So Misguided

Here’s a quick summary of what we’ve been up to in Gozo.

Wednesday, October 3

We arrived in Malta from an Air Malta flight—the slowest check-in staff ever at the Gatwick airport. The flight was about 3 hours. Then Julie had hired a driver for us, who picked us up at the airport and drove us to the ferry terminal. His name was George.

We passed by Takai, which is where Bob Sherrett landed during the war. During WWII, Malta took “quite a pasting”, they were bombed 154 consecutive days and nights, compared to the London Blitz, which was 54 days of bombing. The entire population of Malta received the George Cross, Britain’s highest award for civilian bravery.

The ferry ride was about 25 minutes and Darren, Julie and their friend Gwendolyn met us on the Gozo side. Gwen drove in Japan for 6 months so she was our fearless left-side driver.

It was about 9 or 10 at night so after a quick refresher we made our way to Rangers, which is the local pub and supporter of the Gharb Rangers football team. I had a Mexicana personal pizza, some wine and a great time.

Thursday, Oct 4

First day on Malta. Thankfully Gwendolyn had been around Gozo for a couple of days and Julie is a perfect travel guide. We were whisked off to San Blas Bay for an early morning of snorkeling. You want to get there early and leave before the tourists arrive. Damn tourists.

San Blas is gorgeous. You park on the top of a cliff and wind your way down the road to the ocean. It was a bit steep but definitely worth it. The sand is a great saffron colour. The snorkeling was good. We saw coral and jelly fish, white bream (little silver fish with a black spot on their tail), two-band bream (silver fish with black stripes), ornate wrasse (funky coloured fish), little black guys with a split tail fin and other scrubby fish. It was really a great swim.

Then we climbed back up the hill to the jeep. Returned home to Gharb, jumped into the icy back garden pool then had a rest.

Later we went into Victoria and had a coffee at Belusa Cafe, bought some sweeties (honey circle, almond cookies) and returned home. For dinner, Gwendolyn made an orzo salad that was delicious and we had some chicken sausages.

October 5

Gwendolyn, James and I got up early so we could meet a fellow in Mgarr Harbour at 8:15 am. He was to take us across to Comino. We had no gas and had to figure out how the road side gas pump worked. It was quite the process, especially since we were in a hurry.

We made it to Mgarr with minutes to spare. Joseph met us, he runs the boat trip. His boat is Francesca 1 and his other boat is used to pick up garbage from tourists in Blue Lagoon, which is where we were going.

Seconds into the trip, Joseph said to me, “here you drive”. Ok, Gwen does left. I do boats.

Blue Lagoon is an incredibly blue bay off Comino. The swimming is excellent. We saw even more fish than in San Blas, more jelly fish too though. I think this swim has been my favourite of the trip so far. We swam across the bay to a little cave and pond. Jumped from the rocks. I saw an eel. It was a bit creepy but also very cool. It was slithering between some rocks. James later hunted him out.

The boat trip also included a quick trip to some of the caves on Comino. There is one cave that if you go in a small boat to the very back, you’ll find a small beach. From that beach you can climb right up to the fort buit by the Knights of St. John.

We walked up to the Comino Hotel, had a coffee, then wandered back to the bay. In that short time, it went from secluded paradise to cheesy tourist trap. There were people and umbrellas everywhere. There was also an ice cream truck so we had a Magnum ice cream. Mine was called a Temptation and it came in a gold foil box. Very yummy.

Later in the day we stopped in Victoria, then went on to Xlendi for an evening swim. Xlendi is a touristy spot, but nice in the evening. We had a good swim. Gwendolyn dove off the rocks. I filmed it. Then we had dinner at Churchill’s Restaurant. I had pasta and James had the Lampuki, a dolphin fish. It comes with head and tail. Yummy.

October 6

First stop of the day: Wied il-Ghasri. A little inlet where you climb down the rocks, make your way into the water and paddle about. There was great snorkeling here too. The water was fresh. This is the day Gwen—with a great fear of jelly fish—got stung. It was quite the welt.

We stopped at the salt flats on our way there.

Later we went silver shopping in Victoria. The best spot is near the Citadel. There are two families on Gozo who make silver filigree. There is a knight done all in silver that I took a photo of. He’s about a foot tall and very detailed. I bought a little ring and some earrings as my Maltese souvenir.

That night we had 10 people total for Thanksgiving Dinner. James made a turkey, Gwen made gravy, I made peach crisp, Julie made sweet potatoes and mashed potatoes and Darren made the table settings and floor lighting—required so no one fell in the pool.

Catherine, Martin and Colin from Canada came. Michael and Paul from Britain were in attendance. And our household crew. It was a grand time.

Sunday, October 7

Today we dropped off Julie and Gwen at the ferry terminal. They were on their way to Rome to cooking school. James and I had originally planned to go to Rome, but we decided to travel around Malta longer instead. We’ve spent most of our time on Gozo.

James and I trekked over to the Ta’Cenc cliffs—difficult to find, I think Julie has tried twice. James and I were fortunate to find them. The view is spectacular. We had a light lunch at the hotel, wandered down the road in search of the dolmen, a flat rock supported by 3 stones, then went in search of the cliffs. There was some overland adventuring to be had.

This was my first day driving on the left. God help us. But I did just fine.

Monday, October 8

Another full day of driving. James, Darren and I visited the tombs at Santa Lucija and Kercem—basically a rock mound with a hole in the ground. Then it was back to Victoria where we swapped the jeep for a little red Kia. It’s a tin box on wheels. Not that the jeep was any better but it did feel rather indestructible.

In Victoria I went into St. George’s Basilica. It was beautiful and ornate inside so I stayed for the mass just so I’d get a good chance to look around. In the right side is a separate chamber with a statue of Jesus. Just before that is a statue of St. George standing on a slayed dragon. There gold mosaic tiles all around and it’s really something.

Tuesday, October 9

Yahoo, spa day. Darren made us appointments for a massage with Martin at Freespirit Spa, which is run by Martin (British) and Monica (Gozian). They met in Australia and then started their business here. It’s an oasis in the dry, sandy, limestone land of Gozo. It smelled wonderful. I had a massage with Martin, whose going to pull together an aromatherapy roll for me next time. Then I hung out and talked about make-up with Monica. I discovered Dermatologica, which is all natural products, no chemicals. So I bought a cleanse, toner, moisturizer and sun screen. Pretty expensive in Maltese lira ($1 CDN is equal to $3 MTL) but it’s worth the smooth feeling on my skin, especially the sun screen. I think our Ombrell was doing a number on my face. That and the mosquito bites. I have about 20 of them, mostly on my face, which is the only thing exposed at night. They’ve even bitten both eyelids.

In the afternoon James and I went to the Ggantija Temples, which are the largest of the megalithic temples found on Malta. The walls are 6-7 metres high and the two temples together are over 40 metres. As far as mounds of rocks go, these are fairly interesting. There were erected over 5000 years ago. Structurally it looks like a clover leaf from above. There are circular chambers.

After that we went to Ramla Bay, known for reddish sand, had a swim in the large waves, shared a cherry ice cream cone and made our way back to home.

Wednesday, October 10
This morning Darren, James and I went to Dwejra Bay. It was James’s turn to drive.

Dwejra Bay is also spectacular. There is the Azure Window, which is an arch in the limestone cliffs, and the Blue Hole, which is a chimney hole down into the ocean, it’s a favourite spot for divers.

We swam in front of Fungus Rock, which was heralded for its medicinal properties centuries ago. And later tonight we’ll venture back to swim through the Azure Window.

Oct 11
We’re off to Valletta today. Malta here we come.

Posted by Monique at 04:31 AM. Filed under: Personal •

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James and I left Vancouver at 6:10 pm on October 1. We spent the next night outside of Gatwick at Gable End Guest House, which is run by Mary and Joseph, who are quite lovely. We wandered around the village, had dinner at the Six Bells Pub and then retired for the evening after a couple of pints. On October 3 we made our way back to the airport and on to the Air Malta flight to Malta to visit Darren and Julie.

Julie kindly organized a driver to take us from the airport to the ferry terminal and then they met us on the other side, which is Gozo.

Malta comprises three islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino. Darren and Julie live on Gozo, which has about 30,000 people. The big island of Malta is 400,000.

Today was our first full day here and it’s been marvellous. We got up early and left the house around 8:30 am so that we could make our way to San Blas Bay, which is a great swimming hole.

Gwendolyn, who is visiting Darren and Julie, was our driver. She is a demon at the wheel—a safe, confidence-inspiring demon. She drove for 6 months in Japan, which means she can drive left, stick shift and curse in English and Japanese.

San Blas is accessible by foot along a very steep cliff. We navigated our way down hill, had a lovely swim and then trudged back uphill. We had a short stop in Victoria (or Rabat in Malti), where we bought almond cookies, had a coffee, and collected some fruit for our meal.

I did spend most of the afternoon working at the computer, but it was damn hot out so it was nice to tap about inside.

Here’s a random selection of photos.

www.flickr.com So Misguided’s Malta 2007 photoset

Posted by Monique at 06:54 AM. Filed under: Personal •

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Amy at Fresh Marketing did a bang up job on new banners for SoMisguided.

I used to have a little skateboard, which is a photo my brother took at a skateboard-art exhibition:

I love the skateboard, but I also wanted a change. So here’s ISBN, pronounced “is-bin”. He’s my new little robot.

I have a bunch of other cool ISBN banners that I’m reveal all in good time.

I hope little ISBN doesn’t get in trouble managing the site while I’m away. (James and I are in Malta from Oct 1 to 21.)

Posted by Monique at 09:58 PM. Filed under: Blogging • Personal •

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Silly game over on the Facebook.

Type your name in quotations with the words “likes to” in Google and post the top 10 things.

“Monique likes to” results:

Monique Likes to Get Her Exercise.
Monique likes a workout that brings her pulse to around 140 BPM for a good 8 minutes.

This is sooooo not true.

Monique likes to let kids know how much fun math and science can be.

Yay, right.

Besides the ability to make friends and family feel right at home, Monique likes to entertain with a salute to her French heritage.

That means we drink wine.

Monique likes to go into a power walk as soon as my seat touches the saddle when I get on.

Sweet Jesus, I don’t want to know more about this one.

Monique likes to break free from the ordinary in her expression but also goes back into the more realistic look.

Indeed. Have you seen my avatar?

In her spare time, Monique likes to paint, has a keen interest in real estate and loves spending time with her best friend Tom.

I hope Tom doesn’t mention this to James.

Monique likes to be different. But it sure is hard to be different when you go to a school where all the students have to wear uniforms.

True enough.

Monique likes to create an easy-going atmosphere in her classes, focussing on awareness of breath and an understanding of the essence of a posture.

Sounds like me.

Monique likes to set up her classroom so students are free to take materials and work independently without constantly asking “Where are the scissors?”

Precisely why I never have any scissors. Damn Monique.

Monique likes to mention the first members who signed up because she was one of them.

I’m sure a spazz.

And here’s the first image that shows up for “Monique Likes To”

Maybe the most fitting find. It’s the cover of a book.

Thanks Sio.

Posted by Monique at 08:22 PM. Filed under: Party Tricks • Personal •

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Craig Konyu of Yukon Cigar is the Track of the Day on CBC Radio 3 today.

I have musician friends. They make me feel very happy. Especially when I think about how awesome they are.

The song pick is “Hello Soul”, a little bit of dock music to move you through the rest of the week.

Listen to the song here.

Posted by Monique at 04:33 PM. Filed under: News • Personal •

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Did it.
It was fun.
Want to do it again.

http://www.ziptrek.com/

Posted by Monique at 07:53 PM. Filed under: Personal •

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James and I are cat-sitting Aimee the Great. She’s very sweet but also very clever. In 5 days she has managed to quietly take over our home. Those soft purrs and head butts have turned into a full-scale claiming of all things. I’m thankful that cats are not like dogs, they don’t pee on things to claim them. Cats, however, do their own thing. The rub.

Every corner, book edge, plant pot, sofa pillow, wall, knee, and ankle have been rubbed and re-rubbed. She’s quite assertively suggesting that we are now hers.

There’s such a fine line between master and slave.

Posted by Monique at 12:03 PM. Filed under: Personal •

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I received my daily CBC News digest this morning and discovered the following story:

Climate Change
The National looks at adapting to climate change.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/climatechange/roadstories.html

I was excited to read the article because I thought The National, who just did an extensive report on climate change, had decided to adapt their own new reporting practices (i.e., flying around the world—hello big footprint) in response to the devastation they saw.

I’m clearly an optimist. The article is a summary of the devastation they reported on from around the world. It’s still an interesting article, but it does’t signal any change in action from The National.

If we know we should be doing things to stop climate change, then isn’t now the time to do those things? Isn’t now the time for someone big and mainstream to say, “I’ll be the leader on that.”

I overheard an interview with David Suzuki where he said something like, “we’re in a van speeding into the path of a brick wall and instead of slamming on the brakes, we’re arguing about where we want to sit.”

Here’s the CBC article.

Here’s what I’m doing to hit the brakes:
- shorter showers
- carpooling to work
- driving the speed limit
- turning off the computer when it’s not in use
- handwashing instead of dishwashing (except when the heathens come to dinner and I can run a full load)
- less chemicals (cleaning products, make-up, processed foods)
- buying local and fresh instead of processed and shipped from far away (although sometimes I do eat a kiwi)
- recycling and avoiding buying stuff that’s wrapped in plastic and/or styroform
- generally being aware and making good decisions as often as possible

Share what you’re doing. What would you like to do, or like others to do?

Posted by Monique at 09:14 AM. Filed under: Personal •

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Barganistia has a great recap of the girls night out in Second Life. We went on a shopping spree. I’m going back for new hair.

I made the mistake of trying to modify my own. Like in real life, you should not attempt this unless you are highly skilled.

Check out the play-by-play commentary on After a Fashion.

And thank you to Katicus and Catherine for organizing and hauling us all around.

Posted by Monique at 06:08 PM. Filed under: Party Tricks • Personal •

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I’m almost out the door to the CanSpell Regional Spelling Bee. Should be fun.

UPDATE: It was totally fun. The spellers were 11 years old. I arrived at the start of the final round. There were 10 spellers remaining: 3 boys and 7 girls. Hailey was up first. Speller #7. I thought she sounded like a smarty-pants (in the best possible way) and she did go on to win the championship. The winner took home $3000. Second place was $2000 and went to Rebeccah, who seemed to be a crowd favourite in my section.

I wish I’d taken my notepad to record some of the words.

Posted by Monique at 02:05 PM. Filed under: Personal •

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Friday.

I had beer at lunch.

This makes for a good Friday.

I also was pointed towards Chocomap.com.

It is never too late in the day to drool over the chocolatey goodness that is a Google map indicating all sources of heavenly bites in my neighbourhood (as if I don’t know them already).

But it’s not all beer and chocolate.

I attended the SFU, Master of Publishing, Magazine Fair this afternoon.

Three magazine proposals were on tap, complete with trade-fair booths featuring business plans, schwag, bubbly and buttons. There were short presentations from the groups: Traffic, a mag for Vancouverites in transit; TBSP, a foodie mag for those of us who like messy kitchens, playing with our food and are just on this side of hip, “this is not your mother’s food & wine magazine”; and last but not least and online only mag, jibe.ca (I was paying attention but the correct name eludes me). Jibe is an entertainment filter—the best source for “have you seen that video? that article? that photo?”.

Geist magazine, Modern Dog, The Tyee were also in attendance with goodies, free mags and other promo pieces. I walked away with issue 63 of Geist, which features a fancy ad for SoMisguided.com (thank you Patricia and Siobhan).

P.S. Sio have you seen this?

Posted by Monique at 06:05 PM. Filed under: Party Tricks • Personal •

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Robert tagged me, then untagged me, but I’m still game. Here are five things most people don’t know about me.

1. I have a freckle patch. Aside from a few strategically placed freckles, all my freckles congregate on the inside of my right arm.

2. I used to pack parachutes at the Gimli airfield. I packed parachutes in exchange for free jumps. I was on pins and needles one day watching my friend spiral down. I was standing next to his mother assuring her that the parachute did sometimes take that long to deploy. It was a chute I packed. Fortune was on our side and he landed safely. The problem was not the chute. He panicked and instead of falling in a spread eagle shape, he curled into a ball. The chute deployed but the canopy when between his legs and he was caught up in it. Again, thankfully good fortune was on our side. He only suffered the embarassment of peeing his pants.

3. I designed the logo for the Beautiful Plains School Division. I don’t have a bigger image. It’s a book with three sized people on the right—representing teachers, high school and elementary school kids. I was 16 or 17 when I designed it.

4. I have $300 tap shoes. (They make me go faster.)

5. I’m learning to knit and play video games. Both are equally enjoyable and stressful.

Posted by Monique at 03:25 PM. Filed under: Personal •

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Welcome to 2007. It is approaching 1 pm and I just dragged myself from bed. Travis and Susie had an awesome party. Thanks guys!

Highlights:
The coat boy
Boris’ enthusiasm at feeding me new foods
My stemless martini glass
Sara’s smooching resolution

Year of the Dog is on the way out. Time to embrace the Pig.

Happy 2007.

Posted by Monique at 01:55 PM. Filed under: Party Tricks • Personal •

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For those of you who have eaten in a restaurant with me, or—heaven help you—tried to make me dinner, you know that I have a long list of allergies. Surprise! This is no longer a problem. I went to a Chinese touchy-feely doctor who cured me. I am now “block free”.

It’s a miracle.

Debra Gibson is a Chinese medicine doctor, but she also does Korean hand massage, acupuncture, and a whole list of things I don’t fully understand. I had four sessions where I basically rested on her table while she got me to hold different glass vials. Every once in a while she’d move my arm and I’d have to resist against her. The first session I got a head massage.

I really can’t explain any of the medicine behind what’s happened to me, it’s all auto-magical as far as I’m concerned.

Here’s are the major food I can now experience:

- vinegar (used to be a tough one, no salad dressings, most sauces, pickles, olives ... there’s vinegar in many, many things)
- fish (shellfish, salt water, fresh water, all of it.)
- beans, lentils, mushrooms

No more incredible stomach pain, vomiting, feeling like death is knocking on the door, hives, and other unpleasantries. I’m block free. NOTHING HAPPENS!

I started my little experiment of re-introducing foods 12 weeks ago. In the first 6 weeks, I ate all different kinds of mushrooms. I like cremini the best so far but I haven’t eaten all types of mushrooms so I still have lots to discover. I ate chilli with beans. I don’t quite like kidney beans. Sandwiches with mayonnaise. I definitely do not like mayo, although I did have chipotle mayo with some yam fries that were sprinkled with balsamic vinegar. Delicious. By week 7 I had vinegar—so far only balsamic, no white vinegar except in other sauces. I also ate a quarter of a scallop. Nice, firm, ok taste. No throat swelling so I thought that was great. Needless to say, the scallop was the scariest item to try. With fish I have an instant reaction, and not a good one.

Today was the big test. James, Scott and I went to Go Fish. A seafood shack at Fisherman’s Wharf near Granville Island. I had a one piece halibut fish and chips. I think James was more concerned than I was with the first bite. My anxiety has been lowered substantially by my other successful experiments. I also have been able to walk by the fish stands in Granville Island Market without any reaction.

The halibut was great. I tried the tartar sauce with dill. That was good. I tried the malt vinegar. That was ok. Everything now is just a matter of taste. Eating is an overwhelming experience. There are so many new flavours. It’s an explosion in my mouth. Sometimes I’m not sure if I like something or not. I have to try it a couple of times. It’s like being a child again.

2007 is the year of adventure.

Posted by Monique at 05:56 PM. Filed under: Personal •

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Now that I’ve had a chance to speak directly with most of my coworkers and other clients, it’s time to loudly and publicly announce that I am leaving corporate life and joining the growing army of entrepreneurs in my midst.

I will join Work Industries as a partner and owner in mid-January.

Work Industries is an internet consultancy focussed on web strategy, online marketing, content creation, outreach and online community building.

The company was founded by James Sherrett, who has been my sweetheart for 10 years. I’m now committed on both a personal front and a business front.

How’s it all going to work? James and I have worked together before and we’re a good match for each other’s energy and enthusiasm. I’m looking forward to it.

And James says he’s tickled. You can read his announcement here.

So Misguided is my labour of love and books are my passion so stick around because this blog is not going away. You can always contact me here at So Misguided, but if you want to talk shop, I can also be reached at monique at i workindustries dot com. Yes there’s an “i” in there. I work at iWorkIndustries.com

Posted by Monique at 07:23 PM. Filed under: Books • Marketing • News • Personal •

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