Yes, it truly was embarrasing....

So at lunch one day at work I had put my head down to rest my eyes (honest!) and I ended up falling asleep. When I awoke everyone was leaving the lunch room except these two electricians that have been revamping the shop for the new plasma coming in. So The last tinbanger walks out the door, I'm thinking oh shit, time to go. I stand up take a step just as I catch the bad end of virtigo and lose my balance. I swing around to try and catch myself and end up doing a 180 into the fridge, which is about two feet behind where i originated! I stop, lean on the fridge to catch my barings and the two electricians are just sitting there taking in the show. Never try to act like you weren't really sleeping and then get up too fast when your still not sure which way is up. That was seriously the most embarrasing thing to happen to me at work! Right, back to work, bring on the power tools!!
This year is the tinbanging unions 100th anniversary. So they are having a dinner and dance in November I believe. At first I wasn't going to go. I am getting to know others, but not sure well enough yet to sit among a room full of them. I'm still a bit shy I guess. Andrew is going however, so he talked me into going as well. Let's see how social I can be! Now to find a date!
I am also going to play some golf with Dilfo this August. I guess I am getting out there a bit more. I thought of getting onto the union baseball team, but I think I'll wait until next year when I'm a bit more established. (was that an excuse?......)
I went to Toronto a few weeks back to check out the Pride parade. Didn't make it to the parade however. I was expecting it to be around noon or something and it didn't start until 2pm, so we had to start our way back to Ottawa by then. It's ok though, there's always next year and we did have a blast with my sister. We checked out the zoo (that place goes on forever!) on Saturday. That evening we headed over to friends of Carolyn's and wow she is cute when she's buzzed! Being the mature adults that we are, Carolyn, Tammie and I raced Greg and Den home. We called a cab, and they were going to take the trolly... streetcar? Note: I did say "going to take". End Note. We showed up home and about five minutes later they pull up in a cab! Not that they had a chance anyway, lol. So Sunday morning we went for some Dim Sum and Tammie actually ate something! Yay for trying something new beebs!! After that we chatted and then headed back to Ottawa. So I had a great weekend, and it was good to see my sister. We'll be out there again at the end of August for a visit and a trip to the CNE (get the barf bag ready!)

Summer is Among Us

Good news!! Andrew is finally on the home stretch of his pontoon boat!! That is so awesome. I'm proud of you man!! Getting all that done with everything else that has been going on! Par-ty time!! Hmmm well maybe we should wait until the homestretch has been completed before I get ahead of myself.......

It's official! I work in an oven. I can't be sure, but word in the heat box was that the air conditioner WAS on on Thursday... I repeat it supposedly WAS on!! I think we all felt like we had just gone for a swim in a pool of sweat by the time the day was done. I'm so glad I don't get B.O. easily, hahahaha "heyyy why are you standing way over there......"

Ok this whole facebook things is a bit creepy, yet addicting in the very same moment! I've been in communication with people that I haven't said "boo" to in centuries. Yikes... I can use that term... I'm old.... So here I am wandering through messages and networks and running into friends from elementary school. Although, I have also run into a few co-workers which has been sweet! So let's not say creepy... how about erie (is that more positive while giving the wow impression?) This is what I call getting reaquainted with the world and making new friends!

We made it to the Pow Wow yesterday. Was quite hot, but I had fun. Invited my friend Denis along and it was cool to see the pow wow through a fresh pair of eyes. I'm not 100% up on my culture, but I explained what I could. I think the occasion would have been better if we had brought some chairs (my bad!!), but I think we had a good time. Tammie brought her friend Sydney with as well and they had more fun running around playing hide and seek! Tammie got her fix of Indian Taco as well. Tried some fresh squeezed lemonade that tasted great! Not so bitter. I ran into a few people I know, but the highlight was running into Shoshona and Sky! I used to watch Sky back when I worked for the Friendship Centres day home agency. Tammie, Sky and Josh were all around 2 at the time. So to see him at around 11 now was amazing. They still live in Barrie, so when my friend Tammy moves there, I'll have twice the reason to visit! I'd love to find Sheila and Josh again. So overall it was great! Ended off the day with a bbq YUMMY! You can cook Den!

May flowers bring more bee's!! :S

Wow, I guess it's time for an update eh? Left you all hanging about that supposed union strike we may or may not have almost had? Yeah, I know... your all on the edge of your seats about it. So was I!! Well May 1st has come and gone, and we are still all at work. The beginning of this month was the new date of our new contract. It wasn't even all that much of a close call, though if you heard all the guys talking you'd have thought we were striking for sure. I guess the brain cells that control speach and the one's that control writing are at opposite ends of the brain. I of course know nothing about what is considered a "good" move for the contractors and what is bad. All I know is more money is ALWAYS good, and less money is always a bad thing. Well it wasn't a huge raise, but it will do. We're still at 36hrs. a week, so in another three years they will be battleing the hopes of bringing us up to 40 again I'm sure. I say it would mean more money, but as I've said, the typing side of my brain could also be different from my speach side, so get me in front of a bunch of union brothers/sisters and you may not get the same answer... shhhh *wink**wink*

Well I was beginning to believe that I was experiencing some heavy anxiety for a bit there. So I went to seek out a professional oppinion and found out today that I have low iron and high cholestoral. 34 yrs. old and high cholestoral..... I think I'll write McD's a letter and let them know it's time to move their restaurant across the street to a new location. It's inconveniencing me now!! Ok ok... yes, it is time for me to start taking fat out of my diet, and adding something better for me to fill that void. In actuality we don't eat all that much McD's, but we do tend to venture over to the Swiss Chalet side a bit too much. Move aWAY from the quarter chicken Lisa, slowely.....

In the hopes of adding to my new healthy regime, ie. getting into better shape, building self confidence, a sense of my own security and a bit of discipline, I have joined the Therien Kickboxing team! Wow does it feel good to kick someone! So far I've taken two one on one class with a coach and one group class. It is quite the workout, but wow does it feel good! The only thing I can compare it to as far as making me feel revived, is after a nice sweatlodge, though that probably doesn't make it any clearer to the majority of you out there, lol. So now I am a three to four days a week kickboxing gal.

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so I wish all you mom's out there a happy, sunny (I hope), relaxing mother's day!!!

Day of Realizations!

I have a big head!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wouldn't use the term huge, big is discomforting enough. Everytime I go to use the drop saw I have to extend the shield strap to fit around my melon. What's THAT all about! I don't think I look unproportioned..... Well I'll just chalk it up to my extreme intelligence, both in the right and left hemisphere of my brain. I'm both artistic and can do the math, hehe.

My foreman is human after all! He's a very serious looking fellow and so whenever I went to him for a new job I was always rather formal. Last week when he was showing me how to work the hole punch machine he said something casually personal for the first time and I was a bit surprised. Usually when he wants something done for a rush order and he starts working next to me I start getting nervous and usually end up trying to pace myself with him. Not a very relaxed atmosphere. This week he was cutting insulation while I glued it down and he was humming, and muttering to himself like everyone else. He held up a piece of insulation that looked like a big fish and stood it next to himself and yelled over to Claude to take a picture, while he stood there posing with his "fish". It was hilarious, and I realized he IS human! Isn't it wierd how that happens?

My daughter is becoming a different person. She is definitely not a little girl anymore! She talks about getting a job, asking when she is allowed to go to the mall on her own, she isn't as shy as she once was. She's even gone on a few sleepovers this year! (I think that is harder on me than her, but STILL!) :S She is growing up!! I'm so glad that we are close. So far she still tells me everything (or is that just me being naive....), and if something is troubling her she get's angry and doesn't just walk away and shut her door on me. I like talking things out even if we both get a bit upset. Much better to communicate than hold it in, this I know. Well she's heading into early teens, so hopefully we'll hit it head on and be able to fight our way through it successfully. Have a blast and remain close! The apple of my eye!!!

Major update!!

It's wierd... I realized today that I'm so used to getting scrapes and bruises from working with metal, that I don't even really notice when I get them at home. There was a time that the drama that would directly follow a paper cut was worth an oscar I'm sure! Just now I was cutting up strawberries with a pearing knife and jabbed my finger. Didn't break the skin or anything, but the ease at which I took the prick was interesting.

Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder- Inhibited sexual desire (ISD), sometimes called frigidity, sexual aversion, sexual apathy or hypoactive sexual desire. There is a study happening right now that anyone who feels they fit into this catagory can be a part of. They are testing for a drug to battle this disorder. Is this then the female version of viagra? What is normal in the homosapien world? We are striving to become so perfect that if you sneeze a slightly off shade of green mucus, you'd be thought of as plague ridden. There is a term for just about every function considered abnormal to society. We can't get over excited about our world without being considered ADD or is it ADHD now? There is no dancing spontaniously in the rain. That will get you a quick trip to the RO and I'm sure a multitude of pills to curb that urge again. (which reminds me of a story from my past... I was waiting for a bus in Vancouvers skid row one fine evening, pacing across the sidewalk from the street to the building I was in front of and back again. It was a boredom thing, nothing more. As I peacefully paced, a man came up to me and smiled at me quite knowingly as if we shared a deep secret and said "Yes, us crazy people have to stick together". So pacing... denotes insanity... Well it was a beautiful clear evening anyway, even to one such as I with my cracked mind.) If your born with a slightly more or less sexual drive you've got a disorder. We are setting ourselves up to become so dainty and ready to stuff different tablets into our system at the smallest whim of something not right about our physical structure that we'll have to be sure to get those AI robots in working order tout suit, because we will be too mesmerize with our perfection and too breakable i'm sure, to actually live our lives. Yes my french spelling is just as bad as my english spelling.

So we are in negotiations at work now. Time to renew our contract for the next three years. I have discovered that I cannot schmooze among a room full of men. I walked into the hall we rented for our vote to strike meeting and lost my voice. I just stood there watching everyone (ALL male) shake hands and talk trade. I could not come up with a single intelligent thing to say to even those I knew. How sad is that? I think I have a disorder... hyposhyness. So it is official! I am now a signed member of the Sheet Metal Workers Union. Of course I had to be in order to vote, but we'll bypass the obvious and move along to the excitement! So here I am working in a predominately male field, but loveing it! I'm sure I'll get comfy around the man factor and have them all under my thumb eventually! I have faith in myself!! My cryptonite has made it's way through my impenitrable wall of insulation that lines my nose and throat. Not sure how it happened, or what bit of cilia is responsible for letting me down, but I had a horrible cold a few weeks back. First since I started work there actually. I figured it was due to everything I breath in there. My own personal health plan floating in the air, wow they think of everything!!!

My bank card was compromised! It was exposed and made vulnerable by another! For shame!!! The SCANDAL! Well actually the bank won't tell me who they believe marred my innocent cards reputation! So it was cut into tiny pieces and I got a new one. Note to self... [use td bank machine and cash more often, less debit!!!]

It's alllll good!

I am so amazed at how much muscle I've gotten over the last four months. I mean my biceps are HARD. You should feel them. Maybe arm wrestle me! I'm pretty solid. Hey take a shot at me, go on I can take it. I'm the new She-Ra but without her sword of protection. Who needs a sword of protection when they're built like me!! Come on take a sho-

*ten minutes later*

Ok ok... I wasn't ready for that one. Give it to me again, I can take it. I'm a POWERHOUSE!! Try aga-

Life's Little Lessons

One thing I have gotten out of my experiences as a tinbanger, is confidence. Having finished a day of hard work gives me pride in myself. Being somewhere unwork related and feeling like I can take on different challenges I wouldn't have thought possible before, is rewarding in a different way. I find myself less concerned with whether I can do something and find that more often I am trying to figure out the best way to do it. Of course there are exceptions to everything (last weekends skating attempt being one), but I'm of a mind to know it is something I can always try again when I feel ready. Dangle a beavertail in front of me on a stick and throw skates on me and I'll end up from one end of the canal to the other!! I think that doing something that not many females have done gives me a sense of major accomplishment. Yes I'm tired by the end of the day, but I did everything expected of me, and I did it without any hangups. I think everyone should try something they wouldn't normally do and see how good it makes you feel after your done. See how it changes your outlook on everything around you. There isn't anything you can't do!

On this day I am feeling very proud of my sister Pepsi (nickname). She has had a rough road to travel over the years and she is doing quite well in spite of it all right now. She and her Bue as she calls him have been together for quite some time now and they have two wonderful children together plus her daughter from her previous relationship. He is wonderful to all of them, and they seem very settled and happy. Just given what I know of her and her past, I just wanted to mention how happy I am that she is doing so well.