Genetic Blog

My mum sent me this....I'm starting to better understand why I'm such a freak.

xxx

PS: she titled it 'Dalek's can Fly!!'

A little Lost

Sorry for the lame pun but when you get lost in a Lost episode there is no escape from it. So yes I'm still excited to watch the season finale, and yes the fact they extended it by a half an hour makes me think it is going to be immense but no, I'm not sure it's all going to be explained.

My roommate was complaining they haven't done enough back story on Jacob and the MiB, and that the whole protecting the light at the heart of the island is a little bit stupid, and unfortunately I have to agree. There were so many unresolved mysteries that I was looking forward to finding out, and only a few have met to my satisfaction. The whole Richard back story was amazing, it really worked and felt like it was conceived really early on. But why the island exists, why the others took over the Dharma village and why does everyone have such a vested interest in the island is still beyond me. Look at Whitmore, he just couldn't leave the island alone.

Interestingly Desmond was identified as Jacob's fail safe in the show but really he has become a bit of a fail safe for the writers, I'm just dying to know what the jammy bastard is up to, I think if anyone is going to save the show it will be him. I also have no idea how they are going to bring the two alternate realities together, so I'm still holding on this idea that the finale is going to blow my mind and I'm going to write some sort of apologetic blog entry about how wrong I was about everything being tied up. I guess we will see

Funnily enough my mum just send me a link about Lost, apparently they are auctioning off all the props from the show. I want the computer with the button. I would be more than happy to press it every 108 minutes for the rest of my life, or at least until a map of all the Dharma camps showed up on my wall and metal objects started flying all over the place.

If you are interested check it out here


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1279469/Grieving-Lost-fans-alive--props-auction.html

hare krishna to you all on this fine Wednesday.

hugs and kisses meryl

PS: ANNA LUCIA - amazing right?

Doctor Who Blog

Oh what a surprise Meryl is talking about Doctor Who again. I wonder if there is actually some sort of support group for people that like Doctor Who too much, I wouldn't join it anyway, if being in love with the Doctor is a sickness I'm not looking for a cure.

As any of you who read this blog know, I have not been able to watch Doctor Who for two weeks because I have no computer. For ages I mused on how terrible a situation this was, but this weekend I got to watch two back to back episodes and for a short moment I wondered how terrible it would be to let the show run ahead so I never had to wait a week to find out what happened. Obviously as soon as those episodes ended I realized this was a terrible idea and there was no way I'd be missing another episode unless tiny aliens invaded our water system getting inside our bodies and killing us from the inside out. An unlikely turn of events, I'm assuming.

This series of Doctor Who is a little darker than the previous ones, and of course they can do that because they know this is their last doctor. It is weird to think that the show has been running for so very long. Of course it had a massive gap in the middle, but the British public accepted it back with open arms, and like most of them, it has been fun to watch the show as both an adult and a child. The daleks, of course, are one of the scariest sci-fi monsters ever created, but when you were little this was because they were metallic and spoke weird. Now as an adult it is their rational that is scary, they have no emotions at all and are determined to erase everything in their path. As an added bonus they can now fly, eradicating jokes about defeating daleks simply by running up a flight of stairs.

I remember the first time I saw what lives inside a Dalek during an especially scary episode of Doctor Who and I don't think the image has left me. It reminds me of when I was younger and my mum took me and my brother to a museum. At the very end they had a life sized darlek that you could climb into, and my brother was so freaked out he wouldn't even go near it.

Doctor Who still manages to have its hide behind the sofa moments, and although that is no longer my favorite course of action I have found myself turning the lights on during certain episodes. It is funny and exciting and ridiculous all at the same time and manages to pander to a hugely varied audience of ranging ages. Most importantly it is driven by imagination, the stories are magical and spectacular including story lines about star whales that save humanity and police boxes that can travel through space and time. So yes, I'm a complete nerd or geek or loser but for one hour a week I get to be little again and imagine that out there is a huge galaxy of planets populated by weird and wonderful species just waiting to be discovered

Over and Out

Meryl x

Peanut Butter Blog

So this blog topic was a suggestion by my friend Michele, well she was talking about how if she started a blog she would be worried she would end up blogging about peanut butter, but my brain didn't process that information correctly and I though what a great topic for a blog, Peanut Butter.

Essentially as soon as I heard the words peanut butter I though of the good old fashioned crunchy vs smooth debate, and to be honest I am a firm believer that crunchy is just so much better. Here in North America there are a hundred million types of peanut butter to choose from, but Kraft kind of dominate the market. Ironically I have bashed Kraft many times before in this blog, well they did steal cadburys from the British, not a concept we are massively familiar with.

Anyway, to try and help what they must assume is an idiot market they have different colour lids for the different types of peanut butter. Unfortunately although we all understand this system it seems that everyone knows one of them taste bad, but no-one can ever remember which one it is. I am pretty sure it is the blue lid one myself, but seeing as I am a strict crunchy peanut buyer I've never had to be too invested in the peanut butter code system. I have cracked it wide open and use the incredible new system of reading the label.

Another new discovery since I moved to Canada was the peanut butter and jam sandwich, or more American-ly, peanut butter and jelly (yeah I know?!). It is bloody delicious. I shouldn't like it, my brain knows that, but it can't seem to get the message to my tongue. It is sweet and salty, it just manages to work even though it shouldn't. The same logic lies behind peanut butter and apple, it is so wrong yet so right.

My final disgusting treat of the day is cream cheese and jam sandwiches. I must have been twenty years old when I first had one and it was pretty much forced upon me by a friend, but I conceded it is also delicious. It is weird and not normal, but truly scrumptious. Before you ask, yes I am ashamed of myself, today's blog feels more like a confessionary than a blog entry, but I dare you try one and not like it, literally i'll double dare you if I have to

Ok, welcome to monday universal readers, hope it's not to terrible!

hugs and kisses Meryl x

50th Blog

So for the last two weeks I have had this great idea, that when I reach my 50th Blog post of 2010 I would do a special 50th Blog edition. Unfortunately my last post was blog entry number 50 and I didn't even realize until today. So I've decided to flip convention the V's and do my 50th Blog Special on my 51st Blog entry.

So for today's very special 50th edition, I am going to give you 50 amazing facts about life, the universe and everything.

1. I stole that last line from Douglas Adams, I am in essence a word thief
2. Right Handed people tend to chew their food on the right side of their mouth
3. Honey is one of the easiest foods to digest because it has already been digested by bees
4. Knowing the above honey fact has never put me off eating honey
5. Triangles are the best of all the shapes.
6. I like the word Eagle, and yet I don't know why
7. Determination is just another word for success
8. Red and Purple candies are always the best ones
9. Jaffa Cakes were actually the subject of a legal debate to determine if they were in fact biscuits and not cakes.
10. I think they are biscuits
11. They taste really good with tea
12. I once ate a whole tube of Jaffa cakes on a plane ride home from England when I was infact planning on giving them out to my Canadian friends so they could try them
13. Coming up with 50 facts is harder than one might think
14. I had 15 different people tell me how much they also hate George Stroumboulopoulos after my last blog entry
15. This made me feel better because I was worried I'd been a little harsh
16. I wasn't actually worried I'd been a little harsh, I just imagined a better person would be worried so mimiced that emotion
17. When you blush the lining of your stomach also turns red.
18. My favorite colour is blue, or more specifically light blue.
19. Late at night I listen to the New Classical 96.3 because Meridith Lightstone has the best voice of anyone ever.
20. Stand up comedy is objectively the best thing in the world.
21. Obviously that is really subjective
22. My friends are my family, and I'm very lucky to have them.
23. The average person laughs 13 times a day
24. Taking a ruler to school with you makes you look smarter.
25. Women Blink nearly twice as much as men.
26. No matter how many times I am told, I can't seem to remember to turn the water lines off at work in the evening.
27. I have broken four computers in three years. For some reason the more I love technology the more it tries to hurt me.
28. The best game to play on the train is 'can I make you look behind you'. If you ever catch me doing it, tell me it is mean.
29. It isn't mean, it is hilarious.
30. It takes four people looking up at the sky to cause the next person who walks by to look up also.
31. I discovered this with a group of my psychology buddies and it was one of my favorite studies we ever did.
32. I hate pigeons, if I was god I would wipe 'em out.
33. I still haven't watched last weeks Doctor Who, and have mentioned it in every subsequent blog since it came out.
34. I can't believe I am only on number 34, I'm starting to think I've only got 40 facts in me
35. Frisky Dingo is one of the best animated series ever made ever.
36. Today in the news there was a woman who made a pass at Obama, if she was here I would definitely high five her.
37. Today my co-worker said 'I always finish early', and I said 'I've heard that about you', and someone double high fived me.
38. Double high fives are at least twice as good as regular high fives
39. I've changed my mind, my favorite colour is green
40. The human mind can remember 5 to 7 things at a time before they are wiped from Short Term Memory
41. My favorite word in mellifluous
42. My favorite french word is parapluie

43. Oscar Wilde is one of the funniest people that ever lived
44. I actually really like Bingo, even if it is an 'old people's game'
45. I started writing a blog as a great way to showcase my writing, but now I love doing it because it is fun.
46. I cannot believe I still am not at 50, I'm full of useless information but apparently I've gone blank.
47. My new favorite drink is blueberry vodka and seven, it was discovered by Jen by accident at a bar in Eglington.
48. It is our equivalent of a flaming moe
49. I really appreciate everyone that reads this blog, and any of you still reading through to 50 have just earned an extra special place in my heart.
50. This extra space in my heart includes utilities but there is no internet provided I however, heard there is unlocked wireless all over the shop

God that was difficult, but I have a lovely warm 'job-well-done' glow about me now. I hope you are all having a fabulous Friday, and that your weekend plans include lots of getting up no good.

If you can't be good at least be safe

all my love meryl xxxx

George Stroumboulopoulos Blog

I hate George Stoumboulopoulos. I've never met the guy, I probably never will, but I know if I did I would call him snuffaluffagus and slap him straight across the face.

I really don't think it is his fault that I hate him so much, in part it is his position in Canadian television. People outside Canada think he's our go to guy for hard hitting interviews. They think we all sit around watching the hour, wondering what interesting details will George delicately extract from tonight's guests. We don't. Lots of people hate George Snuffaluffagus, in fact most people find him acutely irritating. His lack of competition is the only thing keeping him going, the minute a celebrity has to do something in Canada their agent books them on The Hour assuming this is Canadian culture, this explains why he has had some undeservedly awesome guests come and talk to him. It is overwhelmingly frustrating, I often sit shouting at the television, because no matter how hard I try I can't watch more that fifteen minutes of the hour without wanting to punch George in his ugly little smug face.

Its become psychological, my roommate can back me up on this. I have had well over twenty dreams about being on The Hour pretending to be interested in George's awkwardly delivered questions before turning on him and embarrassing him on his own show. I have also dreamed about starting a show called The Hour You Wanted Back' and having it start only moments after his hour ends.

Someone has to take him down, and I'm ready to roll my sleves up. Canada has so much going for it, the people are relaxed and easy going and really very tolerant. Not to mention there is a crazy amount of talent just waiting to be tapped into. The diversity of music here is mind blowing, with tiny bands making it huge nation wide. Canadians manage to be super nice and positive while maintaining an underlying level of sarcasm that could give England a run for it's money and to have George Stroumboulopoulos pretending to represent any of this is just an outrage. George was definitely the kid at school that tried too hard, that had no friends and made people feel uncomfortable when he stood too close to them. It is like he was given a chance to re-write himself, and to give him props he seems like a normal bloke, but a normal bloke who is trying to hard, who has no friends and makes people feel uncomfortable when he stands to close to them, or asks them questions while touching his fingers together.

I should be worried that you will be thinking I've gone of the rails, but I'm pretty confident a lot of you will agree with me. I once saw a guy on the street looking at a poster for George Stroumboulopoulos when the show was quite new, and his face literally crumpled like he was watching someone throw up. That's what George Stoumboulopoulos does to you, he makes you feel embarrassed, your cheeks rosy up, your nose crinkles and a creeping feeling runs down your back. Not the feeling I get when I think of Parkinson I'll tell you that much.

I feel a lot better now I've got that out of my system, a bit like after you sneeze. I think I've gone through my whole hit list now. I've already covered babe in a previous blog, and i've been told that doing a Terry Fox one will only get me in lots of trouble. You've been saved this time Terry Fox, but I will blog about you someday somehow.

hope you are all well

love and kisses xxxx

PS - just went to find a picture for the blog, look at him with no shoes on, God he's such an idiot.

Long Boring Politics Blog (as promised)

I imagine my newer friends see me as a slightly eccentric English person, but to my older friends I'm Meryl who wanted to be the prime minister of England. Yes that truly was my ambition as a young teenager. I only remember having two ambitions as a child, first was to be a dinosaur (as I have mentioned previously in this blog) and the second was to run the country. I got really into politics at school, I wasn't exactly a top student, but when I got the opportunity to take a politics class I was lucky enough to have one of the most inspirational teachers I'd ever experience take a shine to me. Miss J was one of those teachers who didn't listen to staff room gossip and specifically told us her class would be a clean slate kind of moment. Because of this I jumped right into it, and the more I learn't about the way the country was run, the more I wanted to know.

I started reading the newspaper everyday, and having long boring conversations with my dad about where I thought the country was heading, and slowly but surely I started to believe I could do a better job of it. The Iraq war happened and thus I was convinced that the only way we could move forward was for Tony Blair to be removed from office and me put in his place as the herald leader I imagined myself to be. I was 16, I really thought I knew best.

Moving onwards, politics is still a passion of mine, and although things got very interesting in Canada when the Liberals and the NDP were going to overthrow the government, the whole proroguing of parliament for months really put a damper on my politic spirit. Just in time to perk me up politics in England goes a little bonkers. In a whirlwind of decisions, Gordon Brown steps down as leader of the Labour party, the Tories grab 97 extra seats and the Lib Dems are the most powerful people in the city.

See in England there is no minority government, it is a First Past the Post system, and although I could debate it for hours, I like this better than the Canadian one. So long story short England now has a coalition government, with the Lib Dems and the Conservatives joining forces in the final hour. To me this is a little like dipping cheese into ketchup, it's not that disgusting but it certainly isn't a natural combo. Labour would have been a more natural choice for the Lib Dems, there just seems to be a more common thread of rationality running through the two parties, but Gordon Brown just didn't win over the British public, and if Susan Boyle is anything to go by it's popularity that counts.

It's Gordon Brown I feel sorry for, he stepped down in a last ditch attempt to woo the Lib Dems and in a very Britain's Got Talent type way they gave him three XXXs. It's been thirteen years since England has seen a Torie PM, and now we have one who looks like he has a bed time regiment to keep his skin smooth. Not that smooth skin is a bad thing, it's just I like the prime minister to look a little hassled, he should after all be constantly worried about what to do for his country.

It has been quite a week, and I have loved every second of it, now I get to familiarize myself with the new Cabinet and the whose who of a brand spanking new coalition government. It will be an interesting year politically for sure. There is nothing like a close election to pull a country together, when water cooler conversation turns from Coronation Street to Downing Street you know you have the country's attention. It reminds us that we do make a difference, and we do have a say, even if it is a little one.

Alright lovely readers, I'm done I promise. I still have no computer, and I still haven't got to watch the new episode of Doctor Who. I did watch lost yesterday and it was good, really good. Still no closer to having any idea what is going to happen, but it certainly answered questions they had set up right at the beginning of episode 1. Got to admire good writing.

Top Model Finale Tonight - GO TEAM RAINA

peace and love always

Meryl x xx