My Grown Up Christmas List

**NEW UPDATED!

This is what I would like for Christmas.
Everything on this list is there because I need it and I will use it.
If you want to get me something, well pick something on here :-)
If you don't want to get me something, I accept Christmas Cards (my adress will be posted as a comment on my facebook)

Everything is sorted by Stores, just click on the word to open a new link window to the product desired.

P.S don't buy me clothes, buy me a gift card to the store so I can buy myself the clothes.

CANADIAN TIRE
cookware
Sillicone bakeware
Hamilton Beach Stand mixer  or feeling more generous? Kitchen Aid stand mixer


 WALMART
Sunbeam Glass Jar Blender
Black and Decker Food Processor
Little green Machine
DVD : The Goonies, Harry Potter Collection,  Gone with the Wind, Kill Bill Vol.1-2, Planet Terror, Hair, Tommy, Les Boys and many more...

OLD NAVY
Frost Free Long jacket (black or purple XXL)
Quilted down short Jacket (navy or colourful XXL)
multi patterned sweater (XXL)
Slip-on socks
random plain v-neck or crew neck t-shirts (short sleeves, 3/4 or long) size L
PJ top and bottom


UPWARD DOG (yoga)
Classes packages 

GIFT CARDS TO VARIOUS PLACES LIKE
Old Nay
 GAP
 Sears
Walmart
Grocery Stores (Maxi or IGA)
Dollorama
 Spa (pedi/mani) (Massages)
 Amazon.ca

**Indigo/Chapters

**Shopperdrug mart/Pharmaprix

**Aubainerie

Paypal donation  here so I can buy stuff online

RANDOM ITEMS I LIKE (Stocking stuffers)
Scrafs, purses, ballerina shoes (flats size 8 or 9), I need a new wallet (sleek, can fit in pocket), Mitains and hats (fun colours or black, Falls wear or knitted for winter), Gift baskets from drugstores (shampoo and stuff like that), nail polish, lottery scratchers, hair clips, Chocolates, lip baulm

I'm back!

Well sorta!
to be honest, I had forgotten my password and was too lazy to do a reset. Didn't really see the point of writing a blog, it seems like my sister is the only one reading it (Hi Cath!) lol

Anyways, nothing much has changed since last time.
I finished my probation at work and I am now a full time licensed Funeral Director/Embalmer.
Recently they pulled me out of the preproom in order to "try" me as a Funeral Director.
So instead of having fun embalming people, using my creative side, I am stuck in an office, filling papers and talking to people *shudders*. I am bored out of my mind!!! But I have to do it. It is part of my job description after all.
It wouldn't be so bad if I was to to do both at the same time, not either, or. Well I have done 1 month, now I have 2 months to go until we sit down and figure out what's next.

To be honest, I want to return in my cave (aka the preproom). I may be good with people...but doesn't mean I am a people person.

Since I left theatre school, I somehow became a recluse. I don't go out, I don't hang out with people, I don't like having mindless conversation (specially with strangers), I feel uncomfortable in situations where I have to deal with people. I guess years of working in retails and living in big cities made me dislike people. So I really loved being in the preproom. When I meet people, it is usually on a very short term social contact, I work with the same 3-5 people (who are pretty awesome), I do my thing, which includes using my head and hands. And I like that.

I'm not the type of  person who strive to be at the top. If i like something, I wanna stay there. It's pretty hard for me to find something I like doing. I have a short attention spend. After a while, I get bored easily and I want to move on. Usually I drop things and do something completely different....or I run off somewhere (like Japan) for a change of scenery. But this time I had found something I enjoyed. I have been doing it for almost 2 years now and I'm not bored of it...so I was happy in the preproom.
Now I was changed places, and well i'm already starting to dislike my job. The people I work with now are great! don't get me wrong, but the work itself is boring, unsatisfying and now when I wake up in the morning, I actually feel like it's a drag to go to work.

2 more months to go and I hope I will be able to go back in the preproom.

On a slightly different subject, I have been thinking for a while of going back to school.
I would still be working, but I'd like to go to University part-time starting September 2013.
I feel like in life now, it's a good thing to have an University degree and i'd like that.
As anybody that knows me, I'm not a school-person, even the fact that I graduated (twice) from college is a big deal!!! Well this time, I have my eyes set on University. I wouldn't be going there in order to get an education to find work, but more like going there for myself. Like a personal achievement thing.
As I am in Ottawa, I have been looking at U of O and right now I know for sure I want to do Asian studies. They have either Chinese or Japanese, so I would be doing Japanese of course. I really want to study it properly and re-learn how to speak/read/understand it. Since I have been back almost 4 years ago, I have lost probably 70% of my japanese, and it makes me sad.
The problem is that it is only given as a Minor, and if I want a B.A, I need to studying something else. I could probably do my studies in Religious Studies, mainly because it would be relevant with my work, but i'm not overly excited about that either...or I could take some easier course like Theatre, since I already have a Performing Art diploma, so this wouldn't be as hard and I kinda miss doing theatre....or I could do my studies in Visual Arts since I love painting, so I would be studying something I enjoy doing and it can't hurt being more artistic if one day I want to be a great embalmer/restaurer and then, there is a General Arts B.A I could do for, it's not focus on anything specific, I could probably get credited a few of the classes too.

So I'm thinking after the holidays of going down the the University and sitting down with a counselor to see what my options are.  I don't care if it takes me 5 years to get my B.A part-time, I think I really would like to do it....plus if i'm back to school, I might finally be able to meet new people and make friends?! No offense, I love my cousin and cats ...but I think I need "real friends" lol

I can't wait until 2013 is here. Although technically 2012 was a good year (doesn't beat 2009-2010 though), I'm kinda over it and I can't wait for the new year to start. First of all, I can't wait to finally have paid vacation time! I haven't been on a vacation in 4 years.When I came back from Japan, 3 months later I started school, then a week after school, I started my internship, then 4 days after my internship I started my new job and now here I am! I itch to get out!!
I have narrowed down my possible vacation places for next year. I don't have much money, so that's going to be the major factor that will decide where I go :

Japan: It's been too long, I miss it, I need to go back...but we're looking at almost 3,000$ to go there for a week.

England: I have always wanted to go there ever since I was little and pretended to be in Oliver Twist. It's not as expensive as I thought it would be, plus I do have a friend getting married in June so it's a good excuse to go. Also, I do believe I remember some English chaps I met in Japan saying they would take me out of a pint if I ever went there (and a place to crash)...so I'm holding on to your words boys! lol

Vancouver: Although my family is all going for the X-mas Holiday and I'm not (no time or money), I'd like to go just to visit my best friend. I haven't seen her in 3 years, beside I have never been to that side of the country. I do know people who lives there, so I could possibly have a place to stay. Can you believe it is the same price to fly either to Vancouver or London? Flying within your own country shouldn't be so expensive!!

Orlando, Florida : Mainly for Universal Studio to go see the World of Harry Potter and drink a butterbeer at the 3 broomsticks! If I get more people with me to go, we could drive there, it's a 24hr drive, with 4 drivers it's 6 hrs each (same distance I drive on my own from Ottawa to go visit my family). Then once there, you get a cheap hotel, doesn't have to be close to the park since we would have a car and split the hotel by 4. So it is the cheapest option so far.

The last option, which is also a cheap one would be New York, to go see broadway shows...but i've done NY a few times.

If I plan carefully, I may even be able to go on 2 trips, but I don't want to get my hopes high! Let's start with one. Orlando is the most plausible one, now I just need to find my 3 other drivers/Harry Potter addicts to come with me.

Kisarazu Cat's Eye : Busan

I totally forgot to post about this!
Well as you know, last May I had to say good bye to Ucchi.
Ucchi was my sister's cat who came to live with me for 3 weeks before her kidney failed.

Now it was just Ozzy and I.
I could tell Ozzy was bored at home by herself all day, so i thought perhaps I should go and get her a friend.

One Friday afternoon, I went to the Humane Society to have a look. I had read in the papers that they were begging people to come and adopt their cats since they were over crowded (they even had a buy 1 get 1 free deal) but i knew that taking in 2 more cats was a bit borderline.

Well I spent a little over 3 hours there, visiting each cats, spending time with them seeing which one was nice, which one liked to play, which one would fit nicely in my home. I had the idea of going in and getting a kitten.
I was lucky there were 13 kittens to adopt...but after seeing all the people visiting the humane society stopping in to see the kitten, play with them, leaving and ignoring the older cats, I felt bad. Maybe I should adopt an older cat, like we always do. Give them a chance, Kittens don't stay long in those places, but older cats do.

So I spent time with a few of them, first there was Bobby, a big, but very big 8 years old black and white cat. The first time, he came running to me, meowing and rubbing himself on my legs. When I sat down, he jumped on my lap and started purring. The second time I went to see him an hour later, he completly ignored me...I guess it wasn't love at first sight after all.

I then saw this beautiful red long haired cat with a pointy face named Fox. He was all by himself at 11 months old. I sat down and quickly he layed down on my lap and stayed for a good 15 minutes. He was very cuddly and very gentle. But not really playful and I was afraid that if he was by himself in this room, was probably because he didn't get along with other cats.

Then in the last room, there was Malakai. This grey and white 6 years old male. He was really excited to see me and started meowing and rubbing himself agaisnt me. I had seen him with another person a few minutes earlier and he hadn't reacted the same way with them. He got up on his hind legs, so i took him in my arms, where he proceeded at head bumping me and giving me kisses. It was hard to resist.

I went back and forth between Fox and Malakai, I just couldn't make up my mind!! Don't give me that much choices, i can't decide!!!  I took pictures and sent them to my sister who proceeded to say that Malakai was prettier.

After a few hours, I realized that I kept going back to Malakai. He was playful and affectious. And every time I went in his room, he gave me the same welcome. So I went at the front and signed the papers and shed out a few bucks, then by 5pm, I was briging home Malakai....who was now renamed Busan!

Busan is from Kisarazu Cat's eye (same as Ozzy and Ucchi) It is a japanese drama that is hilarous that my sister and I really like. Busan is the leader in the drama, he is a bit hyper and lazy, clumsy and and smart. Living his life to the fullest (because he is dying of cancer in the drama)...and I though "Malakai" was just like that.

So now it has been 3 weeks since Busan is living with me and Ozzy. He is a pest!!! but i love him.  His play time is usually between 1am to 5am and normally i wake up to cat toys all over the place and things knocked off tables and bookshelves.  He likes to suprise attack Ozzy, who doesn't seem to enjoy this little game and he eats and poop none-stop lol  He loves to bite softly when playing, which my toes are not enjoy at 2am. And he is very vocal, always making some noise or another and talking to the walls.

Ozzy and him are getting along slowly. They don't share beds or food, but they coexist in the same room without pissing one another...except when Busan jumps on her out of no where. I hope they become better friends in the future. Maybe once Busan calms himself down a bit (note to self : do not give him catnip..he will be high for 24hrs)

So there you have it.... Busan and Ozzy are now my babies <3

The results are in.

Well I haven't updated in a while and lots has happened since.
First, I finished my internship in SF After a year of learning my trade, I was officially done, and since SF was now the place where I wanted to establish myself, I got a job in another city.

At the end of May, I moved across the province, 5 hrs away from home and family, with the idea of starting my new job and my new future. I got to do the 1st part of my licensing exam, which was a practical exam (aka an embalming), I got the result as soon as I was done which was : PASS.

2 weeks after, I had to return to Sudbury for my 2 weeks review and part 2 and 3 of my licensing exams.
Meanwhile, we had a boursary dinner, where I won 2 boursaries, so that was nice. I got one for having the highest grades in the Northen Ontario and one for leadership after taking the initiative of doing a fund raiser for Japan's earthquake when I was in school.

Then at the of those 2 weeks, it was the moment that was going to decide my future. We had 2 days selected to write our exams. The first one was a multiple choice exam, which over 300 questions all raging from the History of Embalming to Biology, Law and Chemistry to Business and Psychologies. The second exam was a short answer exam with questions about our legistation and law of funeral services, a few forms and contracts to fill in. But for those, i had to wait for a few weeks before getting my results.

Then it was back to my new city, working while waiting for my results.

Well now i don't have to wait anymore, because I got them this morning. Sorry it's blurry...but I PASSED! all 3 exams, which means I am officially a license Funeral Director!

I have to admit, i cried when I saw it. All the stress of the last month, came out in the shape of tears. Then I called my mom right away.

I'm very happy and proud of myself. I always had trouble finishing things I started or sticking to it in a long term plan. I usually give up half way...but this time I stayed and made it through and I succeeded.

So the next thing I did was paint the second eye on my daruma. DAISEKO!

Good Bye Uchi

 UCHI

MAY 23, 2012

Uchi was a rescued cat my sister took in.
Unfortunetly, she didn't get along with the other cat my sister already had.
Uchi had been bullied by the other cat and developed stress and anxiety because of that.
When my sister's baby was born, Uchi wasn't allowed to be in the master bedroom since that's where the baby slept. So she lost her safe place and started becoming more anxious.

I got a new job in Ottawa 2 weeks ago and my sister and I thought it would be best for Uchi to move in with me.
I already have a cat, but she is scared of her own shadow, so not much a threat to Uchi.
The first week went very well. Uchi showed progress, being more social and acting like a normal cat.
We thought she was getting better.
The second week is when I moved to Ottawa.
The first day didn't  go well, she started (again) having blood in her urine. But we figured it was the stress from moving and probably developed some ulcers since the next day after she seemed fine again.
All week she became more social, adventuring out of the bedroom into the new house, even watch TV with me on the couch.

On May 22, when I came back from work she was sleeping in the spare bed. When I went to check up on her, she looked sleepy, but didn't think much of it. She then threw up in the bed. Which I also didn't think much of it since my other cat is a threw up cat.

On May 23, I woke up and got ready for work. She was still sleeping, so i didn't bother to wake her. but I did give her a kiss on the forehead.

When I came back from work that day, she was laying in my dirty laundry and didn't look well at all.
She had drool coming out of her mouth and a bit of foam on the side. I thought she was perhaps struggling with the heat, so I went and got her some fresh cold water, but as soon as I placed the bowl beside her, she threw up again, twice. This time it wasn't normal threw up. It look yellowish and foamy.
She then got up and tried to walk away, but her legs kept giving in and she would stumble around the room. She couldn't walk anymore.
I knew she hadn't been drinking or eating in the past 24hr...which is really bad.

I called my sister and we took the decision that it was probably better to get her check.

After lots of worrying and searching the internet for her symptoms, I called a 24hr Emergency Pet Hospital and described to the vet what was going on. She suggest I bring her in.

at 11pm, I took Uchi in. The vet came back with a diagnostic that wasn't good at all.
Kidney failure, ulcers and infection in her mouth and heart murmure.
The vet told me that she was in very bad shape and may not make it the night. She was in a lot of pain and her kidney were about ready to shut down.
I asked the Vet to get me an estimate for the cost on treating her and just to keep her in the ICU for 3 days was going to cost 2,500$ +.....that's without the physician and treatments.

My sister and I decided to put an end to her suffering.

At 11:30pm on May 23, 2012, Uchi passed away peacefully in my arms.
She was an amazing cat. A bit weird and antisocial, but she loved to sleep at your feet and head bump you for kisses.She loved to play by herself in secret and would stop as soon as you would look at her.
She was such a good cat. All she wanted was to cuddle and be loved.

We tried to make her life easier and I hope she was happy with the time she spent with us. I'm sorry I couldn't do much more to save her. I loved her so much even if we didn't live together for long.
She must have been in so much pain in the last 24hr for her health to turn for the worse so quickly.

She will be buried in my sister's garden in Barrie soon.

I'm sorry Uchi and We loved you. Your Suffering is over. Rest in Peace.

Long time no see : A little update chronicle

Hey everyone (who reads this blog, which is probably 3 people),

I don't remember when was my last post or what it was about, so this mean it has been some time since I did a little update.

Well at the beginning of April I got a job offer. I made the decision of to move to Ottawa in order to start my career, exciting isn't?

I'm excited, and I'm scared, and confused, and happy, and lots of emotions.
It's weird to explain. In less than 2 months, I will be writing my licensing exams and hopefully most likely will become an official Funeral Director.
It's kinda weird to say this but I feel like this is the start of my adult life. My own life.
Sure I have been living on my own and doing my things for a little while, but now I will have a career.
Not a job. A career. This is what I will do for the rest of my life until I retire hopefully.
I'm happy with my choice. I like my job, it is challenging at times, but it is also very much "my pace". I get to work with people, and I also get to work on my own not being bother by anyone. I think it's a good fit. There is always something interesting every day and I never know what to expect when I start the day.

So I decided to leave this little town where I have been doing my internship and set myself free in the big city.
I had an opportunity to work in Toronto, but it wasn't really what I was looking for. Then this opportunity came and it seems more fitting for what I am looking for.

I have never lived in Ottawa. I have visited plenty of times, having family there, I used to go every summer when I was a kid, but now it's different. That's where I am going to live and perhaps settle myself.

The company I am working for, is a corporation in the funeral industry. They own many funeral homes all over North America. There is a lot of advancement opportunities and transferring opportunities for the future. So I am not limited to one thing.
Since I am someone who can't seem to stay put in one place and do one thing for ever...this is a good thing for me. I can stay in the same company, but have the chance to do different things or move to different cities.

I guess right now I am anxious to get things going. But first I need to finish my internship (15 days left), move to Ottawa, write my licensing exams (50 days left) and hope that everything goes well meanwhile!
in 50 days I will be officially done school and hopefully for ever lol

At this moment, I feel like there is so much I need to do. My house is pretty much all packed, except for daily stuff I use and some kitchen stuff. I'm looking around for a moving companies, I'm getting my cable/internet settle, studying for my exams, working..and other things I seem to have forgotten.

A couple weeks ago, I went to Ottawa and signed my contract, at least that's done! lol
I also got an appartment.
I'm going to be living above one of the funeral homes the company owns. It's not the one I will be working at, but it is like 5 minutes away.
The place looks very old and dirty, but nothing a good clean and coat of paint will do.
And it's very cheap too. So I will be able to save up money and pay off my student loan.

I am aiming that in 2 years (by the time I turn 30) I will be able to put a down payment on a house. give and take.

On a slightly side note, I decided yo get a tattoo for when I finish school / get my license.  A couple years ago i designed a tattoo and i'm still gonna get that one (for my birthday) but I decided on another tattoo.
hmm how to explain it, it's a branch of a Cherry Blossom, tree with 2 little birds on it and another bird flying off. It will be on my feet. On one foot the branch and the 2 birds and on the other foot the flying bird. Kinda to represent myself setting off on my own. It will also be only the shadow of birds, no details and the cherry blossom's flowers will be coloured.

Well that's about it for now. I will try to update when I have official moved.

Please leave a comment if you read. I'm still trying to figure out how to reply to those comments lol

The Hunger Games Movie : A Fan's Review

First let me start by saying : I LOVED THE BOOK and I LOVED THE MOVIE!
But obviously because this is a critic of some sort, there will be more negative points then positive, but please read on. And don't be scared to comment too after. Whether you agree or not.
IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE OR READ THE BOOKS, STEP AWAY FROM YOUR COMPUTER!!!!
LOTS OF SPOILERS AHEAD

Let me start with the good things.
The best thing in the whole movie is Jennifer Lawrence! She is the perfect Katniss, what can I say!
We all know in the books, the story is told via her perspective and a lot is done with inner monologue. In the movie, although Jenn didn't have a lot of dialogue (and Thank GAWD! she didn't talk to herself as a way to get her innner dialogue heard) She did a spectacular job in acting out her feelings, thoughts and inner dialogues.
In every looks, every movements, you knew what when through her head, and as someone who read the books, I could pin point exactly what Katniss was saying in her head by just associating Jenn's acting to the book's narative. So kudos to Jenn. She is a wonderful actress!

To stay in the same line, I liked that there wasn't a lot of dialogue. Because after all, there wasn't a lot of it in the book either. So it was packed with action, but unlike Action movies, each characters had a purpose and made it seen.

The costumes were magnificent, I think i held my breath in when Katniss and Peeta came out on their Chariot with their cape burning in flames behind them. BEAU.TI.FUL! (Cinna really is amazing)

The Capitol was beyond what i expected. So silly but understandable. I think all the snip-it we saw of people living there as set the tone for the next books when there will be more Capitol and their Folks. But I have to admit, if  Panem existed, I would want to live at the Capitol, how can you say no to a matching head to toe Pink outfit!

Talk about Amazing, the Reaping scene anyone? Oh my gawd, I was clenching my hands together and my heart was skipping beats. I had a knot in my throat and even though I read the book, even though i KNOW what's about to happen...I just couldn't help it. It was emotional, I felt like I was one of them waiting for my name to be drawn out. What a way to start the movie!

Another amazing moment was Cinna saying goodbye to Katniss before she goes in the tube. Only 2 things were said in that scene "thank you" and "If i could, I would bet on you" But to see Jennifer trembling on the screen, with eyes like a deer in red lights, knowing what's going to happen, yet not knowing what's going to happen. The Tension was incredible. I guess that's another kudos to Jenn, and Lenny who played a fantastic Cinna.

I really enjoyed how most of the film was filmed like a camera crew was filming it. Shaky cameras and all. At times, it did feel like we were watching a reality T.V.  So it was a good mix between telling the story and showing the story.

The training session was just about how i imagined it. It was interesting to see and I thought they did a good job in showing some of the tributes's characters.

The bloodbath was also interesting to see, since in the book we don't get to see any of it (Katniss is gone by then) I thought it was a nice touch in setting the tributes apart , giving a Careers an edge.

Rue was sweet.  I just wish her part would have lasted a bit longer though.

Cato was great. You hated him from the start, but at the end you took pity of him. Alexander did a great job at showing Cato's brutal personality, but also his exasperation with the Games. He did give Cato a human side, even if it was for a brief second. Makes me proud to be Canadian ;-)

The fire scene was also well done and scary at some points , specially when the fireballs were coming at her. The whole Arena scenes were such a rush!

Seneca's beard! Enough said. I was mesmerized by it.

Cesear Flickerman, i would watch any reality shows if he was hosting!

Now we're getting in the O.K points.

Josh did a good job as Peeta. But i felt like something was missing. I can't pin-point what it was. I feel like his character was rushed and not as well developed as Katniss, for some reason, I remember him being a bit more whinny in the cave and i remember fuming with anger when he was with the Career, but in the movie, i didn't feel like he was betraying Katniss like i felt in the book, but more like protecting her. We were missing that "OMG BETRAYL" moment.  But Josh did a good job, I can't wait to see how he will take Peeta to the next level in the next films.

Haymitch was funny, but i wish they would given us more time to dislike him at the start for being a drunk and then slowly make us trust him as someone who is actually smart. In the movie, I feel like he went from drunk to trust too quickly. But maybe that's just me, i know i took me until Mockingjay to actually like him and trust him.

Ok, we all know about the pin and Madge. And although i understand that Madge isn't a character that will move the story, I don't actually quite mind that they changed that part. But I know the girl beside me had to explain to her friend what really happens in the book and she didn't seem pleased. But i was ok with that. It didn't change the main plot.

Although i appreciate the extra scenes between Seneca and Snow. I sorta wished they weren't there. At least not in Hunger Games. Perhaps in Catching Fire. When i read the books, we knew very little of Snow and Seneca, but both characters were developed in CF, which then makes you go "ooooohhhhh now i get it" So maybe if they wouldn't have done those 2-3 scences between them two, we would have had more of the greater moments in the books that were missing (which I will talk about below)

District 11 : I'm a bit torn between what happened after Rue dies. It does happen in the book, but not in Hunger Games. It happens in Catching Fire. The whole "Let's trash the place and stop^taking sh!t from the Capitol" thing I wish they would have done like in the book and send Katniss a bread from their district. After all, the Rebellion is not starting, yet. The bread represented D11 telling Katniss "Thank you, we're on your side now, no matter what" Then later they start revolting after the berries incident.

What happened to the prep team? I was sooooo looking forward to seeing them. They are like a comical relief in this whole thing and also some of Katniss's Capitol friends. But hopefully their part will get bigger int he upcoming movies, they got to at least.

Ok, now the negative points. I understand that they can't do everything that was in the book and translate it in the movie. I understand that some characters must be cut short, or cut completely. But the one thing I did not like was how rush the movie felt. Although i mentioned above that i enjoyed the rush in the arena, I did not enjoyed it overall. I felt like we went from moments to moments, by just skimming the surface and some great moments in the books where just kinda overlooked or not even mentioned. I understand you can't make  a 4 hrs long movie, but I think too many things were rushed and some things were just not relevant at this point.

The Tributes: Although we got a sense of the Careers, I wish we would have gotten to know a bit more about them, perhaps show their interviews a bit more, or show the Chariots scene a bit more, like show us each Tributes and tell us a bit more about their districts. They kinda juts glanced over that. Maybe I just wanted to see each of their costumes.

Where was Haymitch at the Reaping? How can he miss his grand spectacular entrance of face planting in his own vomits? But instead have him walk in, slightly drunk wondering where the ice is? not as memorable, Cinna wouldn't approve.

The Tracker Jacker scene, It was cool, but the morbid side of myself would have liked to see Glimmer turn into slim, like Katniss imagined. To have the full experience of the hallucinations, orange bubbles, bugs crawling...the works. Small detail, but I was looking forward to it.

Another thing I was looking forward too and i feel they completely missed it : The mutts!
What were those? Bulldogs? Pitbulls? I don't know about you, but I had pictured some kind of half human, half wolf mutation, grotesque and scary. I was actually scared when reading their description in the book. The whole point was that they were suppose to resemble the lost tributes. Which is something the Capitol used to get in their heads and scare the sh!t out of them. But those in the movie just looked like rabid dogs.  And in the book, Cato gets tortured for the whole night driving Katniss to the edge and doing the last Kill in order to spare him for further pain. But in the movie she kinda went "Oh he felt to the dogs, let me shoot him now and get this over with", There again, a beautiful scene that was rushed.

The Feast! Well it was well done, Isabelle was good as Clove, i wouldn't want to fight her. But she missed her best line "Cato said i could have you if i made a good show". And then Tresh kills her and he is suppose to take D2's bag so that Cato would run after him instead of going after Katniss. Thus leading him to die in Cato's hands. But from what i gathered, Tresh didn't take the D2 bag and got killed by a Mutt.  Why change it? It's not like it would have made the movie longer or anything, why not stay true to the book in that case?

Also to go back to the cornucopia scene, Where was Cato's full body armor? Isn't it one of the reason why Katniss shots him in the hand, coz it's the only place not protected (as she has tried to shoot him before, but her arrow bounced off his armed chest and they were all 3 running away from the Mutts). Oh well....

Peeta's injury. He is suppose to limp isn't he? which then leads to a very touching scene when they are both Victors and are brought back in the hovercraft. Peeta is still heavily injured and he is brought to the medics where Katniss is locked away from him. Later we find out he is missing his leg and has a prostectic instead. But that whole Hovercraft scene was important, because i believe that's when Katniss really shows for once that she truly loves and cares about him. But that whole thing was cut. It really, but really disappointed me.

And the whole "It was all for the game" part was also cut. It was the scene where everyone should feel pity toward Peeta and sorta hate Katniss. In fact the whole ending was rushed like crazy.  It's like they ran out of time and just went with it to try and finish it as quickly as possible. Once again I will say it, I wouldn't have minded to have to sit 30 minutes longer to see those scenes they were important touching moments in the book.

and there are other little things I rather loved and rather felt disappointed but i can't remember them now.
Over all, they did a great job, I am just being a nitpick about things.
I do feel that having read the books gave me a greater advantage to understanding the movie. Since i know what goes on, who is who and what's being thought...but if you haven't read the books, i guess the movie is a great teaser to the books!

With all this said, would I go see the movie again in theater? HECK YES!
Will I buy the DVD? HECK YES (and preferably the extended version in the hopes to get more of it)
Did I enjoy the movie ? Yes I did, I would give it a 4 out of 5.
Do i recommend the movie ? HECK YES (but please read the books too, there is so much more good stuff in there)
Am I excited for Catching Fire?......yes, but please make it a 2 parts....or longer, don't rush it!

It was a roller coaster of good stuff. And like I told my friends "It's like reading the books on crack! you don't have time to take everything in since it's BANG BANG BANG" What a rush! Go see it, it is worth it, and if you are an avid fan of the books, don't start nitpicking the movie like I did. Sit back and enjoy every moment of it because it goes by so fast!

Once again, excellent job to everyone involved in the movie. Thank you for your hard work! The odds are in your favor!

Note: wrote that after watching the movie, it is pass midnight. My head if filled with thoughts and sleepiness. So please forgive my lack of better English skills and my jumping all over the place. Going to bed now.

District 11 bread

One thing that is recurrent in the books The Hunger games is : Food.
And well as obsess as I am, i decided to try my own versions of District 11's bread.

In the book, the bread is described as moonshaped bread with natural grains.
Since District 11 is one of the poorest of all district, I figured they probably don't have lots of money to buy the ingredients for their bread (to import from other districts)
But since District 11's task is Agriculture, I figured they probably grow their own ingredients.
So let's keep it simple!

Over the internet I have seen a lot of recipes for The hunger games's food (there is even a cookbook)
But all of them required "yeast" for the bread.
For some reason, I don't think District 11 would have such thing. Wouldn't it be too expensive for them to get?

That got me thinking.
Bannock!

For those who don't know, Bannock is a simple bread made by the natives. It requires very few ingredients. Can be eaten as a dipping bread, or as a sweet bread just by adding or subtracting ingredients. No yeast is required and it litterly takes a few minutes to make.
It is a more dense bread that can either be deep fried, or cooked over a fire (baked)
I remember eating that when I lived up north in Waskaganish with the native.
The elders would make the dough, wrap it around a stick and dangle it by the camp fire to bake.
We would dip it in the Moose's gravy while eating.
Sometimes they would add raisins and cinnamon to the dough to eat it as desert.

I took a basic recipe of Bannock over the internet and modified it by adding ingredients that would be suitable for District 11.

Here's my recipe (the meassurements are NOT perfect, i pretty much eyeballed it all)

1 1/2 cup of Whole Wheat Flour
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds salted (if unsalted, add more salt to the recipe)
2 pinches of salt
2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/3 cup of white and black roasted sesame seeds.
1/3 cup of flax seeds
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of Almond fresh milk (you can use regular 2% milk for this...it's just i'm lactose intolerant and almond milk has a nice nutty flavor that goes well with the seeds)
 Honey to taste

Calories per bread: 180
Proteins : 7
Fiber: 7
Sugar : 4-9 varies depending on how much honey you add
Carbs: 35

Mix dry ingredients together.
Add almond milk and mix.
Add honey to taste.
Mix well. Add water slowly to form a dough that isn't "too" sticky to the touch.
Knead the dough lightly (the more you work it, the denser the bread will be, so don't knead it too much if you want it soft)
separate into 6 balls. Roll each balls into triangles.
Drizzle a bit of honey on top,(if you want more) then roll into a croissant shape.
Place on cookie toll, drizzle some honey onto if you want and sprinkle more sesame seeds and sunflower seeds ontop.
Place in the over for 30 minutes (or until golden brown) at 350 degrees. (flip the bread after half way to make sure it is golden on each side)
Eat warm with jam or butter.

They tasted pretty good in my opinion.
But like I said, I eyeballed the measurements, so just go with the flow and consistency of the dough.

The Hunger Games

About 4 months ago, I saw a previous for the movie on TV.
It was short, and mainly consisted of a voice over and images of a girl running the woods and shooting arrows.
I remember thinking "well that seems interesting!"
Then that was it for a while.

2 months ago, my sister told me about the books. She said the movie was coming out and then I remembered seeing it on TV. That same week, I went to the theatre to watch a boring movie (The Woman in Black) and the trailer of The Hunger Games went on. I got all excited after watching it! It seemed really cool!

So I borrowed my sister's book and started reading it a month ago. I read the first 5 chapters over 3 days. You know, 1-2 chapters before going to bed...but then my day off came and I finished the rest of the book in an afternoon.

I was hooked!!!

Luckily a few days later my mom was coming to visit, so she was able to bring me the 2 other books (Catching Fire and Mockingjay). I had to wait a few days to read them because I knew I had to read them one after another and needed my weekend off to do so.

finally read both of them 2 days. Took me a total of about 12hrs per books.

I have been addicted to the story since...and with the movie coming out this friday, I am way excited!!!

I haven't obsessed about a book this much since, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.
At those time, I ended up having "malfoy" as a nickname, for my blond hair and sarcastic comments. and an elvish tattoo on my back.
This time, I got my official Panem citizen ID card, got sorted in District 11 and got myself a snazy tote backpack with my District logo, name and ID # on it (totally personalized).
I won a free Ticket to see the movie on Friday too from one of the many contest I participated in.

I really don't  know what it is about the books that is so compelling. Perhaps the characters are very easy to relate too and they all seen so real and they fight for what is right.
I don't think there isn't one character that I hate...even the bad guys, I find a way to relate to them, if that makes sense.

Anyways, If you haven't read the books, do it! it's worth it.
Yes it is a "young adult" book but NO it is far from being lame like Twillight.
Just imagine The Lord of the Flies mixed with 1984...
Or a futuristic Battle Royal.
It touches all subjects from politics to relationships. Good and Evil. Real or not Real. ;-)

Please come obsess with me on The Hunger Games!

Little update!

Now that winter is gone, i am slowly defrosting ahahaha
Let's see, the only exciting thing that has happened since last time is the fact that I now have all my 50 embalmings needed in order to write my licensing exams in June.
YAY!

Sometime next month, I will do the practical exam of doing an embalming.
Then in June I will go back to school for 2 weeks for a quick review, and on June 19-20 I will write the rest of the exam.
In total, there are 3 parts (1 practical, 1 multiple choices, 1 long answer questions).
I feel rather confident about the practical part, but I am slightly nervous about the multiple choices.
I think they said there would be like 500 questions or something...that's a lot!
But now that I have all 50 labs done, I will start reviewing my notes.

Over the weekend, my sister, niece and mom came to visit for the day.
An all girls day!
And we ended up going wedding dress shopping for my mom who is getting married in October.
We thought of going to look just to get ideas, but after trying 7 or so dresses, we found the one!
So now my mom has a dress!
It wasn't what we had in mind for her to be honest.
But we decided to try it on, just to show her a different style (and it was much more fancy then we intended) but once she had it on, she looked gorgeous! We were all a bit surprised at how good the dressed looked.
I'm happy for her, She will look like a real bride and like a million bucks!

As for me, I have been working out and keeping track of what I eat.
Although I haven't seen any progress in the past 2 months except for being down 2lbs.
But my sister and mom insist that I look thinner then before.
I do feel stronger though.
But i just wish I could see some progress. It is kinda bumming me out.
But now that the nice weather is out, I hope to be more active.
This week I went for a walk 4 times, all of them being 1:30hrs long.

But i know....muscles weight more then fat blah blah blah....but i just wish it would show on the scale as well.

Thursday I have a phone interview for a job in Ottawa.
I hadn't planned on applying for Ottawa. My goal when leaving Sturgeon was to get closer to my family.
And Ottawa would be going further from them.
But nothing is panning out back home and I'm having second thoughts about the job in Toronto. From what I understood, it seemed like I would be working more in the call center then anywhere else...and well That's not what I want.
The job in Ottawa is similar to what I was expecting to the one in Toronto. It is a prep center that does all the embalming for their 6 other funeral homes. With possibility of working in one of their salon as a French director. Plus, a guy from my class is working there right now and he really likes it (they have great benefits too).
Also that place is part of the biggest funeral corporation in North America. They have funeral homes all over Canada and USA. So if i get in with them, later in life, I can get transfer pretty much anywhere if i wanted too.
So perhaps it could be a good thing.
We'll give it a try at the interview and see how it goes!

Beside, I do have some family in Ottawa, so it's not like I won't know anyone if I were to move there.

Well that's about it for that.
3 more months until I am officially a Funeral Director...oh boy!

30 days Shred challenge

DAY 1, LEVEL 1

So I started it. 30 days challenges.
It's a workout video by Jillian Michaels from The Biggest Loser.
The point of this workout is to confuse your muscles so they don't get stuck in the same routine.

There is 3 levels. 1 level for every 10 days.
Now it is possible to stay at one level for more then that, but it is made so that after 10 days, you should feel good about moving up to different movements.
In each levels there is also 2 levels of intensity. So obviously, being not so fit, i am doing the low impact version...but even then, i had a hard time to keep up! lol

So if i was to stay on level 1 longer, I can just up the intensity of it.

Each Level is a workout of 25 minutes.
In it, you switch back and forth between Cardio, Core and Strength.

In the cardio session (level 1) there is the usual jumping jacks, jump ropes, butt kicks, punches.
In the Core session, there is push-ups, abs work out, crunches, side crunches, bicycle crunches ect.
And in the Strength session there is lunges and weight lifting.

So you do 2 cardio for, then 2 Core, then 2 Strength and then back to Cardio ect... but with different movements.
By the end, we kinda mix things up...Crunches with weight liftings ect...
I didn't calculate but I don't think we spend more then a minute per reps.

Obviously, we start off with a warm up and end up with a cooling session.

There is no breaks between movements, because it's all about confusing your muscles. Once you get into the motion, you gotta switch up! lol...let me tell you, my muscles weren't the only one confused.

It was tough, i admit.
I'm not the most fit girl out there, that's for sure.
But I can tell that it is a work out that will get easier after a few days.
And that I will be sore the next few days too.

I don't think I will be losing a lot of a weight, but It should help on losing inches.
I think it's a good way to start losing weight.

30 days, I can do it....right?
It's oly 25 minutes of my day...and if I add my gym classes on top of that and calories counting...I should be good!

On another note

My family and I decided to run a 5k fun run in May. So that gives me a bit less then 5 months to get in shape to do it.
4 years ago, I did it. well I ran 4 and walked 1, and under 40 minutes (39 minutes to be exact). It was my first time, but i did it...so I can do it again!

That's my first weight lose goal : 5k run under 39 minutes.

aaaannnnnddddddddd

I got my appointment with the dietitian for January 26th (in 2 weeks).
So things may change then (specially my weight, she has a good scale, I have a cheap tricky scale)
Last time I saw her before Christmas, I was 229.3lbs ...so hopefully by then I will be less then that.

Motivation

Today, I went grocery shopping.
I decided to go to the one beside my bank in North Bay for a change (Independant) and I think this will be my new spot.
It has a whole section on Natural food and plenty of Japanese stuff too (Japanese cury??? yes!)
I decided I will be buying 3/4 of my food in the natural section, the 1/4 left will be for veggies/fruits and random craving of meats.
Sure it is more expensive, but if I buy only the essantial and only eat healthy food. In the end it will be rewarding.

Enough of that, I googled a few motivational quotes and i selected a few of my favorits.
I will be changing my desktop^background to one of those every month.

I hope you enjoy them too.

One more year

Let me start off with Wishing you all a Happy New Year, filled with happiness and good health.

As we all know, this is our last year on earth before it explode or something on December 21st (lol)
So let's make it count!

As for me 2009-2010 were the best years of my life.
2011 wasn't that exciting in terms of adventures, but it was very educational.

I started my second semester in my program in Funeral Directing. I was proven to be more difficult then the first one, but I kept working hard and studied as much as my brain could handle.
I started my internship/ 2nd year into the program in May after finishing my 1st year with distinctions.
I found myself in the small town northern Ontario, in a small funeral homes with 4 others employees.

Slowly learning the ropes of the trade, i realized that I really enjoyed my work, but I started longing for more.
Being in a small funeral homes, it does happend to be 1-2 weeks straights without any work to do. It get's long and boring after a while. I started missing my family dearly, specially in the months closer to the birth of my first niece.
I came to the decision that I wanted to move back closer home once I would pass my license, just so I could be closer to my family, back into a city life, and in order to gain greater experiences.

In October my niece was born and well as getting a new car.
Life isn't so bad, but it could be better.

I got selected to be part of a documentary on losing weight, but after a few phones calls and having them telling me different things then originally told (yes you can get your own dietitian, but she has to be approved by us and no we wont approve her because we want you to use our very expensive dietitians) So i decided to drop the project, but also decided to stick with my dietitian (which btw is covered by OHIP if you have a doctor's referal).

I can't really pin point an exciting part of 2011. It was pretty straight forward. Didn't get the chance to travel, go to concerts or do anything really exciting.

But it's OK, because I plan on making 2012 great!

here's my plan for the year. It's not a resolution, I hate that word.
Goal will remains dreams unless you set a plan.
So I'm making a plan in order to achieve a few things this year.

1- I will go meet with a dietitian once a month (or every 2 weeks). I will go to the gym 3-4 times a week all this in order to lose 60lbs by October. I will also try and start a blog about my weight lost on youtube in order to gain support and perhaps help others struggling losing weight.
Why October? my mom is getting married, and I want to wear an amazing dress! Being able to shop^for nice clothes would be nice, rather then wear the only clothes I can find that fits me and start looking frumpy.

2- I will study hard in order to pass my licensing exam in June.

3- I will settle myself down in a bigger city in order to be more social like i used to be, and perhaps meet someone.

4- Save up money in order to go on Vacation in Japan during the summer and be able to see Kanjani8 8 years anniversary.


So those are my 4 goals for this year and they will come true because I am setting up a plan for each of them. They are doable and not overly impossible.

Today I will make a list of all the things I need to do in order to achieve all those goals. And I will post them on the wall infront of me (behind my computer screen) so that I can see it everyday and see what I need to do next.

4 years ago I did the same when I wanted to start my Funeral Director program. I made a list of everything I needed in order to apply for school. and within 8 months I had done everything and was then able to start my program.

I believe I can do it again. It is exhausting and i'm sick of seeing myself the way I am now. I'm tired of trying to find excuses and blame on others for the things I do wrong.

If the end of the world is really coming to and end this year, then I want to look good when I go!

BONNE ANNÉE!!!