June 2004 Archives

things i will miss about my old apartment: - the view - the huge windows - the honeycomb tile on the kitchen counters - the most excellent plumbing - the balcony - the 12 foot ceilings - the inexpensive rent - the quiet neighbourhood - the character building - the never-ending hot water - the sexxy new fridge things i will not miss about my old apartment: - the creaky floors - the carpeted kitchen and bathroom - the shower stall - the expensive heating bills - walking through spider webs on way to my car - the nosy, chicken-burning neighbour - three-hundred square feet - the lack of a bedroom - the bugs - 32 fucking degrees INSIDE in summer - frost on the INSIDE of the windows in winter

hurrah! it's my friday! oh, stop looking at me like that. if it makes you feel any better i'll spend the first day of my long weekend playing cinderella. then i'm off to the island to eat cake and watch dvds with my maternal unit. i'm kind of torn about that. i'd like to stay on this side and go out with friends, or even just move stuff, but if i don't go this weekend i won't have time again until labour day and that's just too long. the nosy, annoying, chicken-burning neighbour came over to look at my apartment last night. the landlady phoned to let her know it was coming available and she wanted to see it. seems they're wanting to ask $40 more per month which just makes me laugh. and laugh. and laugh. even with a re-done bathroom, it's a ridiculous price. neighbour lady was just stunned with how small it is. funny, but i never really notice how small it is until someone else is there. so, if you don't hear from me for the next few days, don't worry. i'm just off having a mini-break from packing. happy long weekend!

because i'm sleepy and can't think of anything to say, i stole this from peechie. A - Age: 31 (for four more days). B - Band listening to right now: none, i'm at work. but i'm in a paul simon phase of late C - Career future: retire early.

it's election day in the great white north. that means, well, you know what that means. all i've got to say about it is that if you don't fucking vote you're not allowed to fucking complain for the next five years. got it? this weekend was spent cleaning, packing, sorting, organizing, watching dvds, eating steak, daydreaming, laughing, stressing and planning. really, other than packing some stuff, cleaning some stuff, and spending a little time with my friends and my dad, this weekend didn't happen. it went by way too fast. yesterday, i ran into my landlords on my way out to clean my blinds (don't ever do it. if you have to, pay someone to do it or just go buy new ones at wal-mart. i'm serious, it's the worst job ever.) and i told them that i'd actually be out by the 23rd and they told me about their plans to renovate the bathroom by putting in a tile floor and a new pedestal sink. yeah, thanks guys. they wouldn't even entertain the thought of having me take my sexxy new fridge with me! can you believe it? i can't get over how different my apartment looks now that everything is off the walls and shelves are slowly emptying. it's like looking at a totally different room. by my last night there it's going to feel like i'm sleeping in an institution. p.s. i realize that there's only five days left until my birthday and the chances of anything which is sent today getting here before then are slim, but don't let that deter you, my friends! late is definitely better than never!

i'm trying desperately not to wish my life away, but there are so many things i want to happen and it's not time for them yet so i find myself wanting the time between now and then to pass very quickly. i hope that, in thirty or forty years, i won't look back and wonder where all the time went. this weekend i start the packing: books, cds, under-used bathroom stuff, out of season clothes, various crap stuffed in the closets. i think i've decided that i'll delay my island trip by one day in order to spend canada day cleaning the new place. that way i can just start moving the smaller stuff when i get back. i still need to decide on my official date to switch the utilities and such. it's really nice to have three weeks to do all the moving, but it's giving me too many options. i don't really like having lots to choose from. it's very overwhelming. i also need to make up my mind if i'm going to paint or not. i'll know better once i've gotten the place all cleaned (not that it needs it, but it's a nesting thing. once you clean a place it's really yours). have i mentioned how excited i am to be able to go shopping? mm, ikea. i'd really like to go see fahrenheit 9/11 this weekend, too. maybe i'll go tonight. i hope it's not stupid busy.

i'm really boring right now because all i want to talk about is: - moving - packing - cleaning - shopping at ikea - studying - minnesota - my birthday speaking of my birthday, i received one of those always-exciting amazon boxes yesterday. inside were not one, but two wrapped gifties from one of my favourite strangers, shinyknows. i'm exercising extreme will-power and waiting to unwrap them until my actual belly button day because i don't think there will be much to unwrap this year (since dad already bought me a tv and m&m will just get me whatever it is i tell them i need for the new place) and goodness knows i love the unwrapping. i was, and still am, so flabbergasted by his generosity. sometimes strangers can be the kindest people you'll meet!

four more gmail invites for the having. email me. priority goes to those who offer to help me move in exchange. ;)

happy hump day! i'm immeasurably glad to have been able to have a full night of cooler sleep without the potential risk for theft or assault due to leaving my balcony door open to keep from sweating to death. i realize it won't last, but i'm thoroughly enjoying this relatively chilly, cloud-covered morning. i'm also anxious to get this move underway! it may take me forever to make a decision to do something, but once i do i want it to happen NOW. YESTERDAY even. i'm waiting for some quality boxes to come my way from the workplace so i can start the packing. i'm about to phone my landlord to advise him i've put my official written notice in the mail slot. i've got a lot to get done in the next month. then, in one month and one day's time... i'll be in in minnesota! hurrah! eight days until my long weekend, ten days until my birthday, thirty days until i'm all moved out, thirty-one days until i get on a plane to the twin cities. i love july! there's so much to look forward to!

GUESS WHO GOT HERSELF A MOTHERFUCKING ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT! yeah, that'd be me! one bedroom, corner suite, second floor walk-up, hardwood floors, four closets, pink bathtub, no downstairs neighbour, balcony, parking, heat & hot water included, and it's two blocks from pretty much everything one would want to be two blocks from. hurrah! now i'm panicking about all the stuff i have to get done in the next month. since i hadn't given notice to my current landlords, i'll have two apartments for the month of july. this is good because i can move over a couple weeks which will take the pressure off, but i still have a lot to get done. then there's the added stress of going away both at the beginning and end of july. ack. i need boxes! so, who wants to help me move?

this weekend was a very interesting combination of really good and really crappy. i watched some good movies, i spent time with my friends laughing and playing, i took my dad out for daddy's day and he was really pleased with the outing. then there was the crappiness which consisted of an almost complete lack of sleep and the sudden and violent onset of summer heat resulting in my apartment reaching 32 degrees celsuis (that's 89.6 fahrenheit, btw) and making any kind of activity unbearable. including sleep. one of the better things was breaking down and buying a pair of jeans which actually fits. i had forgotten that i could wear pants that didn't make me feel like some gangsta punk with my crotch at my knees. now i need to find a pair of non-jean, non-black pant-type things for the upcoming even more unbearably hot minnesota trip. yeah, i think that's it. i mostly just wanted an excuse to post this photo. besides the caving in of my forehead from lack of sleep, i forgot my glasses so i'll be blind by the end of the day, too. yippee. how was your weekend?

something new, the friday feast: Appetizer: What kind of car do you drive? If you could make an even trade for any other car, what would you want to drive? i drive a 1992 competition blue geo metro hatchback. to trade, it would be a toss up between a volkswagen golf and a mazda protege5, but i'd probably take the mazda. Soup: Take your phone number and add each number together separately (example: 8+6+7+5+3+0+9=38) - what's the total? home: 39. work: 21. cell: 32. Salad: When were you last outside, and what were you doing? walking from my car into work. Main Course: What is your favorite restaurant, and what do you usually order there? the cactus club! i love the zone salad and szechwan green beans. yummy. Dessert: Name 3 things in which you occasionally indulge. popcorn, erotic fiction, chick flicks.

worst. sleep. ever. too hot. thirty degrees when i got home, twenty-eight by the time i went to sleep, and a relatively chilly twenty-five by the time i woke up. the wind kept my blinds banging against the window frame until i opened them up and then i had to contend with the neighbour's motion-sensored garage light (set off by the branches on the tree right beside it being moved by said wind) streaming into my window. still too hot. kept waking up, wide awake, thinking i'd never not be awake ever again, only to wake up again, wide awake, some moments later. i was almost grateful for six a.m. because it meant that i didn't have to fret that i'd never not be awake again and could just be awake. then again, what do i care if i can't sleep? i lost four pounds this week! i finally seem to have broken that dreaded twenty-pound barrier. this means that i'm, hopefully, only a week or two from my first ten-percent goal (yeah, do the math, i don't care). then again, i'm pretty sure the loss is just whatever muscles i had disintegrating because i haven't exercised in any real form (other then my beloved ab work. oh, how i love to crunch!) in well over a month. of course, now it's stupid hot and i'll be even less inclined to exercise until october, but we'll see. i still have a mini-goal to accomplish before i leave for minnesota! sunday is daddy's day and i'm taking my daddy out to storyeum and lunch somewhere fun downtown. the weather should be perfect and it will be much fun to have an outing with my most favourite male of the species. before then i have to return the SECOND michael bublé cd i bought in error and try to find him the proper one (his self-titled second cd, if you're curious). i'm so looking forward to this! i hope he is, too. keep your fingers crossed for that "chance of thundershowers" the weatherman talked about on the radio this morning. it would make me stupid happy if we had some stormy action today.

i really should have known better than to wear white on a day i was having red for lunch.

while at the dentist yesterday, i got chastised by the hygenist for not flossing often enough, but she said my brushing is really good, so my teeth and gums are still in pretty good shape (for someone who doesn't floss, that is). we also talked about the fact that my dentist has had the same artwork on the walls of his office since, at least, 1985 when i first went to him. the only thing that has changed at all in there are the colours of the walls (just last spring), the staff and the waiting room chairs, although i think he just got the fabric replaced because they're really sinky-into. i had the best sleep ever last night. for the first time in i don't know how long, i fell asleep and slept right through until my alarm. even after, the time went slowly, so the extra half an hour i snuck felt like much more. the dreams were kind of weird, though. mummies, motels, running around naked trying to buy clothes, smarmy coworker leering after my ass. i love dreams. so, you do realize that it's only 16 days until my birthday, right? that's almost exactly the perfect amount of lead time to send me something pretty! i like flowers. and dvds. and books. and digital cameras! but, honestly, i'd be thrilled with a card. my expectations are very low. that doesn't give you permission to forget, though!

dammit! i keep forgetting to upload the photo i've wanted to post for the last three days. oh well. you'll just have to wait, i guess. um, yeah. i got nothing else. carry on.

i watched most of the french-language leaders debate last night before heading off to the all-candidates meeting. by the end of the evening i'd pretty much made up my mind and i wondered why i ever thought i didn't know who i'd be voting for. i guess i got caught up in the whole "devil you know" and "vote for the least worst" quagmire. i'm over it now. i'm voting my conscience, which is the way it should be. in all the political discussion, i forgot to mention that i watched six, yes that's six, different movies on my new dvd player over the weekend. i've updated my movies page, in case you're following along. i've also signed up with a canadian netflix clone to start to receive movies by mail. this will definitely help me to accomplish my 52 movies in 52 weeks goal and it's only $20 a month! rock! wow, i love tylenol. i woke up this morning with a killer headache and i actually went back to bed for forty-five minutes after i'd gotten up, brushed my teeth and washed my face. i really didn't want to get up again, but i'm a slave to my sense of responsibility, and i came in. if it weren't for those three lovely extra-strength tylenol i swallowed, i'd be in bad shape. all hail acetaminophen!

it seems i have three gmail invites to give. who wants one and what's it worth to you? update: two one left all gone!

it's election season here in the great white north and i'm having a really difficult time deciding how i'm going to vote come june 28th. i've been half-heartedly listening to the news and reading the paper. i've poked around the big three's websites looking for their positions on the issues i care most about. i'm going to an all-candidate's meeting in my riding. i will watch the debates on television. i've even gone so far as to text message them in hopes of getting a direct answer to what i consider the deal-breaking issues. i'm probably even more confused now than i was three weeks ago. like darren, i've been trying do decide if i should vote for a party, a leader or my local candidate. you'd think it'd be an easy choice, but it's really not. i almost wish i could cast one vote for each category. for example, i really like paul martin and jack layton. i think they are very interesting and charismatic men. i'd probably even forgive paul his tossing of bush's salad in order to prove to that monkey that he's not like jean chrétien, his predecessor. jack layton just seems so real. i would love to hang out at the pub with him because you just know he's probably a closet dart shark. stephen harper, i am convinced, is the anti-christ; and i'm not the only one who says that, either. just look at those beady little, too-close together eyes, that scary hair and the way his face doesn't move when he talks. then there's the party. well, i'm a dyed in the wool socialist from way back. in my perfect world, the ndp would form the next government and every government thereafter. unfortunately for my desires, there's not a hope in hell of that happening any time soon, so i have to choose between the liberals who have fucked things up financially, but done a lot for social issues, over the last ten years or the conservatives who, while they may fix the fiscal issues, are sure to decimate any progress which as been made in the name of tolerance and equality for all canadians. not to mention just throwing out the kyoto accord which was signed by our previous prime minister (ooh, that chafes my butt). finally, i could vote solely on what value my local candidate could bring both to my riding and parliment in general. this one is tough. i know my liberal candidate, don bell, the former mayor of my district, the best. i've been watching him on televised council meetings for the last few years. he's a little funny looking, but i like that he knows, intimately, the major issues our area faces. i worry, though, that if he's elected, he may get overwhelmed by being a first time mp and get forget about who he's supposed to be representing. ted white, the conservative incumbent, i only know because he has the worst facial hair imaginable. it really is bad. if people were elected purely on the merit of their facial hair (or lack thereof), this guy would not have ever been elected in the first place. john nelson, my ndp candidate, i know nothing about. actually, up until about four days ago, i didn't even know his name. the only thing i actually know about him is that he has be best, most informative website of all three. oh, about that text messaging i tried out. i sent the same question to all three parties:

please tell me your leader's position on same-sex marriage and women's right to abortion. thank you.

i was really disappointed at the responses, or lack thereof, i received. the most timely response came from the liberals the very same day:

PMartin believes in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Stephen Harper Does not!

the best answer came from the ndp, two days later:

Pro Same sex marriage, and support women's right to choose and have access to safe abortions.

it's been over a week and the conservatives have yet to reply, although that doesn't surprise me very much at all. i think tonight's all-candidate meeting and tomorrow's debates will be what solidifies my vote either way. i want to hear what these men have got to say for themselves without it being filtered through media outlets. they're the horses in this race and i want to hear it straight from their mouths'.

ohmygoodness! i'm the happiest little geek girl in all of geekdom right now! not only did i manage to successfully hook/set-up my new dvd/vcr combo (why didn't anyone tell me that cables are so fucking expensive? and why don't they include them in the box? yeah, duh. i know, because they are so fucking expensive.) last night but, this very morning, i'm now the proud owner of a coveted gmail account! holy moly! i feel like... a total geek, yeah, but in a "i just got the COOLEST new toys" kind of way. don't mind me, i'm going to go watch dvds until my eyes fall out and then i'm going to send everyone email about it!

[thanks to senor mikey] p.s. why the fuck can't these places make their quiz code xhtml compliant? i fucking hate it when they don't use/use the wrong quotes! grr.

this is turning into the longest day ever. no jeremy. no wade. no boss. it's cold. it's rainy. i'm almost finished emptying my trays for the weekend. the internet is dull and quiet. whatever is a girl to do? well, she can daydream about leaving work early to get her dvd player and spending the weekend watching dvds and eating popcorn until she pops like corn, that's what. mm, i can't wait! p.s. i just finished reading ella minnow pea: a novel in letters. it was most excellent. if you like words, you'll love that book.

hi! hello? um, hey there. how's it going? hellooooooooo? *tap tap* is this thing on?

- i'm headed for a serious crash soon. i'll be glad when the days start getting shorter so that i can get to sleep before eleven again. oh, stop looking at me like that. i bet your alarm clock doesn't go off at five-thirty! - class tonight. i think there's a quiz. four more classes in the next month, including the final as my birthday (only 23 more days!) present. aren't i a lucky, lucky girl? - there's nothing on tv this time of year. i'm so glad i have this sexy new tv to watch nothing on. - while out shopping for televisions and dvd players, i stood at the camera counter and drooled over the digital rebel a while. i was tempted to ask them to take it out of the case so i could hold it, but i'm not completely stupid. if i'd gotten my little mitts on it, i'd probably not have let it go. - if i ever look cute again, i absolutely have to change that dorky webcam shot. - can i go home now?

it's not that i don't like mornings. i'm fond of them in a "get to lay about in my most comfy of clothes drinking rich, sweet, silky coffee and wake up slowly" way. the problem is that five of the seven mornings i get each week (that's 20 of the 30 i get in a month, just for perspective) are absolutely nothing like the mornings i'm most fond of. they usually consist of being rudely awakened, one to two hours before my body has acquired sufficient sleep, by a loud, irritating, repetative buzzing noise. there is absolutely no leisure in my typical weekday morning, either. i just launch directly from restful repose to eager beaver to get myself up, presentable and out the door in order to be at work on time. there's no laying about. there's no rich, sweet, silky coffee slowly sipped while wearing my most comfy of comfies. there's only beeping and forgetting of apples and driving in traffic with wet hair and then, the pièce de résistance, the flourescent lights. *sigh* sometmes, i think that's what i hate most about mornings. ending up in the land of unflattering green tint which hurts my eyes. that's often why my first posts of the day, unless i have a very strong idea about what to write and how to write it, sound so dire. i've been most recently ripped from my nocturnal womb and thrust, grumpy and rushed, into the cruel, cruel world. you'd be crabby, too. trust me.

don't wanna be here. i'm not getting to bed until very late lately and it's taking a toll. i think my cardboard box injury is infected. i'm about *this* close to going to buy a dvd player on my way home tonight. the stanley cup was won by a team in florida (don't even get me started on how fundamentally wrong it is that they have a team (let alone winnng the cup) in a place where they have never seen ice that didn't come out of a freezer). i hate florida. i need to get more flowers. i love my tv. i need a haircut. the clicky noise is gone from my car, only to be replaced by pings and rubbing noises. baggy pants are really annoying. i should try to learn how to drink coffee black. this concludes the random tour of my brain. we hope you enjoyed your visit. come back again soon!

i'm not very prose-y this morning, hence the list: - friday night i ordered pizza and watched tv. yeah, i'm a party girl, all right. i really like the veggie edge from pizza hut, but the centre four pieces are always too soggy for me and i just end up throwing them out. i hate that. - calgary didn't win the cup on saturday (that's okay, they'll get it tonight), but meg, mark and i were way too drunk to care. - meghan tried to make me cry. - mark did make me cry, but in a good way. - cindy will be pleased that i'm one step closer to a dvd player since my dad bought me a new tv for my birthday! - last night, after dad bought me dinner at swiss chalet, i spent three hours working on the financial files for his club. i love that i can be of assistance to him in some capacity. - why didn't anyone tell me that there was so much sound i was missing with my mono television set? everything is so bright and the sound is so full now! it's like i was blind and deaf before. hallelujah! - anyone want to buy a perfectly functional (if not cutting edge) sharp 19" colour tv, zenith vcr and playstation 1? $150 for the whole lot! - i absolutely LOVED all families are psychotic by douglas coupland. it's now the book that i think everyone should read. - two more movies for my list: saved and the terminal - can i go home now?

first off, you all must go and wish jodi chromey a happy birthday. yes, i know it's not her birthday until sunday, but i never post on sundays and she's observing her belly button today anyway. what are you waiting for? go do it! don't worry, i can wait until you're done. thanks to some computer "glitch" (i love that word), my bank hasn't been processing transactions correctly for almost a week now. up until yesterday, my account hadn't been adversely affected. of course, today is payday and it's usually automatically deposited into my account. note the usually. i logged on this morning and discovered that i ain't got paid and neither has my rent cheque been debited from my account. so, because of assurances that the bank will not penalize anyone for any problems arising from this situation, i went ahead and followed my normal payday routine and took my allowance out of the bank machine on my way to work. what this does, though, is reduce the currently listed balance to less than the amount of the rent cheque which has yet to be debited. technically, it could come back to my landlord nsf. i'm so living on the edge. fear me! it's unbelieveably wonderful to be pain-free. i think that, in conjunction with the full moon, getting 81% and 86% on my mid-term and first assignment respectively and losing the five pounds i'd gained over the long weekend are all contributing to make me one happy camper. not to mention the flowers i bought myself and all that lovely popcorn. mm, popcorn. i'm still really tired, but my insides are happy and that's what really matters, right? btw, always be wary of a man in his mid-30's who says bjork is one of his favourite singers. just trust me on this.

taken from the mighty force which is mikey (only i know how to count):

fyi, it's one month until my birthday. feel free to buy me something pretty. ;)

i feel like there's a lot i want to say, but my head is threatening to collapse in upon itself so the thoughts, which are struggling to escape before the implosion, aren't in a very orderly state. i think this calls for a list. - everything i'm wearing today is stretchy. even my shoes. it's really awesome, but mostly because nothing's baggy. i nearly stripped down in the middle of the day yesterday just because i couldn't bear the thought of wearing those baggy clothes for just one minute more. - despite the baggy clothes that were driving me nuts, a co-worker i haven't seen in a while looked me up and down appraisingly and said "you're looking good. doing anything different?" i was so stunned i answered "not a thing," to which he replied "well, keep doing it!" - i don't want to be specific about the very cool and creative thing i did the other day because it would spoil someone's birthday surprise, but let me tell you: i'm so fucking good it's scary. just trust me on this. - recently, i've been obsessed with my adorable toes. no, really. they're so cute you'd be hard-pressed not to want to just gobble them up like little cocktail weenies. - if i could, i would eat nothing but microwave popcorn. all. day. long. - off the top of my head, here's a list (a list within a list!) of the movies i want to see this summer: harry potter 3, troy, the day after tomorrow, mean girls, chronicles of riddick, sky captain and the world of tomorrow, shrek 2, the village, i robot, the stepford wives, 13 going on 30, fahrenheit 9/11, before sunset, king arthur, and the bourne supremacy. - it's a good thing i really like popcorn. - i think there's a rock stuck in the tread of my front tire. i can hear it "click" on the pavement with each revolution of the tire. the faster i drive, the faster it clicks. the slower i drive, the slower it clicks. it's really starting to annoy me. you'd think i would try to remove the offending pebble, wouldn't you? you'd be wrong. i'm going to turn up the radio. yeah. take that, noisy pebble! - i'm not wearing socks. my naked ankles keep flashing the world from out the bottom of my pants. the sensation of air on them serves only to remind me of just how naked my ankles are. i should go sockless more often. it makes me feel very saucy.

yesterday afternoon found me, quite literally, falling asleep at my desk, so it wasn't surprising to find myself undressed, under the über-blankie and fast asleep within moments of getting home. waking up at 7pm, though, wasn't in the plan. i honestly felt like i'd gotten an entire night's rest. i had even half-convinced myself that it was 7am. alas, it was not. i got up and watched bad tv (well, it wasn't all bad. there was this really well done and balanced show on the history channel about the invasion of normandy on d-day. go brits for not making it a rah-rah-mentary!), made jello, and otherwise occupied my freshly-rested self until i finally got tired enough to go to sleep at twelve-thirty. i really should have used that energy to go shopping or do something productive, but my inner sloth took over. i almost didn't want to wake up this morning. not because i was still tired, which i wasn't; but, because i was having the most wonderful dream starring hugh jackman. *sigh* gotta love hugh. is it just me or does steven harper look like bill clinton's inbred cousin, especially around those set-too-close-together eyes?