's to that!

Here's to ME! Viva la Jenni

Elsinore!!

Wow, this is Elsinore! Not my future home ladies and gentlemen, but a castle of much higher esteem. I really love it. The picture really captures the darkness that surrounds my thoughts of the castle.

Home again!

Hey minions!

I am sooo excited to be living at Caritas again. I am glad to be back with my ChillyWilley and all the other Caritisians.
My weekend is so huge! I was under the impression that the Playmakers! shows were NEXT weekend, but in a casual conversation about load outs I found out otherwise! THIS WEEKEND!! OMG!! So, I am working and begging like a crazy woman in order for this all to work. I am MAYBE able to get out tonight to go to the show, in which case I will set myself up as Carl's slave and just help him with whatever he needs for the scene changes. As soon as the show is done I dash to Maranatha to do an overnight, and then in the morning fly over to Caritas to do morning routines, then in the early afternoon I will take a coremember to see Hamlet. After that, we come back home and I work until 9pm and then I zip over to Brendan's and do some shin-digging. I may have to work an overnight again at Maranatha so I will have to zoom over there at 11pm, if not, I will party hard! The next day I will go to Mother's Day with Terry and perhaps Doreen. Sometime in this fun schedule, I have to get my mom the other part of her mother's day gift. BLEH!
Ya, anyway, now you can all feel sorry for me for a bit.

Thanks my sweet and darling minions,

Jenni

"I had rather hear you chide than this man woo"

Ellen, you have infected me! No...that sounds wrong. But I too am being mentally attacked by Hamlet and all I can think about is PLAYMAKERS!! I love it and it is driving me insane. I am getting ready to be a woman of the world and what is sticking most in my heart and mind is Playmakers! The feelings and the passion behind it. Every kid is human and just wants to put on a good show. The alumni and the where are they now factor is just amazing. Yay to AMANDA for getting into George Brown. So in my mind rest the random quotes, the catchy, heartbreaking tunes, the feelings and costumes and set peices of Hamlet and other shows. The three Hamlets I have experienced, of which...Easy E...blazes with glory in the most balanced Hamlet. Ha ha ha ha And by 'balanced' I mean properly unbalanced. When I watch the show I just "DIE" for him, amazing work! Well, I have to go nap off a bit of a hangover!

Viva la Jenni

l'Archen Party

My fun Sunday!!

Well fans, minions and friends, I had an awesome day yesterday. I went to church at Immaculate Conception and afterward hung out at Naz with Olive from Agape. We had lunch there and then went to the river. We hula'd and Heidi brought a drum so people drummed and others hula'd. There were about twelve of us including the coremembers who were hula'ing as well. Dalton even had a hoop. We all had a great time, the sun was shining, the grass was cool. After that Olive and I went back to Agape with Melissa and I made dinner and did some routines and then Melissa and I went to Andrew's apartment for the champagne party. Dan came soon after us and then Punkin, Tim and Heidi. We played a drinking game. It is harder than you would imagine to drink five shots of champagne. Then we went to the bar....Classics...on a sunday night...I know I know, lame lame, but we just wanted to have fun and dance to loud music. So, we went up there and there was NO ONE! So, we did what any half drunk group of friends would do. Danced! I ran down to Heidi's car (who wasn't drinking by the way) and grabbed her hula hoops and we hula'd on the dance floor. Oh minions, I have never had so much fun at Classics!! Ew, yes, we all had our shoes off. But it was a group thing and I scrubbed my feet like nobody's business today. I saw John, the guy who saved my life, and tried to get him to dance with us and he wouldn't. Apparently he has a crush on me, but he was drinking so I am sure he wasn't serious. ANYWAY, we had so much fun, and I did NOT throw up, which is always bonus. Oh, Andrew and I were dirty dancing on the dance floor, good times, we are so hot. I got home (AKA-Agape...I have no real home...boo) and opened the window for fresh air in the bedroom and it got stuck open so it was SOOOO freezing when I was trying to sleep.
I managed to wake up at seven and get the coremembers off to work and crawled my lame ass back on the couch to sleep off the hangover I aquired.

Viva La Jenni

Dreams of the Insomniac

Well, I most often dream, and I saw that earlier on some people had written some dreams...I couldn't really dream up anything interesting and relevant enough to be on the blog, but last night I had an INSANE bout of Insomnia and was up until 6am when I had to get up at 7am. So I got up at 7am and then decided they could all live without me and went back to bed...this is what transpired...

Carl, Ellen, Liam and I were helping with the Hamlet show and we decided to party it up after the rehearsal. So we got the Playmakers! van (?) and decided to go for a drive. You must understand that this is a mythological van and no such van actually exists for Playmakers!. Ellen, naturally, was our driver, Carl had shotgun, and Liam and I were in the back. The middle seats had been taken out for storage room. There was a sort of fence infront of Liam and I that limited our view of what was going on ahead of us, and the windows to the sides were foggy and blurred up so we could hardly make out what was on either side of us, so we turned our seats around and watched the road behind us. We were on the highway and we were going so damned fast it was scarey. Ellen and Carl had somehow managed to get alcohol on this voyage and passed it back to Liam and I and we were all drinking to our hearts content. Edit: Just remembered that we were all smoking pot too...crazy, cause I really really don't like pot. Ellen decided it was time for some music and turned on Linken Park. Liam started panicking saying, "Guys, whenever I listen to LinkenPark something bad happens, the cops showed up at my door at school when I was listening to it" and sure enough, we got pulled over. So Liam was terrified because he had already been arrested for drinking and listening to loud music, and so we quickly pulled our seat belts on and hid our drugs and the cop came to the window. Then another one came to the other side of the window. We were right beside an exit of the highway and there were lots of cars zipping past us. The police asked Ellen AND Carl to get out of the vehicle. So they went to talk to the police, the van was still running and in the background there was Dumbshow music playing. Liam and I were scrambling to see what was going on, but the only window that provided us with a view of Ellen and Carl was blurry. We kept wiping it off but it would get blurry again so fast. All of a sudden we realized what was happening. Carl and Ellen were getting arrested!!!! A cop came to the van, we assumed to explain the situation, instead he shifted the van into Drive. So we started to roll. Liam and I started freaking out, we were going to die in the back of a Playmakers! van. For some reason it was much more tragic that it was a Playmakers! van, as if it was any other sort of van we would have just resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to die. SO what happens is the following. Liam managed to kick the fence out from between us and the front of the van and I ran up and started steering, but the steering was crazy hard and the door was still open and my hair kept flapping in my eyes, so liam cut my hair for me and we exited the highway. The steering wheel got stuck and we ended up crashed into a wall. A little while later when I came to, Liam wasn't around. I got out of the van and started looking for him. Brendan showed up he gave me a little motorized scooter and asked me if I was going to the Daytona races to support Playmakers! and I said I would after I found Liam, and so he left and there were two huge doors with a large gold star on each of them and I heard LinkenPark coming softly from behind one and I opened it and inside there was a blue Playmakers! throne and a small stereo playing the music and it was so damned weird. I closed that and went to the other door and then Liam came running up behind me and said
"Don't open that!!! I sat in there for a while, but it was just too much...too much"
I asked "what is in there?" and our voices were kind of echoing and tinny
"l'Arche schedules. And Set...Set for miles. I started to cry" he told me
"But...your beard."
"ya," he shook his head "...It didn't help"

Mmmmm...that was my sexy dream. Totally weird, there were more things involved but I don't remember how they fit in and it seems to be falling away.

Viva La Me!

Oh! and to make things more fun, my mommy reads my Blog!
A shout out to my ma, yo! Keep it Gangsta!

"Psychotic....?" "No"

One of my fans requested more pictures of me...I can't turn down someone who has such amazing taste...though he is gay, that probably lowers my chances of scoring

Well, Playmakers! tonight was a total bust for me!!! Ha ha haha! that sounds so mean and bad. The show is going pretty good, the same Playmakers! story though, kids...lines?...props?.... SCENE CHANGES!?!?! You mean the scenes don't change themselves?? This shocked me too people, but get this...in order for the scenes to change....The change has to occur ONSTAGE before the actors can act on it...AND in a certain amount of time!!!!!!! The show will not revolve around one particular actor who doesn't what play we are doing, let alone what scene we are on! Not that I was some GREAT QUEEN OF THE SCENE CHANGE or something, but really really...
"Oh,!" (pardon me whoever's task this was, not getting into particulars, just exampling) "I bring on a TREE!?!?! what tree??? where does it go?? I have been doing this for HOW MANY months? what does a tree look like? is it this gold thing? no, that is a cup...I have a running who now?"
Poor Carl...

ANYWAY, the bust...Playmakers! was a bust for me, not because of that crap I mentioned before, because that stuff is what makes Playmakers! itself...BUT because I cut myself with my own stupid nail getting a girls skirt done up, and for those who don't know Playmakers! skirts...they can be a real pain in the arse. I got bug spray in my wound. I think I may be getting a cold now (not Playmakers! fault directly of course, but I must associate it so you all feel sorry for me in one large sum). I SAT ON STUPID STAGE DIRT ON A CHAIR WITH MY PRETTY NEW WHITE SKIRT!!!! You can all cry for me on that note, but I managed to get it all out!!

A warm thanks to Liam, guardian of all things wonderful and perfect, for the sweater! Yay to Ellen for her costuming skills. Carl rocked my world with his works, helping the kids with their characters and changing scenes! GO CREW! I think I mostly just got in the way and hurt or embarassed myself. Though I had some interesting and somewhat akward revaltions occur to me on my walk to the Studio that might have contributed to that.

BEFORE Playmakers! I hung out with my friend Tim, fun stuff, he isn't psychotic in case you are all wondering. Which...you weren't, so now I have gone and made things awkward..."why would I/we think he was psychotic?" you will ask yourselves as you toss and turn in bed tonight. Well, anyway, Tim is a really interesting guy and I enjoy his company very much. We get into some rather interesting conversations.

G.I. Jane is a totally kick ass movie about a totally kick ass girl!!! I loved it. It really spoke to me and said "You could do NOTHING of what this woman is going through!" Rar, I am describing it all wrong, I mean, I KNEW I couldn't physically do anything this woman did, but I still felt empowered and happy about being female....Not that I am ever unhappy about being female.

I think I am starting to babble...

Viva la Jenni

GOD BE AT YOUR TABLE!!!

Hoop or die!

One may think I have nothing to do but post blogs all day. That is incorrect. I was also hula hooping!!!! Like on big real hula hoops, it is soooo great. Me and Jeremy were doing all kinds of wacky tricks, for example, we put the hoop on the ground and then flung it up over ourselves with our foot (each had their own foot, we did not share one foot if there is any confusion) and then I tried to catch it with my hips and spin it from there, didn't work as well as we wanted, but it was fun and I was getting close. I can hula counter clockwise well and clockwise not so well, but still can do it. I can also hula TWO hoops and was working on four. I was getting pretty good at the end! OH wow, seriously, hula'ing seems pretty lame, but it is so addicting, I feel like rolling my body all night............


ANYWAY, HULA if you wanna minions! I am buying a collapsable hoop from Jeremy so that I can take it to Europe so I can hula through my castle!!! Oh wow that sounds so fun! Well amidst the fanfare and the roaring fan club outside the door, I hear some CoreMembers that need my attention. I live with Ms. Hanly's uncle Brian!! Yay!!

Viva la Jenni!

She so fly!!!

More fans!!!

I am so pleased! My minion base is growing daily! I just want to thank you all for coming out!

I did some fun running/walking today. By 'fun' I mean BORING and by 'running/walking' I really mean walked fast pretty much the whole time, tried to run, managed for awhile and then my dumb annoying pulse started pounding and my neck actually HURT because of it, so I stopped. BUT I managed to get a bit more of a tan in the process. OH! and cause I was such a speedy devil for the most part, I was kicking up dust and grass so on the back of my lower legs...let's call them 'calfs...calves...' let's call them lower legs there is a nice very light coating of grass dust, ya, grass dust, and...stoney, pebbley DIRT!!! YAY!!! Ah, yes, I also took my shirt half off... So, I managed to almost give myself a heart attack, get a bit-ish naked, get dirty, and accumulate more exposure to UV rays...

Job well done Jenni, you must be saying...
well, thanks guys, that is really sweet, I mean...really.

SO, this is getting gross, sitting here with my dirty legs, I'm gonna go shower and hope y'all have a gangsta day!

Viva La Jenni!!

ma matin

Well, it is just a bit after 10am and I have been awake for 3 hours already and I LOVE IT!! I hate waking up, but it is so nice to have a whole day ahead of me. Usually I wake up at around 3 in the afternoon! I am at Maranatha today I haven't had to do much. I feel bad, but they really just told me to do nothing, so I can cope!
I watched Maury this morning, much to my dismay, and it was pretty weird, there was a woman afraid of chalk. Her grandpa had told her when she was young that chalk was made of dead people's skin. I guess it makes some sort of sense though. Anyway at the end of the show she wrote on a chalk board "I love Maury" how freakin cheezy!!
So, I have bored you all with my lame morning!!

Viva la Jenni!

Mission: Austria: Phase Two: Complete

So, this blog comes to you completely out of boredom, I don't think I have anything really special to say, but who knows.
Had my first morning of 'work' today. Was pretty easy stuff considering they just let me sleep in because there was nothing for me to do. I got up and made a few phone calls for them, I helped Olive get ready to go and that was about it.
THEN!!! I went downtown and realized I needed to mail my contracts for Austria, so I did that and I feel very happy and a tiny bit nervous about it. Just a tiny bit. ALSO, fans of mine, I saw my wonderful grandma, her name is Gladys, at Dollerama. My mom bought a dead frozen rat for one of her snakes to eat. Peter was with us, it is always fun hanging out with Peter! I really am glad I know him. He can speak a Mexican Amish version of German, isn't that cool!______ That blank was for when you all said "yes!!! SO cool!"
Well, I have eight minutes of freedom left....

Viva La Jenni!!!!

Move Much?

Well, I have moved AGAIN, I could count the times I have moved on more than all my fingers and toes...if that makes sense. Not moved as in couches and kitchen tables and stuff, but still, what a crap!! Moving is unsettling, in a very litteral sense. You know the feeling when you are sick and all you want to do is curl up in your bed and fall asleep...I have had that feeling with 20 different 'beds'. Some were couches. Wow...back on track...I moved into Maranatha which is on Home Street in Stratford, if y'all wanna know that. It is a l'Arche house, I have to say, when you know you are moving into a l'Arche house, you know you will be living good. For the most part anyway...
(HALLAAA to my Sunflowers suffering in the Big O!!) (For all you non-gangstas that means- Hello all my good friends at le Tournesol, may your days be filled with kisses and lemon drops, in the lovely City of Ottawa!!)
...The joke there is that I didn't have a TOTALLY fantastic time in Ottawa, BUT I do love the people I lived with and want you guys all to know that they are a truly wonderful home and family and I still miss them very much!
......SO....woe is me, I moved a lot. Am now over it since I started writing this long arse blog that NO ONE is going to EVER forget cause...well? WHY?

VIVA LA JENNI!!!

ROCK!

Today is a beautiful warm day!!

Anyway, I did a lot today! I played tennis, and Tenkey (which is a combo of hockey and tennis that Tim and I played with two little boys named Nicholas and Logan, but then their grandma came and yelled at them cause they weren't wearing their shirts because Nick said I was wearing pink and brown and that was gross and I said "well, how old are you?" [keep in mind that this is previous to our friendship] and he said he was ten so I said "pfff NO ten year old wears RED shirts" and then he took it off and I laughed, and then Tim laughed, anyway, we played the game and it was fun, Nick and I were the RedWings and Tim and Logan were the Flyers), hung out with Peter, watched BUFFY ( for those who don't know, BUFFY rocks, thus the caps), walked around, went to Tim Hortons, and then played Rock Paper Scissors and choose, keep in mind that my day all included my good friend Tim.
So, I just want y'all to know my tennis game has only slightly improved and I actually think it was due to Nicholas and Logan.
Soon Tim and I are going to go to the TINY...I mean tiny Movie theatre in Stratford to watch....oh I don't wanna say it....ugh.......to watch....... *cough*StickIt*cough* because there is nothing else on....don't judge us!!
We are gonna get popcorn, cause that is the main attraction of going to a movie theatre for me.

To all my fans out there!! Feel free to give me comments on my Blogs, I am NOT against fanmail!!!
Have a beautiful evening!!!!

Viva la Jenni!

Tennis and Snakes

Well, friends, I have started playing TENNIS! It is pretty fun, but I really play a poor game. I feel sorry for Viktoria, we played yesterday and things were just a bit silly. I can't actually hit the ball too well, and when I do, I hit it in the totally wrong direction. It could have something to do with how I swing, but that is irrelevant...and how I hold the racket. But all is well, I have FUN! Today I may subject Tim to my 'game skills'. That is if he ever shows up.
My mom is working with a guy named Peter and they came over this morning and I was sleeping on the couch, because I have no bed, and I hear some noise and I kind of open my eyes and Peter said "Good Morning...how the hell are ya?" it was pretty funny, so I started laughing so hard. It is pretty nice to wake up with laughter, I can't say I get that very often.
I was holding Foo, my mommy's king snake and it was wrapped around my hand, and I tried to get my hand free, but it held on tighter and I wasn't scared, but it was kind of fun in a "ahhhh" way!

Part Two

"WOW! Did you read that last blog by Jenni?" That is what all the cool kids are gonna say to eachother at school on monday, I just know it, I want you to be a part of that...start a revolution!!!

Viva La Jenni

The Beginning

This is me...I started wearing glasses for reading, but then a guy said he liked them on me, so I always wore them around him, and ended up addicted to the lens baby, just say "No" to lunettes

I would like to make some profound statement in my first blog so people think I am smart. But I can't force genius. I am tired, I am bored and I am just doing this for the hell of it.
I just finished watching "Brokedown Palace" with Claire Danes and that other girl. They are in Thailand and get arrested for smuggling drugs...Claire Danes' character ends up saying she did it so that her friend can go free. I don't know how to feel about that. In one way I admire her for the strength she had to do that, and in another way, I think it was a bit ridiculous. Whatever.

So...there you go lads and lasses...My first BLOG EVER!! Yay me!

Jenni