Platform 9 3/4

So I just finished reading a book and in part of it there is a reference to Harry Potter and the platform at the train station that they use to board the train to take them to Hogwarths.

"There is a solid brick wall between the cold logic of platform 9 and platform 10- but if you run at it the right way, you break through into another world; a magically messy world of compound fractions. If logic rules the day, our world is lost. But if there is another world between the lines, a world in which a kindly headmaster can declare us safe, then there is hope. That's magic. That's spirituality. That's resurrection!" Gerard Kelly

Ever have one of those moments where its like EUREKA! it makes sense.... for some reason this little paragraph helped me make more sense of the magic that is God this week....I hope that it makes you think too.

Ever Wonder

Do you ever wonder?
I have had a lot of wondering moments within the last few days...

Awkward

So for the most part working at the video store is pretty good. The people that rent and the staff/owner are all really great.
That being said I had a really awkward experience yesterday evening. So we have an adult room at the store. This guy come in and asks where it is... he goes in and is in there for like an HOUR and then come ups to the front with his selections. The Conversation goes like this

Me: Hi there, how are you today?
Guy:Good thanks.
Me:So you are purchasing these ones then(there was 3 there)
Guy: Well I want you to tell me about them first.

WTF what would I know about your selections... I stay away from that room as much as possible... it ended up that he wanted to know about costs and stuff but still....

He ended up being in the "happy room" for a good 2 Hours before making his final selections and leaving....

I find it hard with situations like these... I don't think of myself as a prude or anything... but I also would rather not have anything to do with those movies....

I find it funny when people with these type of movies leave the store as well, What does one say? If you were renting a normal movie I would say something like have a good night or enjoy your movie.... but I can't bring myself to say that to people renting from the "happy room" without it becoming something different.

Hope you can smile at my awkward moment

Movies

Movies worth watching....(well my 2cents worth anyway)
Bobby
Dreamland
Blood Diamond
Who Killed the Electric Car
A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints
Happy Feet
Pursuit of Happiness
The Departed

Remembered

I have been curious lately about life and how we choose to live our lives and I want to ask this question. So if you have stopped by this blog for any reason or for no reason, I would really like you to let me know what you think.
What is it that you wish to be remembered for? Do you think that you have achieved that or do you think that it is something that you are trying to obtain still?
Thanks

Strength Surrendered

As long as I can remember I have pictured my Great Aunt Willa as a small but mighty woman. She has had numerous bouts of cancer and treatments. I would say that for at least the last decade or more of her life she has battled with or been in remission from one form of cancer or another and has won. She has fought it off and lived to tell the tale of survival of a hideous desease that hits hundrends of thousands of people. That was until Sunday. I got the email a few weeks ago that she wasn't doing well and that it was just a matter of time... I guess that this time... it was time...her strength just simply surrendered.
Peace be with her finally, peace be with my cousins, as they say goodby to their mom, my Uncle Fred as he says goodbye to his wife and my Grandmother and Aunt Grace as they remember their sister; one of the bravest and strongest women I know.

What Sucks....Whats Great...

So here are a few things that have sucked and been great over the last week....

What Sucks....

• Volunteering at a coffee house when you have given up Caffiene for Lent.

• Getting stopped by a train when you are on your way home from work at 1 in the morning. Stopping realizing its a long train... wait patiently to have the train stop while still in front of you... waiting for train to start again you realize that you are only 2 minutes away from home and any way that you drive the likelihood of the same train being in the way is very high.

• People who give you a hard time when you are doing them the favour.

Whats Great

• Being able to volunteer at a great place like the FRWY.
• Getting fun emails from friends about happy times ahead.
• Hanging out with kids.

Movies and Stuff

So now that I am working for a movie store I get to watch a lot of movies. I watched a movie called Unknown this morning. It was very good. The premise is these five men wake up in a locked-down warehouse, none of them able to remember how they got there or even who they are. They soon realize that they were all part of a kidnapping - without having the slightest idea of which side they were on. You should watch it its a gooder.

I also watched My Girl witch is a classic that always makes me cry. I hate it when Thomas J dies.... soo sad.

Birthday Wishes go out to Rich... Happy Birthday... hope you have a great day...

Snow Fun

So the other day after all that snow hit, Paige and I went out and played. I think that playing in the snow is one of the things I miss the most since living in Hamilton rather then in Barrie. I love that I have soo many great memories of snowball fights, fort and snowman building and sledding. I hope that our ever increasing global warming doesn't ruining those memories for other generations.
The picture is of Paige and our snowman.

Hope

The past is a source of knowledge, and the future is a source of hope. Love of the past implies faith in the future.-----Stephen Ambrose

There is lots to be said about hope.... to have hope or to lose it.
I would say that until recently I was hoping beyond hope for prayers to be answered with life choices. Now its not as if I have any astounding answers by any means... but its seems to me that just as I was giving up the hope that I had been clinging to.... the spark burst into flame. Its amazing to me how life works out like that. How just when you think that you are at your wits end something happens and it all works out.

Now I have no idea of whats to come or what will happen but I look with hope into the future that it is way beyond me and that it will work out the way it is meant to....

Beautiful

I am not sure how many of you were able to be outside today but it was beautiful in the east end. As I was driving in the icicle land today it was hard not to be awed by the landscape it was truly beautiful. I hope you all had a great day.

Quote

Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.
Ralph Waldo Emmerson

I have been thinking alot lately about what is important to me in my life. I think that through all of my thinking I am starting to come to peace with some stuff. Not all of it mind you but baby steps in the right direction hopefully. Anyway, this quote kind of put better into words what I was thinking. I have to remind myself to look inward before I can go outward.

My Hero

Kevin was my hero tonight. The car broke down and I was stranded... well I was left by my lonesome at the gas bar... and Kevin came and saved the day!!!! I have decided that he is supercalafragilisticxpaladocious....He is great!!! THANKS KEVIN you are great!!

Inventory of Being

I am Natasha.
I am twenty-three years old.
I am a person with feelings, who loves her family and friends.

If I stand straight and tall, it seems that I have shrunk from who I once was;
either that or my baby brothers are giants.
I have brown eyes that change with my moods,
and nut brown hair that only knows that it's nut brown from pictures and the roots that grow in occasionally.

I am a woman, a girl and a child,
almost grown up, but still always learning.

I love my Mom's mac and cheese, Margie's meatloaf and Carolynn's lasagna.
I officially have no extra metal in my mouth so I can enjoy them all even better.

I am a daughter.
I am an older sister.
I am a graddaughter.
I am a neice.
I am a cousin.
I am a friend.
I am a barista.
I am a border.
I am a lover not a fighter.

I love oragne spice white tea and think of Amber everytime I drink it because it reminds her of Thanksgiving and Christmas morning everytime she smells it.

I love green sparkled flowers, and still can't stand spiders.

I can't wait for the Irrestible Revolution and I hope that one day we can all be Blue Like Jazz.

I love cozy chairs and comfy blankets.

I love cookbooks and romance novels.
I believe that Jesus died for me and that there is no way that I could ever thank him enough.

I believe that all children should believe in something bigger then humanity.

I love looking at old photographs and hope that one day Grandma's scrapbook will actually be finished.

I love my triple ring, that serves as a reminder of the many relationships in my life and how we are all conected.

I have great hopes for the future.
But also great hopes for today.
I try to live in today, for none of us really knows what tomorrow will have in store.

I believe in equality for all; men and women, white and black, old and young.

I have learned what "REAL" chinese food is and find it hard to go back.

I have met some amazing people that have taught me alot about frinedship.

I still live like a mess; but I think it's just becasue that is who I am.
At least I know where my stuff is... most of the time.

I have an amazingly crazy family and I love each one of them for it.

I know what its like to make hard rational decisions and then to actually have to live with them.

I have witnessed through friends the understanding of hardship, grace, courage and hope.

I will continue on this Pursuit of Happiness in hopes of Finding Neverland in my dreams.

I need to be afirmed, loved and cared for.
I also need to afirm, love and care for those around me more.

I took a trip to Oz and am still alive to tell the tale.
The flying monkeys didn't get me and the wicked witch left my dog alone.

I have come to care for people and find it much more rewarding then caring for myself.

I believe that the love of my life is out there, and I hope that he is a good and kind man.

I believe that God challenges us to be better people then we are.
That if we all stopped and really thought about what that meant we would all come to try to be the people that HE wants us to be.
Not the people that WE want us to be.

I have come alive agian with the telling of the fairytales of my childhood.
The princesses of castles, dwarfs, fairy godmothers and the princes who come to save the day.

I know that I don't have any answers, only more questions and I love it.
It means that something so much bigger then me has the answers.

Living in a world where there is No Day But Today!

I am Natasha and its the year 2007.

Feeling like a Push Pin Cushion

So I have been in the big and wonderfully city of Barrie since friday. I had a doctors appointment with my family physcian. Normally I don't leave his office feeling like I want to punch him out but this time...All I wanted to do was a 123 KNOCK OUT!!!!
So after my appointment I hung around and caught up with some family...it was a surprise to see my great Aunt Grace... she was here and her husband was in Toronto...and they were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. Go figure??!!
I went to my grandparents church and there will be more about that later...enough stories from that experience for a post on its own.
Today I made my appointments for blood tests and ultrasounds.
I feel like a push pin cushion. They took 5 yes count them 5 thingys of blood. And that was after having my stomach poked and proded... All I have to say is these tests hopefully will give me the reasons why to the problems... keep your fingers crossed.

NOTE
Pernell...hope your back is better... sorry I couldn't help.
Rich and Jaci... thanks for lending me the car.
Mom and family...thanks for feeding me...
Dr.Dan... Thanks for NOTHING!!!

Lest We Forget

I find it fascinating what the brain can remember. I mean I can vividly remember things that happened years and years ago. The amount of information that we obtain is huge... and yet more often then not I forget birthdays, anniversarys and other special events. Odd.
The reason why I find this particularily interesting is because every Novemeber 11 I find myself reciting In Flanders Field. I haven't had to look at this poem in years and yet I know every word from elementry school when we had to memorize it.
I am not sure if I have really always known the imporance of war but I have found my self more connected to it within the last few years.
My friend Bradley has been training for the last few years within the marines...he continues to scare the crap out of me with threats of going over seas. That combined with reading more literature about things I have a new heightened sense of needing to be more aware.
I can only imagine what it must be like for the people who have been involved in war... I can't nor do I want to even try to imagine the amount of people that wars have effected over the course of history... whether it be soilders, marines etc... their families, friends and other loved ones... I hope that freedom and peace is something that I never take advantage of...

In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD

In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
between the crosses row on row,
that mark our place; and in the sky
the larks, still bravely singing, fly
scare heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
we lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
lovd and were loved,and now we lie
in Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
to you with failing hands we throw
the torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
we shall not sleep, though poppies grow
in Flanders Fields.

Always Amazes

It always amazes me how easily I can get lost in my own head.
It is often during this time of year... that I go through a self examination of life and this year is no exception.
I feel as if I have made some really stupid moves over this past year. I also feel like I have been really blessed to have family and freinds around me for support.
One of those supports being my mother.
My mother is amazing. She is one of the strongest people I know and has taught me so much. I know that I often forget to thank her for the things that she has done for me, I also know that it isn't very often that I mention her in my everyday conversations.
I think that the reason that happens is because I forget. I know I love her,respect her and admire her... and I forget sometimes that I still need to make that known to her.
It has only been within the last year that I have started to realize how much she has sacrificed and given up for me. At my age she was a single mom of 2 doing it on her own and to be perfectly honest I can't fathom what that would have been like. I can only say with much gratitude that I have been extremely lucky to have her in my life.

I miss home sometimes... miss having the crazy grandparents, uncles and family around the sense of just being me, everyone knowing all there is to know... but I also know that as much as I miss it... I am not done here yet. I still feel called to be here.
I think that's something that I have been struggling with. Mostly because although I feel really connected to the PEOPLE around me... I haven't really felt connected to anything else...
Anyway... thats jsut a few random thoughts and thanks that were way overdue....

The Big D The Finale

Ok so on Sunday morning we all got up at different times and then started to get ready to load up Burnsy's car. And by load up I really mean LOAD UP. Burnsy did in fact have a few things that had been sent to his parents that he was bringing back. It was around this time that Burnsy disclosed the fact that after Jen and I had gone to bed he went to a coffee shop to check his e-mail. To which I believe is absolutely crazy.
We got all loaded up,cooler and all and headed first to Starbucks. Then Burnsy took us to Detroit. Most of our trip we were in Troy which is a suburb and not what I was excpecting. So when Burnsy took us to Detroit and Greektown it was really neat. We were able to see stadiums and arena's and lots of art. There was the floating arm and the Green Giant to name a few.
I found the Green Giant very interesting. To see a pic go here I think thats it for my Detroit stories...there are more details but its been like over 2 weeks and there are other stories to tell. As it is most of this post has been sitting as a draft and I thought I should put it up. I had a lot of fun going. It was great to hang out with the former palace queen and my new found mexican friend.

The Big D Part Two

So next in the story line is going out for dinner on Saturday night with Burnsy's parents, his cousins and their children.
We went to an authentic chinese restaurant. As we walk in, Burnsy's parents first then us following, we notice that Burnsy's parents know everyone in the restaurant. Burnsy then turns around and says to me... "Do you notice anything?"
So I look around and then Burnsy points out that the restaurant was basically divided into two parts the first part being closest to the door and then a special back room...the back room was basically like reserved seating. We get ushered through to the back room passing mostly white people. Thats right folks Jen and I were the only two white people in the reserved seating area when we got there. We all sit down at this big circular table waiting for Burnsy's cousins... they bring us tea (it was really yummy) and Burnsy asked for water for the three of us.(Jen, Burnsy and I) The waitress returns with the waters and cutlery for Jen and I. The funny part is that NO ONE asked them to bring us cutlery and they only brought it for the two of us.I couldn't beleive it. Burnsy found this especially funny.
From then on we ate...OH MY GOODNESS did we ever eat. The food was sooo good. There was this big lazy susan type thing in the middle of the table that the food was placed on and you just turned it to get the food you wanted. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the Chen family... Burnsy's cousins are moving and it was really neat to hear them talk about moving.
It was a unique experience for me especially because I am usually a pretty basic food eater. But I tried almost everything and loved most of what I tried. The end of the evening was with ginger ice cream and fortune cookies... which also proved funny. As the cookies are put on the table Burnsy turns to me and says "We never get those" so apparently having the "white chicks" at the table was profitable (if only in cookies) after all.
There are parts of the rest of saturday that need to be mentioned as well...Jen scaring the crap out of Chloe(Burnsy's cousins youngest daughter), Burnsy trying to figure out certain words in spanish, Burnsy's mom falling asleep in the car on the way home doing the head bob,sorting out the soap, watching music video's on Burnsy's Laptop,staying up and talking with Jen and Burnsy and sleeping in a very very comfy bed.
More to come with Burnsy and Jen's excellent adventures...stay tunned!!

Oh for Margie...Jen was wearing a black sweater, black leather coat and black shoes with jeans and a read scarf; Burnsy was wearing a yellow t-shirt and yellow shoes with greyish pants and a camouflage jacket and most of the day I was wearing a red tank, grey shirt and black sweater with jeans and my skater shoes but I changed and put on a white tank and green striped sweater for dinner. I am not sure what all of the waitress's names are but one of the nicest ones at the chinese place was Michelle... And the only time I really remember going pee was in the Caribou Coffee on the way down and at the Chen's house.

The Big D Part One

So this past weekend I travelled with two awesome friends, Jen and Kevin to Detroit.
I had so much fun. So you will have to apease me, for I am going to tell you all the details.
The trip started on Saturday morning we all met at Jen's house for 8.
I had never been to Jen's house so I get there and I ring the bell and wait. All of a sudden this lady comes to the door (NOT Jen)and it hits me. I am an idiot. I got the street names mixed up and have woke up this poor lady...the lady was very gracious and also happened to know exactly where I was looking for so she sent me on my way and I found Jen's actual house without a problem.
Kevin got there shortly after and we started our journey. We went to Starbucks first to get the neccesary coffee. I had a really yummy bagel as well. We proceeded on our journey. I haven't laughed that hard in such a long time... we crossed the border and were officially in the US.
We continued to a coffee shop called Caribou Coffee. We then went to Kevin's parents house where we met his dad and dropped off our stuff. We all went out for lunch to this pancake house in his dad's van. The van FREAKED me out. It had automatic doors and it scared me. Lunch was really good Jen and I split an omlet and pancakes and I tried some of Kevin's cornedbeef hash.
We then went to a mall so that Jen could hunt down some PROJECT RED apparel. We cruised around for a while and went into an apple store... I think I know what I am going to ask Santa for christmas.
We went back to the Chen's and got ready for dinner. We left and picked up Kevin's mom. Man her reaction to Kevin's hair was sooooo funny. I have a new nickname for him.....Burnsy... he will be known as this now until he fixes the burns!!!!!!
Thats it for part one. More of the full story to tell tomorrow.