Top Eleven reasons to smile

11. The sky is a brilliant blue and I hear a chirping bird
10. My bike did some serious hills yesterday
9. I get pizza tomorrow instead of a journalism lecture
8. We had corn on the cob last night for dinner
7. We found a really eccentric local coffee roaster
6. I'm doing a free yoga class in half an hour
5. I got an advance copy of the new Feist album (due out tomorrow) for 6 bucks!
4. My parents were here over the weekend (yay!) and they brought us a bottle of Dad B's wine
3.We're now registered for the MB half marathon (yikes!)
2. We leave for INDIA on Thursday

and the number 1 reason I'm smilling today...

1. I'm gonna be published! (see April 10th's post...they want it!)

Word, yo

Found this little game on a friend's blog. After having entered various versions of my name, this is the definition I liked best. Ha, the advantage of being human, being able to choose thine own definition. Poor words, they have to take whatever they're given...

Jennifer Anne Ward --
[adjective]:
Like in nature to a kangaroo
'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

The title of this post is dedicated to none other than Mark Barber himself.

Forced into a silly game...

Like those old email forwards we all pretended to hate when we were teenagers, but we really loved because they gave us even more reasons to be self-obsessed, Mark has forced me into this "4 meme." (see his tag here ). Rookie technocrat that I am, I have no idea what this term even means; all I know is that it is taking up room on my blog.

Four jobs I've had:
1) "If you practice ten times this week I'll give you only 2 songs to learn..." (piano teacher)
2) "Yes, we all live here, yup, it is kind of like a commune, yes, on site, no, I don't really get bored...see, there's a lot of mountains around, yeah, I'm from Manitoba, yeah, that's in the middle of Canada..." (server at Num-ti-Jah Lodge, Alberta)
3) "No, these sandals aren't particularly good for ankle-support." (MEC)
4) "WOW, compost actually makes dirt! " (community garderner/green team)

Four movies I can watch over and over:
1) Amelie (for the playfulness)
2) Before Sunset (for the dialogue)
3) Contact (for the themes)
4) Baraka (for the cinematography)

Four of my favorite foods:
1) ants on a log
2) baklava
3) calamata olives
4) the legendary Ward family googly buns



Four places I have lived:
1) Allada, Benin
2) Gimli, MB
3) Bow Lake, AB (see pic)
4) Winnipeg, MB

Four places I've been on vacation:
1) Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands
2) Montreal
3) Yellowstone National Park
4) between the pages of countless books...

Four of my favorite drinks: (there are many more)
1) "Red Red Wine, stay close to me" (preferrably of the shiraz-cab designation, but I'm warming up to Pinot)
2) Bailey's and hot water (first drank it after returning from a backpacking trip SOAKING wet)
3) "Boiled shoe tea" (aka: Lapsang Souchong)
4) Kathleen's special "porch coffee" : )

Four songs that move me:
1) Acid - Emm Gryner
2) Suitcase - Over the Rhine
3) Messages - Xavier Rudd
4) Wise Up - Aimee Mann

Four places where I've found myself:
1) Molar Pass, Alberta
2) Nutimik Lake, Manitoba
3) St. Margaret's Anglican Church, Winnipeg, MB
4) Vancouver, BC

Four things I've imagined myself doing:
1) teaching English Literature
2) co-running a rehabilitation/retreat center organic farm
3) being a yoga instructor
4) opening my own cafe

Four people I am tagging:
1) Malani
2) Matt
3) Marla
4) Adam (someone withOUT an "M" name!)

And now for something a little lighter

Because my last few posts were perhaps a little overly erudite (hence one response from my Dad: "I need a translator to even understand your blog! Me--a baby boomer--has trouble grasping the concepts of you genXers!" ) . . . I decided to relieve you, the faithful readers (or "absorbers," as my good friend David put it) of my "electronic journal." I'm so incredibly sick of the word bl-g, by the way. Which is what my last post began as a response to, before it plummeted into the depths of media criticism.

Because I am also addicted to this site called the the Daily Mumps, which I discovered through Mark's Magnificent Page, I figured I've try my hand at some sarcasm. But maybe sarcasm isn't really effective if you pre-empt it like that. Oh well. Too late now. So, following in the witty style of the creator of that website, I've put together some captions for pictures I had just kickin' around. Enjoy!

After decades of bitter and rancorous sibling rivalry, Jennifer and Matthew--although it took every last inch of their self-restraint--decided to share the last piece of sushi. It was a brave, though last-ditch attempt, at familial peace.


With the recent demise of their father's entrepreneurial ventures, the kids thought they should start pulling their weight around the house. The new tv series Falcon Beach may not have been their idea of good art, but it was a fine place to carve out a lucrative acting career.

High on the treacherous Himalayan peaks, they had found the last surviving member of the long-extinct animal family. Now the only task that remained was transporting it back to camp where they could begin re-populating Earth with its former feathered creatures. It would be no small task, but they owed it to the world.

After getting over the initial loss of life on planet Earth, Jen and Mark embraced the possibilities of their new cube on Mars. Now the only trick was getting all that Ikea stuff to fit...

No really darlin', everythin's faaahne, I know exactly where the cows are...uh huh...now jes' pass me the whuskey dee-ar, come on, just hand it on over...

While the blissful, newly-engaged couple smiled for the camera, the hot air balloon attendant prepared himself for the worst.

Thhhhhhhhhhhhhat's all folks!