A Dare to Remember - HEAD SHAVE

Howdy folks ---
On Wednesday, October 20th, 2010 I will be trading in my lengthy locks for beautiful baldness - a.k.a. - SHAVING MY HEAD!
I would imagine the first question that pops into your head is WHY? Well, that's what I am here to tell you. You see, approximately a month ago I received an email from Healy Thompson - the coordinator for A Dare to Remember which is a major campaign of the Stephen Lewis Foundation.
Now for some clarification:
The Stephen Lewis Foundation, in short, supports community-based organizations working to turn the tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Since 2003, they have funded more than 300 projects in 15 countries. These grassroots groups are the lifeline for their communities: they provide counselling and education about HIV prevention, care and treatment; distribute food, medication and other necessities; reach the sick and vulnerable through home-based health care; help orphans and vulnerable children access education and work through their grief; and support grandmothers caring for their orphaned grandchildren. - Absolutely incredible right?! I think so!
A Dare to Remember, once again - in short, asks people around the world to take on powerful acts of solidarity, face their fears, let their creative juices flow, test their endurance and mobilize their communities. They are ‘remembering’ and honouring Africans who take on extraordinary deeds every day to overcome the AIDS pandemic.
Hence, my dare, to SHAVE MY HEAD!
I had the phenomenal opportunity to meet Stephen Lewis (my hero) on May 29th, 2010. That ten minutes in which he shook my hand, signed my copy of "Race of Against Time", and put his arm around me to have our photo taken, was the best ten minutes of my life. I knew I had to do something big and bold for his foundation.

So - I have wanted to shave my head for some time now. In fact, a few years ago, I chopped off ten inches of my hair and donated it to Evelyn's Wigs - a Manitoba business that makes wigs for children with cancer and/or recovering from the disease. I almost shave my head then, but chickened out. Every year since then, I have toyed with getting up the courage to actually sport a buzz cut! 2010 is the year! In only four short months I will have less than a quarter inch of hair on my head. CAN'T WAIT!
I launched my website on June 18th, 2010 (two days ago). My goal - $1000. I actually thought that might be unattainable, but I could not have been more wrong. It is 12:20 pm on June 20th and I am already over half way there! You know what that means right? - My life is blessed with some of the most caring and supportive people. It also means I am likely going to have to increase my goal - what a pity! (please note the sarcasm).

Here is the link to my fundraising page
http://stephenlewisfoundation.akaraisin.com/p/BRANDY.aspx
Please, pretty please, with cherries and hot fudge and what ever other toppings you crave - DIG DEEP and DONATE a little or a lot!

Up Until May Long

So the news has been a long time coming...yep...bad me. Finished the papers, B and A+...whoo for the A+!! Finished the classes with a B and and A. Not bad, not bad if I do say so myself.

Celebrated Mom's 50th with a trip to Moose Jaw to check out the tunnels and the spa. Picked up Neen at the Regina airport, strolled around Moose Jaw for two days and one night and then chilled out in Regina for another night. We had a really great time and I'm positive Mom enjoyed it too. Pic on the left is Mom and Neen in the Moose Jaw Tunnel Lobby. We did both tours..."Passage to Fortune" and "Chicago Connection". We spent some time in the Mineral Pool at the spa and took a stroll through the museum and art gallery. Did a bunch of shopping in Moose Jaw and Regina and finished the birthday holiday off with an awesome supper at Earl's. Yum! Sent Mom 50 carnations to work on her actual birthday along with 50 indivudually enveloped and ribboned cards with little sayings in them for her to open. The folks at the Credit Union did a slide show of hit songs from 1958 along with a skit of Tiny Tim doing "Tip Toe Through the Tulips" in honor of a skit that she performed one year for a curling bonspiel. The pic on the right is Mom with the bunch of tulips that she was handed one by one after the skit. A beautiful cake, a few bunches of flowers, and a few other goodies really made her birthday special. Love you Mom!

Since then I've been reading some novels that I actually want to read rather than plays, stories, and poems that I have to read. Registered for my classes for next year...two englishes and one psychology. Should be fun! Took care of processing 360 (or so) students out of residence for the summer while processing about 60 (or so) into residence for the summer. Such a crazy busy time, but it's over and done for this year.

May long weekend which is just ending as I write this blog entry was spent in GP visiting Mom and Baba. I also paid a visit to Gido and Grandpa, said hello, told them I loved them, and gave them some flowers. Their "home" is now heaven for those of you who don't know so I visited their gravesites at the cemetary. I planted some garden, watched some movies, and came home with perogies (as always)!

The plan now...back to work tomorrow and ressurecting my plan to watch all of the movies that have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Finally got up the courage to watch Schindler's List this weekend...not as bad as I thought it would be...and definitely deserved to win best picture.

Keep ya posted!

The Saga Continues

Another busy week to report in the saga of my life. Let's see back two weeks now I guess it would be. Planned to update at the end of last week, but obviously my good intentions never panned out. I had something to do every day after work. Monday was the final rehearsal for our play with Tuesday being performance day. It went really well (I think). We don't have the mark back yet, but we were the only group that did something different with the play rather than just reading it just like Shakespeare wrote it. We got a few laughs, made a few little mistakes, but overall I was happy with the outcome. On Wednesday I was priveledged to be a volunteer helping out with the Brandon chapter of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It started out at City Hall and continued with a walk from there to Brandon University. I did a slide show of pictures representing racial integration at BU and said a speech on the history of the day. There was a really great turn out and a lot of participation. Thursday was the opening of "Into the Open", a student art show at the Glen P. Sutherland Gallery of Art at Brandon University. My bookworks, "A 'Mask'erade of Faces" was included in the show. When I arrived at the opening I had a slight boost to my ego as I spoke with a woman who was really intrigued by my project. With Friday being Good Friday, I had a day of rest. Mom and Baba came into Brandon and on Saturday we travelled to Winnipeg to visit my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins for Easter. Sunday was a day, as usual, full of homework. Speaking of homework...I am finally done research for my paper on Shakespeare. A total of 13 books skimmed and tagged. At the moment I am taking a break from working on another paper for my other class Women Writers I. 'The Men in Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre' proves to be a grade A paper (or at least I hope it will be)! Stay tuned for the results of my seemingly endless reading and writing.

The Bad and The Good

I used to be an avid blood donater, an everyday hero, it's in you to give right?! WRONG apparently. I decided after not donating in a little over a year due to medical issues that I would try donating again. Everything went fine until about an hour afterwards when suddenly I got really dizzy and proceeded to upchuck about 5 times. Once again thought everything was fine and about two hours later had a do over. Yikes! I was at work during all this and I honestly can't think of anything much worse than being violently ill in a public washroom. So after 2 days home from work and over a week of not feeling "normal" I finally came back to life, so to speak, and got back to being crazy busy me. On Sunday I went to Cosi fan tutti an Italian opera, translated into English and modernized by a group of BU students and their professor. It was fabulous! The vocalists and the orchestra deserve a standing ovation, continuous applause, and one huge BRAVO! The rest of my week in a nutshell...Monday: work, class, home, back to BU to work on our Shakespeare play, home, sleep. Tuesday: work, home, back to BU for class, home, sleep. Wednesday: work, class, and Daffodil Days...which consisted of delivering pre-ordered flowers to different departments and people around BU, setting up and organizing the flower sale table, being interviewed by the local tv station for the evening news, cleaning up, and finally making sure the money matched the flowers sold. In total we raised almost $1000!...then home, relax (wait what's that again?!), sleep. Thursday and Friday were just typical days...work, school, home, sleep! Now I have 9 books on Shakespeare, King Lear, and Religion to skim through and gather information from for my final research paper. Finally, there is a faint glimmer of light at the end of this 8 month tunnel...just our play performance, research paper, the final exam, and then the Shakespeare chapter of my life is OVER!

Fantastical Weekend

As 'crazy time' in my life creeps closer and closer I was really looking forward to the last two weekends. Needless to say, if you read the title of this entry, they did not disappoint. Last weekend (Feb 22-24) was the best weekend I've had in a while. Friday night was host to the 9x10 Multiple Book Launch at BU. My bookworks project that I did in my first term Artworks class was showcased, with a few other projects from the class, along side the novels, plays, poetry, and comined works of some of the professors. It was a semi-swanky event with wine and cheese and sushi and I had a really great time getting my academics on! On Saturday, mom and I went for mini facials (part of a promotional spa package I got Mom for Christmas) in the afternoon and to see BU's production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. The performance was fabulous, just as I expected it would be and fits quite nicely into my life right now since I am currently studying Shakespeare. Sunday, February 24th, 2008 can now also be known as the day I made my modelling debut...not in the full sense of the word of course, but model none-the-less. I wore five wedding and two bridesmaid dresses in a wedding show being held in Brandon. It was soooo much fun! I plan to be one of their regular volunteers and so should make my second appearance in October. Runway here I come...again!

This weekend...which is now coming to an end was not quite so eventful, but still more fun than my usual 'sit at home and read all day weekends'. Mom and I went to Belmont Friday night for my cousin Leslie's 40th (and 10th..he he) birthday party. She is a leap year baby making her even more special than she already is and I am really glad that we were a part of her celebration. Following the party, Mom and I resisted the urge to order pizza at 12:30 a.m. and went to bed with visions of our manicures in mind. So, obviously, we got manicures (mini ones-again part of the promo spa pack) Saturday afternoon. For supper we gave in to the previous day's urge to order pizza, did a little shopping, and then went to the theater to see Step Up 2! We actually planned to see No Country for Old Men, but ended up arriving at the theater a little behind schedule. Step Up 2 was definitely worth it though and I guess No Country for Old Men will have to be the movie of choice another time. We finished the night by watching Hairspray and American Gangster on video and finally getting to sleep in the wee hours of this morning. In conclusion, as I sit and write this blog, Mom is on her way home and I am procrastinating (one of my best talents) writing my Detailed Analysis of a Short Text for my Women Writers I class. So, after two really great weekends...the work must begin. Here goes!

It's Been Awhile

Ok, I know it's been a long time. Facebook has pretty much been occupying my time. I'll try to update more often. Since August...let's see...busiest time of the year at work is the end of August. Residence Check-In went off without too many glitches. Ironically, I worked on Labour Day which was fine by me and spent the rest of September catching up on all the back log from the two weeks we dub "Hell Weeks" (really they're not that bad)! I actually look forward to that time of the year. The university is such a hustle and bustle of excited people and we get to help them all! I started two new classes in September, ArtWorks (yep an art class) and Shakespeare (oh yes, the classics). October and November were spent working my butt off to get all of my papers and projects done, the biggest one being the BookWorks project for my art class. All in all everything worked out. I finished ArtWorks with an A- and my BookWorks is going to be displayed in a show at the university's art gallery this Friday! There is going to be wine and cheese and music...oh my! Shakespeare goes all year so currently I am sitting at an A. Right now I am working on a group project which consists of editing one of Shakespeare's plays and performing it. We're doing "As You Like It"...funny stuff. Gonna be fun! Hmmm...December and Christmas and lots and lots of fun! The BU WUSC Club that I am involved in held an AIDS Vigil and HIV/AIDS Information table. It was a really beautiful ceremony and I am proud to be a part of such a great group supporting an even greater cause. January...new year, new class - Women Writers I (literature by women from the 13th to 19th century). Just recieved my midterm mark (B-)...not bad for an essay written in fifty minutes! Hope to do better on my future assignments though. Also turned 24 in January! Happy Birthday to me! Now we're on to February. The beginning of the month was relatively low key. On to the middle for a big birthday celebration for Baba's 80th birthday! It was a wonderful day full of family, friends, and fun. From now until the end of April my life is going to get increasingly hectic. Basically I am bracing myself for "crazy going slowly am I". This week alone is mind boggling enough...Tuesday: WUSC Meeting and Shakespeare; Wednesday/Thursday: read read read; Friday: Fair Trade Information Display and the beginning of the Fair Trade Challenge, try on dresses for wedding show Sunday, Nine by Ten Book Launch at the Glen P. Sutherland Gallery; Saturday: Mom and I are going to see "Twelfth Night" which is a Shakespearean play being modernly performed by the BU Drama Club. It's gonna be good!; Sunday: I get to be a model!! I'm going to be wearing wedding and bridesmaid dresses in a wedding show! So that is a brief update of the craziness I call my life! Stay tuned!

The Month of August

Alrighty...so long weekend in August was spent moving into the apartment. We have our own place again and this will be "home" until we build our house. We have some noisy neighbours every now and again, but it's ours. My Aunt and Uncle had their 40th anniversary on August 11th in Winnipeg so that weekend found me in the big city once again. It was a great weekend of fun and family. I even impressed my almost impossible to please Great Aunt by making her the perfect coffee. Kudos to me for that! On the 18th I was on my way to Carberry to act on behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society at two young ladies' Buzz Cuts for Cancer. They put a terrible picture of me in the Carberry paper, but the point is that I'm in there and they mentioned that I was representing the Cancer Society. The two girls raised $10,000! WOW...and I thought cutting my hair and raising a few hundred dollars was impressive.
On that same weekend Neen (my sis) came back to MB from Alberta. She started moving stuff into our place and the following weekend we spent looking for a bed, sheets, and other room stuff. August 27 marked the first day of what I used to refer to negatively as "Hell Weeks". Since we've gotten more efficient and acquired some really great summer help I no longer refer to it so negatively. We have an "Easy" Button in our office and I think it has had some positive influence, just like the commercials. Although we check in about 400 students in about 5 days, meaning we do cable and internet connections, distribute parking passes, fridges, and televisions, activate student ID cards, and more and more and more, it's just really not all that bad. My motto for these weeks (Aug 27-Sept 7) is "slowly going crazy am I". That little quotations pretty much sums it up. This weekend is supposed to be gorgeous. Likely our last really nice weather before our long long winter so I plan to enjoy it!