Video notes on Canada

Recently, down the Basement o' Wonders, I found some old school papers. Inside my eighth grade Social Studies folder I discovered a page of notes I'd taken on Canada. We watched many videos in that class, and were required to take at least 100 words of notes on each one. So here, apparently, are the facts that my fourteen-year-old self deemed most vital to know about our northern neighbors:

Video Notes on Canada

Inuit = Eskimo. Cajuns came from Canada. There are many different cultures in Canada, including Chinese, Ukranian, French, and English. 80% of all Canadians live within miles of the U.S. border. It is the second largest country in the world. The Vikings were the first Europeans who reached North America. The Acadians came from France. They became the Cajuns. Peggy's Cove is well known for its lobster. Quebec is Canada's largest province. Quebec's main language is French. Quebec possesses a strong sense of culture, which is a mixture of different ones. They even have a different type of dance which is a kind of tap dance. Montreal is partially underground.

There you go. All you'd ever need to know about Canada. Especially that bit about the Quebecois tap dance.

2 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me

1. I've ridden an elephant. A long time ago, for reasons long forgotten now, someone brought an elephant to Market Square in Kenosha. (Perhaps the circus was in town.) A bunch of people lined up for a chance to parade around Market Square on the elephant's back. My memory of this is hazy at best, but I recall being very high up in the air, and I think my oldest sister rode with me. I believe we were in a basket, not straddling the elephant or anything. I still can't believe my mom didn't bring a camera. Your daughters are going to ride an elephant and you don't take pictures?

2. Back in junior high, Lindsey and I baked a cake for the sole purpose of eating it without using our hands. We'd always had a secret hankering to eat cake by just sticking our faces directly in and going to town. So we decided ... why not? I think it was the last day of school. Lindsey came over, and we baked a cake - it was a Pillsbury Funfetti cake, if memory serves - and frosted it up nice. We then cut it in half, figuring that half a cake was more than enough for the full effect, each took half on a plate, put our hands behind our backs, and dove in on the count of three. All I really remember about the actual hands-free cake experience is that it was a lot harder than you might imagine to eat cake with one's face, without picking it up or cutting it into pieces first. I think when the actual moment was at hand we got wussy about really getting our faces dirty and tried to sort of nibble around the edges. There was a lot of giggling, and we gave up fairly quickly.

The thing is, remembering this kind of makes me want to try it again.

Friends and stuff

What have I been up to so far this week? Well, work. Big deadline coming up tomorrow morning, which meant increased hours for the past few weeks, culminating tonight. I finished about an hour ago, preferring to work from home for the evening. Anya is still holed up at the office. (We have both worked at home simultaneously in the past, but we've figured out we're approximately 98% less productive when that happens.) I am eagerly awaiting her return, however, since she has Snickers bars in her office and has promised to bring me one. I am hangry. That's a wonderful word I learned today, meaning "feeling so hungry that you're angry." My choices here are basically Lean Cuisine pizza (good, but no) and pretzel sticks. What I want is some damn dessert, but I'll settle for candy. I refuse to go to the store at midnight to buy junk (this isn't college!) ... but I'm clearly not above importing it from the office.

What else? I started The Best American Travel Writing 2001, but I haven't gotten far. Likely because most of my spare time has been spent playing Mario 64 on my Nintendo DS. I knew this would happen! Damn you, Sam, Sooz, and Paul! At least it's portable. I've also made some more sweet origami creations - I'm proudest of the heart-shaped picture holder. Today's lesson was the water bomb, but I've known how to make those since elementary school. Suckas!

Finally, I'm counting down the hours until I leave for a long weekend in California. (For free on Southwest!) Friday's weather had better not mess with my plans, because I am so ready to go. I checked out the forecast for San Diego and L.A. yesterday, and may have wept a little with joy. I know that's me being a huge wuss, since we technically had the warmest January in forever, but it's cold here. And it's sunny and in the 70's there. Cannot. Wait. Lots of musical goodness coming up, too - Jon Brion on Friday, then a trio of Tweedy, Kotche, and Cline shows. Tweedy actually played "All the Same to Me" for real at the end of January, so unless that was just to taunt me, I have some hope of hearing it this weekend.

And, of course, I'll be traveling with friends. Looking forward to that got me thinking about some of my older friends, and I realized something interesting. I've kept in touch with a decent number of people from high school - I'd say seven or so - and many are among my closest friends today. The odd thing is, with only two exceptions I can think of, we also all went to junior high together. Three of us (Allison, Heidi, and I) go all the way back to the beginning of elementary school. I think that's pretty awesome. To honor those who have stood the test of time, I scanned a few photos from our ninth grade yearbook. In retrospect, it would have been much funnier to scan the earliest photos I had available for everyone, but the ninth grade yearbook is what was handy. So, enjoy - if you know me outside the blog, or have been reading this for awhile, you'll probably recognize some of the names. Some may even be reading this!



Michelle (currently living in Manhattan), Lindsey (currently in living in Minneapolis; to be currently visiting me next weekend), Heidi (currently holding down the fort in K-Town)



Allison (currently living in Toronto), and of course it wouldn't be fair to do this to everyone else without including ninth grade me (currently typing this).

Ta-da! Maybe I'll try to track down the earliest photos I have some other time, because I would enjoy seeing them all together. (By the way, in the time it took me to type this, my hanger has passed. My stomach has given up in sad defeat, convinced that no dessert will be forthcoming. A dull ache - perhaps rooted in my stomach's frustration and confusion - is all that remains. On the bright side, I guess I know what I'm having for breakfast.)

8th grade yearbook memories

By eighth grade, we were more sure of ourselves. The yearbook cliches, while still present, began to taper off.

Brianne,
Hey! Bout time we got these ----ers. Wow I
certainly have quite enough room. Wow! C.P. as
a girl is PRICELESS! Hee hee, I hope Melissa
NEVER gets her yearbook!
Lindsey

Hey Baby,
I've been watching you. Your hair
is shiny and soft. Your muscles rippling.
I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
Next year beware, I WILL get you.
Signed,
~~~

Brianne,
Have a Great summer. Had
fun bugging you in Science class.
Hopefully i'll sit next
to you next year.
Rick

I had a crush on that kid at the time, so internally I was all "OMIGOD I hope so too!!!!"

Brianne -
Have a great summer & glad I got to know ya! At
least we have one thing in common - Mr. Ungerer!
See ya next year!
Sara K.

That one sounded vaguely dirty, but it wasn't meant to be.

Brianne,
Hey! What's up or down? Well this year sucked,
but I bet you 9th grade will be a blast! Your
a good friend to have. C-ya in 9th!
Love ya,
Shawna L.

Shawna works at my bank now, Kenosha branch. I saw her there last month and we were like "...did you go to Lincoln Jr. High?" Haha. "Love ya" indeed. Teenage girls are nothing if not sincere!

Brianne,
2 down, 1 to go! Have a great summer! Yes, next year,
I'll sleep over! Just remember: "Mrs. Pitts, I have
to go to the bathoom." (Nick C.) Mrs. Pitts: "Wait, I
think I have a bag in here somewhere."
Allison

That reminds me, I wonder how Allison is doing in Toronto...

Brianne,
You'll have to get me some B-ball tickets
through your dad's friend. J/K. Also,
you still have to draw me a picture of the
best, Latrel Sprewell. Have a good summer.
Eric B.

In 8th grade I went into business making colored pencil sketches of basketball players for classmates. Except that I never charged anybody for it. So really, not such a great business. But I basked in the attention, and I guess that was my payment.

Well she thinks she can have the whole page well HAHA!
See ya next year and all those other geeky sayings.
But really, your a great friend. Your a cool Happylander.
Call me!
Heidi

Your cool too, Heidi!

I really didn't plan well for this, because I'm dying to include photos. Ah well. Next time, 9th grade.

7th grade yearbook memories

My sister still hasn't located that photo I mentioned last week, so I decided to write today about something else I claimed I would do long ago. It's time to take a look back at junior high autographs. We'll start with grade 7.

By seventh grade, the grammar and spelling of my friends hadn't improved markedly:

-Brianne-
hey, your real sweat.
stay that way
Kathy

And the abbreviations were still in full effect:

Hi Brianne,
Wzup? Have a great
summer. Hope I c-ya.
Katie

Sometimes I was given sound advice:

Rebekah says
"Have fun this summer"

Bree,
Have a great summer and
alot of unsafe sex (not)
Rachel

And a few vague threats:

Bree,
Hiya, have a fun summer
OR ELSE!
Melisa M.

Most of my male friends were on the concise side:

Have a nice summer
Nathan T.

Have a good summer
John L.

Eric Doherty

But many of my female friends were more verbose, and bursting with in-jokes:

Brianne,
Have a cool summer. Be nice to Dan Qaiel, I'll
bring you a book!
M-e-i-r-s
Heidi

Bozo,
Have a great sumer, I doubt I will see
much of you, oh, stay away
from Happyland (unless you
go with me, in which case I'll
join you on some of those great rides)
Tiny Tits

P.S. Over the sumer don't fall down any stairs,
and learn to spell.

I got a nice autograph from my English teacher:

Brianne -
What can I say? You make being a teacher fun.
Mr. D.

Oh yes, and my science teacher dripped sweat on the last autograph page. Ew. Thanks for the sendoff, Mr. Z.

I wish I had a scanner here to share some pictures. My 7th grade photo is pretty great. I remember hating it at the time. My braces are in full view, and I had long hair with a sort of "side bangs combover" going on in front. Oh, early 90's. You encouraged everyone to look their best.

Tomorrow, 8th grade!