What movie defined your childhood?

I was born in 1986 (yes, I'm young, deal with it). A lot of my favourite movies were either made wayy before I was born like: Mary Poppins (1964) Blues Brothers (1980), Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) or films that I've embraced as a teen/adult: Fight Club (1999) Moulin Rouge (2001) The Hangover (2009). In terms of my favourite kids films, let's see, there's The Little Mermaid (1989) which I was completely obsessed with for about 3 years. There's also Aladdin (1992), which I adored, but always suspected it wasn't really for kids. What other kids movies were there? Well, a lot.

Disney seemed to have been coming out with a movie per year back in the 90s. There was The Lion King (1994), the live action 101 Dalmatians (1996), Hercules (1997)... all meh... Except one. Now, I didn't realize it at the time, but it truly was groundbreaking. It was a new way of sharing a story that had never been bseen before and is now being taken for granted. A story that involved love, yes, but not romantic. A love between a boy and his toys and the loyalty that those toys show the young boy. Have you guessed what film I'm talking about? One more hint? Okay: it came out in 1995.

That's right! It's Toy Story! Starring Tim Allen and Tom Hanks, this movie was revolutionary. According to the IMDB trivia page for the film, Toy Story was the first fully computer-generated full length film. Now a days, with Planet 51, Shrek, Finding Nemo and about 70 million other computer animated films, we tend to forget about CGI's humble beginnings: the first Toy Story was truly cutting-edge.

The reason I think I love this film so much is because I always thought my toys came to life when I wasn't looking. I would always rush into my room to try to "surprise" them and catch them in the act (of being alive). Of course, I never did catch them. I did, however, imagine that they were in a slightly different position than when I left them. I'm so glad I didn't know anyone like Sid, the creepy/punk toy torturer and main antagonist of the film. I wouldn't have had the heart to keep someone like that as a friend. Such horrible things, that made-up kid did to toys!

All this to say that I am super freaken excited for the new installment in the Toy Story series: Toy Story 3 coming out June 18, 2010. When I saw the full length preview (not just the teaser) before Alice in Wonderland earlier this month, I got chills. I got so excited, I almost cried! The new sequel deals with Andy growing up and his mother donating all his toys to a day care (I think). It seems that life in their new home is not a pleasant as the older toys have lead them to believe. Then, they realize that Andy misses them and decide to find their way back to him. Sounds lame? NOT AT ALL!

Really, I'm so so SO psyched!

(Embedding has been disabled on the trailer... so CLICK HERE to watch it)

And remember, you've got a friend in me.

Cleaning my room, step one.

People don't go in my room. I rarely have friends over to begin with, but when I do we stay in the kitchen or living room or outside (during the summer). The reason for this is that my room is a mess. It's horrible. I have clothes and suitcases and papers and books and jewelery, well, everything on the floor. I've never been good at keeping my room organized. When I was younger, my mother and I would throw everything on the floor and do a HUGE clean-up once a month. As I got older (and had more personal items that I didn't want my mom to find) I told her I'd do it on my own. I failed.

It's been at least 7 years since I rearranged my room into something that I thought was more "grown-up," but all it did was divide my room in two parts: easily accessible and where I dump all my crap. This has resulted in me not cleaning my room properly in at least 5 years. You know dust bunnies? I have dust Godzillas. It's terrifying.

I tried to clean it this summer before taking off for PEI. I managed to put almost everything boxes or giant reusable grocery bags... and then put it on the "dump all my crap" side of the room. I didn't touch my night table or either of my two dressers. In fact, there's one dresser than I haven't used in at least 10 years. it's full, but don't ask me of what, I can't remember.

Today, I made a choice. I started cleaning my night table. I found: info for applying to university (I applied in 2006), medication that expired in 2005, a bracelet I had been looking for since 2007, lip gloss I haven't worn in 3 years and a multitude of empty cream and lotion containers. Why have I been keeping all thing garbage? I filled a HUGE garbage bag with crap from my night table alone! That's not normal!! I can't live like this anymore. The dust can't be healthy and there are books that I know I have and just can't seem to find. I think if I rearrange my room back to how it was (with an open space in the middle instead of having my room divided by my bed) I'll not only be able to keep it more organized but I'll be able to work better (right now, my desk is on the "dump all my crap" half of my room, with books and papers and randomness all over it... and my desk chair is in my closet).

Wish me luck! I'll keep you all posted.

Lactose Free, not soy

Hi, my name is Michèle and I am lactose intolerant. I know, I know, it's the 21st century, how can I be intolerant of anything? I've heard the joke before.

Anyway, fact of the matter is: I have a love/hate relationship with dairy. I love it and it hates me (or my tummy at least). I won't bore/disgust you with with the details of my symptoms... suffice to say I prefer not putting myself in that situation, especially without Lactaid. It's not a cure-all, but it helps quite a bit. I'd rather deal with the "issues" than drink soy milk, though.

Firstly, soy is a PLANT, not something with udders, something that can be milked. So calling it "milk" is false.

Secondly, soy is NOT tasty. People keep telling me it needs getting used to, or it's an acquired taste. Well, milk shouldn't be. I was one of those kids that LOVED getting milk at snack time in elementary school. In high school and CEGEP (until I realized I was lactose intolerant) I would regularly buy milk or chocolate milk in the cafeteria, not because I needed to but because I wanted to. I never understood people who told me they hated milk and pitied those with lactose intolerance or an allergy to it. Now, here I am, unable to enjoy my favourite food group without popping pills first.

Have you ever noticed how many food items (on menus, let's say) contain dairy? I recently went to Montana's and was astounded by the number of entrees that relied heavily on cheese, cream or some other form of dairy. I'm lucky, I can eat most hard cheeses with my pills, but forget about creamy cheese or cream. It bothers me that my only alternative in mainstream restaurants is to have a vegetarian entree (or simply choose to not have one, which is probably best choice). And forget about a dessert and coffee.

Coffee. I love coffee, it has become a necessity in my life: not yet an addiction, but I do believe I'm on my way. The thing is, I'm okay with that. I'd be even more okay with that, if I could get lactose free milk more regularly. As it stands, I only know a handful of places that will offer lactose free over soy. None of these are Tim Horton's, Dunkin Donuts, or any such coffee place. I don't think they even offer soy milk there, but I'm not sure as I never asked.

I feel I have a better chance at places like Starbucks or Second Cup, although it's hit and miss there too. My pet peeve, though, is that when I ask about lactose free milk, I don't want to hear about soy milk. Had I wanted to know about soy milk, I would have asked about it. So far, in the downtown area, I only know of two places that will give me lactose free milk: the Starbucks in Chapters on St-Catherine (corner Stanley) and the Second Cup on McGill College (near Sherbrooke). There are at least 6 other Starbucks' and 4 other Second Cups on St-Catherine between Aylmer and Wood. There are most likely more, but I haven't frequented all of them.

There are other places in the city that do serve lactose free milk: Starbucks in the Chapters in the West Island (on St-John's) and the Second Cup in Fairview mall (also in the West Island). If anyone knows of any others, I'd love to know.

Boys...

What is up with boys? I'm so sick of them! Of course, I'm not talking about the male gender, I'm talking about boys. The immature, unthinking, cruel (although sometimes unknowingly). I just don't understand them! Nor do I understand how I act around them.

As women, we know some boys aren't good for us, yet we still insist on chasing them. "I'll call you" he says, and when he doesn't, we rationalize with Maybe I did something wrong, or Oh, he said he'd be busy. Fact is, if the boy were a man, he'd be calling you exactly when he said he would. I know, I know, I sound exactly like the book He's Just Not That Into You by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillio. Well, they've got a point. many women have read it, and most people (male and female) agree that it makes a lot of sense, yet neither party has changed their behavior. Boys still act like jerks and girls still act like idiots. Even if the sex is bad, even if he made you pay for your own dinner, even if he was 45 mins late: you still slept with him, you still paid and you still waited. And by you, I mean me. Really, how dumb can we be?

This possibly stems from the insecurities we all have. Maybe we think that these boys are the only ones who will ever be interested in us, so we put up with all the crap they throw at us. That's not to say girls don't throw their own crap around too, but I'm a heterosexual female, and girl crap doesn't bother me too much.

When I day dream (about romantic stuff, not dirty stuff) it always involves a man chasing me, and not just for sex. I'm tired of just being either being treated like a piece of meat (yes, that happens to me, even I'm fat :P) or being ignored.

Men, on the other hand, would be a welcomed distraction from school, from family, from, well, boys. Men who are emotionally available, but not weepy. Men who call when they say they will, and even when they don't say so. Men who bring you flowers just because... Are my standards just too high?

Alright, alright, I'll stop whining.

Stupid Stage

For those of you who don't know what "stage" is, it's French for Field Experience. And by Field Experience I mean slave labour. Yes, we need experience in classrooms. Yes, we're only students and therefore not completely competent yet. However, if I'm planning, teaching, correcting and the teacher isn't even in the school, why shouldn't I be paid for what I do? It's not like McGill is *not* charging us the same tuition as last semester, you know, when we were able to work... It's just so frustrating!

I do love the experience, even if it's completely unrealistic (or at least highly improbably). Three IB classes and one enriched, all in secondary 5. I'd need a hell of a lot of seniority, luck and, well, luck!

I think I belong in high school though. I deal with "grown up" kids a lot better than the little hugging ones. At least these older students understand the concept of personal space! Yet, I still get sick from one of them. Better than the Pinkeye I got on my first stage.

Whatever. Just three weeks left. Then, I get to work again, woo! And then I get to complain about working. Yep, I am a needy bitch ;)