July 2004 Archives

jodi chromey rules. that is all.

gone to minnesota, back in a week. yeah, sure. you betcha.

have i mentioned that i'm on vacation?

last night i learned why it is that you're not supposed to wait for six years to clean your oven. boys and girls, don't put it off. go clean your oven right now. you don't want to see what happens if you wait. believe me, the greasy sludge is disgusting and reminiscent of that star trek episode when tasha yar dies. just imagine if i had used my oven a lot instead of infrequently! *shudder* this is my last day at work until next month (heh, i love saying that). that gives me two whole days to get more stuff done at the new place and do the rest of my trip shopping before i head out saturday morning. yay! plane ride! it finally cooled off enough yesterday for me to get a whole night of uninterrupted sleep. i went to bed at 11:11 and didn't open my eyes until 5:01 (when i had to get up to pee). i'm getting used to this having a big, soft bed to sleep in and, let me tell you, it is all good. now i just need a cute boy to tie to the headboard. yum.

the cute, nice cable guy came over and gave me access to the world again last night. after that, the evening was a blur. i ate my first meal in my new home (beefaroni and wine gums), watched some tv, made my lunch and went to bed at a reasonable-ish hour. i actually had a decent sleep, waking only every couple of hours instead of a couple of times every hour. please take note of my white trash curtain. yes, that is a bed sheet nailed to the wall in front of my balcony doors. i made the super take down the broken and crappy vertical blinds which were there. i thought i could live with the wide open window until i got back, but i like to run around in my underwear way too much and there are way too many more windows facing mine now to do that, so this is my temporary solution. ain't i just a classy bitch? i really can't wait until i get my new shelves & tv stand and paint my old shelves so i can start really settling in. i'm really not sure what the hell i'm going to put on all the blank walls. they're really intimidating. i need a debbie travis facelift. someone should nominate me! *hint* tonight is Project: Chesterfield Clean-up. i'm going to attempt to get the old apartment all cleaned up so the very last thing i have to do is let the carpet guy in and out on thursday morning. the landlords are anxious to get in and reno the bathroom, so this will please us all. i really hope it doesn't get too hot tonight.

things to buy for trip: - canadian snacks - more american money - gum - reading material - flying snacks - love actually dvd - nude bra - pants - suitcase (optional) - other things i'm sure i've forgotten things to do at old apartment: - get phone cord out from under transition board - clean shower - clean oven - clean fridge - vacuum - dust walls - clean baseboards - clean cupboards/drawers - let carpet cleaner guy in - other things i'm sure i've forgotten things to do at new apartment: - buy food - line bathroom drawers/cupboard - get/install curtains & bamboo shades - get online - unpack books - assemble old shelves - buy ikea tv stand and shelves - get hooks for bathroom door - get shoe rack for hall closet - other things i'm sure i've forgotten

that was the longest, hottest and most exhausting two days of rest i've ever had in my entire life. my legs look like a dalmation's what with all the little bruises on them. i sweated enough to water my african violet for a month. the boys lost a part to my futon, so it's kind of gerry-rigged for the moment. i've gotten all the kitchen stuff into the kitchen and the computer hooked up (but not online 'til the cable guy comes tonight), but the rest of the place is boxland and will probably stay that way until after i get back from holidays. sleeping in a bed in a bedroom was interesting, though. i didn't sleep well for lots of reasons: my body was really sore, i wasn't used to the bed, it was beastly hot, i'm not used to all the noises in the new place and my mind was just going a mile-a-minute thinkingthinkingthinking. needless to say i'm bloody exhaused today. the plan for this week: clean the old apartment, finish getting the new place liveable, buy stuff for trip, pack, hand over keys to old landlord, sleep. quite possibly in that order.

okay, the trays are almost empty and i can breathe a little bit easier. i swear, everything in my life is happening RIGHT NOW and i'm fairly sure i'm going to spontaneously combust any second. i had a really good time last night at the morrissey with a bunch of relative and not-so-relative strangers (yeah, i know i forgot some people, but i ran out of words to cleverly link). as usual, i had to really talk myself into going (i don't know why i'm so reluctant to go out. once i get there, i almost always have a good time.). the traffic on the bridge was nuts, but i found less-than-$6 parking just a block from the joint, so all was well. i even wore my new minnesota pants for the occasion. yeah, i know, special. i could say stuff about meeting these blogically-inclined folks, but others have all done a better job and, really, who cares what my opinion is? let's just say that they're a very good-looking, lively bunch i'd like to spend time with again and i'm pretty sure i took a brand new crush away with me. ahh, crush! the moving begins in earnest tomorrow. note the above-mentioned combusting. i've been instructed by the brain-melting jeremy that i'm to make a time-lapse photo essay of the move. we'll see how many trips up and down the Very Steep Stairs it takes for me to say "fuck it" to taking periodic photos. you know what? i can't fucking wait to go away. i don't care how much fear mongering there is going on about flying around north america right now (not to mention only having four days evenings to unpack enough to find the stuff i'll have to pack to take with me). i'm really looking forward to a week with my biggest responsibility being so adorable they don't want me to go home.

...but i'm too tired to do anything else: did i talk to you last night?

i'm such a good, unselfish, dependable person that even though i have no time, no money and very little inclination for anything other than curling up and crying myself to sleep, i'm keeping my word to my friend and attending the drinky-drink tonight against all my better judgement telling me that i should be doing something more constructive with my time like, say, packing. i won't be there long, so if you're looking for me, get there early. i even promise i won't be snarly... unless i have to pay more than $6 for parking.

don't even fucking ask.

i spent two and a half hours inhaling bleach fumes while cleaning the cupboards at my new apartment last night. maybe i really am turning into my mother and grandmother. or maybe i just have higher standards for cleanliness than most people (at least for the starting point of a new residence). regardless, i'm practically obsessed with having ensured that this new place will be as clean as i can get it before i start hanging my hat there. tonight i'm going back to line all the shelves and drawers and then wash down the insides of the closets, which i was just way too fucking exhausted to do last night. i was absolutely dripping with sweat. by the end of these two weeks of cleaning and moving, i should hopefully have made up for not exercising for the last two months. especially considering how FUCKING STEEP the stairs in my building are. oh, boy. are my friends gonna hate me on sunday. i'm sorry, friends! in other news, there is no other news. i've a union day tomorrow, then a baby shower and a night out with strangers on thursday, then a friday lunch out with the co-worker i don't really like but can't seem to get rid of (but she's paying, so i'll go fake it for an hour), then it's moving days! i'm sorry, readers. i know you're all sick and tired of me talking about the cleaning and the moving and the packing, but i really am this boring.

was there actually a weekend or did i just imagine it? goodness knows that it went by fast enough. i suppose that's what i get for going out every day of it, huh? yeah, i know. me! going out friday night, saturday afternoon/night and all day sunday. surely this is the seventh sign of the apocalypse. duck, the fire and brimstone are nigh. highlights (because i'm way too tired to attempt to be interesting with words today): beer, "debate", high school memories, hot dogs, 35 strangers in a surrey backyard, beer, new recipe success, bug bites, ikea, lunch, shopping, shoes, pants, sheet scamming failure, open house, playstation transfer, traffic, white cranberry-peach juice, birthday presents, laughter. i had to do some serious crash cleaning when i got home last night. my place was a nightmare and i probably would have gone postal on the first human i encountered if i hadn't. at least the joint now has a semblance of order in which i can really start the packing in earnest. karen's going to help me move boxes on saturday then m&m&d will help me move the big stuff on sunday. wow, i can't believe it's happening this weekend. *freak*

so, it's finally friday. i managed to survive the object oriented analysis and design final exam last night and i think we might be finished our assignment enough for me to submit it today, a whole day early. with that, i'll be rid of school for a whole two months! hurrah! no more pencils, no more books! no more teacher's dirty looks! today at work we have a temp in to cover the vacationing trish. jodi chromey would be in heaven. he's a very cute redhead. think prince harry with a few fewer freckles, or one of the sedin twins with slightly a subdued hue. his name is james, which immediately puts him out of the running, even if he were to be single and amenable. dammit. big plans tonight! gotta go clean some cupboards, i do! yeah, my life is exciting. but, hey, i also get to go to ikea on sunday. i bet you can't say that! i still need to call hydro about switching my account. i really have to get packing again, which means i have to take over the boxes i have packed so i have room for more packed boxes. i bought a swiffer last night! yippee! wow. random. it's official. i need to get out more. lately, i've also been suffering serious lack-of-special-boy-ness. i really want someone to hug and squeeze and call george. someone with whom i can hang out, go out, let it all out. someone who calls me just to say goodnight. ugh. i can't think about it anymore or i'll get all schloopy.

my final exam is tonight. i'm woefully underprepared, but that's nothing new. my hope is that the work i need to put into our assignment and finishing reading the text should get me back up to speed. having two weeks between the last lecture and the last class was absolutely stupid. stupid, i say! i'm pleased that i'm getting some sushi for lunch, though. mm, sushi. although, those plans seem to be taking a nose-dive as the other person with a car won't have a car and i can't take everyone in mine. bah. so, tonight is school. tomorrow night i guess i'll have to go and finish cleaning the new place and lining the shelves. saturday i have to make something for the barbeque/birthday party m&m&d&i are going to. sunday, i guess i'll start moving boxes and maybe go do some of my pre-trip shopping. i still have to phone the electric company about switching my account and get my ass packing. AAAHHHH! STRESS!! can't i just go to sleep and wake up all cleaned, moved and on my way to the airport? update: i totally forgot that the ikea sale ends this weekend, so i guess i'm going to ikea on sunday. *sigh* i don't have time for all this! *freakout*

every once in a while, the wind blows from just the right direction to make my blinds bang against the window frame in the exact way that Drives. Me. Insane. last night was one of those nights. upstairs neighbour guy must have been having the same problem because i heard him creaking the floor at around three or four, just after a particularily bad bout of banging. the result of all this (not only because of highly interrupted sleep, but also because i stayed up too late watching the amazing race. my bad.) is that i'm a complete fucking zombie this morning. ugh. at least, thanks to my dermatological endeavours last night, my skin feels really soft. hey, don't look at me like that. you gotta find your silver linings where you can.

so, you all have to know about skype. you install it on your computer, create an account and then you can call me using your microphone to speak and your speakers to listen! it's absolutely free and the quality is amazing. i've gotten both my mom and my uncle hooked up after testing it out with jeremy. one of the neater things i've yet to try is that you can also use your computer to phone any telephone in the world for extremely low rates (~2¢ per minute to 25 countries). they call that skypeout. i don't do a lot of long distance calling, but if i did, i'd seriously consider it as an alternative to paying my telco, that's for damn sure. what are you waiting for? you could be talking to me by tonight!

20 questions to a better personality. this is perfectly accurate. try it. You are an SEDF--Sober Emotional Destructive Follower. This makes you an evil genius. You are extremely focused and difficult to distract from your tasks. With luck, you have learned to channel your energies into improving your intellect, rather than destroying the weak and unsuspecting. Your friends may find you remote and a hard nut to crack. Few of your peers know you very well--even those you have known a long time--because you have expert control of the face you put forth to the world. You prefer to observe, calculate, discern and decide. Your decisions are final, and your desire to be right is impenetrable. You are not to be messed with. You may explode. [thanks sue!]

i forgot to mention that i'm now old. thirty-two. 32. 0010 0000 (that's binary for the geeks out there. represent!). holy crap, when the fuck did i get old? i still feel like i'm in highschool most of the time, except with way more credit and wrinkles. for my birthday, i ate cake and watched movies. i spent the beautiful weekend in sleepy parksville with the maternal unit and the cat who hates me. i bought t-shirts and the Best Underwear Ever for my upcoming american vacation. i visited home depot for the first time in my life and got ideas for decorating/functionalizing (that's a new word, spread it around.) the new apartment. julie, the fabulous, sent me a copy of the eleventh hour from my wishlist (thank you so much!). it arrived just as i was waiting outside for my ride to the ferry on friday morning. the festivities officially end today after my co-workers take me and my birthday-buddy out for lunch and then present yet more cake for us to eat. i'm so glad birthdays only come once a year. i can totally wait that long for any more cake.

back from the island, back to work, back to cleaning and painting and packing and moving and stressing.

i didn't forget, but i was so hell bent on being the cleaning lady i didn't get around to making a post to say: okay, now that that's done, i spent four and a half hours cleaning my new place today. i washed all the walls and all the floors with my spanky new fire engine red mop and bucket. it was the best workout i've had in months and holy crap i'm going to be sore tomorrow. be thankful i won't be here to complain about it. but, here i am freaking out about leaving my place spotless for whomever moves in after me and then i find that other place all gross and totally NOT spotless (don't even get me started on the fact that they're not going to paint and the toilet doesn't seem to flush every time) and i started thinking i should stop worrying about being perfect since no one else seems to care. besides, my place is ten-fold cleaner than that place was. i still have to do something about the inside of the cupboards and drawers in the kitchen and bathroom, but that can wait until after i get back from the island. i think i'll paint them. maybe that will get rid of the funky smell.