Sunday Sundries

1. "The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)" was released on Netflix Canada on August 1st. You know how Netflix notified me? By sending me an email about "Planet of the Apes (1968)".  Wrong choice, Netflix!

I don't know why "The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)" didn't do better in theatres when it was released, but I love it. In its opening sequence, there's a car chase between two trabants. TRABANTS! Trabbis were a product of the former East Germany and reached their top speed of 100km/h in 21 secs. A trabbi car chase is a thing of beauty!

The whole movie is ridiculous and fun, but again... TRABBIS!! It didn't really matter what they did after that scene, I was going to love the movie.

2. August 1st is Switzerland's national holiday. I don't know if you know this but I love Switzerland. I know! This is brand new information to EVERYONE! Also, I am never sarcastic. Coincidentally, a friend posted an article that day about Switzerland's new suspension bridge which lead down the YouTube rabbit hole of Swiss videos. On a whim, I entered Sigriswil in the search bar and actually found a video of Sigriswil. The reason this is surprising is because Sigriswil Town only has a population of 889 and this is a fairly professional looking video. WHAT?!?

Not going to lie, I get a little teary watching that. I've walked all those streets! I ate that restaurant! I've attended services at that church! I've ridden that bus route! I don't even mind the crappy Phil Collins song because the video just makes me so happy.

3. Dara Ó Briain is a comedian I have enjoyed since catching him on a Just for Laughs festival show on CBC when I was still in high school. Not only is he funny, but his knowledge of math and science is amazing. What I wouldn't give to see him live! Anyway, his take on the movie 2012 had me cackling so loud one of the cats hid under the bed. (Do not stop it before it stops itself. Also, NSFW.)

4. At the time I post this, GISHWHES will have started. I look forward to seeing what ridiculous items I can get roped into doing this year.

5. Monaghan lost against Dublin and Armagh lost again Tyrone in Gaelic Football. *sigh* From here-on-out, I'm supporting team Anyone-But-Dublin... even if that is *shudder* Tyrone.

On the upside, the Galway-Tipperary Hurling match was not only a fantastic game - the teams were within one point or tied with each other for 95% of the game - but Galway nudged out a win in the final seconds of the game. The only downside to the game was seeing Supermacs on the Galway jerseys and remembering that I never did get to one the last two times I was back.

Just another reason to head back. Some of my favourite Ireland memories have occurred in a Supermacs. The fact that I remember those memories is pretty amazing given the drinking that had gone on before many of them.

Happy August, everyone!

Because I Won't Break My Streak

I didn't get a chance to write anything tonight because I was too busy laughing at Bon Cop Bad Cop 2.

It was fun and enjoyable, not as solid as the first one, but still work watching. Also, if you haven't seen the first one, DO IT! As of May 1st, it was available on Netflix in Canada, USA, Australia, and the UK. (This was confirmed by international friends.) The movie contains the best French lesson ever committed to film... and very NSFW.

Election Distraction

British Columbia heads to the polls Tuesday... unless they voted early, like me... and normally I'd spend the evening glued to the social medias and cable news as the results come in. This year, however, I'm doing something different: I'm going to the movies.

Specifically, I'm going to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

I'd like to say that I knew this would be a more enjoyable way to spend the day and that's why I planned this, but apparently I made these plans and then completely forgot about them. In fact, I still don't remember making them but my friend insists that we did. Being the person who usually has to remind other people about our plans, it was a nice turn of events.

Seriously. No memory of making these plans.

None.

Still not entirely convinced my friend isn't just making it all up.

At any rate, it will be a nice distraction from the politics going on given that there will be nothing I can do about the outcome of the election at that point. From everything I've read, it will be a worthwhile distraction.

Another Monday Down

Every Sunday night, I head to bed with the plan that I'm going to weigh myself first thing in the morning. The reason for this is for consistency in showing actual reductions in overall mass and not just "I took a really big dump after lunch and lost 5 lbs."

Every Monday morning, I remember that I'm going to do this as I'm walking out the door or already at work. Or sometimes I forget about it until Thursday.

But when I got up this morning... I totally forgot again.

Well, why not just do it another day of the week first thing in the morning?

Because I forget those mornings, too. Trust me. I've tried.

I really need to take a whiteboard marker to my bathroom mirror and leave myself a reminder. Something like "Is it Monday morning, dumbass? Then weigh yourself!" (Maybe I'll do that on my way to bed.)

Or I could write something nice. Whatevs!

While my ability to remember to step on a scale has been lacking, my attendance at the gym has not. To make it easier on my trainer's schedule, I moved from 6:30 am workouts to sometime after work workouts. I really thought I was going to hate them but I actually don't. I'm not super keen on the 5pm-everyone-just-got-off-work-and-went-to-the-gym workouts, but a little bit later is great. I have time to go home after work to grab a bite and the gym has cleared out enough I don't feel like screaming at people taking up my equipment.

Another important gym note: my trainer is Brazilian and I recently learned how to say "go [sorry mom] yourself" in Portuguese. These things are totally related.

This week is the start of 8 days of filling in for my manager while she's on vacation. She and I had a long meeting about what was coming on Friday, I took lots of notes, she sent me various follow up emails with files, etc. I sat down at my computer this morning and had couldn't make heads or tails of any of it. It was like my notes were in Russian. Then there were emails from people about things my manager and I had not discussed.

::breathes into a paper bag::

I already alluded to it on twitter but Business Kitty is my spirit animal this week. I might need to get a toy version of her for my desk.

Although, 1980s-something Spaceman would also be a pretty apt description of me at the moment.
SPACESHIP!!

I celebrated a birthday a few weeks ago. Every year I think that I should really do something for my birthday but I never do. My tentative Saturday-night-out plans were kiboshed when my one-drink-after-work Friday plans ended with us shutting down the restaurant. I'm mature enough to know that one night of heavy drinking on a weekend is enough.

Side note - hasn't this whole post just been a series of side notes? - my little brother and I planned out a pub crawl around Victoria after seeing this movie. It would have hit 9 pubs. We never did do it though. Hmm, summer goal perhaps?

The other two big things going on are that I'm back at studying Swahili and it's been going well, and Alumni Band is back on for another session.

I honestly don't think I could type a sentence that makes me more of a nerd than the one I just typed.

Only four more days to the weekend!