Songs In Blue

The Taupo post is coming – I’m still editing photos and recovering from an all around bad day yesterday.  Luckily, I waited until we returned the rental car to have a complete meltdown.  I’m a clumsy/awkward person on a good day, but yesterday was pretty epic…even for me. 

It all started after we got home, unpacked from the trip and went to the grocery store for our weekly shop.  Even though I had eaten a couple hours before, my stomach went into FEED ME NOW mode and I felt like passing out.  It took everything I had to get through the shop and back home.  As a sidenote, HUNGRY and GRUMPY go hand in hand with me – I can’t have one without the other.  So I’m not sure why Matt thought it would be a good idea to DRAW ON MY BACK with PERMANENT MARKER while I was making myself a protein shake.

W.T.F.

He apologized and wiped it off with a tissue because the permanent marker? Not so permanent!  (Thank God)

At this point, I don’t know if it was the milk I used in my protein shake, having dairy on an empty stomach, the Indian food from the night before or a combination of all three but I start to feel a bit….off.  After a few trips to the bathroom, my self diagnosis is that I have a mild case of what is affectionately known around our house as THE BUM WHEEZE.  Awesome…

Luckily, it passes somewhat quickly (bad choice of words) and I get on with doing laundry and cooking dinner.  But now, I’m starting to feel really lethargic (probably thanks to the early morning, driving for 6 hours, and all of the above).  All the little things start to add up – I forget to put on the dryer, the sunburn on my chest turns into heat rash, my scalp is also burnt, and I notice the big ass pimple that’s developed on my nose.  I’m tired, whiny, my tummy hurts, and all I want is something to GO RIGHT. 

I decided a nice cold glass of Coke Zero would be a step in the right direction.  So I took out the 1.5L bottle that we had put in the freezer (we bought it off the shelf) and noticed about half of it was frozen.  No big deal, I thought.  Next thing I know, there’s a loud BANG and Coke Zero EXPLODES in my face, leaving myself and my kitchen completely soaked.  I disintegrate into a hysterical, laughing/sobbing, sticky mess and Matt quickly comes to my rescue. 

That was the worst of it, but the day continued to mock me with dinner being a giant FAIL in the flavour department. 

At least there were strawberries and chocolate sauce, a hot shower, and a comfy bed to end the day on a good note.

Let’s catch up, eh?

Matt and I booked a trip to Sydney for May 28th – June 3!!!  Neither of us have been before, so we’re pretty excited!
Our flights, 6 nights hotel and a harbour cruise cost about $1000 each…not bad at all.  We’re going to book a Blue Mountains tour, but if you’ve been and there’s something we have to do, let me know!
The Harbour Bridge Climb is also being considered.

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I’ve been working without a contract for over a week now.  Apparently, it’s been approved but went to New York to be finalized.  My company likes to process simple tasks overseas and while that may save resources it’s a big pain, not to mention a big FAIL when it comes to efficiency.
I’m really frustrated by it all especially since I’ve been asking for an extension since January.

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I’ve never fallen off the Canucks bandwagon.  However, being in a different country (one who calls hockey, ‘ice hockey’ (so wrong)) has made paying attention to the regular season VERY DIFFICULT.   That being said, there’s no way I’d miss the playoffs.  I’ve been listening to the games online, then watching the highlights once they’re up on the Canucks website. 
Not quite the same, but it’ll have to do.
I’m pretty impressed with the run so far, but (and don’t hate me) I’m trying not to let my hopes get too high.  It’s hard though, since they’re playing really well!

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Fall/Winter is definitely here.  It’s still nice and sunny for the most part, but it is chilly.  Nothing compared to Canada, but I’d much rather it be warm all year round!

What’s new with you?

Somehow, in a cricket game played by New Zealand and India, I managed to find a Canadian flag.  Pretty random…

Sharon invited her readers to participate in an ‘Interview Me’ meme.  I decided to play along and she sent me the following the questions.  If you want to play, there’s instructions at the end of this post.

1. If you were able to pick the last meal you ever ate, what would it be?

Meat. and bread rolls with butter.  and sour soothers/keys for dessert.

2. What is one of your earliest and best memories?

Watching Hockey Night in Canada with my family.  Every Saturday night we would all sit in the living room, listen to the theme song, and watch the double header.  Dinner was always Hotdogs and Coca-Cola, then in between games we’d have nachos, and ice cream for dessert.  It was such a big part of my childhood that when my parents divorced, I missed this tradition more than spending Christmas together.

3. If you won a large amount of money in a lottery, what would you do with the cash?

Funny you should ask, I’ve been thinking about winning the lottery a lot lately…maybe I should buy a ticket.
First of all, I’d give my some to my Mom so she could pay off her mortgage, and to Dad so he can retire comfortably, then buy them plane tickets to come visit me.  Because I believe travelling is the best experience you can ever have, I’d get my younger siblings plane tickets too.  They could go anywhere they wanted, but NZ would definitely be encouraged.
Then I’d buy a house and take a year (or more) off work to travel…Matt can come too.
Anything left over would be invested…lame, I know.

4. Do you have any nicknames, and if so, how did you get them?

I have quite a few, but these are my favourite:

‘D’ – My ex-manager, Colette, started calling me this.  It’s followed me across the ocean and people at work call me ‘D’ now.  I was thrown off the first time cause I never mentioned my nicknames before…
‘Digby’ – Matt came up with this one.  It’s after the island I grew up on.
‘Daybe’ – Carrie was trying to type my name without looking at the keyboard and this was the result.  It kinda stuck.
‘Dayna-belle’ – most of my family know me by this nickname…and only they can use it.

5. What is your dream job?

I’ve always had a lot of different ideas for a career, but none of them really stuck.  I wanted to be a teacher, get a degree in early childhood development, do something involving travel, become an accountant, and even thought about doing the Birth Attendant school in Perth and going on to work for the UN.
I like working with numbers and finances and I’m been working in that area for a few years now, so I just need to figure out my next step.
I don’t think there’s one perfect job for me, but I’m ok with that.  I’d rather get as much experience as possible and have fun in whatever I do.

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If you want to play along, here’s how:
1. Leave me a comment saying, “Interview me”.
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

The lovely and hilarious @katydidsays tagged me in a Twitter meme a couple weeks ago and I’ve finally gotten around to doing it.

1.  I refuse to watch scary movies.
Why? Because I’ve been known to jump/scream with fright and bury my head into the couch while watching Disney films.  I even did it a couple times while watching Harry Potter for the first time the other night.  Matt’s response was “dude. 10 year olds watch this and aren’t scared.”
It’s the parts I’m not expecting, like someone being grabbed suddenly, that really terrify me.  The only scary movies I’ve ever seen were the 6th Sense, and What lies beneath…when I was like 14.  I couldn’t sleep for like 3 months after that I was so spooked.

2.  I was named after a black news reporter from Detroit.
I may have to confirm this one with my mom, but the story as I know it goes like this.  My mom was pregnant with me and watching the news(from Detroit…even though we were living in Northern BC) when she noticed the news reporter’s name was ‘Dayna’.  I think she liked that it was spelt with a ‘Y’ instead of the usual ‘Dana’ and decided to use it if she had a girl.  I used to tell people I was named after Dana Murzyn who played for the Canucks while I was growing up.
How Canadian am I?

3.  I grew up on my own island.
Shortly after I was born, we moved to Digby Island, home of the Prince Rupert Airport and not much else.  My dad ran a little cafe as well as the fuel business at the airport.  Our house was the only residential building on the island and you had to take a ferry to get back and forth from the mainland.  I was home schooled for the entire time I lived there, and mom would take us on the ferry a few times a week for church, swimming, piano, dance, and to visit with friends.  You’d think that growing up with no other kids around would be boring, but it really wasn’t.  My dad started a bit of a hobby farm with chickens, rabbits, guinea pigs, turtles, birds and hamsters.  I would help Dad at the cafe and would keep our chef, Edie, company. The lady at the Canadian Airlines booth would teach me how to cross-stitch and I would take her dog for walks.  My little bro, Lance, and I would get into trouble for playing with our walkie talkies too close to the airport and interfering with their equipment.  Saturday nights were reserved for Hockey Night in Canada.
And if that wasn’t enough, I had 8 siblings to keep me occupied.

After hearing that story, Matt nicknamed me Digby.

4.  I don’t have talent.
Lots of people have one hobby/interest/skill they’re really really good at.  I don’t.  When you grow up with 9 siblings, it’s hard to be original and find something only you are good at.  My brothers have hockey, Courtney’s in band, Angella has blogging and photography.  I’m generally good at everything I do be it work, blogging, taking pictures, etc. but I don’t have something that sets me apart.  I’m not complaining about this, it’s just something I’ve thought about and want to find.  I’m challenging myself to try new things and discover my niche.

5.  I want 12 children.
OK, maybe not 12…more like 4-6.  For as long as I remember, I’ve wanted a lot of kids.  I don’t have much of reason other than I love kids, enjoy being stressed out and think it would be a lot of fun.  If I were to birth 12 children, I’m sure certain areas of my body would be flapping in the wind and that’s not really attractive.

6.  I’ve never tried drugs.
And I’m pretty proud of that.  I’ve seen the problems it has caused friends and some of  my family members, so I don’t have any desire to touch the stuff.

My flat has an addiction – chocolate milk (with the odd banana one thrown in), but not just any chocolate milk…EDGE, the big M, Man milk with lots of protein.  We stock up when it goes on sale and there’s always at least one in our fridge at any given time.

From now on Friday posts are going to be filled with random tidbits from the last week that I couldn’t fit into any of the previous posts. They should be interesting and maybe little unintelligible since my brain tends to shut down for the weekend, around noon.

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After all the frustration and hard work, at work, I still have over 100 tasks sitting in my manager program-y thing-y.  There’s not much I can do about a majority of them (90+) since I’m waiting on others to get their act together and give me the information I need to process them.  To them I say, I do not get nicer with each reminder email I send you.  In fact, it’s quite the opposite. BE WARNED.

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After my walk yesterday, I went to the grocery store to pick up some strawberries and Edge(I’ll save that for another post).  On my way out I passed a guy wearing a CANUCKS SWEATER! I almost hugged him, but thought the girl he was with wouldn’t really appreciate some chick hugging her boyfriend.  Fair enough. Then I thought about asking to take a picture with him, but decided that I didn’t want to come off crazy…so I just keep walking.

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I’ve come to learn that while I more often than not have the ability to filter what comes out of my mouth so I don’t sound ignorant…others do not.  There’s a guy at my work that constantly tries to start conversations with me by bringing up what little knowledge of Canada he has.  I have no problem with this until the 23rd question he asks me is, “So why don’t you hear a lot about Canada in the news?”

“We live in igloos and therefore have no contact with the outside world.  I mean, why would we want to when we have our dog sleds, bears and whale hunting to keep us occupied?”

Needless to say, Kiwis have a good sense of humour.

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I have absolutely nothing planned and it’s supposed to rain all weekend.  I actually don’t mind at all and look forward to a nice, relaxing weekend!!

JUICIES! All organic and only 30 calories…SO GOOD!

Today, I:

• Sliced my finger with the knife I was using to cut my apple. Small cut, LOTS of blood.
• Ran into a door because I forgot the very important step of TURNING THE HANDLE while attempting to open it.
• I was in a bathroom stall when our building decided to have a fire drill.

Bad things happen in threes and I still have the rest of the day to go, so hopefully that’ll be it.

In a non-sarcastic tone… Congrats to Obama!  I liked McCain too, but America needed a big shake up.

I’m a day late to start NaBloPoMo (although technically, I’m on time back home in Canada), but I thought I’d give it a try for a couple reasons.
1. This blog (and it’s writer) need a shock to the system if there’s going to be more than a single post every 2-4 weeks.
2. I like a challenge and I DO have time to write daily, even if I’ve convinced myself otherwise.
3.  Matt doesn’t think I can post every day…for a month.  He may be right, but I’d like to prove him wrong.  Healthy competition never hurt anyone.

(YAY! LISTS!)

Lame posts (like this one) count, right?