Back by my own popular demand, two installments of Overheard at Work:
Guy 1: *getting angry on the phone*...I hate religion anyways. It's not even about the church. I'll tell you what it's all about, it's all about fucking aliens. That's what it's all about. Don't even get me started. Ok mom, love you too, bye.
And then earlier today...
Guy 2: *on the phone*...uh huh.....ok.....yep.....uh huh....alright, I know exactly what you mean, thank you. *hangs up the phone*...I have no idea what he just said to me.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Sunday, September 29, 2013
A Pox On You
I think this building dispenses small amounts of crack dust through the central air system. My mom has even commented to me that she's had some weird dreams, but I think last night took the cake for me. I hesitate to even put these into writing. In one of them my dad had a slightly challenged identical twin that showed up at some party at my parents' old house. And I kept confusing him for my dad if he didn't say anything. And then I got in our car as we were preparing to leave. Weird to host a party at a house and then leave yourself while guests are still there but I guess I still have moving issues. And from outside I was witness to my dad's twin almost running out into the street and getting scared by passing cars. In my second dream I went back to high school to finish a credit (12 yrs later?) and Katie was there. And we ran into each other in the bathrooms and she says "oh boy," and I screamed "get out of my fucking life." That one sums up pretty accurately how I feel about her, except I probably wouldn't have vocalized it quite like that. But holy weirdness batman. I think maybe I was oversleeping and that was my brain's way of saying GET UP. But I'm also partial to the crack dust theory.
Life with mom has been pretty great. Aside from being displaced from my bed we're having a good time. She's fairly early to bed most nights so I have time to myself then. I have someone cooking about half the meals which is something I haven't had since I moved out. Half the meals, half the trips to the garbage chute. I'm actually really going to miss her when she leaves. A lot.
I'm in the middle of a David Gilmour novel, so it's really interesting the controversy that's in the news. As a prof at U of T he has a balls to tell someone interviewing him that if you're interested in literature by a female author go down the hall because you won't find any in his class. And to defend that he says he only teaches what he's passionate about and the only female author that he has passion for is Virginia Wolfe so he does one short story of hers. He likes man's man stuff, whatever that means. He's not mean-spirited or a misogynist at heart. He's just an author that for a brief moment forgot how to use his words. If he had said, "I stack my syllabus with what I'm most passionate about", and if someone questions the lack of female writers he can just say they aren't at the top of his list. He doesn't have to say they're all at the bottom. Dumb dumb. I would like to believe he's just lying to himself. I think there is a lot of crossover between genders and writing styles. Anyways, that's a whole other thing. I'm going to finish this book, because it's effin good, and raspberry to that.
Our family is flirting with the idea of going North for Thanksgiving again. If the weather dips down into the single digits it's not going to be a very pleasant experience. We might just go up on Saturday, close er up, hit up the Haliburton Studio Tours, and then head back down for an inaugural Thanksgiving in C-burg.
I guess my last piece of news, is that we all have to be very very careful with our privacy and our money. My dad recently had his work email hacked, and the effin effers used information from his email account to draft a letter to his financial advisor asking him to transfer all of his retirement savings into a different account. Obviously the advisor said uhhh, no. But the letter they drafted mentioned C-burg, it mentioned an upcoming trip to California my mom is taking. Although they got it wrong and thought the itinerary was for my dad. It's creepy, it's invasive, and it could happen to ANYONE. They also used his contact list to send out an email asking them to log into a website to view a google doc about wealth management, in an attempt to ascertain their email account information. And then they deleted his contact list so he couldn't send out a blast for them to ignore it. That's why I operate without a contact list. It might be a little bit inconvenient sometimes, but it's worth the peace of mind. I had a fucking conniption when I found out it wasn't just a spam attack but something much more serious. If the a-holes that did it weren't in Kuala Lumpur I would go fuck their days up. It made me realize that it was only slightly targeted, and this could be happening dozens or hundreds of times a day. And you only find out when your account is suddenly empty. I'm getting angry again just thinking about it. A pox on you, Malaysians. But not all of you, just the jerky ones.
That's all from me. Byeeee.
Life with mom has been pretty great. Aside from being displaced from my bed we're having a good time. She's fairly early to bed most nights so I have time to myself then. I have someone cooking about half the meals which is something I haven't had since I moved out. Half the meals, half the trips to the garbage chute. I'm actually really going to miss her when she leaves. A lot.
I'm in the middle of a David Gilmour novel, so it's really interesting the controversy that's in the news. As a prof at U of T he has a balls to tell someone interviewing him that if you're interested in literature by a female author go down the hall because you won't find any in his class. And to defend that he says he only teaches what he's passionate about and the only female author that he has passion for is Virginia Wolfe so he does one short story of hers. He likes man's man stuff, whatever that means. He's not mean-spirited or a misogynist at heart. He's just an author that for a brief moment forgot how to use his words. If he had said, "I stack my syllabus with what I'm most passionate about", and if someone questions the lack of female writers he can just say they aren't at the top of his list. He doesn't have to say they're all at the bottom. Dumb dumb. I would like to believe he's just lying to himself. I think there is a lot of crossover between genders and writing styles. Anyways, that's a whole other thing. I'm going to finish this book, because it's effin good, and raspberry to that.
Our family is flirting with the idea of going North for Thanksgiving again. If the weather dips down into the single digits it's not going to be a very pleasant experience. We might just go up on Saturday, close er up, hit up the Haliburton Studio Tours, and then head back down for an inaugural Thanksgiving in C-burg.
I guess my last piece of news, is that we all have to be very very careful with our privacy and our money. My dad recently had his work email hacked, and the effin effers used information from his email account to draft a letter to his financial advisor asking him to transfer all of his retirement savings into a different account. Obviously the advisor said uhhh, no. But the letter they drafted mentioned C-burg, it mentioned an upcoming trip to California my mom is taking. Although they got it wrong and thought the itinerary was for my dad. It's creepy, it's invasive, and it could happen to ANYONE. They also used his contact list to send out an email asking them to log into a website to view a google doc about wealth management, in an attempt to ascertain their email account information. And then they deleted his contact list so he couldn't send out a blast for them to ignore it. That's why I operate without a contact list. It might be a little bit inconvenient sometimes, but it's worth the peace of mind. I had a fucking conniption when I found out it wasn't just a spam attack but something much more serious. If the a-holes that did it weren't in Kuala Lumpur I would go fuck their days up. It made me realize that it was only slightly targeted, and this could be happening dozens or hundreds of times a day. And you only find out when your account is suddenly empty. I'm getting angry again just thinking about it. A pox on you, Malaysians. But not all of you, just the jerky ones.
That's all from me. Byeeee.
Thursday, September 12, 2013
That Time My Mom Moved In
I have a house guest staying with me. I`ll give you some hints. She's a bit shorter than me. We have the same eye colour. And oh yes, she gave birth to me. I can hear her lightly snoring in the next room as we speak. It's almost soothing, like one of those sound machines that plays the sound of the ocean. She moved in two weeks ago and things have been great. She's picking up the grocery bills, so I'm eating all sorts of weird and wonderful foods I am far to cheap to ever buy for myself. Blood Orange SanPellegrino is just about the tastiest thing I have ever had, ever. Yerrrr-my.
My mom dropped the bomb on me yesterday that she's staying tomorrow night as well. Fridays and Saturdays have become my own days to unwind. And when I say have become I mean one time, but now this week I will have one more night on the blow-up mattress. I usually switch between the mattress and my 2-seater couch throughout the week. Sometimes I sleep better all curled up. Or as curled as I can get, which in all honesty isn't very curled. I half-invited myself to join my mom this weekend for an excursion to Uxbridge. But logistically that could mean spending Saturday night in Cobourg and coming home to the mattress, without ever having a night of reprieve in my own bed. My mom offers constantly to take the air mattress but I refuse. Mama Bear gets the bed that's just right in this story. And since I'm also going away next weekend that would total 3 straight weeks without a night's rest. Isn't life so tough??
We've had a few small accomplishments since my mom moved in. I finally got all the pieces from Nikki to set up my internet as wireless. At first it wasn't working, and even messing around on the administration page didn't help. I felt like a failure until Nikki told me all that was required was plugging it into the wall. So a day later I tried again and bam, success. I did hop back into admin to add a password though. Too many neighbours in close proximity to steal my 'widths. My mom said, "This is great, so any time I stay over I can bring my laptop and have access." I said in return, "Lets wait until you're not a house guest to talk about visits, k?" And also just tonight I downloaded the Netflix channel for Wii. I find it harder to navigate than online, but perhaps only because I am accustomed to it. On top of those wireless achievements I got this place into about the 80% clean percentile. I don't really know how I lived for the past few months with sooo much junk everywhere. There are still remnants of junk. My mom likes to comment about how nice it could look if I would just.....and I like to cut her off there and tell her to stuff a sock in it.
Speaking of sock stuffing, the gems that bought my parents' house have turned out to be thieving bastards. Luckily as their claim of a wet carpet unraveled it was determined they felt the carpeting company had installed the carpet into a wet environment. Ergo my parents have no responsibility. Hopefully it stays that way. And the carpet company will tell those two it was bone dry and where they can stuff it. Any damage after closing is their own. I told my dad if they manage to hold him responsible for any dollar value I will defecate on their property and in their pool until I feel their grief is on par with my parents. I hope it doesn't come to that.
With that joyful tidbit I bid the internet adieu for the night. Sleep tight internet, sleep tight.
My mom dropped the bomb on me yesterday that she's staying tomorrow night as well. Fridays and Saturdays have become my own days to unwind. And when I say have become I mean one time, but now this week I will have one more night on the blow-up mattress. I usually switch between the mattress and my 2-seater couch throughout the week. Sometimes I sleep better all curled up. Or as curled as I can get, which in all honesty isn't very curled. I half-invited myself to join my mom this weekend for an excursion to Uxbridge. But logistically that could mean spending Saturday night in Cobourg and coming home to the mattress, without ever having a night of reprieve in my own bed. My mom offers constantly to take the air mattress but I refuse. Mama Bear gets the bed that's just right in this story. And since I'm also going away next weekend that would total 3 straight weeks without a night's rest. Isn't life so tough??
We've had a few small accomplishments since my mom moved in. I finally got all the pieces from Nikki to set up my internet as wireless. At first it wasn't working, and even messing around on the administration page didn't help. I felt like a failure until Nikki told me all that was required was plugging it into the wall. So a day later I tried again and bam, success. I did hop back into admin to add a password though. Too many neighbours in close proximity to steal my 'widths. My mom said, "This is great, so any time I stay over I can bring my laptop and have access." I said in return, "Lets wait until you're not a house guest to talk about visits, k?" And also just tonight I downloaded the Netflix channel for Wii. I find it harder to navigate than online, but perhaps only because I am accustomed to it. On top of those wireless achievements I got this place into about the 80% clean percentile. I don't really know how I lived for the past few months with sooo much junk everywhere. There are still remnants of junk. My mom likes to comment about how nice it could look if I would just.....and I like to cut her off there and tell her to stuff a sock in it.
Speaking of sock stuffing, the gems that bought my parents' house have turned out to be thieving bastards. Luckily as their claim of a wet carpet unraveled it was determined they felt the carpeting company had installed the carpet into a wet environment. Ergo my parents have no responsibility. Hopefully it stays that way. And the carpet company will tell those two it was bone dry and where they can stuff it. Any damage after closing is their own. I told my dad if they manage to hold him responsible for any dollar value I will defecate on their property and in their pool until I feel their grief is on par with my parents. I hope it doesn't come to that.
With that joyful tidbit I bid the internet adieu for the night. Sleep tight internet, sleep tight.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
See You In September
September is upon us, and it's already a subpar month. My air conditioning is officially broken. I did some master googling and found that the air filter might be the problem. So I crossed my fingers, bought a new filter and started her up again. And within minutes it was once again blowing hot air. The good news is that it starts with cold. Which might limit the possibilities for potential damage in a good way. But what do I know. I've asked a friend of mine with an HVACing husband to give me some hot tips. Until then I will have to hope the days stay moderately cool. Especially since starting tomorrow there will be two bodies creating heat in this apartment.
I went back out to Cobourg today, to give my parents a hand and wish my father happy birthday. We drove out to Newcastle to start emptying their rented storage unit. I got a bit angry with them a week ago when I found out they hadn't made a payment on the unit. I was like, "HAVEN'T YOU SEEN STORAGE WARS??? Cause they're making a Canadian version. And you don't want to see yourself on it." After we got back to the house, my mom and I continued to unpack and my dad went back for a second trip. Overall they were trying to trim down on furniture, they also bought new really nice new china cabinets. Some old family china that used to be closed up in boxes is finally on display. After lunch and a bit of chatting I got on the road back home. Although I'll have the weekends to myself, tonight is my last night alone for a long time. Breath in, breath out.
The good news is I'm going to use my mom to help me finish a few projects around the house. Including buying and setting up a new desk. And perhaps getting some old stuff into boxes and down into my storage locker. At least this is the final push I need to get everything here put away and in order. And she might give me the push I need to get some bar stools.
In other news, I rolled my own sushi last night and it was AMAZING. Oh I can't wait to get that going again. And for next time Kyle has recommended a butcher we can pick up some sushi grade ahi tuna. Soon we'll be consummate professionals. Sayonara.
I went back out to Cobourg today, to give my parents a hand and wish my father happy birthday. We drove out to Newcastle to start emptying their rented storage unit. I got a bit angry with them a week ago when I found out they hadn't made a payment on the unit. I was like, "HAVEN'T YOU SEEN STORAGE WARS??? Cause they're making a Canadian version. And you don't want to see yourself on it." After we got back to the house, my mom and I continued to unpack and my dad went back for a second trip. Overall they were trying to trim down on furniture, they also bought new really nice new china cabinets. Some old family china that used to be closed up in boxes is finally on display. After lunch and a bit of chatting I got on the road back home. Although I'll have the weekends to myself, tonight is my last night alone for a long time. Breath in, breath out.
The good news is I'm going to use my mom to help me finish a few projects around the house. Including buying and setting up a new desk. And perhaps getting some old stuff into boxes and down into my storage locker. At least this is the final push I need to get everything here put away and in order. And she might give me the push I need to get some bar stools.
In other news, I rolled my own sushi last night and it was AMAZING. Oh I can't wait to get that going again. And for next time Kyle has recommended a butcher we can pick up some sushi grade ahi tuna. Soon we'll be consummate professionals. Sayonara.
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
The Deadly Threes
Sim's right, everything bad strikes in threes. I had no idea I could murder this dinner so fabulously.
1) I defrosted a steak last night so I'm cooking it in tandem so I can refreeze it again or take it for lunch tomorrow. I got home at about 5:30 after doing some chores. Before I started the chili I put turned the oven on and put the steak in. Making sure to check the time it went in. 355. Halfway through the chili prep I looked back at the oven....355. And it's the temperature, for the WIN.
2) I turned on the front burner to start my rice and when I went to pour my first ingredients into the stewing pot it sizzled. Making this mistake while cooking on multiple elements is how I ended up exploding my medium sized lid. Lesson not learned.
3) I didn't buy an onion because I had one. I knew it was probably old and I'd be pushing it slightly. Onion was moldy so into the garbage it goes, and I have a week of chili sans onion. OMG. I think tomorrow I'm going to pick up an onion to cook up and add. It just won't be the same.
1) I defrosted a steak last night so I'm cooking it in tandem so I can refreeze it again or take it for lunch tomorrow. I got home at about 5:30 after doing some chores. Before I started the chili I put turned the oven on and put the steak in. Making sure to check the time it went in. 355. Halfway through the chili prep I looked back at the oven....355. And it's the temperature, for the WIN.
2) I turned on the front burner to start my rice and when I went to pour my first ingredients into the stewing pot it sizzled. Making this mistake while cooking on multiple elements is how I ended up exploding my medium sized lid. Lesson not learned.
3) I didn't buy an onion because I had one. I knew it was probably old and I'd be pushing it slightly. Onion was moldy so into the garbage it goes, and I have a week of chili sans onion. OMG. I think tomorrow I'm going to pick up an onion to cook up and add. It just won't be the same.
How I Learned To Stop Spending And Love The Budget
I should probably start by saying I have technically cheated in the matter of my monthly budget goal, but in heart and spirit I put up a very good fight. And it's not even over yet!!
Ways that I have cheated myself (and you):
- My parents fed me dinner once
- My mom fed me lunch once
- I found $5.50 and recalculated my budget allowance up to $40.50
- I got an oil change and put it on credit, but only because I'm driving to Cobourg tomorrow and don't want any funny business on the way, or on the way back. Otherwise I could have waited until September.
- In return for helping my parents move they are paying for my gas there and back, but I would have had enough for work if I put in my last $5.
Ways that I have succeeded and feel great about myself:
- I didn't spend any money last week, none...noooonnne.
- I ate out of my freezer, a lot. And, errrr, had a few more spaghetti dinners than is deemed acceptable for someone in their 30s.
- I went and picked up fixins for dinner and some healthy pancakes and only spent.....$35.50. And that includes my special gift to myself of parm cheese which I had just run out of (*cough* too many spaghetti dinners *cough cough*) and some marble cheese for snacking. Those two alone came to about $12. And the meat alone was $12. Whatever, I'm feeling pretty good about it all.
- My tire broke and I went back to the place I bought it and they fixed it for freeee, yeeaaaah.
I was hoping to have about $7 so I could stop for a subway on Friday after work. Maybe if I get my car scrounge on I can make it happen. If not it's going to be me and a LOT of Flatlander Chili for the next 4 days.
Ways that I have cheated myself (and you):
- My parents fed me dinner once
- My mom fed me lunch once
- I found $5.50 and recalculated my budget allowance up to $40.50
- I got an oil change and put it on credit, but only because I'm driving to Cobourg tomorrow and don't want any funny business on the way, or on the way back. Otherwise I could have waited until September.
- In return for helping my parents move they are paying for my gas there and back, but I would have had enough for work if I put in my last $5.
Ways that I have succeeded and feel great about myself:
- I didn't spend any money last week, none...noooonnne.
- I ate out of my freezer, a lot. And, errrr, had a few more spaghetti dinners than is deemed acceptable for someone in their 30s.
- I went and picked up fixins for dinner and some healthy pancakes and only spent.....$35.50. And that includes my special gift to myself of parm cheese which I had just run out of (*cough* too many spaghetti dinners *cough cough*) and some marble cheese for snacking. Those two alone came to about $12. And the meat alone was $12. Whatever, I'm feeling pretty good about it all.
- My tire broke and I went back to the place I bought it and they fixed it for freeee, yeeaaaah.
I was hoping to have about $7 so I could stop for a subway on Friday after work. Maybe if I get my car scrounge on I can make it happen. If not it's going to be me and a LOT of Flatlander Chili for the next 4 days.
Friday, August 23, 2013
I'm On A Boat And....
Some pics from my inaugural boat cruise. I hate to admit that the picture at the steering wheel was posed. We were anchored at the time. So much for photojournalistic integrity.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Monkey Blood = Bad
Alright, so I was feeling pretty good about myself. With some light pressure from Nikki I decided it was time to give blood, or at least try. If anything I was worried my blood pressure would be too high and I wouldn't pass the screening. I passed the screening, after the nurse nearly ripped both arms off taking my pressure. I haven't sold myself into prostitution or taken any lovers that have engaged in high risk activities (in the past six mos, ha). I got onto the chair, finally, and they couldn't find a bloody vein. No pun intended. The nurse walked me to the cool down station, and I removed my first time donor sticker because it was officially a farse. The nurse told me to sit down and enjoy their refreshment area. I kindly declined. I wasn't going to hang around after not giving blood and make an even bigger fool of myself. I can go back at any time and try again when I'm better hydrated. I really didn't drink much at all today. At least I will always have the chance to try again, unless I make contact with a monkey. Monkeys = black listing for life.
I have been keeping busy. Last weekend I finally got the chance to go out on my dad's boat for a cruise. We zooted up to Toronto Island and anchored off and had a little picnic on board. We normally enter Toronto Harbour using the Western gap as it's closest to the little anchoring bay. On the way out we left through the Eastern gap over by Cherry Beach and the Leslie Spit. We had the occasion to pass the nude beach. There were a TON of boats anchored off right off from the beach. Like, a highly amusing amount of boats. All there for a little look-see I suppose?
I went into TO once for Sim's games night and another time to get coffee with Adam. Both were highly enjoyable. Good times.
I'm looking into getting some budgeting software to help me with my woes. I don't think I'm in any severe trouble but I'm having an increasingly difficult time managing my money. When I rented (and I was employed) I was always so flush. The money just kept pouring in and I barely had a care in the world. Now from the money I've put aside for food and gas, I have $35 dollars left to last me until the end of the month. I'm considering picking up some fixins for a delish chili recipe Sim passed along. That might run me less than $20 and last me for a handful of meals. Oh the woes.
I'm off to meet Nikki for some light shopping. As in I will be watching as she shops.
I have been keeping busy. Last weekend I finally got the chance to go out on my dad's boat for a cruise. We zooted up to Toronto Island and anchored off and had a little picnic on board. We normally enter Toronto Harbour using the Western gap as it's closest to the little anchoring bay. On the way out we left through the Eastern gap over by Cherry Beach and the Leslie Spit. We had the occasion to pass the nude beach. There were a TON of boats anchored off right off from the beach. Like, a highly amusing amount of boats. All there for a little look-see I suppose?
I went into TO once for Sim's games night and another time to get coffee with Adam. Both were highly enjoyable. Good times.
I'm looking into getting some budgeting software to help me with my woes. I don't think I'm in any severe trouble but I'm having an increasingly difficult time managing my money. When I rented (and I was employed) I was always so flush. The money just kept pouring in and I barely had a care in the world. Now from the money I've put aside for food and gas, I have $35 dollars left to last me until the end of the month. I'm considering picking up some fixins for a delish chili recipe Sim passed along. That might run me less than $20 and last me for a handful of meals. Oh the woes.
I'm off to meet Nikki for some light shopping. As in I will be watching as she shops.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Let Me Tell You Your Fortune
I could have told you four years ago that Wallin and Duffy were a bad idea.
Also, free mobile internet for the win.
Also, free mobile internet for the win.
Monday, August 12, 2013
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.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
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.
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.
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
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.
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.
Monday, July 8, 2013
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.
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.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 13, 2013
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
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
Thursday, June 6, 2013
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.
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.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
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.
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.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
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)
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...........
6) Good food (check)
7) Good wine (check)
8) Good times (check check)
Monday, April 22, 2013
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.
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.
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