Happy Friday!

I had no intention of blogging today but there a few things I want to blog about but I won't be getting back on until Monday at the earliest. Crazy, awesome busy weekends are great in theory until you realise that you're going to be a five different events in 36 hours and won't be coming home during that time either. But that's what summer is for, right?

1. Groups in Canada are seriously considering a bid to host the World Cup 2026.

I found out about this today thanks to Toronto Girl West. It's amazing that I didn't scream in the office as I read it. I'm more excited about this than the Olympics coming and we're just talking about the fact that Canada is thinking about putting a bid in.

If Canada does put in a bid, I probably will vomit.

2. My cousin posted a video of an Irish (as Gaeilge) version of Lorde's Royals. It's from an Irish-language school in the Connemara region of Ireland and I discovered that they do a lot of these videos where they translate popular songs into Irish and have recorded videos for a few of them. You can find them on YouTube under TG Lurgan (the school) and Seo Linn (a group made up of some of the teachers, they're the older ones you see in the videos). Just because I can, I'm posting my two favourites.

Original song here

Original song here

It always makes me happy to see Irish being used in a way that is relevant to the younger population in Ireland. It's been a hard battle to save the language when very people actually grow up speaking it, and class room lessons so often leave the student wanting to claw their own eyes out. This is a fun way to get the younger generation interested in the language. I'll step off my soap box now.

(For the record, I speak just enough Irish to sound impressive to someone who doesn't speak Irish. In other words, I blow Canadian minds with my five sentences.)

3. While I'm a post-all-the-videos! roll, I'm going to see Only Lover Left Alive tonight.

A vampire love story with Tom Hiddleston? Yes, please!

And now I'm off for a weekend of Tom Hiddleston, baby showers, girls nights, family brunches, and (hopefully) German soccer victories.

The Blogging Life

I'm starting to understand why so many bloggers follow a schedule or theme with posts. Monday Moves, Taco Tuesday, all that jazz. Sometimes it's just easier to start writing when you have set parameters for your topic. Friday, therefore I must talk about French Braids! I can't tell you how many posts I have in draft right now (actually, I can, it's 18) because I start writing and then get lost going on tangents and trying to figure out how to tie it all together.

If you haven't seen The Lego Movie yet, go watch it and then come back so we can be friends.
It will also help with the Taco Tuesday reference.

I shy away from the idea of themed posts, however, because I find so many of them boring and/or really repetitive. There are only so many What I Ate Wednesdays before the blogger can pretty much just link back to the one post over and over again.

Still, there is something to be said for regularity and themes.

*sigh*

Dammit.

So, I'm going to give it a try. Not every day (because I'm lazy) but I'm going to try for three themed posts a week.

1. It will give this blog more structure over all.
2. The blog will be updated regularly.
3. I won't be looking at a blank page with no idea where to start on a post.
4. All the cool kids People are doing it.

And I'm going to start next week because, again, lazy.

Also, then the World Cup will be over and I can pretend to have a life again. Until then, Germany is in the final against Argentina so win or lose, I'll be drunk on Sunday!

Until then...

I Need to Write the Dictionary

I've done it. It's happened. My life is complete. My name has become a noun.

At least, it has in my department. We have a new VP and when I asked my manager how her first meeting with him went, she replied "Ugh. I totally andread right in front of him."

Ha, ha, ha, ha, wait. What?

To andrea: make a fool of yourself in front of upper management.

My foray into the world of office-buffoonery started with an ill-timed f-bomb as the elevator doors opened to reveal our C.E.O. Whoops!

Then I made screaming noises and Chewbacca sounds in front of a project manager... twice... in the same day.

And I dribbled coffee down the front of my shirt saying hello to our C.F.O. before accidentally throwing a knife at him.

Those are just the first three incidents. I have - not on purpose despite my joking about it - pretty much said or done something stupid or silly in front of every upper manager in my office. It became a running joke at our weekly status meetings. "And what have you done to embarrass yourself this week, Andrea?"

Even some of upper management are in on the joke.

And now, my name has become a noun. I feel oddly proud about this.

Now, to go and andrea in front of the new VP...

Hey, I have a reputation to maintain!

(No, this post was not sponsored by Supernatural. I'm just catching up on Season 9 so...)

Question: Ever made a fool of yourself at work?

Well, That Didn't Go As Planned...

I was really excited to check my blog this morning to see if my scheduled post had gone up. What a disappointment when I saw that it hadn't.

This was pretty much my reaction... in part because I hadn't had my coffee yet.
I'm super-stabby before I get my cup of calming juice.

I scheduled it for July 25th. So despite the fact that it's been in use for over 500 years, the Gregorian calendar is apparently too challenging for me to use. Meh, I'll try again but in the meantime, it's been a busy week so let's talk about that instead.

First off, did you know that you can sprain your shoulder? It's one of those really obvious things that had just never occurred to me as a possibility. Second, did you know that you can do it opening a door? Because that really didn't occur to me. 

Go ahead, laugh. If the roles were reversed, I'd be yucking it up.

The downside is that I haven't been able to go to the gym this week because jumpy movements that don't directly affect my arm still make my shoulder hurt. At the rate of improvement, I should be back at the gym with a modified workout plan next week. The upside is that even once I'm back at the gym, it's going to be a little while before I can do burpees. Doctor's orders.

Pretty much! Except I can't do that with my left arm right now.

Also, push ups are off the list for a while. That I'm a little bummed about but I think I'll get over it because NO BURPEES!

I've been creative and artsy this week. 

I would like to credit my nail art with the reason both my teams won this week and moved on to the Round of 16. Yup, totally. All because of my nails. And if all that sports-talk sounds like gibberish to you, don't worry. Just know that I'm sitting at my computer doing this:

And the last big thing to happen this week (so far) is that my friend and I signed up for GISHWHES (Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen) because we're both crazy and weird. And awesome.

Mostly awesome.

Question: What have you done that's made you awesome this week?

Mid-June Catch Up

I had originally planned to take a trip to Ireland in the Fall instead of in the Spring. The only reason that didn't happen was because I have a work project that launches in the Fall and I knew that asking for time off would be like asking for furlough from prison.

Why, yes. I did binge watch Season 2 of Orange is the New Black this week.
I did that instead of writing blog posts.

It also means that returning home pretty much meant I had to hit the ground running with work. Time off between now and when this project finishes is going to be a precious, precious commodity. It also meant that after 7 hours staring at a computer screen writing, I've found it really hard to come home and write for fun. It's like being in university again, when you didn't read any 'fun' books because there were so many bloody textbooks you had to read. Also, the World Cup started so there goes a huge chunk of my weekends until July 13th.

New favourite goal keeper: Guillermo Ochoa from Mexico.
That man is the only reason Mexico tied with Brazil instead of losing.

But it hasn't all been work, eat, sleep since I got home. I spent a day volunteering for the UrbaCity Challenge with my friend. We ran the challenge station at the beach volleyball courts on the roof of the Sticky Wicket pub. Six hours spent running around in the sand, laughing with the challenge participants, and raising funds for the Prostate Centre in the lead up to Father's Day and all I got was a lousy shirt, a farmer's tan, and this awesome picture from our set up.

We're ready to rock this station!

I will definitely be volunteering next year, I'm just sad that my partner-in-crime will be off on mat leave. If you're in the Victoria area next June, I strongly encourage you to get a buddy and compete next year. (And say 'hi' if you make it to my station. I gladly hand out free high-fives to participants.)

I tried Crossfit for the first time... and the second time... in the same day... in fact, in the same hour... because my trainer is evil. I did not care for it. (Luckily, my trainer doesn't either.) This pretty much sums up my opinion:

I spent an awesome Thursday night with friends drinking beer for charity (no, really) before taking a dry erase to a certain store front in the name of the World Cup. I was at that same store the next day watching Switzerland lose to France... badly. The upside to watching this happen with them? I got a consolation macaron with every goal France scored. It made up for losing the bet to them on the game.

Like the rest of the known Geek Realm, I watched the season finale of Game of Thrones. I understand why a certain character wasn't shown in the season finale (especially given how much is going on) but said character better still be included in season five. I also did that quiz and ended up with my Game of Thrones name.

I'll take it!

The highlight of the past few weeks, however, was eavesdropping on the conspiracy-fuelled coffee shop conversation of a Putin-supporting, capitalist-loving but corporation-hating, Chavez-defending, anti-media spouting, global-warming-denying, devout Catholic. Seriously. I half expected someone to jump out and shout "Surprise. You're on Candid Camera!" Sadly, it did not happen.

All-in-all, not a bad June.

And I have a few posts actually scheduled for this week so you won't have to wait so long to hear from me again!

Question: Anyone else following the World Cup? Who are you supporting? Favourite moment so far?