i can’t believe i’ve had this man in my life for an entire year. i don’t think anyone would have guessed that a nervous coffee at the bread garden one year ago tonight would turn out to be the beginning of the best twelve months in memory.
all those years of being alone and dreaming of one day finding a boy who’d like me back. i had it all worked out: he’d be tall and smell good and be funny and a good kisser and be able to teach me things and think i’m beautiful and be kind to my tender heart. all those years… never finding that guy. only to discover him on a dreary saturday excursion. the universe is funny that way.
and i’m so fucking lucky.
okay, here it is. i don’t know how long that other boxy layout was around, but it’s got to be well over two years. the only things which changed were the header image and the backgrounds. this time, i think things look a little more grown up and easier to read. i hope you like it.
unfortunately, for some reason i can’t figure out (and, honestly, can’t be bothered) the <div>’s i used to center photos in posts doesn’t work on random photos. there’s no sense to it which i can see, but changing them to <p>’s fixes it. i’ve gone back to july 2005 and changed them, but i can’t see myself going all the way back to august 2000. that’s just crazy talk. the perfectionist in me is completely freaking out about the fact that there are some 400 photos which DON’T LINE UP PROPERLY, but with the kind of weeks i’ve been having lately, i’m just going to hope that y’all can forgive me for being such a horrible housekeeper.
if anything is really borked, please let me know and i’ll try to fix it up for you. otherwise, i think i’ve had my fill of CSS for the next two years.
believe it or not, i’m actually in the middle of re-designing the site. i won’t be posting much until that’s finished.
if you see anything amiss in the meantime, please do not panic. i’m just busy making a mess of things. it’s been a long time since i’ve had to fuck with the templates around here and i’m pretty sure i’ve forgotten a lot more than i ever knew in the first place.
so, the problem with writing on your website about how you wouldn’t totally hate the idea of ditching plans with friends to stay home and play with your Wii comes when those same friends read your website and spend the first twenty minutes of your evening with them bugging you about how you almost ditched them to play with your Wii and why didn’t you bring your Wii with you so *we* could play with it, anyway?
once that part of the evening was settled, we had a great night hanging out at nelson’s sweet pad eating gross amounts of sushi and home-baked white chocolate & macadamia nut cookies, catching up on each others’ lives and “big news” items. colene ended up wearing nelson’s pants and we all got to meet his hetero life-mate, david (who may not be a blogger, but is a ballroom dancer which, i think, is just as geeky).
by the time i got home, settled and into bed it was well past my preferred work-night bedtime, but it was worth the lack of sleep. well worth. those are some pretty awesome friends, i’ve got. i’m so lucky. well, i say that until i’m sitting in an ambulance after breaking something on this skiing experience we’re supposed to be embarking upon.
did you know that if you book a cruise on norwegian cruise lines you get your own email address? i didn’t, either. if i need to get ahold of my father while he’s sailing around the hawaiian islands this week, i can email him! how cool is that? hm… i could even email him from my Wii!
speaking of the Wii: WHEE!
lots and lots of fun! so much fun. even just using the controller (from here on out referred to as the wiimote) to navigate all the menus to initially set up it up was exciting and caused me to exclaim “this is the best thing *ever*!” which inspired my boyfriend to prove me wrong later that evening — rawr.
i’ve only had it two nights and now it’s all i want to do. i have dinner plans with col, ritchie & nelson tonight, but i’m sorely tempted to cancel them so i can go home and practice my wii tennis. yes, i’d pass up yummy sushi with them to play pretend sports. that’s how much fun it is!
even though, by the end of a session of tennis or boxing, my arms are burning, i’ve yet to be beset by Wii-elbow the next day, which is kind of surprising considering how much aching there is after three rounds of boxing. i’m sure i’ll injure myself eventually, though. it’s inevitable with my superior level of clumsiness. christopher very nearly dislocated a couple of somethings with his spectacular follow-through during a bowling frame on tuesday evening. luckily the comfy chair was there to catch his fall or it might have been quite tragic.
i’ve rented three games to try out over the next couple of weeks: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Trauma Center: Second Opinion and Warioware: Smooth Moves. at $10 a week per game (actually, it’s more like $5/week because you have a week’s grace period after your initial rental is due to take it back without penalty – yay), i figure it’s a smart thing to rent these games before i shell out $60 a pop and then find out i hate them (like i did with some Playstation games – grr). jamie and i played some of Smooth Moves last night and, although it was kind of confusing for me, it kept me interested. after he left, i went through and played some more. it turns out i really like the fast-paced mini-games. not knowing what you’re supposed to do in each of them might be the best part.
don’t worry, there is little chance this is going to turn out to be a Wii gaming blog any time soon, but for the interim (aka while i’m obsessed) there may be a lot of Wii-talk hereabouts. sorry.
in other news: i hate snow. the gunk the doctor told me to put in my eye might be helping. there’s too much food in my fridge for me to eat before it goes bad. working for a living sucks. i could use a nap.
i’m losing days.
i know i’m awake and doing stuff, but i have to spend a lot of time concentrating to remember what i did when and with who. maybe that’s good. maybe i’m so into the now i’m no longer obsessed with the past. that bears some thinking on.
i do know that i got a full twelve hours of sleep after going out for belated birthday drinks with christopher, jen, thomas & matt at The Irish Heather friday night after work. i wish both chris & i had been feeling better to more fully enjoy the evening, but as it were, i had a good time nursing my yummy shandy and laughing my ass off. i almost forgot that i’d spent the day convincing myself i had acute angle-closure glaucoma and i should have had someone take me to the hospital before i lost vision in my eye permanently.
sunday afternoon, after cooking us up a yummy breakfast, christopher & i went for a very cold photo walk around Deer Lake in Burnaby (where the photo above was taken). we watched the dumb, dumb, dumb people walking and skating on the frozen lake. people! this is VANCOUVER! three days of -4°Celsius don’t freeze a lake anywhere near enough to go practice hockey drills on! *sigh* we did wander a good two feet out onto the frozen water, ourselves, but chris almost landed on his butt and i nearly dislocated my patella again, so we didn’t stay out long.
yesterday, i was up at 4:30am to take my dad and his pal to the airport. as i type this, they’re about four hours from docking in the first port of call on their 7-day hawaiian cruise. i love him very much, but man, do i hate him right about now.
i left work early (not because i’d gotten there an hour early) to go see the ophthalmologist again. this time he was a bit more thorough and i got to say all the things i had concerns about. he even did the proper glaucoma pressure test this time. he gave me an ointment i need to stick in my eye at bedtime and said, again, to come back any time i had concerns. i still don’t really feel like he heard me, though. i may ask my GP to refer me to another guy if things don’t improve. at least i’m not as strung out about the whole situation as i was last week. boy, was i a wreck.
while i was running around pharmacies looking for the eye-gunk, i missed delivery of my Wii. i had even changed my voicemail message (which the door buzzer rings through to) to ask the Canada Post person to please leave any packages by my door, instead of leaving one of those evil parcel notices. alas, he in turn left me a message saying he couldn’t do that because the parcel was marked “do not safe drop”. bleh. well, we all know what i’ll be doing on my way home tonight, right? and when i get home. and all night long. and for the rest of this week…
christopher speculated that my recent surge in popularity (i have three different social engagements this week!) was due solely to people’s knowledge of my impending Wii-ness. he’s probably right. damn leeches! first it’s the couch, now it’s the Wii. people only love me for my stuff! ;)
for some reason, i’ve got myself a killer headache today. maybe it was the 5am wake up to get on the bus in time this morning. it kills me that i have dad’s car this week and there’s this snow fall warning. of course, there’s barely any snow out there, so now i’m crabby that i didn’t drive anyway. mabye i should stop typing and go get myself some more coffee.
have a great day!
okay, so i had a little freak-out/break-down last night before i went to bed. while i’m not happy nor content about the vision situation, i am running at a much, much lower anxiety level about it all. i’ve made a couple of decisions about how i want to be dealt with by the medical community and have taken steps towards achieving them. these are my eyes and my life and i refuse to accept anything less than 100% of what the doctors can offer me.
note: my “diagnosis” was not based on the puff-test given during routine examinations. i’ve been experiencing visual distortions for the past few weeks which i went to see my GP about. she immediately sent me to the ophthalmologist, who was the one with the very relaxed attitude.
now, onto much happier things in my life…
sunday marked the one-year anniversary of christopher and i meeting. i wanted to go do the same things we did on that fateful day, but we got distracted and then had to go to a family birthday party for him and his father (where i BLEW HIS MIND with the gift i got him).
tuesday was his actual birthday, and i had super-secret plans to take him half-way up Cypress Mountain to have a fantastic dinner & drinks at the Salmon House on the Hill, but when i called for a reservation i found out they were closed for kitchen renovations until the nineteenth. i was at such a loss as to where else i could take him i put a call out to some local foodie-friends for suggestions. in the end, i decided upon the Moustache Cafe in North Vancouver.
the evening started out rough (what with 100kph wind gusts and lots of waiting in doctors’ offices), but it all turned out in the end. we had a cozy corner table with a view out the window (where we got to see the hail, rain, sleet and snow falling), attentive service (there was only one other couple there when we arrived) and a fantastic three-course dinner complete with a half-litre of the most expensive wine which will ever touch these lips. christopher kept saying it was the fanciest meal he’d ever had and the best, outside of home. that’s high praise coming from him. i think i done good.
alas, i think one of the hessmobile’s belts snapped on the way home as i heard this fwap-fwap (shush, heather!) noise coming out from under the hood, but what with all the snow and transit-taking i haven’t had time to get under the hood to check it out yet. at least i hope it’s just a belt: that’s an easy fix.
oh, and i finally got a Wii ordered! i can’t believe it took so long, but it’s on its way to me now and i can’t wait to get to playing. yay!
what do you think of when you hear the word “glaucoma”?
i think of people going blind. no treatment, no questions, just losing their sight. forever.
yesterday, a doctor told me he thinks i have glaucoma. but, he’s not sure. what i’m not sure of is whether that’s a good thing, his uncertainty, or not.
christopher will tell you that the doctor’s über-casual diagnosis and lackadaisical “come see me in six months” means there’s nothing for me to worry about.
that’s what i do, though. i worry.
i’m very worried.
i can’t think of anything but that word. glaucoma.
things are going to change. they have to. i’m terrified, but i’m also determined. maybe this is what i needed. the universe must be very unhappy with me.
i’m so very scared.
this is not going to be a good day. no, not good at all.
i’m starting to think i’ve got a subconscious death wish. either that or i’m getting *really* clutzy as i age. in the past week i’ve:
– dropped a hatchback lid on my shoulder
– bit the inside of my cheek repeatedly
– hit my brow bone with a wooden hanger
– got a bump on my forehead from an un-remembered incident
– bit the tip of my tongue so hard it bled for ten minutes
seriously, i think i need to just stop moving entirely. it’s causing far too much trouble and discomfort.
i’m officially on vacation! yay!
tonight, christopher & i are having our own little xmas (since i’ll be away). tomorrow, i go away. then, after returning on boxing day, i get the rest of the week off to enjoy.
i can’t wait.
so, in case i don’t get another chance, i want to wish all you friends, readers, commenters and lurkers a very merry and a joyous happy. if i could, i’d give you all a hug and a nanaimo bar.
you’re the bestestses!
let’s see… i couldn’t quite figure out what day it was supposed to be today when i was going to bed last night. i was planning as if it were to be thursday, instead of the wednesday it is. i’m not sure if that’s the reason, but something conspired against me during the night because i woke with the worst headache i’ve had in months. and it’s not going away. i’ve dosed myself with breakfast, caffeine and ibuprofen, but nothing has worked so far.
i wonder what a boot to the head would do…
i’m stressed out. too much to do, not enough time to do it.
but, i’m still happy. go figure.
it’s been a pretty crazy few days. my computer and bamboo blinds suffered catastrophic failures due to the big wind storm thursday night. the computer now has a new power supply, but the blinds will soon be buried with honours for a job well done.
i bought a new camera at the camera show. i stood in line outside zellers in the snow in hopes of obtaining a Wii, but i was #3 and they only had 2 for sale. i hosted a fajita party. i attended a kickass winter party. i spent time with christopher’s (very large and very awesome) family. i didn’t sleep much.
the week ahead is very busy. i will be going full-bore at work because i took a day off on friday and will be working downtown on thursday, so there are a couple of days to make up for. ugh. it’ll be tough to work so hard during the week before xmas — when everyone else is already in vacation mode and doing not much more but eating and talking all day long.
my last present has been bought. if i have time this week, i’ll be baking a little more, but otherwise i am completely prepared for the big day. i didn’t get cards done this year, which i’m slightly upset about, but i’m not fretting. afterall, cards don’t make xmas.
i’m so happy, i feel like busting out all over.
i’m dealing with a double-whammy of pain today:
1. i went to see The Decemberists last night, so i’m running on 4 hours sleep.
2. ohdeargodthecrampspleaseyankmyuterusfrommybody
the ibuprofen isn’t working, so i may have to move up to naproxen after lunch. bring on the drugs!
speaking of lunch, it’s potluck #2 today. i brought in baking! lots and lots of baking. so much baking, my officemate was mocking the bags of baking i hauled in. all i know is there will be yam rolls and the superawesome garlic noodle thing. that’s probably all i’ll eat. then i will be in a carbohydrate coma for the rest of the afternoon. whee!
i get to work downtown again next week. maybe this time, i’ll do more than make a costco run during my two-hour lunch break. cross your fingers.
so, the weekend is fully booked. seriously fully booked. crazy fully booked, even. but, i’m looking forward to all the goings on. i’m even planning stuff to be going on in the new year. crazy.
speaking of the new year, is there anything good happening on NYE? last year, i did the whole casino night at the pub, which was fun, but i’ve a history of quiet nights in on december 31st, so i’m not up on what the cool kids do to ring in the new year. i’m totally open to suggestions, though.
have you ever just wanted to avoid every other human being on the planet? yeah, that was pretty much my weekend, starting with thursday night when i realized that i’d totally forgotten that i needed to make chili for the upstairs potluck.
friday started out with a huge case of the mean reds and i couldn’t pull myself out of them to save my life. i warned christopher, but he still seemed to want to spend time with me, so i picked him up after work and subjected him to my stinky, boring crabbiness for most of the weekend. oddly, i didn’t once want to kill him. considering i wanted to kill, or at least maim, everyone else i’ve ever known, that’s a pretty huge accomplishment. although, i wouldn’t have minded swatting him upside the head. just once. not even hard. more like a love-swat. upside the head.
really, there wasn’t much going on, which was fine by me. i ditched the boyfriend saturday afternoon to go home and clean. i even managed to cross two things off my long-term to-do list, which was awesome. sunday, i got up early, went to the grocery store and spent all my money on baking supplies and came home to start baking. i managed to get a double-batch of ginger cookies, a batch-and-a-half of butter tarts and one pan of nanaimo bars done. tonight, i’ll attempt to get the biscotti done. that just leaves mint chocolate chip cookies, and i can do that on tuesday, unless i feel like staying up late tonight.
since the new couch arrived, i don’t want to go out. i want to stay at home. it’s my favourite place to be. it’s comfy and i know that the coffee is always good and what’s on the menu. plus, depending on the company (or lack thereof), it can totally be a pants-free zone. it’s probably got less to do with the new decor than the fact it’s december, dark all the time and colder than i got used to. by the time i get off work, there’s no light to shoot with, so why not go home and hang out and watch movies and… oh my god, i’m totally craving pizza RIGHT NOW. sorry. my lunch was crap, so i’m a little bit on the starving side right now. i should go see if i can go scam a snack from upstairs. mm, snack.
1. Where will you be when you turn 2007?
i’m pretty sure i won’t live to be 2007.
2. How did you get the idea for your Livejournal name?
i have no idea, but i still think it was truly inspired. too bad most of you will never know what it is.
3. What song are you listening to right now?
whirring fan by the annoying vents above my head
4. Has the death of a celebrity ever made you cry?
yes. i cried when gene kelly and jim henson died.
5. Do you own an iPod?
nope, but i do have a creative zen micro photo named toshiro
6. What’s your favorite memory from last weekend?
getting home from idea sunday night, putting my new lamp together and being happy and content with my new living room environment.
7. What was the first thing you thought this morning?
NOOOOOOOOOO!
8. What would be your ideal job?
it’s really archaic, but i’ve come to realize i’d make a great housewife.
9. What will you do tonight?
probably watch christopher frame photos and swear a lot. if not, clean my floors, have a bath then lay on the couch and watch a movie.
for a treat, i get to work downtown today. it only happens once every few years or so, which just makes it all the more special. in honour of the freedom from the office, i’ve dressed myself up in my newest awesome pants and real shoes (as opposed to the steel-toed sneakers i normally wear). one of the better things about today is the 9am start and the two-hour lunch break!
gee, i wonder what i’ll do with all that time…
so, i’ve started wearing my glasses again after a long while of not. when i was so dizzy during the summer, i thought maybe they were part of the problem, so i put them away and, well, just got used to not wearing them. the prescription is for distances from my nose to the tip of my arm. if i look at anything past that, it’s all wonky. in addition, the left lens has a fifty-percent stronger correction than the right, so if i want to i can make the world do some crazy things with just the right tilt of my head.
the problem with wearing my glasses is, ironically, forgetting to take them off. if i get up from my desk to go walk somewhere, i usually end up halfway down a hall or up the stairs before i realize i didn’t leave them at my desk. so, i mutter “shit” and put them on my head. i kind of wish i could leave them on all the time because i think they make me look really good (or better, depending on your opinion). of course, the only way to accomplish that would be to get bi-focals. i’ve come to an uncomfortable peace with the grey hairs atop my head and the fine lines around my eyes, but bi-focals? no, i’m not quite ready for that kind of admission of my advancing dotage.
i have noticed that my left eye has gotten progressively worse over the last year. i’d go back to the optometrist to get a new prescription, but my medical only covers exams every two years, so i’m loathe to spend the money. i think it’s all the eyeball squishing while i take photos. damn photography! you’re making me blind!
speaking of photography (kind of), guess who received not one, but two more prints from her amazingly talented photographer boyfriend? if you said “that lucky bitch, heather”, you’d be absolutely correct! he and jen came over last night to hang out and with him, he brought these two 4×5 pinhole photos. he said they were ready early so the surprise was ruined, but i was still very surprised! he totally spoils me. i can’t wait until they’re framed and hung up. yay! so lucky, i am.
today, i’ve a union information meeting to go to at lunch and, after work, i have HUGE shopping to do for baking supplies & potluck supplies. oh, i haven’t mentioned my baking list yet, have i? well, this is 2006’s line-up:
– biscotti
– mint chocolate chip cookies
– butter tarts
– nanaimo bars
– ginger cookies
i’ve cut down the variety this year, but instead i’ll be making multiple batches. the new-for-me item are the butter tarts. i usually make mince tarts, but they’re kind of hit or miss with people, so i wanted to change it up a little this year. i found a recipe that looks fool-proof, so i hope i don’t mess them up. i may end up having to add the peppermint bark or i could risk retaliation by co-workers who have come to expect it every december, but that’s dead easy to whip up in a hurry.
grumble: i’m not liking this whole “write during the day, but not posting it until that night” thing i have going on this week. stupid work internet nazis! the worst part, is i get to watch my officemate surf craigslist while i’m down to checking gmail once per hour and that’s all. not fair.
voila! chez hessie version 2.5!
i’m very pleased with how everything came together considering it was all accomplished by hunches and happenstance. of course, now i’m getting ideas about how to revamp other areas of the apartment, but i’m going to try very hard to hold off on acting on them… at least until the new year.
looking at my calendar for the next two weeks is stressing me out. a lot. there’s just so much going on between now and xmas that i wonder if i’ll make it without becoming a totally evil bitch-hag. it’s potluck season, so i’m freaking out over what to bring. it’s baking season, so i’m freaking out about getting supplies and getting it all done in one day. there’s a lot of work stuff which is cutting into my routine, so that’s got me tense (not to mention my boss being in perma-overdrive which makes me even more twitchy). i really want to have some people over but it seems that every other minute i’m adding something to that damn calendar which cuts into my available time.
maybe i should start drinking heavily. mm, egg nog. that’s a pretty heavy drink.
even with the scheduling stresses, i’m really into the spirit of the season this year (unlike last). decorations are up in my place and at work and i can’t wait to hear xmas music in the office. i’m sure it’s got a lot to do with the fact i’m generally happier than i was last year. my house is in order, my friends are awesome, i’ve got an amazing and wonderful boy in my life, my parents are both healthy and happy… seriously, why shouldn’t i be happy and excited to celebrate the time of year when it’s all about appreciating the good things in life?
i totally wish i could give each and every one of you a big hug. *squeeze*