The best things in life are free!

It is hard to believe that it is time for Vince to fly back to Toronto. Today Rob and I went to Thunder Rapids Amusements with him for one last afternoon of fun together. I used the free passes that I won from the BBQ contest so it was a cheap activity!

We started off in the bumper boats. While standing there waiting for our turn it actually didn't look like much fun. The boats move slowly and I had recollection of them tending to be hard to maneuver. The boats (large tubes fitted with seats and a motor actually) were equipped with water guns though and given the hot afternoon sun, I was hoping the guys would get into the spirit of things.

It certainly did not take long for them to find the enjoyment of soaking me and each other. Of course I knew better than to expect special treatment from them, which was why I thought ahead and wore a grey t-shirt and black shorts. What I did NOT count on was the old guy and his nine year old son making me their favourite target right from the start. In past experiences I have found that people tend to target only those in their own group. The father and son team were there with a mother and other son, but still seemed to find me as a more attractive target, which meant that I had three boats attacking me. What gives? Once again, Jill learns she should really really stop playing with boys. Rob came out looking the wettest, but he's the tallest so I think he was just a bigger target. Vince and I got our heads soaked. It was good times anyway.

After the boats we moved on to the go-karts. Pedal to the floor! Rob made a good pass on me right from the start which left me chasing him for the rest of the race. My car handled pretty well except for being loose in the right hand turns.

We were short on time so we left the amusements after the race and headed to 7-11 for Slurpees which were free with the coupons I gave Rob on Friday.

Pictures here.

Bye Vince, have a safe trip back. It was great seeing you again. See you at Christmas!

The house (condo) was definitely warmed

Rob hosted his house warming party (condo, really) on Friday night. A good time was had by all. No surprise that for a significant portion of the evening it was once again Jill with a bunch of engineers. This time, however, I also had Lisa with me, my fellow CreCommer. Vince kindly knighted me an honourary engineer and Lisa and I decided that we are engineers of words.

I had it in my head that tequila would be my spirit of choice for the evening. I wanted to do tequila shots and lime margaritas. The last time I did tequila I was probably just turned 18. I remembered seeing it done in a favourite movie with the salt and lime and thinking it looked like fun. For my second attempt, I went to the L.C. and picked out the prettiest bottle of tequila I've ever seen. I talked Vince into doing the shot with me. For the uninitiated few, or those who have not seen The Cutting Edge, the process goes like this

1. Lick your wrist
2. Sprinkle salt on wrist
3. Lick wrist again to taste salt
4. throw back shot
5. Pick up lime wedge and suck
6. Optional: If you are Jill, go through a series of funny facial expressions as you complete each step. You have never seen someone enjoy a wedge of lime so much.

Sounds enjoyable enough right? Too bad tequila still tastes like hairspray, which is why the lime tastes soooo good. After two of those (the second one actually tasted better) we moved on to the margaritas, which were awesome. This was also the drink with which Vince and I decided to honour Adam. Friday was also Adam's last day as a Googler. While we could not be there to help Adam celebrate, we hope he knows we were there in spirit.

For more pictures go here, for the Yin version of this post go here.

What am I thinking of?

Chocolate cake.

It's my sister's birthday today. I have started the trend of honouring friends on their birthday's with a special blog posting and even though Tracy doesn't read my blog (because I don't share it with my family) I'm going to post about her anyway.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love my sister to pieces. Sure we drive each other crazy on occasion but our close friendship always prevails. I try to think of things we have in common (aside from the obvious things like our parents) but it's rather difficult. It still makes me laugh when I remember her calling me her "ridiculously over-prepared sister". This was from last year when we were getting ready to go stand in line at 6am for Juno Awards tickets. I made sure we had food, water and reading material for the wait. It's true though, I should take note from her and try planning less. I know she loves me anyway though. We balance each other out where it counts.

I'm lucky to have her. Really. I quite nearly killed her a few times. This mostly happened when she was a baby. Like when she was a month old and I, a very giving and loving 2 1/2 year old tried to share potato chips with her.

"What am I thinking of?/Chocolate cake" is a thing my sister and I have. When we were kids we had these books that answered questions such as "why is the sky blue?" and "how do fish breathe?" One of them explained the idea of ESP with the example of being able to sense that someone is thinking of chocolate cake. Now and forever when one of us asks the other "what am I thinking?" the answer is always "chocolate cake".

Yesterday I told Tracy all my favourite pictures of myself have her in them. Today I found a card with a picture on the outside of two little blonde girls in an old blue car. The caption read, "You're in all my favourite pictures". It was perfect. The picture of us on the left is from her birthday last year. Unfortunately she had to share it with my friend Lindsay's wedding but I made sure her day was just as special.

Happy Birthday Tracy.

What I learned this week

Do not go to Hot Yoga when you haven't had anything to eat for seven hours. Performance ability will be greatly reduced and you will spend a quarter of the class in savasana. Went to class number three this week, which was the first of five classes I am now paid up for. I was actually considering buying the 30 class pass (I must have been having an ambitious day) but realized that would be crazy. I signed up for my Hip Hop class (Saturday afternoons), still have to register for level 5 French (Monday nights again, yuck), and work a Pilates class in there. I have to have a life outside of classes but there's so much I want to try!

Innocent things people say that are kind of profound

Ugly hurts on the inside--Vince
Vince said this to me when I was describing the bruise on my right thumb. Today though I noticed that the bruise is actually a pretty purple. I said to Hollene, "it's such a pretty shade, if I had purple skin I'd want it to be this colour." So yeah, ugly hurts on the inside, but give it time and the pain can turn into something beautiful.

You just need to find your right soup--Chris
Chris said this to me today at lunch. I've been going with the Artshoppe kids for soup at the Spicy Noodle House in Osborne Village for a while now. I'm the only one who experiments with the different soups. Everyone else has their standard favourite. Today I tried Ground Pork with Peanut Sauce. Not quite right. Guess I'll keep looking. There are many bowls of soup left in the kitchen. Eventually I will find the one I like best.

Back where it started

We were supposed to go canoeing last night but canoeing was full. So Vince, Rob, Kevin and I went to the Assinboine Park instead for some Volleyball and Frisbee.

It was a bit weird being back at the courts in the park. The last time I was there (besides just passing through) was when Vince was leaving for school in Toronto. That park holds a lot of memories for me. I grew up there really.

Vince, Kevin and Rob started passing the ball around right away. I took some pictures first and then approached the court a bit timidly. Vince and Kevin are good, they've played on teams in school. Rob has not, but he's tall and height can often compensate for lack of skill. I don't think I had engaged in volleyball activity since grade 10 gym. It's not my favourite. Badminton is my net game. Anyway, I got into the passing game. We were mostly just bumpin' around. Sometimes Vince would stand on the other side of the net and serve the ball to the three of us. I was pretty happy when I scored on him. I was getting into things, enjoying the rhythmic sound we sometimes got going--bump, bump, set, spike! Then Vince loaded up a serve my way. I should have paid more attention when Kevin said, "ohhh, power serve" but instead I went for it and then cried out in pain and dropped to my knees as it smashed into my baby forearms. What's worth doing if you don't have some scars to show for it? I was actually disappointed with the minimal amount of bruising. Some areas are tender to the touch, but that doesn't make for a good visual. Actually, the worst bruise I got was on the inside of my thumb from the stupid frisbee. It doesn't hurt but it looks gross.

Pictures...the rest of them will be up later today. That one of my arms was supposed to show how pink they got, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Read about this evening from the Yin perspective here.

Stuff with your name on it is cool

Last week I discovered I have my own radio station! It's 92.7 Jill FM. It is described as "Fun with a sassy attitude". Very Jill indeed. My favourite part is "What People are Saying about Jill". Here are some quotes from my fans.

Westlake Village--Jill you rock I love all the great memories I am hearing. Thanks.

Hey, no problem Westlake Village, there are plenty more memories to come!

Camarillo-- I enjoy listening to Jill every day.

And Jill enjoys talking to you everyday!

Irvine--I love Jill and so do our patients!

Jill loves you Irvine!

I wish I could get a t-shirt. The station is based in Thousand Oaks California (You can listen to it in The O.C., how perfect is that?) so I doubt they would send me one.

Where in the world is Carmen San Diego?

This is supposed to be a Yin/Yang Post. That is, Vince and I are both going to blog about the same thing but from our own perspective. So here goes.

We decided to hit a Folklorama pavilion tonight. At first we were going to go to the Italian one but once a non-Charleswood person joined the mix, the request was made to hit Cuba instead. This meant we had to cross the Assinboine River (a dangerous sin for South Siders like Vince, Kevin and me). I drove, which meant picking up Kevin then Vince. Some terrible construction along Roblin threw me off course to Kevin's place, but I eventually got there. At Vince's I consulted the map to get to our destination. I knew the general area we were going to, but not the specific street. I also had to figure out how to get there with hitting a Petro Canada gas station along the way (I have my $0.20 off/litre gas card with them). Okay, so I went east where I should have gone west, but we eventually got there (yes, there were a lot of eventuallies this evening).

Parking was ridiculous. The line up even worse. We decided to ditch Cuba and head for Indo Tropical Paradise instead. We spent the next hour or so trying to figure out which country this pavilion actually represented. There was a definite Indian presence, but there was also mention of the Caribbean. The drinks were Jamaican, the dances Indian, the maps possibly suggested South America. The other funny part was that we were in St. Boniface, the French district of Winnipeg. I think it was when Vince said "My South American geography isn't that good" that I thought of the show Where in the world is Carmen San Diego? Do you remember that show? At the end, the kids had to find places on a giant continental map. South America and Africa were tough ones.

After the show ended we headed to Osborne Village for food. We ended up at Carlos and Murphy's--a Mexican place (That's three countries in one night!). Kevin got a glass of water dumped on him by the waitress. We discussed what we would do (but mostly what Vince would do) if we won the $42 million 6/49 jackpot. He didn't buy a ticket, so that means there is no chance of us getting invited to his collection of private islands. I said I'd have lots of parties. I did manage to get us home without any scenic routes. We departed with an agreement that we should go canoeing on Wednesday.

What IS it that I am looking for?

I was not going to blog at all this week. Hah. That lasted not even a day. This one will be it for sure though. After this I'm on a hiatus.

I was in my room today, not really doing anything in particular. Just pulling random things off my bookshelf and doing some pondering. The crazy thing was I found two things that I thought I had lost forever and I wasn't even looking for them at the time! First I found my Pilates book. It was on my bookshelf. I swear, I looked on that shelf 50 times for that book but never found it. That just made my day. Later, I found my Best of Bon Jovi CD that I had never listened to before "losing" it. It was sitting with a bunch of CDs of course! Again, I had looked for that CD many many times but never could turn it up. I had the radio on at the time of this discovery. Do you know what was playing? It was U2. The song was "I still haven't found what I'm looking for". Besides the irony of that whole situation, it's just weird that it was on because for the last three weeks every time I hear U2 on the radio that is the song playing. Yes, I do believe that I am being haunted by a song. I know, this probably doesn't add up to anything for you, but someday it will make perfect sense to me.

Lunch time tunes

At lunch today I ventured out to see my friend Matt and his band Tele perform at City Hall. Matt said it was his oddest show yet (I think he was referring to the venue and maybe the audience mix) but they sounded great. They don't have a CD out yet but you can check them out on their website at http://www.telemusic.ca/ or on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/tele .


Matt and I were in CreComm together. He has always been a nice guy and I know he won't forget "the little people" as he pursues his music career. Matt if you read this I'm holding you to your promise; I want good seats when you make it to the big venue.