A night in African culture!

Ok, so I'm taking a quick break from working on my -this-is-taking-forever-to-write- thesis. I wanted to update and say that my Thursday night was great! I knew that Stomp was going to be an amazing show, but WOW! I had no idea how creative and phenomenal it really is!!! If you get a chance, please DO go see it live!! Wow! Creative geniuses at work here! Not to mention, whatta performance! The performers were incredible!!! Needless to say, I enjoyed myself quite a bit, and was tempted to make "music" after the show, with the paper towel dispenser handle in the ladie's bathroom. Hehe. After such an emotional day, it was a great way to end it. And Friday, I was back at 'er, ready and emotionally present with my clients at the jail. The emotional release was just what I needed to re-energize myself!

Anyways, Saturday night, my good friends and classmates, celebrated Sholly's birthday. We went to a Portuguse Cultural Hall to celebrate African night (don't ask about the incongruency between the place and the theme). I was totally looking forward to my second cheat meal, and curious about what African food is. It turns out, it's very much like Ethiopian food, which I absolutely love, love, love! YUMMY! Here's pix from the night:


Me, Meena, birthday girl Sholly, and Christine (who's wearing a pink African garb- I LOVE IT! PINK!)

My Indian "twin", Meena :o)

Aww Meena and Jeffrey :o) whatta cute couple!

My good friend Christine (yes, she towers over me at 5"11)!

Christine trying to be the "slutty white African" girl (notice the off-the shoulder look, revealing a tank top strap) *gasp*!

The dancing show started with these cute girls dancing to funky African beats

Here's an African drumming band - not that there was anything wrong with this, but it was kind of funny to see the White guys in it - they looked somewhat out of place

Dancing to the beat of the drum- what energy!

Here's Dan dancing with one of the beautiful tribal dancers

These tribal dancers were amazing!

...then they had belly dancers!

All the belly dancers were plus sized ladies, which was I think, really empowering because they were so proud and confident. I loved it!

One of the belly dancers pulled Meens onto the dance floor, so here I am attempted to belly dance!

Good-night!

They took FOREVER to bring out the desserts, and I was dying to find out what an African donut was! Turns out it was just a ball of fried dough. Dan surprised me with the camera mid-bite

Dan and Roz - MATRIX stylez! (ok, not so much in the expressions- but like our matching jackets?!) Oh god, we actually have matching jackets!

Crashing and Burning... I'm totally in Survivor Mode right now...as this past week, I really felt drained. In other words, yes, I'm burning out from school courses, studying, reading, working on my thesis paper, counselling, etc. I noticed this among Linda and Meena, two of my other good friends and classmates who are going through the 2 year fast track of grad school with me. For the first time last night, my stress levels have affected my sleep. Since I couldn't sleep, I started reading a book Meena gave to me for christmas, Chicken Soup for the Bride's Soul, which was quite enjoyable, and it helped take my mind off things.

I was eager to talk to my supervisor today regarding my low energies and high stress, and how I can channel it so that it would not affect my skills in providing therapy services. I'm at the point where sometimes, I do not look forward to counselling (and usually, I don't see it as "work" - I love, love, love counselling but my energies are so low that it's hard to gather enough to get through the day).

During group supervision today (where all students come together with supervisors), I broke down. Last minute, I was asked to present because another student wasn't able to make it. Well, usually group supervision is laid back and I don't mind presenting. However, one of the supervisors, whom I met for the first time today, came back from sabatical leave, and just started hardcore sargent drilling me with questions I was not prepared to answer. Normally, I would be able to handle such pressure, but because I was overstresed and overtired, I totally broke down- I cried like a baby in front of the whole group - and I couldn't stop. I was somewhat embarassed, but I also saw it was a sign that my body had enough , and it needed the stress to be released.

Later, I found out that this supervisor is extremely tough, and has had told students in the past that they were not good enough to work at the agency we were at. YIKES! I know she was not trying to put me down, as her style may come across as harsh, but it is probably her way of bringing awareness to our therapy skills. I did appreciate it, but at the same time, today of all days was not the day to take on this pressure.

Soon I'm going to head over to Dan's place, who's making me supper (of course according to my meal plan!), then we're going to watch Stomp. I can't wait! It's our belated Valentine's day, since we didn't get to celebrate last week. It'll also be a nice break.

FINALLY, I want to shout out a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO my friend, Sholly, who's turning 27 today!!! Have a good one, Shols!!! XOXOX

Philosopher Kings Concert!

On Saturday night, I FINALLY got to get out of the house (it's been a few weeks!!) to attend the Philosopher Kings concert- one of my fave bands. I saw them a few years back when I was in high school at the Winspear, and since then, I still think it was one of my fave concerts. This time, it was at the Starlite Room, which is a more intimate, smaller venue. I liked it way better (mostly b/c we got to see Gerald up close) hehe. It was a pretty amazing time. I found it interesting that 2 band members of the PK opened up for them. Check it out:


The first opening act was the keyboardist of Philosopher Kings, Jay Levine. He was pretty good- I loved, loved, loved watching him play on his keyboard- what intensity and passion

James Bryan (the guitarist of PK) was the 2nd opening act. As he said "You get the band bit by bit - it's like foreplay" and Gerald is our orgasm! hehe

HOLA! Everything about Gerald Eaton is AMAZING- his voice, his sex appeal, his moves..mmmmmm yeah.

Gerald Eaton greets the crowd- Hello, Gerald!

The band pumped up the crowd with awesome energy and vibes

This lucky fan was serenaded, kissed and touched by Gerald! LUCKY!!!!!!

Karen, Michelle, moi, Susan - we enjoyed drooling over Gerald

Ryan and Karen- lovely smile, Ryan!

Catch up!

Hey all! In the past few weeks, I've been pretty busy with school projects, assignments, counselling clients, and slowly chopping away at my thesis paper (very slowly!), there's not much exciting to report. I've hardly even seen Dan in the past couple weeks!

Well there is one thing that's exciting (to me anyways): About 3 weeks ago, I started a figure/fitness "diet", because I'd like to get into ultra lean/toned shape (think models gracing the cover of Oxygen magazine) - NOT big, bulky bodybuilder shape. As most of you know, I'm crazy about being fit and love, love, love working out... so I decided to push my body to the next level (the level I've been trying to accomplish for a long time, with not much success- e.g., Kinetix). I've been thinking about trying some sort of nutritional diet to get myself into figure/fitness shape, and it wasn't until I met a girl who inspired me to get on board to do it.

About 4 weeks ago, Dan and I were over at his neighbour's place, who turns out to be personal trainers at the gym we go to (they are also lesbian and married). Very cool gals! Anyways, they had invited us over for a BBQ dinner, and there, I met a client of theirs, Loraine, who is dieting for bodybuilding. I was intrigued and asked a million questions about her program, and shortly after, I hopped on board, hired the personal trainers to make me a diet as if I was getting in shape for a Fitness/Figure competition.

Basically, I eat the same thing everyday, and my diet consists of 50% protein, 50% carbs. I can eat whenever I want and in addition, I can substitute alot of different foods for each type of food I'm required to eat. Eating the same thing everyday definitely has got my creative juices flowing - I like to make chicken with various spices; try various recipes with egg whites to make them like omlettes, or sweet treats, or oatcakes (with oatmeal). Yogurt is usually my dessert. The BEST part about this is that I totatally do not feel like I'm "dieting" - as I am always eating and don't feel hungry. My fave thing is the calorie-free flavoured syrups (cookie dough is my fave!) that I use in egg white recipes and oatmeal. In fact, oatmeal (usually have it for breaky) would be my fave meal of the day! When made with just the "right" consistency, mixed with the syrups, it can be almost like a dessert. My sweet tooth is satisfied with yogurt, calorie free chocolate syrup, or teas mixed with the syrups.

The only 3 things I (sorta) miss and can't have (unless it's a cheat day) is peanut butter, nuts and cheese (not together)! But these are also the same foods that I tended to overindulge in and probably was the main reason why I wasn't getting the bodyshape I want. In fact, I haven't had a cheat day yet, and I am not tempted to. I've been seeing amazing results; in the first week, the fat literally melted off me! I'm almost 10lbs lighter, and my waist line has shrunk (YAY!) and overall, I look more lean (esp. in the arms). It's so much fun challenging myself, and seeing the changes in my body; I can't wait to see what I'll look like after 8 weeks of being on this "meal plan". My ultimate goal is to get down to about 11-14% body fat (I'm probably at about 25% currently).

Of course, getting married in August has definitely been a huge motivator too! ;o) Dan's been slowly jumping on board with this meal plan too, so it makes it even easier to be consistent. I've already had the ultimate test: friends eating chocolate, ice cream and peanut butter in front of me...and I was not tempted to eat! I notice when I eat high sugar or high fat foods, I feel really tired and sluggish the next day (yuck!), which is another reason I'm not tempted by junk food anymore. I am allowed to start having cheat days but I don't have any desire to. In fact, my first planned cheat meal will be in a couple weeks, for my friend Sholly's birthday. We're going to eat African food (I CAN'T WAIT! I've never really tried alot of African food!)

If I'm brave enough, I might consider posting pictures of my progress...(ha! I bet you're smirking at "lil' miss I love taking photos of me"!) hehe. Yeah...but this is different- I'm up for critique here!

Alrighty, enough self-absorbed talk from moi! I'm in Lacombe/Red Deer this week for Human Sexuality intensive-- whoohoo! A whole week of sex talk!!!! Should be fun!!!