And this is the end

2011 was quite the year.

From January to April I was in Victoria. I had some interesting classes, I grew some amazing friendships, and I prepared myself for going back to high school.

In April I got my first taste of teaching. English 8 and Social Studies 11 at Clarence Fulton Secondary in Vernon. I moved in with my Auntie Sandi and Uncle David and they were unbelievably welcoming. I was there for Mother's Day and for the first time in five years I got a reminder of what it is like. That is something I will always be thankful for. Practicum was hard. It was great, but it was really, really tough. My classes were great, but teaching on a Copernican system was exhausting. Trying to prep three lessons a day, every day, for five weeks tired me out. I was doing 16 hour days every single day, but I made it through.

May brought the end of practicum and I packed my bags and headed back to Hope. I took a few weeks of work at the Museum to build my funds and then on June 1 I moved back to Victoria for summer school. For a month Lauren and I shared a bachelor suite which worked surprisingly well! I did the Indigenous Studies Institute and that was the highlight of my Education degree. The learning environment was amazing. We had four inspiring teachers, an great class composition, and we got to have so many meaningful experiences.

The end of June brought a break from school, but not from UVic. Lauren went to Europe with her family and I got to live by my lonesome for the first time. I worked at UVic as a Research Assistant and I genuinely came to love my job. Yes, it was a tad lonely being almost the only person in the MacLaurin building, but the work was interesting. And I got to schedule myself. That was a huge benefit.

By the time August rolled around, I felt like a break. So I took one. Whitney and I planned a grand adventure and we set off for a two week tour of BC and Alberta. We camped, went to hot springs, did some walks, camped some more, hung out in the rain, ate perogies for breakfast, and bought a LOT of goat soap. The trip was beautiful and although it wasn't always easy it was definitely worth it!

September brought a return to school - but only for a month. This was the "end" of Cohort One as we knew it. We were being set loose on the real world. In October I moved back to Hope and prepared for my final practicum back in my old high school. I taught English 12, Socials 11, AVID 9, and Leadership 9-12 with the most amazing mentor teachers, students, and school environment I could have imagined. Some of my classes were challenging, but I made it through the tough days and by the end I was genuinely sad to leave. So sad I may have cried. But in my own defense, it was entirely my mentor teacher's fault.

At the start of December I returned to work at the Museum. It is hard to believe I have been there for 8 years. It is such a big part of my life and in some ways it feels like such a homecoming to be back there. I love working with Inge (even though we are basically the Odd Couple) and the research I am doing is fascinating.

And now here we are, December 31, 2011. 10:40 PM as I write this. The new year is coming and I am left reflecting on the one that has just passed. It has had incredibly happy moments, incredibly sad moments, moments I wanted to punch someone in the face, and moments where I was completely at peace with my life.

Throughout the year there have been books. So many books. Books for school, course readings from textbooks and articles and websites. But mostly there have been novels, read for pleasure. 50 of them, in fact. My resolution came about by tagging on to another person's resolution, someone who was piggybacking on the resolution of someone else. Nat mentioned the idea of reading 50 books to Inge, Inge mentioned it to me. And being me, I can never resist a challenge.

So this year I read 50 books for pleasure. Or mostly pleasure. Some of them I adored, some were awful. Really, really awful (read: Memoir from Antproof Case). But all of them were good in the sense that I read them, I learned from them, and I really firmly believe that all knowledge is good knowledge.

I finished my challenge with 1 hour and 40 minutes to go in 2011. Plenty of time to spare. My family entirely doubted that I would be able to finish in time, but I knew that I would get it done. So, now that I have successfully completed my first-ever New Year's Resolution, what are my goals for 2012?

1) Run at least one race every month in 2012
2) Complete 30,000 push ups (yes, I realize this is insane, but this is the next Nat-Challenge and after my lovely brother said "you can't possibly do that" I was left with no choice but to accept)

Those are my two main ones. I also want to travel, run a half marathon, read the complete works of Shakespeare, get a job, and just generally be happy and healthy. A lot has happened in 2011 and I know for certain that 2012 will be full of its very own types of adventure. And maybe I will even read another 50 books.

And then I read a LOT of books

Thank goodness I had this week off work! In the past week I have read 9 books. Yes, that is more than one per day. In fact, today I read two books. So what have I read since I last updated and what did I think?

Sarah's Key: Set in half in WW2 era France and half in modern times, the book follows the story of a young Jewish girl whose family is rounded up and eventually taken to a concentration camp. The girl escapes to go back for her brother, who she locked in a secret closet to keep safe thinking they would be back the same night. The other half of the book follows an American journalist researching the round-up of French Jews. I like Holocaust books. Fugitive Pieces is one of my all-time favourite books! While I really liked this book, it wasn't my favourite.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson - This one follows two teenagers, both named Will Grayson. The first one has a flamboyantly gay best friend who is writing a musical about his life. The second Will Grayson has a secret, online boyfriend. As the novel progresses the two Will Graysons meet. Overall an easy, interesting read!

Life Before Man - This one, as expected, was more challenging than the teen fiction I'd been reading. Oh Atwood. Anyway... It has three alternating narrators - a woman, her husband, and the husband's lover. The wife's lover killed himself and is now in a downward spiral. Oh yeah, and the wife and the lover work at a museum together. Sound confusing? It was.

White Girl - READ IT! This one follows a girl who moves onto a reserve when her mom remarries. She is the only "white" girl around and is a huge target for bullies. This was a really interesting perspective - something different than the Indigenous focused books I have read before.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist - What the hell? Seriously. The first half of this book was one f-bomb after the other. The second half was moderately better. I want to see the movie to see if it is better, but I fear I will just be disappointed. In my mind the book was better.

The Secret Life of Bees - I liked this one! Mind you, I find racial issue really interesting and this book takes place in the American South during the 1960s. A young girl and her "nanny" - for lack of a better description - end up having to run away from their home. The girl to escape her father, the woman because she is an escaped criminal. Well, a criminal for trying to register to vote. They end up on a bee farm and as it turns out the sisters they come to live with are not entirely strangers.

Dash & Lily's Book of Dares - This is when all my books started to co-mingle. First off, Lily is the main character in both this book and The Secret Life of Bees. Next, because of the same authors as Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, the format is similar. All in all, this one was a fun concept for a book and quite enjoyable! Essentially it is two teenagers that pass a red notebook back and forth, leaving "challenges" for each other to complete.

The Mermaid Chair - This one, same author as Bees, was surprisingly different. Following a woman who goes back to the island she grew up on after her mom (shudder) cuts off her finger with a cleaver. Yuck. The daughter falls in love with a monk (well that's a twist) and surprise surprise, the monk falls in love with her too. They have an affair, the mother cut off another finger, then we finally learn about the deep, dark family secrets. Overall, pretty decent.

Dear George Clooney: Please Marry My Mom - Really, the title tells you pretty much everything you need to know.

Fishtailing - Okay, this one isn't exactly a novel. It is more like a book of poetry. But a book of poetry that tells a story. There are four characters, all the plot structure is there, it is just told entirely through poems. I would actually really recommend this one for future teachers.

Every You, Every Me - This one was weird. Good. But weird. There was lots of use of strikethrough. You know strikethrough. So it was sort of stream of consciousness-y. Kinda. Not really. More like a journal. Except weird. I don't know. Somebody read it and explain it to me!

Okay. That's it. That makes 49 books. One more to go, one more day!

Closing in on the End

With 19 more days until my January 1 deadline, I have 12 more books to read. I have been plowing through the books like nobody's business since practicum ended. First I read The Wednesday Wars which was pretty decent, albeit very low level reading. Next I read The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 which was interesting. I do like 1960s history! Again, it was pretty low reading level so it was quick. Next up, The Book Thief which was AMAZING! At first I thought a book narrated by Death was odd but soon I really got into it! It took place during the Holocaust which from a historical standpoint was very interesting. All in all it was just an excellent, and highly recommended, book! Finally, I read The Lovely Bones which I did not like. Well, I liked it at the start. But as it went on I started to like it less and less. The concept of a dead narrator was interesting, but when we got into the body/spirit switching at the end I pretty much lost interest. Alas.

12 more. Can it be done?

Halfway!

25 books done.
25 to go.
15 more weeks.

Can it be done?

Gym-ity, Gym, Gym

Today marks day five-in-a-row of my "Kick the Gym's Ass" campaign. Small victory.

After coming back from holidays I stepped on the scale in Hope (I don't have one in my apartment) and I was horified to see that I have hit 140. Oh-Em-Gee. That, coupled with looking at the pictures of myself from the trip (ugh) re-kindled my desire to hit the gym. Hard.

I got a member ship for the gym in, oh, July. I used it pretty regularly for about two weeks, then I got kinda busy and slacked off when I started training for the half marathon. I justified to myself that I was getting my exercise with the running. And I probably was doing okay, but I also indulged in a few tasty treats (read an Apple Pie and a tray of cupcakes) along the way. So I'm sure out of the running experience my cardio and leg strength improved marginally but I didn't lose any inches or weight.

So when I saw the horrific numbers I decided the gym, and an improved eating plan, would start when I got back to Victoria. So on Monday, it started. I went to The Root Cellar and bought vegetables. Lots of them. And I've been eating tasty things like stuffed eggplant this week. And then I bought a Mandoline. So I could slice up all my delightful veggies. Last night I made zucchini chips and I have to admit I was underwhelmed. The first recipe and a breadcrumb and parm crust and by the time they baked the zucchini was totally overwhelmed. The second I just did with salt and pepper but I think I oversalted and they were not too goo. Plus most of them stuck to the pan. Alas. I did make and incredible salad with my mandoline and I'm confident it is going to turn out to be a "patio swing purchase" (synonymous with money well spent).

So I've been rocking the gym and watching what I eat. Will the inches and pounds drop? I certainly hope so. Motivation? I've told myself I'm not going shopping (ESPECIALLY at lululemon - the devil incarnate) until I lose five pounds.

So what are my stats?

As of Monday: 140lbs, 39-31-39

Lots of room for improvement.