Too Far

I got an email from Chapters the other day, and I had some time at work so I was doing some browsing.  Thinking about some books I might be interested in reading.  And just yesterday I get an email from Chapters recommending some books to me, and it was the 4-5 books I was browsing at work.  I don't even know how they did that, I guess since I linked to their page through my email it kept a cookie of that?

I find that to be utterly despicable.  A disgusting business practice I want nothing to do with.  It would be like if you went into the store and someone followed you around and took Polaroids of every book you picked up and then mailed the photos to you and said, "Thought you might be interested in some of these books."  F*****g creepsters.  I'm a big fan of Chapters.  I should correct that say I was a big fan.  But after this display they can stuff it.

My House My Rules

I found myself rather annoyed today at work with this kid.  We were somehow talking about Banff National Park and I mentioned how expensive it was, unless you were just driving through, then it's free.  Obviously, it's a park fee not a road toll.  And transport trucks and passing cars need not pay.  He goes, "Yes you do have to pay, unless the toll guy was just ripping us off."  To which I replied, "No you don't, only if you're stopping in the park."  To which he replied, "Yes you do."  So he left, I googled and confirmed what I already knew.  Next time hew as up front I said "Buddy, you don't have to pay, only if you plan on stopping your car in the park.  Because if you stop and leave your car and they find your car without a pass you are EFFED."  To which he replied, "So we're both right."  And I said, "No, I'm right."  And he got all offended.  Then one of the other guys talked about his experience driving up through to Jasper and the question came up which park is larger, so I walked over to our giant Canadian wall map to look.  I assumed Jasper since I think it stretches up the Icefields Highway, but I saw no clear defining borders between the four main parks.  And he walks passed me in a completely passive-aggressive asshole tone says "Oh we need to look at the map."  Or some pissy thing like that.

I usually don't take a hard stance on something unless I feel very confident in what I'm saying.  Which is almost never.  Then the other guys told me to chill out.  Can't win!!

800 envelopes stuffed, 1000 to go.  Probably won't get done in time but for the amount I took I'm sure one day late won't be the end of the world.

I have an embarrassing admission.  I think listening to top 40 at work all day has affected me, and not in a good way.  Now I'm going to preface my next statement by saying I think she's a dirty disgusting human and we'd all be better off if she disappeared into oblivion.  But I love the Miley Cyrus & Jimmy Fallon & The Roots acapella version of her song Can't Stop.  She actually has a pretty amazing voice, which is too bad that she has wasted her talent by being an intolerable wretch.  The guy in the bottom right frame is actually quite amusing to watch.  I know the lyrics are garbage, but I just...can't stop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mjvfnUAfyo

That feels good to say out loud, and now if you'll excuse me I think I shall go spiral into a pit of shame.

I'm A Lady You See, Pay Me No Heed

Don't do a double take, this is actually a new post.  For reals.  I'm ashamed of my absence, but I'm back for hopefully a more permanent stay.  Sim and I were email chatting about our blogs today.  It may seem weird but mine means a lot to me.  I've actually been blogging for over 10 years but never stayed in the same spot for quite this long.  3 1/2 yrs so far.  And what started as a successful way to track my trip out East has turned into something thumbs-up for me.

I just got home from shopping at Costco with Nikki.  Her membership ran out last month, and since I got my own membership as an amazing work-perk, I now hold the key to entering.  A new one just opened today up at Dixie and Dundas.  That intersection officially has everything.  And little known fact (read: I didn't know it), it also used to be home to the first Toronto IKEA location.  My mom told me about how she used to drive in from Leaside to shop there, back in the 80s.  I got a notice in the mail about it opening, and what the first week deals were going to be. 40 double rolls of toilet paper for $11.99.  No your eyes do not deceive you.  Reg price: $18.99.  I usually sit around and wait for them to go their regular sale of $14.99, but since I have the space now I bought THREE.  I think my toilet paper situation is covered for a good while.  I also have a toilet paper brand preference - don't judge - and this was that brand so win-win-win.  We walked the cart back to our cars and unloaded.  And I took the cart back to the outdoor cart thing (unlike our lazy neighbour who left his in between two parking spots - jerk).  And as I'm pushing the cart in I feel as if I have stepped on something.  I look down and it's a gooey squeeze pack of apple sauce.  I don't have any on me so it's no big deal.  And then I looked at Nikki who was standing three feet behind me and she has apple sauce ALL over her shoes and up one of her pant legs.  It had squeezed out and flown three feet to the exact spot she was standing.  Total OMG/I'm so sorry moment.   But fairly hilarious, from where I was standing.

What else is new, right.  I'm currently working on a mailing project for Raising the Roof.  They have two main mail outs a year.  Last season I took a bunch home and stuffed them at home.  This year I got a little ambitious and told them to give me as many as they wanted.  Because the information pamphlet boxes come in 900s I got two of those and 2000 of the the rest of the materials to match.  So far I have stickered, stuffed, sealed and stamped 600.  The mail out goal is Friday so we'll see how much I can get done before then.  I actually don't mind it so much.  It takes just over an hour to do 100.  I have to refocus myself, I have lost my focus.  I find myself mildly unfocused and unwilling to refocus on the focusing issue at hand.  The only solution is to focus harder on focusing.  Step 1: Focus.  Step 2: Repeat Step 1.  I think I can do it.

For anyone that knows Sonia, she's married now.  She actually had her first ceremony at Lake Louise with just the families.  The photos are so gorgeous.  She's wearing this hot gold sequin dress.  They both looked smokin.  And it's probably one of the most, if not the most, beautiful sites in Canada so well done Son.  Her second ceremony was downtown at a fancy building beside St Lawrence Market.  It was fun seeing some of the girls from high school.  And then I totally wiped out on a flower petal on the ground and threw my gingerale all over the floor.  It was definitely an all-time top ten classy moment.

Adam just got back from a 2 1/2 week trip to India.  I like to travel vicariously through him, but I think that is just one you have to do on your own.  He said the cities were a shit-show but the rural parts of India were amazing.  I saw some photos and he wasn't lying.  It makes sense if you think about it, geographically.  The Eastern coast looks just like what I would imagine Thailand to be like.  I probably wouldn't have the cash flow to do that for a long time.  I'm still mildly obsessed with making mortgage pre-payments.  Any time I have some available cash it all goes on to that.  Though my budgeting software helps me set aside money for other long term ventures like xmas gifts and car repairs.  The amount of interest that you can save by cutting off the top early is phenomenal, but I need to find a balance between saving on interest and enjoying life.

One last thing - I totally went to the Leafs-Islanders game last week.  A vendor came by and dropped off some ticks, and it went down the totem pole until me and they were still available.  HURRAY.  Centre ice, 16th row, no big deal. I've never been centre before.  The only irritating part is that they pass these GIGANTIC flags over those sections during the national anthem.  And I pretty much missed out on seeing the guy sing O Canada, though I could still hear him.  He was a tenor or something operatic.  The guy beside us was about 6'4, so as the flag passed over head Nikki and I jokingly flapped our hands like infants trying to get at something kept out of reach by the adults.  We won 5-2 by the way, it was awesomeness.

And that's all.  Not much exciting going on.  Though I have been reminded that maybe I don't need anything exciting to flip on over to the bloggie and let my consciousness spew out through my fingers.  That's a nice visual.

And on that note.

Fare thee well.

Old Habits Die Hard, Unless You Kill Them

I only just now realized right at this moment, 5 mos after moving in, that I have been refraining from taking a shower when the washing machine is going.   That didn't stop me from running the dishwasher concurrently but that's only so I can get both loud noises out of the way at once.  I had become so accustomed to not getting full water flow from the bathroom tap until the tank had filled up.  Or being stranded in the shower if the rinse cycle came on.  Life after Winnett is good.

Shake Shake Shake, Senora

After about 5 yrs of wanting one, I have finally bought myself a spice rack.  And I love it!  I thought 12 would be enough but sadly one of the spices has already been Plutoed.  I have an idea of who gets cut next if I happen to pick up a more enticing spice.  We shall see, we shall see.  I'm pretty stoked about my purchase.

And speaking of new things, my mom gave me a housewarming present.  It wasn't a surprise, she included me in the shopping process which I appreciated.  Because I can be persnickety, and get upset if I'm gifted something expensive that I'm not fond of.  Anyways, below is a catalogue shot of the desk.

This thing weighed 88 lbs in the box.  And if you don`t know how much 88 lbs, it`s the equivalent of a metric fuck-ton.  My mom and I had to shimmy it from my trunk to the elevator and then in an attempt to not leave marks on the carpet we did several short lifts from the elevator to my door.  It was a really quick 10 min assembly.  The package came with the alan key required.  Having a desk again is pretty sweet.  Now I just need a floor mat so I don`t roll the life out of this hardwood floor.  And if you're still reading, and I don't blame you if you're not, below is a link to my recipe website.  If I could use an FTP login properly I'd have a really sick recipe website hosted by Sim, but this will do for now.

https://www.myrecipebook.com/recipes/_JulieG

Schnoodles.

Huh?

I'm so directionally challenged that last night I was taking the Hwy 10 exit and I convinced myself I was in a lane heading in the wrong direction, so I switched lanes and drove South instead of North.  Even when I'm right I correct myself to be wrong.  When I first started driving I used to always get really flustered when I had to choose either 401E or 401W.  I eventually solved this by always asking myself if my destination was in the direction of Halifax or Vancouver, but now it just comes naturally.  Thank goodness.  Now if I could just fix the rest of me :/

I must say though, I am very good at renavigating.  If I drive somewhere once I'm really good at being able to find my way back.  Unless it involves an impromptu left/right dilemma.

It feels like forever since I've had a weekend to myself, but it's just been one long weekend for which I was a captive.  This weekend belongs to me.  And I got so excited I double booked.  But instead of cancelling I'm just going to make them both work!  And attempt to do a massive clean-up to boot.  I need to find a better solution to floor cleaning than scrubbing on my hands and knees.  But for the size of the tile space it's working alright, for now.

Second of all, whoa.

Is there a weekly quota on consumption slow cooked meatballs?  If there is, I have surpassed it, and perhaps lapped that mark.  I had plans to meet up with Adam on Friday.  The intent of the meeting was to retrieve my crazy cat lady bag filled with Christmas decorations back from him.  It has really almost been a year since his housewarming on Bloor.  Time sure does fly.  I had assumed we would meet right after I got off work on Friday, but he suggested 1:30pm instead.  I thought I could be a super woman and get all of my cooking done in time for me to leave and meet in time but I was sorely mistaken.  I thought any slow cook meal would be a bunch of chopping, a bit of finesse and voila.  Turns out the meatballs needed to be rolled and then cooked 8 mins on each side.  Then the onions in the sauce had to be sauteed and then brought to a boil with the pasta sauce.  And once all of that was done a careful layering of sauce followed by meatballs, followed by sauce until the slow cooker was full.  I actually filled it really really close to the brim, but I like cooking dangerously.

I finally finished about 75 mins later and had to wait until Adam's next free time which was at 3:30pm.  We met up at a plaza on North Queen which I didn't know existed.  There is a Marshalls and a Tim's and a bunch of other stuff.  We sat in his car as he recounted his tale of a fender bender and his trip plans for India.  I'm only jealous of one of them, and I will let you guess on that one.  I felt kind of pathetic, as my only major news was my recent completion of a new slow cooker recipe.  His bender was pretty bad.  If he goes over a gnarly speed bump the whole front just might fall off.  I had no words for him.  Only an expression of my understanding of his grief.  Owning and maintaining a vehicle can be one of the most stressful things in life, next to standard biggies (death, marriage, money, moving, health, etc.).  There aren't many other purchases that steadily lose their value while costing you hundreds of dollars a month, with the potential for additional thousands at a moment's notice.  And knowing when to let go of a car is also tough.  Calculating the exact moment when you have maximized its financial potential. Being ready to drop another set of Gs with not much warning.  I would have held onto the Civic a bit longer if it didn't have random convulsions while I was on the hwy.  I might have been able to sell it but the e-brake was disconnected, the suspension arm was shot, and apparently the gear shift cord was moments away from snapping.  I would have had to have used my spare key to manually release and shift gears every time.  And my sparks may or may not have been almost completely shot.  Hence the convulsions.  I took an educated guess that it would fail its safety, so I junked it.  I do become attached, regardless of short-comings.  I still miss the Voyager. 0-60 in just under a minute.  Gananoque to Whitby in 10 hrs.  But I'm going to stop writing about this now.  The thought of car failures makes me very upset. 

Speaking of writing, NANWRIMO is coming up again Nov 1.  Last year was an utter failure for me.  I wanted to see how much I could motivate myself.  I think I wrote about 200 words about hating the receptionist at my old job and then gave up.  They want you to go into it completely fresh but I've considered starting a hush-hush brainstorming session now.  Never having written anything in my life before starting from zero is not my ideal.  We'll see how it goes this year.  Probably just about the same as last.

But back to the beginning, the meatballs!  My first slow cooker meal was a total success.  I tried a meatball after it was cooked and before it was slow cooked and it was already the bomb.  I had a good feeling about it.  Tomorrow I'm cooking up some Jambalaya for the first time.  I got the wrong sausage but my mom assured me it won't ruin it, just change the spice level.  Maybe one of these days I will invest in a dutch oven.  I still can't say or read that word without laughing.  Thank you Ren & Stimpy.

If the jamb is any good I'll post the recipe.

JULIE OUT.

Overheard at Work #4 & #5

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

 

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.

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.

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.