Yesterday I finally got a chance to see How to Train Your Dragon, and I loved it~ It was such a sweet story and the characters were all so enjoyable and endearing, with emphasis on Hiccup and Toothless in particular. Toothless is by far the most adorable dragon in the history of ever -- it's like they took this cute little chibi-deformed looking dragon body and stuffed the soul of an oversized house cat into it. While browsing DeviantArt, I came across this quick scribble that made me laugh because it so accurately portrayed my own experience in the theatre with my big soppy tears the instant the dragon-befriending montage began. (Art by BehindtheVeil.) It's been a while since I've seen an animated movie that I've enjoyed so thoroughly, much less a 3D animated film whose computer sculpted characters I've instantly loved and wanted to see more of. It makes me want to draw fan art! :B

I have a confession. Over the last week or so I've sort of, um, stopped doing my exercise regiment... I was doing really good for a couple of weeks and then I shirked my workout one day due to a headache and then never picked it up again. I'm a slave to habit, but I break it once and can't ever get it back afterwards. ^^; So yeah, a little ashamed at how pathetic I am at keeping any type of fitness goal. Maybe it's a sign of some sort that I'm forever destined for limp, weak, noodley arms.

Thanks, April, for once more conspiring with Mother Nature to shit all over my birthday weekend. *Looks at snow and cries*

No luck yet on the job front. I'm hoping that before the end of the month I find something I would really like, because I don't want to have to resort to the alternative of getting an easy-to-find-but-I'll-hate job. ;_;

On the upside, I haven't had so much free time in years. With that in mind, I'm trying not to become a complete bum -- I'm making sure to still wake up at a reasonable time each morning (usually 8 a.m.) and every day I try to strike off some items from my ever expanding to-do list of stuff, because it keeps up the feeling that I'm being productive and not wasting all of this extra time I suddenly have. There are errands to run and appointments to make and chores around the house to do, among my copious baking of home made garlic cheese buns and slow but steady work through Mists of Avalon.

Since I have time to fill, I've also been working out a lot more again finally. I've gone for a couple of good walks during the afternoons and I've restarted my Wii EA Sports Active exercise regiment again four times a week. My latest one yesterday introduced the horrible, evil concept of crunches that practically killed me, my abdomen is super sore this morning; there's also another one where you have to reach your arms straight out behind you while stretching the resistance band is also really surprisingly hard. T-T And then it goes and makes me sprint and run right as I'm already already wheezing and cramping, and I end up flopping around and flailing there in agony screaming profanities at my television.

On the topic of my sporadic attempts to be healthier, we're probably going to start up a curling team in the fall. I went and watched Mason and a couple of the guys play in their first bonspiel the other week and, much like golf, it looked like a very Brenna-friendly sport. There's no running involved or scary objects being thrown at me. WIN. \o/

For Mason's birthday this past Tuesday a bunch of us piled our collective monies together and bought him a Nintendo Wii, and among the games he has currently *cough*obtainedbyquestionablemeans*cough* includes EA Sports Active. The few reviews I've heard of the game make it sound pretty reputable, and the concept of being able to start an actual exercise regiment of some sort right at home and without paying for classes or gym memberships is pretty appealing. Thus, I'm determined to at least try and make use of EA Sports and get into a four day a week workout session in the comforts of my own basement. :D POOF! Wobbly flab to toned muscle, here I come! Hoo! Ha! *wheeze*

EDIT: We bought the little active accessory kit for the game (includes leg strap for Wii nunchuck and resistance band) and both Mason and I each began our own "6 Week Challenge" this morning (though Mason has his workouts set to either medium or hard, and I'm sticking to easy to start off with.) I did a 20ish minute full body work out, and was so proud of myself as it ended and was about to start my cool down stretches -- and then Iroh chose that moment to walk across the powerbar and turn off the Wii. NOOOOO! I didn't even get to save my first day! D:{ So after angrily locking the kitty upstairs, I did the whole workout over a second time just so it would be able to record my progress for this morning. (Does that mean I can be proud of myself x2?)

Obviously I'm starting off slow and the first workout wasn't that hard, but overall it was actually more fun than I thought it would be! The fact that I ended up having to do it twice made me extra tired at the end and my legs felt a bit jellylicious, but I'm determined to keep up with it! Go Team Me! Really, any amount of fitness more than the zero amount I had been doing before has got to be some sort of improvement, right? ^^;

Surprisingly, complicated 10,000-piece Lego sets are in fact not as complicated as I originally feared~ Status of General Grievous as of this afternoon and again later this evening. Yay! Look, he has giant cyborgy legs! :B

I haven't even needed any help in building him, the instructions are really good (little more than half way through book 1 of 2!) Most of the time and effort actually consists of hunting for the pieces through the dozens of different little bags which are conveniently not sorted AT ALL. =_=;

This morning we went out for our first round of golf this season~ Besides the fact that it was mother effing windy (omg my ears, they burn!), it was really fun and probably gave me some much needed exercise after sitting on my ass all winter. I got 54 on the front nine! Yay for me!

I technically just did a meme like this, so I tried to do 25 new things that weren't included in the last one. :P

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.

1. I routinely look like I just crawled out of a barn. Between the bits and pieces of hay from sitting in my pet rabbit's playpen and the tufts of white feathers that escape from my down-filled winter jacket and get caught on my clothes, it raises the theory that I live in a chicken coup.


2. I used to be a tomboy. It's only in the last three or four-ish years that I've ditched the ugly over-sized man shirts to openly embrace my feminine side. Floral! Color! Dresses! Fitted clothes! OMG look I'm actually a girl and I LOVE IT~! :3 I would never ever go back to the way I was, because being girly is too much fun.


3. I really like my job, and that's something that I never would have believed I'd ever say. But I do, I like the job, I adore the people I work with, I get excited over new projects we're working on and where we're going. It's not very often many people are able to wake up everyday and not hate the idea of going to their job, and it concerns and makes me a little sad to not know whether I'll still be able to be there a year from now.


4. I would love to travel more. I especially dream one day of going back to Europe... England, Paris! *hearts* I wouldn't mind visiting Africa and maybe Japan too~


5. My biggest goal in the next five years (and that's a maximum ETA, preference would be one to two years) to own my own bloody house. I hate renting, I hate it! Look at all my beautiful money being sucked away that I'll never see again! D: I want more space, I want a garage, and I want a yard so we can finally get a puppy~


6. I'm probably one of the few people who was born in St. Albert, Alberta, and never ever wants to leave. It is one of the many aspects that is part of what makes up what has been affectionately coined the "Brenna Bubble". I love my little slice of suburbia and if I get my way I will live here forever. By an uncommon contrast, I despise Edmonton. It's too big, it's dirty, it's stressful, and it's scary, as opposed to my comfortably small city that is by comparison clean, easy, and safe, and most importantly, is close to my friends and family. If I ever make a move out of St. Albert, it will be to another suburb in the nearby area, but if it's left up to me, I will die here in one of the very many local retirement homes.


7. My dialogue is littered with what we in the family refer to as "Saunders Words", and sometimes I forget that the rest of the world has never heard of them. Terms like "gweeblies", "tuffettops", and "goobersmooch" have a habit of sneaking into my dictionary while out in public and end up earning me lots of funny looks and ridicule.


8. I speak to my bunny as if he were a tiny three-year-old. I never thought I'd be one of those people who engages in in depth conversations with my pet and treats them like their own child, but I can't help it! *Hugs Toby* He's so freaking adorable! X3


9. I wish I had more money to buy ridiculous amounts of clothes and shoes! I can't walk into a mall without seeing a dozen things I want to have, and if I didn't have the reserves of will power as I do, I would be very very poor.


10. I am probably the pickiest eater I have ever and will ever know of. (And I can't even blame mine on allergies or anything.)


11. I'm cold all the time. I hate being freaking cold! *Hugs her portable work heater*


12. I'd really like to get more in shape since my current shape is more like a squiggly no-muscly void of nothing, but I am admittedly notoriously lazy when it comes to physical activity. Gyms are an absolute no-go for me. Selected sports I can sometimes pull off, but it really has to be a very Brenna-friendly sport, and that usually means that it doesn't involve a lot of running or painful physical contact. I keep saying I want to get into a habit of playing DDR again every day, but that probably won't actually happen until we have a house and more space to keep the dancing mat out and available to remind me to use it.


13. On the note of Brenna-friendly sports, I'm extremely glad that Mason introduced me to golf. Yes, it's as boring as dirt to watch on television, but I really do enjoy playing it. It gives me some exercise, I get to go for a nice leisurely walk, and it's very relaxing.


14. I started taking piano lessons this year, something I've always wanted to do and finally did~


15. I don't like small talk. I'm much more of a comfortable silence kind of girl. Please don't talk to me about the weather or other things we know that neither of us are really interested in talking about just to fill an awkward void. Either have an actual conversation with me, or keep to the rule silence is golden.


16. When it comes to television and movies and books, my favorite characters always end up being either:
    
    1. villains (ex. Spike from Buffy, Grievous from Star Wars),
    2. arrogant assholes (ex. Alan Shore from Boston Legal, Severus Snape from HP), or
    3. a little bit crazy (ex. Dilandau from Escaflowne, The Joker from Batman).
    
    Or in some cases, all of the above mixed into some crazy Molotov cocktail of creepy. It's especially strange since all these characteristics when displayed in real life piss me off and make me want to punch the owner in the face. Yet in books and shows, I can't get enough of them. They draw me in -- they're just always so much more interesting than the heroes or other protagonists! :B


17. Denny Crane.


18. I'm so happy to be getting back into reading again. I was an obsessive book worm when I was younger, and then for whatever reason I stopped buying books and going to the library for a while when I discovered things like anime and manga and pink Nintendo DS's. Something clicked last year though and I've compiled a giant list of must-read material that I'm working though.


19. I am an Anal Annie when it comes to filling the dishwasher. Everything has a designated place, dishes must be sorted, everything has to fit in order to maximize dishwasher capacity and efficiency! Mason very often simply doesn't load the dishwasher at home because he knows that I'll just walk by, get frustrated, and proceed to take everything out and re-load it my own way. I go over to my parent's house for dinner some times and blanch at the horror that is their dishwasher now that I don't live at home with them. It's a disgrace, and I think they do it purely because they know it annoys me.


20. I like playing board games. One night a week I get together with a bunch of friends and we play a board game or card game of some sort, it's a lot of fun, and I like that I get to see the group of people at least once each week because of it.


21. I am an enormous fangirly geek, and I love it. Being a fangirl is my favorite hobby ever, whether it's watching episodes of a series over and over again, or finding a new piece of amazing fanart, or staying up until the wee hours of the morning researching information and details on specific parts of a story or character that I never knew before.


22. Directly related to / caused by / is the causing factor of #21, I'm a pretty big daydreamer. Not in the teenage girly sense of "and then Johnny Depp comes sweeping in with rippling muscles and carries me off for some full-frontal shagging", but more along the lines of where I write little scenes and bits in my head of various fandoms I'm currently indulging in. It's more or less fanfiction writing, only without the actual typing because that's far too much effort. I like to think up those scenes you'd love to see, or bits of a story and character experiences that were never included but should have been. They play like my own little directed movies in my head, and they can range from little two-minute concoctions to full blown half hour episodes where I end up getting really annoyed if someone interrupts me in the middle of it.


23. I both miss and do not miss my old spiky hair. I miss it because it was very unique, and not a style you saw on every female who walked by; though on the same note, I very much do not miss it because of the same reason. My hair may be more boring now, but it feels more mature and I'm finally no longer recognized every where I go as "That spiky haired girl who worked at Sobeys". =_=; There's a point when creepy old ladies try to run their hands over your hair gushing that you say enough is enough.


24. I live my life by my Google Calendar. *Hearts* I'm not sure I could get along in the world on a day-to-day basis without my online schedule and daytimer.


25. I can't stand rudeness. It is by far my biggest pet peeve and turn off. Egotistical people come in as a close second -- modesty is a virtue, learn to use it, you arrogant asswipes.

DAMN. That shit looks TASTY. It's very possible Mason and I are the best homemade lasagna makers ever, we should really look into some mass production and selling of it. Just look at those two pans of marvelous noodles, sauce, beef, and cheese. It's dazzling. Edward Cullen himself could not match our mad lasagna skillz. That's right, Cullen. You've just been PWNED, Iron Chef style.

For anyone who doesn't know, I've taken up the sport of golf~! It turns out that despite how agonizingly boring it is to watch on television, it's actually really fun to play yourself. Who'd have thought? I've gone out a few times so far, just to places around St. Albert and only doing nine holes for the time being until I can work up some hardcore golfing stamina. As long as it's not too hot outside I can handle the whole trekking up and down the course for an afternoon, and it's actually pretty relaxing (appropriate weather permitting.) I just went out and bought myself some fancy new golf clubs the other week -- they're gloriously pink and girly. :B

Over all, it's a good sport finally for someone like me. (We were beginning to think such a thing didn't exist.) It's not that physically strenuous in a "omg I think I'm going to keel over and die" or the even less attractive "oh god oh god that ball is going to hit me in the face!" sort of way; but it's still good exercise, which I very badly need for I am horrendously lazy. ¬_¬ I need to start recording my scores to I can track my progress, I got a 67 on the back nine the last time I went out to J.R., which for a giant noob such as myself is not bad~

Toby was let out of his pen for his first field trip into the hall the other day~ ^^ He was so excited, it was hard to get him back into his bed afterwards. Pictures of his marvelous bunny adventure here on Facebook. (Does anyone have any ideas of what I could substitute the makeshift wall with? It's a real pain to set up and take down. I was thinking more of that thick poster board and just fastening them together with ties -- then I could just fold it up when I'm done with it and store it behind the door.)