Something To Make You Smile

Theme Song: "Do You Love Me?" - The Contours
Life Outlook: Drained, but Improving
Current Weather: -21°C, Few Clouds

It's been a few days since I've posted anything on here, and I figured it was time for an updated. Sadly, there is very little to update with at this point. I've been sick for the past few days, and today is the first day in almost a week that I feel like a normal human being. Yay for unknown stomach issues and the possible flu. Woo!

This past weekend we celebrated a group ("threesome") birthday for Jackie, Kyle and Josh. We hung out and did dinner at the house, had cake and gifts and went bowling. All in all it was a nice day, despite some of us being rather ill. Matt was feeling pretty sick and mostly took it easy, though that certainly didn't stop him from watching Mamma Mia a few dozen times this past week!

Michelle knit Jackie a wonderful stuffed bear as a gift, which was really impressive. I took lots of photos, as I usually do, and should be posting some on here in the next few days. For now, however, I am going to leave you with a video I stumbled upon yesterday. It brought a smile to my face when I was feeling horrible, and I hope you enjoy it as well.

Photo of the Day: Jan 15th

Photo Taken: 06/10/2007

About The Photo: Sadly these pictures I can't take credit for...but are awesome none the less! On a chilly day in October our dear Laura married her now husband Kevin in a very beautiful ceremony just outside of the city. This picture features myself, Josh and one of Laura's lovely bridesmaids, Meghan. The whole Wedding Party looked amazing, and while I know some people weren't a fan of the colour, I still loved the Bridesmaids Dresses. Very pretty. There were certainly a lot of memories leading up to the wedding day, including one of the bachelorette parties which included a great time doing Glow-Mini-Golf and me feeding icecream to Laura. All in all it was a great time, with many wonderful memories...

Photo of the Day: Jan 14th

Photo Taken: 29/05/2005

About The Photo: In 2005 and 2006 I hosted several BBQ's at my parent's place. Each event was a success and everyone had a blast. This picture of Josh and Kevin was taken before Kev abandoned us and left for Toronto. The weather was perfect that day and I took some pretty wonderful pictures, include some very cute ones of Liam & Adam. That was a very fun night, and turned out quite well considering the host was an hour late. :-)

Photo of the Day: Jan. 13th

Photo Taken: 28/06/2008

About The Photo: Shortly after Josh and I bought the new home in St. Norbert, we had everyone over and threw a house party. Everyone had a blast and we were able to enjoy the new place. Afterwards of course there was much cleaning up to do for the next party (3 days later). It was at that party on Canada Day that we discovered an Upside Down Tent in the lake behind the house. That's definitely not something you see everyday. :-) Now I wonder what sort of excitement next summer is going to bring.

Learning To English

Theme Song: "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" - Daft Punk
Life Outlook: Chilled
Current Weather: -31°C, Clear

Horribly cold weather has descended upon Winnipeg. The wind chill is somewhere in the -42°C range. Seems that the typical January cold-snap has arrived. I'm tempted to lock myself indoors until the cold weather passes, but there's work to be done. Hell, even my computer is telling me that. Since I started at Investors Groups the ads that show up on websites have changed from WoW and computer related to Insurance and Finance related. Even my computer knows. LOL

I received a lecture today from Joshie about my poor use of the English language in my last post (which has since been edited). To this day I continue to be lazy and use "then" in instances where "than" is necessary. Oops! I'll learn to speak and write English one of these days. :-)

...I'm a writer, not an editor.

Off to a Moose Game tomorrow - hopefully that should be an enjoyable time. I think the last time I attended a hockey game it was at the old Arena, and it was my highschool hockey team playing (no I did not have a crush on any of the hockey players - ick!). Go Moose! That is the team's name...right? ;-)

I leave you with two cute pictures from this past weekend. One really cute one of Joshie after we all went swimming...and another of Steven and Laura cuddling on the couch later in the evening. :-) We were all exhausted by the end of the night (and I felt deathly ill), but everyone had a blast!

Weekend Update

Theme Song: "Hot In Here" - Nelly
Life Outlook: Exhausted
Current Weather: -16°C, Light Snow

I sit here listening to music on my iPod and I am reminded of a bus ride to work earlier this week. I was waiting for a transfer, minding my own business when a man came up to me and asked for the time. I guess he was also waiting for a bus, and proceeded to wait. Several minutes and a few frozen toes later he turns to me, smiles and says in a rather thick access, "ABBA, sweet." That was my queue to turn down the volume of my iPod. :-)

...at least this time it wasn't a comment about Broadway showtunes.

Tonight's music of choice seems to be a hybrid between the soundtrack from Hairspray and instrumental soundtracks. I wonder how the stewardess knew? :-) Enough about my eclectic tastes in music however.

This weekend was pretty uneventful. Worked, was majorly ill and hung out with friends. I learned that Silicone spelled backwards does not start with the letter N, Mumu's are apparently Back In Fashion, and I apparently moan more than most when I'm getting A Back Massage. Certainly an educational weekend. The rest of the weekend was mostly spent feeling like death warmed over. Yay for a killer stomach!

I think I slept about 12 hours last night, had a lot of weird dreams - but possibly a new screenplay idea. It's been months since I actually was able to write anything of significance. Could this be a sign of renewed creativity? Perhaps so. I'll keep you posted.

My energy is waning, and with that I shall leave you with a song quote and some more pictures from the weekend.

"Love is everything it's cracked up to be…It really is worth fighting for, being brave for, risking everything for."

- Erica Jong, 2004

Photo of the Day: Jan. 8th

Photo Taken: 08/12/2006

About The Photo: Near the end of 2006 Laura took up a rather unique second career. Getting everyone together at my apartment, Laura showed us her merchandise, we hung out and eventually partied. During the partying we started playing a wonderful game called Seven Deadly Sins. Of course, during the course of the game Kyle somehow ended up in just his underwear and toilet paper, and our resident Pirate did a strip show. All in all it was a fun evening, but Everyone Was Quite Exhausted by the end of the whole evening. :-)

Photo of the Day: Jan. 7th

Photo Taken: 18/07/2006

About The Photo: In the summer of 2006, Josh and I took a trip to Montreal to visit our dear friend Heather. We toured all around Montreal that summer and I fell in love with the city. I was most especially fond of our visits down to Old Montreal. We visited the Montreal Science Centre, Montreal Museum of Archeology and History and this beautiful building, the Notre Dame Basilica. Montreal is a wonderful city, one I hope to travel to again very soon. Maybe this time I'll actually make it to the market.

Photo of the Day: Jan. 6th

Photo Taken: 11/04/2006

About The Photo: One spring evening I decided to take Lana for a Walk Around The Neighborhood and for reasons that are unknown to me even now, I brought my camera along. When we got to a nearby park I let her off of her leash and allowed her to run around and took a few photos. I really love this picture of her looking off into the setting sun. :-) It's sweet, despite the dim and frosty backdrop.

Photo of the Day: Jan. 5th

Photo Taken: 21/10/2005

About The Photo: In the fall of 2005, Josh, Jessica, Laura and I got tickets for the RWB's production of Dracula. We decided to make a nice night out and went all out, dressed up, got new clothes and took a limousine to the ballet. Of course, being the fool that I am, I forgot the tickets, but that's not the point of this story. All in all we had a great time. The show was amazing and I look forward to seeing another production of Dracula sometime in the near future. :-)

New Years 2009

Theme Song: "Get Down" - Ministry of Sound: The Annual 2009
Life Outlook: Positive
Current Weather: -32°C, Clear


New Years Eve has come and gone...



Close friends came together at the house, we spent the evening together, playing games, sharing drinks and having a great time. Jackie brought a new version of Munchkin, which everyone seemed to enjoy. It was nice to get everyone together and celebrate the coming of the New Year. Everyone got a chance to have a New Years Kiss, even those who didn't necessarily want Kyle to kiss them.

Overall I'd call the evening quite a success and a wonderful kick-off to 2009. Josh and I were able to sleep in on New Years Day and just relax. It snowed a little bit overnight, but nothing like the snow we received back on New Years 2006.

Two-thousand and nine...a year will unlimited potential. I look forward to what new adventures this year brings...

A New Beginning

Theme Song: "How To Save A Life" - Vitamin String Quartet
Life Outlook: Optimistic
Current Weather: -20°C, Clear


Hello and welcome to 2009!

It's been almost two (2!) years since I last did any posting on my original legantral.com weblog and I've felt that an update is long overdue. I shall endeavor to remain brief. Please, bear with me.

Two-thousand and eight overall was a rough year filled with huge ups and downs. Unfortunately much of the time was spent on the 'down' side of things, but as they say, every cloud has its silver lining. One of the big highlights of the year is the New Home that Josh and I bought in May. It'll still be a long time before the house becomes a true home, but its certainly a work in progress that I look forward to working on.

One of the biggest changes in 2008 came when I left Royal Bank and began pursuing a new career. I am now working as a Consultant with Investors Group building financial plans for my clients. I'm very happy with the switch and look forward to my new-found career with Investors.

The other major event of note has been my ongoing health issues. Over the past year I've met with a few different Doctors and had several tests done, but we are no closer to uncovering the cause of my health problems. Over the past several months, however, my health has improved dramatically and while, yes, there are still some really bad days - they are fewer and far between now. My improved health has certainly helped to build by outlook for 2009.

Here are some pictures to highlight the year:



A lot has happened over the past year, both good and bad. I've made many great friends this past year and have wonderful new memories. Despite the hard times, I look forward to everything that 2009 holds in store for me. It's time for a new beginning...