Jet Setting

I think I may just officially qualify for jet setter status at this point in time.
The first qualifier is that the staff at the hotel counter now know me by name - I've checked in and out weekly for the past couple of week and will continue to do so for the next little while.

I recognize the airline counter folks - there's a super cutie named Andrew who has a British accent at the Porter counter in the Ottawa airport.

And I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooo sick of eating out.
I never thought I would ever say that. Normally a restaurant meal is one of my favourite things. But having to eat out for breakfast, lunch and dinner for so long, is just not as fun as having it as a treat.
I have also had some very yucky restaurant food this last week.

So listen to my twisted, incorrect logic. I had this mediocre Greek food from a restaurant by the office on Thursday night. I didn't like it too much, so I ate less than half. So then I decided to get the rest packed-up for lunch the next day.
Well, in reality food that doesn't taste good does not magically start to taste better after being microwaved the next day.
But I just couldn't bring myself to throw it out. :(

In Arabic there is an expression, "kosara ya batni, l'a ti kob il tabik". Loosely translated it means, better to spoil my stomach than throw away food. I have been raised on that principle and it's a hard habit to break.

On the flip side, I have had some very amazing food - I tried authentic Poutine from a Pattaterie in Quebec for the first time, it was awesome!

So I have my fingers crossed for some great home cooking this week-end, courtesy of my Mom and more enjoyable culinary adventures next week.

FunSuckers and JoyBringers

I have lots of friends, and usually I consider that a good thing. But every once in a while I can't help but notice that some of my friends can sometimes be a "FunSucker".

My definition of a FunSucker is someone who somehow manages to suck every ounce of happiness and joy from any event, activity or comment. Like a person who tells you that reason why what you're wearing is not flattering is because your body just wasn't made to look good or will never look good in clothes or some such other thing.
In my experience (and since it's my term, my experience gets to be the expert) they are also the kind of people who perceive the world through a negative lens for themselves as well and are always looking to prove just how much their life sucks worse than anybody else's. The "you think you've got it bad, well...." kind of people.
They're kind of like the black hole of a friendship.

My most recent FunSucker ambush was earlier this week. I had been having a fun day, actually was humming under my breath most of the day at work and had some friends over in the evening. Our conversation turned to me being single (as somehow conversations tend to flow to the most innermost of my thoughts) and I casually mentioned how this can sometimes be a struggle for me. My friend's response was "well you better get used to it, because you're probably going to be single for life. So deal with being lonely, you're stuck with it". DING! all the Fun/Joy of the day immediately sucked out of the room, sucked out of the evening, even sucked out of the day.

In opposition I also have some "JoyBringer" friends. These are the folks whom you just can't help but be happy to be around. They bring fun and happiness to even the most mundane of tasks.

In fact, I have one such friend that my ex-boyfriend used to jealously call "Fun Rob". He would complain that all Rob and I would do is drive around and yet somehow I considered it the most fun activity. And when he and I would drive around it was not as much fun. And he was right. Something about Rob's pleasure in simple things and joy at driving down a new street and blasting the radio was always just so much fun.

Now sometimes the FunSucker and the JoyBringer are not even people but just activities or events or circumstances.

For me, I seem to find many more JoyBringers than FunSuckers fall into this category.
For example, no matter how nasty my day, seeing a rainbow - the symbol of God's promise to Noah to never again destroy the earth in a flood -makes me smile. It reminds me of God's presence and His love.
Or the way I can only smile and sing along when I hear Great Big Sea. It's hard to stay in a bad mood with that music playing.

The fact that laughter is contagious. Or that when the sun shines, people sort of instinctively close their eyes, and turn their faces towards it and smile.

The part that makes me sad is that the FunSucker always trumps the JoyBringer. It doesn't matter how many instances of JoyBringer you've received in a day, it only takes one FunSucker to nullify them.