LEARN HOW TO DRIVE, pls.

So this is what happened.  In the below beautiful graphic, I am the grey car.  The other random driving victim was in green, and the biggest douche bag asshole driver in Mississauga is in red.  From the below it's pretty clear that the grey and green car have the right of way.  Without even stopping, the red truck rolled out into the street and almost t-boned me.  I literally had no time to react and can only be thankful that Mr. Brilliant slammed on his brakes, which left him flush to be in a head-on with the green car.  Lucky for him the green car slowed down too.  I saw the red car but would have never guessed in a million years that he would just roll, and in fact accelerate through a stop sign onto a main street.  I may have been saved by the over-sized lanes and my ability to veer slightly to the right.  Wanker, wanker, wanker.  I'm done.

What comes after Turkey?

My new fitness routine is to play Wii  Sports every day.  Every day I'm home and don't have a life, which can either be surprisingly infrequent or depressingly frequent.  I now know what comes after a Turkey in bowling.  It's called a Fourth, and this bitch got one....in the land of Wii bowling at least.  It's almost ironic how my virtual bowling mimics my actual bowling.  I release too late and the ball goes flying with a loud smack as it lands.  And my virtual % of backwards bowls matches up to real life pretty well.

Eventually I'll start biking again and really get this going.

When I bought this Wii yesterday I ended up returning thinking it was broken.  The guy at the store even drove to another store to pick a replacement up.  Yeah.  Brought the second one home and it was not working in the same way.  Then I realized the machine wasn't broken at all.  In my defense, it was almost impossible for me to know that if you hooked the AV cords up wrong on this tv the product would result in a B&W image instead of no image at all.  The disc being upside down, that was all on me.  All on me.  The ultra kicker is that when I went to my local EB they didn't have the Wii so I had to drive to Meadowvale to pick it up.  And then back to MV again when I got a case of the dumb dumbs.

I pooped out of going up North last night.  Severe Thunderstorm warning persuaded me to stay in town.  But now I am off.  For a glorious 4-day weekend away.  Wahoo.

Closing Time

I lost a small part of myself a week ago when my parents finally closed on their house.  My brother tried to one-up my sadness by saying "I lived here longer than you did."  I wasn't in much of a mood for a pissing match so I let him have it.  I left home when I was 18 but went back for many summers, and a year after uni, and a year after Calgary.  I've been visiting fairly regularly in the past two weeks to help my parents with the final push on packing up their belongings.   On Saturday they moved into their temporary living situation, and the movers came on Monday and emptied the entire house.   I brought over my vacuum so they could do one final last clean, but the movers were pros and left theirs out until the last load.  The lead mover was absolutely stunningly gorgeous.  Oh, he was What's the word? - Gorgeous? Hands off! I seen him first! Oh, he was lush!  My mom and I sat out on the back patio and had a moment.  And then we hugged out front and I drove away.  I don't think I'll be able to go back any time soon, and see unfamiliar cars in the driveway.  That chapter in my life is closed.

I'm on vacation this week, weeeee.  It's the first time off I'd had since last September.  On Friday I had this sort of longing feeling, like I was going to miss work come Tuesday.  But now it's Tuesday and all I can think about is doing absolutely nothing, and loving every second of it.  I woke up on Saturday with a vicious irritated bowel.  I don't want to give too many gruesome details but it ended with me clutching the garbage can so I could vomit at the same time.  Not a great way to start your weekend, at 5:30am.  There may be a culprit.  The weekend before I had the same fiery experience after eating some leftover meat that was apparently expired.  I like to say I only make those mistakes once but it appears I need to make that mistakes with each food group individually (first eggs, now steak).  I somehow managed to get my shit together, literally, and got out to see a movie with Kyle.  Now You See Me, good times.  It was a really clever movie, although Kyle said he figured most of it out early on, I'm a dummy so it kept me guessing almost all the way through.  I had a few small mental victories.  Add to that a quick trip to the Arms yesterday to see Jackie's gang, and I've spent most of the rest of my time melting into a pile of nothingness.

I'm on my way up to Heartland today to meet up with an old colleague.  She's still with the company we worked at together, and has been effed by them much in the same way I was.  Only difference is, I called Uncle and she's stuck it out.  A job that closely matches my old job with them has come up, and as it's permanent she's going for it.  I'm doing the best I can to prep her for the interview.  Give her the inside scoop on what the job entails, etc.  And if I have time I'm going to stop into Future Shop and get myself a Wii!!!!!  This is very exciting news for me.  I found $110 in gift cards during the move, and with a little help from a bonus we rec'd this month I'm going to get myself something shiny and new.  I don't know why I always wait so long and deprive myself of nice things.  This is going to be a good one.

And then tomorrow I'm hitting the road and heading up to the cottage for a few days.  I think I'll just pack a giant pile of books, and sit out on the deck and read.  I might take a few dips in the lake if the weather is nice enough.  Make nice with the chipmunk again.  Do some bbqing.  Nothing will beat those amazing steaks my dad stocked the freezer with last time, but it will be nice to eat anything off the grill.

Countdown to mom's move-in is looming.  It's about 4 weeks off so I won't start anything official.  But I think the walls just got a bit smaller as soon as I typed that.  Oxygen level in air....slowly depleting....can't....breathe........oh it's going to be an interesting two months.  But she did birth me, so I can't put up much of a fight.  Although, I think after this we'll be even lol.

19 and Counting

I left my house yesterday morning and was filled with a mild feeling of dread when I pressed the elevator button and it did not light up.  I could hear the industrial fans in the elevator shaft, obviously trying to dry out the results of the previous night's flooding.  Having walked down 23 flights at my office in Calgary I knew it wouldn't be a problem here.  The flights are actually nice and small, with single flights between floors.  My only concern was my timing.  I still made it to work with about 5 minutes to spare, thanks to my new earlier schedule.

I did some grocery shopping after work.  I've been on the hunt for my favourite salad dressing that was always stocked at the Forest Hills Loblaws.  I searched down their website and went to three local distributors but they had no record of selling their product.  I've sent their customer service an email to ask for up-to-date recommendations.  Mmmmmm good.  Having struck out at yet another grocery I decided to pick up a few items.  Which turned into a full bag's worth.  When I got home I ran in to see if the elevator was working yet to gauge how many groceries I was willing to carry, should I have to take the stairs.  Up just the first flight, I looked around a corner and down a hall and I could see the outside.  There was a slight cool breeze I could feel against my cheek.  As I turned to look up at my pending doom I could feel myself already suffocating.  A concrete torture chamber awaited me, and I had to inflict that pain upon myself willingly.

Long story short I made it up all 20 flights, or I guess it's actually just 19 flights to get from P1 up to my place.  I really started to lose hope at floor 6.  At floor 9 I gave up and sat down, the first of many rests I would take (might have even been my second rest...yeah).  From then on out it was 2-3 flights at a time, followed by a short rest.  As I got higher up my main motivation was to not get lapped by anyone.  I knew those chances would decrease the more I pushed on through.  Someone did lap me at floor 15 I sat dripping with sweat catching my breath.  I'm well aware I'm massively out of shape.  I don't need a 19 flight stair climb to prove it to me.

When I got on the elevator today (hallelujah) the guy beside me had pressed two.  When I went for nineteen he said "That flood must have been rough for you."  It was...it was.  I could still feel the burn in my legs today at work.  Kind of pathetic.  But it almost makes me want to attempt one climb a week.  Until it's no longer painful.  And under normal circumstances I can always give up and take the elevator the rest of the way.  Horrible motivation.  At least I did better than my brother who had to walk down 50 flights of stairs and walk almost an hour in the pouring rain in an Italian suit.

 Zee End.

The Night The Lights Went Out

A 3hr power outage is certainly a good wake-up call for electricity dependency.  I guess I can now say with certainty that one thing I miss about Winnett was gas powered everything.  When the power went out I could still flush the toilet.  I'm now learning that is a novelty.  30 minutes in I texted Nikki, I'm boorrrrreeeed.  Sad but true.

I went to the dentist today after work.  No cavities, SCORE.  I have been a bit better at flossing but I attribute my success to my new toothbrush, and maybe my new paste.  Although the paste is pretty disgusting and made me throw up the first two or three times I used it.  The granular gel seems to be effective.  After that I hit up Oceans South of Eglinton to see if they carry this salad dressing I've been hunting for.  The corporate website said they bought it but I couldn't find it.  I settled for some cheap in-store sushi and headed back home.  I wasn't home for 45 minutes before a giant flash from behind my curtains caught my attention.  And 10 minutes in from that the lights were out, and the emergency alarm started to blare.  Not that I shouldn't have already known this but in the past few weeks I took notice of the button on my bedroom wall that reads "push button to silence alarm", and boy am I glad I found that button.  The front desk kept providing directions over the emergency speaker system and then they would run the alarm again requiring me to get up and silence it each time.  Rather annoying but I suppose the small price to pay for personal safety.  We started to get aural notices that the parking garage was flooding.  I didn't know what to do.  My car is parked up a slight incline and I kind of thought I would be safe.  Assuming all water would flow down towards P2 and P3.  I stuck it out for one more announcement where the desk guy said only South tower needed to evacuate their cars.  And then finally the third announcement said the flood was being fixed.  I'm still kind of anxious to go down and find out how far the water went up, even though I know it was safe.

I did get the chance to meet my neighbour.  We were both sitting outside basking in the last bits of daylight.  Although the sky was completely overcast and not providing much comfort.  The lights on Hwy 10 were out and the traffic started to back up as drivers struggled to treat each intersection as a 4-way stop.  We chatted across the privacy barrier.  She's a cake decorator at a prominent grocery store chain.  Her parents live out towards Miss-Etobicoke border.  And she has an insane attention to detail that few could rival.  I'll tell you how I knew my car was safe, because she told me.  She told me the same moment that she first met me.  When I asked how P1 was she said my car was ok, and at the same time we said "Silver Sebring", and then she said, "Yes, Silver Sebring, 9 spots up."  I wanted to throw a box of toothpicks to the ground to see if she how quickly she could count them.  It was uncanny.

I feel like I'm behind on updating.  Lots of stuff happens in life that I want to keep track of but I'm le tired most of the time.  Jackie came into town for a few nights so that was amaaaazing to see her.  She was looking smoking hot, yes you were Jak.  You're a fit little karate master now.  Nik and I took a few nights up north.  We're having some septic problems, so not sure how that's going to be for the rest of the summer.  Spring floods in Minden have reeked havoc on the water table.  Work is still good.  As long as they still want me I'll be staying there.  Also on the long weekend Friday Nik and I went to see a filming of a new CTV show, Spun Out.  With the amazing Dave Foley.  He walked out to the audience and said some hellos and then with no warning spun around and dropped back while yelling "TRUST EXPERIMENT."  It was pretty awesome.  We're going again this Friday.  Except this time Nikki doesn't have the afternoon off so I'll have to wait all by myself.  Ideally I would have a complete cessation of this damn nagging cough so I could properly laugh without risk of following that with a loud disturbing cough.  We'll see how the cards fall on that one.

Oh and when the lights were all out, I got a call to let me know my credit card had been compromised.  Some assnut decided it would be a good idea to be a good for nothing shit-head and steal my card number and try to run a transaction online at cash convertors.  It's a well known scammer's trick to run small transaction values to see what gets approved and then take those cards and run larger values.  It's ironic I was just looking at my card balance the other day and thinking how amazing it was how low I'd kept my purchases this month.  At least it will be easy enough for me to spot anything that isn't mine.  The same scam happened at the charity I worked at.  Some poo-brain got a bunch of card numbers and ran hundreds of $5 donations on their website.  The police came by their office to get more information.  I remember being there later that day, and telling my coordinator they should probably send the fire men too, just in case.  No such luck.

My parents are moving in 3 weeks.  I think if I start crying now I should be ready to accept it as a reality by the time the move comes.  The place hasn't looked itself in weeks though.  Boxes everywhere.  Furniture moved into corners of rooms.  I'm not ready to say goodbye.  But the reality is I'd probably never feel ready.  I also don't want my security blanket to move to Cobourg, but it is, so tough cookies for me.  And by the time I get done with my mom living here for 2 months, I'd probably be ready to post her all the way to Iqaluit.  Should I back up a moment and confirm that yes my mother has decided she would like to live with me for 2 months while she finishes out her career, before she retires and moves to the new house with my father?  She acts like it won't be a big deal.  "I'll sleep on the couch", she says.  Like I would let my mother sleep on this two seater couch for two months.  I'm probably going to have to get a blow up mattress.  At least then I would have something for any future crashers.  I'm annoyed, but I just have to think of it as having a live-in chef for two months.

So that's about it.  I was actually thinking about blogging right before the lights went out.  And then when they came back on there was this audible cheer coming from the balcony.  I opened my door and people in high rises all over the neighbourhood were hootin and hollerin to celebrate the return of our new age life source.  And that kind of made me want to blog too.  I hate the word blog.  I do.

Blog out.

Roooooooof

And As It Is Such So Also As Such Is It Unto You

Life goes on.  Slowly I become more unpacked.  And now that my parents have sold their house, I have started to accumulate even more "stuff" from them.  I should really wonder where all my money in life went because as I look around my place very few things are mine.  About 50% were gifted to me.  Another 40% were bogarted (my newest bogarsition is a set of patio chairs for my newww patio, thank you m&d).  And the last 10% I may or may not have been involved in contribution money towards its purchase.  So why am I not a bajillionaire?  I told Nikki, almost joking, I wanted to go on a cash diet like that lady on tv does to her indebted participants.  I do cash sometimes, but then I also do credit.  And if my chip doesn't work I do debit.  I'm all across the board.

I got my first property tax bill in the mail the other day.  Property tax + maintenance fees = $700.  My interest on this place is probably about $500 a month.  So I'm officially losing money lol.  And with the $60 insurance increase I'm losing even more money.  It's all a scam.  I can't leave this place until it has appreciated more than the cost of selling or I'm a dummy.  I'm starting to see a bit more clearly why people have trouble with finances and find it to be such an overwhelming burden.  SHEEESH.

Adam got his G license today.  I'm so very proud of him, since I failed 2x before they finally took mercy on me.  It's hard to tell that story and still convince people I'm a good driver.  I swear I am.  I know I'm at least better than two people I encountered recently.  Yesterday this woman (in a beamer, no comment *cough*) backed her car into someone in a parking lot that was driving through the aisles.  She immediately exited her car and proceeded to yell at the gentleman who got hit.  "Didn't you see me backing up??!!?!?!  I was backing up, didn't you see me???"  I wanted to cup my hands to my mouth and yell across the parking lot "You're wrrroooonnnnggg" but I managed to keep it to myself.  She looked like the type that would sprint across the parking lot and gash my face open.  Then today I'm doing a bank run, and a small office shop and there's been an accident at Dixie and Eastgate.  One car is left in the intersection, but he's pulled just far enough through so that the two Southbound lanes can manage to get by him.  And anyone turning North onto Dixie can just swing a bit wide and manage past.  Most people have no issue with this.  Then suddenly I can hear a gentleman getting progressively more upset as he approaches the intersection.  It really made no sense.  Accidents happen all the time, and unlike some accidents that take up lanes and cause traffic to back up for hours, this was one of the least imposing traffic incidents I've encountered.  The guy pulls around the stopped car and as he comes around the other side he is now screeeaming at the top of his lungs, "Ucking Mother Uckerssss!"  I went back to work and relayed this story to my coworkers and added that, if that moment was the worst thing that happened to him today, he should be pretty happy about that.  And not cursing the world.  I'll be the first to admit I get a bit angry behind the wheel but within the confounds of my car, and usually with the windows up.

But moving on from that.  I finally got the blue rubbermaids from my move unpacked.  My mom asked to use them for her own move so I had some motivation to get going.   And now for the rest of it.  I'm also going to pick up my housewarming present tomorrow.  After I finally get my license changed over to the proper address.  The Service Ontario website claims you have 6 days.  So I'm a bit late, but better late than never.  And then when I'm finally all unpacked I can finally clean, which I have not done since I got here o_O  I also spilled a litre of vinegar in my trunk so I might need to go get some more to get the job done.  At least that helped cover up the stench of washer fluid I spilled the week previous ^_^

Ciaosies

Allegator Assassinator

Back by singular demand, my droning somewhat insignificant updates on my uneventful life.  What is this self-esteem of which you speak?

The eagle has landed, in Mississauga!  It feels dirty to say it out loud, but Mississauga doesn't have to be awesome, I will make it as such.  I'll miss being close to Sim and Sarah, late night coffees with Adam, the Annex, 24-hr transit, relatively cheap insurance (who knew).  I miss my volunteering as well.  I'll finally get the full benefit of half day Fridays, but it's a little sad to say goodbye.  But I won't miss my old apartment.  I thought I would have separation anxiety but I quickly overcame that as I locked up for the last time and walked down the uneven front steps.

Now, things that are awesome about my new living situation:
1) My awesome piece of art is no longer in my parents' basement and is hanging proudly on my wall.
2) I have a balcony....niiiiche.
3) I can burp and fart at will without wondering if anyone overheard me and is judging me.
4) I can play my laptop and tv without feeling like I'm being obnoxiously loud - so long headphones.
5) I'm 15 minutes from work....one-five.
6) At least for the summer, I'll be 10 minutes from my parents.  And yes, they have officially listed the house.  I have one last summer to soak it all in.
7) And lastly, I no longer have to walk half way around my apartment in the middle of the night to use the washroom because I have an en suite bathroom!  And also I'm sleeping like a baby.  My alarm goes off at 6:30 and I no longer feel the need to snooze.  I'm not a morning person yet, per se, but it's an improvement.  It's marvelous, on both accounts.

Well lets see what has been going on.  Annual May 2-4 trip up North.  Bachelorette and Wedding for Sarah.  I got my hair did for the latter.  I have to say the front looked like a bad comb-over but the back was hot shit.  Last night out in Toronto with S&S at Dave's.  I moved.  Inaugural M-town outing with fellow M-towners.  And today I met up with a visiting Adam for coffee followed by riiiibs with Nikki.  We used up the last of what was available on my Christmas gift card from the bosses at Swiss Chalet.  Nom nom nom.  I'm going up North this weekend as well.  Mostly because I left some steak in the fridge which will be right rank by now.  I'm not always very comfortable sleeping alone up there.  I don't even like sleeping alone when I'm house sitting for my parents.  I'm a paranoid freak sometimes.  And next weekend I'm going to see Dom do his first running event, on the Pearson tarmac, followed by a party in town.  Life is....ok?

9 mos on the job and so far so good.  I'm looking forward to my one year so I can finally take some time off.  You'd think the year + previous where I sat at home most all day every day would have satiated my need for relaxation, but it doesn't work that way.  I'm not dying, but I could go for some down time.

Jak - don't think I've forgotten about your visit home.  I've been thinking about it since you texted me the dates.  I can't wait to see you.  FA-SERIOUS.  Remember that time you hijacked my computer and had a very confusing convo with my brother about ice cream?  I can't remember if you were on team cone or team bowl, fa-serious.

And, uhhh, that's about all.  I'll try to not disappear for months at a time going fwd.

Boom Goes The Dynamite.

I had this funny starter line in my head a few days ago, but that's what I get for not writing things down as they come to me.  My thought-a-day journal has also been grossly neglected.  Grossly.

I've started to do some packing today.  I did some light packing a few weeks ago but nothing since.  And the big day is fast approaching.  In just over two weeks I will own a home.  And by the way, it's a collateral mortgage.  Good thing I have no intention of switching mid-mortgage to a new provider but as Sim predicted my banker gave me no information about the mortgage, and didn't even provide an alternative.  How am I supposed to know?  I also passed on mortgage insurance.  If I'm so disabled I can't work, I'm sorry but mom and dad I'm moving back home.  And we can sell the condo.  My coworker that went through cancer treatments for 7 weeks was denied mortgage insurance coverage.  Cancer.  It's ironic, he's lucky the cancer spread to his lymph nodes because then it was deemed to be in more than one location and he qualified for coverage.  WTF good is insurance that doesn't cover you for 7 weeks of radiation/chemotherapy just because the cancer has remained local.  My banker has also signed me up to have my property tax paid by the bank.  It's a nominal fee of $25 which I probably would have paid if he had asked me first.  But I don't like having something just added in there so I told him to take it off.  Why guess at what I want when we can have a 5 second conversation and I can tell you.  It's been an extremely frustrating process.  Almost over.

I miss Toronto already and I haven't even left.  I'm tricking myself and thinking I will miss this place.  When everything is quiet and the temperature is just right, I love this place to death.   My hardwood castle.  This desk sits just right so I can swing to the side and put my feet up on the single chair to my left.  The only window I frequently use has a crank handle (which I shouldn't consider a blessing but I do).  In the summer time I can open all the windows in the house and have the most wonderful draft.  I think I'll miss those drafts most of all.  And not feeling like I'm a sardine living in a corporate housing machine.  How could a shoe box actually cost that much money?  When did charging that much money become acceptable??  It was the best life step for me, and the place is goorrrgeous.  And in all honesty I'm not going to miss this place at all.  The noise, the lack of privacy, the internet shutting off at random times, the blown fuses in the winter.  That time when my landlord's monoxide alarm beeped every 15 minutes to alert that the battery was running out.  And a day later it went into double beeping, and then one more day later he finally got home to shut it off.  I won't miss that.  It kind of hit me all at once how much I had to put up with here.  Sim's been telling me for years this guy is a slumlord but I didn't quite believe it.  He'll find out exactly how I feel when I shame him with my parting letter.  I shouldn't be scared of leaving this place.  I made a life for myself in Calgary, and then in Toronto, and I can do the same in Mississauga.

Nothing much else new is going on.  So...laters.

A Recipe for Success

1) Invite willing guests (check)
2) Select an appropriate meal (check)
3) Gather all the necessary fixins (check)
4) Ensure you distribute your home address properly so your guests can find you...........

5) Tell everyone your ACTUAL address (check)
6) Good food (check)
7) Good wine (check)
8) Good times (check check)

Underneath the Moonlight, The Moonlight

I think I've taken a sufficient break to recover from over-bloggation.  I just needed some air.

My landlord has started to show my apartment.  I thought someone would snap it up fairly quickly.  And then I looked up the posting and found out he's trying to rent this place for $1400.  May a take a moment to laugh at his inconceivable greed???  I pay less than $1150 right now, just to give you a basic idea.  Rent hikes have been fairly restrictive these past few years.  Even if I was incredibly liberal and said $15 a year, it would still come in at shy of $1200.  What a greedy bastard.  I hope because of that he doesn't rent it for several months.  I'm mentally preparing the scathing email I'm going to send him.  The more I think about the time I've lived here the more it eats away at it.  In particular one line he said in a text was, "Even after a lot of work your place will be in rough shape."  Well buddy, why didn't you try to do something about that when I was living here??  I'm censoring myself, but the mental version includes a lot more profanity.  Also he took a photo of my "new kitchen" and posted it on the Craiglist posting.  He's such a turd burglar.  He hasn't even filled in the grouting because he's a lazy sack of excrement.

Also check out the lovely mess he left on my steps a few weeks ago.  I got a text at noon on Friday, "Oops, I left without cleaning up the steps.  I'll get them soon."  He didn't clear them until Sunday at noon.  I also got a follow up text at 5:30 telling me he had painted the back of the steps so watch my shoes, to which I replied, "I'm already upstairs." To which I wanted to reply, "I'm already upstairs you stupid shithead."  That stupid little fuck.  I'd like to ruin his life if possible so he can be as miserable as I am right now.

Calm blue ocean, one more month and I'm out of here.  I've been finding a lot of cool stuff as I've been cleaning up.  I picked up some organizers at Staples and have properly split up all of my bills and records that I keep.  They used to be all jumbled half stuffed into one divider that could no longer properly close.  So I picked up 4 or 5 smaller ones and split them up by type.  Bills, employment, taxes, etc.  I'm pretty pleased with the new system.  And spread across my entire apartment and after a clean out of my car I have located almost every single Rogers bill I rec'd in the last 3 years.  As well as most of my paystubs dating back to 2009.

I also found a gift card for Montanas which I used with Nikki.  We got all you can eat ribs, but let me tell you, neither of us could eat them all.  We didn't even make it through the first rack.  I embarrassingly asked if they could only charge us for the rack instead of the all-you-can eat, even though it's only $1 more.  It's the principle.  He made it sound like he was doing us a favour, but if he had said no I would have ordered seconds for the pure purpose of costing them money.  Seriously, don't piss me off.  And now I'm not super keen on going back.  Prick.

I also found this super amazing Christmas card that Jackie sent me.  The best part was the cartoon of her being a Mountie whilst double sworded jousting.  Which was purportedly a bad idea but it looks pretty boss to me.  We always had this idea of doing a comic together.  It started with our road trip to BC back in 2008.  As I was driving she leaned forward and tilted my stress piggy that sat on the dashboard.  She pushed it until it was staring directly into my soul.  And hence was born the first one frame comic idea.  "STOP LOOKING AT ME, PIGGGGY".  We realized it would never make sense to anyone else and thus never came to fruition but it start something we've both been sitting on for a while.  I've been toying with a different idea but I haven't decided if it's lame or not so I'm going to keep it to myself for now.  Anyways, for your viewing pleasure, Jackie the sword wielding Mountie.

 

We had Sarah's wedding shower on Sunday which was a lot of fun.  Angie made the most amazing video asking Peter questions that Sarah had to answer or risk the punishment of a piece of hubba bubba for each wrong answer.  She did pretty well, and pulled out a few pretty impressive answers.  Like, Which celebrity would Pete say Sarah would run away with if she could.  Answer - Benedict Cumberbatch, and she got it.  Lol, I guess it makes sense that she knows, but for them both to know, and for it to be more on the obscure side.  If you haven't watched the BBC Sherlock Holmes it's an absolute must.  And after that answer Pete said, "He's tall and lanky, and abrasive...he's pretty much a better looking me."  And then to end a great party I slipped while walking down the steps from the upstairs washroom.  That's my second stair slip in just under a month.  So lets just hope I've gotten the quota filled for the next few years, but I'm thinking probably not.

I have to think about a nice dinner to serve Sarah and Pete tomorrow night.  He's so anti-carb, and such a great cook, it's a challenge.  I'm considering serving some of the banana bread I made tonight.  I struggle with sharing my baking though.  It's a low cooking esteem issue.  Worst case scenario, more for me.

Ta.

Step On It, Electronic

New glasses and shades:

Easter egg - I'm holding up a mirror behind my phone because lets face it, I'm new here.

TGIM?

I woke up sleeping the wrong way at the end of my bed again this morning.  I don't understand how it happens, and it's mildly concerning.

I just got home from volunteering at a comedy event put on by the charity I volunteer with.  I tried to do them a favour on Friday and pick up the kegs Molson donated, but at 165 pounds a keg the guy at their beer store said no way for a car.  It could potentially be enough weight (ugh) to break an axle.  So I took a pass on that.  I went into their office after the failed pick up anyhow to do a few things for them.  Then Friday night Nikki called in on my offer to go help her finish packing.  It was 11pm by the time I got there, but I worked until 1:30am packing up some clothes, and cleaning up her living room.  And when I could no longer breath I took my leave for the spare room upstairs.  The cat-free spare room.

Saturday we were up at 7:30 to do a Timmy's run, pick up the truck, and start boogeying.  Another friend came by at about 10 and we started to really move.  I warned Nikki in advance my endurance is not tops, so after a few trips up and down the stairs to the curb side I was already ready for a break.  Her mom and other friend did some amazing powerhouse lifting which was quite impressive.  After heavy furniture, me and her other friend loaded most everything else piece by piece.  I passed it up and he arranged it inside the truck.  By the time we got the van to Mississauga my joints were locking up from being overworked and then sedentary for an hour and I don't think any of us were in the mood to continue.  But we pushed through it.  I did the most complaining, but heck, I showed up and did my best which is more than most people can say.  We probably got 1/3 to 1/2 way through unloading when one last friend showed up.  He took lots of heavy boxes and lifted some of the heavier pieces.  Nik actually reminded me that I had told her I'd help her as long as she left her tv stand unit, which she said she was leaving, but then recanted on that promise.  The very last piece was her turtle's terrarium which was in my car and I said I just flat out didn't have the energy to lift.  Those things can be worth hundreds of dollars and I didn't have enough faith that I wouldn't drop it.  Once that was all done it was off to drop off the truck and back to Guelph to take take her friend back to his car, and for Nik and I to pick up the cats and transport them to their new home.  We each took two, carefully paired off for who she thought would provide the most calming effects on the other.  One of mine was so pissed off she didn't say a thing the entire ride.  The other one messed her carrier and cried about it for half an hour.  I'd cry too if I had to sit in my own mess for that long.  About 2 minutes into the trip I started sneezing and blowing my nose.  I thought I was going to be a total goner by the time we arrived back in the 'Saug.  But about 20 minutes in the sneezing stopped.  Of course, my car has officially been danderfied and I'm going to get the sniffles for a while.  Nik already apologized in advance for that.

So after that 26 hour move, and 5 hours of volunteering tonight I'm pooped.  I'm also blogged out.  I seem to have gone on blog overdrive, but I'm going to tone it down a bit.

Layta playas.

Also...

I found this wicked pin I got from my nan while cleaning up tonight:

Around The World in 80 Beers

In my massive apartment clean-up I have come across the fabled Around the World in 80 Beers passport from Bottlescrew Bill's.  As long as they remain open, I will go down in Bottlescrew infamy as a successful member of the 80 Beers club.  Feb 22, 2008 - Julie McGavin.  I should quickly say, the challenge was to drink 80 worldly beers in a year, and record them all in a passport.  Not much of a challenge but it worked, and we went back to the bar many times that year. And now for your reading pleasure, I will list off the 80 beers.  Yes, Stella is on their twice, but it's not my fault they changed the menu and moved it.  I only caught this mistake after the fact.  But technically you didn't have to drink 80 different beers to win, as one of my coworkers was drinking 80 Stellas Around the World.  I think he made it to 12.  In no particular order, as they appeared on the menu.

  1. Brahma - Brazil
  2. Victoria Butter - Australia
  3. Jack Rabbit (Big Rock) - Calgary
  4. Newcastle Brown Ale - England
  5. San Miguel - Philippines
  6. Red Stripe - Jamaica
  7. Miller Genuine Draft - USA
  8. Fuller's Organic Honey Dew - England
  9. Holsten Premium - Germany
10. Goesser Premium - Austria
11. Lead Dog Ale - Yukon (just wow)
12. Harp Lager - Ireland
13. Zyweic - Poland
14. Becks - Germany
15. Tennents - Scotland
16. Smithwicks - Ireland
17. Erdinger Dunkel Draught - Germany
18. Lasko Club - Slovenia
19. Affligem - Belgium
20. Sol - Mexico
21. Bitburger - Germany
22. Lowenbrau - Germany
23. Paulaner Hefe - Germany
24. Warsteiner Pilsner - Germany
25. Hacker Pschorr Weisse - Germany
26. OK Springs Porter - Canada
27. Konig Ludwig Wheat - Germany
28. Carib - Trinidad
29. Naughty Nellies Ale - USA
30. Fish Tale Organic - USA
31. Bellevue Kriek - Belgium (thick cherry deliciousness)
32. Okocim - Poland
33. Duckstein Amber - Germany
34. Stella Artois - Belgium
35. Tuborg - Denmark
36. Mickey's Wide Mouth - USA
37. Erdinger Weissbier - Germany
38.  Wild Rose Velvet Fog - Calgary
39. Grolsch - Holland
40. Stella Artois - Belgium - HALF WAY!!  I think there's a clear winner for overall alkie country.  But I won't judge.
41. Efes Pilsner - Turkey
42. Steigl - Austria
43. Pilsner Urquell - Czech Republic
44. Steinlager - New Zealand
45. Bass Ale - England
46. Edelweiss Weissbier - Germany
47. Tsingtao - China
48. Delirium Tremens - Belgium
49. Tiger Lager - Singapore
50. Asahi Dry - Japan
51. Patagonia - Argentina
52. McEwans Scotch Ale - Scotland
Are you still with me?  If you are, don't drink that last one.  Transcribing a list of 80 is taking longer than I thought.
53.  Kirin Ichiban - Japan
54. Singha - Thailand
55. Tetley's English Ale - England
56.  Slavutich - Ukraine
57. Dos Equis XX Amber - Mexico
58. Castle Lager - South Africa
59. Reserva 1925 - Spain
60. Samuel Adams - USA
61. Taj Mahal - India
62. Seattle Pale Ale - USA
63. Coopers - Australia
64. Heineken - Holland
65. Brick Lager Red Cap - Ontario
66. Great Western Honey Wheat
67. McAuslan St. Ambroise - Quebec
68. Buzzard Breath Ale Draught - Quebec
69. Blanche de Chambry - Quebec
70. Trois Pistoles - Quebec
Still here?  Don't drink that last one either.
71. Westmall Dubbel - Belgium
72. Sleeman Amber - Ontario
73. Moosehead Pale Ale - New Brunswick
74. Alley Kat Full Moon Ale - Calgary (I had this one last if that matters at all)
75. Sleemans Original Draught - Ontario
76. Shaftbury Cream Ale - British Columbia
77. Guiness - Ireland
78. Cannery Blackberry Porter - BC (I had this one twice by mistake, and regretted it each time).
79. Arctic Red Draught, Yukon (why YT, why)
80. Mytho's Lager - Greece.

And now, for your reading pleasure I shall repeat the list, but in the chronological order of my consumption.

NOT.

I'm so cool  it hurts.  Peace.

Because That's How I Roll

I had a bit of an upset with my bank this week.  Last month I moved all my monies into a new savings account with a super rate, almost 6x what I was previously earning.  And yes, I was earning a fraction of a peanut before I woke up to new possibilities.  I sat down with my advisor, he suggested the new account, we did the swap, and donesies or so I thought.  At the end of the month I got a $5 service charge for the transfer (I never got service fees for money transfers before).  And that meant my account was in red, in negative, omgwtfbbq.  I had a minor panic attack and quickly moved over the amount of money needed to cover the deficit.  That was probably 4 days into the month.  Then this month I get a $0.01 overdraft interest charge and once again my account is showing up in red.  Bright red if you ask me, but most people would probably just say it was normal red.  I've been emailing my bank dude lately about my mortgage and meetings and such so I open up an email and draft a politely scathing email.  Once in red fine, but twice in two months for an account I'm not using???  He wrote back with an update and asked me to clarify which account and said that he would reimburse me.  I said for the amount of interest I'm making in the new account he needn't bother, and I was done with my freak out.  And this was his response:

 "No I'll reimburse you because thats how I roll lol! Have a great day"

I think if I had drawn any other advisor at the bank I would be having a completely rotten time starting out with my new banking ventures.  He's just the coolest.  I'm still on high bamboozle alert at all times.  But so far so good.

Things...

The question is, what is something I don't like doing on a Monday afternoon after a long day of work?

The answer - getting stuck in a stairwell with no exits.

I guess I can cross that one off my bucket list and hope that it never happens again.  T_T

I should also add that one thing I do like doing it playing Mario Party with my besties.

Neighbourhood #7: The Annex

I've been wanting to get back out on the streets (so I can walk them, literally....literally) so I can get a few more neighbourhoods under my belt before the bliss of living in Toronto ends.  After that I will be a tourist and not a local doing ironic touring.  The Annex has been a home base for several years.  All through out university it was a go-to place, and even after graduation I've always found myself drawn back to that neighbourhood.  This weekend I had a hankering for some brunch.  I put some feelers out and Adam was free before his work day started to we hit up Futures.  I get the eggs benny 90% of the time, and this time was no different.  Adam got the 3 eggs & sausage, it was a massive meal.  And we got some sort of early bird pricing as well.  There were only like 8 other people at the place, which is a really weird feeling for Futures.

After Adam had to leave I took a walk to BMV to buy some books I don't need.  I actually picked up a replacement book for one I lent out to my mother and did not get back.  I've been meaning to give it a re-read so I picked it up.  I really need to cut that business out until I've read everything on my shelf.  And even then I need to use the library more, much more.  I strolled back along Bloor St thinking about all the different time I've spent on that street.  Sushi & drinks with Debz, countless birthdays and drinking nights at the Green Room, my 23rd birthday at the James Joyce, an infinite number of trips to Futures and BMV, scrabble at Kilgours, drinks at the Pauper, Honest Eds, Jackie stealing the napkin dispenser from the Victory Cafe.  Seekers & Sonic Boom (although I haven't been in the new location yet).  Growing up on music from Lees Palace.  Sushi on Bloor.  The Trove around the corner.  Shopping for Christmas art supplies with Sarah at Midoco, and tea from Davids Tea.  This is a neighbourhood in Toronto that I truly love, and will always hold a special place in my heart.

I thought about sitting down and reading a book, but I've been to the Second Cup there countless times and Aroma a small handful.  There wasn't much left for me to explore.  I came home and unplugged for a while and did some reading here.  Knowing a place like that is 5 minutes away brings me some level of comfort and joy and I'm going to sever that when I move.  But back to happy thoughts.  I took some photos with my phone as I wandered around.  Nothing much special but here it goes:

The laneway behind Futures.  It's dirty but I love it.

 The best and only "secret" bar I know of in Toronto.

 

Waiting for Adam at Futures.  Mmmm, cakes.

The best best best second hand bookstore in Toronto, or possibly anywhere ever.

From The Planet Smashers to Electric Six to Peter Bjorn and Paul, I've seen it all here.  Though I've yet to sample their store front burrito.

Next time I'll get off my lazy butt and actually get out and properly explore a new place.  Happy Bunny Long Weekend.

It's a Blog-off

Now that I've have been alerted that I'm in direct blog competition with Jackie, this business is o-n.

Actually, it's not, but I do have a few other things I wanted to say.  March is sadly drawing to a close.  A month that has been hands down the best month of my life, including the last week of Feb ;)  I had a great dirty thirty.  I bought a condo (in Mississauga, but still lol).  I have a financial savings plan for the first time in my life.  My boss gave me her 3mos old blackberry (and even though she's not happy with her new one her threats to degift have all been insincere).  I've been out of my hovel a few extra times and consumed some delicious bevvies.  I finally got to give my landlord a piece of my mind about the stupid first floor.  And although he didn't respond to my complaints he said I've been a great tenant and he'd give me a recommendation if need be.  Just all together wtf awesome March.  Or as I might say to Adam, TBWTFAMI.

Also, Jackie, who I think I might be in love with, sent me the most amazing gift I have ever received.  It parallels and exceeds the awesomeness of my last most favouritest t-shirt.

Thank you thank you thank you lol.  All I can really say is, "I saw a squirrel, it went this *insert squirrel imitation*"  And in follow up to this brilliant t-shirt news, my second favourite ever t-shirt which I lost somewhere in life has just come up for sale again on its website of origin.  Soon it will be mine.  And that's all I've got to say about that, for now.

I did something really stupid the other day but luckily recovered from it.  I couldn't find my keys last night. I looked EVERYWHERE, which isn't too hard since the bedroom was excluded.  I finally decided to assemble a back-up set so I wouldn't have to scramble in the morning.  That includes my spare car keys that I keep on my bookshelf, and the keys in my shoe outside my door.  I open my door and low and behold my key-shoe isn't there.  And then it hits me, I just threw out my old runners and sandals, and with them my spare house keys.  Luckily the garbage bag was still in the bin out front, but how weeeeird that I would randomly give up on my key search, decide to assemble a back-up all within a week of tossing my keys in the trash.  Like I said, life is good.

Also, I woke up last night sleep width wise at the end of my bed.  That's never happened to me before.  Sure I shift and kick and feel sorry for anyone that has to share a bed or listen to my night crying (so I've been told).  But a perpendicular move is even new for me.

You know what's great about renting and then buying?  After I pay for my April rent I'm going to have 9 weeks of earning money with no major expenditures.  I'm already trying to calculate how much I can put directly onto the mortgage right away while still keeping some bones in the bank for rainy day shiz.

I've been watching Little Britain on netflix.  Even though I have it on dvd it's just so much easier to click click next.  I've actually been meaning to tell Jackie I'm dumping her for David Walliams.  He's 10x the lady you are.  Jk.

PEACE OUT.

So Do You Golf?

So today I was essentially, what I am choosing to call, man-clubbed.  I will be the first to admit I may have been able to handle the situation better but...I still think it was rude.

Our account rep for a freight company came by today.  Our old rep was passing off to the new rep so they were both there.  I heard the front door open and Dean was on the phone so I stepped out to great them, and without introducing themselves the old rep said, "Dean" so I said ok and went back into my office.  I figured out who it was as they carried on with their shpeel about trying to get more business blah blah blah.  Meanwhile I was in and out of my office a few times to go to the warehouse.  Finally on one pass by I got stopped and it went a little something like this.

Dean:  You guys should meet Julie.
*handshakes with both reps, hello hello*
Old rep:  This is Joe Shmo he'll be taking over for me.
New rep:  Yes this account has been passed to me.
Old rep: It's a fairly easy account.  *insert some joke about us causing trouble all the time*
Me: *some sort of comment back*

Now this is where I should have said, in Vickie's absence I'll be handling the freight relationships.  But before I really had the chance the new rep turns to Dean.

New rep: So, do you golf?
Dean: Not really
New rep: Oh that's too bad.

I know I'm new at this company and very little clout but excuse fucking me.  You don't introduce yourself when I greet you and then you pretty much ignore me immediately following our introduction.  I wrote him a follow up email after he left to clarify a few points in our contract, like the fact that it said it expired March 2012 (brilliant guys, brilliant).  And I felt like finishing it with, "Looks like you asked the wrong effing person if they golfed."  Dean thinks I'm overreacting but that is probably the worst feeling I've had since I started working there.  Even worse than someone rudely giving me the hand when I asked if I could help them.  Some people's kids.

You Can Blog If You Want To

It was Nikki's 30th this weekend.  She came over around 3:30 on Saturday to hang out and pick up her special gift.  I asked my aunt to get some Criminal Minds swag and get a signed photo of the cast.  She happily obliged.  Which means I also now have my own cast photo, but I'm not quite sure what to do with it.  Last month when Nik came by for my 30th she strung together a birthday necklace out of some lotus beads I had picked up for soup but then decided against cooking.  I thought I'd try to one-up her necklace and then took it a few steps too far.  I'm actually quite proud of how it turned out, although it's too junky to ever be of any use.  It actually felt like one of those back support things people keep in their cars.

After a bit of chilling we headed over to Jack Astors for dinner.  I had the Sesame Chicken and Nikki had a wondrous burger with a gluten-free bun.  I feel blessed every single day that I can eat gluten, because damn it's yummy.  My meal was SO good.  I've recently been disappointed at meals out, but this one was super delicious.  After dinner we headed over to the Brickworks to catch a paranormal magic show of sorts.  It was entertaining but that only trick that stumped me was explained by a friend immediately following the show and I was underwhelmed by the simplicity of the tricks.

Then we headed back to my place to drop off my car and head down to Dave's.  There was another big bday party there taking up almost the entire front half but we managed to grab a few seats at the bar.  We eventually migrated to a table beside the bar.  A few people came and went, and at the end of the night a surviving designated driver gave us a lift back up to my place.  Pretty decent turn of events as I was going to get us a taxi each way.  Nik fell in love with this piece of art hanging on the wall at the bar.  It's from Labyrinth.  I seemed to be the only one that didn't pick up on where it was from.  If you're at all curious, check out this youtube, and don't mind the ad at the beginning.  Because 30,000 hits is apparently enough for this user to waste our time.  Probably made 30c on the whole deal.  Anyways.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88dyduvKyPI

And for your viewing pleasure, a phone pic of the art.  I should I have taken a pic of the painter's name but yano...being drunk and all.

Word.
Out.

Coming May 21....

o_O

And then there was that time when I was google street-viewing and thought I saw a woman jumping off the top of her car. *Pause...pause*....ooooh, it's a mural.  Moving on.

Dirty Thirthy

Today is my dirty 30.  I just got home from an art show with my mom.  I finally bought my first piece of art.  Or should I clarify and say I finally took my mom up on her offer to buy me a piece of art.  She did the same for my brother.  She morbidly describes it as a gift for us to remember her when she's not with us anymore.  o_O  I'll post details later. 

I almost got smashed as a 3rd party to a car accident.  That kind of woke me up.  Maybe next time I'll listen to my gut and not stop in a no stopping zone.

The screen on the razor just died.  So I'm back to squeezing life into the chunky motorola flip phone.  Not sure what my long term solution is going to be.  Just used it this morning with no issue.  I'm still receiving phone calls, just can't see anything.  And thus can't text.  And thus poo.  I swear I took good care of it Sim...I swears.

Nikki is on her way over to kill time before the shin dig tonight.  I'm putting off doing dishes.  I need to go do those now.  More later.  But not tonight.  Because I won't be coherent.  Or maybe I should post later tonight when I'm not coherent.

Snowed In

I finally got around to doing what I've been dreading all weekend.  Although the roads have cleared up nicely, there is still a portion of the city that still has to deal with the driveways, laneways, and street parking spots that are suffering.  It took me 3 attempts to back in this afternoon after I took it for a defrosting cruise.  I hope we can have a few above zero days so it can keep melting.  I took some before and afters.  It doesn't look so intimidating on film, but I had to shovel out around the entire car to be able to get out.  I almost got snow up to my knees.  And I can still feel the burn in my arms.  But at least it's done for tomorrow.

YUMMY - Thai Coconut Red Curry

Red Curry was a COMPLETE success.  I may have had to use more pans than I would normally want to use.  And right after this shot I poured the veg into the soupy mixture and transferred the chicken to the big fry pan for some breathing room.  And yes I was cooking at 10:24 last night.  My schedule all day was a bit off, and I don't mind a good night time cook.

The prepared meal doesn't look all that interesting, more than just a regular stir fry.  But oh boy it was gooood.  Which is good because I have 3 more servings packed up in my fridge.  Next time I will take the advice of the recipe artist and use more than 1/2 tbsp of the paste, to make it a bit spicier.

http://thai.food.com/recipe/scrumptious-thai-coconut-red-curry-214590

Booja

I've readjusted my morning alarm system.  I used to have my phone vibrate at 6, 6:15 and then ring at 6:30 in case I snoozed the first two.  I found, progressively, that I would ignore the first two alarms and roll out of bed at 6:30 and have barely enough time to get into work.  And after getting in trouble for my roll-in time I've adjusted to the first alarm at 6:10, and then I buzz at 6:20, and then again at 6:45 in case I'm a total failure.  Seems to be working better for me.  Now that only thing that can make me late is getting stuck on a one-laned Eglinton behind someone who thinks 40 is super fast.  You wouldn't want to hear me then.  It's not pretty.

I woke up at today at the first buzz of my phone, all excited to see the results of the super storm.  I was pretty disappointed.  Although the roads were covered in white, they looked drivable.  And although the hwy camera footage scared me as a driver, I had this gut feeling the rest of the office would brave it and make me look like a snow-day glut.  And yes, I'm aware that's not an adjective but it is now.  I emailed our group address saying I didn't want to risk it, and boy am I glad.  In the morning I was more worried about making it out of my driveway safely, and then back in.  The snow started to come down more seriously closer to 7am and here we are at 4:40 and it hasn't stopped yet.  When my boss told me the news reported as much as 50cm of potential snow I said I didn't know there could be that much precipitation in the air.  She said something like she wasn't an effin meteorologist she just reports what she hears.  I might have added that f-bomb because it sounds like something she would have said.

I've been slowly getting a few things done around the house.  I cooked up some bacon and had a bacon & tomato sandwich this morning.  I think maybe the bacon wasn't good anymore.  I took a calculated risk.  I haven't been sick....yet.  Tonight I'm fiiiinally going to make Red Curry Chicken.  I picked up the red curry paste ages ago, but I couldn't for the life of me find coconut milk at my grocery store.  A few weeks ago I spotted it.  Last week I looked up a recipe, and last night as the storm was setting in I finally picked up the last of the ingredients I need.  The recipe calls for bamboo shoots.  Which if I recall properly is my favourite ingredient in hot and sour soup.  Now that I'm opening a tin I might try to make both this week (if I ever get out of here).  I told Adam it was time to get my pot back so I could make some soup.  I'd use the one I have but soup usually calls for simmering with the lid on, and since I exploded that lid ages ago, I haven't done any mass simmering since.  I was hoping to get down to the Cherry Beach T&T to pick up the various required Chinese mushrooms.  And I might stop by my mom's house to pick up small amounts of things I don't want to buy the entire bottle.  Peanut oil?  When would I ever use that again....a-never.

The snow on the ledge outside my window is piling up so high, soon I'm going to be trapped.  Not literally but it feels like a bit of a prison.  If I predict correctly, and I'm usually right, my landlord won't shovel and I'll be stuck stomping through feet of snow when it's finally time to escape this house.  The only time he does shovel is when all that's left is mounds of unsalted ice, and it would have been easier to walk on 2cm of snow.  Idiot.

Speaking of, I'm going to get pre-approved for a mortgage before the end of the month.  I can't stand living here any longer, and it doesn't make much sense to pay $1400 a month for a place I can mortgage for 11 or 12.  Since I'm not much into high rises there's not much available for but pretty basements or over-priced condos. Condos that won't fit two couches in the living room.  Thanks but no thanks.  I'm not going to have much of a budget.  I'm not approved for much more than a hole in the wall, and that's if I'm in Mississauga.  I looked at the floor plan for a nice sized placed being built in my hood and it's like $450K or something ridiculous.  Pipe dream.  I've always had enough money for whatever I've wanted, but I guess that's because I've never really wanted anything.  And now I do.  And it sucks.  But I just need to keep looking and hope I find a little gem somewhere.  Until then the assholes downstairs can listen to me slam doors and walk on my heels for the first time in 3 years.  I felt evil as I admitted to my mom that I hope they come to be as miserable as I am.  It's sad but true.  I actually had a dream last night that he shouted up the stairs for me to shut up, and then I shouted back that they had to shut up first.  And he acknowledged that they were wrong.  Lol.  Dreams really do reflect your daily thoughts.  I wonder where the really messed up and obscure ones come from.  Dr. Sim?  Any thoughts?

I haven't been up to much.  I'm trying to read more.  My 3rd annual January long-read was a bust, but I'm hoping to catch up.  Build up some momentum with some smaller books and then dig into a big juicy one.  I finally stopped using my stationary bike as a clothes rack and have started using it again.  Maybe twice a week, but I'm hoping to increase that.  I knit every once in a while working on my scarf but it's not really getting anywhere significant.  I'm still on the first ball of each colour.  I need to find out how to get my hands on a 3rd ball of each colour, since last time it was the last mustard alpaca at the store.  I might try my local at some point.

I haven't been blogging much lately.  I told Sim writing in my daily quote book (which I did go out straight away in the new year and picked up), it helps takes my mind off of things and I don't feel the same need to write here anymore.  I have about 5-6 days that I haven't written anything.  Not much of a chance of me going back and remembering anything of note so I might just make something up, or try to find an interesting line online.  It's fun, but I think the most fun will be next year when you get a year-over-year comparison for each day.  And then a triple comparison the next year, and so on.

One last thing.  Dana, I came across a really cool quilting website.  This woman's designs are really fresh.  If I had any inclination or skill in sewing this might have piqued my interest.

http://canadianabroad-susan.blogspot.ca/

If I could manage to stop watching back to back to back episodes of How I Met Your Mother I might actually get some stuff done around here.

Julie out.

S-M-R-T

So I started the day with a really stupid email conversation with Sim and Spence.  Definitely worse than spelling marshmallow incorrectly during a game of Balderdash.

~~~~~~~~~~~
Julie:
I just typoed a new word.  Requestion.  Now it just needs a defition.

 

If I had taken two words that meant the same thing and combined them to mean a third word that means the same thing I could be just like Sarah Palin.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sim:

lmao great sarah palin line!

I think requestion is a word... as in... "your honour, I'd like to requestion the witness as new evidence has emerged"

eh? eh?

~~~~~~~~~~~

Julie:

oh yeah. maybe it is a word. I was reading it like, reh-question, as a typo from requested.

I haven't had my coffee yet. I shouldn't speak until I have my coffee.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sim:

This is getting better and better.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Spencer:

Julie,

Despite not having had your coffee, I note the clever test of irony you put in your first message by misspelling "definition." Well-played.

:D

~~~~~~~~~~~

Julie: 

You passed what was OBVIOUSLY a test.

 

I think it's about time for a early afternoon shame cry.  If you'll excuse me.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Julie:

AN EARLY

 

**Expletive**

~~~~~~~~~~~

Spencer:

Omg lol. I don't know if I can keep up with these tests...

Can I skip the final exam?  

~~~~~~~~~~~

Julie:

You pass, you all pass.  I'm going home.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Sim:

I nominate this to be the thread of the month.

Baby says whaaaat?

Now, to end the year with a party or a quiet night in.  I still have about an hour to decide.  HNY!

Peace out 2012

Another year is coming to an end.  It feels like my year only really began in September when I finally got a job.  It definitely changes everything.  I feel like I haven`t done anything exciting since my Autumn 2010 trip out East.  Probably mostly because there was no money.  But now there issss money.  I`ve always wanted to drive up to Cochrane and take the Polar Bear Express up to Moosonee / Moose Factory.  Maybe that'll be something to do this summer.

Christmas was good.  I drove to my parents' on the 24th and stayed over until late on the 25th.  My mom and I have a new tradition of doing the Globe and Mail super crossword.  Unfortunately since they were out of the country when it was issued their G&M was cancelled so we didn't get it.  So I went online and found their PDF version.  The squares are maybe slightly larger than 2mm each way.  I felt like I should have had a diamond magnifiers on my eye as I entered our answers.  We still haven't gotten through all of the hints yet.  I went through by myself and added all of the obvious ones. and we're slowly working our way through the rest.  I think we're still on Across, but what can you do. This is our third year working on it over Christmas, and it is actually something I look forward to each year.  It's funny that working on it with my mom somehow inspires my genius.  I can be completely stumped and have NO idea on a clue and then I'll ask her and 2 second later blurt out the answer myself.  Hamelin's rat remover (4,5)  I'm like, "Who the eff is Hamelin.  What?  What could this possibly be???  Mooom, what's Hamelin's rat remover, 4 letters and 5 letters........nm, it's Pied Piper."

I went to Georgetown with the fam to visit my cousin's family and her new baby.  Holy moly is that baby cute.  And sooo well behaved.  I'm so awkward holding babies.  I don't know how to pick them up, or set them on my knee, it's just all so foreign.  She sat with me for a while but then squirmed away.  Photo op:

PS to that thought, I gave my cousin the little baby hat, nervous out of my mind that she'd think it was  a sub-par gift (I didn't have the needles small enough to do it on the round so I had an ugly stitch crease running up the back).  It was still cute, and they loved it!

I went to Oakville last night for a birthday party.  Sorry Jackie lol.  You really set me up well to steal your friends should you ever depart Ontario.  I miss you more and most of all whenever I see them.  First I stopped off at the Queensway to see Django Unchained with Adam and a friend of his that is visiting from NY.  I don't think my mouth has ever gaped as much before during a movie.  For some people it's the in your face eye gauging that brings them out to a Tarantino movie.  For me, he can write a script like no other.  I think perhaps he's made his more recent work more accessible.  I loved Inglorious Basterds and Django was a masterpiece.  If he could just tone down the super-violence he'd rocket into my top 10.  On top of the gaping I averted my eyes several times.  Yikey.  After that I stopped by Chapters to return the first book I ever ordered online as I ordered it in FRENCH, go me.  Seems the hardcover was the only EN option, so when I opted for paperback hidden in the details page was the comment it was French.  I should have known something was wrong when the cover photo wasn't available.  I took a stroll through their paper section, because I'm a sucker for their stuff.  I was tempted by a scrabble magnet kit, but taking a feel of what was inside it was just magnet sheet squares which would be hard to arrange and rearrange.  I should get a set from Good Will or something and magnetize them, a la Michaels.  Note to self.  I saw this neat journal type book that was a calendar of thoughts for 5 years.  There were just 365 day pages, but each page was split into 5 blocks.  So you go through a year and each day you write down one comment.  Maybe a funny quote you heard, or a funny thought you had, or anything really.  I thought it was super cute, but I walked away.  And now it's all I can think about.  Yes, I could make one myself, but this is already bound and laid out nicely.  I need to get back there before or close to Jan 1.  My first entry is going to be a retrospective entry from the first moment Adam and I exchanged words after seeing Django.  After almost 3 hrs of seeing bodies exploding with bullet wounds, and listening to a hard (but brilliant) script that threw the realities of slavery in your face with atrocious acts of torture, he looked at me and said, "Tarantino got fat."  Priceless.

Houndstooth Update

I'm less than 5% into this scarf. It is definitely going to take me a while.  Thought I would post a progress shot.  Which also means, I found my charger!!!  The colour of blue in this photo is all wrong but the lighting by my desk is medieval so I'm not surprised.  It's actually a really rich dark turqouise.

I'm so tired.  I've had back to back nights of dinners out which turned into night owl events.  I'm just about off to bed right now but wanted to throw this up here first.  I've got volunteering tomorrow, shopping on Saturday, chauffeuring my parents on Sunday (and taking a power nap).  Then the following week I'll be house sitting in Port Credit.  I'm going to  hop down to Turtle Books some time before they close for good at the end of the month.  I need to get my emissions test.  I'm worried but fingers crossed it should be ok.

I definitely need to take some time soon to recharge or I'm going to fizzle out.  Laters.

Mustard Green Onion Potatoes

I made something very yummy the other day.  I had some potatoes and some green onions, and googled such and came up with this:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/mustard-green-onion-potato-salad-recipe/index.html

And I felt so proud that I had almost all of the remaining ingredients on hand!

In case the link breaks in the future:

Ingredients

• 3 pounds new potatoes, boiled and sliced into 1/4-inch thick rounds
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

Place the warm potatoes and green onions in a large bowl. Whisk together the mayonnaise, mustards, garlic, vinegar and parsley and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add the dressing to the potatoes and carefully mix until combined.

Snowmen & Mittens

I went up North with my mom last Saturday.  She came and picked me up at 9am and we headed up the 35/115 towards Bobcaygeon way.  The funeral home which held her parents' funeral 5 years ago has an annual winter remembrance celebration, for anyone that has lost a loved one.  A group of ladies knit a bunch of tiny mittens, and the funeral home decks out their hall with over a hundred snowmen, and it's called the Snowmen & Mittens celebration.  Before hand we stopped at Bigley's shoe store.  I needed some shoes and my mom wanted to chat with some ladies that used to take care of her mom.  It was just a really nice trip.  On the way up we saw the cooooolest sheep farm.  And for whatever reason the entire lot of sheep were all lined up, stretching across a huge field.  On the way back they were spread everywhere, so perhaps it was just a moment in time.  Might never know.  Anyways, I wanted to share a photo of the totally boss shoes I bought.  My mom didn't like them but I luuuurve them.

After work today I stopped by my volunteering to pick up some envelopes to stuff at home.  I was going to ask for 400, but looks like I'm stuck with 1000.  But I have all weekend to get it done.

I've been working on a scarf using some yarn I originally bought to crochet with.  May never use the scarf, but it has been good to practice my stitches.  I wish I could manage continental.  My mom told me that's what her mom used to do, but I'm stuck with the slow English style.

In other news my laptop has been fixed.  HURRAY!  I'm still on the whole sleep deprived but working through it.  Not much else is new.  Going to Sim's for a stitch-n-bitch tomorrow.  Should be fun.  Then I have a ticket to the one of a kind show.  I'm going to sneak off for the late hours tomorrow night.

Time to get stuffin.